Speeches by Costigan.

“Q6. Children in Ealing Southall will be sleeping on sofas and living room floors tonight because of 14 years of failure by the Conservatives. Ealing council has joined over 100 councils that are trying to remove the barriers and give those kids a decent home to live in—something Conservative Members do not seem to care…”

“Many of my constituents in Ealing Southall work at Heathrow or in its supply chain, and they will welcome the good-quality, well-paid jobs that airport expansion will bring. However, I have other constituents who worry about the environmental impact of any expansion. In taking any decision on this matter, will the Mini…”

“I recently visited Beaconsfield primary school in Ealing Southall, where teachers told me they have to fill in up to six forms to get disabled children the help they need. The time that takes is time they do not have, and they often need to choose which child to prioritise for support. How will the Minister reduce unne…”

“Did you want to add anything?”

“Just to interrupt you briefly, that seems to go against what we have just heard—that it is more likely to be a disease of inequality.”

“I understand the point you are making, but the hard fact is that even though we are saying that it is a disease of inequality and there are particular ethnic groups who are more at risk, you are more likely to get a Health Check right now if you are more affluent. Basically, the most deprived people are least likely to…”

“What is the driver for that? At the moment, as you say, the target you have is everybody over 45, so it is an age-based programme. Is there not only a health reason but a value-for-money case for using the limited resources you have to target people who are more at risk?”

“What is the thinking on that at the moment? Is that being assessed actively?”

“Let us move on to how the service is commissioned. One of the issues that we heard about from Professor Everington and Dr Wrigley, whom we spoke to previously, was the tension that we have between some health-related, prevention-related stuff that is commissioned nationally and stuff that is focused on locally. We had …”

“Could you give us an example of what those levers are?”

“The NAO report did recommend reviewing the value of commissioning Health Checks through local authorities compared with the NHS, or a different system. Will you be doing that review, or have you already decided that you are going to stick with what you have got?”

“I am sorry; could you say that—”

“Is there a timeline for that, because in the meantime there are still concerns of a postcode lottery?”

“But what is the timeline for that?”

“Would it be useful, Chair, if perhaps you could get back to us on what the timeline is for that?”

“I will ask you about the operational considerations for changing how they are commissioned if you do this review. Do you have any feel right now? You have said that the NAO might have—I suppose—a slightly simplistic view of how it might happen. What would the operational, logistic barriers be if you were to change that…”

“Was this ICBs rather than local authorities?”

“Thank you both very much for coming today. We have heard some really interesting evidence from Tower Hamlets and Cumbria, which has given us some good background about how this works in practice. Dr de Gruchy, you said that cardiovascular disease is a disease of inequality. You said it yourself, and it is mentioned in …”

“As chair of the Tidy Britain all-party parliamentary group, I want to thank you for allowing me to speak in this debate, Madam Deputy Speaker. The APPG and Keep Britain Tidy have worked on this issue for years, including under the chairship of my hon. Friend the Member for Spen Valley (Kim Leadbeater). It is exciting t…”

“After 14 years of Conservative Government, Ealing council has thousands of families waiting for a council home and has an affordable housing programme that it does not have the money to deliver. A report from Southwark council released on Sunday found that 71% of councils will have to delay or cancel house building pro…”