Rural Broadband (North Yorkshire)

Debate between Julian Sturdy and Nigel Adams

Wednesday 8th January 2014 Westminster Hall

[Julian Sturdy]

I entirely agree with my hon. Friend. All Members representing north Yorkshire and York will have examples in their constituency of communities that are suffering from the digital divide and that are among the 10% rather than the 90%. It is important that we have clarity on where we are going, and I am sure the Minister will set that out, as he has in the past. We need that clarity for the future so that we may build on the success of what has already been achieved in north Yorkshire.

We must not forget the role of local authorities. In my constituency, I have been encouraged by the levels of communication between Superfast North Yorkshire and City of York council. Superfast North Yorkshire is encouraging the council to contribute to an intermediary project that will enable Superfast North Yorkshire to continue extending coverage to some of the most rural areas.

Superfast North Yorkshire has successfully pulled together a further £8 million for the project to extend phase 1 of the roll-out, which will potentially increase coverage to between 92% and 93% of the county. That sum is made up of £3 million contributed by North Yorkshire county council, £3 million from the European regional development fund and £2 million from Broadband Delivery UK’s contingency fund, for which my north Yorkshire colleagues and I, ably led by my hon. Friend the Member for Skipton and Ripon (Julian Smith), assisted in lobbying.

Given the pace of the roll-out in north Yorkshire and the European regulations that are in place, the additional pot of money will not get Superfast North Yorkshire past the summer of 2015 before its hugely successful programme comes to a grinding halt. All that will be left is a wait for the next tranche of Government funding for phase 2. Given the complexities of procurement, planning and the roll-out, it would be a tremendous shame for Superfast North Yorkshire to have to kick-start the roll-out again in 2016. During a 12-month shutdown Superfast North Yorkshire would, due to its own success, lose many of the skills it has built up.

Whether City of York council’s executive chooses to contribute to the £8 million project is entirely at its own discretion. I am led to believe, however, that of the £530 million granted to local authorities from central Government, City of York council was allocated some £1.4 million. I therefore call on the council’s executive to honour its responsibility to the communities in my constituency that I have mentioned and to ensure that that important Government funding is well spent.

I finally come to the central purpose of the debate. From the Minister’s recent response to my question, I am aware that the finer details of the phase 2 roll-out are still being worked out. Given the fantastic work of Superfast North Yorkshire and its partners, however, I ask the Government to look seriously at granting the region an early release of the next phase of funding.

I have already touched on the several strong reasons for doing so. Take-up in north Yorkshire is well ahead of the national average, which proves that there is latent demand for rural broadband in the region. Superfast North Yorkshire has achieved great things across the region and the hard work that has been put in deserves to be rewarded. It has not let the absence of further funding hold it back, but even after taking the initiative and securing extra money for the interim period, it is unlikely to get beyond the summer of 2015. Finally, considering the fantastic pace that the roll-out has gathered in north Yorkshire, it would be an awful shame for those who have worked so hard to have to kick-start the roll-out again in 2016 after an indefinite pause.

To those points, I would like to add a further call on the Government to provide greater clarity over the future of the roll-out—I hope the Minister can do that in his remarks—so that those communities left behind by the digital divide can plan ahead for how they will try to bridge it. While I welcome the additional £10 million for broadband as part of the national infrastructure plan announced in the recent autumn statement, I appeal to the Government to continue to support that hugely important programme with the necessary resources and to ensure that we make the most of the new technologies available to us.

I am again thankful for the opportunity to speak. The Government pride themselves on rewarding those who work hard and want to get on. Superfast North Yorkshire has worked tremendously hard, and I hope that the Government will give it what it needs to finish the job.

[Nigel Adams (Selby and Ainsty) (Con)]

rose—

Fly-Grazing of Horses

Debate between Julian Sturdy and Nigel Adams

Tuesday 26th November 2013 Westminster Hall

[Julian Sturdy]

I agree entirely with my hon. Friend. Those sorts of issues have been reported regularly in local media in my area. Also, there have been reports of issues on the highway, with cases of horses that were illegally tethered or were being fly-grazed on the highway escaping on to it and causing serious road accidents. We have to remember that this issue has a wider impact than just illegal fly-grazing.

