Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Philip Dunne and Alistair Carmichael

Tuesday 19th December 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Dunne]

My hon. Friend will be aware that last week we published the workforce strategy. One major focus was on meeting the Secretary of State’s commitment to increase the number of registered nurses by 25% and to broaden the routes into nursing. There is a commitment to expand the nursing associate role, which is helping to provide opportunities, through an alternative route, for healthcare support workers to become registered nurses.

[Mr Alistair Carmichael (Orkney and Shetland) (LD)]

T10. Possibly as many as 20,000 babies have been born with birth defects as a consequence of their mothers having used sodium valproate during pregnancy. When will mandatory warnings be given to pregnant women about the risks associated with valproate, and when will we see independent analysis of how we got to this dreadful situation?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Philip Dunne and Alistair Carmichael

Tuesday 15th November 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Hoping for an un-lawyerlike brevity, I call Mr Alistair Carmichael.

[Mr Alistair Carmichael (Orkney and Shetland) (LD)]

13. What recent assessment his Department has made of the effect of the vote for the UK to leave the EU on future recruitment of nurses to the NHS.

[The Minister of State, Department of Health (Mr Philip Dunne)]

The NHS currently employs 21,030 nurses from the EU—6.6% of the total number of nurses in the workforce—while a further almost 90,000 EU citizens work in the social care sector across the UK. They all do a fantastic job, and we have been clear that we want them to be able to stay post-Brexit.

[Mr Carmichael]

What is the Minister going to do to achieve that then?

[Mr Dunne]

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has discussions with Cabinet colleagues handling the negotiations, and I am sure that his messages are being well heard across Government.

Shipbuilding on the Clyde

Debate between Philip Dunne and Alistair Carmichael

Monday 25th April 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Dunne]

We have made it very clear that British Government procurement policies are being adopted by the Ministry of Defence. In all our contracts where steel is involved, we are looking to provide for contractors to ensure that British steel manufacturers have an opportunity to bid. In that respect, the only change is that there are perhaps greater opportunities since we implemented that new policy than there were before.

[Mr Alistair Carmichael (Orkney and Shetland) (LD)]

The workforce on the Clyde are highly skilled and motivated men and women, and I really do wish that the focus of the House this afternoon could be on preserving their futures and livelihoods, instead of on other considerations. With that in mind, will the Minister assure me that, between the end of the construction of the offshore patrol vessels and the start of work on the Type 26 frigates, everything will be done to ensure continuity, because it is in our national strategic interest to ensure that the workforce is maintained?

[Mr Dunne]

I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for focusing his question on that important subject, and I agree that the workforce on the Clyde are highly skilled; indeed, I make a point of meeting the trade union representatives of shipbuilders on the Clyde, and I did so last month. The short answer to his question is yes. The five offshore patrol vessels—three of which are in build, and two of which we added as part of the SDSR—do provide continuity between the Type 45s and the aircraft carrier blocks, as they finish being produced on the Clyde, and the beginning of work on the Type 26s.