Health Bill

Debate between Calum Miller and James Murray

2nd reading
Monday 1st June 2026 Commons Chamber

[James Murray]

I reassure my hon. Friend that what the Bill seeks to achieve, through local health watches across the country, is to bring the voice of patients closer to the people who plan and deliver services. Too often, we have not seen action following feedback. We need to ensure that such feedback is integrated into the planning and delivery of services, so that patient voices are heard.

I have set out some of this Labour Government’s achievements less than two years into office, which shows that decline is not inevitable. Our determination to deliver on what people voted for is making a real difference. We have started to make progress, and we are building an NHS that is fit for the future.

Labour’s choice in government has been, and will always be, to strengthen and improve the NHS as a service that is universal and publicly funded, with use based on need, not on ability to pay. That choice is backed by people across Britain, yet for the first time in a generation, some Members of this House are openly calling for the NHS’s founding principles to be abandoned. The hon. Member for Clacton (Nigel Farage), who I note is not in his place—[Interruption.] He never is—good point. Time and again, he has made it clear that he would tear the principles of the NHS to shreds and bring in an insurance-based system that would benefit only his friends in finance. Be in no doubt: Reform would sell our health service to the highest bidder. That would be a devastating mistake, and we must not let it happen.

Instead of turning our backs on the principles on which the NHS was founded, as some Opposition Members would have us do, I will fight every day as Health and Social Care Secretary to build the modern health service that our country demands and that patients deserve.

[Calum Miller (Bicester and Woodstock) (LD)]

I welcome the Secretary of State to his place. He has spoken about two themes: the scale of ambition of this Bill, and the need for the patient voice to be heard at the heart of it, given how much all our constituents care about the NHS. In the case of Healthwatch, can he reassure the House that bringing the scrutiny of local voices up to the level of the Secretary of State will not diminish the independence of the local healthwatch organisations that, in Oxfordshire and elsewhere, do so much to promote the patient voice and to hold the NHS to account for its services?

[James Murray]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his words about my taking on this post. I can reassure him that, as I will come to in my speech, the Bill sets out to integrate the national Healthwatch into the Department of Health and Social Care through a new patient experience directorate and to integrate local healthwatch organisations into integrated care boards and local authorities, which are responsible for delivering health and care at local level. This measure is about making sure that patient voices at national and local level are closer to those deciding on and delivering services, so that those voices are heard.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Calum Miller and James Murray

Tuesday 10th March 2026 Commons Chamber

[James Murray]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Pride in Place funding can be used for communities to take ownership of and support local assets, from youth centres to libraries and cultural venues. I am very glad to hear that the funding will make such a positive difference to her constituents in Woodgate and Bartley Green, and I am proud that this Government are putting people in control of what happens in their local area.

[Calum Miller (Bicester and Woodstock) (LD)]

Across my constituency, there are three things that small villages tend to have: a pub, a church and a village hall. The community asset policy will support community ownership of the pubs, but I am hearing from those who run large faith buildings that they are deeply concerned about the changes to VAT relief on listed buildings. Will the Minister agree to meet me and others who are literally trying to repair the church roof to discuss that uncertainty?

[James Murray]

As the hon. Gentleman will be aware, this scheme is operated by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, so I am happy to ask colleagues in that Department to come back to him.

National Insurance Contributions (Secondary Class 1 Contributions) Bill

Debate between Calum Miller and James Murray

Consideration of Lords amendments
Wednesday 19th March 2025 Commons Chamber

[Calum Miller (Bicester and Woodstock) (LD)]

The Minister makes the point that this is secondary for primary care providers. However, he does not acknowledge that primary care providers still do not know how they will be compensated by the Government, as I hear from dentists, community pharmacies and social care providers in my constituency. We are very close to the start of the tax year and those small businesses are providing critical primary care services in our communities. How can they operate when the Minister obfuscates and says other people might talk to them at a later stage about the money that they might receive? Would it not be easier for the Minister to accept the Liberal Democrat amendment from the House of Lords and clear up this matter today?

[James Murray]

For clarity, primary care providers who are independent contractors will not receive the direct support that the Government provide to Departments and other public sector employers. The pressures that those providers face are considered in the round before funding is provided to them, so the solution is arrived at in a different way from the way suggested by the hon. Gentleman.

As I set out earlier, the revenue raised by the decisions set out in the Bill will help fund public services, including those provided by the NHS and other social care providers. The amendments would put much of that funding at risk, so to support these amendments is to support higher borrowing, lower spending or other tax rises.