Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Rehman Chishti and Chloe Smith

Wednesday 15th November 2017 Commons Chamber

[Vicky Ford (Chelmsford) (Con)]

13. What recent assessment he has made of the strength of the Northern Ireland economy.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Chloe Smith)]

The fundamentals of the Northern Ireland economy remain strong, with growth last year at 1.6%. Economic activity is up, exports have risen, unemployment has fallen to levels not seen since before Labour’s recession of 2008, and 42,000 more people are in work compared with 2010.

[Rehman Chishti]

Will the Minister confirm that the unemployment rate in Northern Ireland today is 4.7%—down from 7% under the Labour party—and that any return to the high-tax, out-of-control spending and record deficit of the Labour years would have a disastrous impact on Northern Ireland’s economy?

[Chloe Smith]

I certainly can. Under this Conservative Government, unemployment is at its lowest level in four decades. Labour would put all that at risk. We want to continue seeing the creation of more than 1,000 jobs a day. [Interruption.]

Mental Health

Debate between Rehman Chishti and Chloe Smith

Wednesday 9th December 2015 Commons Chamber

[Chloe Smith (Norwich North) (Con)]

People deserve better service. For too long some constituents have battled to get the care they need. Many do get excellent care, and I pay tribute to the staff of the Norfolk and Suffolk mental health foundation trust, who dedicate their lives to caring for thousands of patients successfully. I am pleased to see the hon. Member for Norwich South (Clive Lewis) and the right hon. Member for North Norfolk (Norman Lamb) here. I hope they will work with me and meet the trust here next week.

What we should be debating today is how to complete the job of bringing mental health into the light, into equality with physical health and into an era where the norm is of a better service, with every patient getting the treatment they need. I am currently helping constituents who have lived with seeing someone they love go down in a spiral—fast, sudden, out of control and finding it too hard to know what to do. I am concerned about continuity of care, the role of GPs and out-of-county beds. Poor provision of services is not acceptable or just: people deserve a better service.

I want to say three things: first, funding matters; secondly, equality matters; and thirdly, good management matters. On funding, I welcome the steps that the Government are taking to increase investment. The Norfolk and Suffolk mental health foundation trust has been open about the funding shortfall it can see in its books compared, for example, with the Norfolk and Norwich hospital down the road. The chief executive has called for the same system of funding for mental health compared with physical health.

Of the seven CCGs in the region, Norwich devotes the highest proportion of its budget to mental health. Although the overall budget for this year rose by just over 6%, spend on mental health increased by just over 4%.

[Rehman Chishti]

Will my hon. Friend give way?

[Chloe Smith]

I am afraid that I cannot take an intervention.

Norwich CCG notes that its

“spend on mental health has increased significantly in real terms, by almost £2m.”

It believes that

“access to mental health care is consistent across the county in line with demand.”

I welcome the announcement today of transparency measures, which will help us to understand such a statement.

On equality, we need proper parity of esteem between mental and physical health to be made a reality through funding. It is welcome that, in the planning requirements, commissioners are required to invest additionally in mental health.

Finally, good management is also needed, as the Minister for Community and Social Care recently argued in the Eastern Daily Press. By the way, I pay tribute to its campaign on mental health. My trust is in special measures and subject to an improvement plan. We must work with the trust to help it to get better. The staff have made very clear the pressures that they perceive; I also pay tribute to them. The CCG found that the trust was good at caring, but inadequately led. Monitor found that its financial management was lacking. Patients deserve better and other trusts are doing better: Norwich deserves better.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Rehman Chishti and Chloe Smith

Tuesday 8th January 2013 Commons Chamber

[Miss Smith]

Our current plans for electoral registration do include the annual canvass, which will continue to be used for as long as it remains the best way to ensure that the register is as complete and accurate as possible.

[Rehman Chishti (Gillingham and Rainham) (Con)]

Will the Minister clarify what penalty, if any, will be imposed on those who fail to return an individual electoral registration form?