Business of the House

Rachael Maskell Excerpts

Thursday 27th April 2023 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

I thank my hon. Friend for all the work she has done in championing this issue and in supporting Dogs Trust, which does a huge amount of good work in this area. She will know that the action plan for animal welfare includes commitments to pursuing the licensing of animal sanctuaries and rescue and rehoming centres for cats, dogs and horses; I will certainly ensure that the relevant Department hears her concerns.

[Rachael Maskell (York Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

Residents of Acomb and Westfield were hopeful about York’s £5.8 million shared prosperity fund award for much-needed regeneration, but then horrified to wake up to find that £400,000 of it had been squandered on a half-paved high street barricaded by 136 bollards. Can we have a statement on how the Government are scrutinising that much-needed fund? York residents want to know why York’s Lib Dem and Green councillors have been allowed to waste even more public funding on a barricade of bollards.

[Penny Mordaunt]

I am sorry to hear that. The hon. Lady will know that, as well as the checks and balances in place for awarding the funding, there are evaluation works that go on. I am sorry that that is not delivering a better impact for her local residents. I shall ensure that the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities hears her concerns, as the next questions are not until 5 June, and I encourage the local authority to ensure that it is doing something worthwhile with the sizeable chunk of money that it has secured.

Business of the House

Rachael Maskell Excerpts

Thursday 9th March 2023 Commons Chamber

[Rachael Maskell (York Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

The state of our railways is deeply concerning, with rising passenger costs set against poor service delivery on the TransPennine Express. In York, our digital and advanced rail cluster is being held back by the delayed Government announcement about the Great British Railways headquarters. Can we have a statement to set out how the Government are going to fix our broken rail network and unlock GBR?

[Penny Mordaunt]

I thank the hon. Lady for that statement. She knows that there may be announcements coming forward on related matters—I do not know, but it might be something that the Chancellor touches on in the Budget statement. Transport questions are a little way off, so I shall write to make sure that the Secretary of State has heard her concerns.

Business of the House

Rachael Maskell Excerpts

Thursday 23rd February 2023 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

I thank the hon. Lady, who has a track record of raising awareness on a variety of issues, to the benefit of us all. I shall certainly make sure that the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has heard her keenness to promote these important health messages. She will know how to apply for an Adjournment debate—we might be having more of those if I follow the suggestion from my hon. Friend the Member for Christchurch (Sir Christopher Chope)—or she can apply to the Backbench Business Committee to secure the debate she wants.

[Rachael Maskell (York Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

Investment in public health matters. In my constituency, we have a 10-year differential in life expectancy. However, the White Paper on health disparities has been scrapped, we do not have the tobacco control plan, there is no follow-on alcohol strategy and the public health workforce has been decimated. Given that the public health grant runs out in 36 days, can we have an urgent statement on what on earth this Government are doing about public health?

[Penny Mordaunt]

I thank the hon. Lady for raising that important point. She will know that I cannot comment on what is in the Budget, but I shall make sure the Chancellor has heard her concerns, and I am sure she has made representations to him. She will know that we are focused on particular aspects of healthcare at the moment, to ensure that we have the diagnostics we need to reduce waiting lists, but she is right: public health is key to this. It is absolutely key to prevention, which will be a fundamental part of ensuring a thriving NHS into the future, and I shall make sure the Secretary of State has heard her concerns.

Business of the House

Rachael Maskell Excerpts

Thursday 12th January 2023 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for raising this issue. I completely agree that it is not in anyone’s interest—particularly given all that we are doing to keep people active and healthy—for charges to be hiked enormously for access to swimming pools and other facilities. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State is looking at all these issues, including with other Departments, to see what we can do to future-proof such facilities, ensuring that they are the most energy efficient that they can be. I will flag up my hon. Friend’s concerns with the Departments involved.

