Oral Answers to Questions

Heather Wheeler Excerpts

Wednesday 8th July 2015 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I think the priority for the country is to keep going with a growing economy that has seen 2 million more people in work, an economy that is going to see 3 million apprentices in the next Parliament, and an economy that is cutting taxes for hard-working people. That is the priority, and that is what the House is going to hear about in a minute or two.

[Heather Wheeler (South Derbyshire) (Con)]

Q11. Derbyshire is at the heart of the midlands engine, powering the economy of the country. Will the Prime Minister congratulate the workers of Bombardier on winning the £358 million contract to supply 45 more trains for London, securing local jobs for the next 35 years?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Just as the automotive industry has been so important for the west midlands, the growth in the train industry has been important for the east midlands in recent years, and the progress at Bombardier is truly impressive. I had the great pleasure of visiting the company earlier in the year, and was even allowed to drive a train. I was not very successful at that, but the company is doing very well: it is investing for the future, providing trains for our country, and pulling through jobs and skills for the whole region.

Sustainable Development Goals

Heather Wheeler Excerpts

Wednesday 28th January 2015 Commons Chamber

[Heather Wheeler (South Derbyshire) (Con)]

This has been a long debate. I would not say that the tone of it has been edifying or that the content of some of the speeches has added to the great words in Hansard for generations to come. Perhaps now, as we near the end of the debate, we can get on to some of the positives that four and three quarter years of this Parliament have been about. It has been about reaching the 0.7% goal. That is a huge achievement. It has been about guiding the private Member’s Bill through so that it will be enshrined in law. That is an amazing achievement that has not been done in 13 years or in four years. We are getting there. Those things need to be put on the record and we should be incredibly proud of them.

We must take forward issues such as ensuring that girls can go to school, not just up to the age of 11, but up to the age of 14, or whenever. That is where our ambition should be. This debate should have been so much more about the positive future, about building on the fantastic four and three quarter years of this Parliament and reaching the 0.7% goal, and where we will go in the future. It is unbelievably churlish for people to talk disparagingly about the private sector being involved in these things. Are they really having a pop at Diageo, which has taken over from the Guinness Trust? Is that what this has come down to in this Chamber? Some of the people who have made comments in this Chamber should be ashamed of themselves. I cannot believe that they were proud to stand up and make such comments. It is very sad.

On a more positive note, the important thing is to take forward the next set of goals that this country can agree to, with their great plans for the future. We work with some tremendous charities. Plan UK and RESULTS have been superb in educating and showing parliamentarians what is going on out there in the world: what is going on in Ethiopia with TB, in Tanzania with farming, with Oxfam and other such organisations. That is where the future lies. I hope that we never have another of these debates with this tone. It demeans Parliament and I am really sorry that it happened today. The future is with us and we can explain to all the voters that it is in our country’s best interest for other countries to develop and have a peaceful and safe future. If we can do that with some of our taxpayers’ money, that is the right thing to do.

International Development (Official Development Assistance Target) Bill

Heather Wheeler Excerpts

Friday 12th September 2014 Commons Chamber

[Michael Moore (Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk) (LD)]

I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time.

It was my immense good fortune to secure second place in the ballot for private Members’ Bills. Having put my name in the ballot every year that I could over the last 17 years, I am aware of just how lucky I was. It is my privilege to bring forward this measure.

Before I get to the substance, I thank all Members from across the House who have taken the trouble to be here today and to show their support in advance. I thank the campaigning groups, non-governmental organisations and charities across the United Kingdom that have indicated their strong support for the Bill. I also thank the many people behind the scenes, in the House and elsewhere, who have helped me prepare for today. However, the usual caveat applies that I take full responsibility for what now happens.

First, I want to make an important acknowledgement. The subject of international development is hugely important to all of us, but I am conscious that many people across the United Kingdom continue to grapple with serious problems in their own lives. Those issues are the stuff of debate in this place week in, week out throughout the year. Over the past five or six years, through one of the deepest recessions that this country has ever seen, many people have suffered and struggled. We have a duty to each of them, as our constituents, to advocate on their behalf and to argue for what is in the best interests of our country. I hope that as we move into economic recovery, we ensure that we bring everybody with us. We will, of course, return to debates about that.

