Government Policy on Health

Wes Streeting Excerpts

Monday 9th September 2024 Commons Chamber

[Victoria Atkins]

(Urgent Question): To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care if he will make a statement on the involvement of people with no formal appointment in the development of Government policy on health.

I apologise to the House, Madam Deputy Speaker. I am more used to answering, but believe you me, I am looking forward to the questions.

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

And I am committed to making sure that the right hon. Lady is there, asking the questions, for a very, very long time.

Unlike our predecessors, this Government cannot get enough of experts. We work with a wide range of stakeholders in developing policy, because that goes to the heart of our approach to mission-driven government. But I think the shadow Secretary of State was referring specifically to the right honourable Alan Milburn, so let me address him specifically. I walked into the Department of Health and Social Care on 5 July to be confronted with the worst crisis in the history of the national health service: waiting lists at 7.6 million, more than a million patients a month waiting four weeks for a GP appointment —if they could get one at all—the junior doctors still in dispute and on strike, and dental deserts across huge parts of our country, where people cannot get an NHS dentist for love nor money.

This Government are honest about the scale of the crisis and serious about fixing it, which means that we need the best available advice—it is all hands on deck to fix the mess that the previous Government left. If a single patient waited longer for treatment than they needed because I had failed to ask for the most expert advice around, I would consider that a betrayal of patients’ interests. I decide whom I hear from in meetings, I decide whose advice I seek, and I decide what to share with them. I also welcome challenge, alternative perspectives and experience.

The right honourable Alan Milburn is a former Member of this House, a member of the Privy Council and a former Health Secretary. He does not have a pass to the Department and, at every departmental meeting he has attended, he has been present at the request of Ministers. During Alan’s time in office, he gave patients the choice over where they are treated and who treats them, as well as making sure that the NHS was properly transparent, so that all patients were able to make an informed choice—a basic right that we expect in all other walks of life, but which only the wealthy and well connected were able to exercise in healthcare until Alan changed it. He gave patients access to the fastest, most effective treatment available on NHS terms, so that faster treatment was no longer just for those who could afford private healthcare. He made the tough reforms that drove better performance across the NHS and, along with every other Labour Health Secretary, delivered the shortest waiting times and the highest patient satisfaction in the history of the NHS. That is his record and Labour’s record, and it is the kind of experience that I want around the table as we write the reform agenda that will lift the NHS out of the worst crisis in its history, get it back on its feet, and make it fit for the future once again.

[Victoria Atkins]

I fear that the right hon. Gentleman is betraying his inexperience. It is a shame that he needs all that help and experience; the rest of us have just got on with the job.

The Department of Health and Social Care manages incredibly sensitive information, ranging from the development of healthcare policy to the handling of market-sensitive information concerning vaccines and medication, and the rules regarding patient confidentiality. It has emerged that Mr Milburn, a former Labour politician, has received more than £8 million from his personal consultancy firm since 2016. He advises one of the largest providers of residential care for older people, and is apparently a senior adviser on health for a major consultancy firm. [Interruption.] A Member sitting opposite says, “So what?” Given the risk of conflicts of interest—that, rather than the right hon. Gentleman’s inexperience, is the point of this UQ—has Mr Milburn declared his business interests to the Department? Can the right hon. Gentleman reassure the House on how such conflicts are being managed, so that we can get a sense of the scale of this open-door policy and Mr Milburn’s access?

Could the right hon. Gentleman tell us how many meetings Mr Milburn has attended? How many were with NHS England? How many were conducted without ministerial presence? What sensitive information has Mr Milburn been given access to? Does it include information concerning the sale of patient information to pharmaceutical companies? Has Mr Milburn seen internal DHSC or NHSE documents regarding the pricing of medicines and vaccinations, and other market-sensitive information? This is all information that comes across the right hon. Gentleman’s desk, and there is no formal record for understanding what Mr Milburn has seen.

If the right hon. Gentleman uses, as he has done just now, the excuse that this is all okay because Mr Milburn is a former Secretary of State and a Privy Counsellor, could the right hon. Gentleman set out where in the ministerial code or the civil service code such an exemption exists for unrecorded access to information by members of the public? I hope the Secretary of State will also confirm his lists of other advisers, their commercial interests and any other members of the public attending meetings that are of a deeply sensitive nature, so that we get a sense of just how far this goes.

This is just more evidence of cronyism at the heart of this new Labour Government. Following recent press reports that a Labour party worker had been parachuted into a civil service role in the Department through a closed recruitment process, will the Secretary of State finally come clean to the House and be transparent about who is running his Department and shaping policy for him?

[Wes Streeting]

The right hon. Lady wants to compare experience. It took me three weeks to agree a deal with junior doctors—she had not even met them since March—and in the two and a half years that I was the shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, she was the fifth and among the worst. Does it not just tell us everything we need to know about the Conservatives’ priorities? She does not ask me what we are doing to cut waiting lists. She does not ask about the action we took to end strikes. She does not ask about the action that has been taken to hire a thousand GPs, who she left to graduate into unemployment. She has not asked me about the news on the front page of The Daily Telegraph that, on their watch, 50 years of health progress is in decline. And funnily enough, there was nothing on the news from The Observer this weekend that the NHS was hit harder than any other health service by the pandemic because it was uniquely exposed by a decade of Conservative neglect. Having broken the NHS, all they are interested in now is trying to tie this Government’s hands behand our back to stop us cleaning up their mess.

What the right hon. Lady is implying in this question is that, as Health Secretary, she never sought the advice of people who did not work in her Department, which would explain quite a lot actually. I feel sorry for her, because when I need advice, I can call on any number of Labour Health Secretaries who helped deliver the shortest waiting times and the highest patient satisfaction in history. But she never had that luxury, because every single one of her Conservative predecessors left NHS waiting lists higher than where they found them—except, of course, for Thérèse Coffey, who was outlasted by a lettuce.

In fact, it says a lot about the modern Conservative party’s anti-reform instincts that the right hon. Lady is so opposed to Alan Milburn. They used to hug him close when they were cosplaying as new Labour. Andrew Lansley even asked whether Alan Milburn would chair the new clinical commissioning board that his top-down reorganisation created, although Alan sensibly turned him down and labelled the reorganisation “the biggest car crash” in the history of the NHS, which just goes to prove that Alan Milburn has sound judgment and is worth listening to.

But if the right hon. Lady wants to lead with her chin and talk cronyism, let us talk cronyism. Why do we not talk about Owen Paterson lobbying Health Ministers on behalf of Randox? The Conservatives care so much about cronyism that they welcomed Lord Cameron back with open arms following his paid lobbying for Greensill. For reasons of ongoing court cases, let us not even get into Baroness Mone and the £200 million contract for personal protective equipment. Where was the right hon. Lady during those sorry episodes? Cheering on that Government and presiding over a record of abysmal failure that has put them on the other side of the Chamber.

This Government are having to rebuild not only the public services that the Conservatives broke and the public finances they raided, but the trust in politics that they destroyed. We will put politics back into the service of working people and rebuild all three. Clearly, we will have to do it without the support of the Conservative party’s one- nation tradition, who are not even running and have abandoned their flag. It is clear that the Conservatives have not learned a thing from the defeat they were subjected to on 4 July, and we will get on with the business of clearing up their mess.

[Kit Malthouse (North West Hampshire) (Con)]

On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. The Secretary of State has obviously decided that attack is the best form of defence, but the operation of the House will collapse if he declines to answer any questions about a very serious matter of public concern. Can we seek your guidance, Madam Deputy Speaker, on whether he is conducting himself appropriately in the House? We are seeking transparency on a matter of probity, and he has a duty to answer the House, not least under the ministerial code.

[Clive Efford (Eltham and Chislehurst) (Lab)]

The sheer brass neck of the Conservatives to turn up on the very day that Transparency International UK published its report showing that £15 billion of contracts were red-flagged during the covid epidemic—[Interruption.] I am not reading. Those contracts have been red-flagged and are worthy of further investigation, and £500 million of them were given to companies that had not even lasted 100 days. Should the Conservatives not have taken that into consideration before coming here with this urgent question?

[Wes Streeting]

I wholeheartedly agree with my hon. Friend. Frankly, every single contribution from the Opposition Dispatch Box should begin with a grovelling apology for the way they conducted themselves in government, but they will not apologise: they have learnt nothing and they show no humility. To my hon. Friend’s point, when it comes to covid corruption and crony contracts, the message from the Chancellor is clear. We want our money back and the covid commissioner is coming to get it.

