Business of the House

Edward Timpson Excerpts

Thursday 8th March 2012 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

I very much welcome the review of the Backbench Business Committee, which is being undertaken by the Procedure Committee, and of course we will want to respond to its report in due course. The answer to the question that the hon. Lady poses, “Why are we debating the matter on Monday rather than waiting for the report?”, is set out in the Procedure Committee’s Ninth report of Session 2010/12. It made several recommendations for changes to the Backbench Business Committee, and the Government in their response said:

“The Government propose to allow time for consideration of proposals to this effect towards the end of the current Session.”

In other words, if Members want to make changes to take effect at the beginning of the next Session, they cannot wait for the report of the Procedure Committee, because that will come too late. That is why we are putting the motions before the House on Monday. It will be for the House to decide what to do with them, but if we want to make changes, we are going to have to do so quite soon; we cannot wait for the Procedure Committee’s report.

[Mr Edward Timpson (Crewe and Nantwich) (Con)]

Will my right hon. Friend find time for a debate about this week’s announcement of £330 million in efficiency savings, which the Government are now able to spend in the NHS on new units and equipment, including at Crewe’s Leighton hospital, whose bid, which I was pleased to support, successfully secured £25.2 million for new operating theatres, an intensive care unit, a labour suite and a CT scanner, much to the delight of clinical staff?

[Sir George Young]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend, who I understand spent four days working in the hospital and gives the bid his personal support. That is a good example of how one can reinvest savings in front-line services, and by reinvesting the money that we have saved we are able to put more than £330 million into projects that will help more than 2.5 million patients per year. My hon. Friend has given a very good example of how that assistance is feeding through.