International Men’s Day
Lincoln Jopp Excerpts(1 week ago)
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Mims Davies (East Grinstead and Uckfield) (Con)
I thank the hon. Member for Cannock Chase (Josh Newbury) for leading this debate on International Men’s Day. He focused on wellbeing and modern masculinity. He was hugely brave and absolutely right when he said that no victim should not be able to speak out and seek justice. It was wonderful to hear his positives around the joy of fatherhood.
It is always a pleasure to speak on behalf of His Majesty’s loyal Opposition. I particularly welcome this debate as the co-chair, along with the hon. Member for Bishop Auckland (Sam Rushworth), of the all-party parliamentary group on men and boy’s issues. He spoke about the preciousness of fatherhood and I am delighted to be working with him. I thank all the men and women in this place who have stood up for the men in their constituencies. I thank those in East Grinstead and Uckfield who are taking part in Movember, raising money for charity, raising awareness of men’s health and growing some really iffy ’taches in certain areas—very praiseworthy.
The theme for 2025, as mentioned throughout the debate, is celebrating men and boys, and I think we have done that incredibly well. We need to talk about the positive value that men bring to families and communities. We have reflected that well this afternoon, but frankly—hence our all-party parliamentary group—we need to do it more often. I thank all dads, father figures and top chaps. It is vital that we talk about the positives.
My dad has long passed, but I am going to give his favourite joke a go because, as the Dad Shift rightly says, we need to highlight crucial role models and fathers. I still love it: how does the monkey cook his toast? Under the gorilla, of course. [Laughter.] There we go. How was that, Lincoln? My hon. Friend the Member for Spelthorne (Lincoln Jopp) has been judging the jokes.
Mims Davies
My dad suffered from a head injury, so I was struck by the contribution of the hon. Member for Hitchin (Alistair Strathern) about that being an unseen issue, and I thank him for raising it. Headway was particularly brilliant in my father’s case.
Turning to how we talk about masculinity in a positive way, as we have heard this afternoon, role models are so important. If men and boys are only told that they are the problem and that the issues they face do not matter, we cannot be surprised when they flock to questionable social media influencers and people on the fringes of politics who tell them, in the wrong way, that they do in fact matter and have value. For us, it is important to reflect on the work of the Centre for Policy Research on Men and Boys. It states that the narrative must continue to change from the problems that young men and boys cause, to the problems young men and boys have, and that we should now do something to properly help them. That would be incredibly welcome.
As the mum of two girls, I know that they want boys to feel the support and positivity that young girls rightly have. It was right for the hon. Member for Portsmouth North (Amanda Martin) to big up her young boys and the importance of protecting our youngsters from harm. Gambling and pornography we know about, but there are other sectors where young men, particularly young farmers, can feel isolated, lonely and struggling. The hon. Member for Loughborough (Dr Sandher) rightly talked about men wanting a decent life. It is vital to look back on employment, but it is the employment opportunities now that truly matter. I completely agree on that.
The recent crucial Centre for Social Justice report “Lost Boys” identified six areas where boys and young men are falling behind in this generational crisis.
The first area was education, where boys underperform at every stage, lagging behind girls from early years to university. The second area was employment, where, as we have heard, the number of males aged 16 to 24 who are not in education, employment or training has increased since the pandemic by a staggering 40%. The third area was health; suicide is the top cause of death for men under 50, and many of us have lost family members or friends because of suicide. The fourth area was family and fatherhood: one in five boys grow up without a father—an epidemic of fatherlessness that is linked to poor outcomes. The fifth area was crime; 96% of the prison population is male. The final area was digital behaviour, with platforms amplifying misogynistic influencers and extremist content, shaping identity and attitudes for our young men.
I thank Jane Packer and the team at the British Standards Institution. I was proud to join the BSI event in Speaker’s House last night on the new suicide and workplace standard to help employers support the wellbeing of men and boys across the country. I am proud to continue to work with the Samaritans—I am wearing the badge today—which tells me it needs more volunteers to do its great work, particularly supporting and listening to men.
Now that I have the Health Secretary sitting opposite me, let me highlight that the Government have not resumed recruitment of the men’s health ambassador. Perhaps he will tell the House differently in his speech. Opposition Members who were in the previous Government would love to see that.
Yesterday, I met Richard and the amazing team at MAN v FAT, who do great work, particularly in Wales, with all communities, using football and rugby to help with being fit and healthy and focusing on body image. Again, like the Samaritans, it is a male space in which to talk.
Under the last Conservative Government, the suicide prevention grant provided £10 million for 79 organisations between 2023 and March 2025. We rightly welcome—and I think it is roundly welcomed—the dedicated men’s health strategy. However, it does appear to have less money than the £10 million under the previous Government, at £3.6 million over the next three years. I ask the Health Secretary to help boost and push the neighbourhood-based support for suicide prevention. The £3 million is very welcome, but we absolutely need to push forward on health and community-based programmes.