[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.

[Peter Prinsley (Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket) (Lab)]

I have been a surgeon for 28 years. In the first 14 years, we had a Labour Government and we saw the waiting lists more or less disappear, such that by 2010, a patient coming to see me in the clinic would be offered an operation. In the second 14 years, we have seen record waiting lists. I welcome the advice of Mr Alan Milburn, one of the most successful Secretaries of State and one of the architects of the fall in the waiting lists, and I support the Secretary of State in this.

[Wes Streeting]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend and I am delighted to see him here, bringing his experience to the House, sharing it with the nation, standing up for his constituents and being part of the team that will do what the last Labour Government did, which was to ensure that our NHS is back on its feet and fit for the future.

[Kit Malthouse]

Notwithstanding the Secretary of State’s bluster, he must appreciate that, given Mr Milburn’s involvement in the private healthcare sector, his direct access to the Secretary of State may have conferred a competitive advantage. What does the Secretary of State say to those companies who compete with Mr Milburn’s companies about the access that he has had to the Secretary of State? How can we in the House be reassured about the kind of information that Mr Milburn has been able to access and what, if any, advantage that might have conferred upon him?

[Wes Streeting]

With the way that Conservative Members are carrying on, and with the smears and innuendo they are applying, I am surprised that Alan Milburn is not paying them a marketing commission. The right hon. Gentleman makes out that Alan Milburn has come into the Department and is making all the decisions. If he were up to what they are suggesting, I could not think of better word-of-mouth publicity.

There is a clear distinction between inviting people with a wide range of experience and perspectives into the Department to have policy debates and to generate ideas, and having meetings that are about transacting Government business. I can assure the right hon. Gentleman and the House that nothing commercially sensitive has been shared with Alan Milburn, and I am genuinely astonished that Conservative Members think it is inappropriate for a Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to seek views, input and advice from their predecessors. In fact, I wonder how one of my Conservative predecessors, who is coming in to see me soon, will feel about their objections.

[Mr Jonathan Brash (Hartlepool) (Lab)]

In October 2023, when I phoned my NHS dentist to get an appointment for my children, the next available appointment was in June 2024. [Interruption.] When June 2024 rolled around, they cancelled the appointment. The next available appointment is April 2025. Given my right hon. Friend’s disgraceful inheritance, does he think the Conservative party should spend a little more time reflecting on its record and a little less time asking pointless questions?

[Wes Streeting]

I wholeheartedly agree with my hon. Friend. Let the record reflect that, when he was raising the crisis that is leaving people in Hartlepool without access to NHS dentistry, Conservative Members were shouting, “What about Alan Milburn?” That says everything about their priorities, everything about their lack of remorse and contrition, and everything about why they should stay in opposition for a very long time while we sort out the state of NHS dentistry in Hartlepool and across the country.

[Sir Bernard Jenkin (Harwich and North Essex) (Con)]

How legitimate is it for the House of Commons to ask about external people coming into Departments and potential conflicts of interest? In cases like Alan Milburn’s, or that of a former Conservative Secretary of State, how does the Department identify and manage conflicts of interest?

[Wes Streeting]

It is entirely legitimate to ask questions, and it is also entirely legitimate for Government Departments to invite people with a wide range of experience and insight to advise on policy debates and discussions. That happens all the time. Where do we draw the line? Do we have to send compliance forms to Cancer Research UK before it comes in to talk about how we tackle cancer? Do we have to send declaration of interest forms to patients who want to discuss awful cases they have experienced?

Frankly, I find this pantomime astonishing. I am surprised that the shadow Secretary of State thinks this is such a priority that she should raise it on the Floor of the House rather than NHS waiting lists, ambulance response times, GP access or the state of social care. It is clear that the Conservatives have not learned why they are in opposition.

[Anna Dixon (Shipley) (Lab)]

I congratulate my right hon. Friend on taking advice from his predecessors. As someone who worked as a senior civil servant in the Department under Alan Milburn, I would like to echo my right hon. Friend’s comments about what a fantastic Secretary of State he was and speak to his record in that position. I also worked as a civil servant under the coalition Government.

Will the Secretary of State also be seeking advice from Andy Burnham who, as Secretary of State when Labour last left office, left record low waiting times and high public satisfaction?

[Wes Streeting]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. How fortunate we are to be able to turn to every living former Labour Health Secretary, from Alan Milburn to Andy Burnham, and in every single one of those cases be able to draw on people whose record of delivery led to the shortest waiting times and the highest patient satisfaction in history. I can confirm to my hon. Friend that, both in opposition and in government, I have been talking to the Mayor of Greater Manchester. He is doing some brilliant work on prevention. I am really looking forward to working with all our metro mayors to tackle health inequalities across the country and to improve the integration of health and care services across the land.

[Paul Holmes (Hamble Valley) (Con)]

I know it will be a novelty for the Secretary of State actually to answer a question during this urgent question, but maybe he will do the House a favour by answering this very simple question with a yes or no. He said that no pass was given to Alan Milburn, so will he guarantee that no confidential documents that could have been used for commercial purposes were accessed or left his Department? Will he take responsibility if any documents or data discussed at ministerial meetings with Alan Milburn leave the Department—yes or no?

[Wes Streeting]

Yes.

[Shaun Davies (Telford) (Lab)]

Fixing and getting our NHS back on its feet should be a national mission, and everybody should be able to play their part in that. Will the Secretary of State confirm whether any former Conservative Ministers have put themselves forward to try to fix the mess that the party now in opposition created over the last 14 years?

[Wes Streeting]

This is the extraordinary thing: notwithstanding the public job application of a former Conservative Secretary of State, which did not meet the bar, I have been approached by former Ministers in the Department of Health and Social Care who served in the Conservative Government who, in a spirit of public service, have wanted either to do work for the Labour Government on issues that they care about, or have sought to share their experiences—the highs or, indeed, the many lows—of being in government. That is a totally legitimate thing to do. I suspect that, if I rang round all my Labour predecessors, I would find that the Conservative Government tried desperately hard to get them to work for them, because, as I say, the challenge for Conservative Health Secretaries was that they did not have any successful Conservative predecessors to turn to.

[Mr Paul Kohler (Wimbledon) (LD)]

I share the Secretary of State’s frustration and understanding of the brass neck of the Tories on this point and I do not doubt the expertise of Alan Milburn, but legitimate questions have been asked about conflicts of interest. What safeguards are being imposed or considered to address the appearance of conflicts of interest?

--- Later in debate ---

[Wes Streeting]

It is absolutely right that people appointed to roles in public life declare their conflicts of interest so that they can be assessed when taking decisions or exercising powers to ensure that they are doing so in a way that manages those conflicts of interest and no conflict arises. Alan Milburn does not, at this stage, have a role in the Department of Health and Social Care. Many people have come into the Department for meetings in the past eight weeks. We do not ask them all to declare their interests. I know there is more red tape now in health and social care than when we left office, but this Government want to reduce that not increase it.

[Chris Vince (Harlow) (Lab/Co-op)]

The Conservative party appointed a party donor, Wol Kolade, who wants to change how the NHS is funded, to the board of NHS England. In January, the right hon. Member for Louth and Horncastle (Victoria Atkins) held a meeting with his private equity firm, Livingbridge, less than one month after he gave her party £50,000, so is it not the shadow Health Secretary who ought to be answering questions about cronyism?

[Wes Streeting]

It is not for me, thankfully, to answer for the shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care; it is just my responsibility to clean up her mess.

[Mims Davies (East Grinstead and Uckfield) (Con)]

Will the Secretary of State please illuminate the House about any conflict of interest concerning the gentleman in question? Did he head into the ministerial floor or access the Department? Many of us want our constituents to access health services and GP appointments. Did the right honourable gentleman, who is the Secretary of State’s friend from the old days and with whom he has worked with previously, have a day pass or a departmental pass? Beyond the bluster, can the Secretary of State assure hon. Members that there is no conflict of interest?

[Wes Streeting]

My right honourable friend, Alan Milburn, does not have a role in the Department. He does not have a pass to the Department. I am asked whether he has accessed the ministerial floor. I do not know where the Conservatives held their meetings, but I tend to hold them in my office on the ministerial floor.

