My Lords, I should like to say a profound thank you to all noble Lords who have engaged in this important debate. It has been extremely thoughtful and I have a huge amount to take away with me. I express my sincere apologies for not being able to cover all the points made by every Peer in the Chamber. I start by applauding three of the most powerful maiden speeches that I have ever heard. The noble Baroness, Lady Clark of Kilwinning, laid out a really clear ground for herself, speaking on behalf of the disadvantaged, the vulnerable and those lucky enough to live in the beautiful county of Ayr, which I know and greatly admire. My noble and learned friend Lord Clarke of Nottingham gave a complete masterclass in note-free, elegantly phrased gravitas of the kind that made him envied in the other place and will, I fear, set a new bar for us here. My noble friend Lady Morrissey gave us an absolutely clear set of evidence of why she was such an illustrious figure in the City and will no doubt be an effective standard bearer for Britain’s transition from the EU.
Perhaps I may start with the Act because sometimes I think it is slightly the orphan child of this debate. But it is why we are here and I would like to reflect on the Act itself. A large number of comments, not all complimentary, have been made about it, but my ultimate reflection is that it has been a great achievement. I well remember when it was put together and I offer thanks in retrospect to the noble Baronesses, Lady Thornton and Lady Barker, my noble friend Lady Penn and the noble Lords, Lord Scriven and Lord Hunt, as well as everyone else involved in the drafting of the Bill under extremely difficult circumstances. I think we caught the spirit of the times and it has delivered a profound and positive effect on the country’s healthcare, provision for the vulnerable and the poor, and the massive provisions to support jobs and businesses. It has also contributed to the containment of the virus. I shall talk about the strategy for that in a moment.
Noble Lords have reflected on some aspects of the Act and I recognise completely the comments made about the benefits of a three-monthly review, as suggested
by the noble and learned Lord, Lord Judge. I will take back to the department the value of the two-monthly reviews and how those are crafted. I note also the comments of the noble Baroness, Lady Barker, on the analysis. Comments were also made by the noble Baronesses, Lady Jones and Lady Chakrabarti, on Section 21. It is true that the CPS reviewed some of the convictions and as a result issued new guidelines. Those changes have worked to the extent that no further reviews have been necessary. I do not hide from the fact that parts of Section 21 are very severe, but they have hardly been used. I hope that reflects on the responsible and thoughtful way in which the measures of the Act have been applied.
The noble Baroness, Lady Bennett, asked about elections. They have been moved to 6 May 2021 and I would just reflect on the great efforts made by the parliamentary services to keep this Parliament open and to put those elections next May in place.
It has been suggested that it is time to change the law. On reflection, the Government consider that the Act has been of huge benefit in our fight against the virus and it is not the time to change, although that may come in the future. It is in fact a landmark and demonstrates the power of collaboration.
If I can move on, a number of noble Lords reflected on that power of collaboration, and I hear loud and clear the remarks made in the Chamber on authoritarianism, totalitarianism and the role of Parliament in the measures introduced to fight the pandemic. There is undoubtedly palpable frustration at the way in which measures are introduced, and I hear those concerns loud and clear. They largely reflect on the public health Act 1984, a piece of legislation that was deliberately put in place to address epidemics such as this one. I completely agree with the those who say that we are stronger when we work together. When measures are put in front of Parliament and communities are engaged, we end up with something much more powerful. I think we will all reflect on the importance of that message.
However, in mitigation, I will mention a few practical things. The speed of this virus has been absolutely astonishing. I could give your Lordships dozens of examples, but the July outbreaks after the lifting of the lockdown caught us all off guard and showed how violent and powerful the virus is. We have had dozens of regulations, but many of them are tweaks and have addressed small subjects such as tattoo parlours. The ability of this end of our Parliament to process legislation at a time when it is under a huge amount of pressure from the legislative agenda and from dealing with Covid-friendly processes is one of the reasons why things have been slow. I would also mention the very large number of engagements: Statements, SIs, debates, OPQs, UQs, PNQs and Bills. There have been 73 since the beginning of March, and I would be happy to run through that list with anyone who would care to reminisce with me.
