Budget Resolutions

Steve Darling Excerpts

Tuesday 2nd December 2025 Commons Chamber

[Steve Darling (Torbay) (LD)]

Perhaps the most important commodity for a Chancellor is not finance but trust. We saw how the Conservatives wrecked the country’s trust in them with partygate and the scandal of the fast track to personal protective equipment contracts for those who were in the know. I am afraid to say that what we have seen with the Chancellor of the Exchequer is a continuation of the Conservative Government but with a Labour approach. The way that the Chancellor appears to have not kept the Cabinet in the loop on the OBR guidance is shocking.

On the more positive note, I would like to reflect how the Liberal Democrats welcome the support through cuts to fuel bills, but failing to backfill the scheme with core funding is a shame. The Liberal Democrats have campaigned against the two-child limit for many years, so we clearly welcome the change. However, the stealth taxes hitting working people—again, the Labour party has echoed what the Tories did previously—are absolutely outrageous, as is how Labour is now hitting those with student loans with a stealth tax, which actually equates to the mansion tax. Why are we putting recent former students in the same bracket as those who fall under the mansion tax? It is quite shocking.

I come to something we do well for in Torbay: our large number of pensioners. Many of them have small pension pots, yet they will be hit by the fiscal impact of the drag into income tax.

The hospitality industry in the west country is extremely important, yet last year we saw it impacted by the national insurance hike. The Torbay Coast and Countryside Trust in my constituency had a bill of £100,000. That charity, which supported important beauty spots across Torbay, has gone into liquidation because of that move from the Labour Government and the failure of our Conservative council to support it appropriately. There are future challenges for hospitality with the increasing of business rates, and I fear for the future of some of our much loved pubs across Torbay.

I fear that we have seen a failure to invest in the south-west with these proposals from the Government. I ask them to think again.

Suicide: Reducing the Stigma

Steve Darling Excerpts

Wednesday 19th November 2025 Westminster Hall

[Steve Darling (Torbay) (LD)]

On 30 September, I had the privilege of participating in the Baton of Hope relay across Torbay, which is an initiative that propagates conversations around suicide. The impact that it had across our communities in Torbay was amazing. Does my hon. Friend agree that the more conversations we have about suicide, the more we will prevent it?

[Sarah Olney]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that encouraging example of how taking steps to reduce the stigma around suicide can have a positive impact, and how we need a community approach to help reach out to all those people who might be struggling.

Although talking about mental health is becoming more socially acceptable, to what extent are we asking the challenging questions? To what extent do we really want to know how other people are getting on, and to what extent do people who are suffering feel comfortable in talking honestly about how serious their struggles are? For those reasons, I want to echo my constituent Philip Pirie’s calls for the Government to launch a public health campaign to truly tackle the stigma associated with suicide.

As we have seen today, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has launched his men’s health strategy. He promised the Samaritans that

“mental health and suicide prevention”

would be at the “heart of it”. Everyone in the House will welcome these words and the recognition that the men’s mental health crisis needs serious attention. I would like the Secretary of State to go one step further and consider a public health campaign with posters and adverts on TV and radio, and to hold regular open discussions with the public on the topic of suicide.

World Stroke Day

Steve Darling Excerpts

Tuesday 28th October 2025 Westminster Hall

[Munira Wilson]

Of course I am very happy to congratulate the staff in the hon. Gentleman’s local hospital. Through my personal experience with my mother, I have seen how amazing hospital staff are, and where community services are available, I am sure those staff are brilliant, but the crux of my speech is about how poor the rehab services are in some parts of the country and how we really need to staff and boost them if we want to help people to have a good quality of life.

I have heard time and again from those who have lived experience that support for community rehabilitation is simply not good enough and often collapses six weeks post discharge from hospital. In some cases, support even six weeks post discharge is not available, depending on which integrated care board or local authority is responsible.

[Steve Darling (Torbay) (LD)]

In Torbay, in Devon, we have the third highest prevalence of strokes in the United Kingdom, and yet, within the last 12 months, we have seen cuts to support for the local stroke association. That has left people who are suffering from strokes feeling isolated and abandoned. Does my hon. Friend agree that we need to see more investment at the grassroots to support sufferers of strokes?

[Munira Wilson]

I 100% agree. The post-stroke support is critical, and I will share some stories about people who have felt abandoned and isolated in exactly the way that my hon. Friend describes.

