Future of Health and Care

Debate between Diana Johnson and Matt Hancock

Thursday 11th February 2021 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

I very much hope so. This is about being able to deliver services according to local need and, crucially, not just looking at the patients who turn up—whether that is to an emergency service or through their GP for treatment in secondary care—but trying to get ahead of that and support people to stay healthy, bringing the budget of the NHS to bear on keeping people healthy in the first place. That preventive agenda is critical and can ensure not only that people stay more healthy but that we spend money more wisely.

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

Having been in Parliament in 2010, I voted against the Tory-Lib Dem coalition’s flawed reorganisation, the failure of which has led us to today’s announcement. As well as sharing concerns about having another reorganisation during a pandemic, what guarantees can the Secretary of State give that these changes will improve the health of my constituents when, under his plans, Hull will be lumped into an artificial hotch-potch of the Humber Coast and Vale ICS: an area of 1,500 square miles with cities, market towns and remote rural and coastal communities, with little transparency and no clear lines of accountability to local people in Hull, with our stark health inequalities?

[Matt Hancock]

Improving the accountability of ICSs is absolutely at the heart of the White Paper. I set out the three sections, and one of them is accountability to ensure that as ICSs get stronger powers and a statutory footing, there is the accountability that necessarily goes with that.

There is a perfectly reasonable debate to have about the geography of ICSs, making sure that they cover the right scale to be able to deliver services effectively and yet are local enough to deliver for local people. That has been an ongoing discussion. The aim is to implement the measures set out in the White Paper by April 2022 and by that time we will need to ensure that those geographies are right. In very large part they are already, but if there is further work to do in any area, I am happy to have a discussion about that.

Covid-19 Update

Debate between Diana Johnson and Matt Hancock

Wednesday 30th December 2020 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

The Education Secretary is about to make a statement to set out more details, but the armed forces have been brilliant in all sorts of parts of the response to the pandemic, one of which is supporting schools to get mass testing under way in an appropriate way, using the experience they have gained by helping us so much over this crisis.

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

As we have heard, by mid-October more than 600 health and social care staff had already died from covid. Professor Andrew Goddard, the president of the Royal College of Physicians, said today:

“Frontline NHS and care staff must be vaccinated in the next couple of weeks as a priority, as the current pressures on the NHS will be impossible to withstand without a fit and protected workforce”.

With today’s further good news on vaccines, will the Secretary of State give our NHS workforce the undertaking that they will be vaccinated in the next couple of weeks?

Covid-19 Update

Debate between Diana Johnson and Matt Hancock

Tuesday 20th October 2020 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

The offer that was made to Greater Manchester was proportionate to the support that we have already given to and agreed with the local leadership in Liverpool and Lancashire, and I regret that the Mayor rejected it. We want to support businesses across Greater Manchester, so we are open to further discussions about business support with local leaders, including the council leaders, as my hon. Friend the Member for Cheadle (Mary Robinson) suggested, and I hope that we can make some progress.

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

Andy Burnham has said that, on covid-19, we need to

“carry people with us, not crush their spirit.”

Does the Home Secretary think that he has carried the people of the north with the Government as they watch bully boy tactics and punishment beatings being used against the legitimate concerns of local leaders from all parties to try to protect the livelihoods of the poorest people and local businesses in Greater Manchester? How does that bode for other areas such as the Humber, which may well need more help as they move into higher tiers?

[Matt Hancock]

In areas that we are already in discussions with, such as South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, the north-east and Nottinghamshire, right across the board those discussions are constructive, positive and focused entirely on the wellbeing of people locally. I hope that in Hull cases stay relatively low and we do not have to go into a higher tier. There are no plans to do so at the moment, and I urge the people of Hull to keep following the rules and keep the coronavirus down in Hull. What I would say is that in every other part of the country, we have had highly constructive talks that have not involved this sort of party political point scoring. I urge that approach from everybody.

