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2,941 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDCovid-19I am very grateful for the questions and I will take them one at a time. I am enormously grateful for the advice of SAGE; the work it does is invaluable. However, it is not…15 Sept 2021HANSARDCovid-19My Lords, I absolutely applaud the sentiments that the noble Baroness articulated: her sense of responsibility and commitment to the community are generally exactly what we are…15 Sept 2021HANSARDNHS: Hospital VisitingMy noble friend raises an important question. Mental well-being is affected by visiting. We know that particularly from social care, where this has been a particularly onerous…15 Sept 2021HANSARDCovid-19Like the noble Viscount, I pay tribute not just to Boots—an excellent chemist—but all the other pharmacies, which have contributed so much in this epidemic in looking after the…15 Sept 2021HANSARDCovid-19My Lords, I hear the noble Lord’s points loud and clear. We are seeking to balance the epidemiological, public health practicalities of trying to limit the spread of the disease…15 Sept 2021HANSARDCovid-19My Lords, I absolutely reassure the noble Baroness that teachers will not be involved in the vaccination programme. I pay tribute to the work that teachers have done in organising…15 Sept 2021HANSARDCovid-19It is an interesting and creative idea, and certainly one that would be worth looking at. On day 2 testing, I recognise that it is inconvenient to do the follow-up testing if you…15 Sept 2021HANSARDHealth Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (Steps etc.) (England) (Revocation and Amendment) Regulations 2021That the Regulations laid before the House on 15 July and 19 July be approved. Relevant document: 11th Report from the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee. Considered in…15 Sept 2021HANSARDCovid-19I thank the noble Baronesses, Lady Thornton and Lady Brinton, for such thoughtful questions. I am very pleased to be here to answer questions on both these Statements, and I thank…15 Sept 2021HANSARDNHS: Hospital VisitingMy Lords, I am pleased to say that 91% of care homes in England have been able to accommodate residents receiving visitors, compared to 40% in March. That is huge progress and…15 Sept 2021HANSARDNHS: Hospital VisitingWhat a touching piece of testimony from my noble friend. The feelings he had as a child are felt by a great number of people, not only those in hospital and social care but their…15 Sept 2021HANSARDCommonwealth Fund Report: NHS RankingMy Lords, we are very grateful to the Commonwealth Fund, based in America, for its very important report and its updated rankings. I note that the criteria in the report have…14 Sept 2021HANSARDCommonwealth Fund Report: NHS RankingMy Lords, the noble Baroness half answers her own question. When it comes to universal coverage, I am extremely proud of the NHS and the service that we provide to the British…14 Sept 2021HANSARDCommonwealth Fund Report: NHS RankingMy Lords, we raise taxes with huge hesitation. My noble friend is entirely right to hold the system to account for delivering value for money and to question productivity, but I…14 Sept 2021HANSARDCommonwealth Fund Report: NHS RankingMy Lords, we are investing a tremendous amount in preventive care, and I agree with the noble Baroness that this is key to the future—to better and longer lives and, on my noble…14 Sept 2021HANSARDCommonwealth Fund Report: NHS RankingMy Lords, I pay tribute to Andrea Leadsom for her report and all those who collaborated in drafting it. The noble Baroness is entirely right that those in the first 1,000 days of…14 Sept 2021HANSARDCommonwealth Fund Report: NHS RankingMy Lords, we are grateful to GPs and doctors for the work that they do. Of course, the way to get more GPs is partly by training them, partly by retaining them, and partly by…14 Sept 2021HANSARDCommonwealth Fund Report: NHS RankingMy Lords, I take my noble friend’s point: there are hot spots of innovation and change in the NHS, of which we should be proud, but she is right that the NHS is a large…14 Sept 2021HANSARDCommonwealth Fund Report: NHS RankingMy Lords, I have not studied the report’s comments on mental health but, in the broad terms in which the noble Lord describes the issue, I agree. We are very committed to…14 Sept 2021HANSARDCommonwealth Fund Report: NHS RankingMy Lords, I remind my noble friend that the report looks at 10 countries, so although we are at the bottom, it is bottom of a very small list. There is competition within the…14 Sept 2021