Oral Answers to Questions

Yvette Cooper Excerpts

Tuesday 20th October 2026 Commons Chamber

[Rachael Maskell (York Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

2. What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to regulate funeral services.

[The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Yvette Cooper)]

I also join in your words in support of Helen Haines, Mr Speaker.

In the wake of the horrific cases we have seen in Hull, Leeds, Kent and elsewhere, the Government have announced that we will bring forward comprehensive proposals to ensure respect and dignity for the deceased in every setting, including proper regulation of the funeral sector, because everyone deserves dignity in death and every bereaved family deserves certainty that their loved one is being treated with care and respect.

[Rachael Maskell]

This question comes with warnings of distressing content. When people die, we expect the deceased to receive the highest level of dignity prior to interment, but the lack of statutory regulation is resulting in a few engaging in poor practice. The Co-op funeral service and independent providers have raised significant concerns of a new model of low-cost cremations and mass storage facilities—as proposed by a new establishment in York, which could store 700 people—with evidence of poor practice, poor care and poor handling of the deceased within these facilities. Will the Government meet me and funeral directors so that we can prevent the York site from operating and set high regulatory standards for services for the deceased?

[Yvette Cooper]

I thank my hon. Friend for raising this matter; Ministers will certainly be happy to meet her and her constituents on it. I am aware of and concerned about the issues she raises, and I do not think that families are being given the full information about some of these practices and provisions. This goes to the heart of why we need new regulation arrangements in place, so that everyone can have the confidence that their loved ones are being shown the respect and care that all of us would want for our families.

[Shivani Raja (Leicester East) (Con)]

Any regulation of the funeral sector must avoid unnecessary administrative burdens on small, local providers. How will the Department ensure that any proposed regulatory framework is proportionate and does not unfairly increase costs for independent funeral directors across my constituency and the country?

[Yvette Cooper]

The hon. Member raises an important issue. It is vital that we get this right, which is why we are currently holding consultations and discussions across the funeral sector. We know that there are funeral providers across the country that do an incredibly caring and compassionate job looking after families at the most difficult time; we are working with them, and we will update the House in due course. This is why we have established the principle of regulation, but getting the practice right, working with the sector, is very important.

[Tom Hayes (Bournemouth East) (Lab)]

19. What proportion of Best Start family hubs provide Healthy Babies support.

[The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Yvette Cooper)]

The Government are determined to give every child the best start in life. We will appoint an independent maternity and neonatal commissioner and publish an action plan covering every area identified for improvement from pregnancy to post-natal care. We will also go further, rolling out Sure Start health services for parents and babies into every family centre across the country, reaching up to 1,000 family hubs over the next two years.

[Rosie Wrighting]

The maternity ward at Kettering general hospital faces significant challenges such as reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete, overheating during the summer and flooding during the winter. We urgently need to see the maternity ward rebuilt and the money raised by families for a bereavement suite put towards a safe space for families in the most difficult of times. I thank the Secretary of State for all the work she has done on national maternity services. Will she meet me to discuss those specific challenges and ensure that my constituents get the maternity service they deserve?

[Yvette Cooper]

I will happily meet my hon. Friend to talk about maternity services. I pay tribute to her as well, because she has been a tireless campaigner for improving maternity services and, in particular, bereavement suites for families at the most sensitive times. I also pay tribute to all the families in her constituency who have been involved in those campaigns. Work is under way for a new maternity and neonatal facility in Kettering general, which will include a bereavement suite. We want to work with the hospital and the community on that.

[Tom Hayes]

A new report by the Centre for Young Lives advocates putting health at the heart of every childhood, including putting Best Starts, Healthy Babies and remaining children’s centres on a statutory footing. Given that health services have structural advantages in providing capital management and getting new services up and running, what greater role can health services play in integrating services at Sure Start level?

[Yvette Cooper]

I welcome my hon. Friend’s question. Having been responsible for the roll-out of the original Sure Start programme, I am still angry with Conservative Members who supported the closures of Sure Starts across the country. We are now restoring health services and the Healthy Babies programme to family hubs across the country, because health interventions from the work of midwives and health visitors and work on post-natal depression is crucial to the start of a child’s life. I hope that this time round we will have cross-party consensus as we expand those services.

