Speeches by George.

“I come to the issue of meal deals—I think you are all promoting meal deals in all your stores. Liz Fox indicated dissent.”

“Could you answer that question first though?”

“Professor van Tulleken indicated to us that a lot of processed foods are designed to encourage excessive eating. It is not just a question of providing healthy options; they are designed in a manner to encourage excessive consumption. Have any of you undertaken any kind of study to give you an insight into consumers’ c…”

“But isn’t it reasonable to say that a customer would need a lot of time, a magnifying glass, a calculator, a desk to put schoolbooks on, someone to look after their children for a couple of hours and probably a postgraduate degree in nutrition in order to make comparative analyses of all the labels you provide and to p…”

“Can anything more be done to ensure that consumers have reliable labelling that a lay person can understand and have confidence in? Do you believe that what we have at the moment is the best we can ever get, or do you think that more can be done?”

“Sorry—not in Aldi, so this is not aimed at you Liz; I apologise. Bite Back has raised concerns about the healthiness of meal deals. Do you accept that meal deals contribute to over-consumption? Often those meal deals, and certainly the information available about the choices that people make, indicate that they are goi…”

“You will need to speak to Bite Back about this.”

“Following that brilliant line of questioning from my colleague, may I ask about ensuring that consumers have reliable information given to them and that they are able to make informed choices as they walk around the supermarket aisles? Do you agree that consumers should be as well informed as possible, so that they can…”

“Okay. Have you undertaken any studies or do you have any information to demonstrate that consumers are confident in the information they have available, that they trust the labelling they are provided with and that they can make informed choices? I am talking about processed foods now, not fresh foods. Do any of you ha…”

“I am very grateful to the Minister for coming to Newlyn, which is in my constituency, and for listening to the industry. The Cornish Fish Producers’ Organisation proposes a dedicated fund of £10 million, and wants to ensure that it works with the Government to agree on a strategy to develop the industry over the next d…”

“Meur ras, Madam Deputy Speaker. It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for South East Cornwall (Anna Gelderd), a Cornish colleague who is a very strong advocate for Looe and the fishing communities around her constituency’s coast. I want to emphasise a point that she made about the fishing and coastal growth fund. …”

“I am very grateful to the Minister for coming to Cornwall last week and visiting my constituency, which was noted and very much appreciated. He will know that west Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly took the brunt of Storm Goretti, and we have many lessons to learn, not least the point made by the right hon. Member for D…”

“Moving on to the legislation under which you operate, you have described it as antiquated, and you are certainly running two parallel frameworks at the moment. The Government have acknowledged—certainly the previous Government did, but I believe the present one also have—that it is unacceptable that the GMC can appeal …”

“You want a regulatory environment that gives you greater flexibility, and there certainly seems to be an environment in which you are either exonerated or publicly hanged and flogged. There seems to be no in-between way of resolving issues so that you are supporting doctors. How would you see that being delivered?”

“I have one final question on this. In your risk register, the risk of delay and omission is given the red rank. What types of omissions are you concerned may be made, and how has the Department responded to your concerns?”

“Okay, but that has happened on your watch. There is still controversy and anxiety, so do you not think you owe it to the industry—to those who are regulated by you—to acknowledge that you perhaps could have done more, to apologise, and to say that you have a role in repairing those relationships going forward?”

“But you have responsibility to ensure patient safety—that is fundamental to your purpose. Surely it is your role both to inform the Government and to respond back to NHS providers in circumstances where patients are being put in danger as a result of decisions about the skills mix and staffing levels operating within t…”

“But part of the evidence base is the controversy, anxiety and the turf wars going on between professions for which you, as the GMC, are responsible for regulating. Surely that is very much the focus of your responsibility.”

“What can you say to reassure us that you are having those conversations, and that you are not just saying there are conversations behind closed doors where we are supposed to imagine what they are?”

“But isn’t it really a known unknown? Someone knows, and that is presumably the employers at the local level. Surely it is not beyond the wit of any man or woman to corral that data pretty quickly.”