Income Tax (Charge)

Rachel Hopkins Excerpts

Tuesday 5th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Rachel Hopkins (Luton South and South Bedfordshire) (Lab)]

As we all know too well, politics is about choices. The choice in this Budget is clear: five more years of the same failed Conservative policies and more austerity, or change with a Labour Government who will invest in Britain’s future so that we can fix the NHS and rebuild our country.

The Chancellor’s tough but fair choices will benefit so many people across the country, including in my constituency, by delivering on tax commitments to help fund our vital public services. This includes ending both the non-dom tax loophole and VAT tax breaks for private schools so that everyone pays their fair share.

I am pleased to see the £11.2 billion investment in our education system to give every child the best start in life by increasing per-pupil funding in real terms, providing £1 billion in additional support for the SEND system and enabling the roll-out of free breakfast clubs in thousands of primary schools.

For far too long, working people have paid the price for the previous Government’s failures. Whereas the previous Conservative Government focused on funnelling pounds into the pockets of their friends through dodgy covid contracts, this Labour Government have chosen to put pounds in the pockets of working people. The increase in the national living wage to £12.21 is therefore very welcome in my constituency, where over 3,000 people in Luton alone will be better off as a result.

As well as the boost to people’s wages, I am delighted that we will deliver the biggest boost to affordable housing over this Parliament, with a £500 million boost to the affordable homes programme to build up to 5,000 additional affordable homes. Reducing the discounts on the right-to-buy scheme and enabling councils in England to keep all the receipts generated by sales will also deliver on our commitment to protect existing council house stock.

Of course, the NHS is the cornerstone of our public services. Investment in education, jobs and homes will be fruitless if we do not have a healthy population. Our healthcare system was pushed to the brink under the previous Government, with waiting lists for vital scans and operations stretching to months or even years, 24 hour-plus waits in A&E, and the worst staffing crisis in history.

The creation of the NHS was the pride and joy of a post-war Labour Government, and it is a Labour Government who will rebuild it once again by investing an extra £25.6 billion over the next two years. The 40,000 extra elective appointments per week will mean reduced waiting times.

Where previous Budgets felt like reading lines from the same tired script, I can say with pride that this Labour Government’s first Budget really is the start of a new chapter in making Britain better off. It supports better wages, ensures that the NHS is there for people when they need it, and invests in building homes, infrastructure, roads and railways to create wealth and opportunity for all. That is the power of a Labour Government.

NHS: Independent Investigation

Rachel Hopkins Excerpts

Thursday 12th September 2024 Commons Chamber

[Wes Streeting]

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for that question. He is not too far away from me geographically, but he is miles away from me politically, and I always get nervous when he stands up to praise me. We have to keep a sharp eye on value for money. The Darzi report presents some politically challenging messages about NHS management. I could be wildly popular with the country if I stood up and said, “I’m going to take the axe to management across the country and sack loads of managers.” What we need is better management and a sharp eye on value for money. The NHS would not work without good leadership. We have to ensure that we have the right people in the right place, delivering against the public’s expectations, so it is a more nuanced position, but I am sure that what he says will have been heard by his local trust. I will certainly keep an eye on value for money across the country.

[Rachel Hopkins (Luton South and South Bedfordshire) (Lab)]

The Darzi report rightly says that prevention is better than cure, and that public health interventions that protect health are far less costly than tackling the consequences of illness and ill health. Does my right hon. Friend agree that the recklessness and incompetence of the 14 years of Conservative government, stripping millions of pounds from local authorities, which deliver the public health work, has contributed to children being sicker than they were 10 years ago, and adults getting iller sooner?

[Wes Streeting]

My hon. Friend is right, and at some point the Conservatives will have to take responsibility for it. We learned through bitter experience that if we did not change as a party, the country would not choose to change the Government. Long may the Conservatives continue, therefore, with their head in the sand, and long may we continue to get on with the job of clearing up their mess and building an NHS that is fit for the future.

The relationship between the NHS and local government, and between my Department and local government, is of particular importance in relation to social care, which is why I was especially delighted that the Prime Minister chose this week to appoint Tom Riordan, the chief executive of Leeds city council, as second permanent secretary. He is an outstanding public servant with a demonstrable record on health and care integration, public health and prevention. I look forward to having that local government perspective, and local community delivery perspective, at the heart of our Department.

