Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Conservative MP for Daventry
With one in five hospice beds no longer available because of increased costs such as national insurance contributions, it is hardly surprising that doctors are raising concerns about the increase in the number of end-of-life patients in our hospitals. It is therefore concerning to hear that the palliative care modern service framework will not now be available until the autumn. Given that the...
Capital funding is welcome, but we cannot pay doctors and nurses with bricks and mortar. Hospice UK has said that without additional support, there will be “more unnecessary hospital admissions, more unneeded A&E attendances and more patients not getting the care” they need, so I push the Secretary of State again to accelerate the timescale. Their lordships are considering the assisted...
(Urgent Question): To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care if he will make a statement on winter preparedness in the NHS.
This winter, a serious flu wave and rising respiratory syncytial virus infections are pushing the NHS to its limits. Flu admissions, as we have heard, are up 55% in a week, and RSV cases are rising, especially in older people. However, the Government have failed to prepare, as we pointed out earlier in the year. In July, the Health Secretary accepted Joint Committee on Vaccination and...
I thank the Secretary of State for advance sight of his statement, and sincerely thank him for making me aware last night of his intention to come to the House today and make a statement. Given that the next set of planned industrial action is due just a few days before Christmas, and at a worrying time when winter pressures are increasing early, with more flu patients needing hospital beds,...
This Government are trying to tell the public that this Budget was all about taking tough decisions to deliver change, about raising taxes to support the NHS and about pursuing growth and backing business. Those are commendable aims, but it is simply not the reality of what was delivered in the autumn Budget. This was a Budget for benefits paid for by hard-working people. Last year, taxes...
Well, we did not spend tens of billions of pounds in pay rises just for the same old problem to come back. There should have been proper reform, and conditions for those pay rises, but the Government did not make that happen, and here we are again. The NHS Confederation has also warned that local services cannot continue to absorb the costs of ongoing strikes by the BMA without consequences...
We will see what happens. It would be interesting to know exactly where the money will come from. [Interruption.] The Secretary of State just said that if the prices go up, there will be no cuts to the NHS budget, but where will the money come from? Which other part of the national health service and social care will the money come from? We will have to wait and see. The Budget last week made...
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many removals from elective waiting lists there have been as a result of data validation exercises in 2025-26; and what the cost to his Department has been of those exercises.
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the 2026 business rates revaluation on small businesses operating in high street premises.
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she plans to introduce further transitional relief for small businesses facing increases in business rates liabilities following the 2026 revaluation.
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the comparative impact of the 2026 business rates revaluation on (a) small retailers and (b) online distribution centres.
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department plans to publish analysis of the business rates burden by sector and business size following the 2026 revaluation.
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has considered freezing or reducing the small business multiplier in response to rising fixed costs for SMEs.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of a ban on trail hunting on the economy in rural communities.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate her Department has made of the number of jobs in rural areas that will be affected by a ban on trail hunting.