Despite guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy says that 20% of people do not receive the minimum specialist rehabilitation required in the first five days following a stroke, and 68% do not have an assessment for rehabilitation, which is required after discharge. The reality is that those who want to regain a level of independence need to be able to fund support privately.

I pay tribute to Richard Sealy, who runs the Neuro Rehab Practice in Hampton, which is in my constituency. He and his whole team are doing brilliant work in trying to fill that gap. Over the summer, I had the privilege of visiting the practice and speaking to stroke survivors and their carers about their experiences. What runs through so many of their stories—I am sure Members will have heard similar—is the cliff edge that people fall off when they leave hospital, and the devastating knock-on impact that can have.

I would like to share some of their testimonies. One stroke survivor said:

“I felt lost, like I had been thrown out of the boat, not knowing what to do or where to find help”.

Another survivor’s family member said:

“Although the NHS took care of her while she was in hospital, we felt that after the six weeks had finished, it was very much goodbye. You’re now on your own”.

Another, when asked what happened when the NHS rehab ended and whether they were given any further options, simply replied, “Nothing.”

Those survivor stories are far from unique, and that is unacceptable. According to the Stroke Association, only 17% of community-based rehab services have appropriate access to each core therapy—physiotherapy, speech and language therapy and occupational therapy. The Right to Rehab campaign argues for the simple idea that rehabilitation should be accessible to everyone who needs it, for as long as they need it.

We know that stroke survivors continue to make incremental improvements over many months, even years, so I welcome the Government’s ambition to rebuild our NHS through transitioning care from hospital to the community, and to improve integration of rehabilitation. While the Government target to reduce stroke and heart attack deaths by a quarter in the next 10 years is also welcome, given the devastating impact that stroke can have and the struggle to recover faced by many, the scope of that target must be widened to also reducing disability.

Take Miriam, a resident of Twickenham, who at just 21 years old suffered a stroke only three months after graduating with a BA in music. After spending four days in hospital without diagnosis or treatment, where she suffered two more strokes, she was unable to play an instrument or even grasp a pencil. She suffered significant challenges, including depression and isolation, but through therapy and determination, she was able to rebuild her life. Miriam is now a neurological music therapist, working with children and adults with learning disabilities, and I believe she is here, watching today’s debate.

Chris Stirling, who suffered a stroke in his 60s, was told by doctors after six months in hospital that he should go into a care home. He left hospital in a wheelchair, unable to shower. Thanks to privately funded neuro physiotherapy and the support of his family, he is now able to play golf, one-handed. Not everyone is as lucky as Chris to have both the means and the family support.

Miriam and Chris’s stories, and the testimonies I shared earlier in my speech, show just how important it is to get both stroke diagnosis and rehabilitation right.

Oral Answers to Questions

Steve Darling Excerpts

Tuesday 21st October 2025 Commons Chamber

[Stephen Kinnock]

I find it quite extraordinary that Opposition Members come to this House and lecture us on the sustainability of funding, given the way in which they crashed the economy and left us in a dire fiscal position. I would have hoped that the hon. Gentleman would welcome the fact that, rather than the annual funding cliff edge that they left for vital children’s hospices services, we have moved to a three-year funding settlement. His criticism beggars belief.

[Steve Darling (Torbay) (LD)]

5. What progress his Department has made on the implementation of the new hospital programme.

[The Minister for Secondary Care (Karin Smyth)]

The Conservative Government’s promise of 40 new hospitals by 2030 was a fantasy—there was no funding beyond last March. In January, we published a realistic plan that put the programme on a credible and sustainable footing. We are committed to delivering all the schemes in the programme and are moving at pace with funding in place for design work, construction activity and business case development.

[Steve Darling]

The Conservatives still have not apologised for the appalling state that they left our NHS in. Torbay hospital is the third oldest hospital in the United Kingdom. It has a tower block wreathed in scaffolding to stop bits of it falling off rather than it being under repair, and it has sewage leaks throughout. Sadly, it needs significant investment, which has been kicked into the long grass. A senior manager described the situation only this week as “dire”. Will the Minister meet me and hospital representatives to explore how we can achieve the investment to turn this round?

[Karin Smyth]

The hon. Member makes an excellent point; it was echoed by Lord Darzi in his report about the state of our hospitals, and I know many hon. Members have similar problems. I have visited many such hospitals and would be happy to discuss the matter with him further. I remind him that, of course, the Torbay and South Devon NHS foundation trust has been provided with £7.3 million from the estates safety fund for works at the hospital, and we are absolutely committed to ensuring that it will be developed in line with the programme.

