Social Media and Young People's Mental Health

Simon Hart Excerpts

Wednesday 2nd November 2016 Westminster Hall

[Alex Chalk]

I am sure the hon. Gentleman must have had a copy of my speech; the next paragraph says precisely that.

Whereas in the past, children could physically escape their tormentors, nowadays social media make that impossible. The way I put it is that platforms such as Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram bring bullies into the bedroom, so children’s homes are no longer the sanctuaries that they once were.

[Simon Hart (Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire) (Con)]

Does my hon. Friend agree that part of the problem is the anonymity that some of these platforms provide? As our colleague, the hon. Member for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine (Stuart Blair Donaldson), just pointed out, children cannot escape from this kind of bullying, but nor can they necessarily identify the perpetrator. Does my hon. Friend believe, as I do, that the platforms need to do a lot more by way of regulation to try to minimise that?

[Alex Chalk]

I absolutely agree and will be developing those points in due course, because it seems to me that social media providers have to do more. It is no good simply to give us these vague blandishments, saying, “Oh well, you can click to get some advice.” They have to become far more robust about it. The anonymity also creates an element of menace about the whole thing and simply adds to the level of bullying.

The second route is the phenomenon of “compare and despair”. What do I mean by that? I am referring to the fact that young people observe imagery online that can inspire profound feelings of inadequacy. In many cases, they are not yet mature enough to realise that everyone has apparently become their own PR agent: people are increasingly projecting an online image of their lives that is beautiful and perfect in every way, and even though that may be misleading in reality, it may not feel that way to a 12, 13 or 14-year-old.

Health

Simon Hart Excerpts

Monday 9th June 2014 Commons Chamber

[Andy Burnham]

This is the point. The NHS is still struggling to make sense of the mess that the Government inflicted on it. Just when it needed clarity and leadership, what did it get? It got drift and chaos. That is the problem it is struggling to deal with.

The redundancy payments did not only cost £1.4 billion; they have also cost the NHS dearly in lost morale. I ask the Secretary of State to imagine how these redundancy payments and six-figure pay-offs look to the staff to whom he has just denied a 1% pay increase—an increase that would have cost a fraction of that £1.4 billion. The truth is that he does not know how they feel because he refused to meet front-line staff protesting about his decision at the NHS Confederation conference. Well, I did meet them, and I can tell him how they feel. They find it truly galling and feel that they have been singled out by the Secretary of State, whose decision seems like a calculated snub. May I suggest that he urgently reconsider this approach and find the time to sit down with staff representatives? Right now, a fragile NHS simply cannot afford a further drop in staff morale. The Chancellor promised this increase and the pay review body judged it affordable; the Secretary of State should honour it.

The truth is that a whole lot more is needed if the NHS is to be put back on track. It finds itself today in a dangerous place. It is facing escalating problems but has a Government who will not talk about them.

[Simon Hart (Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire) (Con)]

I want to alert the House as to why the right hon. Gentleman has not at any stage mentioned the performance of NHS Wales, which on every measurement but one is underperforming its equivalent in England, and which is run not by a previous Labour Government but a current Labour Government.

Tobacco Products (Standardised Packaging)

Simon Hart Excerpts

Thursday 3rd April 2014 Commons Chamber

[Jane Ellison]

We have sought at all times to keep the devolved Administrations aware of progress in this area, and our officials have spoken to officials in those Administrations about the matter. I hope to have the chance to speak to fellow Health Ministers in the next 24 hours, and if we proceed to bring forward the draft regulations, those are the points we will clarify.

[Simon Hart (Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire) (Con)]

The Minister will be aware that it is already an offence to smoke in public under the age of 16 and to purchase tobacco under the age of 18. Would it be a good start to ensure that the current laws work before we start imposing new ones?

Cancer Care (England and Wales)

Simon Hart Excerpts

Tuesday 12th February 2013 Westminster Hall

[Alun Cairns]

My hon. Friend makes a valid point about screening and awareness. Today I want to focus on treatment, but awareness and screening are exceptionally important and no doubt warrant another debate.

