Influenza Pandemic (S&T Report)

My Lords, I, too, congratulate and thank the noble Lord, Lord Broers, and his committee for their challenging report that we are debating today. As other noble Lords have said, the report acknowledges that the UK remains among the best prepared countries in the developed world, but it also poses questions on how that preparedness can be improved. Listening to my noble friend Lord Jenkin of Roding, I wonder how much of that preparedness is in theory and table-top, and how much is actually practised on the ground. I read with interest the National Health Service report UK Influenza Pandemic Contingency Plan of October 2005, as it seemed sensible to read the two reports together. It was also interesting to compare some of their findings. Both reports recognise the importance of strong leadership, good organisation, co-ordination between departments, clear lines of accountability, and communication as the key to preparing for and the response to a pandemic. However good our internal planning and strategy are, good communication, as the noble Lord, Lord Giddens, has just said, is vital. We live in a society when you can find out what is going on anywhere in the world at any particular moment; the pace of news coverage is quite frightening. When we had to deal with the foot and mouth outbreak, at one stage the general public were restricted from going into certain areas of the countryside, which were uninfected. Later, it was decided that the restriction was not necessary. It is a small example compared to a pandemic, where the need would be greater, but it highlights the difficulties of decisions being taken between departments and about which department is in the lead, to which I shall return later. Also important for the general public, if there is an outbreak, is whether vaccination will be needed and whether they will they qualify for it. They will also need to be assured about why certain people are getting support and help, through vaccination or in other ways, when it is not generally available to everyone. The need to manage those expectations is touched on by the report. Do the Government have a list of priority people, as referred to earlier by the right reverend Prelate, who are considered the No. 1 key workers? Perhaps the Minister could tell us more about that. Defra is normally my responsibility, but today’s debate and what we do on the Defra side are very much linked. Avian flu, as has been stated already, is a disease of birds and not of humans but, as the outbreak in Turkey has shown, the very close link between birds that are infected and humans is critical. I was pleased, when I introduced a debate last autumn on avian flu, that several noble Lords spoke purely from the health aspect. I hope my contribution today will slightly overlap. Both aspects describe the need for a single lead. In the chapter titled ““Prevention is better than cure””, the report reminds us that avian flu is a disease of birds. I think that the general public is still not aware of that, and it is a responsibility that the Government need to address, otherwise people will panic unnecessarily. There is much to be done in some areas abroad—in south-east Asia and recently in Turkey, where the looking-after of poultry, as the noble Baroness, Lady Sharp, said, is very much part of people’s daily lives as they live in such close proximity. That does not occur here. When I visit poultry outlets the biosecurity that takes place there now, even before the outbreaks, is very high. But in those areas of the world where such issues are not addressed, there is a great deal that we can do to help. I wish to highlight two matters in relation to that. One is the need to improve the veterinary infrastructures, which would enable greater co-ordination in the exchange of information, because I suspect that it does not exist in many countries. The second, which has already been mentioned, is the lack of compensation arrangements for farmers in those countries. Dr David Nabarro acknowledged that we are not winning the battle in the severely affected countries. The only global organisation that has the potential penetration to improve the situation is the food agricultural organisation of the United Nations, which has been underfunded. I suspect other noble Lords will refer to the whole question of underfunding. Lack of resources is a theme that runs through the report. The calls for Health Protection Agency funding to be reviewed and the recent cuts to be reassessed and reversed are there to be seen and I hope that the Minister will respond. The report calls on the Government to extend the funding to the surveillance operations of the Royal College of General Practitioners. I would like the Government to comment on what they have done. The Minister will no doubt tell us that the Government have many demands on their purse. Indeed, they have. Whatever the needs, decisions that should be taken must be proportionate and practical if we are to cope with any future outbreaks. Many noble Lords have asked, and it was demanded in the report, that a single person take a lead if there is a pandemic outbreak in the United Kingdom. The report calls for a Cabinet-level Minister to be responsible for contingency and disaster planning, located in the Cabinet Office. Has that suggestion been taken up and is he now called the Minister of homeland security, which our party called for last year? Has a direct link been established between Defra and the Department of Health regarding the protection of people who work with poultry or on pig farms, who are most likely to be caught up in the first instance if avian flu breaks out again in this country? Has the Government’s emergency strategy put in place a system to cope with the likelihood of serious disruption to food supplies? Why have they not had discussions with major food retailers? Heaven forbid that we should have a major outbreak, but it is likely that the normal way that society works will fail and be unable to continue in the way that we know—economically and in relation to distribution, for example. Is the Minister satisfied that plans at local government level are adequate? My noble friend Lord Jenkin said that local authorities were not even included in evidence to the report. The report reflects that the committee was not convinced that local government was yet fully aware of the implications of a pandemic. Is that also true of local hospitals and homes, particularly those who care for the elderly, who may be the most vulnerable? Working towards the prevention of an outbreak must be given the highest priority. This country has some of the best scientists, whose research and skills are of benefit not only to us but internationally. Time after time funding has been reduced. What are the Government going to do about that and what priorities do they place on our skills and ability to help others throughout the world? Vigilance is important, and the coming months of the migratory bird season are a time when we really must be aware and keep our eye on the ball. Avian flu has occurred only once here recently, but it is possible that the influence of wild birds coming over our shores may well raise the risk to a crucial level. We need to be vigilant. This report posed the Minister many questions and, having read it, I hope that he will answer them directly and not use the excuse that the Government have not had time. The report was printed on 16 December and it is time that we had a direct response from the Minister. I hope that he will not disappoint us, because, in such debates, we are often told that the Minister will reply in writing. But that means that it does not appear in the Official Report and it is extremely important that the work of the committee is in the public domain and that members of the public can look at it. I am most grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Broers, and his committee, and I give it a challenge: will it please continue to keep a brief on this issue? Would they make it slightly more cross-departmental, because the work within Defra and the work that I undertake would be important in addition to the contributions from those who gave evidence in this report. I await the Minister’s reply with great interest.