Vol. 813 Wednesday No. 27 30 June 2021 PARLIAMENTARYDEBATES (HANSARD) HOUSE OF LORDS OFFICIAL REPORT ORDEROFBUSINESS Questions Covid-19: Wuhan Institute of Virology..........................................................................777 Choirs: Restrictions ........................................................................................................780 House of Lords Reform .................................................................................................783 Unidentified Flying Objects ...........................................................................................787 Marriage Act 1949 (Amendment) Bill [HL] First Reading...................................................................................................................790 Parliamentary Works Estimates Commission Membership Motion........................................................................................................790 Parliamentary Works Sponsor Body Membership Motion........................................................................................................790 Secret Documents Commons Urgent Question..............................................................................................791 Environment Bill Committee (4th Day) .....................................................................................................794 Grand Committee Birmingham Commonwealth Games (Compensation for Enforcement Action) Regulations 2021 Considered in Grand Committee ...............................................................................GC 197 Introduction and the Import of Cultural Goods (Revocation) Regulations 2021 Considered in Grand Committee ...............................................................................GC 209 Criminal Justice (Electronic Commerce) (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2021 Considered in Grand Committee ..............................................................................GC 221 Lords wishing to be supplied with these Daily Reports should give notice to this effect to the Printed Paper Office. No proofs of Daily Reports are provided. Corrections for the bound volume which Lords wish to suggest to the report of their speeches should be clearly indicated in a copy of the Daily Report, which, with the column numbers concerned shown on the front cover, should be sent to the Editor of Debates, House of Lords, within 14 days of the date of the Daily Report. This issue of the Official Report is also available on the Internet at https://hansard.parliament.uk/lords/2021-06-30 In Hybrid sittings, [V] after a Member’s name indicates that they contributed by video call. The following abbreviations are used to show a Member’s party affiliation: Abbreviation Party/Group CB Cross Bench Con Conservative DUP Democratic Unionist Party GP Green Party Ind Lab Independent Labour Ind SD Independent Social Democrat Ind UU Independent Ulster Unionist Lab Labour Lab Co-op Labour and Co-operative Party LD Liberal Democrat LD Ind Liberal Democrat Independent Non-afl Non-affiliated PC Plaid Cymru UKIP UK Independence Party UUP Ulster Unionist Party No party affiliation is given for Members serving the House in a formal capacity, the Lords spiritual, Members on leave of absence or Members who are otherwise disqualified from sitting in the House. © Parliamentary Copyright House of Lords 2021, this publication may be reproduced under the terms of the Open Parliament licence, which is published at www.parliament.uk/site-information/copyright/. 777 Arrangement of Business[30 JUNE 2021] Covid-19: Wuhan Institute of Virology 778 House of Lords Lord Bethell (Con): My Lords, I entirely agree with the sentiments expressed by my noble friend. We are Wednesday 30 June 2021 absolutely calling for a timely, transparent and evidence- The House met in a hybrid proceeding. based phase 2 study, including further investigation in China, as recommended by the experts’ report. We 12 pm agree with the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness & Response that member states should Prayers—read by the Lord Bishop of Gloucester. give the WHO greater powers to investigate outbreaks of pathogens with pandemic potential within member Arrangement of Business states. Announcement Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Lab Co-op): My Lords, I 12.07 pm commend the Minister for an excellent reply to the noble Viscount’s Question—a reply obviously informed The Lord Speaker (Lord McFall of Alcluith): My by the excellent staff at the Department of Health and Lords, the hybrid sitting of the House will now begin. Social Care. In the light of that, can I gently ask why, Some Members are here in the Chamber, others are as a Minister, did he feel it necessary to have a participating remotely, but all Members will be treated parliamentary research assistant? equally. I ask all Members to respect social distancing and wear face coverings while in the Chamber, except Lord Bethell (Con): My Lords, I have written to the when speaking. If the capacity of the Chamber is commissioner for standards in response to that precise exceeded, I will immediately adjourn the House. Oral question and I should be glad to share that correspondence Questions will now commence. Please can those asking with the noble Lord. supplementary questions keep them to no longer than 30 seconds and confined to two points? I ask that Baroness Walmsley (LD) [V]: It is believed that Ministers’ answers are also brief. given the slow rate of mutation of Covid viruses, Covid-19 would have taken around 35 years to evolve Covid-19: Wuhan Institute of Virology from its nearest known relative. What has been done Question to identify any intermediaries in which it may have lived during that period and any knowledge useful for 12.08 pm preventing future pandemics that may arise from that Asked by Viscount Ridley knowledge? Toask Her Majesty’sGovernment what assessment Lord Bethell (Con): I entirely agree with the noble they have made of the possibility that the COVID-19 Baroness. It is extremely frustrating that we do not virus escaped from a laboratory at the Wuhan know the steps of evolution that this virus went through. Institute of Virology. It has come to us completely out of the blue. That leaves us in a vulnerable state when we are preparing TheParliamentaryUnder-Secretaryof State,Department for the next pandemic. It is absolutely essential, as any of Health and Social Care (Lord Bethell) (Con): My epidemiologist will say, that one knows and understands Lords, with the increasing threat of zoonotic diseases where the virus came from—whether that is the water crossing the animal-human divide, learning how Covid pump handle for an outbreak of cholera or a virus was transmitted to humans and is spread is absolutely from China. crucialtopreventingfuturepandemics.Themuch-delayed WHO-convened Covid origin study reported on phase Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford (Con): My 1 of its investigation in March. The report made Lords, the situation could not emphasise more clearly recommendations for further studies. The Government’s the need for genuine global participation in transparency belief is that it is vital that phase 2 of the investigation in surveillance and pathogen sequencing to respond to does not face the same delays and that it is given full future pandemics and epidemics. I was pleased to see access to the data necessary for the next part of its the progress at the G7 on this but, if the global work. anti-pandemic action plan is to have any teeth, we will need to ensure that countries such as China contribute Viscount Ridley (Con): I thank my noble friend for trustworthy data to global surveillance in the future. that Answer. Viruses like this have not been found What steps does the Minister envisage to ensure that near Wuhan in bats or any other animals. The closest this happens? relative to this virus was brought to Wuhan by scientists from 1,000 miles away to a laboratory that had been Lord Bethell (Con): I completely agree with my manipulating SARS-like viruses for 15 years. There it noble friend. The international health regulations need was sequenced in 2017 and 2018 in a biosecurity to be amended in that respect. It was one of the level 2 laboratory. Most of that information was found aspects of the pandemic preparedness treaty that was out by independent investigators, not volunteered by brought to Carbis Bay for the G7 earlier this year. We the Chinese authorities.Will my noble friend unequivocally are working extremely hard, through our G7 condemn that lack of transparency and join other chairmanship, to ensure that this relatively obscure nations in calling for a full and independent investigation? but absolutely critical international treaty has the teeth Will he clarify who is in charge in the British Government it needs to do the work on genomic sequencing and of answering that question? pathogen identification that needs to be done. 779 Covid-19: Wuhan Institute of Virology[LORDS] Choirs: Restrictions 780 Lord Patel (CB) [V]: My Lords, does the Minister the G7, to pull together relevant experts to start looking agree that for a better understanding of the current at how a future pandemic could be dealt with more pandemic and future pandemics, identification of the swiftly—and, most importantly, on a global basis. Can progenitor genome of SARS-CoV-2 is important? We the Minister advise us what progress has been made need more data, despite having sequenced more than on this? 1 million SARS-CoV-2 genomes.The escape of pathogens from labs