Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Wes Streeting and Sarah Olney

Tuesday 25th November 2025 Commons Chamber

[Sarah Olney (Richmond Park) (LD)]

T1. If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.

[The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Wes Streeting)]

Obesity robs children of the best possible start in life, hits the poorest hardest, sets them up for a lifetime of health problems and costs the NHS billions, so I can announce to the House that we are expanding the soft drinks industry levy to include bottles and cartons of milkshakes, flavoured milk and milk substitute drinks. [Interruption.] We are also reducing the threshold to 4.5 grams of sugar per 100 ml. This Government will not look away as children get unhealthier and our political opponents urge us to leave them behind.

[Mr Speaker]

The only thing I will say is that at least we are hearing it first in this House and not on Sky.

[Sarah Olney]

I congratulate the Secretary of State and the Department of Health and Social Care on the launch last week of the men’s health strategy. My constituent Philip Pirie, who sadly lost his son to suicide, has been calling on the Government to launch a public health campaign to reduce the stigma of suicide. Nearly 75% of those who lose their lives to suicide have not been in contact with mental health services, and that is why we need to reach out. Will the Secretary of State meet me and my constituent to discuss such a campaign?

[Wes Streeting]

I am sure that my hon. Friend the Minister for Care would be delighted to meet. The men’s health strategy sets out precisely the challenge in those terms. Through the partnerships that we have already announced, such as with the Premier League, as well as the people who have been knocking on our doors to get involved in such a campaign, I am absolutely confident that together, collectively across the House and across the country, we can tackle this terrible stigma.

Health and Social Care: Winter Update

Debate between Wes Streeting and Sarah Olney

Wednesday 15th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Wes Streeting]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. May I, through her, thank health and care staff in her city for the work they are doing to get the people of Birmingham through this particularly challenging winter? What we really need to do to make our health and care system more effective and more sustainable is shift the centre of gravity out of hospital and into the community. We need better and faster access to diagnostics and treatment, as well as a bigger focus on prevention—primary prevention to keep us all healthy and active, and secondary prevention so that fewer people need to call on health services, and particularly emergency departments, which are stretched at this time of year.

[Sarah Olney (Richmond Park) (LD)]

I was pleased to hear what the Secretary of State said about vaccine roll-out, particularly of the RSV vaccine. I am even more pleased that my constituents in Richmond Park are diligent in taking up all vaccines, but they have been puzzled to find that the RSV vaccine is limited to those between 75 and 79 years of age. What plans are there are to extend the roll-out to those aged 80 and above?

[Wes Streeting]

I am grateful to the hon. Member for her question and for showing off her constituents’ uptake—that is exactly what we want. Perhaps ahead of next winter, we should launch a parliamentary competition: who can boost uptake most in their constituencies? We will think about the prize.

More seriously, I am always glad when the pressure is to expand access to vaccines—that is exactly the sort of pressure that we want. We follow advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation. We will review the experience this winter, and the JCVI will review evidence and data this winter and make recommendations, which we will take into account.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Wes Streeting and Sarah Olney

Tuesday 19th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Sarah Olney (Richmond Park) (LD)]

T8. Last Friday, I met GPs at the Fairhill medical practice in north Kingston in my constituency. They have told me that the increase in national insurance contributions will add £50,000 a year to their costs. Can the Secretary of State tell me whether GPs can expect to see an across-the-board cut in the NICs payable by GPs to help them manage to continue delivering services for families in the area?

[Wes Streeting]

We have not yet announced allocations for general practice for the year ahead, and we are taking into account all the pressures that general practice is under.

Government Policy on Health

Debate between Wes Streeting and Sarah Olney

Monday 9th September 2024 Commons Chamber

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)]

I call the Liberal Democrat Front-Bench spokesperson, Sarah Olney.

[Sarah Olney (Richmond Park) (LD)]

The Liberal Democrats find it deeply ironic that the shadow Health Secretary has raised this question on the involvement of people with no formal appointment in the development of Government policy. Are they forgetting their record in government? Perhaps we should remind everyone that, under the Conservatives, it was their friends that benefited from large contracts to supply the Government during the covid pandemic. The result is that, just today, as the hon. Member for Eltham and Chislehurst (Clive Efford) has already highlighted, Transparency International UK has revealed multiple red flags in more than 130 covid contracts totalling over £15.3 billion. With the Conservatives out of power, we have the opportunity to clean up our politics, so will the Secretary of State update the House on whether the Prime Minister plans to appoint his own ethics adviser or whether Sir Laurie Magnus will remain in the post? Will the ethics adviser be empowered to initiate their own investigations and publish their own reports?

[Wes Streeting]

I am grateful to the hon. Member for her serious contribution. She is right to say that transparency matters. That is why meetings in my Department, and their attendees, will be published in the right and proper way on a quarterly basis.

It is also right to draw a distinction between those areas of business and meetings in the Department that are about generating ideas and policy discussion, and those that are about taking Government decisions. It is right that people from outside government come into the Department for Health and Social Care, or any Department, to lend their expertise and share their views, and it is right that Ministers make decisions absent of those outsiders. That is the distinction I would draw. The hon. Member raises a specific point about the Prime Minister’s ethics adviser. This is a Prime Minister who does take ethics seriously and will not behave in the way that his Conservative predecessors did. As for individuals, that is a decision for the Prime Minister, but I will ensure that the hon. Member gets a more fulsome reply.