Derek Twigg: I recently met representatives of a very important multinational manufacturing company that employs people in my constituency. They told me that they did not believe that the Government understood the concerns of industry about Brexit, and particularly about the customs union. Why does the Minister think that is?
Derek Twigg: Getting ex-prisoners into employment is clearly very important, as the Secretary of State has said. What assessment has her Department made of the number of prisoners who leave prison and get into employment and stay in it for more than six months?
Derek Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 16 January 2017 to Question 59597, on hospital beds, how many patients' discharge was delayed because there was no care package in their own home or place in a care home in November 2016.
Derek Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 16 January 2017 to Question 59597, on hospital beds, when data for December 2016 will be published.
Derek Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 19 December 2016 to Question 57440, how the safety of asylum seekers housed in initial accommodation centres is protected when such centres go through public consultations and the planning process.
Derek Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many surgical procedures were cancelled in each NHS acute hospital trust in December 2016.
Derek Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many NHS ambulance trusts met their response targets in December 2016.
Derek Twigg: I was originally told that the study by the Small Area Health Statistics Unit investigating the potential link between emissions from municipal waste incinerators and health outcomes would be published in 2014, then 2015. In October last year, through a parliamentary question, I was told that it would be published this year. Is the Minister confident that it will at last be published this year?
Derek Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many NHS hospital trusts met the four-hour accident and emergency target in December 2016.
Derek Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many hospital beds in each hospital in England were being occupied by patients who were ready to be discharged but could not be released because a care package or support had not been put in place within the community on the most recent date for which figures are available.
Derek Twigg: On a point of order, Mr Speaker. I know that you are a staunch defender of Back-Bench Members’ rights, so may I ask your advice? A Government proposal to site an asylum hostel in my constituency has caused great angst and concern there. It is an inappropriate place. It is the wrong decision. In connection with that, I have been pursuing questions with the Minister for Immigration. The...
Derek Twigg: indicated assent.
Derek Twigg: The Leader of the House is in denial. We need a debate, which needs to be led by the Prime Minister, so that we can ask her very pertinent questions about what she is doing about the NHS. For instance, Simon Stevens yesterday said that it was obviously “stretching” the truth to say that the NHS had got more than it had asked for, and we are spending less than other developed countries....
Derek Twigg: The Minister mentioned the Halton curve; he will know that it is an important part of the cross-border links between my constituency and Wales. Will he confirm that the project is on time, and tell us the date on which it will be completed?
Derek Twigg: The Secretary of State talks about correcting the points that have been made so that the House has the right information. May I repeat the question that I asked him on Monday? What are the latest figures—he should have them up to this week—for the number of people who could be discharged but have to remain in hospital because there is no community support available for them? Can he give...
Derek Twigg: rose—
Derek Twigg: Will the Secretary of State give way?
Derek Twigg: My hon. Friend is making an important point. The key similarity is that back in 1997, when Labour took over, the health service was in crisis, and it is again today. Is not part of the problem that people are having to go to A&E because they cannot get in to see their GP?
Derek Twigg: The Secretary of State tells us that he has a plan and a strategy, so I assume that he is on top of all the facts, but will he assure us that he understands the scale of the problem by answering this question? As of the latest count this week, how many hospital beds were being blocked by people who could not be discharged because no facilities for their care were available in the community?
Derek Twigg: The problem is not just winter pressures but pressures all year round. The Secretary of State will no doubt tell me that the Government have now allowed councils to increase the precept to allow councils to fund it better, but the fact is that that is not enough money. There is no strategy. Does anyone outside the Department—those in the Department might not either—believe that the...