Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Helen Jones and Jeremy Hunt

Tuesday 2nd April 2019 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. I would widen the point even further, and say that women from all religions, not just Christian religions, are double victims. Where there is persecution of any religion, often women come off worst. I think the most inspiring example of courage in the face of that persecution is Nadia Murad, the recent Nobel peace prize winner, a Yazidi campaigner who suffered absolutely horrifically but is an inspiration to persecuted women all over the world.

[Helen Jones (Warrington North) (Lab)]

Could the Government go one step further in contesting the persecution of Christians around the world by making it clear that Asia Bibi, who has been persecuted for many years for her faith, will be offered asylum in this country for herself and her family, should she wish to accept it?

[Mr Hunt]

I thank the hon. Lady for her interest in the Asia Bibi case, which I know is shared in all parts of this House. I reassure the hon. Lady that making sure that she is safe, and has somewhere safe to go, is a top priority for this Government. We have had numerous private discussions with the Pakistani Government about how to progress this issue. I do not want to go into the details of those discussions, but we are making progress and I am very hopeful that this will have a positive outcome.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Helen Jones and Jeremy Hunt

Tuesday 22nd January 2019 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

I had a very good trip in the new year. We have excellent relations with both countries. What I find impressive is the fact that their prosperity has come about through openness to trade. In that regard, our post-Brexit foreign policy, embracing free trade, will be central.

[Helen Jones (Warrington North) (Lab)]

T9. Of the almost 7,000 Yazidi women enslaved by ISIS, there are still very few who have received treatment for their physical and psychological injuries, and many have been unable to return to their homes. What more can the Government do to support those women, and to urge the Iraqi Government and the Administration in Kurdistan to work together to bring about their resettlement?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Helen Jones and Jeremy Hunt

Tuesday 19th June 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

I think it will be brilliant not just for patients at Torbay Hospital but for patients living in Newton Abbot and Torquay. My understanding is that this project is on track, and my hon. Friend should be very proud, because he campaigned hard.

[Helen Jones (Warrington North) (Lab)]

Warrington desperately needs a new hospital to replace its old, out-of-date buildings, so in allocating future capital funding will the Secretary of State bear in mind the levels of health deprivation that exist in the area, and will he ensure that any new hospital is accessible to those in my constituency, which has areas that are among the most health deprived in the borough?

[Mr Hunt]

I visited the hospital not too long ago and was able to see for myself some of the estate issues the hon. Lady talks about. I can assure her that need is a fundamental criterion when we look at allocating capital funding.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Helen Jones and Jeremy Hunt

Tuesday 8th May 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

I always look forward to the multiple interesting ways in which my hon. Friend returns to the same subject. We are always open to ideas that reduce pressures on GP surgeries, and I will look carefully at his latest idea.

[Helen Jones (Warrington North) (Lab)]

The Secretary of State knows—because I keep telling him—that Warrington has fewer GPs than its population warrants. What concrete steps will he take to attract GPs to areas that are under-doctored?

[Mr Hunt]

Most parts of the country would say that they need more GPs, which is why we are trying to improve the capacity across the country. So, what have we done? Well, very recently we announced six new medical schools, which will have a specific focus on attracting new students into general practice. That is one of a number of measures.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Helen Jones and Jeremy Hunt

Tuesday 20th March 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

I was pleased and privileged to see the brilliant work that staff are doing in Gloucester when I went on that visit. Deborah Lee and her team deserve enormous credit for getting a 10% improvement in performance year on year to February. A capital bid has been put in by my hon. Friend’s sustainability and transformation partnership. It is a promising bid and I hope to be able to give him news on that soon. If it is successful, it will be in no small part thanks to lobbying by him and our colleague, my hon. Friend the Member for Cheltenham (Alex Chalk).

