(12 years, 10 months ago)
Commons ChamberWhat progress has been made since the launch of the Secretary of State’s tobacco control plan last March in changing the behaviour of people who smoke in cars in the presence of children?
The right hon. Gentleman has a long-standing interest in this subject. We are working on a number of areas, but I think that the extension of public health duties to local authorities will open up many opportunities to persuade parents to think carefully about where they smoke, whether it is in cars or in their own homes.
(13 years, 2 months ago)
Commons ChamberWe most certainly can do better than that. I agree with my hon. Friend that such problems are often a barrier, and that therapy can unlock so much more. I refer him to service redesigns that have happened, such as at the Cambridgeshire Community Services NHS Trust, which redesigned its clinical pathways with the result that the number of children waiting longer than 18 weeks from referral to treatment fell from 409 in May 2010 to eight at the end of January 2011. That is a fantastic improvement in the service. This is not all about money, but about the way in which services are designed.
The Minister will know that more than 60% of inmates in young offender institutions have speech and communication problems. Can we ensure that the Green Paper addresses this matter not just within the national health service, but in education and wider, so that we can begin to tackle this problem, which has lain dormant in this country for decades?
The right hon. Gentleman is right that we are not talking just about children. A number of people have languished and failed to achieve their potential, particularly their educational potential, for the lack of speech and language therapies. I take this opportunity to commend the work of Jean Gross, the communication champion, in raising and highlighting these issues.
(13 years, 7 months ago)
Commons ChamberI thank my hon. Friend for her question, particularly in highlighting this extraordinary practice. I have to say, it was news to me. I congratulate the efforts of that local organisation on highlighting this sort of issue with school children. There is no doubt that vodka eye-balling can cause damage to the surface of the eye, ulceration and scarring. Although it has got some publicity, however, a lot of young people are likely to be drunk in the first place when they do it, so the effects are probably overestimated.
Did the Minister hear the report on Radio 4 this morning that in the past decade there has been a 50% increase in the number of young people in their 30s being admitted to hospital with alcohol-related liver disease? Does she think that we ought to be looking at how alcohol is promoted and advertised around young people?
I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his question. I heard the report, and I think that it made particular reference to the worrying trend among young women as well. There is no doubt that our public health White Paper is timely. We need to do something about this. It is important to remember that no one tool will fix this problem; we need to take a wide variety of measures and alter, in particular, young people’s relationship with alcohol. However, we will not do that until we get a proper strategy out there.