Speeches by Beales.

“T5. Last week, I had the pleasure of hosting in Parliament the Outcomes First Group, a group of specialist SEND schools. They presented their proposals for fixing the broken SEND system, including supporting more children in mainstream education, supporting collaboration between schools and upskilling teachers. Does th…”

“I beg to move, That leave be given to bring in a Bill to establish an independent regulator of managing agents; to make provision about the powers and duties of the independent regulator; to require managing agents to comply with a code of practice and to make provision about that code of practice; to make provision fo…”

“That is really welcome, but in terms of delivering capital investment, if staff in the NHS are cut dramatically at all levels, are you not worried that, to roll out that capital spending, we might see more reliance on poor private sector contracting for digital products and the failed IT projects of old?”

“How will we do more—how will we drive a digital NHS—if fewer staff are working in digital functions? We have heard that ICBs are also reducing headcounts by 50%. Providers are often discussed as potential leaders of digital transformation, but many are being pushed to deliver more frontline staffing, and digital is not…”

“Will they be equally resourced as they are now?”

“On the app, a huge amount relies on digital transformation driving productivity improvements. The 10 year plan talks about bringing the NHS into the digital age. Who will be accountable for the digital transformation, and who will lead it? Will the functions that were NHS Digital in NHS England transition to the Depart…”

“Can you guarantee there will not be sink hospitals and sink services that see their funding slashed further—or are struggling, potentially in maternity services?”

“Sorry to interrupt, but time is short. Is a payment penalty enough to change that, or is it a change of leadership, a change of culture, or investment?”

“I certainly agree with that. In terms of patient power payments, on financial incentives, what would stop sink hospitals or sink services developing under patient power payments? Those are services that are already struggling financially, and patients then move their care or seek to move their patient power payments to…”

“They will have to work together operationally and in terms of—”

“What does that mean? To me, that sounds quite similar to a person on a board. How will it look different from a person on a board?”

“Is that different from PCTs, or ICBs through ICPs?”

“There is always public health and there is always social care. What would make them work with—”

“We have seen strategic health authorities and PCTs become CCGs and ICSs and then ICBs. Now we have got ICBs plus ICOs. Do you think the structures are suitably different to drive different outcomes? Are the fundamental issues about financial flows and incentives for prevention significant enough? Do you feel that the r…”

“The plan talks about private financing of revenue-generating assets: car parks or energy facilities. Should we expect increasing patient charges for car parks, food and other associated goods to enable this capital investment? Are you confident that patient charging through these other routes—”

“On the PPPs and learning the lessons of PFIs, which you touched on slightly, what will be the assurance process of local agreements? Will the Department provide very clear guidance to avoid the contracting mistakes that we saw under PFI?”

“Fantastic. And there will be specific capital funding available centrally to enable—it will not just be local systems.”

“That is without private sector investment, the 40 to 50?”

“To follow up on that question, I want to ask about capital spending in the health service as part of the 10 year plan. In terms of the NHS neighbourhood hubs, will there be any specific capital investment to enable the roll-out of neighbourhood hubs, or is this solely leaning on a future—”

“Do we need additional investment and support to get those areas that are 30% below the highest levels of vaccination in the country up to where they should be?”