[Helen Jones (Warrington North) (Lab)]

Research shows that access to GPs is now more difficult than it was five years ago, and in Warrington, we still have fewer GPs than the population would merit, putting more pressure on A&E. What is the Secretary of State doing to attract more GPs to areas such as this and to reduce the burdens on those already in the profession, so that they do not take early retirement, as many are planning to do?

[Mr Hunt]

The hon. Lady is absolutely right about how important is to increase the number of GPs. The most significant thing is what we announced this morning, which is five new medical colleges that are in parts of the country where it is particularly hard to recruit doctors. Our intention is that half the medical school graduates should be moving into general practice because it is so important.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Helen Jones and Jeremy Hunt

Tuesday 6th February 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

I am happy to do that. It is one of the great successes of NHS Improvement, which should be celebrated, that it has brought down the amount spent on agency nursing by £1 billion in the last couple of years. That is a huge achievement. Every penny of that goes back into frontline care.

[Helen Jones (Warrington North) (Lab)]

The Government cut the number of nurse training places in 2010, and when they scrapped bursaries applications from mature students suffered particularly. What is the point of blaming trusts for hiring agency staff when the Government simply do not train enough nurses to fill the vacancies?

[Mr Hunt]

Perhaps I should set the record straight for the hon. Lady. We have 52,000 nurses in training—more than was ever the case under the last Labour Government, who were planning to cut nurse training places by 6%. We are planning to increase them by 25%. That shows our commitment to nursing.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Helen Jones and Jeremy Hunt

Tuesday 14th November 2017 Commons Chamber

[Helen Jones (Warrington North) (Lab)]

Warrington has fewer full time-equivalent GPs than in 2010, despite the growth in its population, and many GPs are now quitting the service because of the pressures. What is the Secretary of State going to do not only to attract more people into the GP service, but to keep those who are already there?

[Mr Hunt]

Those are important questions. I had an excellent visit to Warrington hospital towards the end of the summer, and saw some fantastic work there, particularly on sepsis prevention. The hon. Lady is right: the issues are, first, about getting more medical school graduates to go into general practice—this year we think we will get 3,019 medical school graduates to go into general practice, which is a record as the number has never been that high; and this is also about retention and looking at some of the things that frustrate GPs. One of them is the costs of indemnity, their insurance policy, so we have announced that we will move to a national scheme to help control those costs.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Helen Jones and Jeremy Hunt

Tuesday 10th October 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

I am happy to look into that matter and write to the hon. Lady.

[Helen Jones (Warrington North) (Lab)]

If nurses or other NHS staff are awarded a pay rise above the current pay cap, will the Government fund that pay rise fully, or will they require it to be met by cuts in patient services?

[Mr Hunt]

That is something I cannot answer right now, because the latitude that the Chancellor has given me with respect to the negotiation of future pay rises is partly linked to productivity improvements that we will negotiate at the same time. The fact is, though, that we do have that flexibility, and I hope we can get a win-win as a result.

NHS Shared Business Services

Debate between Helen Jones and Jeremy Hunt

Tuesday 27th June 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

The hon. Lady is right. That is one of the most critical questions when it comes to trying to understand whether there was any actual patient harm. Ordinarily, if a patient was waiting for a test result that did not arrive at their GP’s surgery, the GP would chase it up and get a copy, so there would be no delay in treatment. However, only by looking at the patient’s notes can we understand whether any harm is likely to have happened. So far we have not identified any patient harm, but we will continue to look.

[Helen Jones (Warrington North) (Lab)]

The Secretary of State told the House in February that all correspondence was kept safe and secure, and he has repeated that claim today, so when did he know that 35 sacks of mail had been destroyed by staff, and why has he not mentioned it since?

