Health

Debate between Nick Smith and Matt Hancock

Tuesday 14th May 2019 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

I am glad I took that intervention because that was not the intention I was trying to convey at all. We need to do more to tackle smoking, and we will, and we need to continue to tackle the abuse of drugs, and we will. My argument is that this House decided that public health was better delivered through a broad approach by local councils working with the NHS than separately. On sexual health services, I gently say that many such services—for instance, the provision of PrEP—are preventive, not just reactive. However, the boundary between what is prevention and what is cure in sexual health services is, by nature, more complicated.

[Nick Smith (Blaenau Gwent) (Lab)]

May I take up that issue of prevention? Earlier this afternoon, the Secretary of State said that he would move heaven and earth to achieve healthy outcomes. When will we see a ban on junk food advertising before the watershed?

[Matt Hancock]

We have not discussed obesity much during this debate, but the Government have a whole programme to tackle it. That includes tackling advertising and, in particular, tackling the pro-obesity environment in which too many children grow up. There is a broad range of actions on our agenda, with more to come.

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[Matt Hancock]

Local authorities and the NHS work very closely in delivering a huge number of services, and authorities often commission services back from the NHS. I can tell the hon. Lady that between 2013 and 2017, the number of attendances at sexual health centres increased by 13%. The suggestion made by many Opposition Members that there has been a cut in the number of such attendances is not supported by the facts.

We will not rest until we can solve these problems.

[Nick Smith]

Will the Secretary of State give way?

[Matt Hancock]

We are putting money in, and we are putting commitment in. The NHS was proposed from this Dispatch Box by a Conservative Minister, under a Conservative Prime Minister, and its expansion has been overseen by Conservative Governments for most of its 71-year history.

[Nick Smith]

Will the Secretary of State give way?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Nick Smith and Matt Hancock

Tuesday 19th February 2019 Commons Chamber

[Ian Murray (Edinburgh South) (Lab)]

17. What progress his Department has made on contingency planning for the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

[The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Matt Hancock)]

Leaving the EU with a deal remains the Government’s top priority, but we are preparing for every eventuality. I am confident that if everyone does what they need to do, the supply of medicines will continue unhindered.

[Nick Smith]

Will the Secretary of State say how much has already been spent since the NHS no-deal contingency plans were active, and what the overall bill will be?

[Matt Hancock]

Yes. About £11 million has been spent already. The NHS is not generally buying the extra medicines that are going into the elongated stockpiles, but the pharmaceutical industry is. We will of course eventually buy most of those medicines for the NHS. There have been costs to the pharmaceutical industry as well, but the cost so far to the taxpayer is £11 million. I expect it will remain at about that level, or a little higher.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Nick Smith and Matt Hancock

Tuesday 24th July 2018 Commons Chamber

[Nick Smith (Blaenau Gwent) (Lab)]

I, too, welcome the Secretary of State to his new job. Today’s figures show that levels of severe obesity in children are at a record high, so will the Government speed up their childhood obesity strategy to tackle this urgent public health challenge?

[Matt Hancock]

We published chapter 2 less than a month ago. There is further work to do, because that sets out a whole series of areas in which we are going to take action, and I am already working on pushing it faster.

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[Matt Hancock]

That is a great question. Not only can technology improve in health settings; there are even greater opportunities on the research side. Getting the data structures right is mission critical, but there is so much more that we can do.

[Nick Smith (Blaenau Gwent) (Lab)]

T7. To help to reduce childhood obesity, 76% of people support a ban on junk food adverts before 9 o’clock, but the consultation on this is going into the middle distance. Critics would say that the Government are dragging their feet. By when will we see this ban finally put into place?

[Matt Hancock]

We announced that we will be consulting less than a month ago. I have been closely involved in this in my previous role, as well as in this one. We will ensure that we take an evidence-based approach, but I am determined that we proceed.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Nick Smith and Matt Hancock

Thursday 8th February 2018 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

The message I can give those households is that the cavalry is coming: this House has legislated so that everybody shall be able to get 10 megabits per second as an absolute minimum by 2020, and the Minister of State, Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport is driving the secondary legislation through necessary to make that happen.

[Nick Smith (Blaenau Gwent) (Lab)]

T5. Obesity is the single biggest preventable cause of cancer after smoking. In my health board area, 26% of four to five-year-olds are overweight or obese. Junk food advertising is the key driver of this, so what assessment have the Government made of the financial impact of the 2007 Ofcom advertising restrictions on children’s broadcasters?