Speeches by Costigan.

“We have talked about demand and the fact that we do not really have the data to tell us what the demand for community mental health services is, but as you have said, we also do not really have clear information on whether we are meeting that demand, because we do not have access standards or waiting list targets. What…”

“We are looking for some good ideas like that. That is great. There is one final question from me. You have mentioned what is called the severity gap and the thresholds. Ian gave a good example of being deemed to be too well for some services. Are there any examples of best practice—this is specifically what we are look…”

“My understanding was that, as you have said, this was put forward as the way the service should be evolving. Is it happening in reality? Are we looking at this in a person-centred way rather than saying, “There is primary care and then there is secondary care”? Are people still getting stuck there? What can we do to st…”

“Thank you, everybody, for coming in today. It was great to listen to the lived experience of others earlier in today’s session. My understanding is that we are not that clear what the need is for community mental health and do not have clear data on that at all. We have, I suppose, some proxy data or some things that m…”

“I just have a very quick question on that. It sounds like a brilliant model here in Somerset, but despite what you have said, it has not been rolled out across the whole country or anywhere near that, as yet. Money is sometimes the barrier to these kinds of initiatives being rolled out. Did it cost Somerset more money?…”

“I welcome the new Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for West Lancashire (Ashley Dalton), to her place. Hundreds of my constituents are on waiting lists for knee and hip operations, and while the hon. Member for North Herefordshire (Ellie Chowns) says that she would like to see those waiting lists reduced, the Green p…”

“I thank my hon. Friend for organising this much-needed debate; I will declare a conflict of interest in that my partner runs the licensing team for a local authority in London. Is my hon. Friend aware of the 2021 University of Bristol study that found that betting shops are 10 times more likely to be in deprived towns …”

“10. What steps he is taking to introduce the warm homes plan.”

“The previous Government were content to sit back and allow developers to build homes that have locked people into years of expensive and dirty gas heating. How will the Minister ensure that the 1.5 million new homes the Government will deliver will not keep people dependent on outdated and costly gas heating systems?”

“1. What assessment she has made of the impact of jobcentres on economic growth.”

“On Friday, I visited the assessment centre at the west Ealing jobcentre, where staff told me the assessments focus on proving that disabled people cannot work, rather than identifying what jobs they could do if they had the right support. Many disabled people in my constituency are eager for a good job. What more could…”

“I have a final question related to finances. There are two issues. We talked about ringfencing earlier, and we are looking at ringfencing elective recovery and the surgical hubs. But in doing that, there is the worry, as we covered earlier, that it might have a detrimental impact on urgent and emergency care. At the sa…”

“Just very briefly, you said there that you do not think that there are any changes that need to be made to the financial systems. Having looked at the PAC report, do you seriously stand by that? I know that the report is talking on a wider level.”

“I expect that the 3% you mention is related to more complex procedures. What is the plan for that? Will the hubs work for those more complex procedures or are you looking at a different plan?”

“Right. Can I ask you about surgical hubs? They are a key part of achieving this target and getting people the hip and knee operations that they need. What percentage of the size of the waiting list and the length of time people are on a waiting list will be addressed by putting in place these surgical hubs? How much of…”

“You don’t know what that number is now?”

“Is there a number for how many people you think will be on a waiting list in a year’s time? As you have said, the number and the length are related. Are you able to tell us what that number is? How many people do you expect?”

“They are both related, aren’t they? The more people on the waiting list, the longer you are going to wait.”

“I guess that not many of my constituents in Ealing Southall are going to read that planning guidance in detail. What they really want to know is if they are referred for treatment in a year’s time, will they be fast-tracked and will they get that treatment in the time required. The big number that they have heard is th…”

“Thank you very much for coming in today. I want focus on elective recovery and waiting lists, but I have more of an overview question. As we have heard, the Public Accounts Committee has said that it feels that you are complacent about the finances of the NHS. Its report says that you do not have the ideas or the drive…”