Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Edward Argar and Wes Streeting

Tuesday 7th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Edward Argar (Melton and Syston) (Con)]

The Prime Minister’s announcement yesterday of his elective recovery plan mirrored that of Sir Saijd Javid in 2022, but one aspect was different. Our plan explicitly recognised the importance of the workforce being in place to deliver the 9 million extra tests and interpret the results, and it set out proposals to increase that workforce further. What plans has the Secretary of State to boost the workforce in community diagnostic centres specifically, over and above the plans that he inherited from us, to ensure that his elective recovery plan is deliverable?

[Wes Streeting]

The shadow Secretary of State is right to say that we need staff in place to do the job. The additional funding announced by the Chancellor in the Budget is central to the delivery of this plan—I note that he opposes that funding, which is deeply regrettable—but we need to improve productivity as well. That is why the plan sets out steps to free up patient appointments that are unnecessary or of low clinical value, but, crucially, staff time in productivity gains is also important, so as well as making the most of the additional investment, we are making the most of delivering value for taxpayers’ money—

--- Later in debate ---

[Edward Argar]

On hospices, while the Secretary of State’s pre-Christmas hospice funding announcement was, of course, welcome, the vast bulk of it was in fact non-recurring capital funding, which cannot be used to help them cover the hiked employer national insurance tax on hospices’ most precious asset: their staff. What steps is he taking to ensure that they receive recurring revenue funding, to enable them to cover the additional costs?

[Wes Streeting]

The £100 million capital investment we set out before Christmas is the biggest boost to hospice funding in a generation, and it comes on top of the £26 million that we announced for the children and young people’s hospice grant. The right hon. Gentleman cannot welcome the investment and keep opposing the means of raising it. Would he cut services or raise other taxes? He has got to answer.

Health and Adult Social Care Reform

Debate between Edward Argar and Wes Streeting

Monday 6th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Edward Argar (Melton and Syston) (Con)]

I am grateful to the Secretary of State for his typical courtesy in early sight of his statement, as well for his call last week. Indeed, it was earlier sight than I am used to because I was able to read most of it in the media before coming here, which was not unhelpful.

I echo the Secretary of State’s comments in thanking and paying tribute to NHS and social care staff up and down the country, including those in my university hospitals of Leicester NHS trust, GPs and, indeed, all those in Chorley hospital, Mr Speaker, for all they have done over the festive period. They work full-on day in, day out every day of the year, but they particularly feel the pressure over the festive period when they are not able to spend it with their families, so it is important that we across the Chamber share our recognition of that.

The Secretary of State set out clearly the challenges facing the system. We all know that clinical care, the NHS and social care must work well and as a whole for our health and care system to function, so it is right that his statement addresses both those issues. He also highlighted the challenges we face as an ageing society. We are all living longer, which is a good thing, but that brings challenges of care and more complex needs. Of course, that comes on top of the ongoing challenges of the legacy of the pandemic, which are still with us in many ways.

In his comments, the Secretary of State referred to previous reforms. He opted not to reflect another point in Lord Darzi’s report: his positive remarks about our 2022 reforms, which the Secretary of State knows I took through this House and which laid the foundations on which he is now able to build. Given the serious and cross-party work we have done certainly on social care, I highlight that the challenge is real, and we must address both challenges swiftly.

Before turning to the long term, I turn to the immediate and ask the Secretary of State a few questions about winter and the challenges the NHS is facing. We heard from the Minister before Christmas about the work being done for extra co-ordination and new data, but what extra capacity in beds specifically for the winter period has the Secretary of State put in place to help ease pressure? What additional capacity has he put into A&E? We always recognised that winter is challenging, and we always put in extra resource, support and capacity, so I would be grateful for an update.

I would be grateful for an update from the Secretary of State on the pressure being felt in respect of the “quad-demic” of various challenges faced by the sector. Also, how many critical incidents have trusts declared since 1 December? I would be grateful if he could update us on the pressures being felt and the response to them in the light of the winter weather. In my Melton and Syston constituency in Leicestershire and in many constituencies across the country, we have seen extensive flooding, which has had an impact on our ambulance services in particular.

Turning to reform and elective recovery, I want to support the Secretary of State where he is doing the right thing, and it is important that he is keen to pursue a bold and innovative agenda. It is in all our interests that he is bold, but I call for him to be more ambitious. Those are not words often spoken about him, and I suspect certainly not in No. 10, but I call for him to be bolder and to go further. That is because, as with so much from the Prime Minister with multiple relaunches of previous announcements, what we see here is yet another relaunch of a previous announcement. The difference is the former Secretary of State Sir Sajid Javid’s announcement from 2022 has been reheated and re-served up today. We delivered 160 community diagnostic centres with 9 million additional appointments, and we delivered 18 surgical hubs. How will the Secretary of State’s plan go beyond that? We worked with the independent sector to allow it to be used to help tackle backlogs. We improved technology and the kit available, with £6 billion of investment. The NHS app created during the pandemic was designed and redesigned by my right hon. Friend the Member for North East Cambridgeshire (Steve Barclay) and his team to allow for regular updates. Again, it is right that the Secretary of State is updating the app, but how is he radically changing what was already in place? I certainly already receive text updates—as, I suspect, do others—on treatments and appointments, so my challenge to the Secretary of State is this: what is he doing that is fundamentally different?