[Simon Hart (Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire) (Con)]

My hon. Friend has in some respects taken the words out of my mouth. To what extent does he attribute some of the differences between England and Wales to a problem of education and diet, as well as to the problems of treatment and early diagnosis?

[Alun Cairns]

My hon. Friend raises an important point about diet. There are historical and social issues. Diets and issues like that are relevant and also need wider consideration, perhaps in another debate that my hon. Friend may choose to nominate.

Antibiotics (Intensive Farms)

Simon Hart Excerpts

Wednesday 9th January 2013 Westminster Hall

[Zac Goldsmith]

I do, and I will be coming to that point as well, but I absolutely agree with the hon. Lady’s intervention.

Clearly, we need to continue with efforts to reduce the inappropriate use of antibiotics by doctors, but the European Food Safety Authority was spot-on—I do not often say that—last year when it warned that

“it is…of high priority to decrease the total antimicrobial use in animal production in the EU.”

To date, the UK Government’s antibiotic resistance strategy, as I have said, has focused exclusively on over-prescribing by doctors, with zero mention of antibiotics in the livestock industry. Although they have spent money trying to understand why we are seeing a rise in bacterial infections, they are spending nothing, as far as I know, to understand the rise in resistance, which is clearly the issue of importance.

The Department of Health is currently developing its new cross-Government, five-year antimicrobial resistance strategy and action plan for 2013 to 2018, so I ask the Minister these questions today. Will she promise that it will give significant consideration to the use of antibiotics on farms and to the link between farm use and resistance? Will the Government work with the veterinary profession and the agricultural industry, as they have done in recent years with the medical profession? Does she agree that we need better data on antibiotic use, published by antibiotic family and by animal species, as is already done in France? If we do not know the type and quantity of antibiotics used and how they are used, there is very little chance of our being able to understand the emergence of resistance.

Furthermore, will the Minister lobby vigorously her ministerial colleagues at DEFRA to take urgent action to restrict the prophylactic use of antibiotics, to limit the prescription and use of antimicrobials for the herd treatment of animals to cases in which a vet has assessed that there is a clear clinical justification and to limit the use of critically important antibiotics to cases in which no other type of antimicrobials will be effective?

Will the Minister call on DEFRA to ban the use of fluoroquinolone antibiotics in poultry production to reduce the risk of antibiotic resistance in E. coli, campylobacter and other infections in humans? Incidentally, it is worth pointing out that campylobacter is the most common cause of food poisoning in the UK, affecting some 350,000 people a year, and poultry is the source of between 50% and 80% of those cases. A ban of that sort would bring the UK into line with the US, where the Food and Drug Administration stopped the use of those antibiotics in poultry in 2005, because of increasing resistance in campylobacter. Denmark, Finland and Australia also do not use fluoroquinolones in poultry. All those countries have lower levels of resistance in humans.

I mentioned Denmark, and it is worth taking a moment to consider the Danish situation. The latest Danish disease surveillance report showed that, although the presence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the country’s pig population had decreased since the tighter restrictions came into effect, including the banning of cephalosporins, the level of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in meats being imported into the country is higher than in its domestic meat. Nearly half the tested samples of chicken meat imported into Denmark in 2011 contained resistant bacteria. The Danish Government, quite rightly, have taken their concerns to Brussels, complaining that their national approach has been undermined by other EU states’ continued overuse of antibiotics.

Almost certainly, excessive antibiotic use on farms is linked to the intensive manner in which animals are kept. Improving animal health and welfare by limiting overcrowding and the worst excesses of factory farming must therefore become key components of the Government’s antibiotic resistance strategy. Disease prevention should be achieved through good hygiene, husbandry and housing, without recourse to the regular prophylactic use of antimicrobials—a point that has been made by two hon. Members. I recognise that factory farming interests have wielded enormous influence on Government policy for many years and that any move to restrict the use of antibiotics today will be fiercely resisted by them.