Covid-19 Update

Debate between Diana Johnson and Matt Hancock

Tuesday 8th September 2020 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

I understand the argument that my right hon. Friend is making. Unfortunately, we have seen this play out in other countries around the world. We have seen a sharp rise in the number of cases—in the first instance, among younger people—and we have seen people make this argument, entirely understandably, because younger people are much less likely to die of this disease. Notwithstanding the point about long covid and the fact that young people can have debilitating long-term consequences from this disease, the problem is that the isolation of older people who are more likely, because of their age, to have very serious consequences has simply not been effective anywhere in the world. The challenge is that younger people may pass it on, for instance, to their parents, who, in turn, can pass it on to theirs. This disease is absolutely insidious in getting from person to person. In its natural state, it spreads on average from one person to between two and three others, and it doubles in the community every three to four days.

The challenge is that without widespread social distancing, as opposed to the segregation that my right hon. Friend proposed, all the evidence is that we will end up with more hospitalisations and more deaths. I would rather get ahead of this here, learning the lessons from what we have seen first in America, and then in Spain, and now, sadly, it is starting to happen in France. I absolutely take the point about the need to communicate more but I believe, with my whole heart, that we need to communicate that we all have a responsibility, including young people, and we cannot let this rip through any part of the population, because it will inevitably then get into all.

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

Today in Hull, the prospects of getting a timely local covid-19 test are patchy. People are being sent as far away as Leeds and Withernsea, so how can it be right that local councils such as Hull City Council, with statutory public health responsibilities, are being kept completely out of the loop in sorting out local testing problems, in a system that seems all about protecting Deloitte, G4S and the noble Baroness Harding, rather than having that joined-up national and local system that safeguards public health during this pandemic?

[Matt Hancock]

I will do everything I can to solve the problems and the challenge of having more demand than supply in testing capacity everywhere in the country, including in Hull. However, trying to split, according to their employer, the different people who are working on this, be they in local authorities, the local NHS, Public Health England or the private sector parts of this delivery, is just not going to help—in fact, it will make the problem worse. It was a pity to hear this from the shadow Secretary of State, the hon. Member for Leicester South (Jonathan Ashworth), because he is so often a very sensible person. What we have to do instead is all work together to solve these operational problems.

Covid-19 Update

Debate between Diana Johnson and Matt Hancock

Monday 29th June 2020 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

My hon. Friend speaks for Blackpool, and he has a clear voice that people should listen to. The message that people should take away is this: to defeat this virus, we need to stick together and follow the social distancing rules. That is as true on a beach in Blackpool as it is anywhere else in the country. If people do go out and enjoy the beach on a day of good weather, they should follow not just the social distancing rules, but basic decency, and take their rubbish home with them.

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

Data are vital to how we tackle covid-19, and we see that this evening with what has happened in Leicester. Why is it that for 39 days, the Government have not been able to publish the number of people tested for covid-19, and why can the public not know how many people have been tested in their local testing centres, such as the Humber Bridge car park testing centre in east Yorkshire?

[Matt Hancock]

We are publishing more data on where tests are done and where those positive test results are based in order to understand better the clusters. On the hon. Lady’s point about the number of people tested, there is a long-standing issue in terms of de-confliction, and understanding and making sure we get those data right. We are working with the UK stats agency on resolving the problem, and I hope to have it resolved as soon as possible.

Covid-19

Debate between Diana Johnson and Matt Hancock

Monday 16th March 2020 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

Yes.

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

I have talked to my local trust this afternoon, and it is doing everything it can to prepare for the potential surge in covid-19, but it told me that the big problem it has is knowing what to do if schools close, and what that will mean for the workforce and their ability to turn up to work. Can we please have an assurance that there will be a national childcare policy, particularly for key workers in the NHS?

[Matt Hancock]

This, allied with the fact that children are safe at school because they do not have significant symptoms from covid-19, is the reason that we are keeping schools open for now.

Coronavirus

Debate between Diana Johnson and Matt Hancock

Wednesday 11th March 2020 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

Absolutely. I want to pass on my condolences to the family and loved ones of all those who have died, including my hon. Friend’s constituent. I know that the hospital, with which he works closely, is absolutely safe, and did exactly the right thing in this case. I reassure his constituents, and everybody else’s, that the best thing to do is follow the advice from the chief medical officer, who is doing a remarkable job, and either call 111 or go on NHS 111 online if they have a query.

