Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Joe Powell and Wes Streeting

Tuesday 22nd July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Joe Powell (Kensington and Bayswater) (Lab)]

20. What steps his Department is taking to tackle health inequalities across the country.

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

The driving force behind this Government’s approach to health is the principle that whoever a person is and whatever their background, they should receive the same world-class services as everyone else, based on need and not the ability to pay. That is why at its core, our 10-year plan for health looks to stamp out health inequalities, freeing up billions to move critical resources such as medicines and equipment to the regions and patients that need them most. Only a Labour Government will protect the NHS as a service free at the point of use, rebuild it, and make it fit for the future for everyone in our country.

--- Later in debate ---

[Wes Streeting]

I can certainly give my hon. Friend that commitment. The damage that was wreaked by the previous Government, not just across our health service but across every other part of Government, means that the gap between the health of the poorest parts of our country and that of the wealthiest has widened enormously. We have seen real challenges in general practice, which is why there are 300 more patients per GP in the poorest communities compared with the richest, and that particularly affects rural and coastal communities with higher levels of deprivation. We are going to carry out a review of the Carr-Hill formula. That formula has to work for general practice, and I would be delighted to come and see the work that the team at Carn to Coast are doing.

[Joe Powell]

In Kensington and Bayswater, there is now a staggering 19-year gap in life expectancy between men living in Notting Dale and those living in Holland Park—which are just hundreds of metres apart—and that gap has grown in recent years. The Minister knows that this is a whole-of-society issue to do with housing, employment and education, but can he outline what steps the Department are taking to help inner-city areas with very high levels of health inequality, such as that experienced by my constituents in Kensington?

[Wes Streeting]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for pointing out those stark differences in healthy life expectancy within a single inner London borough that contains some of the richest people on earth, as well as some of the poorest in our country. As for what we are doing as a Government, in addition to making sure that funding follows need and that we are tackling deprivation, our approach to neighbourhood health should make sure that we are working proactively in those communities that have the highest level of need, including pockets of deprivation within areas of higher affluence. Of course, as our plan recognises and as our mission-driven approach addresses, there are so many social determinants of ill health, including poverty, a lack of good work, damp housing, dirty air, and an inability to access culture and leisure opportunities that are affordable for everyone, not just the privileged few. Those are the issues that this Government are addressing, consistent with the Labour values that got us elected.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Joe Powell and Wes Streeting

Tuesday 17th June 2025 Commons Chamber

[Joe Powell (Kensington and Bayswater) (Lab)]

15. What steps his Department is taking to tackle building maintenance backlogs in the NHS estate.

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

The Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, my hon. Friend the Member for West Lancashire (Ashley Dalton), sends her apologies due to a family issue. She is very much in our thoughts today.

Thanks to the decisions taken by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor at the spending review, health capital budgets will increase to £14.6 billion by the end of the spending review period. That will deliver the largest-ever health capital budget in NHS history. Across this settlement, more than £5 billion will be invested to address the most critical building repairs, reducing the most serious and critical infrastructure risks and rebuilding the broken NHS left by the Conservatives.

[Wes Streeting]

I absolutely appreciate the challenges that the hon. Member describes, having met with the trust myself. The Minister for Secondary Care, my hon. Friend the Member for Bristol South (Karin Smyth) and I have both met with local MPs about the challenges facing Epsom and St Helier. Lord Darzi’s investigation found that the Conservatives left a £37 billion black hole in NHS capital. We are reversing that trend, with the largest-ever capital budget for health. The £12.1 million for Epsom and St Helier trust for estate safety is in addition to the £207 million of capital that the NHS South West London integrated care board is receiving, including for maintenance backlogs. It will take time, but brick by brick Labour is rebuilding our NHS.

[Joe Powell]

The Imperial College healthcare NHS trust has the largest high-risk repair backlog in the country. The support from the Government estates safety fund is very welcome, but to solve this problem we ultimately need a new St Mary’s hospital. Will the Secretary of State join me in praising the work of the new three-year St Mary’s taskforce, which aims to get to full planning consent and explore different financing models so that we can finally get this hospital built?

[Wes Streeting]

I thank my hon. Friend for the work that he and my hon. Friend the Member for Cities of London and Westminster (Rachel Blake) are leading in partnership with the trust and Westminster city council to ensure that the people of his constituency have the hospital they deserve. As he knows, this will be the most complicated scheme in the new hospital programme, but that is no excuse for the years of delay that the scheme has faced. The trust now boasts the biggest high-risk repair backlog in the country, so my hon. Friend is right to ensure that this is not allowed to be put in the “too difficult” pile again. We look forward to engaging constructively and doing everything that we can to expedite the progress that is desperately needed for his community and our city.