Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Victoria Atkins and Sajid Javid(11 months ago)
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Victoria Atkins
We are ensuring that community pharmacists have an even greater role in primary care than they have already. For example, we saw the first stage of the roll-out of Pharmacy First in December, with blood pressure checks and contraceptive care being rolled out. I am very pleased that we are on track to deliver the full roll-out of Pharmacy First by the end of the month.
Sir Sajid Javid (Bromsgrove) (Con)
The colour of someone’s skin should not have an impact on the reliability of medical devices, but we know that that is what happened during the pandemic for many black and Asian patients. When I was the Health Secretary, I commissioned an independent review of the equity of medical devices from Professor Dame Margaret Whitehead. Her report was handed to the Department in June last year, but the Department has not yet published it or responded to it. I know that my right hon. Friend cares about health inequalities as much as I do, so may I ask her to publish the report, along with a full Government response, as a matter of urgency?
Victoria Atkins
I thank my right hon. Friend for commissioning that vital piece of work. I am giving the matter my closest attention, and I hope very much to be in a position to respond to his points in due course.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Victoria Atkins and Sajid Javid
Sajid Javid
The hon. Gentleman will know that under this Government, since 2010, this country has seen record investment in transport infrastructure, including in the midlands. That includes the recent announcement about the help the Government will provide in creating the midlands rail hub concept.
Victoria Atkins (Louth and Horncastle) (Con)
From Tetney Lock to Chapel St Leonards, the coastline in my constituency is among the most beautiful in the midlands—and, dare I say it, in the country. Does my right hon. Friend share my hope, therefore, that the midlands engine will travel as far as the Lincolnshire coastline to invest in the vital infrastructure we need in our rural and coastal economies there?
Sajid Javid
I agree with my hon. Friend on many fronts, including how beautiful her constituency is, and the midlands engine does indeed travel that far. She is right to raise the particular challenges faced by our coastal communities, which is why we are launching a fifth round of our coastal communities fund early next year. I urge her to get her application in.
Grenfell Tower
Debate between Victoria Atkins and Sajid Javid
Sajid Javid
I thank the hon. Gentleman for his comments. As usual, he has raised a very important point. The purpose of the independent expert panel is to provide any advice that might require emergency action. If it does so in terms of building regulations or enforcement, we will certainly do that. As I said in response to the right hon. Member for Wentworth and Dearne (John Healey), I accept that there are clear issues around building regulations and enforcement and that, to make perhaps longer-term changes, we should act more swiftly and not necessarily wait for the outcome of a public inquiry, because with an independent inquiry the Government do not control the timing of that. I am looking at what further steps we can take to ensure we learn the lessons very quickly.
Victoria Atkins (Louth and Horncastle) (Con)
This terrible fire has affected not just the people who were unfortunate enough to live in the block itself, but the residents living around Grenfell Tower. They must have been horribly affected by seeing the fire and by its aftermath. What support is being given to local residents to help them to live with this tragedy?
Sajid Javid
My hon. Friend is absolutely right to raise that point. The immediate support was to provide emergency accommodation in hotel rooms for all families who required it, and that has been done. Many of them are still in hotel rooms; that is what they decided to do. The council has designed an offer for people in many of the nearby blocks. Specific offers have been made to families in three of them— Barandon Walk, Hurstway Walk and Testerton Walk—to allow them to return to their homes and to provide them with the support they need.