Health Service Capital Estate
(Scunthorpe) (Con)
What progress his Department has made on improving the health
service capital estate.
(Stoke-on-Trent South) (Con)
What progress his Department has made on improving the health
service capital estate.
The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care ()
In our election manifesto, we committed to building 40 new
hospitals by 2030 and upgrading another 20 hospitals. We are
delivering on that commitment and now have plans to build 48 new
hospitals this decade. We will open a competition for the eight
further new hospitals shortly.
I thank my right hon. Friend for the investment that we have seen
in Scunthorpe General Hospital over the last year. Residents are
seeing those changes and it will certainly help us in the medium
term. Looking to the future, will he continue to work with me on
the plans for a new hospital for Scunthorpe?
I thank everybody who is working at Scunthorpe General Hospital
for their incredible effort over the last year. My hon. Friend
has been an assiduous campaigner for Scunthorpe hospital and the
upgrades that we have already been able to put money into, and
now there are eight slots for further new hospitals. Forty have
been announced and we will build eight more over this decade. We
will shortly announce how we are going to make that decision.
There will be an open process and I look forward to working with
her, her colleagues and colleagues across the NHS in Lincolnshire
to make sure that they can put together the best possible
application.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Government for
investing in mental health facilities at Heartlands Hospital and
acute facilities at the Royal Stoke University Hospital.
Together, this will see over £32 million being invested in our
local NHS, so would my right hon. Friend agree that it is more
important than ever, as our NHS starts to recover from the
pandemic, that we provide the best possible health facilities?
Yes, I would. The NHS has clearly played such a critical part in
the response to the pandemic in the last just over a year. I
thank all those working in and around Stoke, including at the
Royal Stoke, which is a great hospital. We have put £32 million
into the local NHS, and we protected the NHS even through the
worst challenges of this pandemic. Of course, I will be open to
further investment to make sure that the NHS across Stoke gets
the support that it needs so that we can build back better.
Today, we are all able to see the improvements that are being
made in the response to the covid pandemic, with the opening
yesterday of step 2—I am delighted, Mr Speaker, to see that you
have had a haircut. So many of us have been looking forward to
being able to get life back to normal, and thanks to the work of
people across Stoke and across the nation, we are able to take
these steps.
Mr Speaker
This is Mrs Hoyle’s effort, but there we are.
(Ellesmere Port and Neston) (Lab)
Congratulations to Mrs Hoyle on a job well done.
New investment is welcome, but it is no consolation to those
patients missing out because the rest of the NHS estate is being
starved of investment. We have seen a 23% increase in treatments
being delayed or cancelled in the last year because of
infrastructure failures, and the maintenance backlog went up by
another 50% last year. We are not going to see those record
waiting lists drop if operations are cancelled because basic
repairs are not done, so will the Secretary of State tell us by
what date we will see no more delays to treatment because of
crumbling buildings?
We are putting a record amount of investment into the
infrastructure of the NHS. That is evidenced by the questions
that we have had already, with the improvements in Stoke,
Scunthorpe and across the rest of the country. It is about not
just the physical investment, but making sure that we support
staff to be able to deliver and making sure that the NHS gets the
support that it needs to tackle this backlog. We have a very
significant backlog because of the pandemic and we are working
incredibly hard to tackle it.
Covid-19 Vaccine Roll-out
(Gedling) (Con)
What assessment he has made of the progress of covid-19 vaccine
roll-out among the UK adult population.
(Carshalton and Wallington) (Con)
What assessment he has made of the progress of covid-19 vaccine
roll-out among the UK adult population.
The Minister for Covid Vaccine Deployment ()
First, I would like to pay tribute to our fantastic NHS and all
the frontline vaccinators, our volunteers, armed forces and local
authorities and all those working on the vaccine deployment
programme. I am very grateful for their tireless efforts in
vaccinating those most at risk across the country.
I am absolutely delighted, Mr Speaker—no haircut puns at all
here—that another significant milestone has been reached, as we
have met our target of offering a vaccine to those in cohorts 1
to 9 ahead of schedule. Over 32 million people have had their
first dose and more than 7.6 million have had their second dose.
We are making phenomenal progress, but we remain focused on
ensuring that no one gets left behind.
Last week I became one of those people who had their first jab,
at Boots the chemist in Nottingham. Will my hon. Friend join me
in thanking all those in places such as Boots and all those
involved in the roll-out of the Pfizer-BioNTech,
Oxford-AstraZeneca and Moderna vaccines? Does he agree that the
best way out of this situation is to get that jab, and that when
the time comes and people get the call, they should take that
opportunity as soon as they can?
I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend, and I thank Boots the
chemist not only for its frontline capability but for its
distribution arm, which has helped us to distribute
Pfizer-BioNTech, Oxford-AstraZeneca and, now, Moderna. I agree
that when people get the call, they should come forward and have
their jab.
[V]
I welcome today’s news that the over-45s are being invited to
receive their first dose of the vaccine, and I thank everyone in
Carshalton and Wallington who is involved in the roll-out. I
recently held a vaccine roundtable with NHS leaders in Carshalton
and Wallington to encourage everyone, including ethnic minority
groups, to come forward and get the vaccine when their time
comes. Could my hon. Friend update the House on what steps the
Government are taking to work with community leaders and others
to ensure that every part of our community comes forward and gets
the vaccine?
