Living with Covid-19

Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe Excerpts

Tuesday 22nd February 2022 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park (Con)]

I thank my noble friend and am grateful for her support for the approach we are taking. As she rightly says, we need to move on and learn to live with Covid. This is another step in that direction.

[Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe (Lab)]

My Lords, I regret that the noble Baroness dismissed the noble Lord, Lord Dubs, so peremptorily. We have one of the worst records on deaths from Covid in Europe. We have seen that we have one of the unhealthiest countries in Europe. We now have the freedom with Brexit to make many changes which people previously said we were unable to make. When will a programme be set out to make this country the healthiest in Europe?

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park (Con)]

As I have said, we have launched the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, which will systematically tackle the top preventable risk factors and associated ill health, such as smoking and obesity, to improve the public’s health. We will also set out a strategy to tackle the core drivers of inequality in health outcomes in a new White Paper on health disparities this year.