[Mr Hunt]

As the hon. Lady knows, I was informed at the end of March 2016. The issue with the correspondence that was destroyed relates to procedures around what it is legitimate to do when patients have been dead for 10 years. At the moment we are not aware of any specific risk to patients as a result of those sacks of mail being destroyed, but we will continue to look at the issue very closely.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Helen Jones and Jeremy Hunt

Tuesday 7th February 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

We looked at this extremely carefully, and I have a lot of sympathy with what my hon. Friend is saying. People do not have to have medical insurance if they visit countries such as America as a tourist, and we do not want to insist on that for visitors to this country because of our tourism industry here. We concluded that it was better to have a system in which people who get a visa to come and live here have to pay a surcharge. That is why we have introduced the visa health surcharge, which raises several hundred million pounds for our NHS.

[Helen Jones (Warrington North) (Lab)]

I have always supported the view that we are not running an international health service, but as well as directing his energies towards that question will the Secretary of State direct them towards stopping the waste of money that occurs elsewhere in the NHS when highly trained surgeons and theatre teams are forced to wait to operate because beds are not available for their patients and have to spend their time doing nothing? How much is wasted in that way because of the chronic underfunding that this Government have introduced?

[Mr Hunt]

The constant accusations of underfunding would have a little more credibility if Labour was actually promising any more money for the NHS. Instead, at the last election it committed to £5.5 billion less than this Government.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Helen Jones and Jeremy Hunt

Tuesday 11th October 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

I am happy to do just that. I would like to thank the hon. Lady for bringing up this very important and difficult issue. We are making progress in reducing suicide rates, but we can do an awful lot better. The thing that troubles me most is that nearly three quarters of people who kill themselves have had no contact with specialist NHS mental health services in the previous year, even though in many cases we actually know who they are because, sadly, most of them have tried before. I am very happy to commend the “It takes balls to talk” campaign. She may want to put the campaign in touch with the national sport mental health charter, which is another scheme designed to use sport to try to boost the psychological wellbeing of men.

[Helen Jones (Warrington North) (Lab)]

A recent survey showed that one in four members of the emergency services experienced mental health problems, and that a number of them experienced suicidal thoughts. What is the Secretary of State doing to protect our vital paramedics and other ambulance staff, and to ensure that they get the support they need in dealing with absolutely appalling situations?

[Mr Hunt]

Again, I thank the hon. Lady for raising that. She will be pleased to know that the NHS has introduced a scheme, backed with funding, to encourage NHS trusts to look after the mental wellbeing of their own staff. I particularly want to pay tribute to the courage of people who work in the air ambulance service, because they see—day in, day out—some of the most difficult and distressing cases. They have to cope with the pressure of that when they take it home every day, and we all salute them.

Junior Doctors Contracts

Debate between Helen Jones and Jeremy Hunt

Monday 25th April 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The truth is that being Health Secretary is never easy, whichever Government they are in, but where they have made mistakes in the past is where they have been too willing to compromise on vital issues of patient safety, and a seven-day NHS is one of those issues. When it comes to safety, Channel 4’s “FactCheck”, which is not a known supporter of the Government, has compared the new contract with the old one and said that, on the face of it, the new one is safer. That should reassure many doctors that this is the right thing for the NHS to do, and they should work with us, not against us.

[Helen Jones (Warrington North) (Lab)]

The Secretary of State has said that this is all about patient safety. Well, the junior doctors I have met in Warrington believe that it is all about patient safety, too, and they do not believe that overtired doctors provide the best service for patients. Has he done a risk assessment on the imposition of a contract and the consequences for patient safety of lowering doctors’ morale and losing doctors from the NHS?

[Mr Hunt]

Let me gently tell the hon. Lady the facts about what the contract involves. It involves the maximum number of hours that any junior doctor can be asked to work in any week coming down from 91 to 72. It involves reducing the number of nights and long days they can work, as we discussed earlier. It is a safer contract. The reason morale is low is that, rather than negotiating sensibly, the BMA has gone for an outright win, which was a very big mistake. We could have had a negotiated solution a long time ago. In that situation, a Health Secretary has to do what is right for patients, and that is what we are doing.