The key underpinning point in the former Secretary of State’s plan was on workforce, because none of this can be delivered without the staff to deliver and interpret tests. He set out his plan to grow the workforce, and we have record numbers of doctors and nurses, and increased medical school places. What is this Secretary of State’s plan to grow the workforce and deliver on his ambitions?

Turning to social care, the Secretary of State will know—because I have said it publicly—that I will work constructively with him and the commission. He is right to highlight the challenges that Governments of all complexions have faced, including a Royal Commission, two Green Papers and a comprehensive spending review that did not deliver under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. Similarly, Theresa May’s reforms did not deliver. We proposed reforms that were due to come in this year, but the Chancellor scrapped them. I think it is important that we look to the future and at how we can work constructively on social care.

I say to the Secretary of State that we will enter into discussions with him and the commission in that spirit, but I challenge him on the pace of his ambitions. The sector is already under pressure, and that has been added to by the national insurance increases, which it does not yet know how it will pay. The real challenge for him is: why 2028? The sector is crying out for a faster pace—be bolder; be more ambitious—and we will work with him to deliver it. It takes a year-plus to deliver a diagnosis—we know the challenges. He has had 14 years in opposition; he should have a plan now.

We will call out the Secretary of State when he gets it wrong or simply re-announces what is already happening, but he is right in his approach to social care and finding a way forward, and we will work constructively for the good of patients and all our constituents. Many of them already feel let down by promises broken by the Labour party over just the past six months, so I ask him not to break this promise, and to work with us, across the House, to deliver the change that our constituents deserve and expect us to work on together to deliver.

[Wes Streeting]

It seems to be the Conservative line across the board now to say, “You’ve had 14 years in opposition, so why haven’t you sorted it all out in six months?” I say gently that the Conservatives had 14 years in government, and it will take longer than six months to clean up their mess. Honestly, their contributions to discussions in this House might have more credibility and a stronger landing zone if they at least acknowledged their part in the deep mess and malaise that they have created over the past 14 years.

None the less, on social care, I very sincerely and warmly welcome the Conservative party’s support for the independent commission. It is important, as a matter of principle, to try to establish in broad terms the level of consensus about what social care should look like and how it should be delivered to meet the needs of older and disabled people in the 21st century, with changing demography, changing challenges, changing pressures and a changing pace of technology, and about the balance of provision between the individual, the family and the state, and the balance of financial contributions for social care between the individual, the family and the state.

Of course, those issues will inevitably be contested across the party political divide from one election to the next, but just as we have had broad consensus on the national health service since 1948, just as we have had broad consensus on state education since Rab Butler’s reforms, and just as we have mostly had broad consensus for much of the past century on how public services should be delivered, so too should we try to establish the same consensus on social care. That is not to say that we should agree on everything, but we should agree on as much as possible, because whether it was Gordon Brown and Andy Burnham in 2010 or Theresa May in 2017, we can see the extent to which party political wrangling, rancour and sometimes opportunism has sunk well-meaning attempts to grasp the nettle of reform.

On the question of pace, I reassure people that in our first six months we have already legislated for fair pay agreements, delivered the biggest expansion of carer’s allowance since the 1970s, and immediately injected £86 million into the disabled facilities grant, with another £86 million to follow from April—£711 million in total over the next year—as well as the increased spending power for local government in the Budget and £880 million for social care specifically. With respect to the people who are saying, “Go faster”, I urge them to bear in mind that we have already done quite a lot in six months. We do not pretend that we have solved all the problems—we have not nearly solved all the problems—but that is not a bad start for a Government who are determined to show that we understand the pressures in social care today and are willing to deliver.

The Dilnot proposals were very good technical responses to a question that Andrew Dilnot was set by David Cameron, but we should reflect on why it was that every single Prime Minister since Lord Cameron, including Lord Cameron himself, did not implement those reforms. There has always been something else in health and social care that has been more pressing and urgent. I am sure that Baroness Casey will consider the Dilnot proposals alongside all the other challenges and potential solutions to the wider issues in social care, but we are determined to respond at pace. That is why the first phase of the Casey commission will report next year, setting out an action plan throughout this Parliament. I hope that we can achieve broad consensus on those actions too.

Turning to the winter situation, the right hon. Gentleman has asked what capacity there is. According to the latest figures, there are 1,300 more acute beds this year than last year. Of course, those figures flex up and down depending on pressures, but the pressures are enormous. The number of beds occupied by flu patients is much higher than this time last year—somewhere between three and four times higher. The number of adult beds closed due to norovirus has reduced in the latest figures, but it is still above last year, when 485 beds were closed—the latest figure is 666. On ambulance responses, we have seen many more call-outs this year. There has been a 3.8% increase in emergency admissions compared with the same period last year, with the highest November on record for A&E attendances. Ambulance response times are nowhere near where we would want them to be because of the enormity of the pressure, which is why I have been out on the frontline, including over the Christmas period. We are not just looking at what we can do to mitigate challenges this year; we are already beginning to plan for next year, because I want to see year-on-year continuous improvement in urgent and emergency care.