International Men’s Day is the opportunity for all of us to promote charities and initiatives in our constituencies, like the amazing men’s sheds that have been mentioned today. Brilliant initiatives in my constituency also include the growing East Grinstead Sea Cadets, the Scouts and many after-school clubs, which all make a big difference supporting our men and boys—they are something to do and somewhere to talk to someone. The Uckfield Youth Club—like many groups—needs more volunteers and leaders.
As MPs, today and every day, we should be encouraging men to seek help in our communities; we should check in on them to highlight the positives. I would like to do that with one of my councillors, Ed Godwin, who is passionate about involving young people in politics. At just 18 he stood to be a town councillor and serve his community, and I am proud to welcome him into politics. I also mention Councillor Gary Marsh in Mid Sussex, a district councillor for Ardingly, Balcombe and Turness Hill in my constituency, who was diagnosed with prostate cancer at the start of the year. He has used his platform to urge men not to ignore the signs, and to ensure that his constituents and ours know that there is help out there.
I thank Mark Brooks OBE for his 10 years of work with the Association for Male Health and Wellbeing to get this parliamentary debate so that we can keenly talk about men’s issues. It is vital that MPs champion causes, particularly for men, and discuss, debate and strive to help men and boys with the issues affecting them nationally and internationally. It will help all communities, and all Members in the Chamber have made great contributions to that work today. I truly think that when all parties work together we will see the changes that we need for the better—which may include an improvement in the quality of dad jokes in the Chamber.
Oral Answers to Questions
Lincoln Jopp Excerpts(4 months ago)
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Wes Streeting
We are taking action to deal with the over-running of budgets and the reckless spending across the NHS and to bring deficits under control, but I would be delighted to meet my hon. Friend.
Lincoln Jopp (Spelthorne) (Con)
Spelthorne residents Emma and John lost Holly to cancer in October last year. They set up the charity Holly’s Heroes in her name. Before she died, Holly was given a wheelchair by the NHS, and Emma and John cannot now give it back to the NHS for love nor money. I have raised this with the chief executive of the trust, but can the Secretary of State reassure me that this practice is not replicated nationwide?
Wes Streeting
We absolutely need to look at reducing waste in the NHS, so I would be delighted to pick up that case. Can I also say an enormous thank you to Holly’s family for the work they are doing in such unimaginable circumstances? I really admire people who put themselves forward to serve others in that way after such a painful experience.
Oral Answers to Questions
Lincoln Jopp Excerpts(5 months, 1 week ago)
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Karin Smyth
My hon. Friend raises an important question. We are committed to improving women’s experience of gynaecological procedures, including hysteroscopies. Women should be provided with information prior to their procedure so that they can make an informed decision about the procedure and pain relief options, including local or general anaesthetic. He will probably make further representations, which we will certainly look at.
Lincoln Jopp (Spelthorne) (Con)
One of the ways in which the Secretary of State has reduced the waiting list is by turbocharging the use of the private sector since January, meaning that half a million people have been treated in irreducible spare capacity. Has that experience elicited any learnings that the Secretary of State is able to take into the wider reform agenda for the NHS?
Hospitals
Lincoln Jopp Excerpts(7 months ago)
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Laura Kyrke-Smith (Aylesbury) (Lab)
It is a pleasure to speak in the debate. The previous Government made off-the-cuff commitments to new hospitals that were never going to be affordable or deliverable; I am really proud to be part of a Labour Government who commit only to what we can afford. We stick to our promises and deliver them. The rapid progress that we have made towards improving the NHS, reorienting it towards frontline delivery, is a fantastic example of that.
Over 3 million more appointments were delivered in the first nine months of this Government—that is well ahead of the target—and over 100,000 people have been treated on time. Those are great statistics, but when I knock on doors and meet residents, I hear about the difference that that has made to them and their families. People are back on their feet, back at work, and back being active parents and grandparents sooner than they could have imagined. This is politics that is delivering for people. It is not the politics of easy answers, but the politics of progress, and of change to people’s lives.
I will highlight one change that will be particularly important in my constituency of Aylesbury as we continue the work of transforming the NHS, including through the new hospital programme: the need to better integrate primary and secondary care. There is great potential for savings there, if we think about the secondary and primary care estates in the round. More importantly, that will help bring traditionally hospital based-care closer to the community; it will be better care that has better outcomes for people.
As I have said in this place before, we face an acute challenge in Aylesbury with our GP surgeries. We had new housing estates built in a poorly planned way under the previous Government, without the necessary GP services being provided. We also have particularly high levels of deprivation in Aylesbury and the county of Buckinghamshire—it is really marked by inequalities—which contributes to the pressures on our GP services.