[Emma Foody (Cramlington and Killingworth) (Lab/Co-op)]

Across Cramlington and Killingworth, I have heard countless stories—heartbreaking stories—of residents’ experiences of the NHS. They talk about the staggering length of waiting lists, access to GPs and access to dentists. Does the Secretary of State agree that, rather than focusing on who he might have once had a conversation with, the Conservatives would do better supporting the Labour Government in cleaning up the mess they left behind, which my residents live with every single day?

[Wes Streeting]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. It is because of the way that she champions her constituency and her community that she was sent to this place to stand up for their interests. It will not be lost on her constituents or anyone else in the country that, with our national health service in the state that it is in and with the appalling headlines that we have been reading in recent days, the Opposition have absolutely nothing to say about the responsibility that they bear for the crisis or what they would do to fix it. They have the wrong priorities, but, fortunately, the country has the right Government.

[Nick Timothy (West Suffolk) (Con)]

How many meetings has Alan Milburn had in the Department? Will the Secretary of State place a list of all those meetings in the House of Commons Library? Knowing that the former Secretary of State has extensive financial interests in healthcare, did the Secretary of State ask him to declare those interests and publish them?

[Wes Streeting]

First, my right honourable friend, Alan Milburn, does not have a role in the Department. Secondly, of course we will publish, in the routine way that we do, details of meetings held in the Department and who attended them. I gently suggest that if the hon. Member has not made his way there already, there are plenty more interesting things to read in the House of Commons Library.

[Sam Rushworth (Bishop Auckland) (Lab)]

I think Opposition Members may be making the mistake of judging this Government by their own standards. I wish to ask the Secretary of State this: after my constituents and many others have suffered from the economic disaster that was caused in part by dodgy covid contracts and VIP fast lanes, what will this Government do differently?

[Wes Streeting]

I am delighted to see my hon. Friend here representing Bishop Auckland. The people of his constituency will be struck by the fact that this afternoon the Conservative party has chosen to create a mountain out of a molehill about a former Health Secretary coming in to lend his advice and experience to a Labour Government. On covid corruption, my hon. Friend is absolutely right to be angry, as indeed the country is, too. That is why my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer has been very clear that, when it comes to cronyism and corruption in covid contracts, we want our money back and the covid corruption commissioner is coming to get it.

[Graham Stuart (Beverley and Holderness) (Con)]

There is just one standard and it applies to whichever party is in power, and that should be respected. All this whataboutery relating to what may have gone on under a Conservative Government! Anyone who has done something wrong should be pursued. Anyone in authority should be accountable. It is the failure of accountability, a failure of recognition, by the right hon. Gentleman that lets down the House today. Can he confirm to the House that Alan Milburn did not have access to official sensitive papers? Anyone who visits a Minister—they come in all the time—sits on one side of the table and the official sensitive documents are on the other side. Can he confirm that Alan Milburn did not have access that no other visitor would have?

[Wes Streeting]

In the meetings that I asked my right honourable friend to attend—I need to make sure that I get this absolutely right—I tend to think that I saw him on the other side of the table in the corner. I cannot guarantee that he sat at that point in every single one of the meetings, but he certainly was not sitting next to me. With regard to the papers for the meetings that he attended, they were discussion papers about the challenges facing health and social care. They were not Government decision papers or recommendations for Ministers. There is a distinction between those two things. I decide who attends meetings in the Department, and, when it comes to wide-ranging policy discussions, I decide what reading material people receive.

[Andrew Lewin (Welwyn Hatfield) (Lab)]

The Conservative party famously said that they had “had enough of experts”, and look at where that got us—the longest NHS waiting list in history. I am pleased that my right hon. Friend rejects that approach emphatically. In the spirit of listening to professionals who are trying to make a difference, I ask him and his team to consider visiting Hertfordshire, where the community trust is working on a hospital at home scheme. The scheme is making a huge difference to patients at the end of their life, who need to be supported, cared for and monitored. This is an important part of easing the burden on our NHS with which we have been left.

[Wes Streeting]

I would be delighted for either myself or one of my ministerial colleagues to take my hon. Friend up on that offer. What a refreshing change from so many of the contributions that we have had this afternoon from the Opposition. Of course we want to learn from people with experience and expertise in getting it right on the NHS and social care. Many of those people are outside Government. Many of them have valuable experience in other parts of the public sector, in our public services, in the voluntary sector and in the private sector—or indeed experience as patients, users or carers in our health and social care service. Our message as a Government is clear: when it comes to fixing the crisis in health and social care created by the Conservatives, we cannot get enough of experts, and we are looking forward to mobilising the country in pursuit of our mission, so that we can deliver an NHS that our country can once again be proud of.

[Gregory Stafford (Farnham and Bordon) (Con)]

Given the potential for commercial advantage to Alan Milburn, will the Secretary of State publish all the papers that Alan Milburn was able to read? If the Secretary of State gave them on Privy Council terms, as he seems to be saying, will he at least give them to any Privy Counsellor who wants them?

[Wes Streeting]

Given the state of the Opposition, I bet they would love to see what policy discussion papers we are putting forward in the Department of Health and Social Care. The hon. Gentleman is right: papers have been shared with my right honourable friend on Privy Council terms. The Opposition will, in time, be able to judge the fruits of the labour, in terms of my decisions and the decisions of this Government when it comes to fixing the mess that they created.

[Matt Turmaine (Watford) (Lab)]

I welcome the decision of the Secretary of State to seek wisdom from experts across the health and care system in order to build a better NHS. Is he aware of the virtual hospital system that has been used at West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust Watford site, developed during covid in order to treat more people in a better setting?

--- Later in debate ---

[Wes Streeting]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his question. We know that the NHS is broken, and is going through the worst crisis in history. We will shortly hear from the noble Lord Darzi about the outcome of his investigation into the true state of our national health service, but against that bleak backdrop of political failure are stories across the country of triumph against the odds, and of some outstanding public servants doing extraordinary things, showing what the future of our health and care services could look like with a Government on their side. I am pleased that such a Government is here—this Labour Government—and I would be delighted to hear more about my hon. Friend’s constituency.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I wish the Secretary of State all the best in his new role, and in the task that he has taken on. With great respect to my Conservative colleagues, the downfall of the Tory Government was due in part to the fact that people did not trust the background politics behind closed doors. I want the Government to succeed, as do most people in this House. Stability and direction are much needed, but that can happen only with openness, transparency and a desire to put nation before party. How can the Secretary of State assure us that this Government will do things differently, and that policy will be proposed by those with know-how, and passed with scrutiny in this place, not simply due to pressure from lobby groups?

[Wes Streeting]

I strongly agree with the hon. Member. In the short time that I have been in post, I have been delighted to have had virtual meetings with the current Northern Ireland Minister of Health, as well as with his predecessor, the hon. Member for South Antrim (Robin Swann), who now sits over there on the Opposition Benches—I am delighted to see him in his place.

Ministerial meetings attended by third parties are declared in our quarterly transparency publication. People will want to lobby and influence Government, and Members of Parliament, all the time. Members of Parliament regularly receive correspondence—let alone the deluge of advice that we receive in government. The important thing is that Ministers take decisions on the basis of the best possible advice available, that they weigh up carefully the evidence and arguments in a fair and proper way, and that advisers may advise but Ministers ultimately decide.

This Government are aware of the deep crisis in trust in our politics. That is why, on his very first day, the Prime Minister talked outside Downing Street about restoring Government to service. It is why it should be no surprise whatsoever that many people who have given outstanding public service to this country, such as my right honourable friend Alan Milburn—and the same is true of Patricia Hewitt, Alan Johnson, my noble Friend Lord Reed, the Mayor of Greater Manchester and many more—want to roll up their sleeves and help the Government. They can see the state that the Conservative party left our country in, and are willing once again to roll their sleeves up to get our country back on its feet, turn the situation around and ensure that everyone in our country can look forward to the future with optimism and hope after 14 years of abysmal failure.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)]

That is the end of the urgent question. I thank all Members who participated. In reference to the Secretary of State earlier, the privilege of choosing UQs is down to the Chair and is based on merit and the urgency of the point being raised.

