Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Edward Argar and Lindsay Hoyle

Tuesday 6th May 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Secretary of State.

[Edward Argar (Melton and Syston) (Con)]

I fear that many will have found the Minister’s answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Windsor (Jack Rankin) disappointing. He highlighted that the previous Government committed to the headline recommendation of the cross-party birth trauma inquiry led by the hon. Member for Canterbury (Rosie Duffield) and the former Member for Stafford, Theo Clarke, who has recently written about her experiences in a book, and in the Daily Mail called for a national maternity improvement strategy. No equivalent commitment has been made by this Government. Let us try again: will the Minister commit without any equivocation to implementing the inquiry’s recommendation to produce a national maternity improvement strategy?

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[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Secretary of State.

[Edward Argar (Melton and Syston) (Con)]

The Health Service Journal reports that officials have acknowledged that the first draft of a high-level plan for merging NHS England and DHSC has been delayed. When we ask any written question about the merger, the standard answer seems to be:

“Ministers and senior Department officials will work with the new transformation team at the top of NHS England, led by Sir Jim Mackey, to determine the structure and requirements needed to support the creation of a new centre for health and care.”

Even when we ask a question specifically about the size of the transformation team, the answer is virtually identical. The Government either wilfully decide not to answer, or simply do not know. As with so many things, the Government go for the headline-grabbing announcement and talk the talk on reform, without having done the actual work to deliver it. My question to the Secretary of State is simple: when will that first high-level plan for the merger, with a full assessment of costs and savings, be published?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Edward Argar and Lindsay Hoyle

Tuesday 25th March 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Secretary of State.

[Edward Argar (Melton and Syston) (Con)]

May I take this opportunity to thank the Secretary of State for his kindness following the death of my father earlier this month? It was very much appreciated.

I welcome the moves to streamline decision making and improve efficiency in the context of the Secretary of State’s NHS England announcement, if he genuinely drives decentralisation to integrated care boards. However, in a written answer on 21 March, the Minister for Secondary Care said:

“We recognise there may be some short-term upfront costs as we undertake the integration of NHS England and the Department”.

For clarity, can the Secretary of State confirm what the quantum of those reorganisation costs will be and the date by which they will have been recouped?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Edward Argar and Lindsay Hoyle

Tuesday 11th February 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Just a reminder that we are on topicals, folks.

[Edward Argar (Melton and Syston) (Con)]

I congratulate the hon. Member for West Lancashire (Ashley Dalton) on her promotion to the Front Bench.

Eating disorders affect over 1.25 million people, and this is the last Health and Social Care Question Time before Eating Disorders Awareness Week, which starts later this month. The Secretary of State will be aware of the amazing work done by the eating disorder charity Beat, which I met a few months ago, and to which I pay tribute. Will he back Beat’s call for broader access to intensive community and day treatment for those with eating disorders—there are limited places currently—and set out a timetable in which that will be delivered?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Edward Argar and Lindsay Hoyle

Tuesday 7th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. May I remind Members not to walk past when the Minister is replying to a question? Please have regard for each other; this sets a bad example.

I call the shadow Secretary of State.

[Edward Argar (Melton and Syston) (Con)]

The Prime Minister’s announcement yesterday of his elective recovery plan mirrored that of Sir Saijd Javid in 2022, but one aspect was different. Our plan explicitly recognised the importance of the workforce being in place to deliver the 9 million extra tests and interpret the results, and it set out proposals to increase that workforce further. What plans has the Secretary of State to boost the workforce in community diagnostic centres specifically, over and above the plans that he inherited from us, to ensure that his elective recovery plan is deliverable?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Edward Argar and Lindsay Hoyle

Tuesday 19th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Secretary of State.

[Edward Argar (Melton and Syston) (Con)]

The Secretary of State knows that every year, irrespective of which party is in government, winter is challenging for the NHS. Possibly, it will be all the more so this year with the potential impact on older people’s health of the loss of the winter fuel allowance by many. What winter preparedness steps has he taken, like previous Governments, to increase A&E capacity and to increase the number of beds this winter, and can he say by how many?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Edward Argar and Lindsay Hoyle

Tuesday 10th September 2024 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Secretary of State.

[Edward Argar (Melton and Syston) (Con)]

Under the early release scheme starting today, the detail of which was designed by the Secretary of State, how many people will be eligible to be released at the 40% point who have been sentenced, for example, for offences under section 20, grievous bodily harm, and section 47, actual bodily harm, of the Offences against the Person Act 1861, both of which carry a maximum sentence of five years, but for which more often a sentence will be awarded that is less than five years?

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[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Secretary of State.

[Edward Argar (Melton and Syston) (Con)]

I am grateful to the Secretary of State for her previous answers on substantive questions about accommodation for prisoners released early. Further to that, have the Government contracted any specific hotels for potential use by early release prisoners?