Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Neil O'Brien and John Penrose

Tuesday 17th October 2023 Commons Chamber

[John Penrose (Weston-super-Mare) (Con)]

T7. I thank Ministers for their earlier helpful replies about NHS dentistry, but I am afraid the situation in Weston-super-Mare remains extremely worrying. Local residents regularly say there is not a single local dentist accepting new adult NHS patients, and many practices have actively reduced NHS work since the pandemic. I have pushed both NHS England and the local integrated care board, but all we have so far are PowerPoint presentations rather than bookable appointments. What hope can the Secretary of State offer to Westonians who have paid their taxes, but are not getting any NHS dentistry in exchange?

[Neil O’Brien]

My hon. Friend is right. The amount of NHS dentistry being delivered in his ICB has gone up in the last year, but we want to go further. The NHS has recently commissioned additional children’s orthodontic capacity within his ICB, but through the actions we are going to take, we will go further.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Neil O'Brien and John Penrose

Wednesday 22nd May 2019 Commons Chamber

[Neil O’Brien (Harborough) (Con)]

3. What recent assessment she has made of trends in the level of employment in Northern Ireland.

[The Minister of State, Northern Ireland Office (John Penrose)]

I am happy to confirm that the latest labour market statistics for Northern Ireland show employment at a record high and unemployment at a record low. This is a long-term and consistently improving trend, and with continued political stability, we hope that it will continue in future.

[Neil O’Brien]

Those are very welcome statistics. What is my hon. Friend doing to further grow employment and jobs in Northern Ireland and the rest of the country?

[John Penrose]

I am delighted to give some examples. Not only is unemployment now the lowest of the UK nations, at 2.9%, but the ratio of public sector to private sector jobs is rebalancing healthily. Exports have grown to more than £10 billion, and we expect a tourism surge from the golf open at Portrush. We will continue to pursue those and other measures, including the city deals that have just been mentioned.