I am grateful to my hon. Friend, and I echo his comments about
the incredible work that is happening across the London borough
of Sutton. I thank him for his work in promoting the vaccine, and
according to the latest NHS figures almost 90,000 individuals
have had their first dose of covid-19 vaccine in Sutton. To this
end we are working closely with faith and community leaders to
help to spread information about vaccines through trusted,
familiar voices and in a range of different languages and
settings. That also means leveraging the influence of celebrity
figures such as Sir Lenny Henry and the powerful and incredibly
moving “call to action” letter and video to black and
Afro-Caribbean communities. This is really important. We are also
working to support the vaccine programme over important religious
observances such as Ramadan, which begins today. We are working
with the Muslim community and reiterating the verdict of Islamic
scholars and key Muslim figures within the NHS that the vaccine
does not break the fast and is permissible, so come and get your
vaccine.
Covid-19: Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation
(Bristol South) (Lab)
What assessment he has made of the use of do not attempt
cardiopulmonary resuscitation orders during the covid-19
outbreak.
The Minister for Patient Safety, Suicide Prevention and Mental
Health (
)
In October 2020, I commissioned the Care Quality Commission to
review how do not attempt cardiopulmonary resuscitation decisions
were taken throughout the covid-19 pandemic and whether they had
been inappropriately applied. We welcome the CQC report, which
was published on 18 March, and we are committed to driving
forward delivery of the recommendations through a ministerial
oversight group, which I will chair, to ultimately ensure that
everyone experiences the compassionate care that they deserve.
[V]
I welcome the Minister’s comments. It is over a decade since I
worked with clinicians on how to communicate end-of-life care, so
I was shocked by some of the reports and by reading the CQC and
Compassion in Dying reports. The lessons learned from coronavirus
can and should be seen as a catalyst to having more open and
honest conversations about this decision making and advanced care
planning. Will the Minister commit to a public awareness
campaign, including groups such as Compassion in Dying, Marie
Curie and Hospice UK, to ensure that patients are fully aware and
at the heart of these decisions?
Ms Dorries
I thank the hon. Lady for her question. That is exactly what we
are trying to do at the moment. We have posted a public-facing
message on the nhs.uk website, which informs the public about how
DNACPR decisions should be taken and the process involved. There
should be no blanket application of DNACPR notices. Every patient
should be involved in the decision when a notice is applied, as
well as the family, relatives and care workers, and where
possible it should be signed by a clinician. This engagement with
the NHS, the wider public and the voluntary and care sectors is
ongoing, and we continue to monitor it.
Health and Social Care Integration
(Burnley) (Con)
What steps he is taking to support integration within the health
and social care system.
The Minister for Care ()
We want health and social care to be joined up effectively, with
the different parts of our system working together to meet
people’s needs. The health and care White Paper sets out our
plans for integrated care systems, which will not only join up
local NHS organisations but strengthen collaboration among the
health service, local authorities and others involved in social
care.
One thing that will really help the integration of health and
social care is the better use of technology and innovation, but
one of the barriers we face is the sharing of information among
different clinicians, general practitioners, hospitals and social
care settings, so will my hon. Friend confirm that as part of the
plans for better integration we are looking at how data and
information can be shared much more effectively?
My hon. Friend is absolutely right: interoperability is essential
to harness the potential benefits of health and care data for
individuals and to create a health and care system that is fit
for the future. We are going to legislate to ensure more
effective data sharing across the health and care system and will
outline our plans in the upcoming data strategy for health and
social care.
(Linlithgow and East Falkirk) (SNP) [V]
Despite the incredible challenges of the past year, neither the
Government’s White Paper nor the Budget even mentioned social
care. Health and care integration has been progressing in
Scotland since 2014, and the Scottish Government have committed
to developing a national care service and ensure equity
throughout Scotland; will the Minister make such a commitment for
England?
Actually, I have to disagree with the hon. Member: the White
Paper does mention social care and includes several steps on the
path to the reform of social care. We will bring forward further
information about social care reforms later this year.
Integration and service improvement cannot be delivered without
sufficient social care staff. The Scottish Government already
fund the real living wage for social care staff in Scotland, have
included them in the £500 thank-you bonus, and plan to
standardise pay and training. Does the Minister not recognise
that the only way to attract people to build a career in social
care is by valuing care staff?
I agree with the hon. Member that it is essential that we value
social care staff. Just as we have valued NHS staff during the
pandemic, so we have rightly recognised the vital contribution of
the social care workforce. We must continue to value our social
care workforce, for which we plan to bring forward proposals as
part of our social care reforms.
Local Health Services: Consultation
(Birmingham, Selly Oak) (Lab)
What steps he is taking to ensure patients are consulted on the
provision of their local health services.
The Minister for Health ()
The Government are committed to putting patients at the centre of
our health service. Patients are consulted on their local health
services in a wide variety of contexts, including through
Healthwatch England, the independent national champion for
patients. When a major or substantial reconfiguration or change
to services is proposed, the local clinical commissioning group
is legally required to hold a consultation with local people.
