Advisory Committee on Business Appointments/Ministerial Code

Debate between Diana Johnson and Ben Gummer

Monday 20th March 2017 Commons Chamber

[Ben Gummer]

It is for ACOBA to make recommendations and conditions. Indeed, it often enforces conditions. In the period leading up to 2010 and just after, only 12 of the 43 Ministers who made applications to take outside employment were allowed to do so without conditions, so ACOBA is able to provide conditions. It is for the committee to judge specifically in this case how it feels that the process has been undertaken. It will do so after taking into account all the evidence. It will publish its decision on the internet very soon, and the hon. Lady will be able to see it, as will everyone else.

[Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)]

Many people will think that parliamentarians should have sufficient life experience before they enter this place, but does the Minister believe that there should be an upper limit on the number of outside jobs that MPs are allowed to take?

[Ben Gummer]

The Committee on Standards in Public Life is considering that, and it is entirely right that the House should also do so. One reason why colleagues on both sides of the House have identified this issue of politicians being held in low esteem is to do with the culture that has grown up over the past 13, 14 or 15 years of Governments giving immediate answers to stories in the press just to show that they are ahead of some media game. That is not the way to get faith in politics or trust in politicians. We need to be considerate and deliberative, and to think carefully about the problems in front of us. Members of the House should discuss this matter dispassionately, calmly and with dignity in the weeks and months ahead, and come to a conclusion, to which the Government will listen.

NHS Bursaries

Debate between Diana Johnson and Ben Gummer

Wednesday 4th May 2016 Commons Chamber

[Ben Gummer]

We do not currently have a figure for the average nurse, as the hon. Lady puts it. I cannot project where a nurse’s career path will take them 50 years into the future, for precisely the reasons that we have been discussing. The actual repayments—[Interruption.] I will come to the hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull North (Diana Johnson) in a second. The actual repayments are clearly listed in the consultation document. They are clear about the amount that will be paid back over and above what existing students would be expected to pay.

The only way in which we will be able to square the circle that the hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull North mentioned is by reforming student finance. Rather than shouting from a sedentary position, she might like to know that, contrary to her suggestion that many people in her constituency were none the wiser about this reform, I talked about the reforms to nurses in her constituency a few months ago. I also talked to them about the introduction of apprenticeships and of nursing associate grades, all of which are part of the reforms that I am outlining, and they were very excited about the changes that we are making to the nursing profession. All of this is possible only within a budget that is being carefully controlled, and in which priorities are placed on where the money is spent.

[Diana Johnson]

I am sorry; perhaps I should not have been shouting at the Minister from a sedentary position, but I am surprised that he has come to this House and been unable to answer a basic question about the amount of money that will be lost through the scheme that he wants to introduce. Surely he ought to have those facts at his fingertips when he is standing at the Dispatch Box.

[Ben Gummer]

I do have those facts at my fingertips. A newly qualified nurse will not be paying any more than he or she is paying under the current system. For those on higher pay rates, the figures are in the consultation document, and if the hon. Lady is not willing to go and look at that herself, I will write to her with the details for her ease and comfort. Opposition Members, rather than picking at points because they refuse to face the fact that they have to fund their commitments with additional money, should listen carefully to the entirety of the reforms that we are proposing.

[Diana Johnson]

rose—

[Ben Gummer]

I will make some progress now, if the hon. Lady does not mind.

We are introducing a new nursing associate grade. This will present an extraordinary opportunity to eradicate one of the great unfairnesses in the NHS, which is that there are brilliant people working as healthcare assistants who are unable to become registered nurses because they were let down by the schools they went to. I am afraid that this is a consequence of the failure of school reform under the previous Government. Under previous Governments, people were failed to the extent that they have not been given the opportunities that they deserve.

We are going to reverse that situation by providing an apprenticeship ladder to a nursing associate role, and from there to a registered nursing position. A degree apprenticeship will be available to those who are able and competent to reach that grade. That will provide a route of opportunity that was not available under the previous Labour Government. It is being brought in by this Conservative Government—a one nation party for all.

By bringing in these reforms, creating a nursing associate role and creating 100,000 apprentices in the NHS, many of whom will be healthcare assistants working their way towards a nursing associate position and from there to a registered nursing grade, we will give people multiple opportunities to become nurses. That will include those who are already in the service and who want to earn while they are learning. It will take them between four and a half and six years to get to a registered nursing position from a healthcare assistant role. It will also include those who are able to take time out and do a degree to become a registered nurse, for whom we will provide additional support in the form of increased maintenance grants. Opposition Members are shaking their heads, but at what, I do not know. Are they shaking their heads at the 100,000 NHS apprentices that we are creating? Are they shaking their heads at the nursing associate roles? Are they shaking their heads at the increased maintenance support? None of those issues was addressed in the speech of the hon. Member for Lewisham East.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Diana Johnson and Ben Gummer

Thursday 14th April 2016 Commons Chamber

[Ben Gummer]

The hon. Lady is an expert in the history of equality impact assessments and the Equality Act 2010, and she understands it well. I must reassure her that through the entirety of the process the Secretary of State has been mindful of his duties under the Act, but not just for form. He is very keen to ensure that this contract is good for women, which is why at every single stage, both in negotiations with the BMA and in internal discussions, he has been mindful of his duties while trying to ensure that the contract is an improvement on the existing one. To be frank, we cannot return to negotiations with a party that does not wish to talk, and I urge the hon. Lady to get her colleagues to condemn the completely unnecessary action taken by the BMA, which put patients in danger.

[Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)]

2. What steps the Government are taking to address the effect of the increase in the state pension age on women.

Junior Doctors’ Contract Negotiations

Debate between Diana Johnson and Ben Gummer

Monday 8th February 2016 Commons Chamber

[Ben Gummer]

It would make a significant difference. Now that the Leader of Her Majesty’s Opposition is sitting on the Front Bench, he might like to take note of the fact that if we have a united political response condemning strikes that affect patients and their safety, it helps to bring negotiations to a more profitable end.

[Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)]

Hull royal infirmary is under a black alert, which means that local people have been told not to attend the hospital unless it is a matter of life and death. Will the Minister tell me how the insults the Secretary of State has been throwing around over the weekend, and those that he himself has made today about hard-working and dedicated junior doctors, will help people in Hull, who need a functioning NHS? How will those insults improve the morale of those doctors?

[Ben Gummer]

The hon. Lady does dangerous work if she tries to conflate the comments that I and others have made about the leadership of the BMA with the motivations of junior doctors, none of whom I have impugned. I recognise that junior doctors work incredibly hard, care passionately about their patients and have a vocational drive to do the best for the people they care for, but that is different from an organisation that refuses to talk, refuses to negotiate, lies to its members and is very slippery in the statements it puts out to the press.

NHS Trusts: Finances

Debate between Diana Johnson and Ben Gummer

Monday 1st February 2016 Commons Chamber

[Ben Gummer]

The hon. Lady is wrong. The CQC is not downgrading any trusts. It provides a very important function in the NHS that did not exist before, which is to give open and transparent accounts of how good the quality is in individual trusts. For the first time, patients can see whether their trust is safe, well led and effective. That means that there can be a proper and solid response where there are failings. In too many parts of the NHS, there is not the level of quality that other parts deliver. The CQC shines a light on where we need to improve. Our job, as part of the system with NHS Improvement, is to make those areas measure up.

[Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)]

My trust in Hull is predicting a deficit of £21.9 million by the end of the financial year. Following a CQC report a few years ago that criticised the staffing levels in Hull, a huge amount of effort has gone into increasing the staffing levels, but that has come at a cost, especially given the premium that is paid for medical staff. Will the Minister reassure my constituents that we will not return to the staffing levels that the CQC criticised in the past when dealing with the deficit of nearly £21.9 million?

[Ben Gummer]

I can give the hon. Lady that reassurance. When I was in Hull a few months ago, I had a fantastic series of conversations with clinicians—not just those who are leading the hospital, but those on the frontline in the wards—about how to address the staffing challenges in Hull and east Yorkshire. It is tailored responses to the problems in individual localities that will provide the quality of service in Hull that she wants for her constituents. I am committed, as are the staff in Hull, to ensuring that she sees it.

Contaminated Blood

Debate between Diana Johnson and Ben Gummer

Monday 20th July 2015 Commons Chamber

[Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)]

(Urgent Question): To ask the Secretary of State for Health to make a statement on the support available to victims of contaminated blood.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Ben Gummer)]

I apologise for the fact that the Under-Secretary of State for Health, my hon. Friend the Member for Battersea (Jane Ellison), the Minister with responsibility for public health, cannot be here to respond to this urgent question. She is returning from an international tobacco control summit, which she attended at the request of the French Government, and could not be back in time.

In the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s, thousands of patients contracted HIV, hepatitis C or both infections from NHS-supplied blood or blood products. This is rightly described by many as one of the great tragedies of modern healthcare. I would like to start by echoing the apology made by the Prime Minister in March and to say, on behalf of this Government, how sorry we are for what happened.

Since 1988, five ex-gratia support schemes have been set up to support those affected. While the current schemes of financial support have made a significant difference to the lives of many beneficiaries, we acknowledge that many people remain unhappy with the current system of support. I also know that many will have anticipated a more comprehensive statement on progress.

Ministers have listened to many of the criticisms of the current schemes. This is a very difficult issue, and many different voices on this matter will need to be taken into consideration in the context of the spending review. We then plan to give individuals affected by scheme reform the opportunity to express their views via a public consultation. That has never been done before in the history of the schemes.

The four UK Health Departments have been working together closely on this matter and will continue to do so. As a result of the direct links established between the Scottish Government and patient groups in Scotland following the publication of the Penrose inquiry, the Scottish Government are undertaking their own consultation with patient groups in Scotland. We look forward to seeing the results of that activity. When we launch our consultation later this year, we will continue to work with Scotland. That will enable all four countries to share their learning and therefore have far more robust information to inform the shape of any future reformed scheme.

As was previously announced, up to £25 million was allocated to support the transition to a reformed scheme. I confirm that we do not intend to use that for the administrative costs that might be associated with reforming the existing schemes. We expect to announce our plans for that money in the light of the consultation and once we have an understanding of how a new scheme might be structured. We intend to consult on proposals for a reformed scheme later this year.