[Rachael Maskell (York Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

Further to the question asked by my right hon. Friend the Member for Leeds Central (Hilary Benn), 600,000 people last year were put on to prepayment meters. It is expected that another 160,000 will be this winter. People in fuel poverty pay a premium for that, and every 10 seconds someone is cut off. A Government statement on prepayment meters is long overdue. Can we please have one urgently, because we need to scrutinise exactly what the Government are doing to protect the most vulnerable people from fuel poverty?

[Penny Mordaunt]

Further to the answer I gave a little while ago, I will certainly raise this with the Department. There are concerns not just about the practice of putting people on to those payment systems but about some of the billing by companies and the timeliness of Government support being passed on to those people. There is a raft of issues, which I will raise with the Department.

Christmas Adjournment

Rachael Maskell Excerpts

Tuesday 20th December 2022 Commons Chamber

[Rachael Maskell (York Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

The nurses are striking, and the people are rising up in support of them. They are striking for the first time in more than 100 years, and it was of course completely avoidable. It could be avoided, if only the Government would negotiate. These professional, loving, caring nurses would prefer to be tending their patients, but instead are taking action because it is unsafe on those wards. If more of them leave, pressure builds, and then even more leave. It is a vicious cycle. They are the canary in the mine, and the Government must heed the warning of these strikes. There are 7.2 million people on waiting lists, sickness levels are rising, and A&E waiting time targets have not been met since April 2021. There are 133,000 vacancies in the NHS, and the staff are burning out.

Poor pay has an impact on retention. Staff cannot afford to work in the NHS, and those who remain are under such pressure that they are walking too. Holding on to staff is an impossible task for employers when those staff are not paid the rate that they should receive. As a recent OECD report pointed out, their rate is one of the lowest in Europe. They are paid for four days but expected to work for five. The real-terms pay cut since 2010 has pushed the profession into poverty—a profession that Labour honoured, and one that Labour paid. Band 5 nurses on pay point 23 have lost 20% of their pay since this Government have been in place, while band 6 nurses on pay point 28 have lost 21% in real terms.

The cost of living, the cost of housing, the cost of travel and the cost of just registering to practice clears out nurses’ monthly wage packets, and it is becoming harder to balance the books. Many are now living on the edge. Some retire early, some just walk, and many are turning to agencies where they are paid more to survive for now, although they will lose their pension and other benefits in years to come. Of course, NHS trusts are being ripped off because they have to pay more to the agencies that profit from this crisis. I searched the agencies, and found that a band 5 nurse earning £27,000 a year in the NHS could be earning £32,000 working for an agency. It is a false economy. Instead of paying nurses, the Health Secretary is paying the profiteers, with £4.5 billion spent on temporary staff over the last five years. To date, my local trust has paid £13.8 million, and it will have paid £20 million by the end of the year, while its underspend on employed nursing staff is £13 million. Do the maths: if you pay the staff more, you do not pay the agencies but you retain your staff.

NHS officials are travelling around the globe to recruit nurses. It costs £11,500 per nurse, and many then struggle to live on the poor wages here in the UK. According to the Royal College of Nursing, the NHS is currently carrying 47,496 registered nurse vacancies. That figure does not take account of the non-funded posts that are needed to address the backlog, increased demand and more acute sickness. Some specialties are really struggling: there has been a 46.9% decline in disability nursing, a 47.8% fall in the number of district nurses, and a 32.9% reduction in number of school nurses. The Nursing and Midwifery Council has also seen more people leave the register. We discussed demand this morning at the Health and Social Care Committee; the demand for paramedics has risen by 16% in just three years, and they too will be on strike tomorrow.

