Health and Social Care

I am grateful, Mr Deputy Speaker, for this opportunity to make my maiden speech, particularly dur...

It is a privilege to be back in this place after my short break; I did not seek it, but I hope I ...

I congratulate all those who have given their maiden speeches in this Queen’s Speech debate today...

Thank you for calling me to speak, Mr Deputy Speaker. I also thank the hon. Member for Hereford a...

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship today. I congratu...

I thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker, for calling me in today’s debate. I congratulate all those who ha...

It is a privilege to follow the hon. Member for York Central (Rachael Maskell) and I welcome many...

I am grateful for the opportunity to participate in this debate on the Queen’s Speech and on such...

I start by congratulating all those who have made their maiden speeches today. I have listened to...

I would like first to take this opportunity to thank the people of Washington and Sunderland West...

It is a great honour to represent Colchester in Parliament. Colchester is not only the most beaut...

It is an unexpected pleasure to see you in the Chair, Mr Howarth—although Mr Speaker is now takin...

My hon. Friend is making some extremely valuable points in expanding on what I said towards the e...

Yes—I am worried about anything that has not been specifically stated in the Queen’s Speech. I kn...

It is an honour to follow the hon. Member for Lewisham West and Penge (Jim Dowd), and to have hea...

Thank you, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity to speak in this important debate and make my first sp...

Thank you, Mr Speaker, for giving me the chance to make my maiden speech in this debate, as it is...

I congratulate the hon. Member for Faversham and Mid Kent (Helen Whately) on her speech. In parti...

Her Majesty’s Gracious Speech included the welcome commitment to give every child the best start ...

Let me first pay tribute to the former Member for Ross, Skye and Lochaber and thank him for his m...

Does my hon. Friend agree that although we welcome the legislation on legal highs we must ensure ...

I thank my hon. Friend and colleague for that intervention. He clearly outlines the case, and I w...

My hon. Friend will be aware of the work on legal highs I have done at Belfast City Council. For ...

I thank my hon. Friend and colleague for that comment, and the precedent has been set in Belfast ...

I thank the hon. Lady for her intervention. Clearly, that is the issue for us in Northern Ireland...

Thank you, Mr Speaker, for calling me to make my maiden speech. I am conscious that I am followin...

I am most grateful to you, Mr Speaker, for calling me during today’s debate to deliver my maiden ...

It is a privilege to speak on a day when we have heard so many great maiden speeches. I want to t...

I want to talk about what the Government call the distressed health economy of Staffordshire—nort...

It is both a great honour and a privilege to have the opportunity to serve my area of Lanark and ...

Thank you for calling me to make my maiden speech, Mr Deputy Speaker. I congratulate the other Me...

It is an honour to follow my hon. Friend the Member for Neath (Christina Rees), and I congratulat...

Thank you for calling me, Mr Deputy Speaker, and allowing me the opportunity to make my maiden sp...

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker, for the opportunity to make my maiden contribution during this deba...

It has been a great pleasure to listen to so many wonderful maiden speeches this afternoon, and i...

As my hon. Friend the Member for Heywood and Middleton (Liz McInnes) has just said, it is a real ...

The hon. Lady listed an awful lot of bodies. Obviously, she thinks that there are far too many or...

Why is the hon. Lady not talking to her Ministers about the problems created in the NHS? Why do t...

rose—

What will the hon. Gentleman do about that?

On the subject of mistakes, apologies and looking back at the past, would the hon. Lady—in her ro...

I will never apologise for Labour’s record on the NHS, for the investment and reforms that saw wa...

I echo the words of the shadow care Minister, the hon. Member for Leicester West (Liz Kendall): t...

As we are speaking of one of the major challenges facing the NHS, will the Minister tell us wheth...

That is another example of trying to weaponise the NHS. [Hon. Members: “Answer.”] There were 700,...

rose—

No, I cannot give way at this moment.

The coalition Government had an excellent record on c...

It is bluster.

The hon. Gentleman says it is bluster. Is it bluster to talk about the £1 billion invested in the...

rose—

No, I am sorry, I will not give way. As they have demonstrated today, the hon. Lady and many of h...

I regret that the Minister missed my speech, because she, like her right hon. Friend the Secretar...

I am sorry that I was not in the Chamber for the right hon. Gentleman’s speech. I was briefly att...

The Minister is being very accurate and precise about the figures for the NHS. Would she mind ans...

I have already responded to that issue. One would think that Her Majesty’s Opposition would have ...

The Minister mentions deprivation and health inequality. I have listened to council leaders deali...

I do not remember in the last election campaign the former shadow Chancellor going around promisi...

rose—

No. I shall make some more progress.

On tackling health inequalities, although I missed his...

The hon. Lady is talking about methods of reducing lung cancer and other cancers, which we welcom...

The issue of people surviving cancer and getting proper treatment at the right time is something ...

Will the Minister address the issue that I raised in my contribution and the advice from Lawrence...

I am sure we will return to debating SABR and other cancer treatments, as we did often in the pre...

I am glad that the Minister has mentioned radiotherapy. I had the honour of opening the radiother...

It is a very important part of cancer care, and something we have debated often in this House. I ...

In my contribution I asked about legal highs. Perhaps the Minister could give some idea of what w...

The relevant Bill is being brought forward by another Department, but I noted that the hon. Gentl...

Labour’s friend, David Babbs’s 38 Degrees, although it says it is not party political, was also p...

That is a very good question, and I think that all Members who found campaigns of that sort in th...

It is an honour to speak about health and social care in our debates on the Gracious Speech, beca...

Does the Secretary of State agree that one of the biggest challenges we face is to achieve parity...

My hon. Friend is absolutely right, and I want to thank him for his tireless campaigning on parit...

