Parliamentary Standards

Debate between Lord Lansley and Sheila Gilmore

Tuesday 8th April 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lansley]

As I have said, these are issues that are debated by the public, and understandably so. In my experience, the public often want to have a conversation, not least when their Member of Parliament is available, to understand what is going on and why something is happening. We need to explain more effectively the transition through which we are going and the nature of the systems that should give the public greater confidence. As far as a recall Bill is concerned, I fear the House will have to await the publication of the Government’s proposals on that.

[Sheila Gilmore (Edinburgh East) (Lab)]

When I was a member of a local council, we were always told, when dealing with issues of standards, that it was not what we thought or how we perceived our actions, but how our actions would be perceived by others. In this situation, is there not a danger that all the good work that has been done, particularly on the expenses issue since May 2010, is at risk of being undermined? Is the Leader of the House really not prepared to investigate and look at a different way of doing things?

[Mr Lansley]

On the contrary, as I said in my first response and indeed in response to the shadow Leader of the House and the Chair of the Standards Committee, I am perfectly willing to look at proposals. We must be clear about what the facts are and the situation we are in. When the hon. Member for Edinburgh East (Sheila Gilmore) says that these things risk undermining the system, she should reflect that the decisions that the Standards Committee has been required to make relate to a legacy case from before May 2010. It should not be interpreted as something that can be used to undermine the system of expenses, scrutiny and regulation that has applied since May 2010. To throw that into the argument and say that things must change would be misplaced. That should be judged in its own terms. If there are other ways in which we can further improve the regulation of Members’ conduct more generally, then of course I am willing to discuss it with Members.

Business of the House

Debate between Lord Lansley and Sheila Gilmore

Thursday 1st November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lansley]

I am sure that the House will welcome what my hon. Friends says about the support being given by Croydon council to west Croydon as a consequence of the riots. I will ask my colleagues at the Home Office to write to him about what is being done in relation to the Riot (Damages) Act.

[Sheila Gilmore (Edinburgh East) (Lab)]

In the past few days, a number of important reports have been published, including one from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation suggesting that far from lifting people out of poverty, universal credit may leave them in poverty, and one from Gingerbread saying that universal credit will not get more single parents back to work. So will the Leader of the House make time during Government business to discuss those important reports?

[Mr Lansley]

The hon. Lady will be aware that there will be Work and Pensions questions on Monday, which is one occasion when this matter can be raised. She referred to a number of reports, so may I draw her attention to the one from the Resolution Foundation, which rightly pointed out how important it is for low-income and middle-income households in this country to move from dependence on benefits into work? Work is the best solution to poverty.

Care and Support

Debate between Lord Lansley and Sheila Gilmore

Wednesday 11th July 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lansley]

I am sorry, but I simply do not recognise the figures that the hon. Gentleman is using. The Association of Directors of Adult Social Services has suggested—these are not my figures—that this year the service reduction in adult social care budgets on a monetary basis was £113 million and last year it was £226 million. The great majority of the figures he is quoting are actually not cuts at all; rather, they are service efficiencies, which are being reinvested for the benefit of maintaining eligibility.

[Sheila Gilmore (Edinburgh East) (Lab)]

My constituent who has been campaigning on portability of care packages outwith England will be extremely disappointed, because he was given to understand in correspondence from the Secretary of State that this would be covered in the White Paper and it clearly has not been. While we are thinking about Scotland, does the Secretary of State accept that the problem will not be solved even by shifting some of the costs of care from the individual to the state? We have had free personal care in Scotland for some years, but it has not resolved the problems because no additional money was put into the system.

[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.

Breast Implants

Debate between Lord Lansley and Sheila Gilmore

Wednesday 11th January 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lansley]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for her welcome for the statement. Those seeking cosmetic interventions must ask serious questions about not only the nature of the procedure but the quality and reputation of the provider organisation, and ask it how it would protect their interests if things went wrong.

[Sheila Gilmore (Edinburgh East) (Lab)]

The Secretary of State referred in his statement to the possibility that an organisation that had carried out operations had gone out of business. As there are long-term implications from such surgical interventions, has the Secretary of State considered instituting some form of levy or fund that would have to be paid into—nor do I want to let the private sector off the hook—so that if organisations go out business there would be a sum of money from which people could claim?

[Mr Lansley]

As I hope the hon. Lady will appreciate from what I said to the right hon. Member for Leigh (Andy Burnham), the Health and Social Care Bill introduces for the first time a comprehensive continuity of service regime for the NHS, and it also creates, through the health sector regulator, the potential for us to consider whether such continuity of service needs to be extended beyond the NHS.

NHS Future Forum

Debate between Lord Lansley and Sheila Gilmore

Tuesday 14th June 2011 Commons Chamber

[Sheila Gilmore (Edinburgh East) (Lab)]

Will the Secretary of State accept that he would not be in the position he is in today had there been proper pre-legislative scrutiny of this Bill? Will he recommend to his Cabinet colleagues that that process is used for all future legislation? It is a case of more haste, less speed.

[Mr Lansley]

We as a coalition Government are engaging in more pre-legislative scrutiny than any of our predecessors. In this instance, I do not accept the hon. Lady’s proposition. What has been done by the NHS Future Forum could not conceivably have been achieved in pre-legislative scrutiny, because it was essentially about engaging people across the service in how we will implement principles that are widely supported across the service. It is very much of the here and now, rather than something that could have been done in advance.