Speeches by Argar.

“I thank the Secretary of State for bringing the Bill before Parliament. The last update to the Mental Health Act, in 2007, took eight years following the Richardson review, and this Bill has been a similarly long time in the making, so I welcome the speed with which he has moved on it since taking office. Although we m…”

“The Secretary of State was kinder than he normally is, and I am grateful to him for acknowledging the reduction in the proportion of mental health spending—it is slight, but it is none the less a reduction. I hear what he says more broadly, but I hope that he and the Minister will reiterate their commitment to ensuring…”

“I will regret doing so, but of course I give way to the Secretary of State.”

“The Health Service Journal reports that officials have acknowledged that the first draft of a high-level plan for merging NHS England and DHSC has been delayed. When we ask any written question about the merger, the standard answer seems to be: “Ministers and senior Department officials will work with the new transform…”

“I fear that many will have found the Minister’s answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Windsor (Jack Rankin) disappointing. He highlighted that the previous Government committed to the headline recommendation of the cross-party birth trauma inquiry led by the hon. Member for Canterbury (Rosie Duffield) and the former …”

“I am conscious of time, so I will be brief. I recognise the sincerely and strongly held views on both sides of the debate, which has played out with courtesy in this Chamber and in Committee, where Members have shown respect for one another and for differing views. I want to put on record my gratitude to all right hon.…”

“Can I also welcome, as I did in January, the Secretary of State’s commitment to seek to work cross party on the future of social care? He was right and I welcomed that at the time, but like him and many others, we are all keen to see progress. Can he update the House on when he anticipates the cross-party talks that we…”

“May I take this opportunity to thank the Secretary of State for his kindness following the death of my father earlier this month? It was very much appreciated. I welcome the moves to streamline decision making and improve efficiency in the context of the Secretary of State’s NHS England announcement, if he genuinely dr…”

“Let me just complete the point. I know that the hon. Gentleman has only come into the debate relatively late, but I will take an intervention from him afterwards. The message is, under this Government, do not run a hospice, a pharmacy or a care home. Do not be a farmer. Do not run a business and, heaven forbid, do not …”

“I am grateful to my right hon. Friend the former Deputy Prime Minister, who has put the case far more eloquently and succinctly than I could have done. He is, of course, entirely right. An estimated three quarters of a million people are entitled to pension credit, but do not claim it, even after Labour’s pension credi…”

“I will make a little bit of progress, and then I will give way to my right hon. Friend. UK pensioners are not fools, so I am sorry that Labour Members want almost to insult their intelligence by repeating the debunked claim about the so-called black hole, or the debunked claim that the triple lock was in some way under…”

“I was about to be quite nice to the hon. Gentleman, because I have to say that, during a debate that has, perhaps, produced a lot of heat and not always a huge amount of light, he addressed the issues before us in a measured way. I did not agree with everything he said, but he was reasonable and made some valid points.…”

“Let me just make a further point. I am about to deal with some of the hon. Gentleman’s own points, as he will find if he pauses for a minute, but he may want to intervene at that moment. George Osborne did not cut the winter fuel allowance because it gave pensioners the confidence to turn the heating up those extra few…”

“The hon. Gentleman will be aware that, as I mentioned earlier, I have read the report, and he will know, having also read it—he is gently waving it at me from the other side of the Chamber—that the OBR pointedly declined to back up the claim about the so-called £22 billion black hole. As we have heard, the former Prime…”

“I want to make a little progress. We have seen a real black hole emerging following the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s disastrous Budget. It is also not the case that the Government can claim they have saved the pensions triple lock, which was introduced by a Conservative and Liberal Democrat Government back in 2010. Th…”

“I will make a number of points to the hon. Gentleman. I was going to come on to his first point, but I will happily do so now. He seems to be alluding to the mythical so-called black hole that is so often bandied around. The OBR pointedly declined to validate that or back it up in its assessment, and it cannot be deeme…”

“This afternoon, we have heard some fantastic speeches in which Members have set out heartbreaking real-life stories from their constituents about the situation older people have found themselves in this winter. Pensioners have been forced to choose between eating and heating as a result of the Government’s choice to re…”

“May I start by extending to the hon. Member for Cumbernauld and Kirkintilloch (Katrina Murray) and her family my sincere condolences on the passing of her father? This is an important Bill. I often say to constituents, “If you wish to see the House of Commons at its best, tune in and watch on a Friday.” I say that agai…”

“I congratulate the hon. Member for West Lancashire (Ashley Dalton) on her promotion to the Front Bench. Eating disorders affect over 1.25 million people, and this is the last Health and Social Care Question Time before Eating Disorders Awareness Week, which starts later this month. The Secretary of State will be aware …”

“I am grateful to the Secretary of State for that answer. He will know that osteoporosis impacts 3 million people. He is aware of the campaign by the Royal Osteoporosis Society, and the powerful parallel campaign led by The Mail on Sunday and the Daily Mail, for access to fracture liaison services across the country. Pr…”