Junior Doctors Contracts

Debate between Helen Jones and Jeremy Hunt

Monday 18th April 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

Absolutely. One of the key changes in the new contract that we hope to see is much more predictability about weekend working, and a sense for junior doctors that when they do go into work at the weekends they will get the same support around them as they would during the week; it can be incredibly stressful when junior doctors are called into work at the moment. All these things are improvements, and what has made it very difficult is that these improvements have been misrepresented by the BMA to its own members, so that people have become very suspicious about these changes. That is why we tried so hard to get a negotiated outcome, and why we have been so disappointed that that has not been possible.

[Helen Jones (Warrington North) (Lab)]

Can the Secretary of State confirm that the studies of mortality rates within 30 days of weekend admissions have in no case said that the rostering of junior doctors is a problem? Instead of talking about others negotiating, why does he not take responsibility and get around the negotiating table himself?

[Mr Hunt]

With respect, not very far away from the hon. Lady’s constituency is the Salford Royal, whose very respected chief executive concluded that a negotiated outcome was not possible. That is why I reluctantly took the decision to proceed with the new contracts. As for the studies on mortality rates, we have had eight studies in the past six years, six of which have said that staffing levels at weekends are one of the things that need to be investigated. The clinical standards say that we need senior decision makers to check people who are admitted at the weekends, and junior doctors, when they are experienced, count as senior decision makers, which is why they have a very important role to play in delivering seven-day care.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Helen Jones and Jeremy Hunt

Tuesday 13th October 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

I welcome my hon. Friend to his post. I am not sure I have had a question from him before. I know quite a bit about the Dudley vanguard programme, because I shared a taxi to Manchester station with the entire Dudley team. They told me, at close quarters, about their exciting plans. What really struck me was how they are talking to different bits of the health and social care system in a way that has never happened before. It is really exciting and I think it really will be in the vanguard of what can happen in the NHS.

[Helen Jones (Warrington North) (Lab)]

Many people in my constituency are struggling to see a GP from Monday to Friday. Warrington has fewer GPs than it had in 2010, despite a rise in population. The number of unfilled GP vacancies quadrupled under the previous Government. How does the Secretary of State expect to produce a seven-day service when he cannot properly staff the service from Monday to Friday?

[Mr Hunt]

I shall tell the hon. Lady how I expect to do it. We are, in fact, making very good progress. By March next year, a third of the country will be able to access routine GP appointments at evenings and weekends. We do need more GPs. I agree with her that it takes too long to get a GP appointment, but we are doing something about it. That is why we have announced plans to recruit an estimated 5,000 more GPs. That will be a 15% increase in the number of GPs, the biggest increase in the history of the NHS.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Helen Jones and Jeremy Hunt

Tuesday 7th July 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

We will not take any lessons from the Labour party about what needs to be learned from Mid Staffs. Labour Members should be ashamed of the state of hospital care they left behind. There are 8,000 more nurses in our hospitals as a result of the changes that this Government have made. They should welcome that, not criticise it.

[Helen Jones (Warrington North) (Lab)]

9. What recent discussions he has had with NHS England on the future of district general hospitals; and if he will make a statement.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Helen Jones and Jeremy Hunt

Tuesday 2nd June 2015 Commons Chamber

[Helen Jones (Warrington North) (Lab)]

12. What estimate he has made of the anticipated levels of deficits in hospital trusts for the current financial year.

[The Secretary of State for Health (Mr Jeremy Hunt)]

The NHS faces significant financial challenges this year and beyond. That is why we have now committed £10 billion extra for the NHS—£2 billion for this year and at least £8 billion more by 2020. Individual trust plans for 2015-16 are still being worked up but, with concerted financial control from providers, we expect to deliver financial balance in 2015-16.