Mental Health Bill [Lords]

Steve Darling Excerpts

Report stage
Tuesday 14th October 2025 Commons Chamber

[Ian Sollom (St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire) (LD)]

I will speak to amendments 24 to 28 and 36 to 38 in my name, which address gaps in crisis provision and accountability for autistic people and people with learning disabilities.

On Second Reading, I told this House about Declan Morrison, my constituent who died aged just 26 after spending 10 days in a section 136 suite that was wholly inappropriate for his complex needs. I remind the House that section 136 suites are designed for 24-hour stays, or a maximum of 36 hours in extreme cases. The coroner who investigated Declan’s death found that

“there is a risk that future deaths could occur unless action is taken.”

The timeline of what happened in the run-up to Declan’s death shows a cascade of systemic failures. Declan’s family, Graeme, Sam and Kaitlyn, have asked me to ensure that Parliament learns from what happened. These amendments in my name reflect those lessons and the coroner’s recommendations.

In Committee, the Minister made several points about earlier versions of these amendments, which I have tried to address in these revised versions. In particular, on crisis accommodation, the Minister argued that existing duties on ICBs already cover crisis provision and that the amendment was too prescriptive, potentially restricting ICBs in designing provision, emphasising the importance of flexibility for ICBs to meet local needs. I understand the desire not to be overly prescriptive, but in Declan’s case, over 100 places were contacted and no suitable accommodation could be found anywhere in the country. Flexibility failed Declan.

The revised version of the amendment allows for regional solutions beyond the ICB, but I suspect that the Minister will still find it too prescriptive. However, the fundamental question remains: should there not be a duty to ensure that provision exists somewhere? The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough ICB established a crisis service after Declan’s death that operated at 98% capacity, demonstrating both need and viability, but it closed when funding was withdrawn, highlighting the challenge with voluntary provision.

[Steve Darling (Torbay) (LD)]

On funding, the Devon partnership NHS trust looks after people with mental health challenges in the Torbay community, where levels of depths of despair are particularly high. The trust is facing a £21 million cut, so does my hon. Friend agree that changes will be irrelevant if we do not have adequate funding?

NHS Funding: South-west

Steve Darling Excerpts

Wednesday 11th June 2025 Westminster Hall

[Steve Darling (Torbay) (LD)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered NHS funding in the South West.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Dr Huq. For me, the NHS is a family affair, as my wife has served it for more decades than she would want me to admit and my son is a registrar at Torbay hospital.

This time last year, many of us were out pounding the streets at the general election, and the NHS was a big plank of what many of us talked about. It was one of the key themes on which the Liberal Democrats fought the election. We knew the NHS was a shambles, but we did not know the challenge that would face the new Government when they came to power. The Minister for Care highlighted that the money for the new hospital programme ran out in the March just gone, and there was a £6.6 billion hole in the programme’s budget. It was a real challenge for the new Government, but equally, their “waves” approach has caused real concerns in hospitals across the south-west and in our communities. It would be extremely helpful if the Minister for Secondary Care could address that today.

I will focus on Torbay hospital as a useful example of the challenges we face across the south-west. It is the third oldest hospital in the UK, with only 6% of the estate up to standard. Some bits are very good, such as the endoscopy and out-patient units, but those constitute an extremely small proportion. Someone suffering from cancer has to go to a number of locations across the hospital where there are real challenges. That is not the offer we want for those suffering from that disease. There have been almost 700 sewage leaks on the site, often infecting clinical areas, resulting in closures and delays of service to our community. The tower block of the hospital is swathed in scaffolding—not for a rebuild, but to stop clumps of it falling off and braining passers-by. There are some massive challenges, which have impacted our world.

Wave 2 mitigation bids went in in February from affected trusts. Torbay bid for £183 million to collapse the tower block and ensure that we have four fit-for-purpose wards built. I understand that the white smoke from the Government is yet to appear. So far, we have had only £7 million to help tackle some of the challenges, which hardly touches the sides.

[Gideon Amos (Taunton and Wellington) (LD)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on bringing the NHS in the south-west into the spotlight. Does he agree that the pressures on Musgrove Park hospital, due to the closure of the Yeovil maternity unit, put staff in an almost impossible position, with 30° heat in summer and leaking roofs and walls with holes in them in winter?

