William Wragg: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking in response to the poisonings of patients at Stepping Hill Hospital; and what steps his Department is taking to improve (a) patient safety in hospitals and (b) the verification of qualifications and vetting of nurses recruited to the NHS.
William Wragg: What plans she has to review the school funding formula.
William Wragg: I thank my right hon. Friend for that reply. She will recall from our discussions when she visited Mellor primary school in April that the school receives £1,000 less than the national average per pupil per year. What assurances can she give to parents and schools in my constituency that she will do all she can to address this unfairness and bring about greater fairness to school funding...
William Wragg: It is a pleasure to follow my hon. Friend the Member for Kingston and Surbiton (James Berry), and the hon. Members for Glasgow North West (Carol Monaghan) and for Kilmarnock and Loudoun (Alan Brown), who all made excellent maiden speeches. I am grateful, as a former teacher, to be afforded the opportunity to make my maiden speech during this debate. Only time will tell if my audience this...
William Wragg: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how the Government plans to ensure that clinical commissioning groups spend appropriate and proportionate amounts on mental health.
William Wragg: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that clinical commissioning groups take practical steps to give equal value to physical and mental health care.
William Wragg: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what progress the Government is making on ensuring that parity of esteem between mental and physical health services is fully delivered.
William Wragg: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will take steps to rebalance the NHS budget to ensure mental health care receives the level of investment needed.
William Wragg: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps the Government is taking to improve support for children and young people with mental health issues.
William Wragg: Does my right hon. Friend agree that a northern powerhouse requires proper transport infrastructure? Can he update me on my campaign to get the A6 Hazel Grove bypass to reduce congestion and increase growth in my constituency?
William Wragg: It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk (Calum Kerr). I wish him a long and distinguished career in the House. I hope that he and his colleagues will forgive me if I add that I hope to see his seat represented here for a long time. We are, of course, relieved to learn that the SNP is no longer agitating for independence from the House. As a Unionist,...
William Wragg: What fiscal steps he is taking to support small businesses.
William Wragg: The Government’s policies are creating a climate of economic confidence. However, they are also having the effect of strengthening the pound against other currencies, particularly the euro, which many small exporters in my constituency tell me is making the price of their exports uncompetitive. What advice and support can my hon. Friend give to those small and medium-sized exporters in...
William Wragg: I rise perhaps in the same spirit as my right hon. Friend the Member for Haltemprice and Howden (Mr Davis) in that what I have to say may put me out of favour on both sides of the House. I rise as a seemingly rare thing—a Conservative who is a member of a trade union, in my case the teaching union ATL, the Association of Teachers and Lecturers. My reticence stems perhaps from the fact that...
William Wragg: I consider health and safety to be a union duty rather than a union activity, so I agree with that. Surely transparency can only be enhanced by the introduction of an additional layer of detail, rather than the conflation which I fear could arise from the Bill’s current wording. My second concern relates to the possibility of the use of agency workers to cover striking workers. I agree with...
William Wragg: On the point about local justice being seen to be done, a magistrate put it very succinctly to me—not wanting to sound like a character from “The League of Gentlemen”—when they said, “It is important in order to preserve the long-standing principles of local justice being administered by local people within that local area.” Does that neatly summarise what my hon. Friend is trying...
William Wragg: I am grateful for the opportunity to speak on the Bill, and like several before me, I do so to highlight specific reservations that if left unaddressed could lead to significant problems on the road ahead. I wish to speak candidly about these proposals and urge improvement while there is still time. I also speak on this matter with a degree of direct experience of local government within...