Business of the House

Mary Glindon Excerpts

Thursday 22nd October 2015 Commons Chamber

[Chris Grayling]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on being such an effective champion of equality in this House. I was not aware of international men’s day, but I will look very carefully at the suggestion he makes.

[Mary Glindon (North Tyneside) (Lab)]

The draft guidance released by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence not to approve Translarna was devastating news for the boys with Duchenne muscular dystrophy who need still to be able to walk in order to access the treatment. Will the Leader of the House seek a statement from the Department of Health, or even allocate time for a debate, on Translarna?

[Chris Grayling]

It is always a difficult balance when new drugs come on stream. The role of NICE is to evaluate whether such drugs really can make the difference that is sometimes suggested by those producing them. That can often lead to very difficult, unhappy and challenging decisions. We, as politicians, are not really in a position to judge the rights and the wrongs of the effectiveness of drugs. What I will always do is ensure that such concerns are raised with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State, so that he is aware of them. I am only too well aware of what a terrible disease this is. A number of children in my constituency are affected and, like the hon. Lady, I want them to receive the best possible treatment, but of course NICE has to take difficult decisions as well.

Oral Answers to Questions

Mary Glindon Excerpts

Thursday 22nd October 2015 Commons Chamber

[Tracey Crouch]

I am grateful to the hon. Lady for her question. The recent consultation on sport ensured that we looked to see that everybody is included in participating in sport and physical activity, and it contains a significant section on discrimination. The responses to that consultation will form an important part of the sports strategy.

[Mary Glindon (North Tyneside) (Lab)]

4. When he expects the expert working group on football supporter ownership and engagement to report.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Tracey Crouch)]

The expert working group was set up a year ago yesterday and I expect its report, with a strong set of recommendations, by the end of November.

[Mary Glindon]

It is four years since the Select Committee on Culture, Media and Sport reported on football governance, requesting changes from the FA, Premier League and the Football League, but we still have not seen those changes come through. Will the Government now consider legislation on supporter ownership?

[Tracey Crouch]

I know that the hon. Lady is a keen football fan and has worked closely with the Newcastle United Supporters Trust, and I know that this issue is very important to her and to her Magpies-supporting constituents. The working group’s report will be published next month and I expect it to contain strong recommendations. We will consider those recommendations when they are given to me next month.

Business of the House

Mary Glindon Excerpts

Thursday 25th June 2015 Commons Chamber

[Chris Grayling]

It is enormously important that we support key industries like steel. It is an important part of the local economy in my hon. Friend’s constituency and in many other parts of the country. Ministers from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills will be before the House next week. I hope that he will take that opportunity to raise his concerns with them. Of course we have a challenge ahead in tackling climate change and bringing down carbon emissions, but we also have to be smart when it comes to looking after our industries.

[Mary Glindon (North Tyneside) (Lab)]

Two weeks ago, the Leader of the House kindly offered to pass on a request to the Prime Minister to meet Muscular Dystrophy UK and six young boys with Duchenne muscular dystrophy who need Translarna. The decision on the drug is imminent, but the boys have heard nothing. Will the Leader of the House kindly do something to hasten the response from No. 10?

[Chris Grayling]

I will duly apply a nudge. The Prime Minister is well aware of the issue, because as I said previously he met one of the boys back in January, but I will make sure that the message is passed to No. 10 for the hon. Lady.

Business of the House

Mary Glindon Excerpts

Thursday 11th June 2015 Commons Chamber

[Chris Grayling]

That is a significant challenge. We need to build more houses to ensure that the next generation can get on to the housing ladder, but we need to do so sensitively to protect the environment in which people live. That is a major priority for the Government. Of course, we must have the infrastructure in place to achieve that. That is why we are investing in roads and rail, and why we are seeking to ensure that, as our economy develops, we have an infrastructure fit for the 21st century. I assure my hon. Friend that, when he finds the moment at questions or through the Adjournment debate system to take those issues to Ministers, they will listen extremely carefully to the challenges his area faces.

