Speeches by Beales.

“The Committee has looked at child vaccination rates recently. We had a tragic outbreak in the last few days around Alder Hey. The 2012 outbreak in Merseyside cost £4.4 million to treat—20 times the cost of the vaccinations that would have prevented it. The 95% WHO target has not been met. The vaccination rates between …”

“It is welcome to once again have a Government who believe in house building. I thank the Minister for his comments. When I speak to house builders, one of the issues they raise with me is the performance of the Building Safety Regulator. Shovel-ready projects that have planning permission are delayed at gateway 2, and …”

“3. What steps her Department is taking to increase housing delivery.”

“I completely concur. I have recently been visiting shops, including Sainsbury’s, in my constituency, and have been told of the awful situation over the last 14 years, with theft and shoplifting skyrocketing, and people having a licence to shoplift with the £200 rule under the last Government. Staff in those shops welco…”

“I thank my constituency neighbour for giving way. Does he agree that, although the farmland and the farmers of London are deeply important, that is one crucial measure—alongside a number of others that the Opposition have not supported—that will raise billions of pounds to invest in our NHS? Hillingdon hospital now has…”

“It is an honour to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Western. I too thank my hon. Friend the Member for Kensington and Bayswater (Joe Powell) for securing this important and timely debate. Often, when people think about London’s economy, they think about the City banker at the Bank of England or the towers at Canary Wh…”

“Significant reform is difficult: it requires a lot of negotiation and it is complex. Practically, is there time in this Parliament to have a significantly reformed contract? How would you envisage getting there? What would the process be, from the BDA’s perspective?”

“As I say, I think more than half of my constituents cannot get an NHS dentist. Does the BDA have any sense of where it will go unless we address NHS access and the number of dentists?”

“What if we do not get there? From a dentist and patient perspective, what are the implications over the next 10 years if that does not happen?”

“The majority of my constituents cannot find an NHS dentist. What do we need to learn from the previous attempts at reform? You mentioned some of the implications of previous attempts.”

“Those are experiences that I think all MPs here have heard.”

“Why do you think that that has not happened? We have seen contract reform in general practice and in pharmacy, albeit that it is not what they would like to see completely. Why do you think that for so long dentistry has not seen that fundamental contract reform?”

“Thank you. I will leave my questions there.”

“Will you send it to the Committee?”

“I guess the core of my question is that, far too often, we view dentistry as a cosmetic issue rather than a fundamental healthcare issue that has costs in people’s lives, mental health, physical health and long-term health outcomes, and if you can’t indicate that you have access to relevant data, I suggest that it migh…”

“The lack of that data, compared with other areas of care, may explain the lack of prioritisation of dentistry.”

“Thank you for confirming. You highlighted the need for good evidence and to learn the lessons of previous abortive and failed attempts at reform; I think the Committee would agree. We have previously suggested changing the method of payment to capitation-based models, which was partially but not fully accepted. I am su…”

“Primary care and secondary care more generally. It would be good to understand how the increases—hopefully—in the budget relate and compare with other areas of care, to understand relative prioritisation.”

“This Committee and the PAC, in its report a few months ago, recognise the complete failure of previous efforts under the last Government to make progress, so I understand the scale of the challenge. On the fundamental question of the budget envelope you mentioned, once that is settled in the summer, would you be happy …”

“I appreciate that you agree on the problem, but I come back to the urgency. Do you feel that urgency is being shown? I take the point that the timetable is challenging, but can you accept that in the absence of a timetable for more fundamental reform, it does feel urgent? Again, I take my colleague’s point about comple…”