--- Later in debate ---

[Diana Johnson]

Thank you, Mr Speaker, for granting this urgent question. I am mindful that I have just two minutes to deal with 30 years of injustice in this case. Members will know that this is the worst treatment scandal in the history of the NHS.

On 14 January, the all-party parliamentary group on haemophilia and contaminated blood published a report about how the current support is wholly inadequate. After the publication of the Penrose report on 25 March, the Prime Minister told the House that

“it is vital that we move as soon as possible to improve the way that payments are made to those infected”.

He added:

“if I am Prime Minister in May, we will respond to the findings of this report as a matter of priority.”—[Official Report, 25 March 2015; Vol. 594, c. 1423.]

On 3 June, the Prime Minister promised

“a full statement…before the summer recess”.—[Official Report, 3 June 2015; Vol. 596, c. 584.]

At 2 pm last Friday, a written statement was laid in the other place. In short, it means no extra help for victims for at least two more years. Tabling it in the other place when the Commons was not sitting was very shabby indeed.

I have four specific questions. First, when will we see a timetable for consultation on a reformed scheme of compensation? Will any of the £25 million be spent in 2015-16, as was promised by the Prime Minister?

Secondly, two years ago the Government sold an 80% stake in Plasma Resources UK, the company that creates plasma products for the NHS, to Bain Capital for £200 million. Was that capital receipt ring-fenced to compensate those affected by contaminated blood? If not, why not?

Thirdly, on 2 June the Secretary of State for Health wrote to one of his own constituents:

“Any additional resources found for a settlement will be taken away from money spent on direct patient care for patients in the NHS.”

Is that really the Government’s intention? Will the Minister comment on the starkly different approach the Government took in compensating Equitable Life victims?

Fourthly, there are now drugs available that would allow people like my constituent Glen Wilkinson to clear hepatitis C, but they are not available automatically on the NHS. The NHS gave him the infection and the NHS could now treat him. Where is the justice in withholding those drugs?

I cannot overstate the feelings of anguish that have been caused by the Government’s conduct in recent days. Many victims feel that they are being left to die in misery so that the costs of any eventual settlement scheme become more affordable. Before the election, the Prime Minister promised urgent action. Now is the time to deliver.

[Ben Gummer]

The hon. Lady has been a doughty campaigner on this issue for many years, along with others. I have a constituent who has been affected by this appalling tragedy. I know that many Members come to the House with similar experiences of talking to their constituents, so I understand the issues that she has raised today.

The hon. Lady is right to say that there is a long history behind this appalling series of events. We are seeking to address that now in the consultation that we are about to take forward. We are moving with some speed, compared with what has happened before. We had the Penrose report; then the election intervened, as she will understand, but it was one of the first items on the agenda that I was party to on returning to the Department of Health after the election. We are moving at speed to construct a consultation that will take into account the views, feelings and wishes of the beneficiaries for the first time ever, so that we hear their personal stories and give them a voice in a way that they feel has not happened so far.

The hon. Lady has rightly identified that there is a monetary implication. This matter has to be considered within the bounds of the spending review—it could not be otherwise—and it will come within the parameters of the Department of Health budget.

The hon. Lady asked about the timetable. The £25 million identified by the Prime Minister has been identified for this financial year. Should it not be allocated this year, it will be rolled over to the next year, so it will not fall if it is not spent. She also asked about the compensation fund, and I shall return to her with a written reply on that. She correctly made the point that some people will feel that time is running out and that they need a resolution quickly. That is why, within a few months, we intend to launch a consultation that we want to be completed very quickly—preferably within eight weeks, but should beneficiaries prefer, within 12 weeks. We will then launch the revised parameters of the schemes by the end of the year. We are moving quickly, and we intend those provisions to be in place so that people can feel the benefit, and feel that their voice is being heard and reflected in the changes that the Government have made, fulfilling their promises to do so.

NHS Success Regime

Debate between Diana Johnson and Ben Gummer

Thursday 4th June 2015 Commons Chamber

[Ben Gummer]

They will not just be involved; they will be central to the discussions. The jeers and taunts from Opposition Front Benchers give the game away: they expect a decision to be made centrally—that is what they want. That is the only way they think. Conservative Members believe that local people should be central to that decision and that we should fix the whole local health economy, as opposed to trying to deal with individual trusts as they encounter problems.

[Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)]

Will the Minister explain how the problem of chief executives who are not performing properly will be dealt with under this regime? Let me give him an example. Under the coalition Government’s watch the chief executive at Hull, who was disastrous, was moved to Harlow where he is now earning £170,000 a year. He had the help of the TDA in that move and left a disastrous situation in Hull.

[Ben Gummer]

I was not aware of that situation and would very much like to talk to the hon. Lady about it afterwards. If the facts she states are true, that is indeed wrong. The whole point of the success regime is to get away from the idea of being able to change one chief executive or commissioner in one provider in a challenged health economy while expecting to see a change to the whole system. We are trying to correct the system so that local care for local people is improved.