[V]
I wrote to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
about this issue a month ago. Last December, amid the pandemic,
Birmingham and Solihull clinical commissioning group decided to
close Goodrest Croft GP surgery—which has more than 6,000
patients—in my constituency. The CCG did not consult anyone
because apparently it is not required to do so. Does the Minister
find that acceptable?
Although I am not familiar with the detail of the specific local
case the hon. Gentleman raises, I am happy to meet him to discuss
it if that is helpful to him.
Breast Cancer Diagnosis Data
(West Lancashire) (Lab)
What proportion of NHS trusts are in compliance with the
requirement to collect data on all new diagnoses of recurrent and
metastatic breast cancer.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social
Care ()
The National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service works
closely with hospital trusts to determine sources of data that
can be used to complete the cancer outcomes and services dataset.
It also works with the software suppliers of cancer-management
systems to ensure that data items can be recorded. Compliance
with data standards is monitored by local CCGs, but I recognise
that that is not enough, as data is incomplete after some eight
years.
[V]
Currently, women with metastatic breast cancer are counted only
when they die. That is despite the fact that, since 2013, it has
been mandatory for trusts to collect data such as the number of
women involved, how long they have survived and whether there are
any health inequalities. It cannot be acceptable to count only
the dead, not the living. Will the Minister commit to ensuring
that the 2013 mandatory requirement to collect data on women with
metastatic breast cancer is enforced?
Yes. As I explained in my earlier answer, one of the challenges
is that there is not a consistent way of capturing the data. We
need to sort that out: we need to make it simple; we need to make
people understand what data we are collecting; and we need to
make sure that, for both breast cancer patients and all
metastatic cancer patients, we know where they are and that we
are helping them with this disease as effectively as we can.
Covid-19: Bereavement Services
(Feltham and Heston) (Lab/Co-op)
What assessment he has made of the effect of the covid-19
outbreak on bereavement services.
The Minister for Patient Safety, Suicide Prevention and Mental
Health (
)
The Government recognise that the effects of covid-19 have
increased the demand for bereavement services and highlighted the
complexity of grief that these services support. In response,
since March 2020, we have given more than £10.2 million to
support mental health charities, including bereavement services,
to support adults and children struggling with mental wellbeing
due to the impact of covid-19.
Last year, along with the Co-operative party, I called for a
proper plan for bereavement to ensure that everyone who has
experienced loss during this difficult period has the support
that they need. Awareness of the services available is vital if
people are to get this help. The Good Grief Trust, with which I
have been in contact, has said that too many people simply do not
know where to turn. What steps is the Minister taking to help
signpost families to bereavement charities and support and to
increase awareness of the support available to families in need,
which also includes support that can be signposted from hospitals
when loved ones die?
Ms Dorries
I thank the hon. Lady for her important question. The mental
health and wellbeing recovery action plan published on 27 March
this year aims to respond to the impact of the pandemic on
people’s mental health, specifically targeting groups that have
been most impacted. She mentioned the Good Grief Trust, and I
mentioned the £10.2 million of funding that we have allocated
recently. That is on top of the £2.3 billion a year for general
mental health, which includes bereavement counselling, and the
£500 million additional spending that we received in the spending
review. Some of that money did go to the Good Grief Trust, which
has done a fantastic job. It has been signposting services by
putting cards in doctors’ surgeries and in A&E departments in
hospitals so that people have immediate access to a line, but
there are 700 other charities across the UK that are providing
bereavement and grief counselling services to many members of the
public. We recognise that the demand is high, but the services
are there and available.
(Tooting) (Lab)
With your permission, Mr Speaker, I will pay a tribute to my
father, Mohammad Aslam Khan, who passed away a few days ago. Not
only was he a keen cricketer and an amazing dancer, he was also a
champion of equality. He was incredibly strong and brave until
his very last breath and he shall be missed beyond measure. I
extend a huge thank you to all the team at St George’s,
especially the marvellous team on Dalby ward, also to Victor and
the incredible staff and carers at Ronald Gibson House and to a
wonderful nurse called Anne Wheeler. My brother and I saw at
first hand that not all angels have wings.
Covid-19 has stripped the humanity out of grieving, with millions
being unable to attend funerals, say final goodbyes, or be with
loved ones following a death. Last year, the Government provided
£10.2 million to mental health organisations to ensure that
services could continue during the pandemic. Many people have
been relying on the support of dedicated bereavement
organisations to help them cope, yet the extra financial support
ended on 1 April. Will the Minister please consider reviewing
this vital funding immediately to ensure that no one has to go
through bereavement alone?
Ms Dorries
I pay tribute to my hon. Friend and her brave words about her
much missed father. Politics divides us, but grief, for many
reasons, unites us across this House. I have personally declared
to my hon. Friend that I am here should she need me. I pay
tribute to her for her bravery, being here today so soon after
the loss of her wonderful father. I hear her request; it is
constantly under review. Bereavement services are incredibly
important to me personally and to many of us. She mentioned the
£10.2 million. There are 700 bereavement charities, including the
Good Grief Trust. We monitor carefully how people access
bereavement services. We know that there is an increased need at
the moment and that is being watched very carefully. My hon.
