Oral Answers to Questions

Elaine Stewart Excerpts

Tuesday 25th November 2025 Commons Chamber

[Karin Smyth]

This question is about services across north-west London. We are working with all integrated care boards to ensure that they work with local Members of Parliament about service configuration. It is a matter for them to determine. I have spoken to the hon. Gentleman previously. We are determined to ensure that we have the best services for people in their local areas based on clinical need. Today I have been talking about neighbourhood health services, for example. As we develop the health service plan and put right the mistakes of the past in getting the new hospital programme on to a sustainable footing, all of this will be considered in the round. I am happy to keep talking with him.

[Elaine Stewart (Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock) (Lab)]

5. What steps his Department is taking to reduce the number of people waiting for NHS treatment.

[The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Wes Streeting)]

In England, for the first time in 15 years, waiting lists are falling. Through record investment and modernisation, we have cut backlogs by more than 230,000, and we smashed our target for additional appointments in our first year, delivering more than 5 million. There is a long way to go, but the NHS in England is on the road to recovery. Unfortunately, in Scotland the SNP cannot seem to get the car started.

[Elaine Stewart]

While the NHS is on the road to recovery in England thanks to the investment of this Labour Government, there are 61,000 patients in NHS Ayrshire and Arran on a waiting list for treatment, almost 11,000 of them for over one year. Does the Minister agree that after record levels of funding for Scotland in the last Budget, people in my constituency should be asking the First Minister and his Government, “Where’s the money gone, John?”

[Wes Streeting]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. More patients are waiting a year for treatment in Ayrshire and Arran than in the entire south-west of England—that is shocking. Thanks to the investment the Chancellor has made, Scotland is receiving an extra £1.5 billion this year and £3.4 billion next year—the biggest funding increase since devolution. Labour is cutting waiting lists in England. Labour is cutting waiting lists in Wales. Why is the SNP failing where Labour is succeeding?

Oral Answers to Questions

Elaine Stewart Excerpts

Tuesday 7th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Andrew Gwynne]

The hon. Gentleman raises an important point. This Government are committed to having the healthiest generation of children ever. That means we will have a concerted effort on a whole range of health issues that determine the health and wellbeing of young people, which will hopefully ensure that they become healthy adults as a consequence. Alcohol harms are certainly one of the considerations we will be looking at.

[Elaine Stewart (Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock) (Lab)]

6. What steps his Department is taking to help reduce NHS waiting times.

[The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Wes Streeting)]

This Government are delivering on our commitment to cut NHS waiting lists and end the Tory backlog. We have taken immediate action with an additional £1.8 billion to support elective activity this year. That funding will support the delivery of our first step of 40,000 extra elective appointments a week. With investment must come reform, and the elective reform plan, published yesterday and announced by the Prime Minister, sets out how we will cut NHS waits to the 18-week standard, increase productivity, reform the system and improve patients’ choice and control over their healthcare.

[Elaine Stewart]

Almost one in six Scots is stuck on an NHS waiting list. People are borrowing money and remortgaging their homes to go private, because they cannot bear the pain. With an SNP Government who have abandoned the principles of an NHS free at the point of entry, does my right hon. Friend agree that Scotland’s health service needs a new direction?

[Wes Streeting]

I strongly agree with my hon. Friend. As I said during the general election campaign—it was quoted regularly by the SNP—all roads lead to Westminster. Down that road from Westminster is a record increase in funding for the Scottish Government through the Barnett formula. I know the Scottish Government published their own NHS recovery plan just before Christmas, and I look forward to reading it, although I know some have expressed concerns about the lack of detail in the plans to drive down waiting times. The Scottish people can therefore compare and contrast with the ambition of our elective reform plan, which was announced by the Prime Minister yesterday, and then decide at the next Scottish elections who they trust to govern: the SNP with its rotten record, or a Labour Government who will get on and deliver.

Income Tax (Charge)

Elaine Stewart Excerpts

Tuesday 5th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Elaine Stewart (Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock) (Lab)]

The Budget was a huge victory for mineworkers. I was born in a mining community, in a pit village called Bellsbank. Today, sadly, coalfield communities like the one I was raised in are still behind the national average on growth and prosperity. Unemployment, poor health and lack of opportunity have created a legacy of deprivation in those once lively communities. With that in mind, I was immensely proud to stand for election on a manifesto that promised to end the injustice of the mineworkers’ pension scheme, so that the people who powered our country would receive a fairer pension. I am delighted that we have a Chancellor who listens to colleagues and a Government committed to ending injustices. Now, almost 700 pensioners in my constituency of Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock will receive £29 a week more in their pension. That was the pension uplift for 112,000 former mineworkers across the country.

The Budget protects working people in Scotland, and injects more money than ever before into our public services. The Scottish Government will need to ensure that that additional funding for public services reaches the frontlines, bringing down waiting lists in the NHS and raising attainment in our schools.

People in Scotland rightly expect results. The SNP is pretending that its hands are tied, and that somehow its decisions do not matter, but this is not just about having more money; it is about spending money better. The NHS in Scotland is in perpetual crisis because of the SNP Government’s chaos, mismanagement and incompetence. After 17 years of the SNP in power in Scotland, we are left with the reality of a two-tier health system. Patients in pain are forced to scrape money together to go private. Over 860,000 patients—equivalent to one in six Scots—are on an NHS waiting list for tests or treatment. My sister has awaited a hip replacement for over 14 months. Decisions in the Budget mean that the Scottish Government will receive more per person than the rest of the UK.

The Labour Government are committed to growing day-to-day spending on essential services, delivering 40,000 extra appointments a week and reducing NHS waiting lists. When will we see the same ambition from the Scottish Government and the SNP?