Results 1-20 of 5,539 for speaker:Kevan Jones
- Mental Health (16 May 2013)
Kevan Jones: I made the point in my speech that work was good for people with mental illness. The problem is that the present system is inefficient and costly, and that it is creating absolute agony for many people. I know that the Minister has a great understanding of, and a deep passion for, the subject of mental health, and I urge him to put pressure on the DWP to change the system. We are not asking...
- Mental Health (16 May 2013)
Kevan Jones: Nick Clegg knows all about that.
- Mental Health (16 May 2013)
Kevan Jones: I agree with what my hon. Friend says about the smaller contracts these organisations get and the bureaucracy they have to deal with. Does he agree that some of them could bid for larger contracts to provide services as well, but the bureaucracy and financial hurdles involved in bids for such contracts make it very difficult for them to do so?
- Mental Health (16 May 2013)
Kevan Jones: Does my hon. Friend also agree that under the new NHS structure, local councils will have to do a lot more in terms of understanding the needs of people with mental health conditions?
- Mental Health (16 May 2013)
Kevan Jones: It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Broxbourne (Mr Walker), whom I would call my hon. Friend. I congratulate the Backbench Business Committee and the sponsors of this debate. Remarkably, this is the second debate on this subject in less than a year. I think we should have one every year in order to raise issues that affect many in the House and many of our constituents. Our last...
- Mental Health (16 May 2013)
Kevan Jones: That is our great challenge, and not just for the present Government. We did a lot in the last Government to recognise the problem. I pay particular tribute to my right hon. Friend the Member for Leigh (Andy Burnham), who championed IAPT—improving access to psychological therapies—services, for example, but part of the problem is cultural. We do not talk about these issues in...
- Mental Health (16 May 2013)
Kevan Jones: We need to explode the myth that the problem is funding. I do not think it is; I think it is where the funding is spent—a point raised earlier. Indeed, funding that is properly spent on early interventions for people with mental health issues will save the NHS money in the long term, not cost it.
- Mental Health (16 May 2013)
Kevan Jones: It is a statement of fact that people with mental illness will self-medicate, and alcohol is the most easily available drug. I am surprised by what my hon. Friend describes. If services are taking that approach to people, that is wrong. Her point is also linked to the bigger debate about access to alcohol. Let me return to the issue of stigma, which my hon. Friend the Member for Dudley North...
- Mental Health (16 May 2013)
Kevan Jones: The hon. Gentleman makes a very good point: schools are important in this regard, and it is important to get young people to talk about the issue. I have a fantastic charity in my constituency called If U Care Share, run by Shirley Smith. It was created following the tragic circumstances in which Shirley’s 19-year-old son hanged himself. Her organisation goes into schools, youth groups...
- Mental Health (16 May 2013)
Kevan Jones: I have spoken at a few events with the Minister, and I want to thank him for his interest in, and understanding of, this subject. Getting Government Departments signed up to Time to Change would be a very good move, and he should please ask if he requires any assistance from me. I want to talk about an issue that affects many of our constituents—namely, the work capability test and the...
- Mental Health (16 May 2013)
Kevan Jones: My hon. Friend makes a good point. The starting point should be the medical history of those individuals. Someone at the Department for Work and Pensions has said that it is not possible to identify such individuals, but that is complete nonsense. The process my hon. Friend has just suggested should be the starting point. Professor Harrington’s review of the process put forward the idea...
- Mental Health (16 May 2013)
Kevan Jones: Yes, it does. If there were a separate work stream for those individuals, of which the voluntary sector was a part, we could use the voluntary sector to get people back into the world of work. I agree with my hon. Friend, however, that they should not be penalised for doing so through loss of benefits. I also want to talk about the old issue of the NHS reorganisation. It provides some great...
- Mental Health (16 May 2013)
Kevan Jones: I agree totally with my hon. Friend that each of those 95 people taking their own lives is an individual and family tragedy. My problem is that, in opposition, the Conservatives, including the Prime Minister, took the figure used prior to the research and quoted it freely, like confetti, to try to discredit what the Labour Government were doing for veterans’ mental health.
- Mental Health (16 May 2013)
Kevan Jones: It was repeated by the Conservatives.
- Jobs and Business (10 May 2013)
Kevan Jones: I agree with my right hon. Friend’s observation. It obviously reflects the amount of support that the Prime Minister has from his Back Benches. He was so desperate in the earlier stages that he had to have his Parliamentary Private Secretary intervening in the debate.
- Jobs and Business (10 May 2013)
Kevan Jones: What about the Huguenots?
- Jobs and Business (10 May 2013)
Kevan Jones: The hon. Gentleman is speaking complete and utter 100% rubbish. If he goes to the north-east of England or to Scotland, he will see first-rate British companies that are providing not only hardware for the oil industry, but vital support.
- Jobs and Business (10 May 2013)
Kevan Jones: If the hon. Gentleman goes to the technology park at Walker in Newcastle, he will see that 80% of the world’s under-sea umbilical cable is built by two companies in the north-east. That is a success story not just for the north-east, but for UK plc. I am sorry, but his notion that there is no productivity in this country for the oil and gas sector is complete rubbish.
- Jobs and Business (10 May 2013)
Kevan Jones: That’s not where the money is!
- Jobs and Business (10 May 2013)
Kevan Jones: The hon. Member for South Basildon and East Thurrock (Stephen Metcalfe) has just spoken about talking the economy down. I know it was three years ago, which seems a long time, but we need to remind people of who in 2010 was talking this country’s economy down—it was the Chancellor of the Exchequer and this coalition Government. They expressed the ridiculous notion that without the...