I also remind noble Lords that, on the whole, despite some penalties for some things, we have applied the principle of consent in all we have done with regard to Covid, wherever possible. We have enjoyed a
large amount of public support—I note the comments of my noble friend Lord Randall on that. We have also listened to these debates, whether on masks, social care, local engagement and local councils—the noble Baroness, Lady Barker, was a champion of that—and on sharing data and enforcement, which my noble friend Lord Blencathra has been a champion of. On all these measures, the debate that occurred here has been taken to the rooms where decisions have been made, the points made in this Chamber have been reflected in that decision-making process, and Parliament has played a leadership role.
The noble and learned Lord, Lord Judge, scared us all when he talked about mobilising the military and cancelling Christmas. These are headlines, not government policy. It is our intention to do everything we can to avoid exactly these kinds of measures, and we have applied the principle of consent wherever we can; whether on quarantine, isolation, masks or anything else, that has been our watchword.
I reassure my noble friend Lord Forsyth that the Civil Contingencies Act was looked at seriously. A huge amount of work went into looking at that as an alternative. I completely agree with him that there are definitely benefits to the kind of parliamentary scrutiny that the CCA offers, which have been rightly described in this Chamber as being around collaboration and people being brought into the process. My noble friend is right about that. But the government lawyers, who are the best you can get, were adamant that the threat of judicial review was considered too high and the public health Act 1984 was a much better vehicle.
By way of conclusion on this point, I completely acknowledge the strong feelings and the thoughtful arguments that have been made in this Chamber on parliamentary scrutiny and the role of Parliament. I completely acknowledge the point made by my noble friend Lord Robathan, who has articulated the case extremely forcefully and thoughtfully. We definitely need to reflect on these points. However, I note that my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Health said earlier today in another place that the Government are looking at
“further ways to ensure that the House can be properly involved in the process—in advance, where possible.”
That commitment is felt earnestly, we are working our hardest to try to move on it, and for that reason and the reasons I gave previously, I sincerely ask my noble friend Lord Robathan to withdraw his Motion of Regret and to support the way in which we have to do things under the current framework of our legislation.
A lot of the comment today was not about the Act at all; it was about the Government’s strategy. I do not duck from discussing that. I cannot go through every aspect of the strategy, in all its detail, but will make a few comments. I start by completely sympathising with the noble Lord, Lord Blunkett, and the daughter of the noble Earl, Lord Erroll, as the science around this horrible virus is extremely frustrating and challenging. It is one of the reasons why both the public and I find it difficult. There are huge mysteries on immunity. We are confused about and collecting data on long Covid, and do not always know for sure how transmission works. The noble Lord, Lord Blunkett, said that maybe
we should get rid of SAGE to try to calm the debate. I do not agree. I embrace the scientific debate. Although it is rough and tumble, and we do not always come out from it well, it is the role of scientists to probe and challenge, and that is how we have made progress.
But there are some things we know, and I say these uncomfortable things in challenge to some of the comments made in the Chamber. We know this virus kills. It is a horrible death, and those it does not kill it can maim. Those it maims can be the young or people who did not know they had the disease. The evidence emerging is that around 10% of those who had Covid will live with some kind of long-term affliction. The evidence suggests that around 10% of the country are seropositive. This is not some light flu that you will get over and walk away from. For many people, this is either a death sentence or something with which they will live for all their lives. I say this not to scare or to freak anyone out. I say it because it is the realistic assessment, and it is the story that I see, from my desk, every day at the department of health. It is as contagious as it ever was. Sometimes diseases calm down and fade away. This one may, but has not done yet.
On the positive side, the progress that the Vaccine Taskforce is making is tremendous. This is not just the Oxford vaccine, but another 10 lined up behind it. For those who are not able to take the vaccine, neutralising antibodies and other therapeutic drugs show great promise in protecting those we love.