Friend is incredibly brave.
Long Covid
(Eastleigh) (Con)
What steps he is taking to improve the understanding and
treatment of long covid.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social
Care ()
We are continuing to work with the NHS and the wider scientific
community to understand better the long-lasting effects of
covid-19 infection and the potential treatments. We are committed
to supporting patients suffering from long covid. Specialist NHS
assessment services have opened across England, and the “Your
COVID Recovery” website contains support and provides a
personalised programme for people recovering from covid-19,
following a clinical consultation. More than £30 million of
funding has already been committed to research projects and a
further £20 million was made available on 25 March.
[V]
I pay tribute to all NHS and military staff who are administering
vaccines across the UK, including to my mum and dad last week.
The Minister knows of the debilitating and lasting effects of
long covid. She has just outlined the funding elements that she
proposes to put forward. Will she tell us whether she might set
up a specific taskforce to look at more research into the damage
that long covid causes and the effects that it has on so many
people?
We are already taking strong action in this area; we have already
worked hard and are taking long covid seriously. We are listening
to patients, taking a patient-first approach, working with the
NHS and the wider scientific community, and engaging with the
Royal College of General Practitioners to better understand the
disease, which is physiological and neurological. It is different
for different people, and therefore treatments need to be
different for different people. We are working on ensuring that
we have the best post-covid assessment care and the best
pathways.
Covid-19 Vaccine Roll-out: Scotland
(West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine) (Con)
What steps he is taking to support covid-19 vaccine roll-out in
Scotland.
The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care ()
The covid-19 vaccination programme has been the biggest in the
history of the United Kingdom. The UK Government have ensured
that the excellent work done by the vaccines taskforce to procure
vaccines for the whole country has been rolled out to protect
people across the UK. To support the roll-out in Scotland, I
recently announced an additional £660 million of UK Government
funding for Scotland. That is of course on top of the £3.6
billion that Scotland is already receiving over the next
financial year through the Barnett formula.
I thank my right hon. Friend for his answer. Does he agree that
this is proof of the irrefutable truth that we achieve much more
together than we ever could apart and that we should be focusing
on the vaccination roll-out and recovery—not a damaging and
divisive second referendum on Scottish independence, which would
be the case if the Scottish National party won the Scottish
election on 6 May?
I entirely agree that the vaccination programme has clearly been
a huge UK success story and that is because of the UK working
together: the NHS across the whole UK; the military working in
support across the UK; and, of course, the UK Government working
with the devolved authorities and local councils. It is a big
team effort. To split and separate out this team effort for no
good reason would, in my view, be counterproductive to improving
the lives of people across the whole country. We should be
working together, not pursuing separation.
Online Junk Food Advertising
(South West Bedfordshire) (Con)
What steps his Department is taking to limit online junk food
advertising to children.
(Calder
Valley) (Con)
What steps he plans to take to ensure a level playing field
between online and mainstream broadcasters in the implementation
of the proposed advertisement ban on foods high in fat, sugar and
salt before 9 pm.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social
Care ()
We have made clear our intention to end the advertising of high
fat, salt and sugar products on television before 9 pm. We
recently held a short consultation on how to introduce
advertising restrictions for online and we will publish our
response soon. A level playing field, however, is important. I
want to make it easy for everyone to be healthy.
[V]
Does the Minister agree that ending junk food marketing online is
hardly an outrageous assault on our freedoms, would remove 12.5
billion calories a year from children’s diets, and would allow
advertisers and food companies to make plenty of money from
producing and marketing healthy food?
Indeed I do. We are not banning food. It is very important that
we make the environment right to ensure that people can make the
healthy choice as a default option and enjoy a healthy balanced
diet where they have the full knowledge and understanding of what
they are purchasing. I think this is actually a great opportunity
for companies.
[V]
May I send my deepest condolences, thoughts and prayers to the
hon. Member for Tooting (Dr Allin-Khan) and her family?
It is good to hear the Minister say that there will be a level
playing field in this area, but it has been reported on national
media over the past few weeks that the Government seem to be
dropping plans to ban ads online for foods high in fat, sugar and
salt. On that basis, surely she will agree that when half of
10-year-olds and 83% of 12 to 15-year-olds own a smartphone, with
86% of those children using video on demand, it would be absolute
nonsense to ban advertising on mainstream broadcast TV where
children watch very little.
I agree that making sure that there is a level playing field is
the right thing to do. If we were currently doing so well, we
would not have the number of children and young people overweight
or living with obesity, so we must work on making sure that we do
everything we can so that every child can be a healthy weight.
But my hon. Friend will not get me to pre-empt the consultation
that we will be reporting on shortly.
Social Care Sector: Pay and Conditions
(Hemsworth) (Lab)
What steps he is taking to increase pay and improve working
conditions in the social care sector.
The Minister for Care ()
We recognise the extraordinary commitment and compassion of
social care staff, especially during the pandemic. While the
Government do not have direct responsibility for pay in adult
social care in England, we want care providers to reward and
support their staff appropriately for the vital work they do.