[Helen Jones]

But does the Secretary of State accept that in trusts such as mine, which anticipates a £15 million deficit this year, that cannot be done without cuts to staff, beds and services? What happened to the Prime Minister’s pledge on a bare-knuckle fight to protect district general hospitals, when trusts such as mine are facing such circumstances?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Helen Jones and Jeremy Hunt

Tuesday 13th January 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

What is so disappointing about the health debate is that Labour Members tour TV studios trying to whip up a sense of crisis in the NHS in England, and then deny that things are even worse in Wales. Services are better in England because we have put more money on to the front line and less into management.

[Helen Jones (Warrington North) (Lab)]

Prior to Christmas, a motorcyclist in my constituency with serious leg injuries was left lying on the ground in the rain for an hour and 40 minutes waiting for an ambulance. Local people had to bring out blankets and hot water bottles to try to keep him warm, but because no ambulance arrived, the police had to commandeer a council minibus to take him to hospital. Is the Secretary of State ashamed to stand at the Dispatch Box and tell the House that the NHS is not in crisis, when that is what is happening on the ground?

[Mr Hunt]

Let me tell the hon. Lady what we are doing—[Interruption.] This is what I think is so shocking: Labour Members are not actually interested in what is happening to avoid precisely the kind of things that the hon. Lady mentioned. We are putting £4.6 million of extra support into the North West ambulance service this winter, and that money is being used to employ more paramedics, to train people so that they can see and treat patients on the spot, and to help more people on the phone so that they do not need an ambulance. The hon. Lady should perhaps have listened to the earlier question, because where Labour is running the ambulance services, results are even worse.

Special Measures Regime

Debate between Helen Jones and Jeremy Hunt

Wednesday 16th July 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

We do. I think it is time that those on the Opposition Front Bench, in particular, recognised that they were wrong to oppose so bitterly the move to get rid of 19,000 administrators in the NHS, so that we can afford 7,000 more doctors and 4,000 more nurses across the whole NHS. That has made a huge difference to the statement we are making today.

[Helen Jones (Warrington North) (Lab)]

The Secretary of State is right to say that abuse should never be tolerated, but does he not also accept that many of the problems in residential care for the elderly stem from a system that is trying to make profits out of the running of homes that are grossly underfunded because of the cuts his Government have imposed, and which, despite having some excellent staff who do their best, rely largely on untrained and underpaid staff? When is he going to tackle the real problems at the heart of the system, as well as announcing inspection regimes?

[Mr Hunt]

I do not accept that all profit-making organisations are going to deliver poor care. There are some excellent ones and some bad ones. Poor care is poor care wherever it exists. The hon. Lady is right to say that we need to value more the staff who work in residential care homes and domiciliary care services. They do a fantastic job that is often not well paid. The best thing we can do for them is to make sure that, where they are in an organisation that delivers poor care, we shout about it and talk about it, so that people find out about it and something gets done.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Helen Jones and Jeremy Hunt

Tuesday 1st April 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

I much enjoyed a recent dinner where I had the chance to meet a consultant from South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust. One of the discussions I remember having with him was how inside the NHS the definition of success for a hospital was in the past too narrowly focused on targets and financial balance, and not enough on patient safety, compassionate care and clinical outcomes. He, and many other people in the NHS, welcome the change that this Government have made in the past year to change that balance.

[Helen Jones (Warrington North) (Lab)]

Does the Secretary of State agree that compassionate care begins with being able to see a GP? In areas such as mine, GP appointments are increasingly hard to get. In fact, one practice has had its contract rescinded because of its failures. Does he now regret scrapping the target allowing patients to see a GP within 48 hours?

[Mr Hunt]

I am interested and rather astonished that the hon. Lady dares to mention the words “GP” and “contract” in the same sentence. It was Labour’s GP contract changes in 2004 that made it disastrously more difficult for people to see their GP and destroyed the link between patients and doctors by getting rid of named GPs. She will be pleased to know that from today we are reintroducing named GPs for the over-75s, which is big step forward in making it easier for people to see their GP.

