---

Medical Research

My Lords, it is my privilege to congratulate and thank the noble Baroness on behalf of the whole House on her maiden speech. She explained her deep involvement in medical matters and, thanks to that, she spoke with insight and knowledge about them. But the noble Baroness has had an impact on other aspects of our lives. She described herself as a generalist. How true. In 1999 she became Commissioner for Public Appointments. She was reappointed in 2002 and her appointment was extended in 2005, so she must be doing a great job in ensuring integrity and diversity in public appointments. The noble Baroness spoke of ageing. Women have greatly benefited from her involvement with the Pennell Initiative for Women’s Health, which addresses the needs of women over 45. She has received many honours from universities, including an honorary professorship in creative leadership at York University. What a wonderful and imaginative chair. She is an ambassador for places as far apart as St Andrews in Fife and Gloucestershire—places, no doubt, to which she feels a sense of loyalty and of gratitude. There is more: charities, a building society, hobbies and family—she is a very busy person. Nevertheless, I hope that we will see her often here so that we can all benefit from her large and important contribution to public life.