21 May 2007 : Column 443
House of Lords
Monday, 21 May 2007.
The House met at half-past two: the LORD SPEAKER on the Woolsack.
Prayers—Read by the Lord Bishop of Chester.
Energy: Gas Storage
Lord Ezra asked Her Majesty’s Government:
Lord Davies of Oldham: My Lords, the Government’s statement of need for additional gas supply infrastructure, made to the House on 16 May 2006, set out our commitment to a regulatory environment that enables the market to develop timely and appropriately sited gas infrastructure projects. We have committed ourselves to streamlining and simplifying the regulatory regime for gas supply infrastructure, including gas storage. The planning White Paper, to be published later today, and the energy White Paper, to be published this Wednesday, will contain proposals related to onshore and offshore gas storage planning matters.
Lord Ezra: My Lords, I thank the Minister for that positive reply. Is he aware that some 10 gas storage projects, including the Caythorpe project in east Yorkshire, which is an important one, are going through laborious planning processes, and have been doing so for some time? According to what he said, will these be expedited under the new planning proposals? Does he agree that, at 4 per cent of annual capacity, gas storage is much lower here than it is on the Continent, which is normally about 16 per cent? In view of the likelihood of serious interruptions to the supply, despite the increase in pipeline connections with the Continent and Norway, is it not a matter of considerable urgency that we should increase our gas storage to avoid major crises, particularly in winter?
Lord Davies of Oldham: My Lords, the noble Lord’s final point is absolutely right; we need to, and are, planning to increase our gas storage capacity significantly. None of the projects is adversely affected by the planning requirements. It is true that they would have come slightly quicker on stream if we did not have our planning problems, but we are confident that we are substantially increasing our gas storage capacity and compare well with countries on the Continent, such as the Netherlands, which, like us, has its own productive capacities. We have roughly comparable gas storage capacity, which we are increasing by a substantial percentage in the next three years. The noble Lord mentioned the Yorkshire project, but he will recognise more distant projects, such as Milford Haven in 2009-10, which will substantially increase our gas supplies.
Baroness Wilcox: My Lords, does the Minister agree that the private sector has done very well indeed under this Government in ensuring that there is enough gas storage? Does he also agree that the last thing we want now is to agree with the Liberal Democrats that we should start to renationalise this?
Lord Davies of Oldham: My Lords, I am tempted to keep my distance from warring parties. We have no plans to nationalise our gas assets, but we are concerned to create the framework that guarantees the security of supply for the future. We had a very difficult year last year, as the whole House will recognise, but we are certainly optimistic about this winter. We are increasingly favourably placed for the years to come.
Lord Redesdale: My Lords, I thank those on the Conservative Front Bench for offering to write our policy papers. I had not actually heard of that particular policy. Will the Minister say whether the fact that we have had limited gas storage has cost every consumer in the country? Last year and the year before, the gas spot price was so much higher because we had so little capacity; therefore, increasing our capacity must be good for the consumer. Not increasing capacity has cost each consumer in the country a great deal of money.
Lord Davies of Oldham: My Lords, the noble Lord will recognise that not just gas storage created the energy supply crisis. He will be all too well aware of the bottlenecks in Europe; as a consequence of Russian decisions that affected, initially, Ukraine, and did no good to the rest of Europe, there were significant bottlenecks in Belgium at the pipeline. We have increased our interconnectors with Europe and have greater facilities now. We have been hugely successful on the point that we sought to make last year; namely, that the European market with regard to energy supplies was not working satisfactorily. The Prime Minister operated at his level to ensure that the market improved. I am pleased to report to the House that very considerable progress is being made in Europe on the free market in energy supplies.
Lord Lawson of Blaby: My Lords, the Minister will be aware that there is increasing concern in Europe that, already, 44 per cent of gas supplies for Europe as a whole come from the Russian state monopoly, Gazprom, which is expected to increase. There is considerable political fear that President Putin or his successor might use this power for political means. There might be a threat to cut off the gas. What is the Government’s view of this? In the light of this, under the precautionary principle which is so dear to the Government, how many months’ supply do they think that the United Kingdom should have in storage?
Lord Davies of Oldham: My Lords, clearly this country has moved from a position of very great security of supply when we had our indigenous resources in the North Sea. Because we have moved to being dependent on imports, we must have due regard to who will be the suppliers. We must ensure that the market works successfully and must increase significantly our gas storage capacity, because we need wider margins. On the Russian Federation and the president, for 18 months or two years, there were very real anxieties. However, the whole of Europe has very great interest in the security of supply from Russia and, of course, it is in Russia’s interest to sell its energy production, the basis of which is effective bargaining. The noble Lord will recognise that we are past the stage where we will ever again be able to look to purely British indigenous supplies for energy in this country, if we ever could entirely.
