"One of the great privileges of the three years that I spent at the Department of Health and Social Care was seeing at first hand the amazing work of our NHS workforce; I put on record once again my gratitude to them. Growing that workforce is vital to meeting the …..." Edward Argar - View Speech
"I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Southend West (Anna Firth) on securing this important debate. She is a notable advocate for healthcare in her constituency, and a strong champion and voice for her constituents in this place. The NHS has faced extraordinary pressures over the course of the …..." Edward Argar - View Speech
"I am grateful to my hon. Friend for her kind words. I will just conclude by saying that it has been a huge privilege to respond to debates such as this, and I am very grateful to her for affording me that privilege this evening.
It is a pleasure to be here on the Front Bench responding to this very important debate. If I am still in this role on Sunday, I think I will be the third longest-serving Minister for Health since 1970, which says something …..." Edward Argar - View Speech
"I just want to make a few more points, and then of course I will give way to the shadow Minister. She and I spent many happy hours in the Health and Care Bill Committee over many days.
"That is exactly what we are doing: we are leading and putting forward measures. Disappointingly, Labour voted against that extra funding...." Edward Argar - View Speech
"I just want to finish this point, but I will give way to the hon. Lady because it is her debate.
My hon. Friend the Member for Broadland (Jerome Mayhew) and others are right in their analysis that this is about patient flows. It is about a whole-system approach and …..." Edward Argar - View Speech
"I am grateful to the hon. Lady, but when hon. Members raise party political points, it is incumbent on me as Minister to respond and to put the facts on the record. I will turn to the specific points she has raised. I will also turn, in that context, to …..." Edward Argar - View Speech
"I would like to make a little progress before giving way again. I am conscious that I need to leave enough time for the hon. Member for Bath to respond.
That affects how quickly patients can be admitted from A&E, and such delays increase waiting times, as has been said, …..." Edward Argar - View Speech
"I will give way to the hon. Lady, but I want to make a little progress. There are points I want to make before I run out of time, but then I will give way.
That number, as we know, has frequently been higher during the pandemic, and there is …..." Edward Argar - View Speech