Business of the House

Debate between Lord Lansley and Heidi Alexander

Thursday 5th June 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lansley]

I completely sympathise with my hon. Friend, not least because I know from similar constituency cases about the importance parents attach to this endeavour and about the frustrations they often suffer in trying to understand some of the criteria that apply to school admissions. The admissions code was reformed under the last Government and has been further improved under this one, but if I may, I will ask my right hon. Friends at the Department for Education to come back to my hon. Friend on this issue, which would be helped if he were able to add further information about this particular case.

[Heidi Alexander (Lewisham East) (Lab)]

Like all Members, I welcome the falling levels of unemployment, but what I do not welcome is the explosion in the number of low-paid, part-time jobs with individuals often placed on zero-hours contracts. When will the House have the opportunity to have a full and proper debate about rising levels of in-work poverty?

[Mr Lansley]

The hon. Lady might like to note that full-time employment was up on the last quarter by 176,000 and that 573,000 more people are in full-time work than a year ago. This is not just about an increase in part-time employment because there has been a substantial increase in full-time employment. The truth of the matter is that we are seeing not only big increases in employment, but increases in wages, too. As can be seen from the March data, the increase in wages was slightly higher than the increase in inflation.

Business of the House

Debate between Lord Lansley and Heidi Alexander

Thursday 1st May 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lansley]

I will ask my hon. Friends at the Department of Health to respond in detail, particularly on the point about comparisons. We should be very pleased that during this Parliament we have seen the roll-out of the bowel cancer screening programme across England. We look forward very positively to being able to roll out flexible sigmoidoscopy, as we plan over the next three years, which will enable not only early diagnosis of bowel cancer but early interventions. That will make a further big, positive step forward.

[Heidi Alexander (Lewisham East) (Lab)]

May I ask the Leader of the House for a statement or a debate in Government time on the operation of the Access to Work scheme? I recently met a constituent who faces losing her job because she cannot pay through the scheme for a qualified British sign language interpreter. This is a very important and urgent matter on which Members need to be able to question Ministers.

[Mr Lansley]

As the hon. Lady will know, through the Work programme and the new Help to Work scheme, further details of which were announced this week, we are focusing on ensuring that we give everybody, including those whom it has clearly been most difficult to help, the support that is necessary to enable them to get back into work. However, she has raised a particular, and interesting, issue. I hope that she might give my office further details, and I will ask a Minister at the Department for Work and Pensions to respond.

Business of the House

Debate between Lord Lansley and Heidi Alexander

Thursday 23rd January 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lansley]

Notwithstanding the fact that we had to deal with the largest deficit of any country in the OECD, this Government made the commitment—among others—to protect school budgets, which we have done. The hon. Gentleman should celebrate the fact that, together with our coalition colleagues, we have put about £2.5 billion into the pupil premium to ensure that schools with some of the most disadvantaged children have additional resources to help them achieve success in future.

[Heidi Alexander (Lewisham East) (Lab)]

In September I asked the Prime Minister whether he would adopt a similar approach to that of Sweden and other European countries in accommodating Syrian refugees. He dismissed me, simply saying, “No, we are not going to do that.” Will the Leader of the House assure me that should the Government have a change of heart in the next few days, the Prime Minister will come to the Chamber to make any announcement?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Lansley and Heidi Alexander

Thursday 19th December 2013 Commons Chamber

[Heidi Alexander (Lewisham East) (Lab)]

6. What recent guidance he has given to his ministerial colleagues on making oral statements in the House on changes to Government policy.

[The Leader of the House of Commons (Mr Andrew Lansley)]

The ministerial code is clear: when Parliament is in Session, the most important announcements of Government policy should be made in the first instance to Parliament. I regularly remind my colleagues of this.

[Heidi Alexander]

In the light of that, was it acceptable for the Work and Pensions Secretary to announce delays to universal credit via a written statement, especially considering that this information was released to the media before the House?

[Mr Lansley]

As the hon. Lady and the House will know, informing the House by means of a written statement is perfectly in order. As the Speaker himself said on 25 January last year, doing so is

“a legitimate vehicle for informing the House of ministerial decisions”.—[Official Report, 25 January 2012; Vol. 539, c. 302.]

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Lansley and Heidi Alexander

Thursday 7th November 2013 Commons Chamber

[Heidi Alexander (Lewisham East) (Lab)]

8. What recent guidance he has given to his ministerial colleagues on making statements in the House before making such statements in the media.

[The Leader of the House of Commons (Mr Andrew Lansley)]

The ministerial code is clear that when Parliament is in session the most important announcements of Government policy should be made first to Parliament. I regularly remind my colleagues of this.

