Oral Answers to Questions

Gavin Robinson Excerpts

Tuesday 6th December 2022 Commons Chamber

[Steve Barclay]

This is a good illustration of the challenge the country faces with backlogs that are very much driven by the pandemic. We are working with senior figures such as Jim Mackey and Professor Tim Briggs and the Getting It Right First Time programme to look at patient pathways, how we use our diagnostics and our surgical hubs and streamlining the way we get services to patients where backlogs have built up.

[Gavin Robinson (Belfast East) (DUP)]

This morning, we tragically learned that a five-year-old girl who was a P2 pupil at Black Mountain Primary School died yesterday in Belfast with strep A. I am grateful to the Minister for the answer she gave to the hon. Member for Eltham (Clive Efford) on strep A and her encouraging commitment that antibiotics including penicillin are available, but can she ensure that our public health agencies across this United Kingdom co-operate with one another and that if additional resource is required, it will be made available?

[Maria Caulfield]

I am very sorry to hear about that tragic case in Northern Ireland. We want to reassure people that, while there is a slightly higher number of cases than usual for this time of year, the UK Health Security Agency is on top of this and is not concerned that there is a wider outbreak than would be expected. We want to encourage parents who are concerned that their children are not responding to get help as soon as possible. Antibiotics are available, and local directors of public health should be co-ordinating local activity, but if there are any concerns, Members should come and see me.

Endometriosis and Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

Gavin Robinson Excerpts

Monday 1st November 2021 Westminster Hall

[Gavin Robinson (Belfast East) (DUP)]

I appreciate your fitting me in, Mr Mundell, and I apologise for being unable to bob throughout the proceedings. Two hon. Members—the hon. Members for Thurrock (Jackie Doyle-Price) and for Livingston (Hannah Bardell)—have asked, “If 10% of men were in this situation, would it be the same?” It is a fair question, and the right one to ask. I am sad to say, as a man, that the answer is not one that we in this House should be proud of.

I say that honestly and honourably because I knew little of endometriosis or polycystic ovary syndrome, like the hon. Members for Bury South (Christian Wakeford) and for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk (John Lamont). Like other hon. Members, I have learned an awful lot through the strength and courage of the individual constituents who have come to see me and share personal and intimate information, around which there is a taboo.

One lady, whom I have known for more than 10 years, only told me in the last two weeks that, at 16 years old, she found herself before the GP with a suspected diagnosis of endometriosis and was advised that it would be a great help if she were to have a baby. No GP should look a 16-year-old in the eye and suggest that pregnancy is the answer to a medical condition, yet that was the experience she had. One constituent was put on an urgent waiting list in 2017; she is still awaiting surgery for her condition. She was a care worker. Care work is a physically demanding job, so she had to stop. She applied for universal credit, but was turned down and advised to find work in a more manageable setting. That is not good enough.

I am therefore encouraged to hear about the work of the APPG on endometriosis. I would be keen to get more involved. I am here because of the stories that have been shared with me. What is happening is harrowing and wrong. The Minister is not responsible for our devolved nations, but I like to think that here at Westminster there is that convening authority across our United Kingdom. None of our trusts in Northern Ireland is accredited for surgery in this respect—none of them. The Western Health and Social Care Trust was—that is Londonderry, the second largest city in Northern Ireland—but it has lost its accreditation. The Belfast Health and Social Care Trust was on its way to getting accreditation, but because of coronavirus and no surgery, it cannot get accredited; it has no plans to do so. I asked the question, “What are you doing with patients who need help?” And the answer was, “We are not referring individuals on at this time.” I therefore ask the Minister: across Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland, if there are services available and our constituents could use them from Northern Ireland, please make them available. Please find out the exact state of play across the trusts and across the four nations and provide the assistance that these ladies so desperately need.

Covid-19

Gavin Robinson Excerpts

Tuesday 12th May 2020 Commons Chamber

[Gavin Robinson (Belfast East) (DUP) [V]]

It is a great privilege not only to follow the hon. Member for Loughborough (Jane Hunt), but to participate in this debate. I wish to add my support to the comments of the right hon. Member for Orkney and Shetland (Mr Carmichael) about the opportunities that are there and the importance of approaching this pandemic and our country’s response as one nation, recognising of course that our devolved areas will have distinct differences, but that they should operate within this United Kingdom, drawing on the bonds and support we can give one another.

It is also important during this general debate to praise the enormous warmth and enthusiastic support that members of my local community in east Belfast have been offering their neighbours, from the network centre in the East Belfast Community Development Agency, through the BT16 covid-19 community response team and the Ballymack centre, where they are making meals every day, to those in Connswater community centre. It has been heartwarming and encouraging to see just how many people within our community are prepared to step up and support one another.

Can I also, given the day that’s in it and the statement from the Chancellor, recognise the importance of extending the job retention scheme? My colleagues and I, particularly those with airports in our constituencies, have been concerned about the cliff edge proposed for the end of June. Belfast City airport is in my constituency, Madam Deputy Speaker, and you will recall that a fortnight before this pandemic really took hold Flybe went into administration, representing 80% of all the passengers who travel through our local airport and 67% of all routes. As we approach the end of the job retention scheme and that cliff edge in June, there is huge concern, even though it has been extended, that the aviation and tourism sectors will struggle to recover from this pandemic. Although the extension is welcome, I hope that there will be further and sustained engagement not only for tourism and aviation but for all the associated sectors in the aerospace industry.

