Speech in Lords Chamber - Fri 25 Sep 2020
Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions on Gatherings) (North of England) Regulations 2020
"My Lords, yesterday I said quite a lot about a similar set of regulations which I will not repeat, but what I did do in the evening yesterday after our long discussions was attend a meeting of Pendle Borough Council. I was able to do that from my room in …..."Lord Greaves - View Speech
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Speech in Lords Chamber - Thu 24 Sep 2020
Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (Leicester) (No. 2) Regulations 2020
"My Lords, I too thank the Minister for yet again coming to explain another sheaf of affirmative instruments about faraway places that most noble Lords probably do not know much about. However, some do.
I shall comment on one or two points that have been made. First, the Minister said …..."Lord Greaves - View Speech
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Speech in Lords Chamber - Thu 24 Sep 2020
Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (Blackburn with Darwen and Bradford) Regulations 2020
"My Lords, we have come to Blackburn and Bradford, and tomorrow we will go on to where I live which is situated between the two, in the middle of the Pennines, in the north of England. It is the same thing everywhere really. We have talked about the complications in …..."Lord Greaves - View Speech
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Speech in Lords Chamber - Wed 23 Sep 2020
Covid-19 Update
"My Lords, turning to the new proposals affecting people advised to self-isolate, on the one hand, an isolation payment of £500 is being offered, which is an incentive; on the other, there is a new legal duty, the enforcement of which could result in some quite swingeing fines if people …..."Lord Greaves - View Speech
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Speech in Lords Chamber - Fri 18 Sep 2020
Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (No. 2) (England) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2020
"My Lords, I am a member of Pendle Borough Council and I have to say that I consider today’s proceedings something of a farce. If my council ran proceedings like this, the Government would come and close us down. Nevertheless, it is one of the councils in the country and …..."Lord Greaves - View Speech
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Speech in Lords Chamber - Fri 18 Sep 2020
Health Protection (Coronavirus, Wearing of Face Coverings in a Relevant Place) (England) Regulations 2020
"My Lords, I support the amendment and thank the Minister for his thorough explanation of the new regulations and how they will work, which is very helpful. I particularly support the part of the amendment that
“regrets the delay in bringing forward the Regulations”
back in the spring. Indeed, I …..."Lord Greaves - View Speech
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Written Question
Thursday 17th September 2020
Asked by:
Lord Greaves (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question
to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether those local authorities which are now tracing positive COVID-19 cases on behalf of the national test and trace system will be given further authority to trace contacts resulting from those cases locally rather than having to pass them back to the national system.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The Department is currently working with a number of local authorities to identifying clusters and outbreaks. These are escalated to local public health specialists, in line with existing health protection incident management arrangements.
If someone has tested positive for COVID-19 and we have been unable to contact them, we may pass their contact details to the local authority team to collect information about their contacts.
Also, where someone who has tested positive for COVID-19 works in or has recently attended a complex setting such as a prison, school, or hospital, contact tracing will be carried out by local public health specialists.
Written Question
Thursday 17th September 2020
Asked by:
Lord Greaves (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question
to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to devolve decision-making on local COVID-19 restrictions to local government; and if they have any such plans, whether district councils in two-tier local government areas will be included in the bodies making those decisions.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Central Government is working closely with local areas through the Joint Biosecurity Centre, NHS Test and Trace and Public Health England to support local decision-making and keep Ministers updated on outbreaks. Under the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) (No.3) Regulations 2020 which came into force on 18 July, local authorities have new powers to impose restrictions in respect of venues, events and public outdoor places. These powers are in addition to the existing powers they have under diverse legislation such as public health, health and safety and environmental health laws. The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care retains the ability to direct local authorities to take action, and to consider whether any use of these new powers is appropriate. Where more restrictive powers are needed, this will be a matter for Ministers. At every step, central Government will remain integral to the response and will ensure it is appropriate to protect the public.
Speech in Lords Chamber - Mon 14 Sep 2020
Covid-19 Update
"My Lords, the noble Lord has previously congratulated people in my part of Lancashire on how well we are doing, which I do not quite agree with; we are working hard. Why are people, whether in our borough or the surrounding ones, still not able to book tests locally when …..."Lord Greaves - View Speech
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Speech in Lords Chamber - Thu 03 Sep 2020
Covid-19
"My Lords, yesterday the Minister praised Pendle Borough Council—I repeat my interest—for its work on Covid, which now includes local tracking of positive cases; that is, the kinds of cases that the national system has failed to reach. Can the Minister explain why passing cases to the local level, which …..."Lord Greaves - View Speech
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