Oral Answers to Questions

Rachel Hopkins Excerpts

Tuesday 23rd April 2024 Commons Chamber

[Kerry McCarthy (Bristol East) (Lab)]

19. What steps she is taking to improve patient access to primary care.

[Rachel Hopkins (Luton South) (Lab)]

21. What steps she is taking to improve patient access to primary care.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Dame Andrea Leadsom)]

We are enormously grateful for the work of GPs in delivering 64 million more appointments nationally than in 2019. Our primary care recovery plan enhances GP access by expanding community pharmacy services nationwide. Some 98% of community pharmacies have signed up to the Pharmacy First offer, with over 125,000 consultations claimed in the first month.

--- Later in debate ---

[Dame Andrea Leadsom]

I certainly do not agree. If Labour were in government, we would see significantly worse outcomes. Covid was a once-in-100-years pandemic, and we have pulled out all the stops to recover from that. It is a huge tribute to all those working in primary care that they have done so well. In the hon. Lady’s ICB— Bristol North, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire —38.4% of all appointments were delivered on the same day they were booked in February this year, and 84% were delivered within two weeks of booking, with 66% of them face to face. These are extremely positive numbers for the 482,000 appointments delivered in February 2024. What is really important is that the number of patient care staff has increased by 656 full-time equivalents since 2019.

[Rachel Hopkins]

I have listened to the Minister’s comments, but the number of patients per GP in the Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes area is nearly 25% higher than the national average. Will the Minister explain why her Government think it is a good idea to cut the proportion of doctors being trained as GPs from around one in three to around one in four?

[Dame Andrea Leadsom]

The hon. Lady is simply wrong. She will be aware that, in fact, our long-term workforce plan is intended to raise the number of training places for GPs to 6,000 by 2031-32. In 2022, we had over 4,000 new GPs apply to take training places—an absolute record. There is much more to do, and I am working with GPs on a future for GP practice taskforce to make sure that we do everything we can, including hiring the 36,000 additional professionals now working in GP practices, in order to relieve the pressure on GPs and deliver much better patient access.

Oral Answers to Questions

Rachel Hopkins Excerpts

Tuesday 5th March 2024 Commons Chamber

[Victoria Atkins]

One of the many ways we have tackled access to dental care is to ensure that those dentists who have a contract to conduct NHS work are using them to the top of their licence. We are encouraging dentists to do that through the new patient premium and a higher rate paid for units of dental activity. There is so much more to the plan. Labour keeps trying to claim credit for our plan, but the truth is that our plan promises 2.5 million appointments while its plan promises a miserly 700,000.

[Rachel Hopkins (Luton South) (Lab)]

It is imperative that we tackle the scourge of mental ill health in children and young people. Labour will ensure access to mental health support in every school and establish an open-access mental health hub in every community, paid for by charging VAT on private school fees. Why will the Government not adopt that plan?

[Maria Caulfield]

I have a news flash for the hon. Lady: we are already doing all that work. Mental health support teams are being rolled out in schools—44% of pupils now have access to a mental health support team, rising to 50% shortly. Over 13,800 schools and colleges now have a trained senior mental health lead. Only last week we announced 24 early support hubs for 11 to 25-year-olds—they will not need a referral; they can drop in. There are 24/7 helplines available that can be accessed through 111. That is what we are doing.

Building an NHS Fit for the Future

Rachel Hopkins Excerpts

Monday 13th November 2023 Commons Chamber

[Rachel Hopkins (Luton South) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to speak in today’s King’s Speech debate on getting the NHS back on its feet. It is clear that the country is crying out for change. We do not mean bringing back one of the architects of austerity, who started 13 years of failure on his watch, to try to help a Conservative party that is out of ideas and has given up on governing. We are seeing stagnant growth, skyrocketing mortgages, crumbling schools and hospitals, and a cost of living crisis, yet the Government’s agenda includes no meaningful action to deal with the past 13 years of failure.