I am particularly concerned, even though there has been an extension of four months today, that we have yet to hear from British Airways that it is prepared to delay its redundancy plans, for example. The plan is not only to make 12,500 employees redundant, irrespective of Government support, but to cruelly assault the terms and conditions of those workers who will be retained after the pandemic. That is totally wrong.

I want to make mention of the self-employed income support scheme and highlight my concern that those who have accessed the portal thus far have found that their Northern Ireland driving licence is not sufficient to satisfy the ID requirements. Nor is an Irish passport, even though many residents of Northern Ireland are perfectly entitled to hold one under the terms of the Good Friday/Belfast agreement. I hope that that will be challenged and changed by HMRC in the days to come.

May I raise my concern about health sector capacity? It has been noted that in Northern Ireland there has been a 40% increase in non-covid-19-related deaths compared with this time last year. It is important that we have capacity within our health service, but it cannot be at the cost of healthcare in other sectors or for other individuals. There are huge strides being made not only to protect our community but to do what is best for it in the light of the pressures we face. The resolve needs to continue, and I know that the Government will work with all the devolved Administrations in ensuring we fight the pandemic and that we, as a country, succeed.

Coronavirus Bill

Gavin Robinson Excerpts

2nd reading & 2nd reading: House of Commons
Monday 23rd March 2020 Commons Chamber

[Gavin Robinson (Belfast East) (DUP)]

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for North Herefordshire (Bill Wiggin). When I indicated to some constituents and even members of my family over the weekend that I was coming to London today, they thought I was mad. They think that, collectively, we should not be here. They point to the information that we give out and the leadership that we show and wonder why we are here.

But when I reflected that my brother, a consultant in the NHS, will be going into hospital to face these acute difficulties on the ward, and that his wife, my sister-in-law, and tens of thousands of members of our national health service—not through bravado or machismo, but because they care—will be turning up to work today and in the days and weeks to follow, I decided that we could do our duty and be here today. It is a tribute to our institutions and our democracy that, even though parts of this legislation will curtail our freedoms, we are here, and it is important that we put on record our gratitude for all those who are stepping up at this time.

The shadow Secretary of State for Health raised the subject of parking charges at our hospitals. I also want to raise that, because I think it is totally abhorrent that, in the face of such adversity, we are expecting people to not only turn up to work at hospital but pay for the privilege of parking there. I know that all these issues will be devolved and will fall to different trusts and commissioning groups across the country. I want to put on record my appreciation to the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust for its decision to waive parking charges for staff members in all the Belfast facilities. I ask the South Eastern trust, which is responsible for the Ulster Hospital in my constituency, to take exactly the same measure. We need to be supporting people through this.

When I attended a pharmacy on Friday, it could only be described as a warzone. They asked why they were left without sufficient pharmacists, and in that regard I welcome the extension for new registrants in clause 4. They were saying, “We can’t sell paracetamol. We have run out. You cannot use anti-inflammatories in this situation. Our stores are filled with 100-packs of paracetamol, and yet we are legislatively precluded from breaking them down and giving them to people who need them.” They said, “The Government say that we have a home delivery service to get prescriptions out to those in self-isolation, but it is an unfunded and overstretched service, and our vans run on diesel, not good will.”

There are huge challenges in every aspect of our society through this crisis that the Bill alone will not resolve, but it is an important first step. I want to place on record my appreciation for not only the Government’s engagement with us over the last week but the substantive nature of the Bill. There is hardly a clause of the Bill that does not replicate provisions for Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland. Officials have performed a mammoth task over the last number of weeks, and we need to put on record our appreciation to them.

I want to raise an issue with the Paymaster General, and I hope she will be able to give clarity on two specific points. As she will know, clause 13 covers continuing healthcare assessments and clause 14 covers local authority care and support in England and Wales, while clause 15 relates to Scotland. That is the one part of the Bill where I see no corresponding provisions for Northern Ireland. I mention that not to raise concern, but because there are people out there who are advocating on behalf of charities and who have children in a vulnerable situation or with mental capacity issues who feel that that means they will not get the care they need. Can she respond appropriately to that, to alleviate their concerns? Madam Deputy Speaker, I am grateful for the time.

Covid-19

Gavin Robinson Excerpts

Monday 16th March 2020 Commons Chamber

[Gavin Robinson (Belfast East) (DUP)]

Thank you for your generosity in letting this statement run, Mr Speaker, and I thank the Health Secretary for dealing with all the questions. What advice does the Secretary of State have for my constituent Mr Emerson, who is in London today to collect a private script for medicinal cannabis for his daughter, who, at three years old, relies upon it? He can only cash the private script in London, and he has to travel to London every month. He has asked for three months’ supply in case he cannot travel from Belfast to London in the months to come. Can the Health Secretary give any advice or guidance to him or to the chief pharmaceutical officer?

[Matt Hancock]

We are trying to address the precise point of the supply of medicinal cannabis products through a change to the Home Office regulations anyway. The advice is against unnecessary travel, and the sort of travel that the hon. Gentleman describes sounds very necessary to me.