Russell Brown: May I quietly remind the Leader of the House that during the last Parliament, when he was on the Opposition side of the House and I sat on the Government, he spoke before me in a debate and I then paid him the compliment—some might say it was not a compliment—that in my view, he was quite frankly the best of a bad bunch on the Opposition Benches? I have to say to him that he has gone down...
Russell Brown: On that point, it became abundantly clear, when I met the two ladies whom I mentioned in respect of their daughters and the HPV vaccine, that one of those mothers faced a major challenge in pursuing the local health authority to get the card recording exactly what had happened. There appeared to be some reluctance, although I am not sure what was underpinning all that. Some people have faced...
Russell Brown: I appreciate what the Minister is saying. Will she give hon. Members in the Chamber her personal thoughts on the balance of probability?
Russell Brown: A few colleagues are here this afternoon, Mr Caton, but our all-party parliamentary group for vaccine damaged people has more than 120 members, so I suspect that some of them will be dropping in and out as the afternoon progresses. I am delighted to have secured today’s debate and I am pleased that we have been joined by the families of vaccine-damaged people, some of whom have seen their...
Russell Brown: I thank my right hon. Friend for his intervention. Those of us who know him realise that he is a champion for those less fortunate in society, and especially for the disabled. I recognise that he has a family member who was vaccine damaged as a child. Why is the coverage of the scheme so patchy here in the UK? Adults are almost all excluded—why should that be? All seasonal flu vaccines and...
Russell Brown: My hon. Friend is exactly right. Today, we are looking at—it is in the debate’s long title—reform of this legislation. As will become clear as I progress through my contribution, we really need to reach a decision on whether this is about reform or about ripping it up, throwing it in the bin and starting again, because we have moved on significantly since 1979. As I was saying, reform...
Russell Brown: I thank my hon. Friend for his intervention. He is exactly right. It was absolutely astounding to hear the heartbreaking stories at our last meeting and to think that a young woman who had been fit and healthy now suddenly finds herself asleep for most of the day and has to be awakened on an ongoing basis to be fed. That is no quality of life at all. Something is seriously wrong. The worlds...
Russell Brown: I thank the right hon. Gentleman for that intervention. The point is the balance of probability, as I indicated earlier in relation to the United States. I know that we do not always like to compare our health service with that in the United States, but theirs is definitely based on the balance of probability. We need to be much more realistic and consider what that could mean for us in...
Russell Brown: Thank you for choosing me as the starting point for the reduced time limit of seven minutes, Madam Deputy Speaker. I wish the hon. Member for Taunton Deane (Mr Browne) all the very best for the future in whatever he does. I will not engage with him in any kind of Eric Cantona-esque thoughts because I would probably do nothing more than confuse myself. My right hon. Friend the Leader of the...
Russell Brown: I, along with a small group of colleagues from the House, visited Brixton prison towards the back end of last year. We saw the benefits of the work that is being undertaken in two facilities there: the Clink restaurant and the Bad Boys bakery. Those benefits include a reoffending rate of only about 3%. That is the kind of work that short-term offenders need to give them the chance to restart...
Russell Brown: I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Airdrie and Shotts (Pamela Nash) not only for calling the debate, but for her leadership of the all-party group on HIV and AIDS since she took over as chair after the tragic loss of our parliamentary colleague David Cairns, who passed away suddenly. I have been a member of the all-party group since I came into Parliament almost 18 years ago. The...
Russell Brown: Since the meeting that my hon. Friend and I attended last week, I have made inquiries about what is being done in Scotland. The curriculum in Scotland contains carers modules, and I am led to believe, although I still need confirmation on this, that CPR could well form part of such modules. That should not simply happen in one place; it should be rolled out across the whole of the UK.
Russell Brown: No, no.
Russell Brown: Yesterday I had an exchange with the Minister for Employment in which I made it abundantly clear that youth unemployment in my constituency continues to rise. She has said that the recent rise in youth unemployment is just “a tiny blip”. Does this Minister agree with that?
Russell Brown: Responding on the issue of youth unemployment, the Minister for Employment painted a rosy picture, but she needs to take additional action in rural areas, especially those such as mine, where youth unemployment continues to rise month on month and the whole economy is based on agriculture and tourism. What additional support does she think she can genuinely give to areas such as mine?
Russell Brown: There is obvious eagerness within local authorities in the south of Scotland to have closer trade links with their counterparts in the north of England, as evidence from the work of the Scottish Affairs Committee suggests. Does the Secretary of State intend to engage with the Scottish Government to ensure that the borderland areas are able to exploit their full potential?
Russell Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many vaccine damage payments have been awarded in each year since 2003.
Russell Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether NHS England will remain the sole budget-holder and accountable commissioner for all specialised services in (a) 2015-16, (b) 2016-17 and (c) future years.
Russell Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what scope joint committees of NHS England and clinical commissioning groups will have to deviate from national service specifications for specialised services in (a) 2015-16 and (b) future years.
