Baroness Howells of St Davids: My Lords, before the noble and learned Lord sits down, the point I was making is that reddening of the skin cannot possibly apply in the case of black children.
Baroness Howells of St Davids: My Lords, I welcome this opportunity to draw to the attention of the House a worrying health matter for the black community. Before doing so, I should like to add my thanks to my noble friend Lord Hunt of Kings Heath for raising such a popular debate and for his robust introduction. I congratulate my noble friend Lord Drayson on his enlightening maiden speech. We look forward to hearing from...
Baroness Howells of St Davids: My Lords, I begin by congratulating the noble Baroness, Lady Hooper, on raising this debate and on giving such an insight into the present position of the overseas territories. Her commitment is well known and, as she said, she raises the these matters publicly in the House. Her focus, following the meeting of the council in 2003, gives the debate a yardstick against which we can all measure...
Baroness Howells of St Davids: My Lords, I, too, thank the noble Baroness, Lady Thornton, for raising this debate. I am particularly grateful because this is one debate in which I feel that I need not speak to the House on race. I was wondering how I would fare in such a debate, so I decided to begin with a little history about where we were, and to end with an issue on which I feel we have done much and been successful....
Baroness Howells of St Davids: My Lords, I am sure that all noble Lords are aware that Caribbean people are the most researched group in the world. However, I should like to point out that, from the Caribbean perspective, the problem faced by Caribbean parents concerns discipline. Has any thought been given to offering support to Caribbean parents and communities? We have started up supplementary schools, but the...
Baroness Howells of St Davids: My Lords, I am very pleased to be able to speak on this important Bill. Before I entered your Lordships' House, I worked with families whose young children had been brutally murdered. We worked together to see that justice was done and campaigned for reform of our public institutions so that tragedies such as theirs were less likely to happen to any other child. I refer, of course, to the...
Baroness Howells of St Davids: My Lords, I shall address my three minutes to black women, and it is not all doom and gloom. Black women have made advances in many areas and we are grateful for small mercies. I recall the words of Prime Minister Harold Wilson. He was very pleased about the record number of women in his Cabinet as this gave the government a feminist perspective and a better reflection of society. Until then,...
Baroness Howells of St Davids: My Lords, I am sure your Lordships will agree that this is a very important and opportune debate. I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Boothroyd, for securing the debate. I have always believed that tolerance hangs by a thread. I am concerned that some sections of the media have demonstrated the sort of xenophobia I thought we had got over in Britain after the Macpherson report. The media attack...
Baroness Howells of St Davids: My Lords, I give credit to the noble Lord, Lord Harrison, for raising this debate and for the customary detail with which he presented his arguments to the House. My contribution is a small intervention in what will be said by other speakers whose knowledge is greater than mine. The report that we are debating, Act Now: Modernising London's West End Theatres, points to a crisis in theatreland...
Baroness Howells of St Davids: My Lords, I am sure that the Minister is aware that more than 300,000 carers miss out on claiming the carer's allowance because they do not know about it. Does the Minister think that social services departments should be more proactive in encouraging carers to claim?
Baroness Howells of St Davids: asked Her Majesty's Government: When they will be publishing the winter Suplementary Estimate 2003–04 for the Cabinet Office.
Baroness Howells of St Davids: My Lords, I find myself in a very unusual position, in that I am supporting the amendment of the noble Lord, Lord Hodgson, because I want to speak against the order. I shall do so by asking the Government four questions. Is cannabis harmless? Cannabis is a mind-altering drug that has a ravaging effect on the brain, as Hamish Turner, the president of the Coroners' Society stated. He said that...
Baroness Howells of St Davids: My Lords—
Baroness Howells of St Davids: My Lords, like other noble Lords, I, too, thank the noble Baroness, Lady Elles, for raising the debate so soon after the March 2002 debate of the noble Lord, Lord Alton. This shows the urgency of dealing with this disgraceful practice. Since that debate the Government, I am pleased to say, have taken steps to bring forward many measures for dealing with this abomination. I shall not reiterate...
Baroness Howells of St Davids: My Lords, it is often considered by some that any debate raising the concerns of minority groups is "political correctness". This topic concerns us all. That is why I am pleased to support the noble Lord, Lord Chan, by adding a few thoughts to this debate on the Department of Health's report on mental health in ethnic communities, Inside, Outside. Let me begin by drawing attention to a report...
Baroness Howells of St Davids: My Lords, does the Lord Chancellor agree that whatever government are in power, they will seek to ensure that the Race Relations (Amendment) Act is implemented?
Baroness Howells of St Davids: My Lords, I hope that the House will permit me to say publicly to the noble Baroness, Lady Scotland, how proud the community from which she hails is of her, and to congratulate both her and the noble and learned Lord the Lord Chancellor on taking up their new posts. Like most other noble Lords, I welcome the Bill, and I commend much of what it pertains to achieve. All the points have been...
Baroness Howells of St Davids: My Lords, I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Joffe, for having instigated this debate and for the very feeling way in which he made his presentation. My postbag, like that of other noble Lords, has been bursting with letters on this matter. From the long list of speakers, there can be no doubt about the merits of the debate. The Bill is concerned with a very vulnerable phase in our life...
Baroness Howells of St Davids: asked Her Majesty's Government: When they plan to issue their consultation paper on temporary accommodation for homeless households.
Baroness Howells of St Davids: My Lords, I am grateful to be allowed to speak in the gap. I shall use my two minutes to bring to the notice of noble Lords the excellent report of the King's Fund, published in July 2002, which my community calls "social care fighting spirit". The report calls for psycho-social support to be made available for people with terminal illnesses—something that is badly needed by sufferers of...
