Baroness Suttie (LD)

My Lords, I, too, thank the Minister for her very clear presentation. I take the opportunity to wish the noble Baroness, Lady Hayman, a speedy recovery. If she is watching this debate today, she should know that we are all thinking of her. I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Hoey, for the opportunity to have this debate, because it is an important debate. However, as ever, it is a debate about two different issues. The first is the ongoing constitutional debate about the functioning of the Windsor Framework and the democratic questions arising from Northern Ireland having to accept decisions taken by the European Union when we no longer have representation there since leaving the EU. The second debate is the substance of these regulations: the phasing out of amalgam dental fillings and the exemption for Northern Ireland to 2034. I will deal with the latter point first. I believe the exemption to 2034 is welcome. The NHS in Northern Ireland, and dentistry in particular, is in a state of some crisis. This nine-year exemption will allow time to make the transition from amalgam to composite fillings in a planned and phased manner, and will avoid the shock to Northern Ireland dentistry which many dental professionals warned about. Clearly, I am not a dentist. I listened with interest to the noble Lord, Lord Weir, and to the noble Lord, Lord Reay, but it is noticeable, I would say, that amalgam fillings have seen a marked decrease in popularity in recent years. People are keen to choose the more aesthetically pleasing white composite fillings. The noble Lord, Lord Reay, powerfully made the case in his speech that the use of mercury amalgam fillings has always been somewhat controversial. They require much greater drilling in the tooth, which can have long-term consequences. They add enormously, as the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett, has said, to mercury pollution in the environment. Ahead of this debate today, I was reading that a recent medical research paper has indicated that their use might even have an impact on arthritis. I would be grateful if the Minister could, as the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett, asked, clarify the Government’s position on eventually banning mercury amalgam fillings in England. Like the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett, ahead of the imminent meeting on the Minamata Convention on Mercury being held next week, from 3 November to 7 November, I would be interested to know the Government’s response to a proposal by the African nations for a ban on dental amalgam by 2030. I believe the Minister in her opening remarks said that if amalgam fillings are eventually banned for the rest of the UK ahead of 2034, Northern Ireland would follow suit and these regulations would fall. I would be grateful if she could clarify that in her closing remarks. On the constitutional issue, as noble Lords will know—indeed, it would not be a debate on a regret amendment from the noble Baroness, Lady Hoey, if I did not point this out—if we had not left the European Union then we would not be having these arguments, because we would have been able to make the case within the EU institutions on behalf of UK dentists, including Northern Ireland dentists, at the Council and the European Parliament. But she and I are never entirely going to agree on those matters. As others have said, the Windsor Framework is very far from perfect. There is a democratic deficit, and it is something that we in the rest of the UK are going to have to face if we go further down the route of dynamic alignment. But I would argue that this set of regulations is a positive story. There was an issue, and the UK Government and the EU listened, the Northern Ireland Assembly made the case powerfully, and an exemption to 2034 was granted. That is why on these Benches we support these regulations and oppose the amendment of the noble Baroness, Lady Hoey.