Gender Identity Services: Children and Young People

Wes Streeting Excerpts

Wednesday 4th September 2024 Written Statements

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

I am writing to update the House about the Government and NHS England’s work to improve gender identity services, as well as implement the recommendations of the independent review into gender identity services for children and young people by Dr Hilary Cass.

During summer recess the Government and NHS England made progress toward these recommendations. The aim of this work is to ensure that children and young people who are experiencing gender incongruence or dysphoria receive a high standard of care that meets their needs and is safe, holistic and effective.

Puberty blockers

The Cass review made it clear that there is not enough evidence about the long-term effects of using puberty blockers to treat gender dysphoria and incongruence to know whether they are safe or beneficial.

The review recommended that puberty suppressing hormones should only be prescribed in the context of a clinical trial or under the guidance of the national multidisciplinary team. The report also recommended defining the dispensing responsibilities of pharmacists of private prescriptions of puberty blockers and considering other statutory solutions that would prevent inappropriate overseas prescribing.

The NHS has subsequently ceased the routine use of puberty blockers to treat gender incongruence in children. The former Secretary of State also issued an emergency order to extend restrictions to the private sector.

That emergency order came into force from 3 June 2024 in Great Britain and was due to expire on 2 September 2024. On 22 August, this Government renewed the order jointly with the Minister of Health in Northern Ireland. It commenced in Northern Ireland on 27 August 2024.

The Government recognise that the introduction of this order may cause concern to individuals and families who are impacted. If a young person has already taken these medicines or has been prescribed these medicines in the 6 months prior to 3 June 2024 (in Great Britain) or 27 August 2024 (in Northern Ireland), they can continue to do so, providing their prescription is now issued by a UK registered prescriber. They are strongly advised to meet with their prescribing clinician to fully understand the safety risks. For those patients accessing prescriptions from an EEA-registered prescriber, they can seek help from a UK private provider or see their GP.

The new order extends to Northern Ireland. The First Minister and Deputy First Minister gave their approval for the Minister of Health to co-sign the order. This will remain in place until the end of 26 November 2024 while we gather responses to a targeted consultation on a permanent banning order issued last month to representative organisations of those likely to be impacted by a permanent order. The proposed permanent order would continue the same restrictions and apply to the same medicines impacted by the emergency order, on a permanent basis. This would apply to private and overseas prescribing.

We do not yet know enough about the impacts of using puberty suppressing hormones at this critical stage in young people’s lives. In partnership with the National Institute for Health and Care Research, NHS England is launching a clinical trial to assess the potential benefits and harms of puberty suppressing hormones.

Within this trial, the effects of puberty blockers can be safely monitored, and the research will give Government and the NHS the evidence we need to decide whether they can be used as a safe and effective treatment. The trial aims to begin recruiting participants early in the new year.

New children’s services

In April, NHS England opened two new children and young person gender services in the north-west and London that offer a different clinical model, embedding multidisciplinary teams in specialist children’s hospitals. This includes a nominated paediatrician or psychiatrist with overall clinical responsibility for patient safety in these services. A third new service will open in the south-west in the autumn, and a fourth in the east of England in spring of next year. NHS England is advancing towards meeting its commitment for there to be a specialist children’s gender service in every region by 2026.

Referral service specification

NHS England has published a new service specification for the national referral support service for specialist services for children and young people with gender incongruence. A referral can only be made by an NHS-commissioned, secondary care-level paediatric service or a children and young person mental health service. This will ensure that healthcare professionals with the relevant expertise conduct the assessment and help determine any co-existing mental health or other health needs of these children and their onward care.

Adult services review

Dr Cass also recommended a review of the adult service specification for gender services, given the changing demographic presenting to children and young people’s services is reflected in a change of presentations to adult services. In response, NHS England has taken the decision to conduct a review of the operation and delivery of adult gender dysphoria clinics. The review will examine the model of care and operating procedures of each service, with the aim of producing an updated service specification for adult gender services. This will be led by Dr David Levy, medical director of Lancashire and South Cumbria integrated care board, and previously NHS England’s north-west regional medical director. Dr Levy will act as the independent chair of the review, which will include an expert panel of professionals and patients.

Conclusion

The trans community is disproportionately affected by issues of mental ill health, suicide and self-harm. We have a duty to them to lower the temperature and look for common ground away from the toxicity of the current debate.

The Government will not lose sight of the fundamental point that anyone accessing a gender identity service deserves the highest quality of care and support, and to be treated with dignity and respect, just as we would expect from any other service. This Government are determined that the public discourse about these issues does not lead to harm.

That is why this Government are absolutely committed to making sure every trans person feels fully part of our society. I believe the Cass review will deliver material improvements in the wellbeing, safety, and dignity of trans people of all ages and gender identities.

There is much to do in overhauling children’s gender identity services, and I can assure the House that I will be working closely with NHS England to implement further changes as soon as possible to ensure that every child receives the best possible care.

We will proceed with caution at every step, always putting the evidence first, and putting people above politics.

[HCWS70]

Care Quality Commission Section 48 Review of Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

Wes Streeting Excerpts

Tuesday 3rd September 2024 Written Statements

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

On 30 January 2024, my predecessor as Secretary of State asked the Care Quality Commission to conduct a special review of mental health services in Nottinghamshire in response to the horrendous killings of Ian Coates, Grace O’Malley-Kumar and Barnaby Webber.

I am grateful to the CQC for the detailed work it has undertaken on this report. My thoughts are with the families and friends of Barnaby, Grace and Ian. This report makes for distressing reading, especially for those living with this unimaginable loss in the knowledge that this tragedy could have been prevented.

The review was composed of three strands. The reports for strands 2 and 3, relating to the safety and quality of services provided by Nottinghamshire healthcare NHS foundation trust and the services provided at Rampton hospital, were published on 26 March 2024.

On 13 August, the CQC published the remaining report for strand 1 of the review into the care and treatment provided to Valdo Calocane by NHFT in the period leading up to the horrific events of June 2023. As part of this review, the CQC was also asked to determine whether its review of Valdo Calocane’s care and that of 10 other benchmarking cases indicated wider patient safety concerns or systemic issues with the provision of mental health services in Nottinghamshire.

This report identified serious failings in the care and treatment provided to Valdo Calocane by NHFT that may have contributed to these tragic killings after he was discharged from the trust’s mental health services. These failings are consistent with the CQC’s findings from strands 2 and 3 of the review, published in March, which identified issues with the safety of services and quality of care at NHFT as a whole.

While there was no single point of failure for Valdo Calocane’s care identified in the report, the strand 1 review identified serious shortcomings relating to four areas: risk assessment and record keeping, care planning and engagement, medicines management, and discharge planning.

I have met with NHS England, which has provided me with assurance that it and NHFT are taking action to address the serious failures identified in the report. I have made it clear to NHS England that I expect regular updates on progress against all the recommendations across the three strands of the review.

In advance of the publication of this report, NHFT has taken action to implement the CQC’s recommendations, specifically relating to managing patients who may be at risk of harming themselves or others. These actions include:

Changing “did not attend” policies to make sure patients are not discharged for not attending appointments.

Implementing systems to make sure staff more robustly consider risks to patients and the public.

Reviewing the approach to managing beds—there are early positive signs of a reduction in patients being placed in incorrect care settings as a result.

Putting into place a new crisis telephone system so that patients can access crisis services 24/7 without delay.

Reviewing patients waiting to access community support—the waiting list has reduced from 1,500 to 1,092.

Providing increased oversight for patients who are waiting to access care and checking medications for everyone in the community on antipsychotic medication.

I have made it clear that I also expect regular progress reports from NHFT.

I also expect these findings and recommendations to be considered and applied throughout the country. NHS England has accepted all of the CQC’s recommendations and has initiated a series of actions to ensure nationwide improvements are made.

As part of this work, NHS England has tasked every provider in England to review the policies and practices in place to ensure patients who are very unwell and who need help to engage with services do not fall through the cracks. I expect regular updates from NHS England on the progress of this review.

Other measures the NHS has already undertaken include:

Issuing guidance to trusts reiterating instructions not to discharge patients with serious mental health issues if they do not attend appointments.

Commissioning an independent investigation into the incident, which will be published by the end of 2024.

Continuing to improve data on community mental health services including developing metrics around access to psychological therapies for severe mental health problems and outcomes for people accessing community mental health services.

Establishing an expert advisory group to oversee the development of core standards for safe care in community mental health services.

