Covid-19

Martyn Day Excerpts

Tuesday 1st September 2020 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

My former ministerial colleague, a distinguished former Public Health Minister, raises an incredibly important point. We are undertaking consultation on precisely this question right now; in fact, I invite him to come into the Department to give his views. The critical thing is that we need to ensure that we drive the health improvement agenda, the obesity agenda and the wider health improvement agenda forward very strongly. Local councils have a huge role to play in this, and they must be bound yet further into the health improvement agenda. The NHS has a huge role to play, and that must be bound more strongly again. Today’s announcement is good progress from the NHS. This is incredibly important. We are going to get it right. It is a very high priority of the Prime Minister, and I look forward to working with him on making it happen.

[Martyn Day (Linlithgow and East Falkirk) (SNP) [V]]

Will the Secretary of State commit to raising healthcare funding to help prevent a potential second wave, while ensuring that Scotland’s NHS receives the necessary levels of Barnett funding to help it prepare effectively for a potential winter wave and ensure that Scotland’s health workers have all the resources that they need?

[Matt Hancock]

Yes. This country has never increased health spending in a year more than it has this year, and the Barnett consequentials mean that many billions of pounds have flowed to Scotland to improve the response in Scotland, too.