NHS Commissioning Board (Mandate)

Debate between Jeremy Hunt and Stella Creasy

Tuesday 13th November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

May I thank my hon. Friend for his work campaigning on cancer? He is absolutely right. We want to make sure that we pick up rarer cancers, so we are moving towards a composite indicator for cancers with the one and five-year measures. He is absolutely right that, properly to drive improvement, we need to compare not just hospital and consultant-led teams, but local GP-led commissioning groups, so that where there are successful outcomes everyone knows that. To get that comparison to work, we have to ensure that we compare the demographics. Part of the work we are doing is to understand how we can meaningfully compare CCGs, so that the public can truly understand who is doing best and who needs to do better.

[Stella Creasy (Walthamstow) (Lab/Co-op)]

The Secretary of State talks about operational independence on the ground for doctors and CCGs. He did not mention anything in his statement about sexual health care. One issue that we have been struggling with for some time in Walthamstow is the limitations of doctors who have decided to deny women even the most basic contraceptive services. We are still struggling with how the new mandate and new services will deliver them. Will the Secretary of State meet me and women from Walthamstow to discuss the issue, so that we can be confident that the changes will not lead to a further deterioration in sexual health care services across the country?

[Mr Hunt]

We will publish a sexual health strategy at the end of this year that will look at variation in services across the country and at the kind of problems the hon. Lady raises. It will be led by the public health Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Broxtowe (Anna Soubry), who will be happy to meet the hon. Lady to discuss the issue further.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Jeremy Hunt and Stella Creasy

Thursday 3rd March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Stella Creasy (Walthamstow) (Lab/Co-op)]

1. What steps his Department is taking to promote jobs and growth in the creative and leisure industries.

[The Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport (Mr Jeremy Hunt)]

The creative and leisure industries are vital to our economic growth. For the creative industries we have announced plans to give Britain the best superfast broadband network in Europe by 2015, and for the leisure industry we have announced a plan to attract 2 million more tourists to the United Kingdom over the coming years.

[Stella Creasy]

This week we have seen the benefits of investment in the UK film industry, and the presentation of the Oscar awards. I am sure that we all wish to congratulate the winners. We have also observed this week that many people are concerned about the future of the British television industry following decisions about the future of monopolies in the industry. Will Ministers learn from the experience of the film industry, and consider what could be done through tax breaks to encourage television production in this country?

[Mr Hunt]

I echo the hon. Lady’s comments about the Oscars. I know that the whole House will wish to send warm congratulations to Colin Firth, Tom Hooper and all those involved in “The King’s Speech” on their four Oscars, to the visual effects team who worked on “Inception”, and to Christian Bale on his role in “The Fighter”.

I agree with the hon. Lady that the British film industry is a great success story, but the British independent television sector is a huge success story in its own right without the aid of tax breaks. It is the biggest independent television sector in Europe and north America, and possibly in the world. I think that it is doing really well. There are always ways in which we can do better, but this is the first time that I have heard anyone say that such a successful industry needs additional tax breaks.