[Mr Speaker]

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

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

The chief executive of NHS England and I toured the John Radcliffe’s maternity unit this summer. The building is in a dire state: women give birth in rooms with no windows and no toilets—and where there are toilets, they often flood. In fact, Valerie Amos said that it was the worst she had seen as part of her review. The trust leaders are clear with us that they want a new maternity unit. May I invite the Secretary of State to come to Oxford and see for herself? If she has not got the time for that, will she at least have a meeting with me and the trust leaders so that we can discuss how we can move the project forward?

[Yvette Cooper]

I will happily meet the hon. Member. I pay tribute to the Select Committee for its work on maternity services. Clearly, some of the issues are about capital investment, and we are substantially increasing that to improve the safety of units and facilities, including maternity units. We also want to see higher standards of care not just in labour wards and maternity units but throughout pregnancy. I am happy to meet her to talk about those services.

[Stuart Andrew (Daventry) (Con)]

On maternity, two things will stick with me. First, there was the briefing from Donna Ockenden on her report, which was shocking. The other was listening to bereaved mums saying how they are tired of telling their story over and over again, and I hope we can find a better service for those parents; equally, there was the treatment of dead babies in the mortuary in Nottingham. Will the Secretary of State update us on the work being done to ensure that those shocking things never happen to any family ever again?

[Yvette Cooper]

I welcome the right hon. Member’s points. I know that he has championed those issues both on maternity care and on bereavement. Like him, I have also spoken to some of the bereaved families from Leeds, where the Ockenden review is under way.

The issues that the right hon. Member raised about babies and mortuary services, as well as funeral services for babies, show the importance of the broader response to the Fuller inquiry and the regulation of funeral services more broadly. We do need to take action. I am happy to discuss that with him further.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.

[Yvette Cooper]

The work that we have done since the election has significantly increased the number of midwives across the country, which we rightly need to do. I have also been clear to the NHS chief executive that the NHS, regionally and nationally, needs to do everything possible to help reopen North Devon maternity services. I know that work is under way on trying to increase recruitment and support local recruitment. There is a broader issue about ensuring, particularly in more rural areas, that proper recruitment and maternity workforce plans are in place. We need to ensure, and mums need to know, that the services are there for them when they need them, including at the time they go into labour. That will be part of the approach that we are taking to maternity services.

[Alan Mak (Havant) (Con)]

4. What recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of primary care provision.

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[Richard Baker (Glenrothes and Mid Fife) (Lab)]

11. What steps she is taking to improve cancer diagnosis and treatment.

[The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Yvette Cooper)]

The national cancer plan sets out how the Government will continue to reduce waiting times for diagnosis and treatment, and use new research technology and clinical trials to transform outcomes. Alongside the Prime Minister, last week I met Archie Goodburn in Downing Street to discuss the new action that we are taking on brain cancer, and our determination to tackle every form of that cruel disease.

[Richard Baker]

That action will be welcomed across the House. Each year, about 20,000 men in Scotland are diagnosed with prostate cancer, and between half and two-thirds of them could benefit from focal therapy, which has a fivefold lower risk of harmful side effects compared with conventional treatments. Will my right hon. Friend share learning and data from the expansion of focal therapy provision in England with Scottish Ministers, as it is still not available in Scotland, despite NHS Fife being well placed to provide a national centre for focal therapy treatment in Scotland?

[Yvette Cooper]

My hon. Friend makes an important point about the importance of improving prostate cancer treatment, which affects so many men across the UK. We are investing £2.8 million to expand access to focal therapy in specialist centres in England, and NICE will look at the progress that is being made. We would of course be keen to work with the Scottish Government on this, and for them to be able to see the same results. It is important that we continue to improve treatment.

[Carla Lockhart (Upper Bann) (DUP)]

Scott, aged 30, is a dad, a son, a partner and a much-loved member of the Banbridge community, but he is battling grade 4 brain cancer. Brain cancer is the biggest killer of young people under the age of 40 in the UK, and survival rates are lower than the average across all cancers. Access to clinical trials is negligible, with only 2% of brain tumour patients successfully accessing them. Will the Secretary of State expand brain tumour clinical trials across the United Kingdom, and ensure fair access across all nations?

