I want to write to Lord Hunt of Kings Heath
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: ...in mental health. It sets out a fantastic programme for better prevention, quality and support. Finally, I will mention the people who I represented for a lot of my earlier life, when I did proper jobs—NHS managers and leaders. If we are serious about an improvement agenda, can we stop disparaging those people? Can we stop false economies by restricting the number we invest in and start...
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: ..., published only in September, and support the establishment of academies of commercial excellence—these are good initiatives—but you also need to support the people on the ground to do the job most effectively. The noble Lord, Lord Stevens, said that there is a good balance in the regulations, because, while we want to get rid of the bureaucracy of automatic competitive tendering, as...
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: ...: “The NHS wasn’t set up to carry the burden of policy failings in other parts of society. A healthy … society must have all the right building blocks in place, including good quality jobs, housing and education. Without these, people face shorter lives, in poorer health”. The evidence now is clear. We can see the impact on the economy. We are all concerned about the rise in the...
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: ...they can to inhibit that ambition. The life sciences industry is one of the most successful and important pillars of the UK economy, contributing more than £94.2 billion a year and 200,000 jobs in this country. Two-thirds of this is generated by the biopharmaceutical sector. The industry’s pipeline of new medicines is equally impressive. We are at great risk of seeing this economic...
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: My Lords, I support the noble Baroness. The Malvern Hills are of course an outstanding place of beauty in the West Midlands, and it is important that the trust is allowed to do its job as effectively as possible. This is yet another example of the way in which the Boundary Commission has been forced do its work, because of the constraints put upon it, where it goes across natural boundaries....
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: ...published on 24 January, what assessment they have made of its findings that the UK has seen (1) a significant loss of traditional medicines manufacturing capacity over the last 25 years, (2) 7,000 jobs lost, and (3) a fall in production volumes of 29 per cent since 2009.
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: ...’s claims and the reality of the legislation before us. We are promised in the Bill that we will see devolved power, reduced inequality across the country, a boost to productivity, pay and jobs, an improved planning system and better environmental outcomes—yet, when we look at the Bill, what do we see? We see inappropriate and extensive use of executive powers through Henry VIII...
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: ...access to specialist care is one of the reasons that our outcomes are so poor. I do not know whether that is true or not, but we certainly need to ask the question. How can we increase GPs’ job satisfaction? We must do something to give them the confidence to carry on in primary care in a way in which they get job satisfaction. We have many overseas doctors coming to work in the hospital...
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: ...to approach this new role in a sensitive way. I support the general principles here. Whatever our views, that brings us together, because it will be essential that local authorities do the job properly, and they need support to do so. The statutory guidance and consultation she referred to are very welcome indeed. Then noble Baroness felt that my suggestion that the guidance should be...
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: ...directors of football clubs? I realise that the Statement is yet to come. Is this issue being taken seriously enough to ensure that the regulator will have sufficient resources to do an effective job?
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: ...the whole of the HSSIB provisions. Ideally, I would support that because it would benefit from a stand-alone Bill, where we could give it the scrutiny it clearly deserves. On the other hand, our job here is to be constructive as a revising Chamber. On that basis, we would be much safer removing the coroner elements and giving the Government a little more time to discuss this further before...
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: ...-provider tension, we have had a really interesting debate. The noble Lord, Lord Lansley, said that every Secretary of State apart from Frank Dobson, of blessed memory—my first ministerial job was serving under Frank before he was persuaded, if that is the word, by Tony Blair’s persuasive skills to go and fight Ken Livingstone for the mayorship of London—believed in it. The point is...
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: ...(Appointment of Consultants) Regulations 1996 and subsequent guidance issued by the department in 2005, only the Royal College of Surgeons in England is permitted to review surgical consultant job descriptions and send a royal college representative to the advisory appointment committees when it comes to the appointment of consultant surgeons. Other elements of my amendment apply to the...
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: ...when obviously, everything is up and running; it is very difficult to know why we are here tonight debating these issues. Clearly, the NHS wants it, so it has got it and it is Parliament’s job, presumably, to just legitimise what it is already doing. Having said that, these integrated care boards believe that social enterprises are not to be invested in in the future. So, my appeal to...
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: ...consideration. This is one issue that we will want to bring back on Report, as it is important that Parliament gives a very visible indication to the NHS that we think Healthwatch is doing a great job but we want to see it have more influence in future. Having said that, I beg leave to withdraw my amendment. Amendment 42 withdrawn. Amendments 43 and 44 not moved. Schedule 2 agreed. Clause...
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: ..., I am also concerned about local Healthwatch, to make sure it has enough influence in the new system as well. It is right to pay tribute to the work of Healthwatch. I think it has done a good job since it has been established. Recent reports of national Healthwatch have been about access to dental care, on which I have an Oral Question in a week or two’s time. It undertook a very...
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: ...appointments process. I put this point to the Committee: why can we not put a proper appointments process in? Why do we not resurrect an independent NHS Appointments Commission to do the job properly, make sure that the governance arrangements are fit for purpose, and ensure there is much more local confidence in these ICBs and what they are there to do? The board should appoint the chair;...
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: ...are added on top of that, how on earth will the sector cope with that? On the point of the noble Lord, Lord Lansley, about the inconsistencies, one must assume that those 40,000 people will find jobs, either in the NHS as care assistants, in the domiciliary care sector or in any of those sectors where they are not required to be vaccinated. How on earth can that be seen as a sensible...
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: ...retaliation and find their careers at an end. Often, their only recourse is to an employment tribunal, which can drag on for years and deplete their financial resources. We know that informal job blacklisting is common. Some regulators follow up on information vigorously, but some still treat whistleblowing as complaints from troublesome people. The recent APPG report on whistleblowing,...
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: ...rates in the most deprived areas have been almost twice those in the least deprived. The review that accompanies these regulations speaks of the Government’s commitment to protecting people’s jobs and livelihoods. There is much to commend but there have been some real problems too. Many of the self-employed fell through the net. Some 2 million low earners are excluded from receiving...