Baroness Howells of St Davids: My Lords, one of the most worrying considerations for the Caribbean community is the number of black males in mental institutions and the treatment they receive. Can the Minister tell the House whether there has been any advance in the type of treatment that they now receive, or whether there is any on offer?
Baroness Howells of St Davids: My Lords, can the Minister tell the House what the primary care trusts do specifically to end waiting lists?
Baroness Howells of St Davids: My Lords, I rise to support my noble friend Lady Rendell in bringing the vexed question of racism in the performing arts to the attention of this House. My noble friend has given a pictorial precis of the current situation within the British performing arts, with her usual care and precision. I want to take the issue of cultural diversity and equal opportunity into a realism as experienced by...
Baroness Howells of St Davids: asked Her Majesty's Government: Whether there are any proposals to amend the Department of Health's and the Food Standards Agency's departmental expenditure limits and administration cost limits for 2002–03.
Baroness Howells of St Davids: My Lords, the report and the review we are discussing appear to have received strong support from both the London Voluntary Service Council and the National Council for Voluntary Organisations. I take heart from that. I know that the report will be discussed in general terms; I want therefore to use my privilege to call attention specifically to the role of the black voluntary sector in...
Baroness Howells of St Davids: My Lords, at this stage, every side of the argument has been put. Having recently become a carer, I have been a recipient of the very service that the Bill seeks to address. I speak with the voice of the consumer and welcome the Bill's passage though the House. The Bill is a package which, with a very few minor adjustments, will work. The requirement for a written discharge plan is reassuring...
Baroness Howells of St Davids: asked Her Majesty's Government: Whether the first stage of the quinquennial review of the Meteorological Office has been completed.
Baroness Howells of St Davids: My Lords, I am most grateful to my noble friend Lord Ashley of Stoke for introducing this debate. I have listened attentively to what he said and to what the noble Lord, Lord Pearson of Rannoch, said about the existing provision for those persons with a mental health incapacity and of the need for clear legislation. Because I would want to support any legislation on this matter, I should like...
Baroness Howells of St Davids: My Lords, I, too, should like not only to thank my noble friend Lady Rendell for tabling this Unstarred Question, but also to congratulate her on raising this sensitive issue in your Lordships' House. I did not attend the conference to which my noble friend referred, so I shall give a personal view as a black person. From the introductory remarks of my noble friend and from what other noble...
Baroness Howells of St Davids: My Lords, although I have not spoken on the issue, I have followed the Bill closely. I support the amendment. I have spent some time consulting on the probability of us not taking this small step at this time. The more we invite or introduce new cultures into the British system, the more we have to realise that some people do not see fostering in quite the same way as we do. Some people think...
Baroness Howells of St Davids: asked Her Majesty's Government: When they will publish the 2001–02 annual report for the Veterinary Laboratories Agency.
Baroness Howells of St Davids: asked Her Majesty's Government: When the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs will publish its response to the Environmental Audit Committee's Third Report of Session 2001–02, UK Preparations for the World Summit on Sustianble Development.
Baroness Howells of St Davids: My Lords, does the Minister agree that any money spent on ill patients is well spent? We know that there have been years of neglect which have caused the NHS almost to pack up. We should all be pleased for patients who are having their hip operations abroad at whatever cost.
Baroness Howells of St Davids: asked Her Majesty's Government: What the most recent statistics are for the police use of firearms.
Baroness Howells of St Davids: My Lords, is the Minister aware that the Director of Public Prosecutions actually made the statement based on the empirical data that he found in the job that he is doing? There is a lot to be said for studying his report.
Baroness Howells of St Davids: My Lords, like other noble Lords, I welcome this long, overdue Bill. I should like to raise a concern about comments made on the issue of same-race placements, which has been vaguely mentioned during the debate. I shall also make another comment on the Bill as regards Clauses 44 to 49, which I totally support. Over the years many thousands of looked after children have benefited from the...
Baroness Howells of St Davids: My Lords, I join other noble Lords in thanking my noble friend Lady Billingham for raising this debate. It provides me with an opportunity to discuss the achievements of the Caribbean British in sport and the impact that that has had on the community as a whole. I shall direct my few words to the social inclusion aspect of that. The overriding ambition of the settlers of the 1950s and 1960s,...
Baroness Howells of St Davids: My Lords, I am grateful to the House for allowing me to speak in the gap. I promise that I shall be brief. I should also like to thank my noble friend Lady Pitkeathley for sharing her health experiences with us; and, indeed, for initiating today's debate. Mary Seacole, who was a nurse at the time of Florence Nightingale, would say that my noble friend is a credit to good ministration. That is...
Baroness Howells of St Davids: My Lords, is the Minister aware that Her Royal Highness the Princess Royal takes an active part in an organisation called Crime Concern, which works in the most deprived parts of Britain? Some of its resources come from the Youth Justice Board, but at present it is trying to increase its funding. Does my noble friend believe that he will be able to get the Home Office involved far more in...
Baroness Howells of St Davids: I support the noble Lords, Lord Clement-Jones and Lord Soulsby. I am confident that my noble friend the Minister is aware of concerns that the provision in question exists for one purpose only—to discriminate unfairly against individuals who obtain their medical degrees outside the so-called white Commonwealth. I understand that the GMC is concerned about that distinction at a time when we...