Only Labour is offering true change—a decade of national renewal to overcome the Conservative party’s national decline—with unshakeable commitments to driving economic growth, safer streets, cheaper home-grown British power, better opportunities for all and a rejuvenated NHS. What working people deserve is a good job, a secure home and a safe community. The cornerstone of a good life is our and our family’s health, and at the heart of that is our NHS. This example of socialism in action is the jewel of the British crown, and a proud creation of the post-war Attlee Labour Government. However, that creation has been pushed to breaking point by the Conservatives as the health service is short of 125,000 staff; patients are waiting longer than ever for operations, in A&E or for an ambulance; and NHS staff are forced to use outdated, creaking equipment, which means longer waits for patients. The answer is not to sack healthcare workers by introducing minimum levels of service on strike days.

It is clear that only Labour can rescue the NHS from the biggest crisis in its history, get it back on its feet and make it fit for the future. We can see that already, with the welcome announcement that the Conservatives are finally adopting our plan to train the doctors and nurses the NHS needs. The Secretary of State could have included a few more of our ideas in the King’s Speech, beginning with our plan to provide 2 million more appointments, to be funded by abolishing the non-dom tax status. We would also arm NHS staff with the latest cutting-edge technology and equipment and support more care in the community so that patients are not stuck in hospital. A Labour Government will ensure that the NHS is there when people need it, from cradle to grave in a fairer Britain, allowing everyone to live well for longer.

The King’s Speech sadly confirmed that the Conservatives have shelved the much-needed reform of the Mental Health Act, breaking their 2019 and 2017 manifesto pledges. Rightly, the absence of Mental Health Act reform has been heavily criticised by social work and health leaders and by mental health campaigners. We need a prevention-based approach whereby people can access mental health support in the community when they first need it, rather than having to wait until they reach crisis point. That is why a Labour Government would recruit 8,500 more staff to expand access to talking therapies and cut waiting times. We would provide mental health support in every school and an open-access mental health hub for children and young people in every community. We would fund that by closing interest-tax loopholes and charging VAT on private schools. Accessible and timely mental healthcare is vital to the creation of a healthy society.

Let me take this opportunity to give credit to Luton Borough Council’s 2040 vision: a plan to create a healthy local community in our town, to improve population wellbeing, and to enable everyone to have a good quality of life and reach their full potential, as part of a commitment to become a Marmot town by tackling health inequalities with action on the social factors that impact health. That means embedding health across all policy areas. The covid-19 pandemic further highlighted and exacerbated many health challenges, and widened inequalities that affect health, such as education, housing and employment.

The Government’s 13 years of failure have had a substantial impact on working people’s lives in Luton. Under this Conservative Government, people are struggling to afford to meet their most basic physical needs—to stay warm, dry, clean and fed. How can the UK have a healthy society when the Conservatives are failing to ensure that people have the basics? People deserve the security and opportunity to get on in life, and a good job is an important part of a healthy life.

The Government need to recognise that they are failing to break down the barriers that prevent people from re-joining the workforce. One in seven people in England are waiting for NHS treatment; unaffordable childcare costs are locking parents out of full-time work; the number of young people out of work due to ill health has nearly doubled in a decade; and only one in 10 older or disabled people has had any support to find work. Labour will tackle the root causes of economic inactivity by driving down NHS waiting lists, reforming social security, making work pay and supporting people into good jobs across every part of the country.

A secure home is essential to a healthy life, but the King’s Speech does nothing to tackle the housing emergency in Luton and across the UK. There is no sign of local housing targets or the reform needed to our planning system. Homeowners face eye-watering mortgage rates, young people are struggling to get on the housing ladder, and the dream of home ownership has been snatched away for so many who are stuck paying unaffordable private rents. Labour’s plan for secure homes, including council housing, will put an end to the Conservatives’ housing emergency.

This is the Prime Minister’s first King’s Speech and, much like his predecessors, he has nothing to offer the country other than division and more of the same. Labour has a plan to rebuild Britain and our public services. We respect and understand the effort that millions of people put in every day. They deserve better from politics and government, and they will get it from the next Labour Government’s King’s Speech.

