My Lords, I too have very little experience in this area, but I felt I did have something worth saying from a professional point of view. My experience of prisons is not personal but, while I was on call at Hammersmith Hospital, I did go inside prisons to see sick...

My Lords, I too have very little experience in this area, but I felt I did have something worth saying from a professional point of view. My experience of prisons is not personal but, while I was on call at Hammersmith Hospital, I did go inside prisons to see sick...

My Lords, it is a huge privilege to follow the noble Baroness, Lady Manningham-Buller, for whom I have huge respect. So often I tremble when I see her, but always with respect.

This is an excellent report. The noble Baroness mentioned that it obviously has gaps, which there are bound to...

My Lords, it is a huge privilege to follow the noble Baroness, Lady Manningham-Buller, for whom I have huge respect. So often I tremble when I see her, but always with respect.

This is an excellent report. The noble Baroness mentioned that it obviously has gaps, which there are bound to...

My Lords, I think the noble Baroness is referring to a paper by Susan Ayers, who has studied this for many years. It is certainly not a new problem. In the literature, there are over 700 papers on post-traumatic stress disorder in childbirth and another 1,700 papers on it during or in childbirth. This is a long-standing problem. It is not always serious, but when it is then it needs to be taken very seriously. Most cases are relatively trivial and the national incidence is about 3.17% of women in childbirth. This is something we can handle. As the paper by Susan Ayers correctly points out, we could do something much better in primary care in this situation. I hope the Minister will take this on board.

My Lords, I think the noble Baroness is referring to a paper by Susan Ayers, who has studied this for many years. It is certainly not a new problem. In the literature, there are over 700 papers on post-traumatic stress disorder in childbirth and another 1,700 papers on it during or in childbirth. This is a long-standing problem. It is not always serious, but when it is then it needs to be taken very seriously. Most cases are relatively trivial and the national incidence is about 3.17% of women in childbirth. This is something we can handle. As the paper by Susan Ayers correctly points out, we could do something much better in primary care in this situation. I hope the Minister will take this on board.

My Lords, I fear my noble friend underestimates the issue. Music teachers make a great difference to education generally. Music teaches collaboration, awareness of emotions, memory, social awareness, reading ability and a range of other things as well. That has to be done by music teachers, and they should be available in schools. That should be a priority for the Government.

My Lords, I fear my noble friend underestimates the issue. Music teachers make a great difference to education generally. Music teaches collaboration, awareness of emotions, memory, social awareness, reading ability and a range of other things as well. That has to be done by music teachers, and they should be available in schools. That should be a priority for the Government.

My Lords, I listened to this short debate with a bit of amazement. We are looking at the end results, but we need to look a little further up the channel. My noble friend Lady Blackstone

touched on a very important point, as indeed did the noble Baroness, Lady Pidgeon,...

My Lords, I listened to this short debate with a bit of amazement. We are looking at the end results, but we need to look a little further up the channel. My noble friend Lady Blackstone

touched on a very important point, as indeed did the noble Baroness, Lady Pidgeon,...

My Lords, the noble Lord asks a very important Question. Can the National Health Service make sure that there is a checklist for all fractures, just as an aircraft pilot does when he is taking off? There are numerous examples in the NHS—I speak from personal experience—of patients not being screened for bacteria before they go down to theatre. That should be a routine check. Further, it is very common for patients to be discharged from hospital when there is a lack of liaison between the hospital and local services. Sometimes, a wound may not be dressed for several days until somebody visits, where there is a risk of bone infection. This is a very serious and common problem.

My Lords, the noble Lord asks a very important Question. Can the National Health Service make sure that there is a checklist for all fractures, just as an aircraft pilot does when he is taking off? There are numerous examples in the NHS—I speak from personal experience—of patients not being screened for bacteria before they go down to theatre. That should be a routine check. Further, it is very common for patients to be discharged from hospital when there is a lack of liaison between the hospital and local services. Sometimes, a wound may not be dressed for several days until somebody visits, where there is a risk of bone infection. This is a very serious and common problem.

My Lords, I am grateful for the opportunity to speak in the gap. I congratulate the noble Baroness on introducing this interesting debate. I hope the Bill goes to Committee where I am going to have some serious objections to it, but we will come to that in due course.

We...

My Lords, I am grateful for the opportunity to speak in the gap. I congratulate the noble Baroness on introducing this interesting debate. I hope the Bill goes to Committee where I am going to have some serious objections to it, but we will come to that in due course.

We...

My Lords, as my noble friend the Minister knows, there were some concerns from many scientists about the precision breeding Bill. I wonder whether he might be able to give us an update on what is currently happening with regard to the modification of crops and animals in our food security.

My Lords, as my noble friend the Minister knows, there were some concerns from many scientists about the precision breeding Bill. I wonder whether he might be able to give us an update on what is currently happening with regard to the modification of crops and animals in our food security.

My Lords, does the Minister agree with me that, while the noble Lord, Lord Patel, is quite keen on screening tests, we can both agree that screening tests have all sorts of major disadvantages, such as false diagnosis or unclear diagnosis? If we are not careful and do not have a test that is really reliable,

we could end up with much more unnecessary worry for people who, for all sorts of reasons, believe that they have dementia when actually they are simply being a bit forgetful. That is important for health.

My Lords, does the Minister agree with me that, while the noble Lord, Lord Patel, is quite keen on screening tests, we can both agree that screening tests have all sorts of major disadvantages, such as false diagnosis or unclear diagnosis? If we are not careful and do not have a test that is really reliable,

we could end up with much more unnecessary worry for people who, for all sorts of reasons, believe that they have dementia when actually they are simply being a bit forgetful. That is important for health.

