Debate on the Address

My Lords, it is with great pleasure that I beg to second my noble friend’s Motion for an humble Address. I still literally cannot believe that I am a Member of your Lordships' House, and this honour is completely unexpected—so much so, that when I was asked to see the Leader, it crossed my mind that I might have been found out. It occurred to me that I might be the wrong Delyth Morgan. I am often told that I do not look like a Baroness, and there are quite a few Delyth Morgans in Wales, so it occurred to me that it could be quite an easy mistake to make. There is Delyth the post, Delyth the farmer’s wife, Delyth Morgan the international rugby player and sports producer, Delyth Morgan the neurologist. I could go on. Am I really the right Delyth Morgan? Perhaps my Letters Patent went to the wrong address, and the Leader was about to ask me to do the decent thing. But there was no such suggestion when my noble friend Lady Amos greeted me with her broad, dignified smile and informed me of this great honour. I felt huge relief, as your Lordships can imagine, but this was followed immediately by a great knot in my stomach, which is still here and is always present when I contemplate addressing this House. I, too, pay tribute to my noble friends Lady Amos and Lord Grocott. Both have been a great inspiration to me and enormously supportive as I go through my journey of acclimatisation from my former identity, as I don the ermine, whether real or fake, and become acclimatised to your Lordships' House. It is a particular honour for me to second the Motion of my noble friend Lord Giddens, and what an amazing speech he made. How can I follow that? It gives me great pleasure to pay special tribute to him; he is an internationally distinguished sociologist and political scientist, and an eminent economist. He is also, of course, the acclaimed architect of the third way. Most importantly for us, he is a prolific contributor to this House. My background is in the voluntary sector, in which I have been an activist and campaigner all my adult life. Directly before coming into your Lordships' House I devoted my time to raising awareness of the impact of cancer, especially breast cancer, which affects one in nine women in the UK. My noble friend talked about the health of the economy; I should like to say a few words about the health of the nation. The gracious Speech makes reference to the importance of maintaining sound public finances. I am sure that we all recognise the importance of that, especially with regard to public services. I am sure that the House will give me some indulgence and allow me to focus a little on the National Health Service. The health debate will always rage on. Now may be the right time to consider the most significant changes that have taken place under this Government. First, the Government are well on the way to achieving a level of investment in health that is on a par with the European average. That is something that voluntary sector leaders and myself campaigned for in the late 1990s, and now it is happening at last. That must be an enormously progressive thing. Secondly, rationing by waiting list is being consigned to the history books. Virtually no one waits more than six months for an operation and average waits are now under eight weeks. This is a momentous turnaround. I know from personal experience how important this is: in 1997, my mother-in-law had a hip replacement, having waited two years in pain. As for thousands of other patients, that was the norm unless you could pay; it was unforgivable then and it is unforgivable now. Death rates for the big killers, such as cancer and heart disease, are also falling ahead of target, with cancer death rates in this country falling faster than anywhere else in the world. Importantly, measures of the patient experience are extremely high—and that, of course, should be the ultimate yardstick for NHS success. But there is still much more to do to empower patients and give voice to the concerns of service users and carers on a more systematic basis. In spite of those achievements, when we look back at this era in years to come I suspect that one remarkable achievement will stand out—a legacy for the future. It is the Government’s attack on tobacco, starting with an advertising ban and leading finally to a ban on smoking in public places. That was quite unthinkable 10 years ago. My father was diagnosed with lung cancer when I was a child and I have seen at first hand the devastating impact that tobacco can have. Experts estimate that today a staggering 1,000 hospital admissions per day take place because of diseases linked to smoking. So that is a real legacy of prevention for the future. There is much more to do and there are major challenges ahead. An ageing population combined with the impact of childhood obesity, the speed of innovation and the cost of new technologies are all very challenging financially. My right honourable friend the Prime Minister said recently to young people: "““If you want to change the world, become a scientist””." I thought that those remarks were very important and great to hear, but I wonder if perhaps he meant, ““become a health economist””? It is all the betterthat we face the future with the underpinning values of the NHS settled—a universal health service funded through taxation, available to all according to need and free at the point of use. Then there is the possibility of further reform of your Lordships' House. I am taking the long view. In 23 years, I shall achieve the average age in this House, and I hope not only to make full use of my well-connected free bus pass but to continue to serve this House for many years thereafter. So I speak as an optimist—as someone whose glass is always half full, especially in the wonderful new Lords bar. I see a House of Lords that is very good at change. Apparently, we have been very quick to adopt new technologies, such as the PDA mobile computers; we have been much faster than our colleagues from another place. We may be adept at using those tiny keyboards, but you can still find an inkwell in the Salisbury Room if you need one. I think that the House of Lords is rather good at change, so long as it can take change at its own pace, however fast or slow that may be. I aspire to be a great orator one day, and I hope to have plenty of practice in your Lordships' House. I have noticed that the most eloquent speakers use a literary quotation to close. As my father grew up in Swansea, I feel that I must turn to its very own bard, Dylan Thomas. As we are about to start work on a very busy Session, perhaps we should take heart in his words: "““He who seeks rest finds boredom. He who seeks work finds rest””." I have also been given very good advice not to go on too long. I do not want to have cause to use his second most famous line: "““Someone is boring me. I think it is me””." Thank you, my Lords. This has been a great honour.