Plastic Food and Drink Packaging

Debate between Derek Thomas and David Simpson

Thursday 24th October 2019 Westminster Hall

[Derek Thomas]

I agree, and I intended to refer to the report picking up on that point, so I thank my hon. Friend for the intervention. First, therefore, let us get that issue properly sorted out and the information communicated clearly, so that we have practical measures to deal with items described as compostable and biodegradable.

We need to support the innovation of alternatives. A number of organisations have come into this place in the last year or two, as we have talked more and more about alternatives to plastics, and demonstrated what they have produced—we heard about seaweed earlier. We need to find a way whereby Government can really encourage that research and development.

[David Simpson]

I refer back to what the Chairman of the Select Committee, the hon. Member for Tiverton and Honiton (Neil Parish), said: we have to get the system right. But supermarkets, of course, are sometimes governed by public health in what they should do, so it is a multi-agency decision on all of this. There needs to be a partnership, as the hon. Member for St Ives (Derek Thomas) has said, to try to relieve the difficulty that we have with plastic, but this is a multi-agency situation.

[Derek Thomas]

I agree, and I welcome that intervention. It is true that there will be some single-use plastic that we cannot avoid. If we go into a hospital, we will find items that are wrapped for what are obviously good reasons. I will name-check now if I am permitted to, Mr Stringer. There is a large outlet—retailer—in my constituency called Thornes. It sells a lot of fruit and veg and all sorts of other items. It decided, very early after the Government launched their 25-year environment strategy in January 2018, that it would not use single-use plastic, and it has moved away from it, including for its fruit and veg. That outlet certainly compares in size to a small supermarket, so if it can do it, it must be possible for supermarkets to take greater measures than they already do. But I accept that we need real leadership from Government, and urgently.

I have two or three more asks. We need legislation—I hope that we will do this through the Environment Bill—to ban unnecessary single-use plastic. That is the only way we will get businesses to really respond and urgently develop the alternatives. We also need legislation to ensure that all remaining plastic that is necessary—my hon. Friend the Member for Tiverton and Honiton was right to say that there is necessary plastic—can be recycled. We still purchase plastics and products that cannot be recycled, and that just needs to come to an end.

Diabetes Technologies

Debate between Derek Thomas and David Simpson

Wednesday 23rd November 2016 Westminster Hall

[Derek Thomas (St Ives) (Con)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered access to diabetes technologies.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Gillan. It is also good to see the Under-Secretary of State for Health, my hon. Friend the Member for Oxford West and Abingdon (Nicola Blackwood), in her place; I served under her chairmanship when she chaired the Select Committee on Science and Technology. I intend to use this debate to consider what can be done to accelerate access to new, innovative diabetes technologies.

This is a complex subject. I know there are patients who would benefit from technologies such as insulin pumps and glucose monitoring systems but are not able to access them. For many, access to diabetes technologies will have a transforming effect on their lives, enabling them to live full lives, be economically active and reduce the burden on primary and secondary care.

First, I recognise that progress is being made in this area. The intention behind the debate is to highlight the opportunity we have dramatically to transform people’s lives by accelerating access to diabetes technologies. I am here not to criticise but to say, as my schoolteachers regularly said to me, “You could do better,” because I believe we can in this area. Secondly, I want to use this opportunity to pay credit to the work of the all-party parliamentary group on vascular disease, and in particular its inquiry into patient access to technology last summer. The APPG recognised that access to technology facilitates the earlier and more accurate identification of people at potential risk of diabetes-related complications.

I want to refer to three of the 12 recommendations listed in the APPG’s report. The first is that the NHS must consider steps to become more flexible when commissioning or supporting the commissioning of new technologies designed to improve patient outcomes. Its second recommendation is that the NHS and industry should work together to harness innovation and promote better treatment for patients. Thirdly, it recommends that NHS England should consider how to introduce measures to incentivise the screening and diagnosis of patients at risk of peripheral arterial disease in primary care settings. Those recommendations help me to impress on the Minister a matter of great urgency, importance and opportunity for diabetic patients in the UK.

I would like us to consider the need to accelerate access to existing technologies; how the NHS can accelerate the development, testing and application of new technologies; and how information technology can be used to inform and educate patients, giving them greater power to manage their condition and lead full and free lives.

[David Simpson (Upper Bann) (DUP)]

I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on obtaining this debate. He will be aware that in our schools today there is a problem with young children administering insulin where teachers are not trained to do it and cannot, because of child protection rules. If new and innovative technologies were used, we could perhaps get over that difficulty.

Community Pharmacies

Debate between Derek Thomas and David Simpson

Tuesday 23rd February 2016 Westminster Hall

[Derek Thomas]

That is exactly right: it is pharmacists’ skills that we must be careful to maintain and develop.

I know that you have concerns about this matter as well, Mr Streeter, especially concerning the pharmacy in Modbury in your constituency, so I appreciate your support on this issue and the way you are chairing this wonderful Westminster Hall debate.

[David Simpson (Upper Bann) (DUP)]

I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on securing this debate. The letter that he read out hits a lot of the points. Removing the funding will make waiting lists longer, when GPs are already under pressure; in fact, we are losing hundreds of GPs every year, as they go to other countries. Pharmacies can see people at the point in time that they would usually see GPs; sometimes people have to wait two or three weeks to get an appointment with the GP. So this proposed cut seems to defeat the purpose of the planned change.

Fuel Poverty

Debate between Derek Thomas and David Simpson

Wednesday 3rd February 2016 Westminster Hall

[David Simpson (Upper Bann) (DUP)]

One part of the United Kingdom that the hon. Gentleman left out at the beginning of his speech was Northern Ireland, but we will forgive him for that. It is the case that 42% of the households in Northern Ireland are in fuel poverty. The Government have promised, I think, £640 million or £650 million to go towards efficient homes. We trust—I am sure that the hon. Gentleman will agree with me—that all the regions of the United Kingdom will get their fair share of that.

[Derek Thomas]

Certainly. I thank the hon. Gentleman for the intervention, although I think that I did mention Northern Ireland at the beginning. If I did not, I apologise. It is certainly in my notes, so I apologise if I missed it out. [Interruption.]