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

The Secretary of State said in his statement, “We are working closely” with the social care sector “to make sure that it is ready.” Could he say a little more about some of the stories circulating about the use of volunteers, and particularly students, to provide social care?

[Matt Hancock]

There will of course be a big voluntary effort should there be staff shortfalls right across public service. People who volunteer need to be asked to do tasks that fit their skillset. If people have medical qualifications and volunteer, that is fantastic—they can go and do that and potentially do clinical work, if that is right. Some volunteers will not have that sort of skillset, but there are still things that they can do, especially to make sure that people can get what they need if they are asked to self-isolate and not leave their homes. It is a matter of finding the right match for the skillset of the people who are going to help. In a scenario in which 20% of the public are off sick, volunteers will be able to help to alleviate some of the inevitable pressure that that brings.

Coronavirus

Debate between Diana Johnson and Matt Hancock

Monday 9th March 2020 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

Yes, all the staff at the Royal Stoke have done a brilliant job. I worry that they will no doubt have more cases to deal with, but the work they have done so far is something that we should all praise.

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

The Secretary of State has called for a national effort on a number of occasions. What is his take on the request from the TUC, which has called for a joint emergency taskforce between trade unions and businesses to make sure, for example, that statutory sick pay issues are addressed as well as keeping public services afloat?

Coronavirus

Debate between Diana Johnson and Matt Hancock

Tuesday 3rd March 2020 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

That is a very good question and it is important that we get that right. One reason why we have set out this plan, which includes measures that we hope not to take and may not take but are prepared to take if necessary, is that, should those measures be taken, it will not be a surprise to people—they are clearly part of a plan. I do understand—of course I do—that people are worried about this, and I also understand that some of the things we are proposing, and some that other countries are doing, are not the sort of things that a Government in a free country normally does. That is why we have taken this approach. It is quite unusual in Government to set out a plan of things that we might do; we normally set out what we are going to do. The reason we have done so is precisely in response to the concern that my hon. Friend wisely raises. We want to do everything we can to reassure people, while not over-reassuring and instead being totally transparent about our frank assessment, based on the science, of the situation that the country is in and what we can best do to get ourselves best through this and fight this disease.

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

For the trusts that host regional infectious diseases units, will the Secretary of State say what additional emergency money is going into them now and whether there are plans to extend those units to increase bed capacity?

[Matt Hancock]

We do have plans to be able to ramp up the bed capacity that can be used to deal with coronavirus patients, and, as I said earlier, we have already extended funding to trusts and are willing to consider that further if necessary.

Wuhan Coronavirus

Debate between Diana Johnson and Matt Hancock

Monday 3rd February 2020 Commons Chamber

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

On Friday, when I was driving around my constituency, I heard on BBC Radio Humberside that the two people from York had been brought to one of the hospitals in Hull. They had then gone on to Newcastle. A press release was issued by the chief executive of the Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. I wonder whether some thought should be given to how we communicate with the public, and whether more needs to be said about the role of local hospitals that are being used to deal with issues like this.

[Matt Hancock]

A lot of thought is being put into how we communicate with the public. We need to win both the battle against this disease and the battle for public confidence. This is a bit like my answer to the hon. Member for Sefton Central (Bill Esterson), and, indeed, my answer to the hon. Member for Rhondda (Chris Bryant), who asked about masks. Washing one’s hands is much better than wearing a mask. That is the correct advice, and we are trying to get the correct, straight communications out whenever we possibly can.

Wuhan Coronavirus

Debate between Diana Johnson and Matt Hancock

Thursday 23rd January 2020 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

The hon. Lady makes an incredibly important point, on which I wholly concur in the round: vaccines are incredibly important and valuable. We have a long-established process for working out where we should vaccinate. In this case, because of the nature of the virus, it is unlikely that a vaccine is going to be available—there is not one now—so that is not the route we should be looking at, but of course we will keep that under review. On her general point, when advised to take a vaccine, such as the flu vaccine for the winter or the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine for children, people should vaccinate, because it is both good for them and good for their neighbour.