[HCWS66]

Doctors and Dentists in Training: Pay Offer

Wes Streeting Excerpts

Monday 29th July 2024 Written Statements

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

I am pleased to be able to inform the House that today I have made a formal offer on pay for the 2023-24 and 2024-25 financial years to the British Medical Association’s Junior Doctors Committee for doctors and dentists in training in England. The BMA, which represents these staff and other unions in negotiations, will recommend the offer to their members.

I am pleased to have been able to make this offer fewer than four weeks after becoming the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care. I said during the general election campaign that I would get around the table with unions and find a way to resolve industrial action. This is a promise made, and a promise kept.

Under the offer, doctors and dentists in foundation and specialty training will receive:

an average investment of 4.05% into 2023-24 pay scales effective from 1 April 2023, with a payment to reflect backpay; and

a further consolidated uplift of 6% + £1,000 in 2024-25, in line with the recommendations of the Review Body on Doctors and Dentists Remuneration (DDRB).

If accepted this will mean an average pay uplift of 22.3% in basic pay for doctors and dentists in training over the past two years.

The Government will instruct the DDRB to change the approach they take when considering pay for doctors and dentists in training from 2025-26.

The Government have also committed to improving the current exception reporting process and to working in partnership with the BMA and other health organisations to reform the current system of training and rotational placements.

This offer would increase the base salary for a full-time doctor starting foundation training in the NHS to over £36,600 compared to around £32,400 before this offer was made. A full-time doctor entering specialty training would see their basic pay rise to over £49,900 from around £43,900 before this offer was made.

If this offer is accepted, the BMA will withdraw the rate card for doctors and dentists in training in England with immediate effect, and the current trade dispute with doctors and dentists in training will end.

The BMA will now begin the process of consulting their members on the offer. The BMA JDC and its officers will recommend that members accept this deal, and I strongly encourage members to do so. I will update the House on this matter in due course.

From September, I will refer to this group of doctors as resident doctors. This is the preferred nomenclature of the BMA, and an important sign of a new collaborative relationship between the medical profession and the Government based on a firm foundation of mutual respect.

Separately, I want to inform the House that this Government will also honour the offer made by the previous Government to the BMA Specialists, Associate Specialists, and Specialty Committee for SAS doctors. The BMA’s SAS members voted to accept the offer during the pre-election period.

These commitments come alongside the publication of the pay review body reports, on which I have updated the House separately.

[HCWS41]

NHS Pay Review Recommendations: England

Wes Streeting Excerpts

Monday 29th July 2024 Written Statements

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

Today I am accepting the recommendations of the NHS Pay Review Body, the Review Body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration and the Senior Salaries Review Body. This means that 1.5 million NHS staff in England will receive a significant pay rise backdated to 1 April 2024. For staff directly employed by NHS providers, this will be funded by NHS England through system allocations.

I am grateful to all the chairs and members of the NHSPRB, the DDRB and the SSRB for their reports that recognise the vital contribution that NHS staff and leadership make to our country. I am accepting their pay recommendations in full, re-committing to financial prudence and fair uplifts for public servants.

The NHSPRB recommended a 5.5% increase to all Agenda for Change staff, alongside other recommendations for a funded envelope for structural reform. In accepting these recommendations, we have committed to:

Uplifting all pay points for AfC staff (c.1.3m staff) by 5.5% on a consolidated basis, taking effect from 1 April 2024.

Adding intermediate pay points at AfC Bands 8a and above.

Working with the NHS Staff Council to take forward the PRB's recommendations on AfC pay structures.

Recognising the role of the NHS Staff Council, we are accepting the second recommendation regarding the addition of intermediate pay points to bands 8a and above in principle but are asking the NHS Staff Council to ratify it before it is implemented. We want to work with the NHS Staff Council on issues with the AfC pay structure, so we will work with stakeholders on the third recommendation.

The DDRB recommended a 6% increase to salary scales, pay ranges and the pay elements of contracts from 1 April 2024. It also recommended that an extra £1,000 be added to the pay points for doctors and dentists in training. In accepting these recommendations, we have committed to:

uplifting pay points for doctors and dentists in training (c. 73,000 doctors) by 6% plus £1,000 on a consolidated basis (an average of around 8.2% increase in pay);

uplifting the salaries of consultants (c.61,000 doctors) by 6% on a consolidated basis;

uplifting the pay range for salaried General Medical Practitioners (c.15,000 doctors) by 6% and uplifting the pay element of the GP contract by 6% on a consolidated basis (an increase of 4% on top of the 2% interim uplift in April);

uplifting the pay element of the General Dental Practitioners contract (c.24,000 dentists) and the minimum and maximum pay scale for salaried dentists by 6% on a consolidated basis;

uplifting the pay scales of specialist and associate specialist (SAS) doctors on all contracts by 6% on a consolidated basis.

The SSRB recommended an increase of 5% for all executive and senior managers and all very senior managers in the NHS in England from 1 April 2024, which we have accepted. The Government are still considering its approach to the recommendation to have a four-week turnaround on pay cases for VSMs and ESMs and so cannot confirm acceptance at this time.

These recommended uplifts are broadly in line with private sector earnings growth.

The previous Government neglected public sector pay for 14 years, and now we are resetting our relationship with public sector workforces. We will take further steps to restore confidence in the pay-setting process. We are accepting those recommendations, and will reform those public services, to deliver our missions.

The reports of the DDRB, the NHSPRB and the SSRB will be presented to Parliament and published on gov.uk.

[HCWS40]

Care Quality Commission

Wes Streeting Excerpts

Friday 26th July 2024 Written Statements

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

Today I wish to update the House on the publication of the interim findings of the review into the operational effectiveness of the Care Quality Commission that is being conducted by Dr Penny Dash. I have asked Dr Dash to publish these interim findings, as I wish to share with the House and the public the serious failings they expose.

Getting regulation right is critical to ensuring that health and social care is not only safe but also high quality. If the way we regulate is not fit for purpose, it means that people are not properly supported in their choices about health and care, and there is a lost opportunity to deliver improvements. Dr Dash’s interim findings demonstrate that the CQC, as the regulator of health and social care in England, is exactly that: not fit for purpose.

Dr Dash’s report has given people across the health and social care system, including from within the CQC, the opportunity to speak up about what I believe are systemic and cultural problems. I commend the report for creating an environment in which people have been able to speak up; to fix the NHS we must create a culture that values and listens to the voices of those who can see where the problems are.

Dr Dash has heard major concerns from significant groups of stakeholders. There are failings in the way that the CQC assesses organisations relating to the single assessment framework, which means that we cannot be confident that inspections are looking at all the things the public should rightly expect. There are also concerns about how ratings, which both the public and service providers depend on, are calculated. These failings are compounded by a further finding that the CQC does not have appropriate sector-level expertise throughout the organisation. Dr Dash is clear that all of these concerns mean that the CQC has lost credibility.

As recommended by Dr Dash, the Department of Health and Social Care will work with the board of the CQC to address the issues raised. The board will have my full support in ensuring the right leadership is in place to drive through the changes that are needed.

While this is an interim report, I would like to highlight four immediate steps that I will be taking with the CQC.

First, the CQC have asked Professor Sir Mike Richards to review the single assessment framework. This is an important step in addressing the concerns Dr Dash raises about how the safety and quality of hospitals is assessed. Sir Mike is an eminent and highly regarded clinician who was the CQC’s first chief inspector of hospitals. The fact that the CQC has asked someone with Sir Mike’s significant experience to give detailed and thorough consideration to improving the framework shows that the CQC is now taking seriously the concerns raised in the report and is acting swiftly to address them.

Second, I have asked the CQC to urgently improve the transparency of its ratings. This will include being clearer about what evidence has been considered in reaching the ratings, as well as setting out clearly the dates of the inspections that a rating is based on. This is to address the report’s finding about the historical practice of combining inspections over several years to produce a rating. This is important so that members of the public can have confidence that they know what a rating actually means. The action I am taking is a first step to bring in greater transparency, but more work will be required as the CQC looks in more detail at its assessment framework.