During the pandemic we have asked care providers to pay staff
full pay when they need to self-isolate and provided over £1.4
billion of extra funding to support the cost of this and other
infection control measures.
First, I imagine the whole House will join me in mourning the 364
care workers who have died in public service since covid began.
Many care workers have told me that they feel undervalued by the
fact that their average salary is only £17,200. I am sure there
are very few Ministers who could live on that kind of salary.
They particularly feel devalued when they discover that the
Government are paying nine times that salary equivalent to Test
and Trace consultants. It is an outrage. Will the Minister now
say how she will show that these people are valued by doing three
things: first, end privatisation; secondly, insist on a proper
salary rise; and thirdly, ensure that a professional career
structure is instituted which recognises and rewards the
professionalism, talent and commitment of these essential
workers?
I share the hon. Gentleman’s sorrow for the lives that have been
lost among the health and social care workforce during the
pandemic. I am determined that we will support and continue to
support our health and social care workforce through these
difficult times. One of the things that I want to achieve for our
social care workforce, for whom I am truly ambitious, is that
rather than doing something one-off for the pandemic, we should
come up with a workforce strategy that will improve the
opportunities for those working in social care to develop their
careers, with a real career progression in working in that
sector. That will be part of our social care reform proposals.
(Leicester West) (Lab)
Despite repeated promises, the truth is that someone would be
better off stacking shelves at Morrisons than caring for older or
disabled people, and that is simply not good enough for our
country. Can the Minister confirm that the Government’s covid
infection control fund had to be used to improve pay so that
staff did not have to work for more than one care home and could
actually afford to self-isolate? If that is the case, will she
commit to permanently enshrining these improvements across the
sector to keep all care users and all care workers safe?
In response to the hon. Lady’s question about the use of the
infection control fund, it was available to providers to use in a
range of ways to keep their residents safe from covid, including,
for instance, reducing the movement of staff between one care
home and another, which is often part of the service model of how
care is provided, and also, as I mentioned earlier, funding full
sick pay for staff who needed to self-isolate because of covid. I
am determined that as part of our social care reforms that we
will be bringing forward, we will look at how best we can support
the workforce.
Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review
(Bury
South) (Con)
What progress he has made on implementing the recommendations of
the independent medicines and medical devices safety review.
The Minister for Patient Safety, Suicide Prevention and Mental
Health (
)
A written ministerial statement was published on 11 January 2021,
updating Parliament on the Government’s current progress on each
of the nine recommendations. The Government will respond in full
to the report later this year. It took more than two years to
produce the report and we therefore consider it vital, for the
sake of patients and especially those who have suffered greatly,
to give this independent report the full consideration it
deserves.
Baroness Cumberlege’s respected report makes it clear that those
harmed by sodium valproate have suffered great and irreparable
harm for many decades and that redress is needed. The patient
reference group adds more delay for people who have waited long
enough already. Will my hon. Friend commit to doing the right
thing today and take up this issue of redress and give those
harmed the support they have waited so long for?
Ms Dorries
I would like first to convey my most sincere sympathies to anyone
who has suffered as a consequence of taking sodium valproate
during pregnancy. It remains still the only drug that some women
who suffer from epilepsy can take to control their epilepsy. As
set out in the recent written ministerial statement, the
Government will carefully consider the recommendations and make a
full response to the whole report later this year.
Recruitment of NHS Nurses
(East Surrey) (Con)
What progress his Department has made on increasing the
recruitment of nurses to the NHS.
The Minister for Care ()
NHS nurses have gone above and beyond throughout the pandemic. We
are committed to increasing the number of nurses in the NHS by
50,000 over this Parliament through improving retention and
increasing domestic supply and international recruitment, and we
are on track to do that. The number of nurses in the NHS is at an
all-time high of 301,491 full-time equivalent nurses employed in
NHS trusts and CCGs.
[V]
We all know how hard our NHS nurses have had to work in the past
year, many without a break and, for those with international
origins, without seeing their families either. As public focus
inevitably turns towards the NHS backlog, can Ministers assure me
that they will work with NHS England to protect staff holidays
and enable and encourage NHS staff to get the rest and
recuperation they need?
I completely agree with my hon. Friend that staff must be allowed
and supported to recover from the pandemic. We have advised NHS
Employers to make sure that staff can carry over annual leave. We
are determined that the pace of NHS recovery must also allow
staff the rest and recuperation they need.
Health-Related Manufacturers
(Wansbeck) (Lab)
What steps he is taking to encourage health-related manufacturers
to base themselves in the UK.
The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care ()
The UK is one of the best places in the world to locate a life
sciences business. We are making vaccines in Livingston, Wrexham,
Oxford and Hartlepool. We are making cell and gene therapies in
Stevenage, surgical robots in Cambridge, cancer medicines in
Macclesfield, hip replacements in Leeds and care products in
Hull. Last week, we announced another £20 million fund to
incentivise companies to put medicines and diagnostics
manufacturing investments here in the UK.
