Cass Review

Debate between Victoria Atkins and Stella Creasy

Monday 15th April 2024 Commons Chamber

[Victoria Atkins]

I very much agree with my hon. Friend. He is always very good at exposing the differences in treatment that patients in Wales receive compared with those in England. Given that the leader of the Labour party has said that Wales is the “blueprint” for how it plans to run the NHS in England, I hope and expect that the Labour party will be true to its word and the Labour-run NHS in Wales will be announcing its immediate adoption of these recommendations, as well as the transformation to services that we in England are already undertaking.

[Stella Creasy (Walthamstow) (Lab/Co-op)]

Many of us recognise the value of the Cass report, as my hon. Friend the Member for Brighton, Kemptown (Lloyd Russell-Moyle) set out, in its call for evidence and a thoughtful approach, and its recognition that the collapse of child and adolescent mental health services has contributed to the difficulties in children accessing services. However, I stand here today with terrified constituents who are part of the backlog. I dare say that thousands of those children have been watching this debate with their families and are frightened to hear the heat, not light. The Secretary of State has a brief in front of her, so can I ask her a practical question for my constituents who do not understand what this will mean for waiting times and delays? She said that she was not putting any new money into the service but funds were being reprioritised. In practical terms, what will that mean for those young people who are trying to navigate what is happening to them, who need our support and care, not the derision of any political movement?

[Victoria Atkins]

I refer the hon. Lady to the answer I gave earlier about funding. In relation to the waiting list, we have already removed the Tavistock as the single provider of these services. We have now set up two sets of services in highly respected—world-respected—children’s hospitals, and we will add more. Again, the issue goes back to giving GPs and other practitioners the confidence to look after these children as they would if they were presenting solely with, for example, ADHD symptoms or concerns about mental health. This is about saying that this issue is one part of the patient they must treat, not isolating and siloing it in the way that has happened historically.

Strategy for Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls

Debate between Victoria Atkins and Stella Creasy

Wednesday 21st July 2021 Commons Chamber

[Victoria Atkins]

Yes. I thank my hon. Friend, who has been a diligent campaigner on these issues. I remember meeting him some months ago on precisely these issues and he has dealt with them, if I may say so, in a sensitive and appropriate way, understanding just how delicate some of them are. In terms of virginity testing, I am really pleased that he welcomes that. We will work together, I am sure, with my counterpart in the Department of Health and Social Care to find the appropriate legislative vehicle. On hymenoplasty, we have already spoken to clinicians about that process. Whereas virginity testing has no medical validation, I am told by clinicians that there are circumstances where it is not quite as clearcut—if I can put it that way—as virginity testing, so we have very much undertaken to examine that in great detail with clinicians and the royal colleges to ensure that in relation to that particular practice we arrive at the right result that is medically sound.

[Stella Creasy (Walthamstow) (Lab/Co-op) [V]]

I thank the Minister for her work on this strategy. She will know that if somebody is subjected to abuse or attack because of the colour of their skin, we rightly ask the police to record that and the courts to prosecute it as a form of hate crime. Yet if somebody is subjected to abuse or attack simply for being a woman, they face no such protection under our current system. Will the Minister meet me and campaigners, who are waiting for the imminent report from the Law Commission about how to make misogyny a part of our hate crime rubric in this country, to look at how we can quickly close that gap and give equal protection to everyone everywhere?

[Victoria Atkins]

Yes. I am very happy to meet the hon. Lady and campaigners to discuss that issue. I hope she will recall that when the Domestic Abuse Act went through the House of Lords, we undertook, in response to issues raised in the other place, to ask the police to record issues of gender where the victim felt it was relevant. We look forward to that data, but I am always happy to discuss such matters with her. Indeed, I hope she will find the public communications campaign, for example, a helpful intervention from this strategy. Again, over the longer term we believe that education and changing cultural attitudes is one of the ways we can tackle misogynistic beliefs.