My Lords, I wish to raise a personal issue. For about three months now, I have been plagued by complaints from members of the public who have seen videos and digital images apparently of me promoting certain medicines on Instagram and Facebook. These medicines generally refer to erectile dysfunction and other issues with the prostate. I wonder what we can do about this kind of advertising, because people have been paying money for these completely dangerous remedies.

My Lords, I wish to raise a personal issue. For about three months now, I have been plagued by complaints from members of the public who have seen videos and digital images apparently of me promoting certain medicines on Instagram and Facebook. These medicines generally refer to erectile dysfunction and other issues with the prostate. I wonder what we can do about this kind of advertising, because people have been paying money for these completely dangerous remedies.

My Lords, the noble Baroness’s attempt to get early treatment is commendable, and we are glad to hear what the Government are saying, but does she agree that one problem is that cancer is really a multimorbidity, so that often a number of different organs will be affected by it? Does she further agree that we might do more to hasten diagnosis for patients who may be suspected of having cancer but it often takes a long time to get those connections to see the oncologist who eventually decides whether to give the very expensive drugs that are needed? Will she ensure as far as she can that speed between services is undertaken?

My Lords, the noble Baroness’s attempt to get early treatment is commendable, and we are glad to hear what the Government are saying, but does she agree that one problem is that cancer is really a multimorbidity, so that often a number of different organs will be affected by it? Does she further agree that we might do more to hasten diagnosis for patients who may be suspected of having cancer but it often takes a long time to get those connections to see the oncologist who eventually decides whether to give the very expensive drugs that are needed? Will she ensure as far as she can that speed between services is undertaken?

My Lords, I would like to come down to earth a little bit. First of all, I suggest that infertility is not a disease; it is actually a symptom of something wrong, and that is the basic problem here. What we are doing here with in vitro fertilisation is using...

My Lords, I would like to come down to earth a little bit. First of all, I suggest that infertility is not a disease; it is actually a symptom of something wrong, and that is the basic problem here. What we are doing here with in vitro fertilisation is using...

Before the Minister sits down, I wonder whether she would be kind enough to answer one question for me. The figures that I presented on embryo freezing show that there were 909 births, some of which miscarried. However, it is clear that at least 42,000 treatments with embryos were given...

Before the Minister sits down, I wonder whether she would be kind enough to answer one question for me. The figures that I presented on embryo freezing show that there were 909 births, some of which miscarried. However, it is clear that at least 42,000 treatments with embryos were given...

It is with great pleasure that I follow the noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley. I want to offer something of importance to all women. A newborn girl has around 1 million eggs at birth in her ovaries. By puberty, most of those microscopic eggs have already disappeared, often leaving some 300,000,...

It is with great pleasure that I follow the noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley. I want to offer something of importance to all women. A newborn girl has around 1 million eggs at birth in her ovaries. By puberty, most of those microscopic eggs have already disappeared, often leaving some 300,000,...

The noble Baroness and I are relatively unique in that we were two of the 12 members of the Lords Select Committee panel that looked at the Bill. One issue that we found on our side was that the people against the Bill refused to take the evidence that we...

The noble Baroness and I are relatively unique in that we were two of the 12 members of the Lords Select Committee panel that looked at the Bill. One issue that we found on our side was that the people against the Bill refused to take the evidence that we...

To ask His Majesty's Government, of the human eggs which were harvested and frozen by vitrification from 2014-24 for social purposes, how many (1) did not thaw satisfactorily or were considered unsuitable for an attempt at fertilisation, (2) of those thawed underwent attempts at fertilisation with or without intracytoplasmic sperm...

To ask His Majesty's Government, of the human eggs which were harvested and frozen by vitrification from 2014-24 for social purposes, how many (1) did not thaw satisfactorily or were considered unsuitable for an attempt at fertilisation, (2) of those thawed underwent attempts at fertilisation with or without intracytoplasmic sperm...

To ask His Majesty's Government how many women having uterine transfer of one or more embryo(s) produced from frozen oocytes after thawing had a positive pregnancy test between 2014-24; and how many of these pregnancies resulted in a spontaneous abortion (1) before 12 weeks of gestation, and (2) after 13...

To ask His Majesty's Government how many women having uterine transfer of one or more embryo(s) produced from frozen oocytes after thawing had a positive pregnancy test between 2014-24; and how many of these pregnancies resulted in a spontaneous abortion (1) before 12 weeks of gestation, and (2) after 13...

To ask His Majesty's Government how many embryos derived from frozen eggs were transferred to the uterus for the purpose of producing a baby between 2014-24.

To ask His Majesty's Government how many embryos derived from frozen eggs were transferred to the uterus for the purpose of producing a baby between 2014-24.

Is the noble Lord aware that virtually no specialism has 100% of those posts filled? In fact, in most cases in the UK, as can be checked using the recent figures from the Department of Health, many specialisms are down to about 30%, and many specialist areas in medicine are...

Is the noble Lord aware that virtually no specialism has 100% of those posts filled? In fact, in most cases in the UK, as can be checked using the recent figures from the Department of Health, many specialisms are down to about 30%, and many specialist areas in medicine are...

To ask His Majesty's Government how many women in the UK had their oocytes frozen for social purposes in (1) 2015, (2) 2016, (3) 2017, (4) 2018, (5) 2019, (6) 2020, (7) 2021, (8) 2022, (9) 2023, (10) 2024, and (11) 2025.

To ask His Majesty's Government how many women in the UK had their oocytes frozen for social purposes in (1) 2015, (2) 2016, (3) 2017, (4) 2018, (5) 2019, (6) 2020, (7) 2021, (8) 2022, (9) 2023, (10) 2024, and (11) 2025.