I now turn to the challenges on the reform plans we have proposed and set out today. Starting with the workforce, one of the reasons we have emphasised the importance of not just investment but reform is the need to free up the staff capacity that we already have in the NHS to best effect. That means dealing with the number of non-attendances by sending reminders to patients and giving them ease and convenience in rebooking. It is why we are getting rid of unnecessary, low-clinical-value out-patient appointments, with the consent of patients in every case. It is why we are asking general practitioners to do more to manage cases in the community with more advice and guidance, and funding them to do so, working with colleagues in secondary care to ease pressure on hospitals.

Today’s reform plan answers the challenge we have heard from people across the NHS: how do we tackle the elective backlog without doing so at the expense of general practice, urgent and emergency care, community care or social care? The truth is that this is a systemic challenge, and we will only be able to deal with the challenge in the elective backlog by also acting on urgent and emergency care, general practice, community care, and delayed discharges in social care. We are taking a system-wide approach to meeting this essential target.

A number of things are different from under the previous Government. For example, on the deal with those in the independent sector, giving them the stability and certainty of working with this Government gives them the confidence to open and invest in new capital estate and new kit, particularly in parts of the country that are relatively underserved by the independent sector. We have insisted they do that with their own staff and resources, and that they put their money where their mouth is in relation to training new staff to deal with some of those pressures. That is how we will ensure that we will not be taking Peter from the NHS hospital to treat Paul up the road at the independent hospital.

Finally—I am happy to take more questions on the detail of the plan—the shadow Secretary of State asked what is different from 2022? In fact, I think he asked me to commend my predecessor Sir Sajid Javid for his work in 2022. In the bipartisan spirit of the new year, let me commend the work that he and Sir Sajid Javid did in trying to undo Lord Lansley’s disastrous top-down reorganisation, and that was a very good thing to do. There will be a very big difference between this Government and our Conservative predecessors: real delivery, shorter waiting times and an NHS fit for the future.

Puberty-suppressing Hormones

Debate between Edward Argar and Wes Streeting

Wednesday 11th December 2024 Commons Chamber

[Edward Argar (Melton and Syston) (Con)]

I thank the Secretary of State for advance sight of his statement, and for his courtesy in coming to the House to make an oral statement, which gives hon. Members the opportunity to ask him questions.

When the Secretary of State is wrong, we will challenge him robustly and hold him to account, but when he is right, we will support him. That is responsible opposition. In what he sets out today, he is right, and he has my support for what he is doing. Protecting children is one of the most important priorities that a Health Secretary can have. My predecessor, my right hon. Friend the Member for Louth and Horncastle (Victoria Atkins), worked tirelessly to do just that. She set out that it was her priority to protect children and young people from risks to their safety from the prescription of puberty blockers, given the lack of an evidence base. I welcome the Secretary of State’s continuing the work started under the previous Government, and I welcome his support at the time and all that he has done since, including in his statement on 4 September. I associate myself with the three principles that he enunciated when he opened his statement.

With increasing numbers of young people questioning their gender identity, NHS England, with the support of previous Conservative Health Secretaries Matt Hancock and Sir Sajid Javid, commissioned Dr Hilary Cass to examine the state of services for children questioning their gender. That historic review cut through the noise and ideology to lay bare the clear facts, so that we as policymakers can seek to make decisions based on evidence, safety and biological reality, and create a service that better serves the needs of children, as the Secretary of State set out. In the review, Dr Cass made it clear that not enough is known about the lifelong impacts of using puberty blockers on young minds and bodies to be sure that they are safe, and that the robust evidence base was simply not there. In March, NHS England made the landmark decision to end the routine prescription to children of puberty blockers for gender dysphoria. With the support of the then Government, it announced that it was stopping children under 18 from being seen by adult gender services with immediate effect.

As one of the final acts of the previous Government, my right hon. Friend the Member for Louth and Horncastle used emergency powers under section 62 of the Medicines Act 1968 to extend the ban to private clinics selling puberty blockers to young people questioning their gender. It was the right thing to do, and I agree with and pay tribute to her, as I do to the Secretary of State for what he has subsequently done. The safety and wellbeing of children and young people must come above any other concern. I welcome the fact that the Secretary of State renewed the order; his saying that he will make the ban indefinite, given the absence at present of an evidence base; and his seeking to better understand and build that evidence base.

I have a few questions that I hope the Secretary of State can offer clarifications on in a constructive spirit. I hope—I think he alluded to this—that he will confirm that he intends to implement the Cass review’s recommendations in full. Of course, support must be available to children and young people who are questioning their gender identity, and that support must be holistic, multidisciplinary and evidence-led. The Tavistock clinic closed earlier this year, and as he set out, three new regional NHS children and young people’s gender services have opened to provide better, tailored gender services for children and young people—again, that is based on recommendations in the Cass review. Can the Secretary of State provide more detail on the delivery of the remaining regional centres, and say what order they are due to open in, so that children and families can see what is happening in their region? Again, that is about putting the best interests of young people first.

Can the Secretary of State reassure the House that these measures will be UK-wide and that he is working in tandem with the devolved Administrations? Will he advise on what progress has been made thus far—I appreciate that it is early days—on further research into patient care and increasing that evidence base? Can he update the House on the steps taken to continue the work of his predecessor, my right hon. Friend the Member for Louth and Horncastle, when she announced to the House in May the decision to work to close any online loopholes to the regulations put in place? Finally, will he commit—I suspect I know the answer to this one—to keeping the House updated in the months and years ahead on developments in this space?

