Former Labour MP for Dartford
I want to start by echoing your sentiments, Mr. Russell, about the quality of this afternoon's debate. As you have already pointed out, the Government and Opposition leads are nurses, and a pharmacist is leading for the Liberal Democrats. An illustrious retired physician is speaking for the Independents, and we also have an immunologist present. In addition, my right hon. Friend the Member...
When I was a medical student, the registrar who taught us about the rectal examination-the per rectum-always said that, "If you don't put your finger in it, you'll certainly put your foot in it," and I have never forgotten that.
When I was last in Washington on a Select Committee inquiry, I was refused alcohol on the grounds that I could not prove that I was over 21 as I did not have my passport with me. I was not sure whether to feel flattered or insulted.
I hear what the hon. Gentleman says about voluntary advertising codes, but the Committee heard lots of evidence that that was not working. We have been there before with the tobacco industry, which claimed that it could behave, advertise and promote responsibly-but that simply did not work. It flew in the face of common sense to think that it would, because what it was really interested in...
It is very important that we are having this debate, and I pay tribute to my right hon. Friend the Member for Rother Valley (Mr. Barron), who chaired the Health Committee admirably and enabled it to make an in-depth study of the whole issue of alcohol. We obtained some extremely valuable papers in evidence, which the Committee and our researchers found useful in producing what I believe is a...
Surely the hon. Gentleman accepts that Parliament decides-in fact, the Chancellor decides-on alcohol duty, so it is really not much of a leap to say that the House should take a strong view on minimum pricing. Does he agree that minimum pricing cannot possibly affect the pub or restaurant trade? No pubs in the country will sell alcohol for 50p per unit other than at those very strange times...
It gives me great pleasure to introduce this debate. I should say at the outset that self-care is not about no care, but about ensuring that patients have far more control over their own health; not about saving money, but about ensuring that NHS resources are spent in the most cost-effective way to give the best possible outcomes; and not about simply passing people from professional to...
I was one of the members of the Health Committee who visited Australia and New Zealand. I have been a GP for many years and I think that I have heard most stories, but never have I heard such harrowing tales of distress and loss as I heard from those brave migrants. I wish to place on record my tribute to those very, very brave people who were able to open their hearts to the Committee. We...
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what schemes in Kent Thameside have received funding from his Department and its executive agencies in each of the last five years; and how much funding was allocated to each of those schemes.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what progress has been made by the Home and Communities Agency in its Single Conversation process in north Kent; and if he will make a statement.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health who the members are of the Cross-Government Health Inequalities Programme Board.
To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission what consideration he has given to the potential for the relocation of a Government office or executive agency to Ebbsfleet in the Kent Thameside growth area.
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what financial penalties apply in respect of each franchised train operating company serving Kent when scheduled trains (a) are cancelled and (b) arrive late.
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what funding his Department expects to provide in respect of the refurbishment of Dartford rail station.
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what information his Department holds on the number of scheduled trains operated by each franchised train operating company serving Kent which (a) were cancelled and (b) arrived late in each of the last five years.
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport how many and what percentage of scheduled trains operated by each franchised train operating company in England (a) were cancelled and (b) arrived late in each of the last five years.
