Lord Shipley: My Lords, the Minister just mentioned resilience. The Statement itself does not say very much about emergency planning and resilience, yet Sir Martin Moore-Bick says at chapter 113.73 that the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea “was not able to provide an effective response to the emergency”, and he therefore recommends that “local authorities train all their employees, including...
Lord Shipley: My Lords, the Minister just mentioned resilience. The Statement itself does not say very much about emergency planning and resilience, yet Sir Martin Moore-Bick says at chapter 113.73 that the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea “was not able to provide an effective response to the emergency”, and he therefore recommends that “local authorities train all their employees, including...
Lord Shipley: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the role of the Care Quality Commission when inspecting dental businesses; and whether they have any plans to ask them also to consider the availability of NHS appointments when carrying out dental inspections.
Lord Shipley: To ask His Majesty's Government how many NHS whistleblowers were heeded and were satisfied with the response of their employers.
Lord Shipley: To ask His Majesty's Government how many cases of whistleblowing there have been in the past five years across all the health and care services that are within the remit of the Department of Health and Social Care; and how many of these cases were within the NHS and how many were within the private sector.
Lord Shipley: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of the scrutiny of NHS Foundation Trusts in cases where the chair of the board of directors is the same person as the chair of the council of governors.
Lord Shipley: To ask His Majesty's Government what payments they have made to whistleblowers in the NHS in each of the last five years (1) as part of non-disclosure agreements reached through out-of-court settlements, and (2) as the result of a decision by an employment tribunal.
Lord Shipley: To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to introduce a statutory right of patients to be registered as an NHS patient of a dentist.
Lord Shipley: My Lords, the Minister said that scrutiny is important and has committed the Government to undertaking further action when the mayor’s response has been received. What is the Minister’s expectation of the timescale? The mayor will respond quite soon, as I understand it, and the Government then have to say what they want to do. Can the Minister tell us how long that might be? Will he take...
Lord Shipley: My Lords, is always a pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Young of Cookham, who raised important questions on taxation, which I will come back to in a moment. I congratulate Ministers on their appointments and wish them well in their roles. We look forward to working with them constructively in the months and years ahead. I look forward very much to hearing the maiden speech of the noble...
Lord Shipley: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the use of oxo-degradable film, which breaks down into microplastics in the soil, in farming, given that the EU only permits biodegradable film, which breaks down into carbon dioxide and water.
Lord Shipley: My Lords, the Minister will have listened very carefully and I hope concluded that she has heard several notable contributions on this group, to which the only conclusion, in my view, is that this amendment should be accepted by the Government. I listened very carefully to the noble Baroness, Lady Noakes, and the noble Lord, Lord Leigh of Hurley. In the case of the noble Baroness, I think her...
Lord Shipley: My Lords, this has been an extremely helpful debate. As the noble Lord, Lord Mann, identified, there is a conundrum in the Bill. The Minister may wish to reflect on the discussion that has taken place. She said after the first group that she valued the expertise of this House and would go away and think about how the Government would respond. I took that to mean that they may make changes on...
Lord Shipley: I understand the noble Lord’s point. I am quoting from the Member’s explanatory statement which is part of Amendment 19 in the Third Marshalled List of Amendments.
Lord Shipley: Will the noble Lord give way for a moment? This discussion is extremely important, because I do not interpret Amendment 19 as the noble Lord is interpreting it. He says that there could be a statement, and it would have to be applied consistently to all countries. But the amendment also says that it must be in accordance with guidance published by the Secretary of State. The noble Lord has...
Lord Shipley: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the triage system used by some GP practices which requires all contact by patients seeking a GP appointment to be conducted online.
Lord Shipley: My Lords, I was going to offer some of my time to the noble Lord, Lord Blencathra, because his contribution was so very important. It was a pleasure to listen to what he said because he has personal experience of the service, and I pay tribute to him for pointing the committee in the direction of this inquiry based on that personal experience. I also thank our chair, the noble Baroness, Lady...
Lord Shipley: My Lords, on 5 March 2024, the Government issued a best value notice to the West of England Combined Authority. On 24 January 2023, it issued a best value notice to Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority, and it renewed that on 30 January 2024. Why are the Government refusing to implement an enforceable best value notice on Tees Valley Combined Authority when it imposes them on...
Lord Shipley: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the current backlog in local authority audits; and what plans they have to deliver all outstanding audit opinions by their proposed deadline of 30 September.
Lord Shipley: My Lords, we should all congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Bird, on enabling us to have this debate, because it is timely, in view of the fact that within a few months, we will have had a general election and there will be a new Government. In my view, that Government must see that reducing child poverty should be a very high priority. As the noble Baroness, Lady Lister of Burtersett, said,...