[Mary Glindon (North Tyneside) (Lab)]

The Leader of the House referred earlier to an upcoming debate on Translarna, the Duchenne muscular dystrophy drug. In Prime Minister’s questions yesterday, the Prime Minister said that unfortunately, because he was off to the EU summit, he could not meet the six young boys going to Downing Street to seek his support in getting the drug for themselves. I am now writing to the Prime Minister to secure a meeting between them and Muscular Dystrophy UK. Will the Leader of the House help me to secure that meeting?

[Chris Grayling]

I will certainly pass on the hon. Lady’s request to the Prime Minister. He did mention that he had had a meeting with an affected family and one of the young people who was going to No.10 Downing Street. I know that in different circumstances he would have wished to meet them and I will certainly pass on her request.

Business of the House

Mary Glindon Excerpts

Thursday 4th June 2015 Commons Chamber

[Chris Grayling]

I shall draw the attention of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change to the concerns that my hon. Friend has raised. I know that the prime concerns of those on the Government Benches are to protect our countryside and ensure that onshore wind is handled sensitively. I shall ask my right hon. Friend to address the issues that my hon. Friend has raised.

[Mary Glindon (North Tyneside) (Lab)]

I and the hon. Member for Waveney (Peter Aldous) have contacted the new Secretary of State for Energy to ask her to continue with the successful cross-party oil and gas promotion group, which had notable achievements in the previous Parliament. May I urge the Leader of the House to speak to the Secretary of State and ask her as a matter of urgency to make a positive decision on this request?

[Chris Grayling]

I have noted the hon. Lady’s comments and I will make sure that my right hon. Friend is aware of her concern.

Business of the House

Mary Glindon Excerpts

Thursday 18th December 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hague]

The Bill is minutes away from introduction and publication, and this whole issue has indeed been the cause of rejoicing in both Houses, as my right hon. Friend rightly says. I will confirm the arrangements for the handling of the Bill in due course, but he is right that it is a short and simple Bill that should enjoy widespread support. When I come to announce the handling of business, I will certainly hope it can be considered quickly, with these facts in mind.

[Mrs Mary Glindon (North Tyneside) (Lab)]

NHS England has announced at a late stage that it is halting the assessment for the Duchenne muscular dystrophy treatment Translarna. This decision has caused significant anxiety for people affected by the condition, so will the Leader of the House set aside time to debate the emergency interim measures that the Department of Health and NHS England need to put in place to ensure that Translarna completes the approval and funding process and can be made available to the boys it could help from as early as next April?

[Mr Hague]

I know that Health Ministers are conscious of this matter. It is a priority to ensure that patients in England have access to new and effective treatments on terms that represent value for money for the NHS and the taxpayer. I believe the decision-making framework for adoption of new treatments and interventions was discussed yesterday at the NHS England board meeting, but there will be many further opportunities to put questions to Health Ministers in the early weeks of the new year.

Business of the House

Mary Glindon Excerpts

Thursday 30th October 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hague]

The hon. Gentleman is understandably promoting his Bill and would like to have seen a money resolution for it. He is right that it is unusual but not unprecedented for the Government not to move a money resolution. There have been previous instances of that under Governments of different parties. He also understands that his Bill is a very unusual one, because it is unusual for the expenditure entailed by a private Member’s Bill—the precise figure may be disputed—to run into hundreds of millions of pounds. On such issues, the Government must, of course, ask whether they can responsibly provide a money resolution. This is an unusual situation. There is no particular provision in our rules for statements about that, but I think I have made the Government’s position clear.

[Mrs Mary Glindon (North Tyneside) (Lab)]

During Health questions last week, the Secretary of State referred to the importance of peer review, yet the national peer review programme, which monitors the quality and safety of cancer services across England, is under serious threat of being cut. May we have an urgent debate on the future of that vital programme?

