Oral Answers to Questions

John Bercow Excerpts

Tuesday 24th February 2015 Commons Chamber

[Several hon. Members]

rose—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. May I gently remind the House that the question is not about staff per se in the NHS? The question is about people made redundant and subsequently re-employed. Attention to detail tends to profit a Member.

[Meg Hillier (Hackney South and Shoreditch) (Lab/Co-op)]

Those of us on the Public Accounts Committee have heard about the industrial scale of this revolving door of people going out of one job and into another with a fat redundancy payment. Does this not show that the Government have lost their grip on what is truly important in the NHS, which is paying front-line clinicians to serve patients?

[Dr Poulter]

That is extraordinary. The Public Accounts Committee will be aware that these redundancy terms were introduced by the previous Labour Government in 2006. We are committed to changing them and I hope that the hon. Lady’s party will support us in exerting pressure on the unions to support the pay deals on the table that will introduce an £80,000 redundancy cap.

[Mr Speaker]

Ms Johnson, do you have a similar question?

[Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)]

21. Yes, Mr Speaker; I am grateful. I want to ask about the number of nurses who have been made redundant. Lots of hospitals in my area are now recruiting from Spain, and I wonder whether an assessment has been made of the cost to the NHS of using nurses from abroad after making other nurses redundant.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Jamie Reed (Copeland) (Lab)]

Cancer scanning services in Cheshire and Staffordshire have recently been subjected to a competitive tendering process, and the contract was awarded to Alliance Medical, despite its bid being £7 million more expensive than the NHS bid. Can the Secretary of State explain why the more expensive private sector bid was chosen over the better value NHS bid to provide these services? Will he commit to investigating the bidding process to ensure that the tender was conducted fairly? [Interruption.] He is chuntering from a sedentary position, but will he today confirm, because this is a matter of profound public interest, that no contact of any sort took place between his Department and the board of Alliance Medical with regard to this decision, including at any point with the current board member, the right hon. and learned Member for Kensington (Sir Malcolm Rifkind)?

[Mr Speaker]

Order. That was a considerable essay to which a pithy but comprehensive response is expected. The House seeks it.

[George Freeman]

I admire the hon. Gentleman’s chutzpah but it ill behoves him to talk to us about privatisation; it was his party that led to the increases and it is this Government who have stopped it, and he needs to acknowledge that. On the facts, in December the NHS in England performed more than 130,000 more diagnostic tests compared with December 2013. I note that he did not talk about Wales, where 24% of patients have waited more than eight weeks for their diagnostic test—the comparative figure is 2% of patients in England.

[Mr Speaker]

Order. The question was about Chester, so there was no particular reason to talk about Wales.

[Paul Uppal (Wolverhampton South West) (Con)]

5. What assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the most recent rates of cancer survival.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Speaker]

The hon. Member for Barrow and Furness (John Woodcock) seems to be enjoying a very close relationship with his mobile phone. I hope that it profits both of them

[Derek Twigg (Halton) (Lab)]

On the early detection of cancer, will the Secretary of State consider putting more resources into socially deprived areas such as Halton where the incidence of cancer is higher?

--- Later in debate ---

[Mary Macleod (Brentford and Isleworth) (Con)]

16. What his priorities are for improving mental health care.

[Mr Speaker]

Minister Lamb.

[The Minister of State, Department of Health (Norman Lamb)]

Mr Speaker, you sounded a note of tedium in calling my name again.

[Mr Speaker]

I feel no sense of tedium but almost a state of ecstasy upon calling the right hon. Gentleman. If I gave any other impression, I most heartily apologise to him. I hope that he is now assured of his status in the affections of the Chair, if, possibly, also of the House? There might have to be a Division on that proposition. I do not know.

[Norman Lamb]

I am so grateful to be reassured, Mr Speaker.

Mental health is a priority for this Government. We have legislated for parity of esteem between mental and physical health, invested £400 million in talking therapies, significantly reduced the numbers of people who are placed in police cells during mental health crises and are introducing the first waiting times standards for mental health services from April this year.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Secretary of State for Health (Mr Jeremy Hunt)]

At the end of this Parliament, and before returning, I trust, to the same side of this Chamber in late May, I am pleased to update the House on NHS work force numbers. On the back of a strong economy, our NHS now has more doctors, nurses and midwives than ever before in its history, including 7,500 more nurses and 9,500 more doctors. The result is 9 million more operations during this Parliament than the previous Parliament, fewer people waiting a long time for their operations, and a start in putting right the scandal of short-staffed wards that we inherited and were highlighted by the Francis report. Indeed, last year the Commonwealth Fund said that under this Government the NHS has become the safest, most patient-centred and overall best health care system in any major country.

[Mr Speaker]

Let me point out that topical questions and answers should be brief. It is a rank discourtesy—[Interruption.] Order. It is a rank discourtesy to the House to expatiate at length and thereby to deny other Members the chance to put their questions. It will not happen. Simple, short, factual answers are what is required.

[Sir Nick Harvey]

In the past couple of days, a number of Devon and Cornwall hospitals have declared black alert status, meaning, essentially, that they are full and cannot cope with any more demand. Do Ministers therefore understand the public concern that the clinical commissioning group is considering closing beds in community hospitals, including Ilfracombe and South Molton in my constituency? Can anything more be done to help rural health economies that are trying to restructure but already struggling to cope with existing demand?

--- Later in debate ---

[Several hon. Members]

rose—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I am sorry to disappoint remaining colleagues, but as usual demand has exceeded supply.