Our children and young people deserve healthcare that is compassionate, caring, careful and led by the evidence. I associate myself with the Secretary of State’s concluding remarks on the need for the debate to be conducted in a respectful and sensitive way, with the needs of children and young people at its heart. We will support measures that protect children, and support him in bringing forward such measures; we want to work constructively with the Government to give the next generation access to the right healthcare to meet their needs. I look forward to working with him in the months ahead.

[Wes Streeting]

I thank the shadow Secretary of State for the constructive way in which he has responded to the statement, and for the tone with which he has approached the issue. It is worth everyone bearing in mind that every word of statements in this House, and indeed online, are often hung upon by a particularly vulnerable group of children and young people. Many of them feel afraid about the environment in which they are growing up, as do their families. Establishing an environment in which we can discuss issues with their welfare and wellbeing at its heart is therefore the right way to approach these issues. As I have said many times before—and I am sure the shadow Secretary of State agrees—we need less heat and more light, and we can show leadership together in trying to provide that climate.

I am absolutely committed to the full implementation of the Cass review. The shadow Secretary of State asked about the implementation of new children and young people’s services on gender incongruence. As I said, the north-west London and Bristol services are now open. A fourth service is planned in the east of England for spring next year. We want a specialist gender service in every region by 2026, and of course I will keep him and the House updated on that.

I am working closely with my counterparts in the devolved Governments. I particularly welcome the engagement I have had with my counterpart in Northern Ireland and his predecessor, the hon. Member for South Antrim (Robin Swann), who is within my line of sight. I appreciate the way we have been able to work together on this and many other issues. The shadow Secretary of State asked about loopholes. I will keep the matter under close observation and review.

With regard to sanctions, penalties and enforcement, it is worth pointing out that breach of the order is a criminal offence under the Medicines Act 1968. It is a criminal offence to supply these medicines outside the terms of the order. That means pharmacists who dispense medicines against prescriptions that are not valid may be liable to criminal prosecution. It is a criminal offence to possess the medicines where the individual had responsible cause to know the medicine had been sold or supplied in breach of the terms of the order. There are fines and penalties associated with that, including case-by-case and regulatory enforcement by the General Pharmaceutical Council.

We have approached the matter in an evidence-based and considered way, and with the welfare and interests of children and young people at the heart of our decision making. I urge everyone else involved in the provision of health and care to do the same.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Edward Argar and Wes Streeting

Tuesday 19th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Wes Streeting]

It is thanks to this Government and the action we have taken that, for the first time in three years, we go into winter without the spectre of national strikes looming over the NHS, and with NHS staff on the frontline not the picket line. It is thanks to the priority this Government have given to prevention that we have already delivered almost 15 million covid-19 and flu vaccinations, alongside the new RSV—respiratory syncytial virus—vaccination to help vulnerable groups for the first time. The shadow Secretary of State mentions the winter fuel allowance. This Government are protecting support for the poorest pensioners to protect them not just this winter, but every winter, and over the coming years the value of the pension will of course rise with the cost of living.

[Edward Argar]

I am grateful for that response but, just as my hon. Friends have highlighted in respect of the damaging impact of increases in employer national insurance contributions on GPs, hospices and care providers, I fear it was another example of the Government simply not answering the question and not having a plan yet. Either the Government have not done their homework and, as with the impact of NICs increases, they have not thought this through and do not know, or worse, they do not care—which is it?

[Wes Streeting]

This Government are prepared for winter and we are already standing up the operational response to winter pressures. On funding, the right hon. Gentleman was in government just before the general election. Is he saying that his Government did not provide enough funding for the NHS this winter? If not, why not? If he does accept that it is enough money, he will surely welcome the extra investment that the Chancellor is putting into the NHS from next year.

Income Tax (Charge)

Debate between Edward Argar and Wes Streeting

Tuesday 5th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Edward Argar]

I will make a little progress, but then I will happily give way to my hon. Friend.

Apart from the press releases and the reviews, where is the action? We need to see where the £22 billion will be spent. What plans does the Secretary of State have for additional investment for the NHS this winter? He knows, as I knew when I was a Minister, that winter in the NHS is always challenging. I look forward to him setting out what additional investment he plans.

[Wes Streeting]

On that point.

[Edward Argar]

I will give way to my hon. Friend the Member for Hamble Valley (Paul Holmes) in a second. Nice try, Secretary of State.

Is the right hon. Gentleman directing where that NHS funding goes himself, or will it be for his officials or NHS England to set the priorities for that, and who will be held accountable for ensuring that it is prioritised in the right places?

Health and Care Bill

Debate between Edward Argar and Wes Streeting

Consideration of Lords amendments
Wednesday 30th March 2022 Commons Chamber

[Edward Argar]

My hon. Friend puts his finger on a key issue, which is the dynamic nature of workforce trends, whether in terms of demand or supply, which is one of the challenges of a long-term projection—it would need to be a dynamic process. That is why we believe that the right approach is the one set out by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State. His predecessor commissioned that framework review from Health Education England in July last year, and the Secretary of State has subsequently asked for further work to be done in a further commission that looks at a workforce framework over 15 years. That is the first time that has been done, as I heard him say at the Dispatch Box earlier today when talking about the Ockenden review, and it will be a hugely valuable tool for the NHS and for us when we make decisions in this place about priorities and prioritisation in healthcare. As always, I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Waveney (Peter Aldous).