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

I thank the Secretary of State for the statement. In Hull, including in my constituency, we have a lot of Chinese students. I just want to be clear about the advice being given to anyone worried about symptoms that might develop, as he said that that might happen up to 14 days after arriving in the UK. What advice should those students be given about what to do and who to contact?

[Matt Hancock]

Anybody with concerns, be they a student in Hull or elsewhere, should contact their doctor. As the first port of call, 24 hours a day, they can call NHS 111, which has clinical advice available around the clock. All the 111 contact centres have been updated and will be kept updated with the most appropriate advice.

NHS Long-Term Plan: Implementation

Debate between Diana Johnson and Matt Hancock

Monday 1st July 2019 Commons Chamber

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

There is no reference to GPs in the statement—I have just been looking through it. This comes at a time when my constituents are telling me that they are having to wait three weeks to get a GP appointment. Faith House GP surgery on Beverley Road, which I have raised with the Secretary of State directly, is now due to close. It is all very well training doctors for the future, but what is he going to do about the crisis in primary care now?

[Matt Hancock]

I picked out three of the 20 areas that we are particularly focused on in this implementation framework, one of which is the number of GPs and the broader primary care workforce, because it is not just about GPs but about all those who also support primary care across the board. We have a clear target of 5,000 more GPs, based on the 2015 baseline. We have a record number of GPs in training. Last month, the Minister for Health, my hon. Friend the Member for Wimbledon (Stephen Hammond), announced the consultation on changes to the pension to remove some of the unintended consequences of pension tax changes for GPs to ensure that we retain our highly trained, highly qualified GPs. There is a whole load of work in the people plan being led by Baroness Dido Harding to make sure that we have the number of GPs that we need and the wider primary care health workforce that is necessary.

--- Later in debate ---

[Matt Hancock]

I am sure that the whole House will want to pass our condolences to my hon. Friend, to his family, and to friends of his aunt. In a way, it is fitting to end this session with a very personal example of why early diagnosis matters.

As for my hon. Friend’s second point, ensuring that we have high-quality health services throughout the UK is, of course, vital. It is true that there has been a smaller increase in funding for the NHS in Scotland, and a consequent smaller increase in the number of healthcare professionals there. We need an improvement right across this country. We are delivering that in England, and I am sure that my hon. Friend will continue to make the case for better health services in Scotland from the Scottish National party Government, who receive the money from the UK Treasury but do not put all of it towards the NHS.

[Diana Johnson]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Diana Johnson and Matt Hancock

Tuesday 18th June 2019 Commons Chamber

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

T5. With abortion rates for women over 30 rising, I am sure the Secretary of State will agree with Professor Lesley Regan, the president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, who said:“Women must have access to effective contraception and sexual health services to enable them to take control of their health and fertility by preventing unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections.”Does the Secretary of State also agree with Professor Regan’s comments on the need to end the fragmentation of commissioning, and the underfunding of services that disproportionately affect women?

[Matt Hancock]

The hon. Lady is quite right. As part of the long-term plan, we have considered the best way to commission sexual health services, which were moved over to local authorities five years ago. We think that the responsibilities are sitting in the right place, but we need to see far more co-commissioning, where local authorities and the NHS together ensure that there is more joined-up provision, rather than the siloed provision that she mentions.

Access to Medical Cannabis

Debate between Diana Johnson and Matt Hancock

Monday 8th April 2019 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

My hon. Friend makes a very important point. To ensure that the use of medical cannabis becomes mainstream, we need to ensure that the evidence base is there. Essentially, doctors think there is a much deeper evidence base for CBD than for THC. There is a broader point, which is that the medical profession and this House need to keep up to speed with the evidence as it is developed. In this case, that means going out of our way to develop the evidence and to have clinical trials in which some of the patients who want the drug can participate. That will provide the evidence base that allows the vast array of specialists to prescribe it.