[Steve Darling]

I agree that staff are the NHS’s most important asset and what makes it tick, which my hon. Friend is right to highlight.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I am here to support the hon. Gentleman; I congratulate him on bringing this subject forward for debate. He is right to highlight issues with cancer care. It is the same for us back home: only a third of those referred by GPs begin treatment within the target time. Does he feel that there is money to be saved through the administration in the south-west trust area? If there is, perhaps that could help.

[Steve Darling]

That is very insightful. After being around medics for many years, I know the concern about the increase in managers. Equally, I know that integrated care boards, which I will come on to now, have real challenges with the savings that they are making. There is talk of merging ICBs, including, in the far south-west, a merger in Cornwall and Devon. Both ICBs are relatively challenged, and I fear that it could be a marriage of two bankrupts. Perhaps it would be better to look at a bigger footprint, including Somerset.

[Noah Law (St Austell and Newquay) (Lab)]

I welcome and echo the hon. Member’s comment about an inappropriate marriage in respect of the Devon and Cornwall ICBs. They have quite different issues. I commend the work of Cornwall’s ICB, of course, but we have to recognise the specificities of the peninsula penalty and the unique challenges facing both our areas.

[Steve Darling]

That is also very insightful. There are lots of good staff throughout the NHS, including in ICBs. It is about unlocking their potential, which I hope the Minister can do.

I was suggesting a bigger footprint, which could include Somerset and maybe even Dorset, as well as Devon and Cornwall, to give greater corporate capacity. I hope the Minister will reflect on that. Perhaps she will give some guidance on when we will hear about the ICB merger. A larger ICB could reflect the footprint of a mayoral authority; I fear that we could be poorer country cousins if we have only two county mayors in the west of England.

The real challenge with our ICB is that we are looking at a quarter of a billion pounds in cuts to services for Devon. The Exeter trust faces £69 million in cuts. The way to save money is mostly by not filling posts, so that is a real challenge. In Torbay, the figure is £42 million. We have an integrated care organisation, as a result of the merger of NHS acute and social care services, and people often say that is the direction in which we should be going. It saves 60 beds in the hospital by ensuring that we get people out of hospital sooner and into their own homes, where they want to be. However, I worry that the organisation is threatened by the quarter of a billion pounds-worth of cuts to services in Devon coming down the line; I fear for its future. I know that the Government actually want to move in the direction of services working together—it is so important.

The last area I want to touch on is Getting It Right First Time. I have heard from a number of professional sources that they feel that is a metropolitan approach that does not always work well in areas with significant rurality, such as Devon, mostly because it does not take into account some of the deprivation we have, our coastal communities, rural communities and the need for travel, or the fact that our population is older than those in metropolitan areas. We have older folk who are perhaps more digitally excluded. The approach does not always work.

We have seen that in respect of a procedure called PPCI—I will not share what that stands for, but it is an intervention used when someone is having a heart attack. They have a balloon inserted through their groin that goes up to the artery, and a stent is inserted to prevent a blockage in the system. A proposed merger in the offer will see people from south Devon drive past Torbay hospital and go 24 miles up the road to Exeter. That was originally the out-of-hours service, but it is now the emergency service, so when someone is thrown in the back of an ambulance, assessed and told, “You need this intervention,” they will go up to Exeter.

As my son says to me, “Time is tissue.” A consultant told me that if we push forward with this approach, it could result in greater debilitation and deaths. As a result of campaigning, the can has been kicked down the road on two occasions, and the ICB is due to return to the issue again at the end of July. I thank the medics who stood up and shared their concerns about the issue, as well as the thousands of people who signed our petitions on it. This situation shows how, because of the challenges in more rural areas, Getting It Right First Time does not always lead to the right solutions.

I would welcome the Minister’s reflections on wave 2 mitigation, on the challenges in relation to ICBs and, finally, on coronary care issues in south Devon and how we can ensure that we are providing an appropriate service for our communities.

[Several hon. Members rose—]

--- Later in debate ---

[Steve Darling]

I thank all colleagues for coming and joining this debate, however short people’s interventions may have been. I also thank the Minister for casting at least some light on this subject, but what we have heard from other colleagues from all over the south-west has been very enlightening. I am sure that there is much more for us to go away and campaign on, but this has been truly debated.

Question put and agreed to.

Resolved,

That this House has considered NHS funding in the South West.

