Baroness Howells of St Davids: My Lords, I thank my noble friend Lady Hollis. We met in the corridor and, within 10 minutes, I found myself putting my name down to speak—something I had had no intention of doing when I started my journey. When I began to read and to receive information on this subject, I realised that I was living in cloud-cuckoo-land. It was devastating for me, who thought that I cared about people. So...
Baroness Howells of St Davids: My Lords, I did not intend to say anything on race, because I have spoken for 60 years in this country. There have been many changes, but we are not talking about black people—this is about white people, and the Aryan myth of white superiority. I would be very grateful if somebody did some sort of exercise to bring forth that myth of white superiority. We forget that education came from...
Baroness Howells of St Davids: My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Shields, for initiating this debate and for her generous introduction to it. I think that we all enjoyed it and learned from it. It seems only yesterday that I had the privilege to stand before your Lordships in this very Chamber to mark the 100th anniversary of the International Women’s Day movement. Today, I begin with a quote from the esteemed...
Baroness Howells of St Davids: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the Movement for an Adoption Apology campaign, whether they have any plans to make a public apology to the mothers whose children were taken away from them between the 1950s and 1980s.
Baroness Howells of St Davids: My Lords, I put on record my thanks to the Minister for raising this debate and for the eloquent way in which she set out her arguments. It affords me the opportunity to quote the words of Edmund Burke, who said: “It is necessary only for the good man to do nothing for evil to triumph”. There remain alive in this country today a number of African-Caribbean persons who can still recall a...
Baroness Howells of St Davids: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to improve the treatment of prisoners with mental health conditions, and in particular to increase the number of staff available to escort them to treatment.
Baroness Howells of St Davids: My Lords, I would like to put this on record so that some of the answers to the Question do not keep coming up. No self-respecting person, black or white, will accept a job that they are not capable of. No person who served the National Health Service from any Caribbean country has ever been sacked because of lack of ability. They have suffered racism, but they contributed immeasurably in the...
Baroness Howells of St Davids: My Lords, I am sure that the House is aware that sugar comes from many sources—sugar cane, sugar beet and in fruit. Which sugar would we tax?
Baroness Howells of St Davids: My Lords, I would impress upon the Minister that something has to be done. I am often called by parents whose children have been wandering the streets, as when the child is excluded, they are either angry or frustrated and there is often no one to take them home or look after them. Heads of schools should realise that they are in loco parentis and that they ought to ensure the safety of the...
Baroness Howells of St Davids: Would the Minister also consider extending to foster parents the courtesy shown to looked-after children? My mailbag is full of complaints about how different schools operate the funding allocated to those children. The foster parents themselves are prohibited from asking questions because they could be deregulated from the system. Several foster parents, especially middle-class black women,...
Baroness Howells of St Davids: My Lords, I, too, thank the noble Lord, Lord Alton, who often places a demand on this House to examine what, for believers, is God’s big idea. This debate asks us to examine an idea that was introduced by the creator, as Christians believe. The author Myles Munroe suggests that the idea is beyond the philosophical reserves of human history. The big idea appears to have germinated all...
Baroness Howells of St Davids: My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Berridge, for raising this debate in her own inimitable way. Black people’s experience is that there is a deficit in this country that holds back our children and chains our citizens to a life of a possibly untapped goldmine of potential. I am speaking not of a budget deficit but of a disparity of BME appointments to the highest echelons of this...
Baroness Howells of St Davids: My Lords, I too thank the noble Baroness, Lady Jolly, for raising this debate during the week when we commemorate International Women’s Day. Sunday marks an international day of celebration and events that respect and appreciate women’s economic, political, and social achievements across the world. International Women’s Day was established in 1909; 105 years later, this year’s theme...
Baroness Howells of St Davids: My Lords, I have a special interest in libraries. I was the very first black person to be employed by a public library; I met my husband there, and I made many friends. The most important thing about the library that struck me when I came into the job was the facility provided for people who never spoke to anyone for the whole day, but who would come into the library, sit and read the papers,...
Baroness Howells of St Davids: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to ensure that the Clinical Priorities Advisory Group operates in a transparent manner. To ask Her Majesty’s Government how the work of the Clinical Priorities Advisory Group is communicated to the public.
Baroness Howells of St Davids: To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they expect NHS England to take a decision regarding the draft clinical commissioning policy for Duodopa. To ask Her Majesty’s Government how NHS England's decision regarding the draft clinical commissioning policy for Duodopa will be communicated to (1) the public, (2) patient organisations, and (3) healthcare professionals.
Baroness Howells of St Davids: My Lords, I, too, congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Kingsmill, on raising this debate and giving a very thorough insight into her report on what is happening in the care field. I have a particular interest in carers because so many immigrants from the early 1950s and 1960s from the Caribbean, when they were invited to come to support the mother country, found work in the caring sectors...
Baroness Howells of St Davids: My Lords, I had not meant to take part in this debate; I am neither a lawyer nor a judge. However, at one time in this Chamber today I felt I was being given the strong impression that only black boys carried knives in this country. I want to put on record that this is not so. In cases with which I have been involved in Greenwich, young men were killed with knives not because they had...
Baroness Howells of St Davids: My Lords, I asked for permission to speak in the gap because there was some mistake over whether I had put my name down. I do not know how that happened but there we are. The Assisted Dying Bill provokes strong feelings and has sparked widespread debate across the country, and rightly so. It affects the most vulnerable in our society and is literally an issue of life and death. We have all...
Baroness Howells of St Davids: My Lords, I am enormously grateful to the noble Lord who encouraged me to take part in this debate. He knows who he is. Like everyone on all sides of this House, I express my gratitude and support for the efforts being made up and down the country to mark the centennial of the 1914-18 war. Our national commemorations also contribute to the global tributes being paid to the men and women who...