Mass testing is not ready yet. I hardly need tell noble Lords that we are not quite there yet, but it offers hope. In the meantime, the measures that we have put in place are saving lives. It is completely illogical to condemn the measures that we have put in place as not working, because the death rate is so low. The death rate is so low because, by and large, the measures work.
That is not to say that there are no challenges. I completely recognise the points made by my noble friends Lord Lamont, Lord Bridges, Lady Stroud and Lady Noakes. The impact on the economy is absolutely horrific. At every step of taking any decision, we have that in mind. I recognise the point on impact assessments, and will take that back to quiz the department on whether we could or should be looking harder at doing that. I guess it may be one for BEIS or the Treasury.
It is unarguable that lockdowns hit jobs, but viruses hit jobs harder. If the deaths mount, we will have to hit the virus harder, for longer. That was the lesson of 1918 and of epidemics before and after, and is the lesson of today’s epidemic. We are not casual about these measures; we are absolutely serious. If public confidence goes, the social fabric cracks, supply chains break down and social trust dissipates, we will not have an economy left at all. That is why we pursue this route.
Several noble Lords talked about education and students. Can I be really clear about our approach? On testing students, we are pro spit, pro breath and pro poo. We are using every single bit of your body to test the hell out of you, and we are going to do whatever we can to test pupils and students. In terms of Christmas,
we are doing everything we can to ensure that pupils and students get back from their universities and schools.
In response to my noble friend Lord Vaizey and the noble Baroness, Lady Thornton, I say that we are absolutely determined to keep the schools open. That is not just mainstream schools—it includes special schools. The role of schools in our community is not just to educate the children, although that is essential; it is to keep families going and protect vulnerable children.
A number of noble Lords mentioned health, including my noble friends Lord Lansley and Lady Manzoor. I reassure all noble Lords that the bounce-back is happening. Radiotherapies were back up to what they were in June. We have already halved the backlog. In July, there were 180,000 oncology checks, and 90% of them were within two weeks. We have a massive campaign on the blocks, and the winter plan for social care and PPE is incredibly important. I reiterate the comments made by the noble Baroness, Lady Barker, on the role of environmental health inspectors and the unsung heroes of public health.
The noble Baroness, Lady Clark, spoke very movingly about the poor and vulnerable. One of the most important aspects of the Act and our measures was to help those who were going to be hit hardest by this disease. That came out on Second Reading of the then Coronavirus Bill; it was one of the most moving and decisive parts of that process. We listened, we moved and we put in measures, which has enabled massive support for people.
By way of conclusion, I say that there are some very serious accusations on the table. The noble Lord, Lord Foulkes, spoke about failure and my noble friend Lord Naseby talked about incompetence. I completely acknowledge the frustration; not everything has run as smoothly as I would like. There have been challenges in test and trace, social care, shielding and other areas. But the House knows how I think: those frustrations and challenges are also matched by enormous achievements. We are the country that brought the first therapeutic drug to patients, in dexamethasone. We are probably the front-runner for a vaccine with the Oxford vaccine. The Nightingale hospital was put up in nine days and brought huge capacity to the NHS. Telemedicine has brought both mental health and primary care to people who would be left on their own. We have done 20 million tests until today—that was the record that we made today—and there have been 12 million app downloads.
The consequences of the regulations that we have introduced are tough—the rule of six is tough, and my noble friend Lady Neville-Rolfe spoke movingly on that—but they have worked. We are determined to use local lockdowns and the advances of technology wherever we can to fight this virus until we have a vaccine, mass testing and therapeutics to beat it.
I completely and utterly hear and understand the words on parliamentary scrutiny from my noble friends Lord Robathan and Lord Lamont as well as the noble Baroness, Lady Chakrabarti. But my noble and learned friend Lord Clarke put it very well in his grave and wise comments: we need to strike the right balance.
We think that we have hit the right balance; it will not keep everyone happy, but we are determined to defeat this virus and get our lives back.