Before I go into more detail, I will make a point on which I suspect the shadow Secretary of State and I are in complete agreement. Although there may not be many things in this group of amendments that we agree on, I am sure that he will join me in recognising the amazing work done by our health and care workforce over the past two years, and not just in the past two years, which were exceptional circumstances, but every day of the year—day in, day out—whichever year it is. I put that on record because it is important.

[Wes Streeting (Ilford North) (Lab)]

indicated assent.

[Edward Argar]

The hon. Gentleman nods; as I say, I suspect that may be a rare moment of agreement on this group of amendments.

We continue to be committed to growing and investing in the workforce. This year we have seen record numbers of staff working in NHS trusts and clinical commissioning groups, including record numbers of doctors and nurses. The monthly workforce statistics for December 2021 show that there are more than 1.2 million full-time equivalent staff. Those workforce numbers come on the back of our record investment in the NHS, which is helping to deliver our manifesto commitments, including to have 50,000 more nurses by the end of the Parliament. We are currently on target to meet that manifesto commitment, as the number of nurses was a little over 27,000 higher in December 2021 than in September 2019.

The spending review settlement will also underpin funding the training of some of the biggest undergraduate intakes of medical students and nurses ever. In that context, I highlight the decision made, I believe, under one of my predecessors to expand the number of medical school places from 6,000 to 7,500, which has come on stream. Of course there is a lead time before those going through medical schools will be active in the workforce, but it is an important step forward.

Elective Care Recovery in England

Debate between Edward Argar and Wes Streeting

Monday 7th February 2022 Commons Chamber

[Wes Streeting (Ilford North) (Lab)]

(Urgent Question): To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care if he will make a statement on the publication of his Department’s plan for elective care recovery in England.

[The Minister for Health (Edward Argar)]

The covid-19 pandemic has had a huge impact on healthcare systems everywhere. The NHS has performed incredibly, caring for covid and non-covid patients alike and delivering the vaccination programme that has helped us to open up this country once again. Throughout the pandemic, we had to take steps to ensure that we could treat those with the greatest clinical need and that we provided a safe environment for those who needed covid care.

As a result, there is undeniably a huge covid backlog that needs urgent attention. The number of people waiting for care in England now stands at about 6 million, and we know that that figure will get worse before it gets better. Furthermore, our best current estimate is that about 8.5 million people who would normally come forward for treatment have not done so during the pandemic. However, we are pulling out all the stops to help the NHS recover and ensure that patients are receiving the right care at the right time.

Hon. Members will be aware that the Government will have invested more than £8 billion in the NHS in the three years from 2022-23 to 2024-25. As part of the new health and social care levy, we will be putting huge levels of investment into health and social care over the coming three years, and all the time we are announcing new solutions to the problem of how we can ensure that the NHS is on the firmest possible footing for the future.

On Friday we launched a call for evidence that will inform an ambitious new vision for how we lead the world in cancer care. As the Prime Minister announced earlier today, we are setting out some tough targets for the NHS on cancer. We want to ensure that 75% of patients are diagnosed or have cancer ruled out within 28 days of a GP referral, and to return the backlog of people waiting more than two months for their cancer treatment to pre-pandemic levels by March 2023. Today the NHS has also announced the launch of a new platform, My Planned Care, which will provide patients and their carers with relevant and up-to-date information ahead of planned treatment, including information on waiting times for their provider.

I am under no illusions about the fact that our health system is facing an enormous and unprecedented challenge. That is why we are doing everything in our power to support the NHS and its patients, recovering services to reduce waiting times and deliver more checks, operations and treatments. We are faced with a once-in-a-generation challenge. We know that we must get this right. We are working with the NHS and across Government to deliver a targeted and far-reaching plan for elective recovery, and we will update the House at the earliest possible opportunity.

[Wes Streeting]

Thank you for granting the urgent question, Mr Speaker.

This is not a covid backlog; it is a Tory backlog. We went into the pandemic with NHS waiting lists already at a record 4.5 million, and now 6 million people are waiting on those lists—more than ever before. More than 1 million are waiting for scans and tests used to diagnose cancer, and the NHS itself is waiting—waiting for the Government’s plan to deal with the backlog. So where is it? It was due to be published today but was pulled last night. It is like something from “The Thick of It”, but the reality is worse than fiction—a photo op without a plan; the Government’s own NHS recovery plan just another cancelled operation. But there is no need to worry, because there is a website coming that will tell people that they are waiting a long time, even if there is no plan to ensure that they do not-.

Then there is the “reason” for the delay. Briefings from the Department for Health and Social Care claimed that the Chancellor had blocked the plan. As one Government official said,

“it’s pretty obvious it’s about Treasury reluctance to rescue the PM”.

Is this where the shambles of the Conservative party is taking us? Is the Chancellor seriously playing political games while 6 million people wait for care? No wonder the Health Secretary has not bothered to show his face this afternoon. He is probably still recovering from the embarrassment of this morning’s media round, where the big announcement was literally that there was no announcement. So it has been left to the Prime Minister to clear things up, which tends to go almost as well as breakfast television with the Culture Secretary. No wonder she has been dispatched to the middle east.

