Victims of Contaminated Blood: Support

Debate between Peter Bone and Jane Ellison

Wednesday 16th December 2015 Commons Chamber

[Jane Ellison]

My officials have been giving considerable thought to how to do that. A number of people are members of the existing schemes, so we have a means to communicate with them, but it is clear from experience of following up previous inquiries’ recommendations—for example, the one recommendation of the Penrose inquiry—that we make exhaustive efforts to inform everybody. In particular, we will want to inform people who have had a lump sum payment but are not members of the current scheme. We will make exhaustive efforts to inform people by every means possible. Members of Parliament can of course be of great assistance in that regard.

[Mr Peter Bone (Wellingborough) (Con)]

Going back to the issue of medication, my constituents want to know the answer to this question: available drugs that have not yet been approved by NICE but that can be prescribed are not being prescribed locally on financial grounds. Is that not wholly unacceptable?

[Jane Ellison]

The NHS is looking at its response to the most recent NICE guideline—it was very recent, on 25 November, from memory. The NHS has commissioning arrangements in place for previous treatments that met NICE guidelines. It would be useful if my hon. Friend contacted me separately about the particular situation in which his constituents find themselves, and we might be able to provide some helpful support.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Peter Bone and Jane Ellison

Tuesday 10th June 2014 Commons Chamber

[Jane Ellison]

I absolutely join my hon. Friend in congratulating everyone involved in turning that performance around—it is really, really impressive. He is right to say there are lessons to be learnt everywhere from people innovating, joining up services and the various things that have gone on in the background. I know that the local Members have been involved and engaged in the process and I congratulate them on that. That is really valuable and I urge everyone to get involved. We should congratulate A and E staff everywhere on dealing with the pressures they are under. We know they are considerable, but they do a great job.

[Mr Peter Bone (Wellingborough) (Con)]

May I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Kettering (Mr Hollobone) on the work he has done to help with this amazing turnaround? The Minister is aware of the plans to have a community urgent care centre at Isebrook hospital in my constituency, which will mean that my constituents will not have to go to Kettering hospital. Is this not another way forward to improve A and E results?

[Jane Ellison]

My hon. Friend highlights that there are a lot of different approaches to reducing the pressures on A and E. The great thing is that we are seeing real innovation from local clinicians, supported by local Members of Parliament. That shows what can be done when we address these problems with an innovative approach, and think about how we can reduce these pressures and ensure that as many people as possible are served in the right way and treated outside A and E, if that is not the place they should be.

Tobacco Packaging

Debate between Peter Bone and Jane Ellison

Thursday 28th November 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Peter Bone (Wellingborough) (Con)]

I sometimes feel sorry for the Government. We have an excellent Minister at the Dispatch Box who is listening to Parliament and asking for an independent report, yet she gets Members of Parliament complaining about that. That is ridiculous. I think I understood her to say that if regulation is to be introduced, it will be done by statutory instrument. I hope that the Government are not going to proceed in that way, because we can only reject or approve a statutory instrument—we cannot amend it. Will she think again on that point?

[Jane Ellison]

I thank my hon. Friend for his support. The exact technicalities are still under review. As I said, we are strongly minded to use the affirmative procedure, but that matter is not completely resolved. Of course, we do have a little time, because we expect the review to report in March 2014.