Access to NHS Dentistry

Steve Darling Excerpts

Thursday 22nd May 2025 Commons Chamber

[Edward Morello]

I know that my hon. Friend’s constituency suffers from a lot of the same issues as West Dorset, given their similarity.

The consequences of the lack of NHS dental care are stark: only 36% of adults in West Dorset have seen a dentist in the past two years, and just 50% of children have had a dental appointment in that time—an alarming 9% lower than in 2019. I know that the Government have announced a rescue plan to provide 700,000 more urgent dental appointments and to recruit new dentists to the areas that need them most. That is welcome news, but how exactly are the areas with the most need being assessed? What specific provisions are being made to ensure that rural areas such as West Dorset, where the population density is low but unmet demand is high, are not left behind once again?

[Steve Darling (Torbay) (LD)]

In Devon we have a budget of £377,000 to recruit new dentists. Sadly, only two of the 22 dentists have actually been recruited. Does my hon. Friend agree that this demonstrates that the Conservatives’ golden hello scheme has completely failed, and that we desperately need a new contract now?

[Edward Morello]

My hon. Friend is right that a lot of this comes down to the funding model. When funding is allocated under the current model, it is always rural communities that lose out. I ask that the rurality of places such as West Dorset be recognised in both the workplace planning and the resource allocation, because the south-west has the highest rate of dental-related A&E visits—217 per 100,000 people. That is one in every 460 people turning to emergency care because they cannot get an NHS dentist’s appointment. Preventable oral health issues are flooding our hospitals because we have failed to resource our community dental services.

The Government have made some minor tweaks to the dysfunctional NHS contract, which is welcome, but morale is at an all-time low. Over 60% of dentists in England are thinking of leaving the NHS all together. The current contract often leaves dentists losing money on every NHS patient they see—for example, a typical dentist loses £42.60 per denture fitted. That is unsustainable, and it is time to reform the system as a whole, because change cannot wait. I ask the Government to come forward with a clear timeline for negotiating on contract reform, and to properly support integrated care boards, as my hon. Friend the Member for Tiverton and Minehead (Rachel Gilmour) said, with ringfenced funding for dental services.

The Liberal Democrats are calling for a comprehensive dental rescue package that would guarantee access to an NHS dentist for everyone in need of urgent or emergency care. It would also ensure NHS dental check-ups for those already eligible, including children, pregnant women, new mothers and people on low incomes. In addition, the package would guarantee that anyone beginning chemotherapy, undergoing a transplant or facing critical treatment receives the essential dental assessments that they need beforehand.

I would like the Government to reverse the cuts to public health grants, which have fallen by 26% in real terms since 2015, to restore funding for preventive oral health programmes, to expand supervised toothbrushing for children in schools and nurseries, and to scrap the VAT on children’s toothbrushes and toothpaste. I ask the Government to act now. On behalf of my constituents and all rural communities, I ask that communities such as mine in West Dorset are not treated as an afterthought in the funding model, but are given priority.

Hospitals

Steve Darling Excerpts

Wednesday 23rd April 2025 Commons Chamber

[Steve Darling (Torbay) (LD)]

Torbay hospital is very much a family affair for me. My wife has worked there for more years than she would let me admit in this Chamber and my son is now a registrar there, so I thought I knew the hospital quite well until I was elected, and then the chief executive of Torbay and South Devon NHS foundation trust opened the Pandora’s box of pain and challenges that the hospital faces. That made me really angry at how the previous Conservative Government failed to invest in the desperate needs of our NHS, both in Torbay and across the country.

So it was with hope in my heart that I came to this Chamber in July, hoping that over the next few months Labour would be part of the solution. It is extremely sad and disappointing that Torbay feels as if it has been kicked into the long grass. We know that this means that there will be a failure in serving our communities. We are expecting outstanding staff to deliver services in poor conditions, and Torbay is one of the most deprived communities in the south-west, so we are letting down some of the poorest in our communities.

I want to share some of the contents of this Pandora’s box with the Chamber. On visiting the hospital, there is a vista of hope, as there is scaffolding around the main tower, but it is actually there to stop pieces of the tower falling on NHS workers and visitors to the hospital, rather than because repairs are under way. There are almost 700 sewage leaks across the hospital, many impacting on clinical areas. Whole wards have been shut down and had deep cleans due to these sewage leaks within Torbay hospital. Only 6% of the hospital is of A1 standard—that shows starkly how poor the situation is.