My understanding is that ever since the horsemeat scandal, which devastated our confidence in the EU’s food safety process, the price of horsemeat has plummeted. Notwithstanding that collapse, irresponsible dealers have continued to buy, breed and import horses as the market has become saturated. As has already been mentioned, a horse can now be purchased for as little as £5, although it can often cost in excess of £100 a week to look after it properly. Irresponsible dealers are importing horses from France and Ireland under the tripartite agreement that allows for the free movement of horses without health checks.

As the market for horsemeat in mainland Europe is depressed, dealers are left with a surplus of horses, much of which, sadly, can been seen along the roadside and in other people’s fields, or even in people’s gardens. One particular case from my postbag, which I would like to touch on briefly, highlights the vast amount of damage that fly-grazing can do and the way it affects farmers. My constituent, Mr David Shaw, farms land in Osbaldwick that is located in close proximity to the local Traveller site. Mr Shaw’s land has been regularly overtaken by horses belonging to the Traveller community, which has caused a great deal of damage to his fences and crops, and to the land itself. Just recently, in October, Mr Shaw found approximately 14 horses in his fields. He turned them out, repaired the fences and spoke to the Traveller who owned them, requesting that he keep them off his land, but l5 minutes later the horses were back in his maize field again.

[Nigel Adams (Selby and Ainsty) (Con)]

To me, that sounds like intimidation of landowners, so I wonder whether my hon. Friend and neighbour has had similar experiences to me. A constituent of mine came to one of my surgeries in tears because he had found horses in a paddock that he owns, with a sign asking him to ring about them. When he did, he was told that if they did not stay on his land for a certain period, he could be in trouble. The police should surely take serious action about that sort of intimidation.

[Julian Sturdy]

I agree entirely with my hon. Friend and neighbour. That is a worrying development; indeed, I now want to talk about some of the intimidation that my constituent has suffered from.

The following Sunday, Mr Shaw again found the horses in his field. He spoke to the owner once more, and it turned out that the owner was banned from keeping animals, following a previous cruelty case brought against him. Mr Shaw was subjected to the most horrific verbal abuse. Despite that, he carried on. He removed the horses and mended the fences. That evening, he again found them back in his field again. This exhausting exchange continued for a further four days, in which Mr Shaw spent well over 12 hours of his time dealing with the issue, all the while trying to run his dairy business. He removed the horses from his field a total of nine times and mended the fences the same number of times. That is a lot of expense for a problem that the council can do little to help him with.

My hon. Friend the Member for East Hampshire touched on the problems of the existing law. He also touched on the need for an equine database, and I entirely agree with that. The action that the Welsh Assembly is taking has been well rehearsed. I start from the simple principle that fly-grazing should be a criminal offence, to ensure that action can be taken swiftly and offenders brought to justice. The culprits are too often simply banned from keeping horses for a period, but the easy way round that is for animals to be transferred into the ownership of a relative. When horses are starving on the roadside, justice dictates that a custodial sentence should be brought to bear for such a horrible abuse.

It is essential that horse traceability is improved, because rules are routinely flouted, with few if any sanctions for non-compliance. It is important for everyone locally—the police, the local authority, animal welfare charities, the NFU and Traveller representatives—to work together for a long-term solution. I intend to hold a round-table meeting in my constituency in the new year to add impetus to the issue. Sadly, fly-grazing affects and touches many people in different ways—

NHS Funding (York and North Yorkshire)

Debate between Julian Sturdy and Nigel Adams

Tuesday 18th June 2013 Westminster Hall

[Nigel Adams (Selby and Ainsty) (Con)]

I totally agree with my hon. Friend’s point about age. In north Yorkshire, we have one of the largest numbers of over-85s in the country, and the formula simply does not give enough weight to the ageing population. I would have though that it was as clear as the nose on your face that consideration must be given to the rural nature of a county and the degree of ageing of its population.

[Julian Sturdy]

I entirely agree with my hon. Friend. That is why in my short contribution this afternoon I will focus solely on age.

