Tobacco and Vapes Bill

Johanna Baxter Excerpts

2nd reading
Tuesday 26th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Andrew Gwynne]

That is absolutely crucial. With this legislation, we have to make sure that we do not take our foot off the pedal when it comes to education and informing the next generation of children of the harms of smoking and vaping through our public health initiative.

[Johanna Baxter (Paisley and Renfrewshire South) (Lab)]

My constituents in Paisley and Renfrewshire South need a health service that moves from sickness to prevention, so can my hon. Friend confirm that this UK-wide Bill will impact my constituents? Has he had discussions with the Scottish Government about ensuring its implementation north of the border?

[Andrew Gwynne]

That is an important point, and it allows me to place on record my thanks to the Health Ministers in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland for how they have approached our desire to bring all parts of the United Kingdom together to make a smokefree United Kingdom, not just a smokefree England, through this legislation. I hope that I can reassure my hon. Friend that I have had incredibly fruitful conversations with the Health Minister in the SNP Scottish Government. She is as wedded and committed to this Bill and its measures as we are in this House today. I am reassured that across the whole United Kingdom, we will be walking in step to ensure that the next generation of children never takes up smoking.

National Insurance Contributions: Healthcare

Johanna Baxter Excerpts

Thursday 14th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Karin Smyth]

The right hon. Gentleman says that it is an ill-thought-through Budget. I do not know whether he agrees or disagrees with the extra funding that the Government have committed to the NHS after the disaster of the last 14 years.

[Johanna Baxter (Paisley and Renfrewshire South) (Lab)]

This morning, we learned that the Scottish Government have wasted £28 million of taxpayers’ money on the flawed, ill-conceived National Care Service (Scotland) Bill, which did not command the support of almost any of the stakeholders needed to pass it. Does my hon. Friend agree that the additional funding for the NHS that has been committed to in our Labour Budget should be used to come up with a proper plan for social care across the UK that does not follow the flawed approach in Scotland?

[Karin Smyth]

I am so pleased to see my hon. Friend in her place. As I said to the hon. Member for Aberdeenshire North and Moray East (Seamus Logan), the SNP has been in charge of Scotland for a very long time. We have certainly missed having a Scottish Labour voice in this place. She makes an excellent point and shines some sunlight in this place on the actions that have been taken up in Holyrood.

Oral Answers to Questions

Johanna Baxter Excerpts

Tuesday 15th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Wes Streeting]

I welcome the hon. Lady to her role. I am afraid that this case is just one of countless stories of people whose lives might have been saved had the NHS been there for them when they needed it. It is bad enough when people receive a late diagnosis that equates to a death sentence; it is worse still when people in that position are not given the fighting chance of urgent, life-extending treatment.

The inheritance we have received is truly shameful. I assure the hon. Lady, as a cancer survivor myself—because the NHS was there for me when I needed it—that we will work tirelessly through a national cancer plan to make sure that we deliver the cancer waiting time standards that the last Labour Government met, and that are sorely needed today.

[Johanna Baxter (Paisley and Renfrewshire South) (Lab)]

6. If he will make a comparative assessment of the adequacy of access to primary care services for men in (a) England and (b) Scotland.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Andrew Gwynne)]

As Lord Darzi identified in his NHS review, primary care is broken, with 1,600 fewer fully qualified GPs than in 2017. We recognise that men can face particular challenges in accessing services, which is why we are committed to fixing the front door to the NHS, bringing back the family doctor and shifting the focus of care away from hospitals and into the community. Health is devolved in Scotland, but I welcome opportunities to share learning across our two nations.

[Johanna Baxter]

In my Paisley and Renfrewshire South constituency, the rate of premature death in men is 47.9% higher than the UK average. According to National Records of Scotland, the number of people who have died by suicide in Renfrewshire as a whole has increased to the highest level in 10 years. Does my hon. Friend agree that this is a damning indictment of the SNP Government’s record on health? Will he commit today to holding a summit in November, with Movember, to raise men’s health up the agenda?

[Andrew Gwynne]

Those statistics are both damning and shocking. Health inequalities in any part of our United Kingdom need to be tackled, and the SNP Government have real questions to answer on these shocking statistics for men in my hon. Friend’s constituency and across Scotland. I will take up her challenge. A summit with Movember, and with her and other interested Members, to talk about men’s health issues is a cracking idea, and I will get straight on to it when I get back to the Department.