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

It was clear from the evidence given to the Health and Social Care Committee that the Government raised public expectations when they rescheduled medical cannabis. I wonder whether it is time for the Secretary of State to ensure that there is a public awareness campaign, with full information about what the Government are trying to do.

[Matt Hancock]

I will look at that idea and discuss it with the NHS. The training programme that we are putting in place is intended to raise awareness of the evidence and the change in rules among the profession—among doctors and the specialist prescribing doctors on the register. Ultimately, it is only with clinical sign-off that we allow any drug to be prescribed. That is where the training needs to be in the first instance, but I will look at the hon. Lady’s suggestion of doing it more broadly.

Eurotunnel: Payment

Debate between Diana Johnson and Matt Hancock

Monday 4th March 2019 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

My hon. Friend is quite right to support a deal and the action that we have taken in case there is no deal. That is the position that anybody who cares about the unhindered supply of medicines should take. When it comes to those medicines that cannot be stockpiled, we have contracts for flights to ensure that those medicines can be flown in. We have in place a flight from Birmingham to Maastricht, and the return journey, obviously, to ensure that we can get those short-term medicines in.

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

This must be making parliamentary history this afternoon. We have two urgent questions about the same incompetent Minister causing mayhem and chaos in two different Departments and he does not even have the face to come here and front it out—and we are left with Hancock’s half hour! Let me ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care: is any of the £33 million going to be reimbursed from his budget to the Department for Transport?

[Matt Hancock]

This was, of course, a cross-Government decision, which is why I am here. It is the medicines that will be using that capacity. In the Hancock family, we are very proud of “Hancock’s Half Hour”, and we thought that Tony was a very funny man.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Diana Johnson and Matt Hancock

Tuesday 15th January 2019 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

I am very happy to meet my hon. Friend, who makes a very important point. Of course, future allocations of capital are for the spending review. I look forward to working with her to try to sort out the problems in Torbay and across the board.

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

A consultation is taking place about the closure of Faith House GP practice on Beverley Road in Hull. It is partly about the premises being less suitable for delivering modern healthcare, but also about how difficult it is to recruit GPs. What will the Secretary of State do about GP services being removed from communities? How will he support the development of GP services in those areas?

[Matt Hancock]

The £4.5 billion extra in the long-term plan that is going to primary and community care is absolutely targeted at solving problems like that. As it happens, I know Beverley Road in Hull quite well; I had family who lived there. It is very important that the services in primary care and in the community are there and are available to people to ensure that that crucial element of our prevention agenda is strengthened to keep the pressure off hospitals, too.

NHS Long-term Plan

Debate between Diana Johnson and Matt Hancock

Monday 7th January 2019 Commons Chamber

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

I welcome the focus in the long-term plan on the most common causes of mortality—cancer, heart disease, stroke and lung disease—and on cutting the risk factors. However, will the Secretary of State just explain to me how cuts to public health budgets and the fact that the comprehensive spending review is much later in determining the money that will be made available for public health can be part of a joined-up plan to start dealing with some of these diseases?

[Matt Hancock]

There is £16 billion ring-fenced for public health in this spending review. Crucially, we want the whole NHS to be focused on keeping people healthy as well as curing them when they are ill. Yes, of course it is a matter for that one budget in the spending review process, but it is also a matter of the whole £148 billion a year that will be going into the NHS.

BBC Pay

Debate between Diana Johnson and Matt Hancock

Tuesday 9th January 2018 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

Yes. I pay tribute to my hon. Friend, who has worked hard on this issue during her time in the House. I also pay tribute to Carrie Gracie for her bravery and her actions.

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

Why does the Secretary of State think that it will take Lord Hall until 2020 to sort this out? It is an injustice. Surely the Secretary of State should tell Lord Hall to sort it out now.