[Yvette Cooper]

I pay tribute to the hon. Lady’s constituent, who is obviously undergoing the most difficult of circumstances, and it is exactly because this is such a devastating condition that we have introduced a three-month rapid review of all the research and barriers to getting more patients into trials. We are of course keen to continue to work with the devolved Governments on this, because the research benefits us all right across the United Kingdom. We will be drawing up a framework to get drugs more quickly into trials, and to get more patients into those trials.

[Chris Coghlan (Dorking and Horley) (LD)]

12. Whether she plans to implement a redress scheme for people harmed by pelvic mesh and sodium valproate.

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[Ian Roome (North Devon) (LD)]

13. What steps her Department is taking to improve NHS maternity services in Devon.

[The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Yvette Cooper)]

As I made clear earlier, we are determined to see support given to North Devon maternity services so that they can reopen to provide quality maternity care. It is the responsibility of the trust to ensure that safe staffing levels are in place, but NHS regional and national teams are also working to support them.

[Ian Roome]

I thank the Secretary of State for her earlier answer to my hon. Friend the Member for North Shropshire (Helen Morgan) about North Devon maternity unit. As the local MP, I can attest to how urgent reopening the centre is to the local community. I heard what the Secretary of State said about the plans under way to improve local recruitment. Will she meet me to update me on the work that is under way and will she update the House on the national workforce plan, which is long overdue?

[Yvette Cooper]

The national maternity and neonatal intensive support team has visited the trust to look at what more can be done. The trust has a particular issue with the recruitment of consultants, and measures that it had assured us would be put in place ended up not being effective, so it now has to take further action. It is important that it continues to do so. We will keep the hon. Gentleman up to date with all the measures that we are taking nationally, but I know he is also in close contact with the local trust. Hopefully, the continued local, regional and national pressure will ensure that those services can open as swiftly as possible.

[Tim Farron (Westmorland and Lonsdale) (LD)]

T1. If she will make a statement on her departmental responsibilities.

[The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Yvette Cooper)]

The covid-19 inquiry has today published its module 6 report on what Baroness Hallett calls the “devastating impact” of the pandemic

“on people receiving and providing care and their loved ones.”

My thoughts are with all those who lost loved ones in the pandemic, especially those who endured the immense distress and harm of visiting restrictions in care homes, which meant they could not be with loved ones even as they died. I also pay tribute to all those who worked to protect the most vulnerable in very difficult circumstances, from care workers to family members.

The report finds that the adult social care sector was in a “fragile state” and insufficiently prepared for a pandemic, and that social care was too often treated as “an afterthought” in comparison with the priority placed on protecting the NHS. We will provide a full response to the report’s recommendations in due course, but I agree with the chair when she said that

“for too long the adult social care sector has been undervalued and under-recognised”.

That has to end and I hope we can work across parties to support the Prime Minister’s vision for a national care service.

[Tim Farron]

The only way that children can be tested for metachromatic leukodystrophy and given lifesaving treatment is if their older sibling is diagnosed, at which point it is too late to save the older sibling’s life. That was the case for my constituent Nicola, whose daughter was diagnosed when she was already symptomatic. She died at the age of 13. Nicola’s younger son was able to be diagnosed and treated only because of his late sister’s illness. This cruel tragedy could have been avoided if the Government added MLD to the infant heel prick test. When will the Secretary of State do that? Will she meet MLD families and me so that she can hear from them at first hand about the desperate need for this change?

[Yvette Cooper]

I am very sorry for everything that Nicola and her family have been through. The hon. Member will know that the UK National Screening Committee guides the Government in screening decisions. It has looked at newborn screening and concluded that there is not yet enough evidence to include MLD in the test. However, it is awaiting evidence from pilot studies looking into screening for MLD and from the recently implemented Norwegian screening programme. I will look further at this issue and ensure that the hon. Member gets a meeting with Ministers to talk about MLD.

[Jonathan Davies (Mid Derbyshire) (Lab)]

T2. My constituent Audrina Hatton-Wright is a 12-year-old cancer survivor. She has spent a huge amount of her childhood in hospital, where she has found that the food is sometimes not of a nutritional quality to support people’s recovery. She is running a high-profile campaign on this issue, which has taken her on to the BBC and ITV’s “This Morning”. Will Ministers meet me and Audrina to see where we can work on this issue together?

