Lord Jordan: My Lords, I declare an interest as life president of RoSPA. This year, the ILO declared that a safe and healthy working environment is a fundamental right for all workers. Can the Government confirm that this fundamental right will be included in their proposed Bill of Rights, when that comes forward? Will they also confirm that all the protections afforded by Britain’s present health and...
Lord Jordan: My Lords—
Lord Jordan: My Lords, is the Minister aware that the promises made by Avanti to run three trains an hour from London to Birmingham have not been honoured, and, worse still, that it is now running only one train an hour between two of the country’s largest cities? Could she tell us why—despite making surely the understatement of the year that the performance of Avanti trains was dreadful—its...
Lord Jordan: My Lords, in supporting the noble Baroness, Lady Jolly, on Amendment 262, I have to tell the House that when RoSPA campaigned for the introduction of car seat belts, it said that would save lives—and it did, spectacularly. Now we are campaigning for safer stairs in new-build houses and saying again that it will save lives, which it will. More than that, it will significantly reduce the...
Lord Jordan: My Lords, this Bill was born out of a disaster—one that saw many people killed and injured in their own homes. The Bill, which we all support, will enact measures to prevent that happening again. Tonight, however, we have heard that many more needless deaths and injuries are still happening now in homes, which the Bill could and should take steps to prevent. I too declare my interest as a...
Lord Jordan: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) report Holding eSwatini to Account: Assessing the Country’s Compliance with the Commonwealth Charter, published on 5 March 2021, what plans they have to use their position as a member of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group to initiate an investigation into potential breaches of the...
Lord Jordan: My Lords, I thank the Minister for his reply. All that has really been achieved are belated promises of dialogue made by the last absolute dictatorship on the African continent, after a year of government repression and killing with no progress on the reforms the protesters are demanding. The intervention by SADC and the Commonwealth Secretariat has been completely ineffective. Will the...
Lord Jordan: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to provide COVID-19 vaccines to (1) the Republic of Barbados, and (2) other small island states which may currently be experiencing COVID-19 vaccine shortages; and whether they intend to support the proposal of the governments of India and South Africa to suspend parts of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property...
Lord Jordan: My Lords, I want to talk about the proposed building safety Bill referred to in Her Majesty’s gracious Speech. In doing so, I declare an interest as vice-president of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents. Following the tragedy at Grenfell, the Government’s response in bringing forward further legislation is welcome, and this House has rightly spent much time debating and...
Lord Jordan: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made (1) to the authorities in Hong Kong, and (2) to the government of China, about the recent convictions of democracy campaigners in Hong Kong.
Lord Jordan: I thank the Minister for his reply. This Friday my friend Lee Cheuk-yan, leader of Hong Kong’s independent trade unions, along with other democrats, is likely to be sentenced to years in jail for the crimes of peaceful protest, exercising freedom of assembly and freedom of speech. China’s blatant disregard for agreements and promises and its suppressions of freedoms must be halted. I ask...
Lord Jordan: My Lords, I too congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady McIntosh, on the way in which she has introduced this subject. I declare an interest as deputy president of RoSPA. When the first smart motorway experiment opened on the M42 in 2006, it showed great potential for improving the situation caused by the growing congestion on Britain’s motorways. Using technology, new techniques were...
Lord Jordan: My Lords, London has some of the finest emergency services and best-equipped trauma centres in the world. The real problem is the deadly vacuum between the terrorist attack and the arrival of paramedics. Specialist and military experts have developed citizenAID, a free app with a proven record that gives ordinary people the ability to give life-saving first aid without prior training or...
Lord Jordan: The gracious Speech gave a high priority to the National Health Service—its health and the health of those it serves. More than 6,000 people are killed as a result of home accidents in the UK every year, considerably more than are killed in workplace or road accidents. The home has become, statistically, a dangerous place to be. My comparison with road and workplace-related injury seeks not...
Lord Jordan: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what guidance they have given to the housebuilding sector in order to reduce the number of accidents within the home.
Lord Jordan: In begging leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper, I declare an interest as vice-president of RoSPA.
Lord Jordan: I thank the Minister for his reply. Some 11.5 million adults over 65 live in the UK. The NHS says that around one in three will have at least one fall every year, and about half of those will have more frequent falls. Falls continue to be a leading cause of accident-related A&E attendances and overnight hospital admissions. With their goal to build 300,000 houses a year, will the Government...