[Mr Hague]

As is often discussed in the House, the Government have a strong record on cancer. We have introduced the cancer drugs fund and put a great deal of emphasis on early diagnosis, and we will continue with that work. I will draw the point the hon. Lady makes to the attention of Health Ministers, but I encourage her also to pursue it with them at Question Time and through Adjournment or Back-Bench business debates.

Business of the House

Mary Glindon Excerpts

Thursday 4th September 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hague]

Although I cannot offer an additional debate at the moment, the Government strongly support this. As my hon. Friend knows, we have introduced a community right to bid to give communities a better chance to buy local assets that they cherish. He will like to know that so far 1,500 assets around the country have been listed as assets of community value. We are providing £19 million-worth of support for communities to help them to utilise this right to bid. While not knowing the local issues regarding this very important facility, I strongly encourage all those involved to look at how the Government’s approach can benefit it.

[Mrs Mary Glindon (North Tyneside) (Lab)]

As the Leader of the House is patron of the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign’s Yorkshire and Humber Muscle Group and has met members of that group, I am sure he will take an interest in the gaps in neuro-muscular services across the whole of England and the urgent need to improve them. Will he therefore set aside time for a debate on the important issue of delivering the necessary standard of neuro-muscular services across the whole country?

[Mr Hague]

I am a strong supporter of the muscular dystrophy group in Yorkshire, and I am grateful to the hon. Lady for mentioning it. Clearly, she is a very strong campaigner on these important issues as well. I cannot announce any debate additional to those I have already announced for next week, but I will draw the attention of my colleagues in the Department of Health to what she has said and ensure that they write to her about it.

Business of the House

Mary Glindon Excerpts

Thursday 20th March 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lansley]

The hon. Gentleman raises an important point. I recognise that his EDM has secured support from a number of Members on both sides of the House, and rightly so, because it is a concern for our constituents that they are not subject to these exploitative and damaging rogue traders and others. I cannot promise a debate immediately, but I will of course raise the matter with my hon. Friends to see whether they can reply to him and other Members or inform the House a little more about how they are addressing some of these issues.

[Mrs Mary Glindon (North Tyneside) (Lab)]

Last week the Government announced that they plan to introduce an early access to medicines scheme. Such a scheme was a central point in the recent report by the all-party group on muscular dystrophy. Will the Leader of the House provide some time to debate the scheme, and will he ask the relevant Minister to meet me, patients and representatives from the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign to discuss it further?

[Mr Lansley]

I will of course ask my hon. Friends at the Department of Health whether they might be able to meet the hon. Lady. I cannot promise an immediate debate, but this is an important issue, and I hope that we may have such an opportunity before too long. The early access to medicines scheme, like the breakthrough fund in America, raises the real possibility that, in addition to what we have already done through the cancer drugs fund, which provides the ability to access licensed medicines, drugs that have evident efficacy and safety can be made available through the NHS, even before the point at which they have been through all the formal licensing processes, for patients who often have relatively few other opportunities.

Business of the House

Mary Glindon Excerpts

Thursday 16th January 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lansley]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that. The Financial Services (Banking Reform) Act 2013 will allow us to make important steps in ensuring that we have a banking system that is not prey to the regulatory failures of the past. None the less, he makes an important point about mis-selling in relation to interest rate swaps. I know that my hon. Friends at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills are anxious to make progress in settling that. I hope that the new Financial Conduct Authority will see that as one of its priorities.

[Mrs Mary Glindon (North Tyneside) (Lab)]

Following the reply given to my hon. Friend the Member for North West Durham (Pat Glass), will the Leader of the House clarify in what way the significant over-reporting of bovine TB and its associated costs and consequences will be brought before the House?

[Mr Lansley]

The hon. Lady will have heard me say that although there were statistical errors, they will not have affected the surveillance and they will not have directly affected livestock businesses through costs and impacts. When the statisticians have identified and quantified the errors, there will be an opportunity for Ministers to provide information to the House about the nature of the error.