There is a way to stop this scandal, plain and simple: pay our nurses and other NHS staff what they are owed. The Secretary of State last met the unions on 15 November, when he avoided talk about pay. Pat Cullen, who has been an amazing leader of the RCN, spoke to him, but he would not discuss pay. On the “Today” programme yesterday, Christina McAnea, Unison’s general secretary, said that she had had just 15 minutes with the Secretary of State five weeks ago, and, of course, pay was not on the agenda. Instead of grandstanding, touring media studios and hiding behind the pay review body, the Secretary of State should be negotiating. Let us be clear: it is the Secretary of State who appoints the pay review body. He and the Chief Secretary to the Treasury provide the pay envelope, the remit and the parameters of that body, and within that straitjacket the PRB works out the best way of distributing the money that it is given on the basis of evidence taken from a range of stakeholders, including NHS employers, umbrella groups and trade unions. There is no negotiation; pay is then imposed. But the unions rejected this proposal as it was fundamentally flawed and fundamentally too low. When the remit was set, inflation was just 4%, there was no war in Ukraine, and there was no reckless Prime Minister losing £30 billion from the economy. Of course, inflation has risen since then.

Let us face it, the reason that NHS workers’ pay is so low is that 76.7% of the workforce are women. There is an institutional assessment that because women are in caring roles they will not stand up for themselves, but they are and their voices must be valued and heard. The Secretary of State must negotiate now. It is no good his saying that there is no more to pay, because he can always find the money when he needs it. If he values the NHS staff, he needs to pay them and to do it quickly. Tomorrow, as the paramedics walk out, other ballots will be coming in. That is why it is so important that these talks get under way. The Government keep quoting ridiculous sums, but until they talk, they do not know the cost. That is the art of negotiation, which this Government seem to have lost.

Poor staffing is costing lives and chasing our NHS staff out of their jobs. The NHS crisis will not be resolved until the staffing crisis is resolved, and the staffing crisis will not be resolved until the pay crisis is resolved. The Chancellor and the Secretary of State need to stop hiding behind the pay review body, come to the table with a bigger envelope and make nurses and all NHS staff the necessary offer to end this dispute, to value the staff and to start addressing the major challenges across the NHS. If they will not do that, a Labour Government will clearly be needed to sort out the NHS. We have always valued the staff and we will always keep patients safe. I want to thank all NHS staff for their tenacity and care, and I wish them all a happy Christmas, as I do to all in this House.

Business of the House

Rachael Maskell Excerpts

Thursday 15th December 2022 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

I am sorry to hear about the difficulties my hon. Friend is having and about how his constituents are being short-changed. He mentions the budget for the mayoral combined authority; it has also received £1.6 million from the local transport authority recovery fund from April to December this year. Levelling Up questions are on 9 January and Transport questions are on 19 January, but in the meantime I shall write to both Secretaries of State to flag up my hon. Friend’s concerns.

[Rachael Maskell (York Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

This morning, I joined nurses—caring, professional and dedicated nurses—on the picket line. They told me that the reason they are going out on strike is the retention issues among their workforce. Staff are leaving because they simply cannot afford to work any more. They are going to agencies, which is costing the NHS even more. It is therefore crucial that the Government stop grandstanding on the issue and hiding behind the pay review body. Instead, I ask the Leader of the House to go to Cabinet and ask the Prime Minister, the Chancellor and the Health Secretary to come to the negotiating table now and settle this pay dispute.

[Penny Mordaunt]

In addition to what I have already said in this session, the Health Secretary understands that there are issues other than pay; it is about the environment and new practices that the Royal College of Nursing wants to bring in. He has said that he is very happy to discuss those matters. Pay increases have to be affordable, and we are always minded of the strength of the workforce going forward, which is why we are pleased that we have record numbers of people wanting to come into nursing.

Business of the House

Rachael Maskell Excerpts

Thursday 8th December 2022 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

I congratulate my hon. Friend and her hospital on raising awareness of the issues that veterans face and on getting this gallant gentleman the care plan that he needs. We are facing a very difficult situation with regard to how Welsh Labour is running the health service, but everything we can do to ensure that patients are getting the care they need, including out in the community, is very welcome, so I thank my hon. Friend.

[Rachael Maskell (York Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

On Monday, the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, who I see is in his place, made a significant announcement about the future of short-term holiday lets. He is bringing in a registration scheme that will appease the industry and landlords, but it will not help our residents. Could we have an urgent statement on the matter so that we can scrutinise the proposals and ensure that the voice of residents is also heard in the debate?

