Lords
Proceedings
13 July 2026
Employment: Artificial Intelligence
My Lords, what action are the Government taking to tackle interoperability within government departments? What are they doing to ensure that there is AI investment in the regions? We need actions, please.
Lords
Proceedings
10 June 2026
Working From Home (Home-based Working Committee Report)
My Lords, I too pay tribute to the noble Baroness, Lady Scott of Needham Market, for her excellent chairing of the committee. Bringing together members with different experiences and perspectives is no small task, yet she guided our deliberations with patience, skill and good humour throughout. I al…
Lords
Proceedings
2 June 2026
Breast Cancer Screening: Women Over 70
My Lord, I agree with the sentiments that have been expressed by the Minister. However, she will be aware that there are significant regional variations in the uptake of breast screening among those who live in poorer disadvantaged communities and among ethnic-minority women. These are women below t…
Lords
Oral Questions
21 April 2026
Midwives: Graduate Guarantee
Again, I refer to the forthcoming 10-year health and care workforce plan, which will take a multidisciplinary approach. I certainly share the noble Baroness’s views about the value of health visitors. As we move services into the community and develop the neighbourhood health service, that will requ…
Lords
Oral Questions
23 March 2026
Migraine Care: 10-year Health Plan
It is important that we acknowledge that this is a debilitating condition. The noble Baroness is right that it is one of the most common neurological conditions, affecting one in five women and one in 15 men. Indeed, it is a major cause of disability. The 10-year plan sets out the main pillars. For …
Lords
Proceedings
17 March 2026
GP Contract
I welcome some of the criteria that are going to be used, particularly for deprived communities, in relation to access, but there remains a postcode lottery in terms of access to GPs, particularly in deprived communities. My concern is that, with some of the algorithms and IT being used as a postbox…
Lords
Oral Questions
4 March 2026
Maternity Commissioner
I start by declaring an interest: I was born in one of the hospitals there and three of my Leeds-based grandchildren have been born there relatively recently. Of course, it is of concern, particularly for the country; I think it is the largest teaching hospital in Europe. I want to reassure the nobl…
Lords
Oral Questions
10 February 2026
Better Start Longitudinal Programmes
They do: I completely agree. That is why they are very much part of our delivery plan. It is part of the move from hospital to community: part of the neighbourhood service model. We will be publishing the workforce plan in the spring; that will take account of it. This is a multidisciplinary approac…
Lords
Oral Questions
10 February 2026
Under-16s Energy Drinks Ban
We were glad to introduce the voluntary measures. To be proportionate and evidence-based, they will in the first instance be voluntary. We will review along the way how we are getting on and whether there is a need for statutory action, as the noble Baroness asks.
Lords
Oral Questions
9 February 2026
Hospitals: Delayed Discharges
The noble Baroness raises how we assess performance. That is a valid question. This work has been tackled through all the plans for improvement. It is complicated, as she suggests, and covers a range of different areas. I do not think there is one prescriptive model that we need to adhere to. We nee…
Lords
Oral Questions
4 February 2026
Baby Milk Powder: Cereulide
That last point is something that will be looked at as part of workforce planning. I totally agree with the noble Baroness about the importance of the multidisciplinary team in supporting new mothers to find the right ways that are suitable for them and best for their baby—and I am glad the noble Ba…
Lords
Oral Questions
4 February 2026
NHS: Corridor Care
I agree with the noble Baroness. Corridor care is perhaps one of the most visible and distressing symptoms of an NHS that the noble Lord, Lord Darzi, described as broken. We have to fix a number of the processes. I welcome that we are expanding urgent care access, for example, in primary, community …
Lords
Oral Questions
20 January 2026
Maternal Mortality
Midwives are absolutely crucial, and I pay tribute to them and to the wider maternity team. As of October 2025, there has been an increase of some 3.6%—that is 878 more midwives—compared to October 2024. Importantly, we are seeing the introduction of a range of initiatives to improve retention in th…
Lords
Oral Questions
14 January 2026
Early Years Education
The noble Baroness picks up an important point. We know how important ages nought to five are in development, particularly of the brain, and going forward. As I said, the evidence on this is emerging and good practice is coming forward. It is heartbreaking that young children arrive at school and, w…
Lords
Oral Questions
5 January 2026
Toilet-training: Support for Parents
I am looking forward, as I am sure the noble Baroness is, to the professional strategy for nursing and midwifery, which will come out with our workforce plan through the 10-year plan for the health service. These are really important areas; we need to have a real focus. I am pleased that she recogni…
Lords
Oral Questions
15 December 2025
2 contributions
Breast Cancer
My Lords—
The answer to that latter question is yes, and the noble Baroness will not have to wait too long to see the national cancer plan.
Lords
Oral Questions
24 November 2025
NHS: Wheelchair Services
The provision of the right type of wheelchair is crucial, but we also need to expand care options to boost independent living at home. We have done that in part through an additional £172 million for the disabled facilities grant, which goes hand in hand with people being able to live at home. This …
Lords
Oral Questions
23 October 2025
MBRRACE-UK Report 2025
One of the interventions aimed at addressing inequalities—which will, I am sure, be of interest—is the delivery of what is called an inequalities dashboard. That allows local systems to monitor data usage where inequalities are in place. As the noble Baroness rightly suggests, if we do not know wher…
Lords
Oral Questions
9 September 2025
Child Houses for Child Victims of Sexual Abuse
The noble Baroness makes a very important point. We have tried to respond to the IICSA recommendations. From the Home Office, we also have legislation on that downstream. We are also looking at a violence against women and girls strategy, which is being developed now within the Home Office specifica…
Lords
Oral Questions
2 July 2025
Police: Facial Recognition Technology
There has been some discussion of the algorithms and their use. There were discussions with South Wales Police in particular, who were dealing with that issue. Those discussions resulted in the National Physical Laboratory testing the algorithm used by South Wales Police, and it found no statistical…
Lords
Oral Questions
24 June 2025
Baby Foods: Nutrition and Marketing
In my former life, I never dreamed that I would spend so much time talking about breastfeeding in the House of Lords. The noble Baroness raises such an important point, and this is why we are investing in Start for Life. The Start for Life services include £18.5 million to improve infant feeding ser…
Lords
Oral Questions
11 June 2025
Online Abuse: Protection for Children
My Lords, the noble Baroness is absolutely right. Algorithms are a real challenge, and we know some of the damage that can be done by them if they do not operate effectively. When Ofcom published its child safety codes on 24 April, it set out 40 measures that companies are expected to take to comply…