Lord Tanlaw: My Lords, what percentage of gas generation for electricity has been switched to coal-fired stations? Surely that must increase the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, as does the failure to adopt daylight saving.
Lord Davies of Oldham: My Lords, very little gas generation has been moved to coal-fired stations. Our plans are to guarantee that gas continues to play its very important part in energy supplies.
Health: Stroke Patients
2.43 pm
Baroness Turner of Camden asked Her Majesty’s Government:
Whether adequate specialist therapy is available to patients leaving hospital following strokes, in particular speech therapy; and what steps they are taking to ensure that such therapy is available in all areas.
The Minister of State, Department of Health (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath): My Lords, all stroke survivors who need it should have access to specialist therapy, including speech and language therapy. The Department of Health is developing a new national strategy for stroke, which will set out the vision for modernising services and delivering the newest treatments for stroke. This will include therapy and other kinds of rehabilitation for stroke patients and survivors.
Baroness Turner of Camden: My Lords, I thank my noble friend for that reply. Is he aware, as I am sure he is, that skilled, specialist rehabilitation has been found in research to make a substantial difference to the quality of life and independence of post-stroke patients? Unfortunately, it is not all that readily available in some areas, as the Stroke Association has told me. Without it, people otherwise able to lead independent and useful lives face what amounts to a form of social exclusion because they are unable to speak and to communicate.
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: My Lords, my noble friend is right about the importance of therapy. A third of stroke survivors have persistent speech and language issues. I can tell her that there has been an increase in the number of speech therapists working in the NHS and, in a Picker Institute survey of stroke patients carried out in 2005, 69 per cent said that they had been given enough help with speaking difficulties after they had left hospital. That is a good foundation, but I accept that more needs to be done.
Baroness Neuberger: My Lords, I was interested to hear the Minister say that more speech therapists are now working in the NHS. While it is certainly true that there are more posts, anecdotal evidence suggests that, when they become vacant, many of them are now being frozen. Can he tell us whether the stroke strategy, when it comes out, will include any data on exactly how many people are providing speech therapy in the NHS?
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: My Lords, the survey will look at workforce issues. The statistics that I have show that in 1997 around 3,742 whole-time-equivalent speech therapists were working in the NHS. The latest census, which was conducted in 2006, shows that the number is 5,149, which is an increase of over 37 per cent.
Lord Clinton-Davis: My Lords, is my noble friend aware that the stroke group at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead, of which I am a member, is being shut down? How many other groups are similarly affected? Does my noble friend agree that ensuring that stroke victims are given effective treatment during their recovery is important? What are the Government going to do about this?
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: My Lords, I was not aware of the closure of the group that my noble friend referred to, but I am happy to look into it. I accept the premise that as much work as possible needs to be done with people who have suffered a stroke to enable them to recover and get back into full working lives. Great advances have been made over the past few years in specialist stroke services and the work undertaken in rehabilitation. However, more needs to be done and that is what will be covered in the strategy due to be published shortly.
The Countess of Mar: My Lords, is there not a bit of a gap between government policy and what is happening on the ground? In his responses not just on this subject but on many others, the Minister seems just to be reiterating policy. A recent survey showed a dearth of support for stroke patients in, for example, Wales. Can he respond to that?
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: My Lords, I cannot respond to the situation in Wales, but I can say that the NHS faces specific and serious challenges in giving priority to stroke services. However, the fact is that we have seen a big fall in mortality from stroke in both the under-65s and those aged 65 to 75. Some 97 per cent of hospitals now have stroke units, which is a big improvement on the position a decade ago, and we have seen a large increase in the number of speech therapists. Improvements are being made.
Lord Skelmersdale: My Lords, I declare an interest as a former chairman of council of the Stroke Association. In his original Answer, the Minister said that specialist services “should” be available. The question is: are they?
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: My Lords, I pay tribute to the Stroke Association for its incredibly valuable work. Specialist stroke services have been developed, but not every part of the country has them to a sufficient extent. We wish to use the strategy as a way of encouraging the NHS to give appropriate priority to the development of those services.
Lord Smith of Clifton: My Lords, I declare my interests as a former director of the Stroke Association and as a stroke survivor. In my experience, one of the most important therapies is physiotherapy, especially that provided by physiotherapists who are specialists in dealing with stroke victims. There is still clearly a shortage of such specialists. Will the strategy make provision to increase the number of physiotherapists who are stroke specialists?
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: My Lords, I am not going to anticipate the strategy, but I can assure the noble Lord that workforce issues will be fully considered in it. As with speech therapists, since 1997 we have seen a considerable increase in the number of physiotherapists being employed in the NHS.