Third, the Department of Health and Social Care will increase the level of oversight of the CQC, including the frequency and seniority of that oversight. Over the summer, I will be looking at what is needed to ensure that the recommendations in the interim review are acted upon. This arrangement will continue once the final report is published. Ultimately, the Department’s objective must be to ensure that improvements in the delivery of CQC’s core functions are achieved for service users and service providers across health and social care. I have requested firm assurance from the chair that effective and credible appointments are made for a permanent chief executive and chief inspectorate of healthcare.

Fourth, the CQC sits within a complex landscape of bodies with responsibility for safety. Pending completion of her final report in autumn 2024, I am asking Dr Dash to undertake further work and make recommendations on how we can maximise the effectiveness of key bodies, individually and collectively, within that landscape. Terms of reference will be determined in due course.

Only by ensuring that we have a health and social care system that works as a whole will we be able to restore the public’s confidence in the safety and quality of care and, most importantly, put the voice and experience of patients and service users back at the heart of our regulation and oversight of the whole health and social care system.

The interim findings of the review have been published on gov.uk. I will provide a further update to the House once Dr Dash’s final report has been published.

[HCWS27]

Oral Answers to Questions

Wes Streeting Excerpts

Tuesday 23rd July 2024 Commons Chamber

[Jon Pearce (High Peak) (Lab)]

23. What assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the NHS dental contracting framework.

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

First, may I welcome my hon. Friend the Member for Norwich North (Alice Macdonald) to the House, and say what an absolute privilege it is to have been appointed Secretary of State for Health and Social Care? We have our work cut out for us, with not only the worst economic inheritance since 1945, for which the Conservatives should show more humility, but the worst crisis in the history of our national health service, which we see reflected particularly in NHS dentistry. Some 13 million people in England have unmet need for NHS dentistry, or 28% of the country, and it is disgraceful that rotting teeth are the most common reason for children aged between five and nine being admitted to hospital. During the general election campaign, I pledged to meet the British Dental Association immediately to start conversations on contract reform, and I did exactly that. I look forward to working with dentists and others from across the sector to reform the dental contract and rebuild NHS dentistry.

[Alice Macdonald]

I welcome my right hon. Friend to his place. Norfolk is a dental desert and my constituents are suffering. As well as reforming the contract, we need to train more dentists. In the east of England we do not have a dental school, but the University of East Anglia has put forward proposals for one. Will he meet me, other hon. Members from Norfolk and representatives from the University of East Anglia to discuss this important proposal?

[Wes Streeting]

It is appalling that Norfolk and Waveney are so poorly served in terms of dentistry. There are only 36 dentists per 100,000 people, compared with the national average of 53, so when my hon. Friend says that her community is a dental desert, Members should know that it is the Sahara of dental deserts. We will work with partners to ensure that patients across the country can access a dentist when they need one. I am aware, not least thanks to her advocacy and the advocacy of other Labour MPs across Norfolk, of the University of East Anglia’s proposal, and I would be delighted to meet her and my colleagues.

[Lewis Atkinson]

My constituents in Sunderland Central tell me that NHS dentistry is broken. It is not just that they cannot access routine care, but that if they are struck with, for example, excruciating toothache, they cannot access urgent appointments either. I therefore ask my right hon. Friend what steps he is taking, alongside the welcome reform of the dental contract, to ensure that urgent dental services are available locally in places such as Sunderland.

[Wes Streeting]

I welcome my hon. Friend; he certainly has big shoes to fill in Sunderland Central and is a worthy successor to his predecessor. He is absolutely right that alongside contract reform we need urgent action. That is why we committed to providing 700,000 additional urgent appointments and recruiting dentists to where they are most needed, and I am delighted to report that dentists stand ready to assist. We are working with the BDA urgently to get those appointments up and running as soon as possible, and we will keep the House informed on progress as we do.

[Jon Pearce]

High Peak is also a dental desert. We spoke to one practice that said it got as many calls for registrations as it did for appointments. Often those calls are deeply distressing, with elderly people unable to eat because they need their dentures sorted. What first steps is the Secretary of State able to take to cure 14 years of Conservative failure in NHS dentistry?

[Wes Streeting]

I welcome my hon. Friend to the House. He is absolutely right to point out that these challenges have been 14 years in the making, and it will take time to fix the damage that the Conservatives have done to our national health service. We will start with 700,000 urgent appointments, as we promised, and we will continue with contract reform, which is essential. I reassure him that as we do, we will have the needs of all communities in our country at heart, especially rural communities such as his that have particular challenges. I look forward to involving him and keeping him up to date on progress as we make it.

[Dame Harriett Baldwin (West Worcestershire) (Con)]

The NHS dental recovery plan was launched earlier this year, and the Secretary of State has on his desk news about the impact that it is having. Could he share with the House how much the plan has increased appointments in the Worcestershire and Herefordshire integrated care board area?

[Wes Streeting]

The Conservative party lauded that plan during the general election, when I think the public delivered their verdict on the progress that it had made. NHS dentistry is non-existent in huge parts of the country. We will stick with some aspects of the previous Government’s dental recovery plan because they are the right solutions, but there are gimmicks that we will not proceed with. We will come forward with a serious plan to reform the dental contract, which the Conservatives committed to in 2010 but failed to do in every single year of their 14 years.

[Layla Moran (Oxford West and Abingdon) (LD)]

I have a constituent who has been trying to get a dentist appointment for a year. They have painful abscesses, cannot sleep and cannot eat using the right side of their mouth. We need to get on with this. I note that a review of the NHS has been launched, but the British Dental Association is concerned that that review will delay the changes to NHS dentistry that are so desperately needed. Will the Secretary of State give us a timeline for when we will see change?

[Wes Streeting]

I am grateful to the hon. Member for her question and congratulate her on her re-election to the House. She is right to point to the detrimental impact that the Conservatives’ failure is having on people’s lives. In fact, in 1948, when the national health service was founded, Nye Bevan received a letter from a woman who had worked her entire life in the Lancashire cotton mills about how the dentistry she was given by the national health service had given her dignity and the freedom to associate in any company. What a tragedy that 76 years later, the Conservative party has squandered and destroyed that legacy to the point where people are suffering not just pain and agony, but the indignity of being unable to find a job and unable to socialise in polite company because they are ashamed of the state of their rotting teeth.

The hon. Member is absolutely right: Lord Darzi is conducting a review on the state of the NHS, and it will report in September. That is not preventing us from making progress, talking to the BDA and working within the Department and across the sector to get those 700,000 appointments up and running as a matter of urgency. I look forward to reporting the progress to her and other right hon. and hon. Members.

[Joe Robertson (Isle of Wight East) (Con)]

As the right hon. Gentleman is aware, there is a particular shortage of NHS dentists in coastal and rural communities such as mine on the Isle of Wight. Will he therefore commit to the previous Government’s plan for 240 golden hellos for newly qualified dentists by the end of the year to address that issue?

[Wes Streeting]

I welcome the hon. Member to the House—it is a rare thing to welcome new Conservative Members, and he is welcome. He is absolutely right to touch on the workforce issues in NHS dentistry, and to say that we need to incentivise dentists, on two fronts: we need them to commit to and do more work in the NHS—we are looking at a range of things in that regard—and we need to ensure that we get more dentists to the areas in which they are most needed. We will certainly support incentives to that effect.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Minister.

[Saqib Bhatti (Meriden and Solihull East) (Con)]

I welcome the right hon. Member and his new team to their places in the Department. The shadow Secretary of State, my right hon. Friend the Member for Louth and Horncastle (Victoria Atkins), prioritised access to care, including NHS dentistry, when she was Secretary of State. The dental recovery plan that she launched announced new dental vans to provide access to care to our most rural communities and coastal communities in England. We had agreed with NHS England that the first vans would be on the road by this autumn, and I know that that timescale was welcomed by colleagues across the House. Will he confirm that dental vans will be on the road by this autumn?

[Wes Streeting]

I could not have picked a better example of the previous Government’s desperately low ceiling of ambition than the fact that, after 14 years, they laud their triumph of dental vans roaming the country in the absence of actual dentists and dental surgeries. What an absolute disgrace. I accept that the shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care was just the last in a very long list of Health and Social Care Secretaries who had the chance to fix the problems. It was not all on her, and it is important that I say that—not least because of the Conservative leadership election that will be taking place soon.

I congratulate the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Meriden and Solihull East (Saqib Bhatti), on his appointment, but he sat behind Secretaries of State as their Parliamentary Private Secretary year after year, week after week, looking at the utterly abysmal failure of their record. When it comes to criticising this Government on the actions that we will take, the Conservatives do not have a leg to stand on.