[Simon Hart (Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire) (Con)]

Does my hon. Friend have any evidence to suggest that this problem is more prevalent in what he describes as factory farming than in what I would call farming more generally?

[Zac Goldsmith]

I thank my hon. Friend for his intervention. I will come to that point in about 20 seconds if he does not mind, because I want to demonstrate the vigour with which the industry has in the past resisted and will continue to resist any change such as I have described. Indeed, I had a briefing yesterday from the British Poultry Council that included some fascinating statements. In it, the BPC says:

“There is no scientific evidence that intensive farming systems contribute more to the overall risk of antibiotic resistance than extensive farming systems.”

On the contrary, two DEFRA-funded reports find that antibiotic resistance is roughly 10 times lower in organic chickens and pigs than in conventional equivalents. The BPC says in the same report:

“The industry is not aware of any recent evidence that ESBLs”—

extended-spectrum beta-lactamases—

“(E.COLI) are increasing in chicken farms across the UK.”

Veterans (Mental Health)

Simon Hart Excerpts

Wednesday 7th March 2012 Westminster Hall

[Guy Opperman]

I entirely endorse that point. Although it is incumbent upon Members of this House to raise the profile of this issue and to try to disseminate information about the types of health care support that exist, it is also incumbent upon the relevant health trusts and authorities to ensure that in future a degree of information is passed down the net to individual GPs and action teams, particularly those teams dealing with alcohol abuse, so that the organisations in the regions are able to support the veterans who are out there.

I have worked with a charity called Veterans in Action. It involves some constituents of mine in Northumberland but it also involves servicemen and women who are based in Lancashire and all over the country, who are attempting to do various things. For example, they have a pilot project with the Lancashire Drug and Alcohol Action Team that involves meeting up with GPs to work with them and trying to do exactly the sort of thing that my hon. Friend the Member for Brigg and Goole (Andrew Percy) has outlined.

However, the worry is that, although individual groups in our constituencies are all doing very good work to provide a degree of assistance to veterans, there is no overarching body providing global support. What often happens, therefore—for example it has happened with Veterans in Action, which was set up in my constituency and is now working throughout the country—is that the individual soldiers effectively get fed up with the process and decide to provide support themselves.

I supported what the previous Government did. They were working to do a great deal more than had previously been done. Successive Governments have improved care for veterans over time. But the “Fighting Fit” report and the work done by my hon. Friend the Member for South West Wiltshire (Dr Murrison) have clearly taken things to the next stage and a better level.

I will digress slightly, because in my constituency I have the Albemarle barracks and the Otterburn ranges, troops from my constituency are serving on a regular basis in Afghanistan with the 39 Regiment Royal Artillery, and the Ridsdale ranges provide all the weapons that are tested before the soldiers use them. I also have a large number of constituents who have served in the forces. For example, many Falklands veterans live in my constituency and have come to see me because of the experiences that they have suffered and the lack of support that they have experienced. That was under a different Government and, frankly, I am not here to criticise any Government. However, there is no question but that the degree of support given to the Falklands veterans was limited compared with the support that we are giving to the veterans who are returning from Afghanistan now. Things have got better.

[Simon Hart (Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire) (Con)]

Further to the point made by the hon. Member for Newport West (Paul Flynn), I wanted to say that in the 30 years following the Falklands conflict—it is rather timely to make this point, this year being the anniversary—more soldiers were reported to have committed suicide after the conflict than had actually died in the conflict itself.

NHS Risk Register

Simon Hart Excerpts

Wednesday 22nd February 2012 Commons Chamber

[Simon Hart (Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire) (Con)]

What an exasperating and frustrating afternoon it has been—for three reasons. First, for the past six hours we have been subjected to the absurd claim from Opposition Members that only they have a monopoly on good sense, compassion and organisational skills when it comes to the NHS. What a ridiculous claim to make. No party is able to make it—ours or theirs; this is a joint effort, and it demeans patients and NHS staff to claim otherwise.