The Government have already made significant progress in improving GP provision; 1,500 new GPs have been recruited, and successful negotiations with the British Medical Association have resulted in the biggest uplift in funding for GPs in years. I think that will start to make a real difference.
Lincoln Jopp (Spelthorne) (Con)
Has the hon. Lady had any feedback, in conversations with her GPs, about what the increased employer national insurance contributions will do to their growth of provision?
Laura Kyrke-Smith
I am in regular contact with my GPs, and I know that they are really pleased, actually, with the uplift in funding that they have received through the contract, and with what they will be able to deliver with that.
As we think about the future of hospital provision, we must think about our healthcare in the round—what each community needs more broadly, and how we join up hospital services with those provided by our GPs, and with other community services. I am really excited by the work already under way in Buckinghamshire to establish integrated neighbourhood teams and I am pleased at this Government’s commitment to neighbourhood health centres.
In Buckinghamshire, and particularly in Aylesbury, all our key health organisations are coming together—including the acute and community NHS trusts, primary care, the local authority, public health, the mental health trust and voluntary sector organisations—to agree a collective plan for the next 10 years, which I think could be transformative. They are pooling their collective resources and teams across Stoke Mandeville hospital and three primary care networks, and looking not only at creating a centre in Aylesbury for shared delivery of services, but at providing better care out in the communities.
As we build our hospitals of the future across the country, it is essential that we plan in that way—not just for in-hospital care, but for a joined-up approach across all our services, bringing that care closer to our communities. Ultimately, that is what people want and what people need: a future healthcare system in which as many people as possible can access care close to home and manage their health in their own homes and their own communities as best as possible.
NHS Pensions
Lincoln Jopp Excerpts(7 months, 3 weeks ago)
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Karin Smyth
I am sorry to hear about the emotional and financial distress of the hon. Lady’s constituent. If there is a gap, I am happy to go back to the NHSBSA on her behalf and make sure that I update the House.
Lincoln Jopp (Spelthorne) (Con)
Does the Minister have full confidence in the chair of the NHS Business Services Authority?
Karin Smyth
As I said in my statement, we have confidence in the business authority to undertake the actions that I have outlined.
New Hospital Programme Review
Lincoln Jopp Excerpts(10 months, 1 week ago)
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Wes Streeting
I am grateful to my hon. Friend, who has raised this issue consistently and persistently with me since she was elected. I can reassure her and her constituents that pre-construction work will begin from 2028 to 2030, with construction starting in 2031 and lasting until 2032. I am extremely sorry that my hon. Friend’s constituents were led up the garden path; I rather feel that they have already rumbled the Conservatives by sending her to Parliament, but for as long as there is a Labour Government, we will deliver for the people of Kettering.
Lincoln Jopp (Spelthorne) (Con)
I will say it, because no one else has: many happy returns for tomorrow. I genuinely thought that you were in your mid-30s—that the Secretary of State was in his mid-30s.
Lincoln Jopp
I also congratulate the Secretary of State on coming to the Chamber with such a massive capital expenditure announcement and eliciting a saving with his answer to the first question from the hon. Member for Mitcham and Morden (Dame Siobhain McDonagh).
One of the plans that went by the board in May, for reasons I have not quite got to the bottom of, was for the Staines health and wellbeing centre, which is one of only six community diagnostic hubs that NHS England has allocated in England. The funding got pulled in May; will the Secretary of State please have another look at it?
Wes Streeting
I thank the hon. Gentleman very much for that question. I think he is going to go far in this place, Madam Deputy Speaker, and I would be delighted to look favourably on his representations about his local facilities.
Winter Preparedness
Lincoln Jopp Excerpts(11 months, 1 week ago)
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Karin Smyth
We have made it absolutely clear, as did the NHS in its letter today, that patient safety is the watchword this winter. We have targets in relation to monitoring the performance of the system, but we absolutely want to ensure that patients are kept safe as we go through the next few months.
Lincoln Jopp (Spelthorne) (Con)
Yesterday I spoke to an elderly gentleman who was taking himself off to his local pharmacy to receive the RSV jab, but because he was over 80 he was going to pay more than £200 for it. Will the Minister please tell us how much the RSV jab costs the Department when it is free for 75 to 80-year-olds, and how much guidance or limitation it places on the profit that can be taken by chemists who give it to people who are over 80?
Oral Answers to Questions
Lincoln Jopp Excerpts(1 year ago)
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Wes Streeting
We all know that general practice is under enormous pressure, and that will be a big part of this Government’s agenda. I reassure my hon. Friend that our view is that there should be patient choice, patient control and different courses for different horses. I value online and over-the-phone appointments, but they will not be right for everyone on every occasion. Patients should have a voice and a say.
Lincoln Jopp (Spelthorne) (Con)
Wes Streeting
I would say to GPs who are thinking about staffing for the next financial year that they should hold tight and wait for funding allocations shortly, so that they can make informed decisions about staffing and care for patients.