Let me turn to the “tough targets” that the Minister mentioned. Today the Prime Minister announced a new target that no one should wait longer than two months for cancer diagnosis, but there is already a target for the vast majority of cancer patients to be treated within two months of referral, and it has not been hit since 2015. Is this not just another example of the Conservatives lowering standards for patients because they consistently fail to meet them? The Prime Minister has also announced that three out of four patients should receive a cancer diagnosis within 28 days, but that is an existing target that was introduced last April and has never been met.

The waiting list crisis is the chickens coming home to roost after more than a decade of Tory failure. The Treasury blocked a plan for staffing and it is now blocking the plan to cut waiting times. Is it not now clear, amid the chaos, confusion and spectacular incompetence on display, that the longer we give the Conservatives in government, the longer patients will wait?

[Edward Argar]

I am grateful to the shadow Secretary of State. As he said, 2 million of those on the waiting list have entered that waiting list since the pandemic began. There is undoubtedly a huge covid backlog, as we had to put in place infection prevention and control measures and ensure the availability of beds for those with covid. I am with him, I suspect, on at least one point, which is that I, like him, entirely understand the impact that this has on people’s lives, their anxiety and their health outcomes. That is why this Government are determined to tackle that waiting list. As I said, this is a once-in-a-generation challenge and it is absolutely right that we make sure we get the plan right. We need to ensure that we have the right plan, delivering the right outcomes.

The hon. Gentleman mentioned delays, and I have to say that this plan is delayed. This is a plan we anticipated publishing in December. The reason that we did not do that was because of the omicron variant and the impact it has had on our health services over the winter. We have made sure that we get this plan right.

The hon. Gentleman also mentioned Her Majesty’s Treasury. I have to say, speaking as a Minister in the Department of Health and Social Care, that we could not wish for better partners than Her Majesty’s Treasury and this Chancellor. They have shown strong support to our health and care system throughout the pandemic, with record levels of funding to support it through the pandemic and to help performance to recover subsequently.

Even before the pandemic, when the current Secretary of State for Health was Chancellor, this Government had already put in place a £33.9 billion increase in funding, enshrined in law. It was one of the first pieces of legislation passed by this Government after the election. We have also set out our long-term funding plans through the health and care levy, which I recall the hon. Gentleman’s party did not support.

Covid-19: Purchasing Effort

Debate between Edward Argar and Wes Streeting

Thursday 3rd February 2022 Commons Chamber

[Wes Streeting (Ilford North) (Lab)]

I thank the Minister for advance sight of the statement. But what a disgrace that the Secretary of State did not come to the House today, to account for the inexcusable and unacceptable level of waste in his Department, or when the Department first published the accounts, or two days afterwards, when they were reported on the front pages of several newspapers and on broadcast news. Perhaps the Secretary of State’s silence and absence tell us that he is relaxed about losing billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money, or perhaps it is simply that he is too ashamed to show his face. He had to be dragged to the House and when he was, he bottled it and sent his deputy.

The Department of Health and Social Care snuck out its annual accounts on the final day on which they were legally required, 10 months after the end of the financial year, and, I am sure by total coincidence, at 5.30 pm on the day Sue Gray published her update. Buried on page 199 was the revelation that the Department lost a staggering £8.7 billion on PPE. That is more than two thirds of the Department’s total spend on PPE written off as losses, double the amount it is spending on the hospital building programme, and almost as much as we spend on the salaries of every nurse in England for an entire year. Why? Because the PPE was unusable, going out of date, and bought in at eye-watering prices because the Government were in a state of desperation having run down our supplies before the pandemic arrived.

We know that many Conservative Members privately—sometimes even publicly—agree with Labour that the national insurance rise is an unfair hit on working families facing a cost of living crisis. How will they explain to their voters that, taken together with the £4.3 billion they handed out to fraudsters, this Government have thrown away more than a year’s receipts of the national insurance rise that they are now imposing on working families?

It is not just that the Conservatives are the party of high taxes because they are the party of low growth; they are the party of high taxes because they are the party of waste and incompetence. Think of what the NHS could have done with those funds. It could have reduced waiting lists and waiting times, improved access to GPs and rebuilt hospitals for the 21st century.

Of course covid came as a shock, but that does not explain why the Conservative Government ran down Britain’s supply of PPE before the pandemic, leaving us exposed to price hikes and profiteering. Perhaps the Minister can explain why a global pandemic necessarily leads to Conservative party donors and the former Secretary of State’s pub landlord receiving special treatment and hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money.

It is not just PPE. Why did the Department fail to collect shipments from ports on time, costing taxpayers £111 million in additional fees? Why did the Department fail to pay its bills on time and incur late fees of £1.6 million as a result? Why did the Department spend £250 million on testing materials, ventilators and medical equipment, none of which can be used?

Is not it the case that when this Conservative Government thought no one was watching, they abandoned any pretence of being careful stewards of public finances, bunged millions to their mates and donors, and now working families are footing the bill? What would Mrs Thatcher, the grocer’s daughter, whose father instilled in her the value of thrift, make of this lot?

Is not the truth that the Conservative party has changed? You cannot trust this Conservative party to show respect to the people or to Parliament. You cannot trust this Conservative Party to keep taxes low. You cannot trust this Conservative Party to spend taxpayers’ money wisely. Indeed, the only thing that has not changed about the Conservatives is the age-old truth that you cannot trust the Tories with the NHS.