Urgent and Emergency Care Review

Debate between Helen Jones and Jeremy Hunt

Tuesday 12th November 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

Just as there is more pressure on A and E departments, there is also more pressure on ambulance services. We are treating that as very much part of how we support accident and emergency services over the coming period. There are particular pressures in the London area, the east of England and the east midlands, and we are doing everything we can to put those problems right.

[Helen Jones (Warrington North) (Lab)]

The Secretary of State referred to the Chancellor’s recent announcement about money for social care, yet this is only a tiny fraction of what the Government have already taken out of the social care budget through their 30% cuts to councils. Did he not realise the impact that that would have on A and E, or did he just not care about it?

[Mr Hunt]

I am very conscious of the pressure that having to sort out Labour’s deficit is creating on all Government Departments, but the Opposition cannot have it both ways. They cannot say that they are in favour of fiscal responsibility and then complain about every single cut. The difficult decision that this Government took was to protect the NHS budget. That is something that the Opposition did not agree with. They wanted to cut the budget from its current levels.

Hospital Mortality Rates

Debate between Helen Jones and Jeremy Hunt

Tuesday 16th July 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

We want these things to happen as quickly as possible, but all the hospitals Sir Bruce reviewed will be looked at again within the next year by the chief inspector of hospitals, Professor Sir Mike Richards, who starts work today, so we will be able to measure whether progress has been as swift as my hon. Friend and I would like.

[Helen Jones (Warrington North) (Lab)]

May I ask the Secretary of State to actually discharge one of the responsibilities of his office by answering a simple question? If he believes that managers should not be able to get another post if they fail, why was there a plan to transfer the chief nurse from the failed Morecambe Bay NHS Trust on secondment to Warrington and Halton on the Secretary of State’s watch, stopped only when my hon. Friend the Member for Halton (Derek Twigg) and I found out about it? Did he or his Ministers know about this plan, and if not, why not?

[Mr Hunt]

That is exactly the reason why we are introducing measures to make sure—[Interruption.] Well, the Francis report was introduced to this House on 6 February, and we have said we will change legislation this year. We have already appointed a chief inspector of hospitals. I do not think we could go much faster. The trouble for the Labour party is not that we are going too slowly but that we are going too fast and exposing all sorts of problems which it wishes did not happen.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Helen Jones and Jeremy Hunt

Tuesday 11th June 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

Accountability is extremely important. Local authorities can require members or employees of local health service commissioners to appear and answer questions, and NHS organisations and individuals should co-operate with that. I am extremely concerned by what my hon. Friend says. He knows that I have received a report on this from the joint overview and scrutiny committees for six south-west London boroughs, and I will be responding shortly.

[Helen Jones (Warrington North) (Lab)]

Does the Secretary of State agree that accountability would be improved if the private providers who are increasingly providing NHS services were subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000? Will he ensure that as more and more services become privatised under this Government, those people are subject to the same freedom of information provisions as those in the NHS, because otherwise no committee can hold them to account?

[Mr Hunt]

Perhaps I could gently remind the hon. Lady that the previous Labour Government did not do this, despite making huge efforts to get more private sector involvement in the NHS. Providers must operate on a level playing field, and so the inspection regime that we are setting up, with a new chief inspector of hospitals, will apply equally to the private sector and the public sector.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Helen Jones and Jeremy Hunt

Tuesday 15th January 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

I thank my hon. Friend for his excellent work with the all-party group and for the group’s constructive response to our consultation on the outcomes strategy. I am more than happy to meet him and other representatives of the all-party group. With an ageing population and rising levels of obesity, we cannot be complacent about cardiovascular disease and have much to do.

[Helen Jones (Warrington North) (Lab)]

The Prime Minister promised before the election that there would be no reconfigurations or closures unless there was clinical and local support. Why then has the Secretary of State decided to break up the existing vascular network centred on Warrington hospital, meaning that emergency patients face a trip to Chester by ambulance, when this has neither clinical support nor support in the local community? When did that policy change, or was it just an election promise that the Conservatives never intended to keep?