The Secretary of State has quite rightly said that the NHS needs to become more efficient. May I ...

I would be delighted to visit my hon. Friend as soon as I can find the time, but I have already s...

I am glad that the right hon. Gentleman is getting to the meat of the debate. My constituents and...

We do need to make important changes to the training of medical staff, and I shall give the hon. ...

To build on the point made by the hon. Member for Huddersfield (Mr Sheerman), is not a critical a...

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The big change we need to see in the NHS over this Parliament...

There is a big difference between the Secretary of State’s view of the health service and mine—he...

I gently say to the right hon. Gentleman that I believe in exactly the same use of the independen...

I worked on the front line of the NHS, in a service providing exemplary care, for more than 11 ye...

May I welcome the hon. Lady to her place and say that I welcome to this place as many people with...

rose—

Let me make some more progress, and I shall give way later.

The Queen’s Speech also talked ...

The Secretary of State has said that privatisation is not happening, but in Staffordshire the £1 ...

As I said earlier, I do not think these decisions should be made by politicians; I think they sho...

The right hon. Gentleman said right there that there is a role for the independent sector and tha...

I am afraid that this is exactly the sort of distortion and scaremongering that got the right hon...

The Secretary of State is spot on with regard to the use of language. In the last Parliament the ...

Yes, I will. The figures that my hon. Friend cites are right. I will tell him something else. Hal...

My right hon. Friend spoke eloquently about the importance of supporting mental health care, of p...

Absolutely. I had a good visit to my hon. Friend’s county hospital, but I also remember seeing at...

Much has been made of finances during this debate. I do not know whether my right hon. Friend is ...

My hon. Friend has an excellent hospital, which I hope to visit at some stage. A third of the hos...

The Secretary of State is right to emphasise the need for greater resourcing and support for GPs....

The hon. Lady is right. This week we saw the results of the international cancer benchmarks study...

Does the Secretary of State accept that the Better Care Together report on future services in Mor...

I understand that geographical isolation is a particular issue and may have led to some of the pr...

Will the Secretary of State give way?

I will just make some progress.

Prevention also means transforming mental health services. ...

I welcome what my right hon. Friend is saying about transforming services. He has mentioned Aired...

Yes, I absolutely can. Let me give him one specific example. A couple of years ago, I noted a sta...

The Secretary of State will know that prevention is better than cure. He spoke about parity of es...

The hon. Gentleman is right to raise that issue. The previous Minister with responsibility for me...

rose—

I said that I would not give way again, but I will take one final intervention.

The Secretary of State has spoken of the importance of people’s ability to secure hospital appoin...

I absolutely do recognise that. One of my key priorities is to deal with the issues of GP recruit...

During health questions, I congratulated the Secretary of State on his reappointment, and I do so...

It was my honour last week to visit Priestley mental health unit at Dewsbury and District Hospita...

As my hon. Friend the Member for Liverpool, Walton (Steve Rotheram) pointed out a moment ago, NHS...

I am listening with interest to the right hon. Gentleman, but surely he has forgotten about the p...

The Conservatives are fond of saying that we did not fix the roof when the sun was shining, but I...

The right hon. Gentleman has clearly forgotten the patient records IT project—at £12 billion, it ...

I will tell the hon. Gentleman what I remember: I remember NHS waiting lists in 2010 being at the...

Is it not true that the NHS’s greatest resource, and indeed greatest cost, is its staff? Imperial...

My hon. Friend anticipates me, because this is precisely the issue I am coming on to. Under the L...

Are not some rather stupid decisions are about to be made? Wythenshawe hospital has a £3 million ...

That is exactly the point. When we are in a crisis like this, short-term, kneejerk cuts are made,...

The right hon. Gentleman talks about appalling mismanagement. Why did we have that growth in defi...

I am grateful that the Secretary of State has intervened because yet again he has got his facts w...

Would my right hon. Friend care to remind the Secretary of State of a privatisation that has incr...

I remember visiting with my hon. Friend. Let us put the facts on the record. The Secretary of Sta...

Does my right hon. Friend think it is a matter of concern that a significant report by Lord Stuar...

My hon. Friend raises an important point. Again, the Secretary of State is quick to lecture about...

I have been listening with a great deal of interest to the right hon. Gentleman, but I have to te...

I must point out to the hon. Lady that Labour had a 20-point lead on the NHS going into the gener...

I welcome the right hon. Gentleman’s support for the five-year forward view, but how can he make ...

I shall come to the £8 billion, which was the centrepiece of what the Conservatives were proposin...

Forgive me; I am new here and very confused. This seems very simple to me. At the election, I pro...

The hon. Lady makes a very good point, and I hope she does a lot more for the NHS than her predec...

The day after the general election, I was approached by someone outside my constituency office. H...

I do not know which election the hon. Gentleman was fighting, but I went round the country and he...

rose—

Order. No fewer than 41 Members are seeking to catch my eye today, the consequence of which is th...

As this is the first time that I have spoken in this Parliament, may I state for the record that ...

Will my hon. Friend join me in welcoming the work of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, whi...

Absolutely, and I recognise and value the work that has been done. We also need to look at the sk...

My hon. Friend will know that in the previous Parliament the Public Accounts Committee expressed ...

I thank my hon. Friend for his points. There is an important piece of work that can be done by th...

Order. I am listening intently to the hon. Lady, as always, and as I know the House will be. It i...

A flourish! I apologise, Mr Speaker. I was indeed looking at the clock.

As a final flourish...

I am grateful for the opportunity to take part in this debate as the Front-Bench spokesperson on ...

His only British tour.

We now hear that he was once out drinking with Tommy Steele, so we will not go down that road.