Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford: My Lords, investment is welcome but reform is also vital. The NAO’s autumn report noted that my noble friend’s department ended its charging reform programme board and “has not established an overarching programme to coordinate” reform activity. It is instead delivering reform “through a series of 27 projects which report to the director-general … via nine separate programme...
Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford: My Lords, every year 4,000 babies die due to pregnancy-specific conditions such as pre-term birth and pre-eclampsia, but 73% of drugs given to pregnant women do not have any safety information and only one drug has been developed specifically for use in pregnancy over the last 30 years. During that time, 600 drugs have been developed for cardiac conditions. Will the Minister look at the...
Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford: My Lords, I declare my interest. I have had well-controlled chronic migraine, which was not managed until I was able to access a specialist. It was welcome that NICE recently approved a new drug for acute migraine and noted that the condition affects every aspect of life. Currently, when triptan is ineffective, there is no further standard treatment and people are advised to see a specialist....
Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford: My Lords, I understand that finding suitable placements, even after Covid, is a particular barrier to increasing the number of T-levels available from providers. Some employers are poorly informed about the content and structure of T-levels. Can the Minister tell me what steps the department is taking to improve this situation?
Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford: My Lords, we learned from Covid that high-uptake vaccine programmes can be effectively delivered only with a firm foundation of high-quality data and surveillance. The UK measles and rubella elimination strategy set out by UKHSA commits to a target of rigorous case investigation and the testing of over 80% of suspected cases with an oral fluid test. Can the Minister update the House on our...
Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford: My Lords, picking up on the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, about the value of the Oxford-Cambridge arc for economic growth, the first step in improving connectivity in the arc between Oxford and Cambridge is of course the East West Rail Oxford-Bedford link. There was a commitment in the policy paper in February to consult on that. Can the Minister update the House?
Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford: My Lords, social prescribing is an important part of community health, because it acts directly on the social determinants of health. The long-term plan committed to 1,000 new social prescribing link workers in place by 2021, with the goal that at least 900,000 people will be referred to social prescribing by this year. Can the Minister update us on progress so far?
Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford: My Lords, good-quality in-patient provision for autistic people and those with learning disabilities is very hard to come by, so it is often far from home. Both the long-term plan and the autism strategy set out long overdue commitments to provide more support for those people in the community. There has been some progress since January and in-patient numbers have fallen by 30% since 2015,...
Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford: My Lords, I welcome the Government’s incentives for occupational health in SMEs and the health and disability White Paper. Are the Government considering embedding occupational therapists within GP practices for those who are self-employed?
Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford: My Lords, I declare my interest as chair of Genomics England. Some 3.5 million people live with rare diseases but only 5% of those conditions have a specific therapeutic. Condition management is essential, but patients struggle to find it because of poor awareness and a shortage of specialist clinicians and nurses. The England Rare Disease Action Plan 2023 commits to a workforce strategy but...
Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford: My Lords—
Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford: My Lords, I was pleased to see that, among other measures, the Apprenticeship Diversity Champions Network has been set up to provide practical advice on how to attract more women into STEM roles in industries that have historically been dominated by men. The first quarter of 2022-23 saw 13% more women start STEM apprenticeships. Can the Minister say what other measures will be taken to build...
Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford: My Lords, it is very impressive to see the Minister at the Dispatch Box after his efforts in the marathon. All of us all in this House want to see progress in responding to this hard-to-treat cancer. However, the Minister’s answers on this topic are not that dissimilar to those that I would have had to give when I was responding back in 2019. Can he go back to the Question from the noble...
Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford: My Lords, I am very pleased to see that UKHSA has issued guidance in response to the increased number of cases, but it will be important to know how effective the response and the screening are. What plans are there for pathogenic screening and other forms of surveillance going forward?
Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford: My Lords, my understanding is that when a bus is cancelled at very short notice, often because of congestion, that data is not filtering through in real time to Google Maps or any of the national APIs. This makes it very difficult for people to plan their journeys and has an impact on economic productivity. Will the Minister look into this and see what can be done to put it right?
Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford: My Lords, I welcome the £277 million announced today by the Government for innovative life sciences manufacturing, which includes vaccines. Can the Minister update us on the implementation of other steps in the life sciences vision, including more rapid uptake of innovative therapeutics in the NHS?
Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford: My Lords, I welcome the Minister to his place. The AI regulation policy paper published last July set out a framework for fostering responsible innovation in AI. It included principles such as ensuring AI is secure and operates as designed, is transparent and explainable, and embeds principles of fairness and redress. Given the accelerating LLM models and their rapid inclusion in daily life,...
Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford: My Lords, the disability work gap remains stubbornly wide. Can the Minister update the House on the workforce review being conducted by the DWP, which is examining proposals for subsidies for occupational health services that could close that gap?
Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford: My Lords, I was very interested in the Minister’s answer to the noble Viscount, Lord Stansgate, and the recent answer regarding digitisation at ports. Does the Home Office intend to update the biometrics strategy, which was last updated in 2018, given some of the challenges with future-proofing these technologies and keeping up to date with AI and other technologies?
Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford: My Lords, in addition to PPE and the steps laid out by the noble Baroness, what success has there been in analysing a sustainability strategy for the NHS? For example, switching patients from propellant inhalers to powdered inhalers could be a big step forward.
