Oral Answers to Questions

John Bercow Excerpts

Tuesday 23rd October 2018 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

Part of the purpose of having a cross-Government suicide prevention Minister is to bring together all these issues. I pay tribute to the work of James’ Place and its founder, Clare Milford Haven. We are spending £30 million of taxpayers’ money to increase the number of health-based places of safety for people experiencing a crisis, and I look forward to working with my hon. Friend on that.

[Mr Speaker]

I call Adam Afriyie.

[Adam Afriyie]

Question 16, Mr Speaker.

[Mr Speaker]

No, the question has been grouped. The moment is now; the chance is here—let us hear from the hon. Gentleman.

[Adam Afriyie]

Thank you, Mr Speaker, for the admonishment, or encouragement—

[Mr Speaker]

Encouragement.

[Adam Afriyie]

Thank you very much.

It strikes me that every person in this Chamber, every one of our constituents and every household across the country will have been affected by the issue of suicide, whether among family, friends or colleagues. The causes of suicide are multi-faceted—there are so many, including mental health—so I welcome the new ministerial responsibility. Will my right hon. Friend clarify precisely what the role will entail in government?

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[Steve Brine]

It is good to see the hon. Gentleman in his place and looking so well—I am glad we looked after him well. He is absolutely right that access to advanced radiotherapy treatments is critical, as is getting them against the key standard. I would be very pleased to meet his all-party group and discuss its manifesto for radiotherapy.

[Mr Speaker]

I call Vicky Ford.

[Vicky Ford (Chelmsford) (Con)]

indicated dissent.

[Mr Speaker]

The hon. Lady was standing. She has changed her mind. All right, never mind. We can always have another go later.

[Emma Reynolds (Wolverhampton North East) (Lab)]

6. What assessment he has made of the effect of the planned closure of Telford Hospital’s A&E department on other A&E departments in the west midlands.

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[Stephanie Peacock (Barnsley East) (Lab)]

rose—

[Mr Speaker]

No, no; Yorkshire is the most marvellous place, but it is a considerable distance from the narrow ambit of the question, from which the Minister did not stray. The ingenuity of those Members will be served later in our proceedings.

[Luke Pollard (Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport) (Lab/Co-op)]

9. What steps he is taking to support health and social care hubs.

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[Tim Farron (Westmorland and Lonsdale) (LD)]

The Secretary of State is right to say that early diagnosis provides more opportunity to cure and treat cancers. Some 60% of those treated for cancer will receive radiotherapy, and nearly every radiotherapy centre in the country has linear accelerators that are enabled to provide the advanced SABR, or stereotactic ablative body radiotherapy, technology, but Government—NHS England—contracts mean that out of the 52 centres in England no more than 20 are contracted to actually use this technology. That means that either patients are not receiving the highest quality life-saving standard of treatment that they could be or that trusts are providing it anyway but are not being paid and valuable data on mistreatment are being completely lost. Will the right hon. Gentleman order NHS England to stop this recklessness, and frankly lethal, nonsense and agree to every—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. [Interruption.] Order. The thrust of the question is entirely clear. I was going to offer the hon. Gentleman an Adjournment debate on the subject until I realised that he had in fact just conducted it.

[Matt Hancock]

And also, Mr Speaker, the hon. Gentleman’s all-party group is meeting my Minister, the Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, my hon. Friend the hon. Member for Winchester (Steve Brine), on this very matter. Since 2016 we have put £130 million of funding in to try to resolve the issue that the hon. Gentleman talks about: to make sure that all new equipment is capable of delivering advanced radiotherapy. Work on this is ongoing.

[Several hon. Members rose—]

[Mr Speaker]

In calling the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) I promise to make no reference to the result of the match last night between Arsenal and Leicester City.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

Mr Speaker, you had a broader smile on your face this morning than my friend the hon. Member for Scunthorpe (Nic Dakin) and I. We still support Leicester and hope we will pay you back some day.

An important aspect of diagnosing cancer is to find the drugs that address it. What has been done to ensure the partnerships between universities and the NHS can continue, so that they can find new drugs and therefore address cancers at a very early stage?

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[Several hon. Members rose—]

[Mr Speaker]

As in the health service under successive Governments of both colours, demand exceeds supply and we cannot carry on indefinitely, but let us hear a few more questions.

[Debbie Abrahams (Oldham East and Saddleworth) (Lab)]

Last week, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health revealed that there has been an increase in infant mortality for the first time in 100 years. Four in every 1,000 babies will not reach their first birthday, compared with 2.8 in every 1,000 babies in Europe. This was warned against as an effect of austerity. What assessment has the Health Secretary done on the effects of next week’s Budget on child health and the longevity of our children?

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[Matt Hancock]

If the hon. Gentleman is claiming that there were not enough flu jabs under Labour, I might agree with him, because there are now more flu jabs. More than 4 million flu jabs have already taken place. I am delighted that lots of people want flu jabs because everybody who needs one should get one. The arrival of the flu jab medicine is phased, because we have to ensure that we get the right flu jabs. If the hon. Gentleman could carry on promoting flu jabs for the elderly, I would be delighted.

[Mr Speaker]

Is the hon. Member for Bolsover (Mr Skinner) satisfied?

[Mr Skinner]

No.

[Mr Speaker]

Nevertheless, the hon. Gentleman has had his say, and I feel sure that he will say it again as often as is necessary.

[Sir Kevin Barron (Rother Valley) (Lab)]

Will the Minister tell me whether the withdrawal of funding for the Healthy Futures programme in the north-west and Public Health Action in the south-west is likely to help or hinder us meeting the smoking cessation targets in the tobacco control programme?

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[Several hon. Members rose—]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. There were 30 topical questions. Although there was scope for many more, I am afraid that we have to stop now. Thank you, colleagues.