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[Damian Hinds (East Hampshire) (Con)]

With a waiting list of more than 7 million, the NHS needs the sharpest focus on patient care and delivery, but Ministers have created disruption and distraction. I have some sympathy for the Secretary of State, because the right hon. Member for Ilford North (Wes Streeting) had said no to a top-down reorganisation and then abruptly changed his mind without, it seems, thinking it through much. Within an hour of the First Reading of the Health Bill, he had hopped it, and now it falls to the present Secretary of State. Does she believe in the right hon. Gentleman’s plan, and does she still believe that NHS England will be dissolved by 1 April?

[Yvette Cooper]

That is a little rich coming from a Member who voted for the 2012 Andrew Lansley reforms, having promised no top-down reorganisations then doing one of the worst and most damaging top-down reorganisations ever in the history of the NHS. We are taking the Health Bill through Parliament; it is currently going through the House of Lords. We want to focus on frontline care, rather than the huge expansion of bureaucracy that we saw under the right hon. Member’s Government, which ended up absorbing money, away from the frontline, and creating far too much duplication.

[Damian Hinds]

I did not hear the greatest statement of belief that the deadline for that quango would be hit. Since the original plan, we know that costs are up, that transfer functions out of integrated care boards have been delayed, even though 8,000 people have gone, and that multiple mergers are on hold. NHS England may be the mother of all quangos, but it seems instead we are to get the sister of the mother of all quangos. The special health authority is a new, regional management tier, so does the Secretary of State still expect a net benefit of £1 billion a year in this Parliament? If not, what does that do to frontline health funding on top of the pressures we know about on pay and medicines? Is not the real cost here to patient care?

[Yvette Cooper]

The right hon. Member’s party and the Government who he supported expanded the number of jobs in NHS England from around 5,000 to more than 20,000 in the space of just a few years. This Government are reducing the number of jobs in administration and bureaucracy in order to invest in expanding the number of clinical posts across the country and across our NHS. We are already making substantial savings, with further efficiency savings and productivity savings taking place this year. This Government are delivering lower waiting lists, more treatment, faster treatment and improvements for patients.

[Jack Abbott (Ipswich) (Lab/Co-op)]

T4. East Suffolk and North Essex NHS foundation trust has made a £98 million application to the estates safety fund for a new maternity building. Our local services support the delivery of around 3,000 babies every year, but the existing building has not been fit for purpose for many years. Will the Secretary of State support our bid for a new maternity wing at Ipswich hospital, to make sure babies and families get the state-of-the-art services that they so desperately need?

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[Helen Morgan (North Shropshire) (LD)]

Last week, ITV News uncovered devastating statistics showing that thousands of children are now being treated in hospital corridors. It shared the heartbreaking story of Finlay Roberts, whose parents spent hours in A&E waiting for help before he died—he was just two. As a mum, I cannot bear to imagine waiting and seeing your child deteriorate like that. The Roberts family deserved better, so will the Secretary of State confirm when we will see data on the number of children receiving corridor care, and will she commit to ending corridor care once and for all within a year and making children an urgent priority?

[Yvette Cooper]

The story of what happened to little Finlay is devastating, and what his family have been through is unimaginable. I reiterate the apology that I have made to Finlay’s family; this happened in the summer of 2024, but it is still devastating that it should have happened, and that he should have been treated in a corridor in that way. As the hon. Member knows, since earlier this year, we have been measuring corridor care for the first time, because we have to end corridor care—it is not fair on patients. I am introducing new assessments of corridor care involving children, because that has to be the urgent priority. No child should be treated in a corridor.

[Damien Egan (Bristol North East) (Lab)]

T6. The steps towards expanding access to NHS dental treatment that the Minister outlined earlier are very welcome, but too many of my constituents still report that they cannot see an NHS dentist when they need one. Can the Minister therefore tell us what specific steps are being taken to improve dental services across the Bristol region?

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[Mr Gregory Campbell (East Londonderry) (DUP)]

T5. Bowel cancer rates are increasing among the under-50s. What targeted interventions are taking place to try to reduce such incidences?

[Yvette Cooper]

The national cancer plan, published by the Health Department, is about prevention, treatment and support, as well as, crucially, research. That research can benefit us across the United Kingdom.

