Baroness Browning: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether their future management of COVID-19 will be determined by scientific advice.
Baroness Browning: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the (1) residential home, and (2) nursing home, capacity in England since March 2020.
Baroness Browning: Given the prediction of increased infectivity, what internal guidance is being given post 19 July within the NHS? Will GP surgeries, A&E and outpatient departments revert to their former practices, or is the guidance that they should retain face masks, distancing and hand gel use?
Baroness Browning: My Lords, I declare my interests as a vice-president of the National Autistic Society, as an ambassador for the Alzheimer’s Society and as an informal carer. I congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Jolly, on securing this debate. I shall miss her contributions in this area, which we have shared over many years. I am going to leave to others today discussion of the urgent need to reform...
Baroness Browning: My Lords, I declare my interest as a vice-president of the National Autistic Society. My noble friend will be only too well aware that many on the autism spectrum are very IT-savvy. However, can he help those who would find it quite a challenge to phone 111? Is there any way the Government can communicate with the autism community, perhaps through the charitable sector and others, to make...
Baroness Browning: My Lords, I too welcome the maiden speeches of the noble Lord, Lord Coaker, with whom I served in the House of Commons, and the noble Lord, Lord Morse—I served for many years on the Public Accounts Committee, and I am sure that his future contributions will be much valued in the House of Lords. I will focus on community and welfare. Cohesive communities thrive when vulnerable minorities do...
Baroness Browning: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to ensure that future reforms to social care consider person-centred dementia care.
Baroness Browning: My Lords, I refer to my interests in the register as an ambassador for the Alzheimer’s Society and as a carer. This is Dementia Action Week. I am grateful to my noble friend and urge him that, as people with dementia are by far the majority of users of social care, the promised reforms deliver person-centred care to enable people with dementia to live in places they call home, take part in...
Baroness Browning: Is my noble friend able to assure the House today that significant changes will be made to the Ministerial Code to ensure that there is independent enforcement and clear sanctions, unlike under the current arrangement?
Baroness Browning: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that people with learning disabilities have (1) training on, and (2) access to, IT, so that they are not isolated from information and services.
Baroness Browning: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they plan to take support the mental health needs of frontline care workers in the charitable and not-for-profit sectors.
Baroness Browning: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of National Living Wage costs on care providers in the charitable sector.
Baroness Browning: To ask Her Majesty's Government what definitions they use for the purpose of assessing health and welfare needs for (1) severe disability, (2) long-term disability, and (3) terminal illness.
Baroness Browning: The WHO website officially states that, on 30 January, it declared a public health emergency of international concern. It claims that not many countries took much notice and that it was not until it used the word “pandemic”, on 11 March, five weeks later, that people sat up and took notice. This is clearly unsatisfactory. Will my noble friend do all that he can, as I hope he will, to...
Baroness Browning: My Lords, it is a great pleasure to follow the noble Baroness and to hear from her first-hand experience. The severe disability benefit, as we have heard, awarded to people with existing disability benefits such as ESA and PIP, is by definition for the most complex disabilities, including physical and learning disabilities, autism, mental health challenges and, as we have heard, for people...
Baroness Browning: I ask my noble friend about capacity. Under the Mental Capacity Act, this is not a generalised presumption; it is specific to the issue at hand. Who exactly determines whether the individual has capacity? If a professional assessment of capacity is needed, who exactly is expected to pay? It can cost several hundred pounds.
Baroness Browning: My husband, who is 84 years old, received his Pfizer vaccine before Christmas and his second one last week was cancelled. Is there any guarantee that, when the second jab comes, it will be the Pfizer vaccine? As I understand, there has been no research on mixing and matching these vaccines. Is there any way that the level of immunity can be tested at that three-month point?
Baroness Browning: My Lords, it is a great pleasure to contribute, albeit for three minutes, to this debate. I agree so much with those who have congratulated the noble Lord, Lord Frost, and his team. Anybody who has been involved in negotiations, with the EU in particular, will know they are a challenge. They often end in the small hours of the morning, and there is always compromise. I accept, as somebody who...
Baroness Browning: My Lords, I refer to my interests in the register. My noble friend has not mentioned—and I would like to remind him of it—that in 2009 Parliament passed the Autism Act. It is the only medically diagnosed condition, apart from mental health, considered important enough to have its own Act of Parliament. Many of the issues raised in the CQC report to do with diagnosis and failure to...