We must note that under the previous Government the funding formula was changed and more money put into the national health service. In addition, deprivation was given more weight in the formula. On paper, ensuring that deprivation is the most important factor, seems, morally, the right thing to do. However, I believe that when that reasoning is put into practice it starts to fall down. The distortion within the funding formula has resulted in some areas being awash with money, leading to well-publicised vanity health care projects, such as the one in Hull, with its 72-foot ocean-going yacht at the cool price of £500,000. At the same time, York and north Yorkshire have consistently struggled, as ably put across by the hon. Member for York Central, to balance the books, which has resulted in their continuing to take difficult decisions about health care provision.

An example of such decisions is that the primary care trust had to stop offering routine relief injections for sufferers of chronic back pain. That decision has had a massive impact on the quality of life of many of my constituents—it has hampered their ability to work and has affected carers. I have raised that issue previously in this Chamber, yet people are again coming through my surgeries, as I am sure they are through the surgeries of other hon. Members here today, suffering from a lack of access to those important injections. The decision is consequently putting more financial pressure on areas such as welfare, and that far outweighs the cost savings made by local authorities under the funding formula. That demonstrates the lack of joined-up thinking under the current system.

It costs approximately eight times more on average for the NHS to care for a patient who is over the age of 85 than one who is in their 40s. York and north Yorkshire, as my hon. Friend the Member for Selby and Ainsty (Nigel Adams) has set out, has one of the highest population of over-85s in the north, and my constituents are really suffering under the current formula. York and north Yorkshire also has a high number of care homes, and a typical GP practice states that 50% of home visits can be taken up just by care home residents, even though that group makes up only 2% of the patients on its roll.

I therefore urge the Minister, through NHS England, to review the current funding formula, to ensure that age is given more weighting.

Energy Bill

Debate between Julian Sturdy and Nigel Adams

Wednesday 19th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Nigel Adams (Selby and Ainsty) (Con)]

I support the Bill and applaud the momentum that has been built up towards achieving a secure and stable low-carbon electricity supply to see us through the coming decades. I also want to pay tribute to the former Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Wealden (Charles Hendry), who spoke earlier. He contributed an immense amount to this Bill, and I know that there is immense respect for him in the industry.

In Eggborough and Drax, I have two of the country’s largest coal-fired power stations, and I refer Members to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. Both of those stations were built to the highest standards by the Central Electricity Generating Board and are therefore still operating effectively well beyond their planned life. Indeed, it is a measure of our country’s past engineering skills that these plants are in their fourth and fifth decade and are still playing such an important role for the country.

[Julian Sturdy (York Outer) (Con)]

Does my hon. Friend agree that energy mix plays a vital role in energy security, and Drax and Eggborough contribute to that both for our region and across the country?

[Nigel Adams]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Drax, Eggborough, and Ferrybridge on our border, play an important part in making sure the lights are kept on.

Fossil fuel stations such as Eggborough can be converted from coal to sustainable biomass, which is an accepted form of renewable energy. Indeed, Drax is already being converted. That is being done in response to policy demands and is a move fully supported by DECC. It will also be helped by the Bill’s proposed transitional arrangements. Such a move will not only help ensure that the UK meets its 2020 carbon reduction targets, but will act as a vital bridge during the country’s transition to a lower carbon future, one in which I can envisage a new generation of more efficient—and, ideally, combined heat and power—plants being designed and built. They might be similar to those already in existence in Scandinavia, and they will benefit from what by then will be a more mature, sustainable global biomass supply chain.

Independent power generators such as Eggborough and Drax provide the country with flexible, dispatchable generation and, as a result of the measures in this Bill, I trust that that will continue. Such generation is essential not only to balance the intermittency and inefficiency of large-scale wind generation, which, in my view—perhaps controversially—is blighting countryside areas such as mine in Selby and Ainsty, but to keep the country’s lights on. I refer to the recent Ofgem report, which estimates that the capacity margin in UK generation will fall to 4% in 2015. That is equivalent to the full output of Eggborough or half that of Drax.