[Penny Mordaunt]

The Secretary of State’s presence on the Front Bench has saved me a stamp, as he will have heard the hon. Lady’s request.

Business of the House

Rachael Maskell Excerpts

Thursday 24th November 2022 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for raising this issue. It is absolutely fundamental that we address it, whether through international campaigns—HeForShe and other campaigns of that nature—or grassroots local campaigns that help provide education, support and opportunities for men, both to help change the culture and to contribute to resolving these ongoing issues. I thank the hon. Gentleman for what he is doing in his constituency, and I hope many Members from across the House will be doing similar.

[Rachael Maskell (York Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

In light of the fact that the Government have been forced to confront the housing crisis that we are seeing, because of the rebellion on the Leader of the House’s own Back Benches, I hear that the Secretary of State is now meeting with Conservative MPs to talk about their issues, as opposed to trying to hear what the issues are in many of our constituencies where we have had a crisis for so long. Can we have a debate on housing in Government time, to inform the future of housing and planning and to address the housing crisis that we see on a daily basis?

[Penny Mordaunt]

This is a matter of considerable concern to many Members. We want to improve the quality of housing; we want everyone to be able to have a warm, secure home that is in good condition; and we want people to have the opportunity to own their own home, too. The Secretary of State’s door is always open to all Members of this House, and I will ensure that he knows about the concerns that the hon. Lady has expressed.

Business of the House

Rachael Maskell Excerpts

Thursday 3rd November 2022 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

I thank my hon. Friend for raising the issue, various aspects of which are obviously of concern to all Members of this House. The Government have a good track record of trying to get ahead of these issues. I refer him to the work done swiftly after 2010, under the Cameron Administration, on conflict states, and the use made of expert advice from Professor Paul Collier. Clearly, we will also face challenges two years hence as a result of what is happening on global food security at the moment. These issues need to be debated. I will certainly raise the matter with the Cabinet Office, as well as the Home Office, and I encourage my hon. Friend to use the routes available to him to secure a debate on this very important topic.

[Rachael Maskell (York Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

Twenty-six per cent. of children in York are living in poverty. Ahead of the Chancellor’s statement, which we are expecting in two weeks’ time, York had a summit this week on the cost of living, where I launched my cost of living handbook to explain where people can both receive help and get help. We need the Chancellor to come forward with that help, because there is not enough money in the system to help the very poorest. Will the Leader of the House make representations to the Chancellor that he needs to increase benefits in line with inflation and to ensure that our civil society has the support it needs to help our communities?

[Penny Mordaunt]

I point to the Prime Minister’s record on this as Chancellor. He has been very clear that he wants to protect people as we face what will be a very difficult winter and beyond. I have just announced that the Chancellor will make a statement very shortly. There is a huge number of support schemes—we are doing a lot to support people—but they are quite complicated, so I congratulate the hon. Lady on bringing them all together in her booklet.

Business of the House

Rachael Maskell Excerpts

Thursday 27th October 2022 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

I thank my hon. Friend for raising that important issue. My hon. Friend the Member for North Devon (Selaine Saxby), is also campaigning on this issue. They should join forces and apply for a debate, and I am sure that other Members of the House would welcome that, too.

[Rachael Maskell (York Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

The housing crisis is being fuelled by the plethora of short-term holiday lets, which, I know, is a matter of concern for Members across the House, but the Government are simply not acting fast enough. The situation is growing in my constituency: I have three times more Airbnbs and short-term holiday lets than the right hon. Member has in her constituency. Can we have an urgent debate on the rise of short-term holiday lets and what the Government will do to stop this?

[Penny Mordaunt]

I thank the hon. Lady for raising that matter, which other Members have also raised recently. I think that I can best be of assistance to her by writing to the Department and asking that it takes this matter up. She will know how to apply for a debate in the usual way, and I know that other Members of the House would support that.