We face immediate pressures in Torbay. There are cuts to out-of-hours coronary care services that could put those in Torbay and nearby constituencies such as South Devon at risk of tissue death because there are not fast enough interventions for coronary conditions.

[Caroline Voaden (South Devon) (LD)]

I represent that neighbouring constituency, and those in the largely rural area of South Devon will be severely threatened by the closure of out-of-hours coronary care in Torbay because somebody decided it would be a good idea to merge it with coronary care in Exeter, meaning a potential increase of up to 45 minutes in ambulance times for constituents from the south of my constituency to get to hospital. It is clearly going to put people in critical danger, and I am sure my hon. Friend would agree that we desperately need the integrated care board to reconsider this poorly thought-out decision.

[Steve Darling]

I strongly agree with my hon. Friend that this wrong-headed approach needs urgent review.

In Paignton, there are threats to the long-term delivery of ambulance services, which would add delays to communities getting support. Perhaps the biggest threat is a financial one. Down in Plymouth, £60 million of cuts to health service budgets were announced in the last few days. In Torbay, the hospital admitted that it is looking at £40 million of cuts to NHS services. With £100 million of cuts and the pressures on our services in south Devon, will the Minister tell us where that money has gone and how she will intervene and support our services, because our hospitals in Torbay are crumbling?

Oral Answers to Questions

Steve Darling Excerpts

Tuesday 11th February 2025 Commons Chamber

[Stephen Kinnock]

I would be delighted to meet my hon. Friend so that we can get into a bit more detail about what is happening in his constituency, but he is absolutely right to point to the need for more and better community health services. That will be at the heart of our shift from hospital to community in the 10-year plan that we are delivering.

[Steve Darling (Torbay) (LD)]

Health authorities in Devon are set to trial the relocation of a vital coronary service from Torbay to Exeter, which is 24 miles away. Will the Minister meet me and fellow south Devon MPs who have grave concerns about the impact on patient safety?

[Wes Streeting]

It is important that people are able to get the right care in the right place at the right time, and I recognise the challenges, particularly in geographies such as Devon and Cornwall, which have more rural and remote communities. In the first instance, I encourage the hon. Gentleman to take this issue up with local health leaders and his integrated care board, but Ministers are always open to receiving representations beyond that if he needs further reassurance.

Rare Retinal Disease

Steve Darling Excerpts

Thursday 23rd January 2025 Westminster Hall

[Steve Darling (Torbay) (LD)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Dame Siobhain.

I congratulate the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) on securing the debate. He rightly highlighted how inspirational it was to see Chris McCausland winning “Strictly Come Dancing” a few weeks ago. Chris McCausland shared three words at the end of that journey: “opportunity, support and determination”. Those play out well in respect of the challenges we face, which the hon. Members for Strangford and for Leicester South (Shockat Adam) unpacked extremely well.

At an event last night hosted by the all-party parliamentary group on eye health and visual impairment, a gentleman with retinitis pigmentosa told us that when he was diagnosed at the age of eight, his mother was taken aside and told, “This child should be sterilised at a certain age. That is the best way of sorting out this condition.” That is absolutely horrific, and I am heartened that, a little under 50 years later, the world has moved on.

My visual impairment was diagnosed about 45 years ago. I suffer from Stargardt disease, which is one of the two significant areas in terms of inherited conditions. I was deeply upset as a young lad, mostly because I was not able to be a lorry driver; I idolised my father, and that was my aspiration.

Visual impairments have a significant impact on people’s ability to fulfil their aspirations, as colleagues have highlighted, but they also impact opportunities. Twenty-five thousand people across the United Kingdom are affected by such conditions, and 75% of people registered blind are sadly unemployed, so we are condemning people who have drawn from the lottery of life; they are very much more likely to be unemployed than other people in their communities.

I have discovered that the cost of such conditions is £500 million a year, in a number of different pots. That includes not just the cost of medical intervention, but the cost to society of supporting each individual. Some 95% of these hereditary conditions are untreatable, potentially until the not-too-distant future.

The hon. Member for Strangford laid out the challenges for NICE. We are in a perverse situation at the moment—almost an anti-Goldilocks situation—where one falls between two stools: it is a rare disease, but it is a relatively common rare disease, and therefore does not fit within the ultra-rare criteria, so one falls between two stools. I hope the Minister will give serious consideration to the two conditions—retinitis pigmentosa and Stargardt’s—where significant numbers of people will be impacted by falling between those two stools. I reflect again on the words of Chris McCausland: give us opportunity, support and determination.