St John Ambulance

Debate between Roger Gale and Mike Wood

Wednesday 22nd January 2014 Westminster Hall

[Mike Wood]

I am grateful for that intervention because it makes my next point for me. In spite of what has happened, and against that background, my understanding is that the organisation nationally—this is certainly my experience locally—has improved its performance. It is training more people and functioning in a much more open fashion, and it has listened and taken note of the report it sought on its governance. As I understand it, the report was independent and said that the organisation was too bureaucratic and complex, that it lacked clear governance policies and lines of accountability and that, essentially, there were too many committees and too many roles. Perhaps that is inevitable in an organisation split over 41 semi-autonomous bodies but, none the less, St John sought to improve that state of affairs after hearing the view of the expert body asked to review it. Again, my group, which is based just over the border into Wakefield, at Ossett, has welcomed the improved situation in which it now functions.

It is also important to look at information from bodies such as the Care Quality Commission. It has continued to provide inspection reports that have shown, certainly in my area, that St John is providing a service of a very high standard. Obviously, if the two hon. Gentlemen from Kent—the hon. Members for North Thanet and for Canterbury—have misgivings about the organisation and management of a St John home in their area, it is their responsibility to make those concerns public. Nobody has any misgivings about that, or any opinion other than that that is exactly the right thing to do. I would have done the same about something in my constituency, but to extrapolate from that a wholesale belief that the organisation is far away from its objectives and delivery targets, as was suggested at the start of the debate, seems to be neither sensible nor safe.

May I make a rather partisan, north-south point? The two hon. Gentlemen from Kent who proposed the debate—they are supported by my hon. Friend the Member for North East Derbyshire (Natascha Engel), who came and went, who I understand was born in Kent—perhaps might just, in their more charitable moments, accept that the world extends beyond Kent. I think that they have to be told that there is life north of Watford.

[Sir Roger Gale]

I spoke for a long time, so I had not intended to intervene further, but I have been goaded into doing so. In response to my hon. Friend the Member for Braintree (Mr Newmark), I made it very clear that I accept that there might be regional variations. I am not sure whether the hon. Member for Batley and Spen (Mike Wood) was back from voting when I referred to not only Kent, but East Sussex, the east midlands and Yorkshire, and quoted people from those areas. Although I accept that the issue may be regionalised and that there may be variations in the nature of the problem, I have to ask him to accept that it is wider than just Kent.

[Mike Wood]

I accept that, although I think I was making a slightly wider point: on most indices, Kent is a rather well-heeled part of Britain, and I think—[Interruption.] I understand that that is not the case for all parts of Kent, but I am talking in the round. I think that part of the problem may be the inability of some in the organisation, and perhaps their representatives, to accept that when resources are under more pressure, especially, their distribution may need to be a little fairer than was previously the case. That would certainly benefit—it appears to have benefited—areas such as mine, which now feel that they are better served than before.

I understand that the intention of the debate is to bring the organisation and its management to the attention of the charity commissioners. Nobody that I have spoken to in St John, and certainly not within my local group, has any problem with that—in fact, they would welcome it in some ways. However, I wanted to put on record a slightly more positive picture of the function of St John around the country.

Finally, I again place on record my thanks to the members of my local group, which is based in Ossett. They have always done a first-rate job and are incredibly valued and welcomed in my locality.