[Matt Hancock]

It is, of course, for the commission to tell Lord Hall that. We have to be careful to ensure that the relationship between the Government and the BBC is proper, because the BBC is a public broadcaster, not a state broadcaster. The action that the Chair of the Select Committee on Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has announced—calling Lord Hall and potentially others to give evidence—will ensure that they can be held properly and directly to account.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Diana Johnson and Matt Hancock

Thursday 29th June 2017 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

As my hon. Friend will know, this is an incredibly important matter. Any parent knows the perils of young people growing up in the internet age, as well as the massive opportunities that it brings. The digital charter that Her Majesty announced as part of the Queen’s Speech will bring together those concerns and issues and ensure that we can lead the world in providing the right balance between freedom and security online.

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

T4. This month is the 10th anniversary of the floods in Hull, when the local BBC radio and television played such an important part in communicating with the local public. I understand that there are further discussions about cuts of up to £15 million to BBC services in England. Is the Secretary of State as worried as I am about the effect that that could have on the local community and democratic resource in all our constituencies?

Voter Registration

Debate between Diana Johnson and Matt Hancock

Wednesday 8th June 2016 Commons Chamber

[Matthew Hancock]

This is an incredibly important concern in Northern Ireland, and any legislation will be absolutely clear about the position, which we will set out as soon as we can.

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

What additional support and help will the Minister give to local authorities unexpectedly having to undertake a great deal of verification work?

[Matthew Hancock]

We have made it clear that if needed, we will make resources available, to a reasonable extent, to electoral registration offices to ensure that everyone can vote who wants to and is eligible.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Diana Johnson and Matt Hancock

Thursday 26th March 2015 Commons Chamber

[Matthew Hancock]

We do need to eradicate that culture, and I have already set out the steps we are taking. However, may I also take this opportunity to pay tribute to the work of the Business Secretary on this issue and many others over the past five years? We have had an incredibly business-like relationship working hard in the Business Department, and I pay tribute especially to his work on getting an industrial strategy that all parties in the House are now signed up to; to his work on women on boards; and on late payment. It has been a great pleasure, and I look forward to working with him in the future, too.

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

5. What recent representations he has received from businesses on the importance of infrastructure development to business growth.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Diana Johnson and Matt Hancock

Thursday 4th September 2014 Commons Chamber

[Matthew Hancock]

Action is under way to ensure we get the best possible energy efficiency from both smart meters and private developments, such as smart thermostats—this summer, I installed a smart thermostat, so I can turn the electricity and heating in my home on and off from my iPhone. Getting the best cost savings for consumers as well as reducing energy demand by enhancing and embracing technology is a vital part of what we are doing.

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

T8. With Hull city council yesterday granting final planning permission to Siemens, will the Secretary of State join me in encouraging everyone to take advantage of the new green jobs that will be coming to the city, while deploring the statement that UKIP put out saying it would rather the wind turbine jobs went abroad and the statement of the Hull Green party, which last week told BBC Radio Humberside that it did not rule out boycotting Siemens?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Diana Johnson and Matt Hancock

Thursday 10th April 2014 Commons Chamber

[Matthew Hancock]

Yes, I will. Only this week, we took through the statutory instrument to expand the start-up loans scheme and ensure that the funding is available. Fifteen thousand people have now had the benefit of using the scheme, but it is not just about the money; it is about the mentoring and the wider support that come with a start-up loan, and I commend everyone to have a look at the scheme and commend it to their constituents.

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

Does the Secretary of State share my concern that, following the closure of the Insolvency Service office in Hull, there will be a gap between Newcastle and Ipswich with no Insolvency Service offices between those two areas? Will he agree to meet me to discuss this matter?

Apprenticeships

Debate between Diana Johnson and Matt Hancock

Thursday 14th March 2013 Commons Chamber

[Matthew Hancock]

The whole report is about doing just that.

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

Small businesses in Hull tell me that the flat rate that they are paid to take on an apprentice does not take into account the particular needs of small businesses, and that it is the same rate as that paid to larger businesses. Will the Minister support the introduction of a differential rate for small businesses taking on apprentices?

[Matthew Hancock]

We have introduced a grant of £1,500 for small businesses taking on their first apprentices, precisely to help them with the bureaucracy that the hon. Lady mentioned, and I would encourage her to tell the small businesses that she talks to that it is available. The take-up has been good, but we need to ensure that everyone who could benefit from it knows about it.