The second frustrating thing about the debate is that I came here to hear about what we could do for patients, but all I have heard is what we can do about Labour party politics. That is no way for an Opposition day debate to be conducted. Those watching it will wonder why on earth we came to discuss that instead of the important reforms that the Bill contains.

Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, I come here as someone who lives under a devolved Administration. If ever there was an example to demonstrate why reform of the NHS is required, it is Labour’s record as an Administration in Cardiff, where the health service falls solely under their jurisdiction. In Wales, there is an 8.4% reduction in health spending during the lifetime of this Parliament, amounting to £534 million; 27% of people wait more than six weeks for diagnostic services, compared with 1% in England; the number of patients waiting to start treatment has risen by 45% since the election; and the number of patients waiting longer than 36 weeks to start treatment has more than doubled in the past 12 months. That is what one gets with a Labour Administration in charge of the health service, and that is why these reforms are necessary. The debate should have been about those statistics rather than the spurious subject of the risk register that was put before us.

My hon. Friend the Member for Kingswood (Chris Skidmore) put his finger on the matter when he described the register as being out of date. There is nothing particularly new about risk registers. They occur across all Departments of Government, and similar things happen all over the private sector. They are tools of risk management, not tools of party political PR or political one-upmanship, or devices to prop up one leader or another in one political party or another.

There is a fine line between being open and transparent and being irresponsible. It would be irresponsible to put the morale of NHS workers at risk or to scare patients and their families. The Government are absolutely right to resist this proposal, and Members will be right to reject the motion.

Obesity

Simon Hart Excerpts

Wednesday 9th November 2011 Westminster Hall

[Mr Campbell]

I thank my hon. Friend for bringing us back to basics with a Northern Ireland and Scotland perspective on that. That is true.

I do despair when, for example, I see very few people exercising between October and March or April, and even fewer children.

[Simon Hart (Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire) (Con)]

The hon. Gentleman will be aware, as I am, that part of the problem lies in the Department for Education, not the Department of Health. One of the obstacles to kids exercising is that teachers do not want to take them out of the classroom because of the raft of health and safety obstacles in the way. We need to address that in this Chamber as much as we do the health aspects.

[Mr Campbell]

I knew that the dreaded health and safety would come in at some point, and I am glad that the hon. Gentleman managed to get it in. I agree with him totally. Many teachers, administrators and principals would dearly love to get their children to exercise more, but they know that all the dreaded health and safety boxes have to be ticked.

--- Later in debate ---

[Andrew Bingham (High Peak) (Con)]

Thank you for giving me the chance to speak in the debate, Mrs Riordan. I had not applied to speak until I arrived today. I congratulate the hon. Member for East Londonderry (Mr Campbell) on securing the debate. Obesity is a problem that we underestimate at our peril. We have heard from Members who are medical people—I am not one of them—and have heard figures about the increase in obesity and the problems being stored up for the country. Those problems are to do with both physical well-being and the economy. Late onset diabetes, which can be related to obesity, will have an impact on health spending in the future, for example.

The problem has crept up on our society in the past 10 or 15 years. We have talked about diet, and I am at a slight advantage because I spent two years training to be a chef many years ago. To this day I always try to cook myself a balanced meal, although since being elected—other hon. Members’ experience will no doubt chime with mine—there is a tendency on getting back to the flat to get a little lazy and reach for the frozen ready meal. That behaviour—the sort of thing we are probably guilty of—is what pervades the country. As people cook less, they tend to eat less healthily. We have already heard discussions about school cookery classes. I tend to agree with my hon. Friend the Member for North Swindon (Justin Tomlinson) that those classes should be a staple part of children’s education.

As to the cost of ready meals, we have all been to the big-name supermarkets, where there are buy-one-get-one-free offers, ready meals for £1 and so on. I often have an argument with people outside this place about the fact that I still think it is cheaper to cook a balanced meal than to buy a ready meal, whatever its price. Fruit and vegetables are not expensive; they can be bought and prepared quite cheaply. The difficulty is that people are so busy—or the perception is that they are so busy—that they say, “I haven’t got time.” They prefer, as my hon. Friend the Member for North Swindon said, to do microwave cooking—three minutes, and ping. It is a question of education. We need to educate people to understand that it is quite simple to cook a balanced meal and live on a balanced diet.