Mental Health Treatment and Support

Rachel Hopkins Excerpts

Wednesday 7th June 2023 Commons Chamber

[Rachel Hopkins (Luton South) (Lab)]

The Conservative cost of living crisis is causing a mental health crisis. People living in poverty or, as we are increasingly seeing, under financial stress and in personal debt are more likely to develop mental illness, as so many hon. Friends have already said. Sadly, children from the poorest 20% of households are four times more likely to have serious mental health difficulties by age 11 than the wealthiest 20%, and after 13 years of Conservative Government our mental health services are at breaking point and patients are being failed. It is important that we talk about mental health in this place because it is a key issue. Like many other Members, I have constituents who are struggling to get the support they and their children need; that is their lived experience and it is right that we hold the Government to account on it.

For children, recent research shows the average CAMHS waiting list in February rocketed by two thirds, and the 400,000 children on mental health waiting lists are waiting an average of 21 weeks for a first appointment. Data from December 2022 shows that children in a mental health crisis spent 7,034 hours in A&E in my Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust area. That is in the context of our Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes Integrated Care Board area having over 15,000 children on mental health waiting lists. This is distressing for both the children and their families.

Turning to adults, Royal College of Psychiatrists research from last October found that 43% of adults with mental illness said that long waiting times had worsened their mental health: 23% had to wait more than 12 weeks to start treatment and many end up turning to A&E departments. Indeed, data from December 2022 shows that adults in the Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust area, including the Luton and Dunstable NHS Hospital, spent over 11,000 hours in A&E.

It is right that I mention the many volunteers who operate in the mental health sphere. It is the end of Volunteers’ Week 2023 so I want to make that shout out, particularly to the brilliant volunteers with the Luton, South Beds and Harpenden Samaritans, who are committed to supporting people struggling to cope or struggling with their mental health through the listening service the Samaritans offers 24 hours a day. If anyone listening to this debate needs support, they should call 116 123 for free from any phone 24 hours a day.

Finally, I want to state my support for Labour’s community-focused preventive plan for mental health so that people will be guaranteed to be seen within one month, there will be 8,500 new mental health staff, with open access mental health hubs in each community and a mental health professional in every school. We need this bold plan; we need it now, and we need a Labour Government to deliver it.

World Menopause Day

Rachel Hopkins Excerpts

Thursday 27th October 2022 Westminster Hall

[Rachel Hopkins (Luton South) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Hollobone. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Swansea East (Carolyn Harris) for her continued work in this area, together with the right hon. Member for Romsey and Southampton North (Caroline Nokes). I also thank the Backbench Business Committee for agreeing to this debate.

Approximately 13 million women in the UK are peri or postmenopausal. Ten per cent of women over 50 quit jobs due to menopause symptoms. Ninety per cent. of women get menopause symptoms, yet women get inadequate support due to the taboo around menopause in work, society and home life, as well as medically. The cost of HRT creates socioeconomic divides in access to support for the menopause, and I reiterate the point made so well about the fact that the Government’s commitment to securing the cost of HRT will not come into place until April 2023. Given the current cost of living crisis, that has a real impact on working-class women in my constituency of Luton South, particularly as the menopause is not a choice.

Similarly to the hon. Member for North Devon (Selaine Saxby), I want to focus on menopause in the workplace. As our workforce age year on year, studies show that around 75% to 85% of menopausal women are in work. It is hugely important to tackle attitudes and policies relating to the menopause in the workplace, to ensure that women are supported and do not feel forced into leaving their positions. We have heard how nearly 1 million women leave the workplace due to menopause every year, and that just exacerbates gender inequality in the workplace and the gender pay gap. There are many employers who are still failing to consider menopause as a proper health condition and who lack supportive policies that help those going through the change.

Women who have experienced the menopause while at work have discussed their frustration at suffering from loss of concentration, brain fog, fatigue, anxiety, hot flushes, sweats or bleeding while they are at work. And the brain fog is real—I can assure the Minister of that.

Many of these symptoms of menopause are taboo, and they have a detrimental effect on women’s position and ability to advance their careers. Many women have said that they are unable to carry out their jobs to the best of their ability due to the impact of the menopause. Seventy-seven per cent. of women say that they experience one or more of its symptoms, which makes it very difficult for them. Sixty-nine per cent. experience difficulties with anxiety or depression due to menopause. Eighty-four per cent. experience trouble sleeping, and 73% experience brain fog, which I have experienced myself.

