Health Bill

Debate between Steff Aquarone and Janet Daby

Report stage
Monday 7th September 2026 Commons Chamber

[Janet Daby]

I thank my hon. Friend. He could not have said that more clearly. This is absolutely about inequalities in the health service. He has explained and expressed that extremely well. I know that he, like me, will continue to advocate for people from ethnic minority and diverse backgrounds.

New clause 162 would require the Secretary of State to do two things: first, to lay an annual report before Parliament on the performance of specialised services against national standards; secondly, to ensure the regular publication of data on quality and outcomes of the kind currently captured in the specialised services quality dashboards, which NHS England has maintained on a non-statutory basis. Without legislation, those dashboards could quietly disappear when NHS England does, and that must not happen. The new clause would make their continuation, or the continuation of something equivalent, a legal requirement.

I want to be clear about the modesty of this ask. We are not asking the Government to build new services, ringfence budgets or second-guess local commissioning decisions. We are asking them to measure, publish and report, in order to ensure basic accountability for patients with rare conditions, and for geographically dispersed people, predominantly from black and minority ethnic backgrounds, so that they have services that work.

The patients who rely on specialised services are often marginalised twice over: once by their condition, and again by a system that does not always see them clearly. New clause 162 would require the Secretary of State to identify them, and to report back to this House on what they find. I urge the Government to take this new clause seriously and to respond appropriately.

[Steff Aquarone (North Norfolk) (LD)]

Amendment 19 closes a dangerous gap in the Bill and commands the support of Members from across the House. It is right that clause 4 calls for the Health Secretary to reduce inequality of access to health services, but the Bill must explicitly cover rural and coastal health inequalities, or else less densely populated communities will always lose.

At face value, it makes sense to measure success by the greatest number helped; however, in the long run, that is a false economy, as delayed diagnosis and treatment ultimately cost the NHS more. It is a little bit like access to high-speed broadband—we rolled out the first phase to the places where the most people could be connected, which rewarded the Government and providers with some impressive-sounding numbers while disguising failure in the margins. Rural and coastal communities are literally and politically at the end of the line, and are therefore reached last.

Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund

Debate between Steff Aquarone and Janet Daby

Tuesday 1st April 2025 Commons Chamber

[Janet Daby]

I understand the political points being made here. What I will say is that we are really pleased about the £50 million announcement. We are working and further information will come out as soon as possible regarding the funding.

[Steff Aquarone (North Norfolk) (LD)]

I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Twickenham (Munira Wilson) for her advocacy on this issue, as well as the Minister for her announcement. I, too, have received many emails from desperately worried constituents as we approached and then crossed the cliff edge in adoption support funding. They will struggle to square that with reports that the Government are willing to scrap the tax on US social media giants. Can the Minister please assure me that any future difficult decisions needed in this area will benefit vulnerable children more than they benefit Elon Musk?