[Mr Hunt]

We believe in the clinical networks, including the network for cardiovascular disease. We have increased the funding for those networks by 27%. However, we want them to include mental health and maternity services. We think that it would be wrong to do what the Labour party wants, which is to concentrate that funding on cardiovascular disease and cancer, and deprive of the clear benefits of such networks the 700,000 women who give birth on the NHS every year and the nearly 1 million people who will be diagnosed with dementia.

NHS Commissioning Board (Mandate)

Debate between Helen Jones and Jeremy Hunt

Tuesday 13th November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

The hon. Gentleman will understand that the purpose of such a mandate is not to set specific financial objectives but to set outcomes for patients, and then to let local professionals on the ground—doctors and nurses—decide how best to deliver them. The mandate is clear, however, that we want parity of esteem for mental health and to improve equality of access, which at the moment is much better for physical health than for mental health.

[Helen Jones (Warrington North) (Lab)]

The stroke networks have been hugely successful at reducing mortality and inequalities of treatment in this country, yet their future is now in doubt, staff are being lost and their funding is not guaranteed. What can the Secretary of State do to assure those involved in stroke care that his mandate will ensure that they are properly funded and resourced?

[Mr Hunt]

I can only repeat what I said earlier: those clinical networks are extremely important and will continue.

Ministerial Code (Culture Secretary)

Debate between Helen Jones and Jeremy Hunt

Wednesday 13th June 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

If hon. Members will let me make my case, I can perhaps answer some of their questions.

I did not know about or authorise that contact, but in accordance with the ministerial code, I accepted full responsibility for it by making a statement to the House the day after the contact became apparent.

[Helen Jones (Warrington North) (Lab)]

May I take the Secretary of State back to what he said a little earlier? He said that he was making no attempt to influence the quasi-judicial process because the Business Secretary was responsible for it at the time. However, his memo suggested a meeting with the Business Secretary. In what sense was that not an attempt to influence the process?

[Mr Hunt]

The memo, if the hon. Lady has read it, said that we should have a meeting that should not intrude on the quasi-judicial decision that the Business Secretary had to make. Something very significant, which she is forgetting about, is that no meeting happened. [Interruption.]

Phone Hacking and the Media

Debate between Helen Jones and Jeremy Hunt

Monday 11th July 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

The best reassurance I can give to the hon. Gentleman is the fact that the inquiry into illegal activity—and certainly the kind of pressure he is talking about would be illegal—will be conducted by a judge who will, without fear of favour, look at everything that has happened and make recommendations to ensure that it stops.

[Helen Jones (Warrington North) (Lab)]

Further to the Secretary of State’s answer to my right hon. Friend the Member for Delyn (Mr Hanson), now that he has said that the Prime Minister has not spoken to Andy Coulson “recently”, will he undertake to place in the Library a log of any meetings and phone calls between the Prime Minister and Andy Coulson since his resignation from Downing street?

[Mr Hunt]

I will happily pass on the hon. Lady’s request to the Prime Minister, who will make a decision on what he wishes to place on the public record.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Helen Jones and Jeremy Hunt

Thursday 16th June 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

Let me start by welcoming the hon. Gentleman to the Dispatch Box in DCMS questions, and let me answer him clearly. The reason we had to put the date back three years is that there was not enough money in the kitty—something that the former Chief Secretary to the Treasury under his party knew only too well and was prepared to write down. However, we have not ditched that commitment; we have said that we will deliver it in this Parliament. Indeed, we have gone further and said that this is not just about 2 meg, because today’s superfast broadband is tomorrow’s superslow broadband. I would urge the hon. Gentleman and those on his Front Bench to get behind this Government’s commitment to a 90% roll-out of superfast broadband.

[Helen Jones (Warrington North) (Lab)]

4. What steps he is taking to support the promotion of the rugby league World cup in 2013.