Stephen Timms: I agree. I am particularly pleased that my hon. Friend is with us this morning, and I know that to some extent we owe that to the immigration authorities at Zurich. A year ago, the Minister acknowledged the impressive nature of the public-private sector partnership which supports the Stratford proposal. I agree with my hon. Friend: I hope that the Minister and the Government will swiftly...
Stephen Timms: Is it not rather misleading to concentrate on the increase in the education part of the revenue support grant? It is only one element in a larger single sum. What percentage change in the non-education element does the right hon. Gentleman propose?
Stephen Timms: I welcome the assurance given by the Home Secretary last week that Nigeria is not now being considered for inclusion on the white list. Will the Minister now put the minds of many people at rest by giving a similar assurance in respect of Sri Lanka, where many thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes in recent weeks because of the civil war?
Stephen Timms: I am pleased that the Secretary of State is talking about resources within the health service. I want to ask him about the allocation of resources within the service. He will know that his predecessor introduced a new capitation formula for distributing resources between district health authorities. It was based on research undertaken by York university, which carried the recommendation that...
Stephen Timms: I am not disagreeing with the York university outcome. Instead, I am disagreeing with the way in which the Government have interpreted and modified the results of the university's research to produce figures that are diametrically opposed to what York university recommended. It is the way in which the Government have implemented the research that has been at fault.
Stephen Timms: I should like to ask the Minister about fundholding. Will he join me in commending the efforts of those doctors who have come together to form multi-funds, quite explicitly to avoid the most damaging effects on their patients of individual practice fundholding?
Stephen Timms: The tone of Conservative Members' comments on the two-tier system now seems different from what we have heard in the past. Does the hon. Gentleman accept that there is now a two-tier system in general practice?
Stephen Timms: rose—
Stephen Timms: In view of what the Minister is saying about fundholding, will he clarify whether it is the Government's intention that all general practitioners should become fundholders, and, if so, in what period does he envisage that taking place?
Stephen Timms: Given the Committee's strong endorsement of the Stratford station, which my hon. Friend has just relayed, given the support that the Government have given to the long box, given the fact that every local authority in London supports the choice of Stratford international, given that London First supports it, and given that everybody who advises the Government on regeneration in London supports...
Stephen Timms: I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Bradford, South (Mr. Sutcliffe) on his success in obtaining the debate and on his excellent speech, which set out the tragic decline of British manufacturing, especially over the past 16 years, and eloquently described the steps that we need to take to reverse that decline. I am also pleased follow my hon. Friend the Member for Dudley, West (Mr....
Stephen Timms: I see precious little evidence that city technology colleges are tackling any of the issues that I have raised in the debate. They are irrelevant, and they are not addressing the key issues. Local collaborations are emerging with enormous potential for good. The Government are still not focused and do not act to give incentives to such collaborations—no matter which Department or Minister...
Stephen Timms: I very much hope that crossrail will go ahead, and I believe that it will. The key element in the transport infrastructure in east London is what is to happen to the channel tunnel rail link. When the Government announced in 1991 that the channel tunnel rail link was to be routed through east London, they said that the link would be welcomed in east London for the economic regeneration that...
Stephen Timms: In the earlier debate on the new clause, I drew attention to the criticisms of the Bill in the Woodley report published last month on the killing of Bryan Bennett by Stephen Laudat in Newham. The critical point is that the Bill does nothing to provide desperately needed additional resources for mental health care. As several hon. Members have said, the Bill could make matters worse. I have...
Stephen Timms: I am disappointed that the Minister has not accepted the new clause, but I am encouraged by what he said. I hope that he is right that the arrangements will ensure that such incidents do not take place in future. In the light of what the Minister said, I shall not seek to press the new clause to a vote and I beg to ask leave to withdraw the motion.
Stephen Timms: I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time. The new clause arises from an appalling incident in Newham on 27 July 1994, when Mr. Bryan Bennett, a constituent of my hon. Friend the Member for Newham, South (Mr. Spearing)—who is unable to be in the Chamber this afternoon—and a user of a social services day centre was tragically killed by another user, Mr. Stephen Laudat, just a...
Stephen Timms: The items listed, while very welcome, are all one-off sums. Does the Secretary of State agree that the arrangement for applying to the charities board by which it is possible to give revenue sums to organisations should be extended to other bodies to enable those and other facilities to be run as well?
Stephen Timms: Is the Secretary of State aware of the Rowntree Foundation's concern that a disproportionate number of lottery grants are going to the most prosperous parts of the country? Will she address particularly the Rowntree Foundation's recommendation that the matching funding requirement should be relaxed in disadvantaged areas where the problems of raising local funds are the most severe?
Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when and how he intends to implement the modified weighted capitation formula in allocating resources to health authorities. [33188]
Stephen Timms: The Secretary of State will be aware that the York university report commissioned by the Government and published in October showed conclusively that inner-city areas such as mine do not receive an adequate share of health service resources. In the light of that information, is the right hon. Gentleman satisfied with the fact that it has taken so long to introduce the new formula, and is he...