[Heather Wheeler (South Derbyshire) (Con)]

I wonder whether we need to explain to our constituents a little more about the benefits of spending 0.7% on international development. The products of companies such as JCB and Jaguar Land Rover are flying off the shelves because they are needed in the most important parts of the world where emergencies are happening. Our people are being employed because the money is being spent wisely.

[Michael Moore]

My hon. Friend makes an important contribution. I welcome the link that she makes between practical everyday things in the UK and the main subject of the Bill, which I am about to come on to.

Global Health (Research and Development)

Heather Wheeler Excerpts

Tuesday 8th July 2014 Westminster Hall

[Heather Wheeler (South Derbyshire) (Con)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for St Ives (Andrew George) on securing this important debate on the future of global health, and specifically on the current position of research and development. I call Members’ attention to my trip to Ethiopia in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. It is a pleasure to speak under your chairmanship, Mr Streeter.

I will focus my comments on the diagnostics aspects of research and development, which I was fortunate to witness and learn about at first hand during my time in Ethiopia. As part of our trip, we were taken around a hospital and shown an incredible set-up for diagnosing tuberculosis. The incidence of TB in Ethiopia is 274 cases in every 100,000 people, which ranks the country at approximately 20th in the world. That ranking is extremely good for a low-income country, thanks to its excellent diagnostic skills.

Diagnostics are often the forgotten third in the trilogy of drugs, vaccines and diagnostics. We need to change that thinking radically, as failure to diagnose diseases quickly is one of the key factors in the continuation of major epidemics. As Ethiopia has shown, excellent diagnostics can have a dramatic impact on reducing the incidence of infectious diseases. Shockingly, as many as half of those with HIV worldwide are undiagnosed, and one third of those with TB are not officially diagnosed or treated. We desperately need to rectify that, because the lack of diagnostics and of swift care and treatment can exacerbate endemics and heighten immunity to vaccination.

Specific diagnoses are extremely stilted, so it is imperative that doctors take the time to ascertain which strain of the disease the patient has. For example, TB can be drug resistant, but it can take months for tests to determine which drugs a strain of TB is resistant to. In the meantime, doctors often put patients on a standard regime of drugs, which can be disastrous, because some TB drugs unfortunately have severe and often permanent side effects, with several patients being left permanently deaf as a result.

DFID money has helped to develop GeneXpert, a machine that can diagnose TB in two hours and that can also diagnose certain strains of drug resistance. It is because of GeneXpert that patients are being diagnosed and starting treatment within hours, instead of weeks or months. GeneXpert machines have helped to oversee a transformation in some local health services. Owing to services’ increased capacity, health workers can collect samples, take them back to a central area for diagnosis, return to the patient and treat them at home. I actually saw that in the bush in Ethiopia. Such an approach reduces stress on the patient and on the health system, and it is much more efficient. Furthermore, battling TB worldwide has knock-on effects on TB in the UK. For example, the DFID-funded development of GeneXpert is now paying off, as the machine can now be used in UK hospitals.

Maximising the effectiveness of diagnostics requires intensive research in the field after a product has been developed, to ensure that the systems are in place to diagnose as many people as possible. In closing, I would like to ask the Minister whether DFID will commit, in future budgets, to supporting operational research programmes such as TB REACH to maximise the impact of new interventions.

[Several hon. Members]

rose—

Typhoon Haiyan

Heather Wheeler Excerpts

Thursday 28th November 2013 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

I mentioned that fact in my statement because it is shocking and sets out the scale of the challenge facing us. The typhoon hit a country that has a lot of disparate communities on outlying islands. One of the reasons why we sent out Daring and Illustrious was to get to those western islands in the Philippines that would otherwise not be reached. Obviously, there has been significant focus on Tacloban, but less focus on the area to the west of Tacloban. A lot of work is under way. I flagged up the issue of shelter because it is one of the main things on which we are working with the UN. We have sent significant numbers of shelter kits and six flights will be going out to the region this week. The very generous response of the UK public to the DEC appeal will mean that our leading NGOs will also have the resources to provide the critical shelter about which the right hon. Gentleman talks.