[Mrs Sharon Hodgson (Washington and Gateshead South) (Lab)]

T8. I had the pleasure last week of meeting Her Majesty the Queen to discuss the importance of having fracture liaison services in every NHS trust, to which this Government have already committed. On World Osteoporosis Day, will the Minister outline what steps her Department is taking to develop the long-overdue national implementation plan for universal access to fracture prevention services by 2030?

[Wendy Morton (Aldridge-Brownhills) (Con)]

The Government propose to abolish Healthwatch and bring its functions inside the Department and local NHS bodies, but patients need an independent champion who can challenge things when they go wrong. What savings does the Minister believe will result from abolishing Healthwatch? How will she ensure that this does not result in the loss of an independent voice for patients?

[Yvette Cooper]

I am clear that there has to be an independent voice for patients as part of the health system. That is why I said on Third Reading of the Health Bill that the Government were looking again at Healthwatch and would report back in the Lords. We will do that shortly, in advance of the Committee stage.

[Lizzi Collinge (Morecambe and Lunesdale) (Lab)]

T9. As the Minister knows, I work with a lot of dying people and their families, so good palliative care is important to me, as it is to my constituents. Recently, this House turned down an opportunity to expand end-of-life care, with some opponents citing the state of palliative care as the reason for voting against assisted dying. What is the Minister doing to improve palliative care, particularly in the light of recent announcements about a national care service?

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[Yvette Cooper]

As my hon. Friend may know, we have just announced £140 million of new investment in urgent treatment centres and same-day emergency services. That is exactly to ensure that we are easing the pressures around accident and emergency, which went up substantially this summer, linked to the extreme heat. I know that Ministers would be happy to discuss his local proposals with him.

[Ben Obese-Jecty (Huntingdon) (Con)]

I thank the Minister for her recent confirmation that the renal dialysis service would remain at Hinchingbrooke hospital in my constituency during the build under the new hospital programme, but I am conscious that it is not in the scope of the actual new hospital and may not be there in the longer term. Can she offer me some assurances that this vital service for constituents will remain at Hinchingbrooke? If not, is any provision being made to ensure that this local resource stays available?

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[Shockat Adam (Leicester South) (Ind)]

I welcome the Government’s commitment to regulating funeral services, but for Jewish and Muslim families, burying a loved one quickly is a religious duty, not a preference. Will the Minister ensure that faith communities and burial societies, such as the Muslim Burial Council of Leicestershire in my constituency of Leicester South, are consulted directly, and that the new legislation does nothing to delay burials?

[Yvette Cooper]

The hon. Member makes an incredibly important point, because people’s faith needs to be respected as part of ensuring that they have dignity in death and that they and their families are treated with care and respect. We will ensure that this issue is part of the consultations under way at the moment, and this will certainly be a central consideration in ensuring we have an effective regulation system.

[Lloyd Hatton (South Dorset) (Lab)]

This month, we heard that Wareham’s chemotherapy clinic will reopen early next year, following two years of campaigning, meaning that patients across Purbeck will no longer have to travel long distances to access cancer care. Building on that success, will the Minister work with me to finally restore the rheumatology clinic at Swanage community hospital, so that many more patients can access care much closer to where they live?

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[Euan Stainbank (Falkirk) (Lab)]

In 2022 in Oslo, a monument was unveiled to Cecilie Flatval, a woman with incurable breast cancer. This weekend, I met my constituent Sylvia, who survived breast cancer and has fundraised extensively through Race for Life. Will the Minister meet me and Sylvia to discuss how we can support a similar monument in the United Kingdom?

[Yvette Cooper]

I thank my hon. Friend for raising this issue in Breast Cancer Awareness Month. This is a moment to recognise the progress that has been made as the result of a huge amount of work across our NHS and in research, but there is still a long way to go. I will ensure that he gets the ministerial meeting he seeks.

[James Wild (North West Norfolk) (Con)]

On Saturday, I joined hundreds of people in King’s Lynn in protesting against leaked plans for Norfolk and Waveney University Hospitals Group to downgrade accident and emergency and maternity services, and the intensive care unit, at the Queen Elizabeth hospital. Does the Health Secretary agree that services should be as local to people as possible, and will she reject any plans to remove services from the QEH?