Baroness Greengross: My Lords, it is absolutely essential for many patients that they should have a brain scan very quickly after suffering a stroke. I know that that was not the normal practice in this country, although it was in others, but, under the new policy, how long does the Minister estimate it will be before it is routine?
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: My Lords, the noble Baroness is right to point to the importance of scanning. There has been an increase in the number of scanners and the figures that I have for 2006 show that 59 per cent of patients referred for an emergency CT scan had one within 24 hours, which is up from 51 per cent in 1998. But I accept that there is more to do. The report of Professor Boyle, the national clinical director, published about a year ago, stressed the importance of this and the strategy will contain further details.
Child Trust Fund
2.51 pm
Baroness Massey of Darwen asked Her Majesty’s Government:
Lord Davies of Oldham: My Lords, the Government are encouraged that three-quarters of child trust vouchers have been used by parents to open accounts for their children. The Government are continuing with efforts to help new parents to understand the choices available and to encourage them to open a child trust fund account for their child, such as through partnership work with the voluntary and community sector to provide extra help for less financially confident families.
Baroness Massey of Darwen: My Lords, I thank my noble friend for that encouraging reply. This is such an excellent scheme that it is a pity that all families do not take advantage of it. Is there evidence showing precisely which families are not using the scheme and how they can be targeted to improve matters?
Lord Davies of Oldham: My Lords, we have been concerned that the scheme should be a success but we regard 75 per cent at this stage as encouraging. As we want as many parents as possible to take advantage of the scheme, there has been a significant amount of marketing activity: a special day was devoted to the subject, advertisements were placed in magazines, and the voluntary and community organisations have been helping greatly to spread the benefits of the scheme. But we are only in the third year and a great deal still needs to be done.
Lord Newby: My Lords, to take up the noble Baroness’s point, can the Minister confirm that the take-up of child trust funds in the most affluent areas is over 80 per cent whereas in the least affluent areas it is barely over 50 per cent? Does that not demonstrate that many of the parents who are expected to benefit most from the child trust funds simply do not know what the scheme is about?
Lord Davies of Oldham: My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord for identifying the issues even more graphically. The take-up rate among less well-off families is much lower than it is among more affluent families who see the advantages of the scheme and have the confidence to invest in the financial product. We are doing everything we can to extend the scheme to as many people as possible. The noble Lord is right that we have to concentrate our efforts a great deal more on less well-off families.
Lord Naseby: My Lords, I declare an interest as the former chairman of the Children’s Mutual. I congratulate the Government: they have done a fine job in launching this programme. The fact that 75 per cent of our young people will eventually have reasonable savings is greatly to be welcomed. It seems that the problem lies in the fact that more than half of parents are new parents. Will the Government therefore give a commitment to ensure that there is major marketing activity every year? Unless you achieve that, you will miss out every year.
Lord Davies of Oldham: My Lords, I thank the noble Lord for the constructive remarks at the beginning of his question, and I agree with him on the latter part of his question. The Government have a substantial amount of work to do with new parents, which is why we give a 12-month period before requiring take-up. Even if take-up has not occurred then, the Government will make their contribution at the end of the year. However, that contribution will mean little unless the parents are also encouraged to contribute to the savings scheme. We have a great deal to do. As I think we are all aware, financial literacy in this country is much lower than we want. It is demonstrated by the relatively limited take-up among certain sections of our community.
Baroness Howe of Idlicote: My Lords, deprived families have not been taking up the scheme as quickly as other sections of the community. What targets have the Government set themselves for ensuring that a higher percentage of such families opt into the scheme?
Lord Davies of Oldham: My Lords, the House may be relieved to hear that we do not set targets in this area, but we have ambitions. The scheme is meant to help all children in our society and their parents to invest in their future, but, as the House has readily anticipated, that is more difficult with certain sections of the community than with others. That is why we are working hard to promote greater financial understanding and using extensive advertising directed at such families. We are reliant on the community and welfare organisations that can reach parts which Governments sometimes cannot reach and can help to promote the significance of the scheme.
Baroness Noakes: My Lords, figures released by the Treasury show that 2,830,000 children are eligible for child trust fund vouchers, but that only 2,753,000 vouchers were issued. For noble Lords who are not quite as quick as they were on mental arithmetic, that is 77,000 vouchers that have not been issued. What are the Government doing about that?
Lord Davies of Oldham: My Lords, even the best-run schemes have certain elements that leave a margin of difficulty. As the noble Baroness will recognise, the scheme is working well overall. The Government have to be satisfied that they have successfully identified who should be the recipients of the child trust vouchers, and the noble Baroness has probably indicated in her figures how limited and small the administrative problem is in comparison with the success of the scheme as a whole.
Tax Credits
| Next Section | Back to Table of Contents | Lords Hansard Home Page |