Mark Hunter: What progress he has made on the Northern Futures project; and if he will make a statement.
Mark Hunter: I thank my right hon. Friend for that answer. Northern Futures is a major part of the coalition Government’s efforts to rebalance the economy after decades of over-investment in and focus on London and the south-east. Constituencies such as Cheadle, where unemployment is now just 1.4%, are key beneficiaries. Does he agree that this will be one of this Administration’s greatest legacies?
Mark Hunter: Will the Prime Minister join me in paying tribute to the many dedicated health professionals who work at St Ann’s hospice in my constituency, and does he agree that the decision to devolve £6 billion of NHS spending to Greater Manchester presents a tremendous opportunity to integrate health care services better and secure a more positive long-term funding arrangement for our local hospices?
Mark Hunter: I congratulate the hon. Lady on securing the debate. She is making a passionate case for something she clearly believes in deeply. Does she accept that this is part of a wider awareness that is needed among the community at large to raise the profile of first aid issues, not only in schools and in the workplace, but across the spectrum, because there are still not enough people who know what...
Mark Hunter: Two years ago, a toddler in my constituency, Millie Thompson, tragically died following a choking incident at a local nursery. Her parents set up Millie’s Trust to campaign for a change in the law to require all relevant nursery staff to have paediatric first aid qualifications. An e-petition with more than 100,000 signatures and a Back-Bench business debate led to the Under-Secretary of...
Mark Hunter: May I welcome the announcement by the Deputy Prime Minister yesterday on schools funding? I particularly welcome the fact that two schools in my constituency—Cheadle primary and Great Moor junior—will benefit as a consequence. Can he give me an assurance that investment in education will be protected while we continue to address the deficit?
Mark Hunter: I apologise for being late for the start of the debate. Does the hon. and learned Gentleman agree that variability is one of the key problems with asthma? From hon. Members’ contributions, it is clear that each of us who suffer from asthma have different experiences of it. One of the biggest challenges, which has been brought home by the medical advice I have been given by doctors over the...
Mark Hunter: What assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of recent trends in unemployment figures.
Mark Hunter: Does my right hon. Friend know that unemployment in my constituency is down to 1.3%, which is precisely half what it was at the last general election and one of the lowest figures in the north-west of England? Does he agree that without the Liberal Democrats and the coalition Government, we would not have had the political stability that was essential for the recovery to take hold?
Mark Hunter: Yes, I would like to take the opportunity of summing up. To be candid, I find the Minister’s response a little disappointing. There seemed to me to be a fairly clear consensus—not only among the hon. Members who spoke, but also in the sources of information from which many of us quoted—that there is a need for something to be done. No one is saying that the Government have deliberately...
Mark Hunter: The key point is this—I happen to have the St. John Ambulance note in front of me so I will refer to it again: St John Ambulance believes that every adult working in a child-facing role should have had training in paediatric first aid. By highlighting the tragedy, and bringing it to the attention of parents throughout the country, we are giving the Government an opportunity to be seen to be...
Mark Hunter: I thank the Minister for taking another intervention. With respect, I do not think that anyone here today has been arguing for a tick-box culture and, if I may say so, I do not think that that phrase is particularly helpful to the consensus that has emerged during the debate. I want to follow up the intervention from the hon. Member for Stockport (Ann Coffey). The Minister referred to the...
Mark Hunter: Further to that intervention, does the Minister agree with this statement from St John Ambulance: “Ensuring that every adult working in a child facing role has appropriate paediatric first aid training would decrease the delay in responding to a first aid emergency, and increase the quality of care”? If he does, is that not somewhat inconsistent with his previous response?
Mark Hunter: I beg to move, That this House has considered the e-petition relating to the Millie’s Trust campaign to train all nursery nurses in paediatric first aid. Mr Chope, it is a great pleasure to conduct this debate under your chairmanship. It is a sombre subject that we are addressing this afternoon, and it is a difficult address for me to give, knowing the circumstances, and the family, Joanne...
Mark Hunter: I thank the hon. Gentleman for his contribution and I could not agree with him more. I am delighted that so many hon. Members from across the spectrum in the House of Commons have been able to find time to be here today, when I know that—as ever in this place—there are plenty of other important issues being debated at the same time. Millie Thompson was just nine months old when her...
Mark Hunter: I thank the hon. Gentleman for his contribution and, yes, I totally agree. As the previous intervention by the hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent South (Robert Flello) also suggested, most parents—I am a parent myself, although my children are now grown up—would assume when they are taking their children to a nursery that has all the relevant certification and regulation that the staff there...
Mark Hunter: I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention. Again, I could not agree more. I think that everybody, once they have focused on the issue, starts to appreciate that there is a significant difference between having a general qualification in first aid and having a qualification in paediatric first aid, which by the very nature of the fact that it involves dealing with small children—in...
Mark Hunter: Again, I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention and he is absolutely right. I will come on to the point about how the North West Ambulance Service has responded to this case in the positive way that he has indicated. On the day in question, Millie was being fed by the supervisor of the nursery, who had worked in child care for some 20 years; she was an experienced person. Yet, when...
Mark Hunter: I welcome the right hon. Gentleman’s intervention. The Millie’s Trust campaign has done an awful lot of work in this regard and is satisfied, I think, as most hon. Members who have considered the issue would be, that this can be done at no great cost. We hope that the Minister will make it clear that the Government are serious about their intention to address the subject. As other hon....
Mark Hunter: Yes, there was. I mentioned just a few moments ago that, of the two paediatric first-aiders who were at the school at the time, one chose not to be involved, by going to look after the other children in the nursery, while the second member of staff with a qualification did carry out the back slaps, but then left the baby and went via the nursery grounds on to the main road to wait for the...