I was visited some time ago by a constituent who came up with an idea called the Diet Plate. It is a fantastic idea—a plate that is portioned. If someone puts the relevant food group on the right portion of the plate it will be a balanced meal. Kay Illingworth was named in the British female inventor of the year awards in 2002 for that invention. I was given one, which I have in my office, and I am sure that hon. Members will realise, from looking at me, that I use it every day. It is a really good product, which looks nice and is made in this country. It demonstrates how to balance a meal and is a great way of educating people.

We have talked about sedentary lifestyle. I, like my hon. Friend the Member for North Swindon, remember the days of jumpers-for-goalposts football—kicking the ball around in the street, playing cricket in the summer, and so on. I still think that a lot of young people like physical activity. I spent 12 years as a councillor on High Peak borough council. We have a new all-weather football pitch in Hadfield. Hon. Members who know the area will know that someone coming down the road can see the floodlights, and every night there are dozens of people playing there. We used to do summer sports in the school holidays, to use the school facilities that were lying idle. Young people like to get out and play physical sport, and we need to encourage that as much as we can. There are two strings to this: it is not only what people eat, but how they burn it off. If the energy is not burned off, what is eaten becomes more important.

[Simon Hart]

My hon. Friend is making a strong case for children being inspired to take part in sport. Does he have a sense, as I do, that sometimes sponsorship of major sporting events by chocolate or crisp manufacturers creates a slightly false image, by relating unhealthy food to healthy activity? Does he have a view or some advice on that?

[Andrew Bingham]

I was going to come on to other activities shortly. I will watch or take part in sport, but who sponsors it does not chime with me much. However, ideally it would be better for an active product to support a sport. Interestingly, leisure centres all have vending machines full of chocolate. I know from experience that when the chocolate bars are replaced with cereal bars and healthy alternatives, the spend drops, because people like chocolate.

I am fortunate to live in the High Peak, which is a fantastic area with a huge amount of outdoor activity to do, including walking and hiking—the woods to play in. I am lucky, but inner cities do not have a huge playground such as the one I and my constituents have to play in. It is vital that people use leisure centres, and that they are encouraged into them. We can talk about what the Government should or should not do to get people to do that. I agree that the nudge theory will work. We have been subconsciously nudged into the present situation, because people have gone to the quick, easy meal and have taken up a more sedentary lifestyle. We have heard about the PlayStation generation, and we all walk around with BlackBerrys. If texting was good exercise and made people fit, the present generation would be the fittest ever. With young people in particular it is text, text, text. However, that is not active.

Childhood Obesity

Simon Hart Excerpts

Tuesday 3rd May 2011 Westminster Hall

[Simon Hart (Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire) (Con)]

I join the congratulations to my hon. Friend the Member for Brentford and Isleworth (Mary Macleod) on her contribution to the debate, which is important. The problem has reached such a level that we cannot ignore the emerging evidence. I am pleased that we have extended the debate beyond eating to education, diet, labelling and aspiration. I shall dwell a little on my area of interest—physical activity—as other hon. Members have done.

Another issue that has emerged in our debate is the problem of being overweight, in addition to the more technical issue of obesity. Exhibit A is a document from the NHS highlighting the number of overweight children in the four-to-five and 10-to-11 age groups between 2006 and 2009. I shall not go through all the figures, but they show that the problem has risen consistently in the overweight and obese categories. Exhibit B is a helpful response to my parliamentary question to the Minister. It highlights the fact that Government spending on obesity rose from £9 million in 2008-09 to the £36.8 million that is projected for 2010-11. If ever there was an example of the necessity of re-examining the ratio of expenditure to results, that is surely it.

