Speech in Lords Chamber - Thu 07 Jan 2021
Covid-19: Restrictions
"My Lords, yes, but: in the last few months we have seen ever more stringent restrictions—tiers 3 and 4, the failed circuit breaker in Wales, a second lockdown which ended only just over a month ago, and now a third lockdown—yet cases keep rising. The Prime Minister said on “The …..."Lord Robathan - View Speech
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Speech in Lords Chamber - Wed 30 Dec 2020
Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (All Tiers) (England) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2020
"My Lords, I am delighted, as are others I am sure, by the news of the Oxford vaccine. I hope that it will lead to a return to normality.
In my two minutes, I will focus on one issue alone: do these restrictions and lockdowns work? As the noble Lord, …..."Lord Robathan - View Speech
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Written Question
Tuesday 29th December 2020
Asked by:
Lord Robathan (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Lord Bethell on 1 December (HL Deb, cols 717–21), what assessment they have made of the efficacy of lockdowns in preventing the transmission of COVID-19.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Evidence suggests that more stringent interventions tend to reduce the reproduction number of the virus.
The lockdown imposed in late March and the changes in behaviour that preceded this had a high level of uptake and resulted in a rapid reduction in the reproduction number ‘R’ from about 2.5-3.0 to about 0.5-0.7. That is a reduction in ‘R’ of about 2, or a reduction in transmission of 75%. We continue to review the efficacy of measures.
Written Question
Wednesday 23rd December 2020
Asked by:
Lord Robathan (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Lord Bethell on 1 December (HL Deb, cols 717–21), how many hospitals have no spare bed capacity; and how many beds are currently occupied above the seasonal norm.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Data on overall spare hospital bed capacity is not collected in the format requested. Data collections on hospital beds are divided into key bed subgroups, including general and acute beds, critical care beds and mental health beds. Hospital bed capacity is not fixed and can be scaled according to requirement.
Additionally, there is no official agreed seasonal norm for bed occupancy.
Written Question
Friday 18th December 2020
Asked by:
Lord Robathan (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Lord Bethell on 1 December (HL Deb, cols 717–21), what assessment they have made of the life expectancy of people dying from COVID-19 compared with those dying from other illnesses.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Data are not available to estimate the life expectancy of people who are dying from COVID-19 or dying from other illnesses.
Speech in Lords Chamber - Tue 15 Dec 2020
Covid-19 Update
"My Lords, during all these restrictions and over the lockdown we had for one month, which ended on 2 December, we have been told that the Government are following the science—the “unstoppable force of science”, to quote the Secretary of State in yesterday’s Statement. However, in late September SAGE recommended …..."Lord Robathan - View Speech
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Written Question
Monday 7th December 2020
Asked by:
Lord Robathan (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many (1) doctors, and (2) nurses, employed by the NHS have died as a result of COVID-19; and how many of those had comorbidities.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The Office for National Statistics publishes mortality data for deaths involving COVID-19 for healthcare workers and social care workers in England and Wales. The last iteration of this release showed that in England there were 305 deaths involving among healthcare workers and 307 deaths among social care workers registered between 9 March and 12 October 2020 in England, aged 20-64 years, using their last known occupation.
The definition of healthcare workers used will include not only those employed in the National Health Service but wider healthcare sector workers. No information is published relating to comorbidities these staff may have had.
Speech in Lords Chamber - Tue 01 Dec 2020
Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (All Tiers) (England) Regulations 2020
"Leave out from “that” to the end and insert “this House declines to approve the draft Regulations because no adequate impact analysis of the social, economic and health costs of the restrictions to address the COVID-19 pandemic, compared to the benefits of those restrictions, has been laid before Parliament.”..."Lord Robathan - View Speech
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Speech in Lords Chamber - Tue 01 Dec 2020
Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (All Tiers) (England) Regulations 2020
"My Lords, this is arguably the worst crisis—certainly the worst economic crisis—of my lifetime. Yesterday, as my noble friend referred to, we had, I am afraid, a totally inadequate government benefit analysis, belatedly produced at very short notice to persuade MPs to back these latest measures. It is a very …..."Lord Robathan - View Speech
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Speech in Lords Chamber - Tue 01 Dec 2020
Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (All Tiers) (England) Regulations 2020
"It is wrong...."Lord Robathan - View Speech
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