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Donate to our crowdfunderJeff Smith: The hon. Gentleman makes an excellent point. It is quite correct that Members should be able to spend some time on a weekday in constituencies, visiting schools and businesses, doing advice surgeries and meeting residents, and it is sensible to allow one weekday a week for that. There should not necessarily be the need, therefore, to attend Parliament on a Friday. If we were to move...
Jeff Smith: The point is that that does not happen. My understanding is that under Standing Order No. 42 the Chair can direct a Member to discontinue their speech, but between 1945 and 1999 that was used on only 21 occasions, so that parliamentary procedure is used rarely. I also think there are better ways of organising our time. As I have said, if we moved the debates to a Tuesday or Wednesday, we...
Jeff Smith: I do not have much time, so I will be brief in thanking all the Members who have contributed to this debate. We have had a respectful, interesting and mature debate, which is more than we usually get on Fridays. There is a consensus that there is deep frustration with the system on both sides of the House. The system is broken and change is needed. We have had some good suggestions, and I...
Jeff Smith: I also welcome the report from the Procedure Committee and I strongly agree with the comments made by the hon. Member for Broxbourne (Mr Walker). We had an excellent debate in Westminster Hall in my name on this subject last week, in which it was made clear that there is a desire for change right across the House. I would have liked a slightly bolder proposal involving moving private...
Jeff Smith: What assessment he has made of the adequacy of provision for people with mental health issues in the criminal justice system.
Jeff Smith: Liaison and diversion services are really important in ensuring that people with mental health issues get the help they need. The expansion of the programme is welcome, but about half the country is still not covered, and there has been a long wait for the business case on getting to 100%. Will the Minister explain what the delay is, and will she confirm when all areas expect to have a...
Jeff Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he expects all regions in England to have a complete Liaison and Diversion service.
Jeff Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he expects the decision on the business case for Liaison and Diversion services to be announced by HM Treasury.
Jeff Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people under the age of (a) 18 and (b) 16 reported to hospital having taken more than the recommended daily allowance of non-prescription painkillers in (i) the last 12 months and (ii) each of the last three years.
Jeff Smith: It is a great pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Totnes (Dr Wollaston), as I have a lot of respect for her. Indeed, she commands respect across the House, and it is important that we listen to her views. It is also important that we listen to the views of others, including those of her colleague the hon. Member for Lewes (Maria Caulfield), who said: “Speaking as a nurse, I would...
Jeff Smith: I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention. Parliamentary questions have shown that the Department of Health failed to consult the Royal College of Midwives, the Royal College of Nursing and Unison before the policy was announced in the autumn statement last year. It is not just the Labour party that is worried about this, but the Royal College of Midwives, the Royal College of Nursing,...
Jeff Smith: My hon. Friend makes a very important point. It is important to remember that, and to think about how the prospect of paying off more than £100,000 worth of debt affects the calculation of a mature student looking to study a second time to become a mental health nurse. It is important to think about how a lone parent, who is hoping to become a midwife, might feel the pressure of £59,000 of...
Jeff Smith: The Secretary of State has talked about the many conversations that she has had in recent weeks, which have apparently convinced her that blanket powers for forced academisation are no longer necessary. In order to avoid a period of uncertainty and worry for school communities, would it not have been better to have had those conversations before announcing such a flawed policy?
Jeff Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding was allocated to schools for supporting children with learning difficulties in (a) Manchester, Withington constituency and (b) Greater Manchester in each of the last three years.
Jeff Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many full-time GPs have been employed in Manchester, Withington constituency in each year since 2010.
Jeff Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many students currently receive the NHS bursary in (a) England and (b) Manchester, Withington constituency.
Jeff Smith: It is a great pleasure to follow my hon. Friend the Member for Dulwich and West Norwood (Helen Hayes). Coincidentally, my mother, like hers, has been taken into hospital over the last week, and I can only echo her praise for the dedication of the NHS staff who have been providing the treatment. My hon. Friend made a number of powerful points about mental health services, which is a cause...
Jeff Smith: The Minister said that no UK-made planes had dropped UK-made cluster bombs. [Hon. Members: “UK planes.”] Sorry, UK planes. Just to be clear, will he confirm whether UK planes have dropped any cluster bombs at all?
Jeff Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many fines have been issued for claiming free prescriptions without a valid exemption certificate in each (a) month and (b) year since the NHS Business Services Authority began checking eligibility for free prescriptions in September 2014.
Jeff Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many patients are registered at each GP surgery in Manchester, Withington constituency; what the capacity of each of those surgeries is; and how many of those surgeries are oversubscribed.