Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Kevin Foster and Oliver Dowden

Wednesday 7th June 2023 Commons Chamber

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

The Government and I have never been convinced by the case for a universal basic income. We are not alone in that; it is also the position of Paul Johnson at the Institute for Fiscal Studies. I think a much better solution is to create more jobs, which this Government have done, and to cut taxes on working people, which is what this Government have done. That is the route to prosperity for people up and down the country.

[Kevin Foster (Torbay) (Con)]

Q7. Revitalising Oldway, regenerating our town centres and helping Torbay’s high-tech sector to grow will deliver levelling up for Torbay. What expectations does the Deputy Prime Minister have of the new levelling-up partnership in focusing Government effort and resources on doing that?

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

As I am sure my hon. Friend knows, levelling-up partnerships are committed to work hand in hand with 20 places across England in most need of that levelling up. They are backed by £400 million of investment, and I know that he will make the case most robustly for funding for his constituency.

Mental Health Units (Use of Force) Bill

Debate between Kevin Foster and Oliver Dowden

2nd reading: House of Commons
Friday 3rd November 2017 Commons Chamber

[Oliver Dowden]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. This is about not just understanding the experience of the person who is suffering from mental health, but the knock-on effect on the entire family. One thing that my constituents frequently raise is the impact on other siblings when one child in the family has mental health issues and ensuring that the others do not feel neglected or disadvantaged when one sibling necessarily gets more attention.

Not only do we need to change cultural attitudes towards mental health, we need to look at the legislative framework. Most of us would agree that 1983 was the last time we had a serious, large-scale piece of legislation and, in 1983, the old model that I was discussing earlier was the prevalent model. There is a pressing need for a larger piece of legislation that can build upon on the measures in this Bill and ensure that we take a more comprehensive look at things.

[Kevin Foster (Torbay) (Con)]

I am enjoying listening to my hon. Friend’s speech. Does he agree that the use of police cells is a big area for review? While we have seen a welcome decline in the use of police cells as places of safety, it is unacceptable that someone can end up in a cell not because they are suspected of a crime, but because they have been unwell.

[Oliver Dowden]

My hon. Friend makes an important point and that is something that we are waking up to. As Home Secretary, my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister made great strides to seek to change the approach taken by the police so that people are not automatically put in a cell. If somebody is already suffering from a mental health condition, the worst possible thing for them is a night in the cells, the conditions of which we have all seen as constituency MPs.

[Kevin Foster]

Will my hon. Friend briefly give way again?

[Oliver Dowden]

I will, but I am conscious of the time.

--- Later in debate ---

[Kevin Foster]

My hon. Friend is being extremely generous. The situation is ironic, because we have strict time limits for detention without a magistrate’s warrant due to the mental health impact on criminal suspects, yet we do not have the same for mental health. That could be looked at in future legislation.

[Oliver Dowden]

Again, my hon. Friend makes an important and interesting intervention, which comes back to the wider question of how we achieve parity. Parity is about not just funding or treatment by GPs, but all these other forms of, for want of a better phrase, micro-discrimination.