[Steff Aquarone (North Norfolk) (LD)]

2. What steps his Department plans to take to improve access to NHS dentists.

--- Later in debate ---

[Cat Smith (Lancaster and Wyre) (Lab)]

10. What recent progress his Department has made on the new hospital programme.

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

It is painfully clear that the previous Government’s new hospital programme—they said that they would deliver 40 new hospitals by 2030—is not deliverable in that timeframe. I want to see the new hospital programme completed, but I am not prepared to offer people false hope about how soon they will benefit from the facilities they deserve. That is why I have asked officials as a matter of urgency to report to me on the degree to which the programme is funded along with a realistic timetable for delivery. We will not play fast and loose with the public finances, nor will we play fast and loose with people’s trust as the previous Government did.

[Cat Smith]

Lancaster’s royal infirmary is at capacity. It is a Victorian hospital, and I am sure it was cutting-edge back then, but it is now not fit for purpose. Yesterday, the joint investment strategic committee expressed its support for the new build scheme in Lancaster, so it will soon be on the Secretary of State’s desk. Will my right hon. Friend commit to meeting me and other interested local MPs in north Lancashire to ensure that, after 14 years of chaos under the Conservatives, the Labour Government will deliver a new hospital for Lancaster?

[Mr Speaker]

And a hospital for Chorley.

[Wes Streeting]

I was about to say, Mr Speaker, that the good people of Lancaster and Wyre will be delighted to have sent my hon. Friend to Parliament, because she is second only to you in collaring me about a local hospital project—you are the holder of that record. There is a serious point: thanks to her determined efforts to collar me around the parliamentary estate, I know the particular urgency around land. A scheme will be put to me shortly, which I will consider carefully, and I will look at the programme in the round and ensure that I am able to come back to this House and to the country with promises that we can keep and that the country can afford.

[James Wild (North West Norfolk) (Con)]

During the general election campaign, Labour said it was

“committed to delivering the new hospitals programme, including modernising the QEH at Kings Lynn to address its potentially dangerous RAAC”.

Will the Secretary of State honour that pledge, which was made to my constituents and to the staff at QEH, and approve the business case submitted by the trust for the new multi-storey car park, which is a key enabling project for the new hospital that we need by 2030?

[Wes Streeting]

Hospitals with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete are at the top of my list of priorities. I am extremely concerned about the dire state of the NHS estate. Once again, I think that is a bit rich from Opposition Members, whose party was in government only weeks ago. They had a Prime Minister local to that hospital, and they did not do anything when they had the chance, but they should not worry—we will clean up their mess.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Minister.

[Dr Caroline Johnson (Sleaford and North Hykeham) (Con)]

I congratulate the right hon. Gentleman on his position. I should declare that I have been working in the NHS for 23 years, currently as an NHS consultant paediatrician. I look forward to using that experience in my new role as shadow Minister of State to scrutinise the Government constructively.

Under the new hospital programme, the previous Government had already opened six hospitals to patients, with two more due to open this financial year and 18 under construction. The Government are now putting that at risk by launching a review of that work, delaying those projects, which are vital to patients across the country. Could the right hon. Member please confirm when the review will be completed?

[Wes Streeting]

First, I welcome the hon. Lady to her new post. I must say I preferred her much more as a Back-Bench rebel than a Front-Bench spokesperson, but I have enormous respect for her years of contribution to the NHS and the experience that she brings to this House. I always take her seriously.

However, on this one, once again I say to the Opposition that they handed over an entirely fictional timetable and an unfunded programme. The hon. Lady might not know because she was not there immediately prior to the election, but the shadow Secretary of State, who is sitting right next to her, knows exactly where the bodies are buried in the Department, where the unexploded bombs are, and exactly the degree to which this timetable and the funding were not as set out by the previous Government.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.

[Daisy Cooper (St Albans) (LD)]

I welcome the Secretary of State and his Ministers to their roles, but let me gently warn him that if he intends to run a contest on which Member can harangue him the most on crumbling hospitals, our 72 Liberal Democrat MPs say, “Challenge accepted.”

Under the Conservatives, the new hospital programme ground to a halt. We know the terrible stories of nurses running bucket rotas and all the rest. We have the worst of all worlds at the moment: trusts such as mine in west Hertfordshire are champing at the bit to get going but cannot, and are being held back. Other trusts have capital funds that they want to spend but are not allowed to because of outdated rules, and there are industry concerns that the one, top-down, centralised approach of the Conservatives could decimate competition in that industry, when we need a thriving industry to rebuild our hospitals and primary care. What is the Secretary of State’s response to that approach?

[Wes Streeting]

I welcome the hon. Lady back to her place. We worked constructively on the Opposition Benches together and, regardless of the size of the Government’s majority, we intend to work constructively with her on this side of the election, too. By extension, I congratulate her colleagues on their election. I have discovered that I have 72 new pen pals, all sitting there on the Liberal Democrat Benches, and they have been writing to me about a whole manner of projects. My colleagues and I will get back to them.

The hon. Lady is right that this is not just about the new hospitals programme, important though that is; the condition of the whole NHS estate is poor. In fact, backlog maintenance, the direct cost of bringing the estate into compliance with mandatory fire safety requirements and statutory safety legislation, currently stands at £11.6 billion. That is the legacy of the last Conservative Government.

[Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Clapham and Brixton Hill) (Lab)]

11. If he will take steps to help increase the number of accommodation units available for parents whose babies have been admitted to neonatal care units.

--- Later in debate ---

[Carolyn Harris (Neath and Swansea East) (Lab)]

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

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

Our NHS is broken. This Government have been honest about the problems we face because we are serious about fixing them, and we have not wasted a moment. We have appointed Lord Darzi to carry out an independent investigation of the state of our NHS, we are resetting the relationship with junior doctors with negotiations starting today, and we are laying the foundations for the delivery of 40,000 more appointments a week to cut waiting lists. The Gracious Speech kick-started a decade of national renewal, with modernisation of the Mental Health Act as well as the smoking reform, which will ensure that this generation of young people is the first smoke-free generation, and will be the first step towards ensuring that that generation is the healthiest in history.

[Carolyn Harris]

During their free NHS 40-plus health checks, women are assessed for conditions that may affect them as they grow older, but menopause is not included. To include it would be cost-neutral and would not only help millions of women to recognise the symptoms, but prevent needless GP appointments when those symptoms start to develop. Along with Menopause Mandate, I have been campaigning tirelessly on this issue. Will the Secretary of State please look into it as a matter of urgency?

[Wes Streeting]

I am delighted to see my hon. Friend back in the House. She campaigns relentlessly on this vital issue, and it would be very risky for me to do anything other than agree to meet her, because I share her view that progress needs to be made on it.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Secretary of State.

[Victoria Atkins (Louth and Horncastle) (Con)]

May I welcome the Secretary of State and his ministerial team to their places, and wish them well in their endeavours? With your indulgence, Mr Speaker, I should also place on the record my thanks to my superb team of former Ministers, to those in the private office and to officials in the Department for their hard work and support, as well as thanking the doctors, nurses and social care and health professionals with whom I have had the pleasure of working.

Now, to business. In opposition, the Secretary of State described the 35% pay rise demand by the junior doctors committee as “reasonable’. What he did not tell the public was that this single trade union demand would cost an additional £3 billion, let alone the impact on other public sector workers. Will he ask the Chancellor to raise taxes, or will she ask him to cut patient services to pay for it?

[Wes Streeting]

May I welcome the shadow Secretary of State to her new position? She has behaved in her typically graceful and decent way. I enjoyed working with her on that basis, and will continue to do so. Although, I must confess that when I heard about the “abominable” behaviour of the shadow Health Secretary, I thought, “What on earth have I done now?” Then I remembered that our roles have swapped, and that it was not me they were referring to.

What I said was that the doctors were making a reasonable case that their pay had not kept in line with inflation, but we were clear before the election that 35% was not a figure we could afford. We are negotiating with junior doctors in good faith to agree on a settlement that we can deliver and that the country can afford.

