Baroness Walmsley: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the progress of the COVID-19 vaccination programme towards meeting its (1) delivery targets, and (2) objectives.
Baroness Walmsley: My Lords, the vaccine programme certainly is going well, but there is evidence that some groups are being left behind. One such group is housebound people. Although they cannot leave their homes, carers and family come in, which opens them up to infection. Why does NHS England not record the number of housebound patients who have received the vaccination? What is being done to speed up their...
Baroness Walmsley: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the UK's departure from the EU, what system has been put in place to scrutinise illegal state aid complaints in the UK.
Baroness Walmsley: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that UK complaints to the European Commission under the Competition Directive made prior to the UK's departure from the EU are scrutinised by the EU in a timely fashion.
Baroness Walmsley: My Lords, do the Government plan to continue to enforce activity targets in the next financial year? The new contract is only seven weeks away, and those in the profession has heard nothing about the basis on which they will be paid next year. When do the Government plan, at last, to deliver wider NHS dental contract reform, which they committed to in 2010? The issue keeps being kicked into...
Baroness Walmsley: Does the noble Lord the Minister dispute the figure quoted by my noble friend Lord Scriven about the number cutting short their isolation, or is he just planning to ignore it? Does he accept the figure from local authorities that two-thirds of applicants for the £500 do not receive it? Does he therefore agree with me that most of those who apply for it actually need it to help them do the...
Baroness Walmsley: My Lords, Professor Dame Sally Davies, the UK envoy on anti-microbial resistance, is calling on academics, Governments and not-for-profit organisations to work together to tackle this global health risk, which is a threat to both lives and economies. What action have the Government taken and what are their plans, following the recent update of the noble Lord, Lord O’Neill, on his 2016...
Baroness Walmsley: My Lords, campaigners have asked for a coronavirus home retention scheme of £750 million in support to be made available to help renters in arrears, recover loss of income and avoid rent debt. Have the Government conducted a cost-benefit analysis comparing such a fund with the potential cost of making many families homeless because of rent arrears?
Baroness Walmsley: My Lords, the Corporation of London has warned against focusing just on increasing numbers of trees and thereby ignoring the role of wood pasture and slow-growing, long-lived landscape trees, which sequester more carbon than equivalent areas of woods plus pasture. Is this fact being taken into account as well as the amenity value of such areas?
Baroness Walmsley: My Lords, even before the pandemic, 65% of children in some areas were not receiving the mandated two-and-a-half-year health visitor check because of cuts to the workforce. Will there be any additional resources for the health visitor workforce to help them to catch up with missed visits to vulnerable young families during the pandemic?
Baroness Walmsley: My Lords, the eating disorder faculty at the Royal College of Psychiatrists has recently reported that eating disorder teams are being asked to ignore the NICE guidelines for treatment as being unrealistic and too expensive. Will the Minister either justify this or condemn it?
Baroness Walmsley: My Lords, I am honoured to follow the noble Lord, Lord Field, and the noble Baroness, Lady Meacher. I too have put my name to Amendment 15. Before I specifically address the amendment of the noble Lord, Lord Field, I would like to acknowledge the Minister’s reply to my Oral Question earlier today about the negative effect of Brexit on the legal supply of Bedrocan, and probably other...
Baroness Walmsley: My Lords, I support this amendment. When we discussed this issue in Committee, I raised the matter of Section 57A of the Patents Act 1977 and the Minister pointed out that compensation needs to be awarded to a patent holder for any loss of profits as a result of the use of a Crown use licence and argued that this should be set against the potential savings that purchasing more affordable...
Baroness Walmsley: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to ensure that cannabis oil continues to be legally available to patients when prescribed by their physician.
Baroness Walmsley: My Lords, I thank the Minister for that very encouraging response. He will know that time is of the essence because these medicines prevent children having severe fits, some of which are life-threatening. Can he go back to his department and educate some of his officials? Unfortunately, a lot of the families are very upset at being told that they can safely be switched to an alternative...
Baroness Walmsley: My Lords, a weak link in the measures to suppress the virus has been the small percentage of people not self-isolating when they should. This is often because they cannot afford to do so. Dozens of times my Lib Dem colleagues and I have asked the Government to provide adequate financial support for self-isolators. So I ask the Minister again: in order to suppress the virus, will the...
Baroness Walmsley: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they made of the report by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Obesity The Future of Obesity Services, published on 25 November 2020.
Baroness Walmsley: I thank the Minister for his reply, but he will know that we have had several obesity strategies before. What steps are the Government taking to ensure that this latest strategy is implemented in full without delay? Can he provide an update on the timelines for implementation? One of the main concerns of our witnesses was that the full range of services should be provided everywhere in the...
Baroness Walmsley: My Lords, the last time that we discussed restrictions, I asked the Minister whether volunteers would be used for non-medical tasks to improve the speed of testing and tracing. The Minister dismissed the idea. Now they are asking for volunteers to marshal patients in vaccination centres. Will he now recognise the important role of these public- spirited people and tell us what resources will...
Baroness Walmsley: My Lords, will the Government focus on green hydrogen production for heavy transport and industrial use, and phase out other types of hydrogen production as soon as possible? Our gas infrastructure for homes is currently unsuitable for pure hydrogen. What is the cost of upgrading it and how does that cost compare with installing heat pump networks, which are safer, deliverable now, cheaper...