In support of such biomass conversion and to pre-empt any detractors, after much inquiry I am convinced not only that large quantities of biomass can be sourced sustainably—admittedly from overseas, like most of our present coal supply—but that by revitalising redundant plantations in, for example, the south-east USA, we will increase the carbon uptake across the forest landscape. By providing a commercial use for the vast area of beetle-killed boreal forest in Canada, an area the size of England, which is growing year on year, we can help to turn this emitter of harmful greenhouse gases into a new carbon sink through clearance and replanting.

It can be argued that by converting our coal-fired stations to burn sustainable biomass the UK would be part of a global regeneration programme for the lungs of the world. However, perhaps I had better move on from our possible global contribution to something more immediate and, for me, more local. The two coal-fired stations in my constituency currently employ thousands of people across the region. Those jobs are essential and they must be safeguarded.

I am delighted to see that Drax has commenced its initial conversion programme and am pleased to report that Eggborough is now shovel ready. Those conversion programmes are creating and will continue to create essential employment opportunities in the hard-pressed construction industry and will also provide long-term infrastructure improvements to our ports and railways, a legacy that will last long beyond the time those conversions are life-expired. I am heartened by elements of the Bill and by DECC’s stated support for full conversion programmes such as those at Eggborough and Drax, but I am aware—and so is the Minister—that some important issues about the funding of such projects remain outstanding.

We must not lose the opportunity to use our proven generation assets, which are already connected to the grid—assets that we as taxpayers originally paid for—to maintain a stable electricity supply and bridge the capacity squeeze we now so clearly face. Additionally, we must not squander the immediate potential to commence large-scale civil engineering projects in the UK. The combined value of the Eggborough and Drax projects is more than £1 billion and such investments will secure thousands of existing jobs and create many more in Selby and Ainsty and across the north.

Illegally Tethered Horses

Debate between Julian Sturdy and Nigel Adams

Tuesday 10th July 2012 Westminster Hall

[Julian Sturdy]

I thank the hon. Lady for her intervention. I understand that there are complex arguments in the process, as I will explain. The problem also varies in different regions. In and around York and Yorkshire, the tethered horses seem to be valuable assets to the Traveller community. Whenever bailiffs have been used—there is a bailiff company operating around the country that gives 24-hour notice on a certain site where horses have been illegally put—they remove the horses and store them on a site at a cost to the private landowner, and almost always the fines have been paid and the horses have been returned because the Traveller community see those horses as a valuable asset and want them back. The situation may be different in other areas, and it will depend on different communities, so I understand that the position will vary from region to region.

[Nigel Adams (Selby and Ainsty) (Con)]

Will my hon. Friend expand on where the market is for those horses? I am at a loss to know what they are used for. They do not look like horses that can be ridden. Does he have any evidence for what happens to them, where the trade is in them, and what the market is for them? That information would be useful.

[John Robertson (in the Chair)]

Before the hon. Member for York Outer (Julian Sturdy) resumes his speech, I advise him that he needs to give the Minister time to answer his questions.

Health Care (North Yorkshire and York)

Debate between Julian Sturdy and Nigel Adams

Wednesday 1st December 2010 Westminster Hall

[Julian Sturdy]

Absolutely. I agree entirely with my hon. Friend. The time limit given by the PCT to those voluntary organisations is despicable, and it has caused fear and concern in the sector. Not only that, if the organisations lose funding for six months, which might be seen as only a short period, the problem is that they might not start up again. That is my concern, and I will go on to discuss it in more detail.

Local residents have good reasons to believe that a huge range of treatments will be withdrawn, as I said. If the truth be told, the status quo is not only unacceptable but frightening, particularly for the most vulnerable members of our communities. Even describing the current situation as a postcode lottery is too generous. I fear that our patch is in danger of becoming an area of health deprivation.

Several different factors require deep consideration as we piece together this somewhat depressing picture. First, we must accept that the region has to some extent been underfunded in the past. Before 2008, the North Yorkshire and York PCT did not exist. Instead, four separate PCTs covered the area. Nevertheless, for the purposes of this debate, I have amalgamated funding data to show the PCT’s current funding allocation and the annual figures stretching back to 2003-04. For 2010-11, our region’s PCT received just over £1.1 billion, an allocation that places it in the lowly position of 140th out of 152 PCTs. From a starting point of 127th in 2003-04, it has dropped down the funding table each year. The current funding level is the lowest allocation per head of all Yorkshire and Humber PCTs.

