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2,941 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDCovid-19: ObesityMy Lords, I defer to the noble Lord’s expertise and authority in speaking on behalf of those who live in deprivation. He is a valued spokesman for people in such conditions.…21 Apr 2021HANSARDCovid-19: ObesityMy Lords, I completely agree with my noble friend that obesity has been a sad and tragic driver of death from Covid. Overweight people are 67% more likely to need intensive care…21 Apr 2021HANSARDCovid-19: ObesityI thank my noble friend for his question. It is for others in the post-mortem process to pronounce on the exact cause of deaths during Covid, but it is an unavoidable fact that,…21 Apr 2021HANSARDCare Homes: GuidanceMy Lords, there are two points of difference. One is that we can take certain measures to guide the behaviours of care home workers but we cannot mandate for every aspect of their…21 Apr 2021HANSARDCovid-19: UpdateMy Lords, I am enormously grateful to both the noble Baronesses, Lady Brinton and Lady Thornton, for such thoughtful questions. I totally and utterly endorse both with regard to…20 Apr 2021HANSARDCovid-19: UpdateMy noble friend is right: the people of Leicester have done a terrific job at getting the rate down. It was once 571 per 100,000, and on 15 April it was 74 per 100,000. This is a…20 Apr 2021HANSARDCovid-19: UpdateMy Lords, the Cabinet Office is reviewing whether Covid status certification could play a role in reopening our economy, reducing restrictions on social contact and improving…20 Apr 2021HANSARDCovid-19: UpdateMy noble friend is entirely right: life sciences is a huge national strength. It was a quiet industry that people did not speak of much; now it is centre stage. Post Brexit, the…20 Apr 2021HANSARDCovid-19: UpdateThe right reverend Prelate hits the nail on the head. It is extremely sad, frustrating and hard to acknowledge the fact that those who live in deprivation are often those who are…20 Apr 2021HANSARDCovid-19: UpdateMy Lords, I join the noble Lord in commending the people who work at Macmillan and all the other important diagnostic centres that have remained committed to their work throughout…20 Apr 2021HANSARDCovid-19: UpdateMy Lords, our thoughts are with the people of India at a time when they are fighting the disease in very difficult circumstances. I acknowledge that, for families in the UK with…20 Apr 2021HANSARDCovid-19: UpdateMy noble friend is quite wrong if he is seeking to imply that there is any doubt about lockdowns working. Lockdowns work incredibly well because they put space between people. The…20 Apr 2021HANSARDCovid-19: UpdateMy Lords, the vaccine is typically seen as personal medical hygiene. I am not sure if arrangements have been made for people to be paid while they get vaccinated, but I would be…20 Apr 2021HANSARDCovid-19: UpdateMy Lords, I hear the message from my noble friend loud and clear. Vaccination rates among care home workers in some communities are just not high enough. The Government have…20 Apr 2021HANSARDCovid-19: UpdateI am extremely grateful for that perceptive question. We are looking, at this very moment, at our arrangements for the autumn. For the flu vaccine, we hope to double down on our…20 Apr 2021HANSARDCovid-19: UpdateMy Lords, the post-mortem is not fully written. When it is, the causes of our relatively high mortality rate will undoubtedly be complex and a number of factors will have played a…20 Apr 2021HANSARDCovid-19: UpdateThe noble Lord is right that the backlog is a grave issue, and we are fighting as hard as we can to address it. The big guns of the NHS are moving from Covid to addressing the…20 Apr 2021HANSARDCovid-19: UpdateMy Lords, we put in place a considerable amount of support for those on low wages, including the furlough scheme, and a huge amount of economic support. It is true that those on…20 Apr 2021HANSARDCovid-19: UpdateMy Lords, all the major vaccine companies are already looking at tweaking their existing vaccines, or developing new ones, in response to the new variants. AstraZeneca, for…20 Apr 2021HANSARDCovid-19: UpdateMy Lords, I completely recognise my noble friend’s concerns, but I reassure him that surgeries simply are not closed, and if he has any examples of those he thinks are closed, I…20 Apr 2021