[V]
Some people have very short memories, I must say. The UK was
found desperately wanting when this horrid covid-19 pandemic
swept through the cities, towns and villages of this country. The
nation’s silverware was sold off and the stock cupboards laid
bare. There was a deliberate policy of under-investment in the
NHS, with a view to buying everything on the cheap from
elsewhere. This was an ideological crime. What steps are the
Government taking to ensure that we are never again left without
the capacity to produce essential health and safety equipment,
and how might a real industrial strategy aid the need to produce
personal protective equipment, to bring good, well-paid jobs to
long held back communities like Wansbeck here in the north-east?
There might be a meeting of minds between the hon. Gentleman and
me. Over the last year, we have developed the capacity to produce
70% of the country’s PPE needs here in the UK. We set that target
last summer. We met it at Christmas for all different types of
PPE, with the exception of gloves, but we keep working on
bringing glove manufacturing onshore. As I said in my response,
we have built a huge amount of pharmaceutical manufacturing
capacity here in the UK, and there is a lot more to come.
Brain Tumours: NIHR Research Grants
(Brentford and Isleworth) (Lab)
What discussions he has had with the National Institute for
Health Research on increasing the number of research grants for
the treatment of brain tumours.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social
Care ()
It is essential that we increase the amount of research to treat
brain tumours, which is why in 2018, through the NIHR, the
Government announced £40 million over five years for brain tumour
research as part of the Brain Cancer
Mission to increase the number of applications and grants
allocated. The NIHR released a highlight notice that encourages
collaborative applications to build on recent initiatives and
investment already made in this area, as well as working with the
Brain Cancer
Mission to fund workshops for previously unsuccessful researchers
in order to support them in submitting higher-quality
applications.
Like many across the country, my constituent Greg has a family
member with a brain tumour; in his case, it is his young nephew.
The £40 million of funding is certainly welcome, but only £6
million of it has been delivered, and there are still
difficulties for those trying to get grants for this urgently
needed research. Will the Minister commit to taking a more
proactive approach to this—for example, by ensuring that brain
tumour experts sit on the grant panels for research bids?
I thank the hon. Lady and would like to extend my good wishes to
Greg for this treatment. There has been £8.8 million committed so
far based on the NIHR programme and academy spend. The important
thing is the quality of the applications. Brain tumours are
invidious, and we need to do more and we need to go faster. I
will look at her suggestion, but I am aware that there are
already experts sitting on the panel.
Obesity
(Bury North) (Con)
What steps he is taking to tackle obesity among (a) adults and
(b) children.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social
Care ()
Helping people to achieve and maintain a healthy weight is one of
the most important things we can do to improve our nation’s
health. That is why we published our healthy weight strategy last
summer. We are taking forward actions from previous chapters of
the childhood obesity plan, as well as further measures to get
the nation fit and healthy, protect against covid-19 and protect
the NHS. Question 25 on the call list is grouped with Question
26.
Mr Speaker
Yes, but unfortunately is not here.
You managed to jump in before could speak. Not to worry. We will go to .
Thank you, Mr Speaker. Encouraging an active lifestyle is a
crucial part of tackling the obesity challenge that our country
faces. Does my hon. Friend agree that local authorities, working
with partner agencies, should invest in iconic community venues
such as Gigg Lane in my constituency to house a wide range of
public health services and provide inspirational settings for
young people to take part in sport, no matter what their
background or personal circumstances?
I agree wholeheartedly that we should encourage all children to
make sure that they can take part in sports and enjoy the
outdoors. Regular physical exercise is important for the health
and wellbeing of young people, and the local community has an
important role to play in developing facilities. That is why the
Government launched a £150 million community ownership fund, to
ensure that communities across the UK can benefit from the local
facilities and amenities that are most important to them. That
includes community-owned sports clubs and sporting and leisure
facilities that are at risk of being lost without community
intervention, and I urge my hon. Friend to work with his
community to ensure that he has those facilities locally.
Cancer Workforce: Nurses
(Strangford) (DUP)
What plans the Government have to ensure an adequate number of
nurses in the cancer workforce to deliver the targets for cancer
set out in the NHS long-term plan.
The Minister for Care ()
Cancer diagnosis and treatment is a priority for this Government.
I am working with the Minister for prevention and public
health—the Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care,
my hon. Friend the Member for Bury St Edmunds ()—to ensure that we have the necessary workforce to
deliver improved cancer care. Overall, we are increasing the
number of nurses in the NHS, with over 10,000 more nurses in the
NHS this January than a year ago. We are training 250 more cancer
nurses and 100 more specialist chemotherapy nurses.
I thank the Minister for that encouraging response, but will she
outline what steps have been taken to ensure that Northern
Ireland students educated in UK mainland nursing schemes can
easily transition to fill the needs in our cancer wards both in
the UK mainland and in Northern Ireland?
I thank the hon. Gentleman for his question, and if he will allow
me, I will look into that and write to him.
(Nottingham
North) (Lab/Co-op)
Prior to the pandemic, cancer services were understaffed and not
meeting their targets. During the pandemic, our staff have made
incredible efforts, but a cancer backlog has built up. The
Government are now asking the same understaffed cohort to run
their normal services and to deal with the backlog at the same
time. This is unfair, will lead to burn out and will not work.
