Christmas Adjournment

Valerie Vaz Excerpts

Thursday 18th December 2014 Commons Chamber

[Valerie Vaz (Walsall South) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to follow the right hon. Member for Tonbridge and Malling (Sir John Stanley). This debate gives us a chance to touch on various issues, and I wish to mention three: local government, the NHS, and something I hope we can all support on a cross-party basis because it appeals to our humanity.

On local government, there is much discussion about the private and public sectors, and in my view the public sector comes off worse. Let us consider the cuts in welfare and the amount of money given to bankers under quantitative easing. What is that quantitative easing other than welfare for bankers? There were no questions asked, no Atos interview requiring them to walk 60 metres to qualify; the money was just handed over and they kept it without even lending it. In contrast, most local authorities that provide vital services are having their budgets slashed. It is extraordinary that the Government are pushing ahead with budget cuts to local government of more than a third.

The National Audit Office said that single-tier authorities feared for core services, including education and social care, and that the Government have no way of monitoring the financial sustainability of councils. That matters because my council—Walsall metropolitan borough council —is a single-tier council. We have an outstanding Sure Start centre in Palfrey that has an innovative fathers club. It has a role to play in helping new parents and is a focus for them, but all that is under threat. Some families in Walsall cannot even afford a computer or the internet, so children go to libraries after school. How will we raise standards and aspirations if we deny people, especially children, access to knowledge? Those vital services can affect the long-term needs of society, and the budget cuts are short-term thinking that in the end will undermine society.

Let me turn to the NHS. In the Health Committee I was surprised by an extraordinary admission from the Health Secretary, who told me that NHS staff could not receive their 1% pay rise because it was in patients’ interests not to give it to them. I cannot follow the logic of that. People were entitled to that pay rise, which was agreed and would have raised morale. Productivity drops if people do not feel valued, and none of the crisis in the NHS was made by the people who work in it.

Earlier this year the Health Service Journal reported that two thirds of commissioners have experienced increased commissioning costs, and £60 million has been spent on tendering exercises. That is taking money out of the NHS. I have to keep repeating this, because the reorganisation cost £3 billion. An underspend of £1.4 billion was sent back to the Treasury in 2011-12. In 2012-13, £2.2 billion of underspend was sent back. That has all been handed back without giving staff a pay rise, even though there is a crisis in A and E.

We need more doctors, yet we know that for every 350 medical student places there are at least another 1,000 applicants who have met the criteria. Should the Secretary of State not discuss with universities how to fast-track new doctors? The Secretary of State cannot rely on the one doctor, Doctor Who, to save the NHS—he can save lots of other things, but not the NHS.

The most important thing is accountability. The Secretary of State and the chief executive of NHS England both appeared before the Committee. No one quite knows who is in charge and no one has a grip on the NHS. Like Statler and Waldorf, the two characters from the Muppets who sit in the side box, they heckle everyone saying, “Work harder or you won’t get a pay rise.” Of course, staff work harder but do not get a pay rise. They run down the services, so people have to look to outside providers. That is not the way to run a national health service.

Finally, I became involved with John’s Campaign when I met Julia Jones and Francis Wheen. Julia told me about her elderly mother and how she worries about her as her carer. She talked about her friend Nicci Gerrard, whose father had recently died. Many Members will have seen the article in The Observer about Nicci’s dad. Dr John Gerrard had dementia. He was admitted to hospital, and Nicci said he was cared for by the doctors and nurses. Nicci and her family took an interest in John: they talked to him, read to him and played chess with him. However, in the hospital setting Nicci was not allowed to stay with John. All Nicci asked for and wanted was to continue doing those things with John, so that he could carry out his usual activities. Hospital is unnerving without dementia, but imagine if one cannot remember things—one would definitely feel more vulnerable. Nicci knew that John was deteriorating. The Library provided information on an example of very helpful good practice in a Bristol hospital. University Hospitals Bristol allow carers to continue their care in hospital. Ward staff have an initial daily conversation with carers, so they are clear what their role is in hospital. Carers are allowed to be with patients outside visiting hours, including through the night.

The Minister of State, Department of Health, the right hon. Member for North Norfolk (Norman Lamb), who has responsibility for care and support, wants all hospitals to be dementia friendly. He wrote a letter, on 14 March 2013, to all acute hospital trusts, but this aspect was not mentioned. Parents are encouraged to stay with their children overnight to make the experience less formidable. I ask the Deputy Leader of the House to ask the Minister to meet me and the founders of John’s Campaign, Nicci Gerrard, Julia Jones and Francis Wheen, to discuss taking this issue forward. The early-day motion I tabled has received cross-party support from 41 Members, as of today. If there ever was a new year resolution that could come true, the Deputy Leader has it in his power to grant it. It would help those who support their loved ones in difficult times, and do so in John’s memory.

It remains for me to say that I sat on the House of Commons Governance Committee and I have seen how brilliant this institution and the people who work in it, from top to bottom, are. I want to thank all of them for their hard work, and wish them a happy Christmas and all the best in 2015.