Paul Flynn
Main Page: Paul Flynn (Labour - Newport West)Department Debates - View all Paul Flynn's debates with the Leader of the House
(7 years, 11 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Dr Coffey
No commuters like to be late for work because of errors over which they have no control, and I understand why my hon. Friend’s constituents are particularly frustrated. No transport questions are due for a while, so I will bring the matter to the attention of the rail Minister.
Paul Flynn (Newport West) (Lab)
Two years ago the two Newport Members of Parliament, the local trade union and the workforce said with one voice that privatising the then profitable shared services in the town would be a terrible mistake. Last week the National Audit Office announced that privatising those services and handing them over to the failing French company Steria has cost the country £504 million. When can we debate the cost to the nation of Ministers’ following their own canard—their own political, doctrinaire belief—that everything public is bad and everything private is good?
Dr Coffey
The Government do not share that view, which is why we are ensuring that the NHS is in public hands and will continue to be so. I am not aware of the specific case to which the hon. Gentleman has referred, but he knows that Ministers appear at the Dispatch Box daily to answer questions.