Will the Government commit today to extra resources specifically
targeted at cancer to give those staff a fighting chance?
I thank the hon. Member for his question. The Government have
already committed significant additional resources to support the
NHS in recovering from the impact of the pandemic, and that will
include cancer services as well as other areas of treatment.
Topical Questions
(Ealing, Southall) (Lab)
If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.
The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care ()
I am delighted to be able to tell the House that, across the UK,
we have met our target to offer a vaccine to everyone in the top
nine priority groups ahead of the deadline on 15 April. We have
now delivered a first dose to more than 32 million people, and
are on track to offer a vaccine to all adults by the end of July.
This weekend, we also saw a record number of second doses.
Overall, as of midnight last night, we have now delivered more
than 40 million doses of vaccines right across the UK. It is a
remarkable achievement.
Today, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation has
published its final advice on an age-based prioritisation, which
we accept in full. So I can announce formally that, from today,
we have opened up invitations to get a vaccine to all aged over
45, and then we will proceed to everyone aged over 40, in line
with supplies.
Finally, following a successful start last week in Wales, the
Moderna vaccine will be rolled out in England from today. I am
very grateful to everybody involved in this vaccination
programme, which allows us to lift restrictions across the
country, and already has saved over 10,000 lives, with more to
come.
Mr Sharma [V]
With your permission, Mr Speaker, may I wish all Sikhs, Hindus,
Muslims and other communities celebrating their religious and
cultural events in the coming days and weeks a happy, peaceful
and prosperous time?
The Secretary of State is clear about the importance of
vaccination, but how is his Department working to ensure that all
adults without English language knowledge, with very low levels
of health literacy and in pockets traditionally untouched by
health campaigns, choose to be vaccinated, rather than being
coerced—not just regarding covid-19 vaccines but other vaccines?
I wholeheartedly agree with the hon. Gentleman. I am very proud
of how, across this House, people have united to support the
vaccination effort and to get those messages out there as he says
so clearly. It is very important that we have trusted confidants
working in and with communities to explain the benefits of
vaccination to those who may be hesitant. For instance, in
Leicester we have ensured that within the Somali community,
Somali clinicians are administering the vaccine. Having a
vaccination centre that is staffed by the Somali community near
where they live, even though there is another vaccination centre
round the corner, has proved successful in driving up vaccination
rates in that community. I pick on that as one excellent example
of the national and local systems working together, listening to
the data, and working with local communities. and I very much
look forward to working with the hon. Gentleman to make that
happen.
(South West Surrey) (Con) [V]
At the Liaison Committee three weeks ago, the Prime Minister
confirmed that there would be a 10-year plan for the social care
sector, like that of the NHS, to fix the crisis in social care.
Will the Secretary of State tell the House what he thinks that
10-year plan needs to contain, and whether external organisations
such as Age UK, the Alzheimer’s Society, Care England, and the
Health and Social Care Committee, will be able to contribute to
the Government’s thinking on that plan? Will they be able to do
so before the plan is published later this year?
I warmly welcome my right hon. Friend’s enthusiasm and support
for that project, which the Prime Minister set out at a high
level to the Liaison Committee. We are working hard, including
with stakeholders, and the Minister for Care has held a number of
roundtables on the subject. We want this to be an open and broad
programme, to ensure that we get the right answers to these
long-standing questions.
(Leicester South) (Lab/Co-op)
Will the Secretary of State explain why, following a private
drink he had with Lex Greensill and , Greensill was handed an NHS payroll financing
contract that sought to convert income from NHS staff pay packets
into bonds to sell internationally, and effectively to make money
on the back of NHS staff in a pandemic? Why was that contract
given without tender? Why was that meeting not declared? What
pressure did the Secretary of State put on officials to hand that
contract to Greensill?
Ministers were not involved in the decision by NHS Shared
Business Services to facilitate the provision of salary advances
in pilot schemes. I attended a social meeting organised by the
former Prime Minister, and given that departmental business came
up, I reported to officials in the normal way.
This is part of a wider pattern of behaviour. We see PPE
contracts going to Tory donors, and a pub landlord WhatsApping
the Secretary of State and receiving a testing contract. We see a
US insurance firm taking over GP contracts, and one of its bosses
gets a job in Downing Street. It is cronyism and it stinks. If
the Secretary of State thinks he has done nothing wrong and has
nothing to hide, will he publish all the minutes, emails,
correspondence and directions that he gave to civil servants, and
all his text messages with , so that we can see exactly what went on with the
awarding of this contract?
Yesterday the Government announced a review into this matter, and
I will of course participate in that in full. It is important
that Governments engage with external stakeholders and businesses
and, as was raised in the previous question, it is important that
that happens, and happens in an appropriate way within the rules,
which is what happened in this case.
(Vale of Clwyd) (Con)
The covid-19 vaccine roll-out has shown the value of comparable
statistics not only in this country, but worldwide. However,
directly comparable data are often lacking for healthcare
performance and outcomes between England, Wales, Scotland and
Northern Ireland. Does my right hon. Friend agree that UK-wide
data in the NHS, along with aligned inspection mechanisms and
audit procedures, would increase transparency and ultimately
improve service delivery?