I urge the Minister to ensure that the Government update and promote guidance for employers on best practice policies on menopause at work and supportive interventions. That should include the economic justification and productivity benefits of doing so, and it should be tailored to organisations of different sizes and resources, to ensure that it is as effective as possible. What interaction has the Minister and his Department had with the TUC and trade unions on this key workplace issue regarding menopause?

Finally, I want to give a shout-out to the women who have supported me as we have all shared our menopause experiences. This is for my menopause massive: Trish, Sarah, Julie, Caz, Liz, Helena, Anne-Laure and Marie. We have all experienced different angles of the menopause and I have learned more from them than from a lot of the stuff that is out there.

East Kent Maternity Services: Independent Investigation

Rachel Hopkins Excerpts

Thursday 20th October 2022 Commons Chamber

[Dr Johnson]

I know my hon. Friend has campaigned hard as both a Minister and a Back-Bench MP for safety in the national health service. On safety at the East Kent trust, we have already talked about the regional team there. There is also a maternity safety support team in the trust working actively on the ground to ensure that lessons are learned and services improved. I have been given some figures that demonstrate that the outcomes are improving. As I said earlier, steps are in place to ensure the quality of service and to feed back the quality of service to ensure that no woman is spoken to in the way described in the report.

From a wider perspective, we are looking at both the workforce as described but also at how we ensure that problems are not just picked up, but developed and followed through. We are also looking at the Kark report that looked at how managers are held responsible. We will talk more about that in due course.

[Rachel Hopkins (Luton South) (Lab)]

Many of my constituents have raised the point that black women in the UK are four times more likely to die in pregnancy and childbirth. Can the Minister explain what action is being taken to end that scandal?

Edenfield Centre: Treatment of Patients

Rachel Hopkins Excerpts

Thursday 13th October 2022 Commons Chamber

[Will Quince]

On the hon. Member’s first question, I am a little cautious only because I am not the responsible Minister, but my understanding—I have not heard this at first hand—is that the first whistleblower complaint was made around Easter. I know that the Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, my hon. Friend the Member for Sleaford and North Hykeham, will write to him on the specifics about the point at which the CQC was first notified.

Is this in any way acceptable? The answer is no. Do we therefore need to look at processes and how the CQC investigated, how it acts and its ability to identify? Yes, of course we do. But, in the same way, going back to my time as Children and Families Minister, I know that when people act in a way in which they know they should not, they deliberately hide that from the authorities and investigative bodies. So we do need to cut the CQC a little bit of slack, because this is often not in plain sight. Where it is, it is easier to identify. However, the hon. Member is right that where there is a whistleblower complaint, we must act, and we must act swiftly.

[Rachel Hopkins (Luton South) (Lab)]

We hear far too often of staff being completely overstretched, with far too many vacancies in mental health services. That was cited as one of the factors in the Edenfield scandal, but it is all too common. The Government were happy to clap for key worker staff, but they refuse to treat them with dignity and respect. Labour has pledged to invest in the NHS mental health workforce. We will recruit 8,500 extra staff. Why will the Minister not make the same commitment?

[Will Quince]

We are absolutely fully committed to attracting, training and recruiting the mental health workforce of the future. Through our plans set out in “Implementing the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health” and “Stepping Forward to 2020/21: the mental health workforce plan for England”, we have expanded and diversified the types of roles available. The hon. Lady asks us for our plans. Our aim is an additional 27,000 mental health professionals in the workforce by 2023-24 to deliver the transformation of mental health services in England that we all want to see.

Women’s Health Strategy for England

Rachel Hopkins Excerpts

Wednesday 20th July 2022 Commons Chamber

[Steve Barclay]

I welcome the hon. Lady’s acknowledgement of the expertise that Professor Dame Lesley Regan brings as ambassador. I think she will be fantastic in that role. A key part of this strategy is addressing the fragmented health system and how that impacts on areas such as contraception. That is why we are having, for example, the women’s health hubs to provide a one-stop shop and centre of expertise so that we can better identify the services that people need.

[Rachel Hopkins (Luton South) (Lab)]

Black women are four times more likely to die during pregnancy and childbirth. What targeted preventive solutions will the maternity disparities taskforce apply to address this totally unacceptable position?