Oral Answers to Questions

Luke Evans Excerpts

Tuesday 25th November 2025 Commons Chamber

[Wes Streeting]

A clock stop would be in place from the moment the patient saw the consultant. The reason we have had to do waiting list validation is that, in addition to driving waiting lists up, the Conservative party presided over a total shambles where patients were often waiting in duplicate slots on the waiting list, removed from waiting lists unnecessarily or waiting far too long. That is the mess we inherited from the Conservative party.

[Dr Luke Evans (Hinckley and Bosworth) (Con)]

What’s the answer?

[Wes Streeting]

It is no use shadow Ministers heckling from the sidelines. When they had the chance, they drove waiting lists up, and they drove the NHS into the abyss.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Minister.

[Dr Luke Evans (Hinckley and Bosworth) (Con)]

When it comes to hospital provision, the Conservatives believe that we should continue to use private providers to improve access and reduce waiting times. We believe the Government should not let spare capacity go to waste on ideological grounds; we should continue to make use of private-sector capacity to treat NHS patients where available. Does the Minister agree?

[Karin Smyth]

I am sure this is leading somewhere else but, broadly, yes, I think I do.

[Dr Evans]

I am pleased to hear that the Minister does, given that it is her current policy. The last time the Government brought in private finance, they brought in the private finance initiative, which brought in £13 billion of investment. The problem was that it cost the taxpayer a whopping £80 billion, and hospitals are still paying decades on. This time around, will the Government give a cast-iron guarantee and complete confidence to the public that this is not Labour’s version of PFI mark 2?

[Karin Smyth]

Yes, I can give the hon. Gentleman that guarantee. The last Government could have learned the lessons of some of the PFI schemes that were very costly and did not run. Why did they not learn those lessons? Why did they not take action to reverse some of the decline? Why did they not take control of the system and do something about it? We have learned the lessons from those schemes, thanks in part to the great work done by parliamentarians on Committees such as the Public Accounts Committee. The new system to build the new neighbourhood health centres, which are fundamental to our drive to shift care out of hospital, will be different and will be publicly owned; they will revert to the public. The schemes are fundamentally different, and I am very happy to talk about it in more detail.