Yes. I think that through the pandemic we have seen an
improvement in our ability to see what is happening in the NHS
right across the UK, and that helps us all work together better
to deliver for patients. One example of that is the vaccine
programme. That is a UK-wide programme with UK-wide metrics but
it is delivered, of course, by the local NHS wherever people are
in the UK. There are lessons we can learn from that.
(Richmond Park) (LD)
I am hearing increasingly difficult stories from constituents
across my constituency whose children are suffering severe mental
health problems and are regularly having to wait up to a year for
a first appointment. In that year, their condition gets
progressively worse, so by the time their appointment comes
around, they already need a much greater level of treatment than
they would have needed had they been seen earlier. That also has
a disruptive impact on their education, on top of the disruption
that they have all experienced over the last year. The situation
is getting worse; we are seeing more and more young people
needing mental health care in my constituency. What is the
Secretary of State doing to increase resources in this very
important area of child and adolescent mental health?
We are putting record resources in. Of the increase in the NHS
budget, the fastest increase in the long-term plan settlement is
for mental health services, and within that, for children’s
mental health services. We have also increased support through
the pandemic. There is an awful lot that we continue to need to
do, and there is a very significant plan, as part of the
long-term plan, for improving access to these vital services.
(Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk) (Con)
Last week we had the fantastic news that the Moderna vaccine had
arrived in the United Kingdom. Can the Secretary of State tell
the House how many vaccine doses, across all three vaccines
currently being rolled out, have been allocated to Scotland so
far?
Scotland gets her fair share of vaccines allocated, and then we
publish the amount of vaccines that are delivered. That is
slightly lower in Scotland as a proportion of the population
compared with the UK as a whole, but we are working very closely
with the NHS across Scotland, with the armed services and, of
course, with the Scottish Government to try to make sure that
they can catch up.
(South Shields) (Lab)
Yesterday, many hospitality venues remained closed. Those that
could open erected large marquees and were able to recover some
of the losses that they have suffered. Others were completely
dismayed that there is clearly no difference at all between some
of those marquees and well ventilated, covid-secure indoor
hospitality. Will the Secretary of State explain what he
perceives the difference to be?
The definition of “outdoors” used in these regulations is the one
set out by the Labour Government in the ban on indoor smoking.
(Newcastle-under-Lyme) (Con)
The foul gases and odour coming from Walley’s Quarry landfill in
my constituency are no longer just an environmental catastrophe;
they are also a major public health concern. A local GP surgery
in Silverdale reports exacerbation of asthma, hay fever-like
symptoms, nausea, insomnia and depression. The Environment Agency
figures that have been passed to Public Health England show that
World Health Organisation guidelines for hydrogen sulphide have
been exceeded on the 24-hour public health limits. What is going
on is not fair on my constituents. What assessment has the
Secretary of State made of the public health implications, both
physical and mental, of the major environmental incident going on
in my constituency, and will he meet me and the Environment
Secretary to discuss the matter?
I am very happy to meet my hon. Friend. I am grateful to him for
raising this vital question of local public health in the House,
and I am absolutely determined that the authorities—both the
local authority, with its responsibilities, and the national
authorities, including Public Health England—play their role in
tackling this problem.
(Nottingham South) (Lab) [V]
Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust is giving all its staff
an extra day’s leave this year to thank them for their sacrifices
during the pandemic. I am sure that is a welcome gesture, but
staff in Nottingham and across England deserve so much more.
Real-terms pay in the NHS is already below 2010 levels, and we
went into the pandemic facing serious staff shortages, with
40,000 nurse vacancies and 7,000 doctor vacancies. What will the
Government’s proposed real-terms pay cut do to vacancy rates?
I am very glad to say that the numbers that the hon. Lady uses
are out of date. We have seen a very significant increase in the
number of nurses and other staff in the NHS. In fact, we have a
record number of nurses in the NHS. For the very first time, we
have more than 300,000 nurses in the NHS. We have seen over
10,000 more nurses over the last year alone. Of course, the
mission to work caring for others and looking after the health of
the nation in the NHS has never been more important, and I am
delighted that so many people are rising to that, because we have
record numbers of people in training too.
(South West Bedfordshire) (Con)
While the NHS acted heroically when the pandemic first hit, what
lessons have been learned about translating the learnings of
junior doctors and experienced nurses into policy more quickly?
For example, junior doctors knew that loss of taste and smell was
a symptom, and that proning helped patients, quite some time
before those became policy.
There is a huge amount that we can learn from the early response
to the pandemic, and it is very important that we adopt the
scientific understanding and learnings as quickly as is
rigorously possible. We need the time for the rigour, but we need
to adopt the policies. We have seen in the vaccine roll-out a
huge amount of these lessons adopted, and the speed at which the
scientific advice takes into account what we are learning on the
ground in the vaccine roll-out is impressive. So we should keep
going down this route—always open-minded, always asking the
scientific questions and always then asking how quickly we can
rigorously put those understandings into practice.
