Oral Answers to Questions

John Whittingdale Excerpts

Tuesday 14th April 2026 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I think we have got the message; don’t worry.

[Sir John Whittingdale (Maldon) (Con)]

T7.   My constituents in Maldon have, for more than 30 years, been promised a new health hub in the town to replace St Peter’s hospital, a building that is over 150 years old. In the first round of new neighbourhood health centres, the integrated care board put forward the case for Maldon, but it was unsuccessful. May I press the Government to include Maldon in the second round? Will the Secretary of State meet me and my right hon. Friend the Member for Witham (Priti Patel) to discuss this matter?

[Wes Streeting]

I know the Minister for Secondary Care has met the right hon. Gentleman. I know that the ICB will have been disappointed. There will be further ways to do this, and it should keep trying.

National Cancer Plan

John Whittingdale Excerpts

Thursday 5th February 2026 Commons Chamber

[Ashley Dalton]

I commend my hon. Friend for the campaigning that he has done in his brother’s name in the area of rare and less survivable cancers, including brain tumours. We are putting patients at the centre of this plan, which says not only that every patient will have a personalised cancer treatment plan, but that patients will be at the heart of deciding those plans. Alongside their clinicians, they will have a role to play in deciding what treatment works for them. I know personally what that means. When I got my diagnosis, the immediate suggestion was that I would have intravenous chemotherapy. I was able to engage with my oncologist and say, “I’m not sure that that works for my lifestyle. I want to be able to live my life.” We were able to work together to find the right treatment that fits in with my lifestyle, and which allows me to come to work and do this job. That is what we want for every single cancer patient in this country. Their treatment should be about not just keeping them alive, but extending and maintaining their quality of life.

[Sir John Whittingdale (Maldon) (Con)]

The league table of NHS trusts shows that the percentage of patients starting treatment for cancer within 62 days in Mid and South Essex is 21%, which puts it bottom of 121 trusts. Can the Minister say what additional help will be given to the Mid and South Essex NHS trust to recruit the additional staff it needs, and to help it to meet the targets that she has just set out?

[Ashley Dalton]

The trust to which the right hon. Gentleman refers is the trust where I had my primary cancer treatment, so I am acutely aware of the challenges. We have set a really clear and simple ambition: to get cancer patients the timely care they need, and to meet all waiting time standards by the end of this Parliament. That means that by March 2029, 80% of patients will get a diagnosis or the all-clear within 28 days, and 85% of patients will start their treatment within 62 days of referral. Some people have asked me why the figure is not 100%. It is not possible to make it 100%, because not everybody’s cancer is simple or easy to identify, and sometimes it takes longer. We want to ensure that the only reason for delays beyond 62 days is the complexity or specifics of someone’s cancer, not the inability of a trust to meet the targets.

We are going to cut waiting times by giving trusts and cancer alliances detailed practical information and granular data on individual cancer types so that we can highlight real-time pathway insights through a federated data platform, and by streamlining the cancer metrics so that we can shine a light on unwarranted variation in care. We are providing information and best practice, thereby taking the best of the NHS to the rest of the NHS. We are linking up professionals and clinicians across the UK, so that they can share their best practice. Trusts can help and support each other to reach the targets.

Oral Answers to Questions

John Whittingdale Excerpts

Tuesday 11th February 2025 Commons Chamber

[Stephen Kinnock]

I can reassure my hon. Friend on that point. We implemented the contract uplift on 29 January. Dentists will therefore be receiving their uplifted payments in March, backdated to 1 April 2024. For the first time in more than a decade, we have also increased payments for practices training a foundation dentist.

[Sir John Whittingdale (Maldon) (Con)]

T7. In Maldon, the number of patients per GP is already 50% above the number for England, and that will only increase with the amount of proposed house building. GPs are struggling to cope with ever increasing costs, and I have one practice still undertaking so-called collective action. Will the Government review the whole system of GP funding before it breaks down completely?

[Stephen Kinnock]

We are in negotiations about the future contract with the General Practitioners Committee England of the British Medical Association. Those negotiations are proceeding, and the right hon. Gentleman is right that we need serious reform; we will be pushing reforms through on that basis. On his point about the estate, we have a £102 million commitment on capital for the primary care estate, which I think will go some way towards reassuring him.

Oral Answers to Questions

John Whittingdale Excerpts

Tuesday 15th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Minister.

[Sir John Whittingdale (Maldon) (Con)]

The Labour manifesto spoke of the need for a consensus on social care, and the Secretary of State has said that he wants to reach out across the political divide—although the message does not seem quite to have reached the Minister yet. During Health and Social Care questions in July, the Minister said that there would be announcements in the near future, but since then we have heard nothing. We are ready to talk; when will the Government be ready?

[Stephen Kinnock]

I am not sure if the right hon. Gentleman was listening to my previous answer. We have just set out a groundbreaking piece of legislation to settle the issue of adult social care pay, which is more than the last lot did in 14 years. We are absolutely committed to building cross-party consensus. We know that we need a process that will be sustainable and fix adult social care for the long term. That absolutely includes engagement and dialogue across this House, because we want to build a consensus that works. We recognise that successive Governments have failed to get a grip on this issue, but we recognise the vital role that adult social care will play. It is going to be a hugely important part of our 10-year plan for the future of the NHS, and I look forward to engaging with all hon. Members on this issue.

Oral Answers to Questions

John Whittingdale Excerpts

Tuesday 23rd July 2024 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Minister.

[Sir John Whittingdale (Maldon) (Con)]

I congratulate the Minister and his Front-Bench colleagues on their appointments. I welcome the suggestion that the Government are considering the possibility of a royal commission on social care and intend to address the issue on a cross-party basis, but that will take time. Can the Minister therefore confirm that, as was suggested during the election campaign, the Government will take forward the Dilnot reforms, and in particular that they will introduce a cap on social care costs, as was planned by the previous Government?

[Andrew Gwynne]

It was, of course, the right hon. Gentleman’s Government who kicked the can down the road on these issues. They allowed the system to spend the transformation money that had been provided precisely for the purpose of the Dilnot reforms on fixing their broken national health service. He should just be a little bit patient, as we will announce our proposals for social care shortly. He should rest assured that, as I have said to him before, this Labour Government are determined to fix both the broken NHS and the broken social care system that we inherited from 14 years of Tory failure.