[Edward Argar]

It is always a pleasure to appear opposite the shadow Secretary of State. I will not take it as a personal affront that he would prefer it to be the Secretary of State rather than me.

The hon. Gentleman raised a number of important points. He cited Mrs Thatcher, and suggested that the Government had changed their position. If we are talking about sudden changes in position, I feel that I should quote the present shadow Chancellor, the hon. Member for Leeds West (Rachel Reeves)—formerly shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster—who, in April 2020, wrote to my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster:

“We need Government to strain every sinew and utilise untapped resources in UK manufacturing, to deliver essential equipment to frontline workers. This must be a national effort which leaves no stone unturned.”

She was right. I agreed with her sentiment then, and I still do—and we did do that—but it appears that the Opposition do not agree with it any more.

Let me turn to the hon. Gentleman’s other points. He kept suggesting—it makes a good headline for him, I am sure, but sadly I fear it is simply inaccurate—that this is money lost or wasted. It is not. As the hon. Gentleman knows from his days as a shadow Treasury Minister, this is a reflection of buying PPE at the height of the market, at the height of a global pandemic—

[Wes Streeting]

Why? Were there not enough masks?

[Edward Argar]

I will come to that point in a moment. It is a reflection of that, and now, in accounting terms, a reflection of what its value is today.

The hon. Gentleman should also be aware that the vast bulk of that £8.7 billion is down to exactly the same reason: PPE purchased at the height of the market. Now that we have a stable market, we have a sustainable supply. I make no apologies, and I know that my right hon. and hon. Friends will make no apologies, for doing exactly what the shadow Chancellor said we should do, which was to strain every sinew to make sure that the NHS had the PPE that it needed. We achieved that.

[Wes Streeting]

She did not say “by giving a contract to a pub landlord”.

[Edward Argar]

That is an important point, and I will turn to it in just a second.

The hon. Gentleman was also wrong to say that the money was thrown away. He knows that that is not what has happened here. He knows that this is about stock that has been written down in value, not written off. He knows that the vast bulk of that remaining is fit for use. We set very high standards in the NHS, but it is fit for use in other settings, and we are ensuring that we explore those other avenues, so that it can be used.

The hon. Gentleman talked about pub landlords. He will have heard my right hon. Friend the Member for West Suffolk (Matt Hancock) make this point in the Chamber. No contract was awarded to that individual, so I would caution him to be a little bit careful about the allegations he makes, and to check his facts before he does so.

Let me now turn to one of the broader themes raised by the hon. Gentleman. He talked about running down PPE stocks. Can he name any country in Europe that did not also have to buy vast amounts of PPE at the height of the pandemic, at the height of the market? This pandemic was unprecedented. We learned more about it with every day that passed. When we first started purchasing PPE, we were confronted with horrific pictures from hospitals in Bergamo in Italy. We saw the challenges that were faced, and we moved fast to ensure that our frontline had what it needed. We strained every sinew, and we got the PPE that our country needed.

Health and Social Care

Debate between Edward Argar and Wes Streeting

Friday 3rd December 2021 Commons Chamber

[Wes Streeting (Ilford North) (Lab)]

I thank the Minister for advance sight of his statement. I pay enormous tribute to my predecessor, my right hon. Friend the Member for Leicester South (Jonathan Ashworth), who did a tremendous job as Labour’s longest-serving shadow Health and Social Care Secretary and worked constructively with the Government in response to the pandemic’s challenges. I intend to do the same.

In that spirit, I welcome this week’s announcements on the vaccine and booster roll-outs. I know from my own experience this year of kidney cancer and covid that some of the best people in our country work in health and social care. They are at the heart of my response.

NHS waiting lists stand at almost 6 million. Almost one in 10 people in England waits months or even years, often in serious pain and discomfort, because the Government have failed to get a grip on the crisis. Everyone understands that we are in the midst of a global pandemic that has placed the NHS under unprecedented pressure, but that does not excuse or explain why we went into the pandemic with NHS waiting lists at record levels and with unprecedented staff shortages.

Ministers want people to believe that the winter crisis is simply the result of the challenges of covid, but in reality, the entire health and social care system has been left dangerously exposed by their choices throughout the last 11 years. Before the pandemic, there were waiting lists of 4.5 million, staff shortages of 100,000 and social care vacancies of 112,000. This week, the National Audit Office detailed starkly that things are set to get even worse, with waiting lists set to double in three years.

Ministers cannot possibly believe that what we have been given today is a credible plan to meet those enormous challenges. If it were a genuine plan to prepare for the winter, why has it arrived on 3 December? A serious plan to bring down waiting lists would have the workforce at its heart, and would have clear targets and deadlines. A serious plan would recognise that, unless we focus on prevention, early intervention and fixing the social care crisis, Ministers have no chance of bringing waiting lists down to the record low levels we saw under the last Labour Government.

That Government had a serious plan to reduce waiting lists with 45,000 more doctors, 89,000 more nurses and the biggest hospital-building programme in our country’s history. The programme of investment, reform and clear targets delivered a decrease in waiting times from 18 months to 18 weeks. Although bricks and mortar and technology are important, and we do not sniff at the investment the Minister has outlined, the central challenge of the NHS winter crisis is a shortage of professional staff.