PCT funding is currently allocated according to a complex funding formula, often referred to as the weighted capitation formula. In essence, the formula determines the target share of resources to which PCTs should theoretically be entitled, based on a broad range of criteria including population, the local cost of health care provision and the level of need and health inequality in the area. Unfortunately, most PCTs never receive an allocation equal to their deemed target share according to the formula. Rather, they move towards it over time, some faster than others.

Personally, I am slightly critical of the current formula. It often results in greater funding disparities between different regions, which provoke a profound sense of unfairness. Less deprived areas often seem to get a certain tag as well. For example, according to the formula, North Yorkshire and York does not have adequate need for additional resources, particularly compared to the needs of more urban areas such as Hull. I am not convinced that approaching regional health funding consideration with that mentality—judging whether areas are deprived enough—is a sufficiently robust methodology in current circumstances. We must look more deeply at the funding stream.

I agree that the funding shortfall has increased the strain on our local PCT and its ability to deliver the best possible health outcomes and equity access for local residents. I would appreciate the Minister’s comments on whether the coalition Government will review the funding formula at some future date. However, I also suggest that excusing our health care failings in our region on past funding alone would be somewhat naive. Over the past few years, North Yorkshire and York PCT has accumulated an overspend of some £17.9 million. Thus, despite the coalition’s welcome commitment to protect the wider health budget, services are being cut in our region to pay for the fiscal irresponsibility of the PCT. Moreover, the PCT seems to be intent on resolving this deficit immediately because the previous Government imposed a statutory obligation on all primary care trusts to break even by the beginning of 2011. Such a target-focused piece of bureaucracy has now resulted in the PCT cutting too many services too quickly, possibly leading to a diminished health care package for our local residents.

I have already listed some of the services that are under threat of withdrawal. My hon. Friend the Member for Skipton and Ripon (Julian Smith) has named the services in the voluntary sector as well. I shall expand on a few examples. First, there is the withdrawal of the pain relief injections. As Members from neighbouring constituencies know—my hon. Friend the Member for Selby and Ainsty (Nigel Adams) has campaigned with me on this—the PCT’s decision to restrict the provision of back pain relief injections has provoked a huge reaction from both patients and health care professionals alike.

[Nigel Adams (Selby and Ainsty) (Con)]

I, too, congratulate my hon. Friend on securing this debate. I am not sure whether I should declare an interest, having received several back pain relief injections in the past. The injections are a big issue in the north Yorkshire area, as evidenced by the huge postbags that my hon. Friend and I receive, and we have spoken to the Secretary of State on the matter. Can my hon. Friend recall a discussion with the Secretary of State in which he said that one of his officials would look into the York PCT’s interpretation of the NICE guidelines on back pain relief injections? Has he received any notification of those discussions or heard from the Secretary of State’s office?

[Julian Sturdy]

My hon. Friend makes a valid point. We did indeed meet, and I have not yet received a response from the Secretary of State. I hope that the Minister will hear our message here and chase up that response, because it is important that we get an answer to our question.

My hon. Friend mentioned the back pain relief injections, and the issue is causing real concern among our constituents. Members of the public came to my last surgery to discuss the matter. The PCT, as my hon. Friend said, based its decision to cut back pain injections on its interpretation of the NICE guidelines. Unfortunately, almost every other PCT interprets the same guidelines in a different way. As such, countless local people are being forced to suffer enormous and unnecessary pain.

Alongside other hon. Members from the region, I have lobbied the Secretary of State. Campaign groups such as York and District Pain Management Support Group have been leading the way on this as well. I have also received representations from concerned health professionals. Only last week, Dr Peter Toomey, a consultant anaesthetist at York hospital wrote to me, stating:

“I consider that the PCT have made serious errors of judgement in coming to their decision to restrict access to spinal injections for the relief of pain. The PCT will not reimburse York Hospital for any injection into any part of the spine for any diagnosis unless it has been approved by the PCT’s Funding Request Panel.”

