Oral Answers to Questions

Lindsay Hoyle Excerpts

Tuesday 9th June 2026 Commons Chamber

[Will Stone (Swindon North) (Lab)]

10. What steps his Department is taking to help reduce inequalities in health outcomes.

[Mr Speaker]

Welcome, Secretary of State.

[The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (James Murray)]

Thank you, Mr Speaker.

This Labour Government were elected to build an NHS fit for the future. As Secretary of State, I am accelerating modernisation, but health inequalities start long before people access the NHS, so our focus on prevention in the 10-year health strategy is crucial, as is the work of this Government to address wider inequalities, including in housing, air quality and getting more people into work.

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[Mr Speaker]

I call the Chair of the Health and Social Care Committee.

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

The Health and Social Care Committee’s most recent report into healthy ageing highlights the unacceptable 20-year gap in healthy life expectancy between the most and least deprived areas of the country. It also points out that physical activity can be as effective, if not more effective, in treating the ailments of older life than pharmaceutical intervention. That is why we recommend that the Government target the least active groups to narrow that gap and embed activity into clinical practice.

I welcome the Secretary of State to his place. We are yet to have our first conversation, so let us have our first meeting, in which we might discuss this issue and more, as well as how to embed tackling inequalities into the whole of the national health service.

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[James Murray]

I thank the hon. Lady for raising the situation in her constituency. For all of us as MPs, our first job is to raise matters that pertain to our constituents, and healthcare is among the most important services that they receive. I will ask my team to look further into the points that she raises and get back to her.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Minister.

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

Does the Secretary of State agree that state-funded healthcare should be provided to all children based on clinical need, not economic or educational status?

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[James Murray]

I am surprised by the hon. Lady’s remarks, because where a child goes to school should have no bearing on their ability to access NHS services. If she would like to write to me with further details, I would be happy to look into that matter.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.

[Helen Morgan (North Shropshire) (LD)]

The former Secretary of State, the right hon. Member for Ilford North (Wes Streeting), recognised an appalling culture of medical misogyny and basic, everyday sexism within the NHS. As such, it was extremely disappointing to see that the new women’s health strategy was inferior to the men’s health strategy. The men’s health strategy received 60% more funding for new initiatives and has a named academic network, a formal research mandate aligned with the National Institute for Health and Care Research, and a commitment to publish a one-year accountability report with named, responsible organisations and formal timeframes for every action. It also commits specific funding to trials and pathfinders. As it stands, the women’s health strategy has none of those things. It contains no specific, measurable, time-bound target to reduce the backlogs in endometriosis care, nor does the NHS 10-year plan include endometriosis, polycystic ovary syndrome or fibroids in its prevention agenda. Can the Secretary of State explain why?

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[Karin Smyth]

My hon. Friend is someone who does understand the way waiting lists are managed and so on. We do not have any plans to add any new targets to those to which we have already committed to give confidence to the British public that we can fix the NHS and get waiting lists down. However, he raises an important point about how we support patients to understand where they are in the system and where their care will be provided. Part of our commitment in the elective reform plan, which we outlined last year, is that patients are kept up to date about where they are being treated and why they are being referred to perhaps a more local service, and we will continue to try to do that.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Minister.

[Dr Luke Evans (Hinckley and Bosworth) (Con)]

Last month, the Health Service Journal reported that the elective waiting list target was met largely—largely—because a record number of patients were removed from waiting lists in March without receiving treatment. Can the Minister tell the House how many patients were removed in March and what happened to them, and whether she is satisfied that they definitely did not need treatment?

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[The Minister for Secondary Care (Karin Smyth)]

The single patient record will give clinicians timely access to a single trusted record so that decisions can be made more efficiently, avoiding duplication, allowing them to spend more time with patients. The system makes all information on a patient accessible in a single place and will allow the sharing of patient data among different settings, as my hon. Friend outlines, and provide more flexibility in where services are made available.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Secretary of State.

[Stuart Andrew (Daventry) (Con)]

I begin by welcoming the Secretary of State and the Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, the hon. Member for Birmingham Edgbaston (Preet Kaur Gill), to their places.

The Secretary of State was in the Treasury when it imposed VAT on compassionate access medicine programmes, which provide some patients—especially children with cancer—with a vital last chance to access treatment. The policy has already led to the closure of one scheme. Will he now commit to abolishing this tax before any more follow suit?

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[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Mrs Sharon Hodgson)]

I thank my hon. Friend for raising that very important matter. My sympathy is with the Lake family, and I commend them for their advocacy on this issue. I am acutely aware of the matter, having met the hon. Member for Upper Bann (Carla Lockhart) and her constituents about this issue last week, in a very moving meeting. I assure my hon. Friend that the Department is working with partners to see whether it is possible to set up a multi-condition evaluation, so that not only MLD but other rare conditions can be assessed alongside the existing screening programmes.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.

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[James Murray]

The hon. Gentleman is persistent in raising this issue—he has also raised it with me in the lunch queue. It clearly matters to him, and indeed to hon. Friends on my side of the House—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I say to the hon. and learned Member for North Antrim (Jim Allister) that he should not walk in front of the hon. Member for Surrey Heath (Dr Pinkerton) when the Secretary of State is answering him. Please show each other respect.

[James Murray]

The hon. Member for Surrey Heath can rest assured that this Government are focused on the new hospitals programme, which is now credible and deliverable after what we inherited from the previous Government, and that we will get those hospitals in place.

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[Jen Craft (Thurrock) (Lab)]

Last week the Supreme Court overturned the previous Cheshire West judgment on the Mental Capacity Act 2005, throwing the sector that cares for people with learning disabilities and/or autism into what it has called “chaos”. There is significant concern that, without further clarification as to whether someone who does not have mental capacity can consent to deprivation of liberty, vulnerable people will be put at significant risk. Will the Secretary of State listen to calls for—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I have to get through the questions from others, so Members have to help me by asking shorter questions.

[James Murray]

I can reassure my hon. Friend that the Government respect the Supreme Court decision. We are considering it carefully, and will set out updated guidance shortly.

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[Jim Allister (North Antrim) (TUV)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker.

[Mr Speaker]

Points of order come after statements.