[Heather Wheeler (South Derbyshire) (Con)]

I congratulate the Secretary of State on her announcement and the hard work that is being undertaken. On behalf of the people of South Derbyshire who have written to me—this is reflected in what has been said by Government and Opposition Members—may I say that the great contributions made by the public have been astonishing? I put it on record that it is not just a matter of the Government doing something, because the people are doing something, too.

[Justine Greening]

My hon. Friend is right. People’s generosity is staggering. Some £65 million—that amount is rising—has been delivered to the Philippines appeal. We can be really proud of the way in which our country has responded to the crisis. When I met the Philippines Government over the weekend, their thanks to us were heartfelt. They were really staggered by the response from our country, which they will remember for a long time. In the meantime, we will continue to play our role as one of the leading nations providing humanitarian support in their time of need.

Drug-resistant Tuberculosis (Developing Countries)

Heather Wheeler Excerpts

Tuesday 4th June 2013 Westminster Hall

[Heather Wheeler (South Derbyshire) (Con)]

It is a a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Caton. I congratulate the hon. Member for Poplar and Limehouse (Jim Fitzpatrick) on securing this important debate on the evil that is TB. I draw your attention, Mr Caton, to my declaration in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. I want to make a short contribution today.

Earlier in the year, I was fortunate to visit Ethiopia, with my colleague the hon. Member for Workington (Sir Tony Cunningham), to study the changes that it had made to eradicate the scourge of TB, organised by the charity, RESULTS. Although I represent the leafy semi-rural seat of South Derbyshire, I became aware of the consequences of TB when a child at a neighbouring secondary school was diagnosed with it following a trip to see her extended family on the Indian subcontinent. What I saw in Ethiopia was frankly a success story, but a story based on years and years of diligent health care. We met Drs Amara and Abseno from St Peter’s hospital, who, having qualified as doctors 10 years ago, had given their professional life to that TB hospital on the outskirts of Addis Ababa. In other clinics, we saw that ordinary TB is being managed and now the next steps are to deal with the rising rates of DR-TB.

Outside of that specialist hospital, we visited the rural area of Awasa, where we saw the integrated Ethiopian Ministry of Health extension programme, which has been successful in delivering primary health care to communities, by training 36,000 health extension workers. That TB REACH programme has already doubled TB detection rates during a two-year period. I sincerely hope that our Government will consider joining the Canadian Government to fund existing and new programmes for case-finding and treatment in hard-to-reach populations. That is desperately needed: 90% of children in Addis Ababa are covered, but only 10% in the region of Afar are. Much has been achieved with our aid packages, but there is so much more to do. I hope that our Minister can respond positively.

Oral Answers to Questions

Heather Wheeler Excerpts

Wednesday 26th October 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The pledge I can make to the hon. Gentleman is the one I made when I visited his constituency, which is that we are funding the expansion of his hospital.

[Heather Wheeler (South Derbyshire) (Con)]

I congratulate the Prime Minister and thank him for all the work that the Department for Education is doing on free schools. Can he please give encouragement to the two sets of parents’ groups that are looking to build two free schools—a junior and a secondary school—in South Derbyshire?

[The Prime Minister]

I can certainly give my hon. Friend that encouragement. I think the free schools policy is a great success, as we see a number of really high-quality schools coming in across our country, and it is depressing to see the attitude of the Opposition towards this policy. What we had was a new shadow Education Secretary, who in the first flushes of the job, said that he would support free schools, but as soon as Unite picked up the phone to him he had to drop that altogether. Do you want to know what their policy is now, Mr Speaker? He said:

“What I said…is we oppose the policy…but…some of them are going to be really good”—

schools—

“run by really good people and we’re not going to put ourselves in a position as a Labour Party of opposing those schools”.

So, they oppose the policy but they support the schools. What a complete bunch of hypocrites.