We know—my hon. Friend the Member for Selby and Ainsty will back me up on this—that many people are being refused by that request panel. Dr Toomey and a number of his colleagues have fought hard to challenge the PCT’s policy, but—alas—their medical expertise seems to have fallen upon deaf ears.

Patients and medical professionals are united in the view that this pain relief service should not have been withdrawn. It has been taken away for the wrong reasons and should be reinstated without delay. The withdrawal of such vital services is causing me great concern, as is the withdrawal of funding for numerous voluntary services. My hon. Friend the Member for Skipton and Ripon touched on that matter earlier. The York Council for Voluntary Service has been informed of a 37% in-year cut, which has been issued by the PCT with just one month’s notice. Angela Harrison, the chief executive of the YCVS, summed up the whole situation quite aptly when she said:

“These cuts have already had a disastrous effect on front-line voluntary groups who serve some of the most vulnerable members of society. At the same time, the infrastructure groups who support them have had their funds withdrawn at very short notice, reducing their capacity at a time when it is most needed.”

One specific voluntary case vividly highlights the poor management of the way the PCT has handled this situation. On 19 October, Yorkshire MESMAC received a letter from the PCT, informing the organisation that its contracted health care funding was to be withdrawn within one month. Such blunt and definitive notice is absolutely outrageous. Not only has an agreement been broken, but no consultation took place with the organisation, which—knowing the PCT’s overspend—would have been happy to sit down and reach a more amicable agreement. As Tom Doyle, the director of Yorkshire MESMAC, said:

“I want to express my deep frustration at how the process has been handled, which was, in my opinion, unlawful, disrespectful and showing an arrogant disregard for the PCT’s own agreements and processes.”

It is now feared that Yorkshire MESMAC will be forced to close.

On a wider note, the voluntary services budgets are expected to lead to a saving of some £150,000 for the PCT this year. Given that that is a small drop in the £17 million overspend, I would urge the PCT to look internally for structural and efficiency savings, rather than merely reducing the funding of voluntary groups, whose work often plays such as vital role in our health service. If our voluntary health services are forced to close, I predict that far greater numbers of patients will actually require more hospitalised, long-term and expensive treatments through the NHS, thus undermining the PCT’s initial savings.

Due to the overspend and service reductions, there now exists a lack of trust in the PCT and a complete absence of confidence over its future intentions, and I fear that local people are simply paying too high a price for that. In the long term, I am more optimistic about health care provision in north Yorkshire and York, largely due to the contents of the health White Paper. The localised drive to ensure that PCTs are, at some point, abolished altogether and replaced by GP-led commissioning bodies, which are influenced by local patients, is a measure that I wholeheartedly welcome.

At long last, local patients will have a say in their local services, holding the decision makers to account and freeing up our nurses, doctors and health providers from the red-tape that so often binds them and takes them away from the front line. I hope that the Minister can reassure me that the transition from PCTs to GP-led commissioning will be carried out swiftly to ensure that the interim transitional period will not see a lack of leadership or direction for local health care services—especially in our area.

I believe that the PCT will continue to operate until 2013, and I plead with the Minister to review to the situation in north Yorkshire and York in the meantime. Our constituents simply cannot afford to wait three years for the situation to be remedied. Most specifically, I would welcome any comments from the Minister on the previous Government’s imposition of a statutory obligation on PCTs to break even by the end of this year. Could that deadline be extended to soften the blow of the cuts over a greater time period?

The people of north Yorkshire and York depend upon their health care services, and many are extremely worried at present. I hope that hon. Members from the region—I was going to say “regardless of political allegiances”, but as we only have coalition Members here I will not say that. To give the hon. Member for York Central (Hugh Bayley) credit, he did say that he would try to be at the debate today.

We must protect the essential health care services and funding that our region deserves. I ask and urge hon. Members to fight and to campaign for that. We must ensure that, before GP-led commissioning starts, the PCT delivers the best service that it can within its budget. It must focus on service delivery and the outlying services to our communities, rather than cutting.

I hope that the Minister will give serious consideration to the issues that I have raised. I am grateful for his time. I know that it has been a hectic day thanks to the Divisions, but I am grateful to him for giving us the time, and I hope that he will give the matter serious consideration.