Children and Families Bill

Simon Kirby Excerpts

Monday 10th February 2014 Commons Chamber

[Jane Ellison]

Thank you very much, Mr Deputy Speaker. Clearly there will be a lively debate about this provision, and I wish to draw my remarks to a conclusion soon—

[Simon Kirby (Brighton, Kemptown) (Con)]

Will the Minister give way?

[Jane Ellison]

I am just responding to another intervention. Let me deal with that one before I take another. Clearly there will be a debate about this provision. The Government have sought to reflect the views expressed in another place by introducing an amendment that is technically workable. There will be a debate on it, we will see what the view of the House is and we will take our steer on the principle of the issue having heard the views of both Houses.

[Simon Kirby]

Will the Minister assure me that if this amendment is passed, it will be only part of the solution and that we should continue to educate people of the dangers of passive smoking?

[Jane Ellison]

My hon. Friend anticipates some of my next remarks, and I agree wholeheartedly with what he says.

The amendment would amend existing smoke-free legislation in the Health Act 2006 to make it clear that the Secretary of State and Welsh Ministers have the powers to make regulations to provide for a private vehicle to be smoke-free when a person under the age of 18 is present. During the passage of the 2006 Act, Ministers at the time said they did not want to use the powers in that legislation to make private vehicles smoke-free. This amendment, if enacted by Parliament, would make it clear that regulations could be made, if the Government so decided, to prohibit smoking in private vehicles carrying children.

Oral Answers to Questions

Simon Kirby Excerpts

Tuesday 14th January 2014 Commons Chamber

[Dr Poulter]

I hope the hon. Lady will be pleased to hear that under the current Government we have reduced locum costs to the NHS by about £400 million. That is, of course, good medical practice: it is good for patients to receive better continuity of care from permanent doctors. In A and E, specifically, we have seen the work force grow by more than 350 since 2010.

[Simon Kirby (Brighton, Kemptown) (Con)]

Last week, my son had to visit A and E in Brighton and spent the week in hospital. Will the Minister join me in thanking the hard-working doctors and nurses, including locums, in Brighton for their outstanding care and dedication, and for the excellent service they provide?

[Dr Poulter]

Yes. My hon. Friend will be aware that I have a particular knowledge of his local trust. I pay tribute to the dedication of the many high-quality front-line staff working there, and to those who put in extra hours to work as locums, usually from within the existing trust work force, who often have to cover maternity leave and other periods of staff sickness.

Gay-to-straight Conversion Therapy

Simon Kirby Excerpts

Wednesday 20th November 2013 Westminster Hall

[Sandra Osborne]

I agree, and I will go into that further. Conversion or reparative therapy is the attempt by individuals, often posing as professionals, to alter the sexuality of lesbian, gay or bisexual patients. Virtually every major national and international professional organisation has condemned the practice as ineffective and potentially extremely harmful to patients.

[Simon Kirby (Brighton, Kemptown) (Con)]

I want to place on the record the fact that I am proud to represent some 6,000 gay men in my constituency, and that conversion of any sort is unacceptable in this day and age.

[Sandra Osborne]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention.

The prevalence of conversion therapy in Britain has been the subject of recent interest in Parliament. Hon. Members will have received a recent communiqué from the pro-conversion group, Core Issues, calling on us not to support the private Member’s Bill introduced by my hon. Friend the Member for Swansea West on the regulation of counsellors and psychotherapists. The people in Core Issues are the very same who tried and, fortunately, failed to put up posters on London buses advertising conversion therapy. On 30 January, alongside Christian Concern, they hosted a debate on conversion therapy in a Committee Room of this House. One of the speakers at that debate, Canadian psychiatrist Dr Joseph Berger, is on the record as advocating the bullying of cross-dressing children in schools.

Oral Answers to Questions

Simon Kirby Excerpts

Tuesday 8th March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lansley]

I remind the hon. Lady again that next year we are increasing NHS resources in real terms. There will be a 3% increase across England in resources for primary care trusts, and as she will know, PCT managers in London are being brought together into PCT groupings. I do not understand the survey. They have a responsibility both to improve clinical commissioning by supporting their GP groups, which are coming together across London to do this, and to ensure strong financial control.

[Simon Kirby (Brighton, Kemptown) (Con)]

How can the Secretary of State ensure that HIV and sexual health services receive sufficient local political attention?

[Mr Lansley]

Local attention, through the public health responsibilities that currently lie with PCTs, but which in future will lie with local authorities, is a means by which we can improve health and the health of some of the groups most at risk of HIV. We have a number of pilot schemes that my hon. Friend might know about and that we are currently assessing, which have looked at opportunistic HIV screening for the many people who are currently undiagnosed with HIV. That is encouraging, and we might well be able to follow up on it.

Oral Answers to Questions

Simon Kirby Excerpts

Tuesday 7th December 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Burns]

I fully appreciate the hon. Gentleman’s concern, because particularly at this time of the year and throughout the winter months there is both an extra duty on the NHS and an increased problem. I can assure him that for over a month now, as is the custom, the NHS has been meeting regularly to plan for the winter and ensure that we have the services in place to help those who suffer falls or illnesses due to the inclement weather.

[Simon Kirby (Brighton, Kemptown) (Con)]

5. On what date he expects to make an announcement on compensation for those infected by contaminated blood products supplied by the NHS.

[The Minister of State, Department of Health (Paul Burstow)]

In October we announced a review of a number of aspects of Lord Archer’s recommendations, including the level of ex gratia payments and the mechanism by which they are made, access to insurance, prescriptions charges and access to nursing and other care services. The Under-Secretary of State for Health, my hon. Friend the Member for Guildford (Anne Milton), expects to report the outcomes of the review by the end of the year.

[Simon Kirby]

I thank the Minister for his answer. Does he believe that, after all the years of inaction, that will draw a line under the matter?

[Paul Burstow]

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right to indicate that the matter has not been dealt with thoroughly for many years, and that is why the Government have launched the review. Obviously I cannot pre-empt its outcomes, but we will bring it to the House as soon as we can.