[Heidi Alexander]

Will the Leader of the House give me his word that the autumn statement will not be leaked to the media in advance, as happened with the Budget this year?

[Mr Lansley]

The House will recall the inquiry that took place into the pre-announcement or pre-leaking of material relating to the Budget and will recall equally the assurances that the Chancellor and I gave at this Dispatch Box that that would not happen in future.

Business of the House

Debate between Lord Lansley and Heidi Alexander

Thursday 9th May 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lansley]

I hope that my hon. Friend will be able to raise that issue during the health and social care debate on Monday. I know that he is a devoted supporter of the hospice serving his constituency and even skydived on its behalf, which was commendable and courageous—although I think the Whips would encourage him to be very careful. I think that hospices do a wonderful job. From my many visits to hospices, I am familiar with what they do. During the course of this Parliament, the coalition Government will be putting in place per-patient funding schemes to enable hospices to provide more holistic services to patients so that the NHS can support them to a more appropriate degree.

[Heidi Alexander (Lewisham East) (Lab)]

There was much hype yesterday over the Government’s immigration Bill. Will the Leader of House make it clear when the Bill will be published and, in advance of that, how the check scheme for private landlords will work and be enforced?

[Mr Lansley]

The hon. Lady can of course ask about those issues during the debate on the Queen’s Speech, but as I said to my hon. Friend the Member for Kettering (Mr Hollobone), the immigration Bill will be published later in the Session.

Care and Support

Debate between Lord Lansley and Heidi Alexander

Wednesday 11th July 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lansley]

I will not attempt—not least because of time—to give an analysis of the difficulties that have been experienced in Scotland. From my point of view, I had understood that what we have set out to do in the White Paper is very much to ensure continuity of care, so that when people move—certainly in England, for which I am responsible—local authorities have a duty to ensure continuity of support. If we can make it so that this happens across the United Kingdom, I am absolutely open to having the discussions necessary to do so.

[Heidi Alexander (Lewisham East) (Lab)]

The Health Secretary has spoken about the catastrophic costs that face some older adults suffering from dementia. My nan was one of those people. She had to sell her home and spent more than £100,000 on her care costs. Under the loan scheme proposed by the Government today, would somebody like my nan not just end up paying more for the costs of their care? Can the Health Secretary also clarify whether the interest payments would eat into the small amount of money that people like my nan can pass on to their families?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Lansley and Heidi Alexander

Tuesday 12th June 2012 Commons Chamber

[Heidi Alexander (Lewisham East) (Lab)]

T7. We have learned today that public satisfaction with the NHS has fallen dramatically. We also know that satisfaction with GP services has fallen for the second consecutive year, and that satisfaction with accident and emergency services is going down by 7% each year. The Prime Minister promised that the NHS would be his priority. Is it not about time that this Government lived up to that promise?

[Mr Lansley]

We have learned no such thing. Indeed, we published on the Department’s website today a survey that asked people who had been looked after by the NHS how well they thought their care had been provided to them. It showed that 92% of the patients said their care had been good, very good or excellent. In my view, that survey of 70,000 patients who had received care from the NHS completely trumps a survey that asked 1,000 people what they might have thought about the NHS in relation to the media activity that took place last year.

Breast Implants

Debate between Lord Lansley and Heidi Alexander

Wednesday 11th January 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lansley]

I have no evidence of such behaviour on the part of other companies. My hon. Friend is right: PIP is only one of a number of suppliers, and in this country probably only one in seven breast implants were PIP implants. Other countries have looked at this, and across Europe the regulatory process should ensure the scrutiny of these implants, including proper testing. The European review must look at whether that surveillance, including unannounced inspections and appropriate testing, gives us the assurance we are looking for.

[Heidi Alexander (Lewisham East) (Lab)]

Yesterday, I was contacted by a constituent who had PIP implants inserted by the Harley Medical Group in 2006. She said:

“There is so much conflicting information at the moment, I feel as though I’m being pushed from pillar to post. To add absolute insult to injury nobody is keen on helping us, they are saying the NHS should help…or they say they will perform the procedures on us for an extra fee.”

Can the Secretary of State tell me precisely what further representations he will be making to private providers to ensure that all women get access to the advice and treatment they need?

[Mr Lansley]

We have been very clear about the advice we have given to women, and I hope that, through the NHS, any woman in those circumstances would go and see their general practitioner, who will have full access, from the chief medical officer, to the expert advice we have disseminated. I know that the Harley Medical Group has not shared with others the view that it can match the NHS’s standard of care; but given that, the professions are suggesting to surgeons that they should honour requests for replacement surgery free of surgical charge. I hope that gives a basis on which more of the private providers will now meet their full obligation of a duty of care.