A credible plan to tackle the NHS winter crisis, which was foreseeable and foreseen, would have been published long before 3 December. Without a serious strategy to build the health and social care workforce that we need, this plan is not a plan at all.

[Edward Argar]

I join the shadow Secretary of State in paying tribute to his predecessor, the right hon. Member for Leicester South (Jonathan Ashworth), who is my near neighbour in Leicestershire. Although we may have occasionally crossed swords across the Dispatch Box, he is a deeply honourable and decent man. I also take the opportunity to pay tribute to the hon. Member for Leicester West (Liz Kendall), who is planning to take maternity leave in due course. She is a doughty champion for social care and the sector. I know that she will be much missed in her time away from the Dispatch Box.

I genuinely congratulate the hon. Member for Ilford North (Wes Streeting) on his post, although after that response, I do so with a degree of trepidation about what we might have in store for us in the months ahead from him challenging us—quite rightly. He is extremely diligent in all the roles he performs, so I welcome him to a challenging but fantastic role.

I will be relatively brief in my answers, because I am conscious that Fridays are for private Members’ Bills and private Members’ speeches. We brought the statement to the House because we believe it is important, given that it is going to the media, that we give the House an opportunity to question it.

The shadow Secretary of State was right to pay tribute to the workforce—the social care workforce and the health workforce, as well as all the other key workers who have helped get us to where we are in this pandemic. The workforce are the golden thread that runs through our NHS and through social care. Buildings and technology are important, but they are, essentially, the tools that the workforce use to provide that vital patient care.

We have a clear plan not only for winter, but for the recovery of waiting list times and for driving down those waiting lists. Ours is the party that has given the NHS record funding. Even before the pandemic, we put the £33.9 billion increase into law: we said we would do it, and we did do it. We are backing our NHS to give it the tools that it needs.

One issue on which I agreed with the hon. Gentleman is prevention. He is right: we need to look not only at the symptoms and the consequences in treating people, but at prevention of long-term and serious illness. He was also right in what he said about fixing social care, but I would urge a bit of caution. In 13 years we had two Green Papers, one royal commission and the 2008 spending review, all of which were designed to fix the social care problem. Result: nothing. This Government said they would come forward with a plan, and have come forward with a clear and coherent plan. I pay tribute to the Minister for Care and Mental Health, my hon. Friend the Member for Chichester (Gillian Keegan), and indeed to her predecessor, my hon. Friend the Member for Faversham and Mid Kent (Helen Whately), for the work that they have done in grappling with this very challenging issue.

The hon. Gentleman mentioned hospital buildings. Again, he was right: we are building 40 new hospitals. I would, however, say to him and to other Opposition Members that they should be very careful when talking about this subject. We all know that one of the biggest challenges we face with capital in our NHS is the millstone of PFI debt around the necks of NHS trusts—private finance initiative programmes put in place under the last Labour Government. We are still paying for that.

I welcome the hon. Gentleman to his post, and I suspect that on many occasions in the future we will have further such exchanges across the Dispatch Boxes. I am sorry that on his first outing in his new role he is facing me rather than the Secretary of State, but it is a pleasure to be opposite him.

[Wes Streeting]

We’ve been given the best.

[Edward Argar]

Charming as ever.

We are the party of our NHS. We are backing it with the resources and support that it needs to get through this winter.

Health Infrastructure Plan

Debate between Edward Argar and Wes Streeting

Monday 30th September 2019 Commons Chamber

[Edward Argar]

I know the Horton well from my time as the parliamentary candidate for Oxford East, which I fought in 2010 and which, sadly, fought back. I also know of the work that my hon. Friend has done since before her time in the House in campaigning in the hospital’s interests. I will certainly look carefully at any application that is made, and I will judge it swiftly and fairly, as will the Secretary of State.

[Wes Streeting (Ilford North) (Lab)]

I warmly welcome the investment in Whipps Cross University Hospital, which is one of the six projects that have actually been committed to, as opposed to the 40-odd that have been promised. However, as the Prime Minister found during his recent visit to the hospital, when he met my constituent Omar Salem, all is not well in respect of the consistency of the care provided there—not because of a lack of dedication on the part of the staff, but because the hospital and, indeed, the wider Barts Health NHS Trust do not receive the funding that they need to cater for such a large population across the whole of east London. I welcome the investment in the fabric of the hospital, but what will the Minister do to ensure that my constituents receive a consistently excellent quality of care when they visit the hospital?

[Edward Argar]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman both for his question and for the reasonable tone in which he pitched it. [Interruption.] Indeed, he is always reasonable. As he knows, the capital investment will allow for investment in a new hospital, providing a range of services across emergency, maternity and specific out-patient and other diagnostic services. As for consistency of care and the experience of patients, the hon. Gentleman is absolutely right to pay tribute to the fantastic work done day in, day out by the NHS workforce, and that is why we have seen that workforce grow under this Government. Equally, however, when I visit hospitals, as I have done since I was appointed, I observe that the infrastructure and the buildings in which they operate can play a huge part in delivering not only consistency of care, but speed of care and speed of access. That capital investment in the hon. Gentleman’s local hospital will play a huge part in giving its excellent staff the tools with which to do their job and the environment in which to do it, and he will see that delivering better and more consistent care to patients.