Oral Answers to Questions

Gill Furniss Excerpts

Wednesday 2nd October 2019 Commons Chamber

[Dominic Raab]

I pay tribute to my right hon. Friend for his time at the Foreign Office; he was a very effective Minister, and he continues to make the case from the Back Benches. We are concerned about the situation in North Korea and we regularly raise it with our international partners. There has been a series of missile tests by Pyongyang, which are deeply troubling. We continue to make it clear that it must show restraint and adhere to its legal commitments. Of course, there is some bluff and bluster in the lead-up to the talks with the US. We would like to see a de-escalation of tensions and a route to denuclearising North Korea.

[Gill Furniss (Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough) (Lab)]

Q10. This week I heard from my constituents Phil and Rachel Turner, whose five- year-old daughter Eliza has cystic fibrosis. They are planning to move to Scotland so she can receive the life-changing drug Orkambi on the NHS. Does the First Secretary of State agree that it is a tragedy that families should have to uproot their lives in that way? Can he confirm that funding will be found for children affected by this terrible disease so they can take up the treatment without delay? Furthermore, may I suggest that the Government should support Labour’s plan to set up a publicly owned generic drugs manufacturer that would supply medicines to the NHS at affordable rates?

[Dominic Raab]

I feel for any family and any children in the situation that the hon. Lady highlights. We are frustrated, as is everyone, that agreement has not yet been reached that would provide access to Orkambi. We have a system, with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and NHS England, where it is for clinicians, not politicians, to determine the fair price for medicines. I say gently that I think the proposals put forward by the Labour party would put that at risk, because they would repel investment and innovation. That is not the right way to get medicines to the people who need them.