Lord Bilimoria: My Lords, England and Wales lost more than 20,000 police officers between March 2010 and March 2019. I have spoken several times, requesting the Government to increase police officer numbers by 20,000. Eventually, almost exactly a year ago, the Prime Minister said that the target is to recruit 20,000 new police officers in England and Wales, as the Minister has said. He said that this would...
Division number 1 See full list of votes (From The Public Whip)Content Lord Addington Lord Alderdice Lord Allan of Hallam Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville Baroness Barker Lord Beith Baroness Benjamin Lord Berkeley of Knighton Lord Bhatia Lord Bichard Lord Birt Baroness Bonham-Carter of Yarnbury Baroness Bowles of Berkhamsted Lord Boyce Lord Bradshaw Baroness Brinton Lord Broers...
Lord Hain: My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Holmes. I will speak to Amendment 4, which is in my name and those of my noble friends Lord Hendy, Lady Ritchie of Downpatrick and Lord Monks. It is an extremely modest amendment. It simply ensures that employees, trade unions and businesses are consulted and involved before a local authority determines a pavement licence application...
Lord Bilimoria: My Lords, Westminster is not only the mother of Parliaments; it is the mother of bicameral Parliaments. Would the Minister agree that, for purely practical purposes, the close proximity of both Houses side by side—whether for APPGs, committees or visiting Heads of State—is important and that they should be together, let alone the fact that the House of Lords has the greatest depth and...
Lord Bilimoria: My Lords, it is very good to see the Statement saying that new cases are at their lowest since the lockdown began. Will the Minister confirm that 30,000 excess deaths have taken place in care homes, and that almost 20,000—almost 50%—of all the sad deaths have been in care homes? Are care home staff, the 1.6 million people who work in the care sector, as well as the 1 million patients in...
Earl Howe: My Lords, this has been a constructive debate and I am grateful, as ever, for your Lordships’ detailed engagement with the measures in the Bill. I congratulate my noble friend Lord Greenhalgh on making his first speech in this House in physical form. He set out succinctly the measures that the Bill seeks to introduce. I therefore intend to focus mainly on responding to questions and...
Kevin Hollinrake: ...in those businesses. We should perhaps consider loans that are based on a contingent tax liability—a kind of student loan system, whereby the loan is repaid through future profits. I know that Lord Bilimoria is keen to see a new 3i scheme, in which the Government put a significant amount of money—in his view, it should be £5 billion—into several different private equity...
Lord Bilimoria: My Lords, we welcome the Prime Minister’s emphasis on promoting a green recovery in his “Build, build, build” speech. Will the Minister inform us whether the formation of the Green Investment Bank, launched in 2012 with £3 billion, was key to backing the offshore wind industry? It was sold to Macquarie in 2017. Will the Government form a new green investment bank? What about...
Division number 4 See full list of votes (From The Public Whip)Content Lord Aberdare Lord Addington Lord Alderdice Lord Allan of Hallam Lord Alli Baroness Altmann Baroness Amos Lord Anderson of Swansea Baroness Andrews Baroness Ashton of Upholland Lord Bach Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville Baroness Bakewell Baroness Barker Lord Bassam of Brighton Lord Beith Baroness Benjamin...
Lord Bilimoria: My Lords, I am grateful to the Government for the easing of social distancing from two metres to one metre. This will save thousands of jobs and businesses. Can the Leader of the House assure us that businesses will have access to widespread testing to test their employees on a regular basis to get confidence? We can see from the Premier League how well regular testing is being proven to...
Lord Bilimoria: My Lords, it is very good news that the trials of dexamethasone have gone successfully and that other trials are progressing well; I hope that the vaccine trials will also yield success. However, can the Minister confirm reports that more than a third of care home patients have not yet been tested? When will all care home patients and staff be tested fully and regularly? Secondly, with the...
Lord Bethell: My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Campbell-Savours, for raising this important issue. I pay tribute to his passion and perseverance on the issue of masks. I thank all noble Lords who have contributed to this debate for their thoughtful comments, which I will tackle at pace. I apologise if I am unable to namecheck each contributor or address each question as I would have liked. As we ease...
Lord Bilimoria: My Lords, the US has had chapter 11 for years. As Secretary of State Alok Sharma said, the Government now believe that “the package of measures that the Bill introduces will give businesses the best opportunity to survive the effects of the covid-19 crisis and lay the foundations for a bounce-back in the UK economy.”—[ Paul Scully, the Small Business Minister, said: “If a...
Lord Bilimoria: My Lords, given that the R rate is now below one across the UK, will the Minister acknowledge that the risk of infection from reducing social distancing from two metres to one metre goes from 1.3% to 2.6% and that the WHO is recommending one metre as safe? Denmark, France, Singapore, China, Hong Kong and Lithuania have moved to one metre. A pub or restaurant can barely open with a social...
Lord Bilimoria: My Lords, the Secretary of State for Health has assured us that all care home workers and patients will be tested. Can the Minister confirm that this has taken place throughout the United Kingdom? Is he aware that in Scotland, sadly, coronavirus deaths have now overtaken hospital deaths, with 46% of deaths in Scotland in care homes versus 29% in England and Wales? Surely the Minister agrees...
Lord Bilimoria: My Lords, black men and women are more than four times as likely to die a coronavirus-related death than white people. It is sad that of the 29 British doctors who have died of coronavirus during the pandemic, 27 were from ethnic-minority backgrounds. Research this week has revealed that 40% of BAME doctors surveyed said that risk assessments to prevent Covid deaths recommended by the NHS...
Lord Faulkner of Worcester: I do not think that the noble Lord, Lord Hunt of Kings Heath, is with us this evening, so I call the noble Lord, Lord Bilimoria.
Baroness Sugg: My Lords, I thank all noble Lords who have contributed to the debate this evening on the biggest international challenge we have faced in our lifetimes. We are seeing the devastating impact of this killer at home and overseas, and of course, the secondary impacts of Covid-19. We have touched on many aspects this evening—economies, education, livelihoods, food systems, and gender and social...
Baroness Finlay of Llandaff: Lord Hendy. Lord Hendy? We do not have Lord Hendy, so I call Lord Bilimoria.
Lord Bilimoria: My Lords, tracking, tracing and isolating can be effective only if there is adequate testing. It was reassuring to hear the Prime Minister say today that the target was to be 200,000 tests a day by the end of this month. Earlier, he referred to 250,000 tests a day. Can the Minister confirm that millions of tests a week will be available, not just to patients and staff in hospitals and care...