[Victoria Atkins]

I am afraid I do not like it when Secretaries of State do not answer questions, and I am sorry to say that the right hon. Gentleman gave another non-answer, as has been the case for those on the Government Front Bench. I have a question that I hope he will be able to answer. The final act of the Conservative Government was to protect children and young people by banning private clinics from selling puberty blockers to young people questioning their gender. Will the right hon. Gentleman confirm that he will resist the voices of opposition on the Benches behind him and implement in full all of Dr Cass’s recommendations, including exercising “extreme caution”, as she said, in the use of cross-sex hormones in young people? They and their parents deserve certainty from this Government.

[Wes Streeting]

Obviously, there is a judicial review of the former Secretary of State’s decision, which I am defending. The matter is sub judice, so I will steer clear of it.

To go back to first principles, we are wholeheartedly committed to the full implementation of the Cass review, which will deliver material improvements in the wellbeing, safety and dignity of trans people of all ages. I think that is important. I want to reassure LGBT+ communities across the country, particularly the trans community, that this Government seek a very different relationship with them. I look at the rising hate crime statistics and trans people’s struggles to access healthcare, and I look at their desire to live freely, equally and with dignity. That is what we will work with them to deliver.

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I understand that today is a new start with Question Time, but we have to be short and speedy. That is the whole idea of oral questions, because otherwise Members are not going to get in.

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[Blake Stephenson (Mid Bedfordshire) (Con)]

T6. The Government have announced ambitious house building targets but, as far as I could tell, the Labour party manifesto was silent on the GP estate upgrades. Does the Secretary of State agree that the Conservative policy of rebuilding or refurbishing 250 GP surgeries in England is a sensible policy to implement?

[Wes Streeting]

I am proud that the Deputy Prime Minister will be delivering the commitment to build 1.5 million new homes. It is absolutely vital that the infrastructure needed is delivered alongside those new homes, and we and other colleagues across Government will be working very closely with the Deputy Prime Minister to make sure that the social infrastructure is also provided.

[Tom Rutland (East Worthing and Shoreham) (Lab)]

T3. Last week, Worthing hospital came close to having to consider downgrading its maternity services due to a shortage of specialist neonatal nurses and midwives. Will the Minister please update the House on the Government’s plans to build an NHS that is fit for the future, including by addressing staffing shortages?

[Victoria Collins (Harpenden and Berkhamsted) (LD)]

T7. In one month alone at the West Hertfordshire teaching hospitals trust, we lost 843 days because of the social care backlog. The burden of that cost is often taken up by families and individuals, which impacts not only on them, but on the rest of our NHS healthcare. I welcome the talk about working together across parties, but would the Secretary of State also consider introducing greater support for unpaid carers, including paid carers leave and a statutory guarantee of regular respite breaks?

[Wes Streeting]

I warmly welcome the hon. Member to her place. She is absolutely right to raise the plight of unpaid family carers. They are part of the team, as far as this Government are concerned, so as we set out our 10-year plan for social care as part of our ambition to build the national care service, we will make sure that unpaid family carers are very much at the centre of our thinking, in no small part thanks to her representations.

[Sean Woodcock (Banbury) (Lab)]

T4. The Keep the Horton General campaign in my constituency has recently catalogued the poor experiences of tens of Banbury-based mothers who gave birth at the John Radcliffe hospital in Oxford. Will the Secretary of State or a member of his team meet me to discuss these concerning reports of poor maternity care?

[Wes Streeting]

Of all the issues that keep me awake at night, maternity safety is top of the list. We have already heard about the staffing shortages and the actions we will take to address that, but I also want to reassure people that, as we build our 10-year plan for the NHS, patient voices, including those of recent and expectant mothers, will be part of that process.

[Kit Malthouse (North West Hampshire) (Con)]

During the election campaign the Prime Minister came to Basingstoke on a visit and specifically promised to replace Basingstoke hospital by 2030. Can we rely on that promise?

[Wes Streeting]

I would not rely on anything the former Prime Minister said—[Interruption.] Oh, our Prime Minister? I thought the right hon. Gentleman was talking about the former Prime Minister. In that case, I can reassure him that we are absolutely committed to the new hospitals programme. On the budgets and the timescales, as I have said, we will come forward with an honest appraisal of what we have inherited from the last Government and what we will be able to deliver within reasonable timescales.

[Matt Western (Warwick and Leamington) (Lab)]

T5. I congratulate the Secretary of State on his position. Yesterday’s NHS data showed that we have among the highest incidences of dementia in the world, with something like 500,000 cases just in England. I appreciate that this is early days, 16 days in, but does the Minister have any idea why that may be, and what can be done about it?

--- Later in debate ---

[Dan Tomlinson (Chipping Barnet) (Lab)]

T8. I am sure the whole House will want to celebrate the fact that the NHS is safe in Labour hands once again. Specifically in the Royal Free trust area, which covers the community that I now have the honour of being the MP for—Chipping Barnet in North London—there are 100,000 people on the NHS waiting list, so what steps will the Minister take to reduce the waiting list in places such as mine so that we can see more people getting the treatment and support that they need from the NHS?

[Wes Streeting]

I am delighted to welcome my hon. Friend to his place. I am personally grateful to the Royal Free hospital for saving my life when I went through kidney cancer. NHS waiting lists stand at 7.6 million, which was still rising as this Government took office. Our 40,000 extra appointments, scans and procedures and our doubling of the number of diagnostic scanners will make a real difference to getting that backlog down to where it should be.

[Lee Anderson (Ashfield) (Reform)]

During the general election campaign, the Health Secretary visited King’s Mill hospital in Ashfield, and I am sure that helped me to get re-elected. King’s Mill was built on a private finance initiative deal by the last Labour Government and is going to cost £3 billion for a £300 million hospital. Will the Secretary of State please now assure me and the people of Ashfield that this will never happen again?

[Wes Streeting]

Despite my best efforts, the hon. Gentleman is back. I congratulate him through gritted teeth.

I was very impressed by what I saw at King’s Mill hospital, and I am proud of the last Labour Government’s record of delivering the shortest waiting times and the highest patient satisfaction in history. As I said during the election campaign, we will build on that success and learn from some of our shortcomings, too.

[Danny Beales (Uxbridge and South Ruislip) (Lab)]

T9. I welcome the honesty and urgency of reviewing the new-build hospitals programme. Residents in Uxbridge and South Ruislip are sick and tired after 14 years of broken promises on a new hospital. Board minutes have revealed that no business case was agreed under the last Government. No funding was released for a new hospital, and not a brick has been laid. Does my right hon. Friend agree that urgent investment is needed at Hillingdon hospital? Will he come back to the hospital, a year later, to visit staff and discuss their plans?

[Wes Streeting]

I welcome my hon. Friend to his place. Better late than never, as they say.

I have been to Hillingdon hospital, which has amazing staff and appalling buildings. That is why the people of Hillingdon, and people right across the country, deserve honesty, clarity and certainty about the new hospitals programme. This Government will provide it and stick to it.

[Esther McVey (Tatton) (Con)]

Does the Secretary of State agree that handing over powers to the World Health Organisation, undermining the UK’s ability to make its own sovereign decisions, would be unacceptable?

[Wes Streeting]

The World Health Organisation is an intergovernmental arrangement. It is of vital importance that, first and foremost, we agree only to things that are in our national interest, but we should not lose sight of the fact that there are lots of things that we need to do together in pursuit of our national interest, from tackling antimicrobial resistance to preventing future pandemic threats. That is exactly what we will do.

[Marsha De Cordova (Battersea) (Lab)]

T10. I congratulate the Secretary of State and welcome him to his post. Eye healthcare services are in crisis due to the Tories breaking our NHS. Ophthalmology is the busiest out-patient service, making up nearly 10% of the entire waiting list. My national eye health strategy will seek to tackle some of these issues, so will the Secretary of State meet me to discuss how we can tackle the eye healthcare emergency?

[Wes Streeting]

I would be delighted to do that. As my hon. Friend knows, we visited Specsavers during the election campaign. There are lots of high street opticians, and they can make a real difference to cutting the backlog. The Conservatives should have gone to Specsavers, and this Government will.

[Wendy Chamberlain (North East Fife) (LD)]

My constituents have struggled to get pre-diagnosis ADHD and autism support for their young daughters. We cannot diagnose children at a very young age, but that does not mean that families do not need help. Can the Minister confirm what engagement he will have with support organisations such as the National Autistic Society to ensure that best practice means that families are not struggling for support?