I want to dwell a little on my debate in this Chamber in December 2010 on outdoor learning. It was directed at the Department for Education. Today’s debate, thanks to my hon. Friend, highlights the fact that obesity is probably an issue for every Department, not least the Treasury. A point that I tried to make in the earlier debate was that evidence, not just opinion, is emerging of genuine behavioural improvement in children who are exposed to outdoor learning, which is outdoor education as distinct from outdoor entertainment, which I fear is what some people think it is.

There are encouraging signs regarding school exclusions and the behaviour of children in school when they are exposed to outdoor learning, and there are considerable health benefits, as hon. Members have said, particularly in food sourcing and preparation. Underpinning all that is the critical evidence that I suspect is more relevant now than it has ever been that a massive national saving can be made from investing in the project to reduce obesity, instead of seeing it simply as an expense that we cannot currently afford.

I tried to raise a distressing point during the debate back in December. There is enthusiasm for engaging in outdoor learning, and 86% of children and parents want it, but at the same time 76% of teachers are turning down the opportunity to undertake outdoor learning because of concerns about health and safety risks associated with such trips. However, the evidence shows that there are very few health and safety risks; in fact, risk is low, and the return for teacher, pupil and parent is very high.

I listened with great interest to my hon. Friend the Member for Harlow (Robert Halfon). He talked about the balance to be struck between being libertarian and adopting a hands-off approach to the problem, as well as the seriousness of the situation and what it requires us to do. I want to suggest some scenarios to the Minister, although not necessarily with a view to her coming up with the answers now or requiring her to state on the record what the Government propose. The examples come from my own experience as a parent of two young children aged 11 and nine, very much in the category that is most susceptible to the habits of the 21st century.

If we are serious about this issue, are we content that in April last year alone, 53 million new computer games were launched on to the open market? Are we satisfied by the fact that access to junk food has never been higher than it is this decade? Are we aware how commonplace advertisements for junk food are on children’s television? Are we satisfied by the fact that one incentive to go to a fast food outlet is that of receiving free toys with a meal? My children would be appalled if they heard me say that because one of the greatest incentives for them is what comes with the meal that they get through the car window in a drive-through—I am trying hard to not mention any brand names.

[Nadine Dorries in the Chair]

Are we aware of the extent to which children, particularly those under sixth-form age, go to the local chippy for lunch when they are at school, rather than eating something healthier? Do we know what is in the school lunch boxes that are provided with great care and attention by parents who often have considerable financial difficulties or other stresses?

In healthy schools where a lot of the kids will eat meat and two veg as part of their daily diet, those who bring a packed lunch do not have access to that good food. Let me put in a little plug for Pembrokeshire county council. It has a fantastic school dinner service—I think it is so good that it should be compulsory—and it is free. Are we as a nation satisfied with the propensity of supersize options, where one pays an extra 50p and receives 50% more food? Under current circumstances, and given the statistics that underpin the debate, is that a satisfactory situation?

Finally, is it not a little disingenuous that some of our major sporting events are sponsored by crisp makers and chocolate manufacturers? Is that not like having the Silk Cut London marathon? Are we not turning a blind eye to what such sponsorship means and how it legitimises in the eyes of children not particularly healthy foodstuffs, simply because they are attached to a major sporting event? I do not have the answers to those questions although perhaps other hon. Members will. I am not sure, however, that we can continue to turn away completely from the reality of the problem that is emerging.

The great achievement of this debate—I hope hon. Members will continue to raise other points—is that we are eventually recognising the social, cultural and economic cost to the nation of obesity and overweight children. As other hon. Members have said, the issue crosses all Departments. It is not about “curing” children—not the most appropriate expression—but about early intervention and prevention. I suggest to the Minister, just as I suggested to the hon. Member for Brent Central (Sarah Teather) in the debate last December, that it is not about what we as a nation can afford to do, but about whether we can afford not to address the situation. Evidence clearly shows the damage done by obesity, not only to the prospects of our children, but to those of the nation.