NHS Pensions
Debate between Caroline Nokes and Karin Smyth(2 weeks, 4 days ago)
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Karin Smyth
My hon. Friend is absolutely right that we are on the road to recovery—and that, of course, is what the Opposition cannot stand. This is a complicated issue, as they well know. As I said, we inherited this complication in July, when we were made well aware of it. The Conservatives could have done more about it while they were in government, but it is yet another issue on which they have let people down—this time, it is staff.
We will ensure that we remedy that. The timelines are available in the written ministerial statement that I issued yesterday. We will continue to work with trade unions and employers to ensure that people understand. As my hon. Friend said, it is important that people do understand their own personal positions.
Madam Deputy Speaker (Caroline Nokes)
I call the Chair of the Health and Social Care Committee.
Karin Smyth
One of our major priorities is ensuring that the entire NHS workforce are doing the work that they are trained and committed to do, so that they can get down those waiting lists and deliver an NHS that is fit for the future. The staff, as Lord Darzi has outlined, have felt very severely the detriment caused by the previous Government. They are working under really difficult conditions, and we want to make sure that, through the 10-year plan and the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, we offer them hope, so that they are ready to deliver the services that they have been trained to deliver.
Madam Deputy Speaker (Caroline Nokes)
I thank the Minister for her responses this afternoon. I will allow a moment for the Front Benchers to swap over.
Women’s Health Strategy
Debate between Caroline Nokes and Karin Smyth(2 months, 2 weeks ago)
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Madam Deputy Speaker (Caroline Nokes)
Order. The shadow Minister will know that there is a time limit, which she has exceeded. I have been very generous. I call the Minister.
Karin Smyth
I addressed most of those points in my outline statement. I think the shadow Minister wrote her comments when the Opposition thought that we were cancelling things, only to find out that we are not cancelling things. I have made clear our commitment to the women’s health strategy and how we seek to instruct the system at a local level to serve the needs of women and particularly prioritise those waiting lists. As I have outlined, the targets have already been achieved. Unusually, I will give a bit of credit to the other side, because a lot of this was rolled out and it was good practice, and the system still thinks that it is good practice, so sometimes Opposition Members should take a win. We are committed to that, it is embedded in the system, and we look forward to outcomes being improved for women.
Karin Smyth
I thank the Committee Chair for her question. I think she was congratulating the previous Committee and Chair rather than those who are now in opposition. I was very pleased to witness some of that work when we were in opposition, and she is absolutely right about it. The work of many women Members when in opposition, and, to be fair, of many women in the previous Government, have made sure that issues around endometriosis have risen up the agenda; indeed, we had a good debate in the Chamber recently. We are committed to taking forward the strategy. We think the health hubs, for example, are doing a good job, but there is a lot of learning to be done on them, and we will continue to do that.