Speeches by Stafford.

“I have questions about tier 3 services. Currently, patients are reviewed in specialist weight services—tier 3 services—for their suitability for surgery. Do you believe that this approach is working? What impact, if any, might it be having on access to bariatric surgery?”

“On the Secretary of State’s watch, the courts backlog has reached record levels, yet his answer is to weaken one of the oldest rights in our justice system: trial by jury. The backlog was not caused by juries and it will not be solved by scrapping juries. The Bar Council says there is very little evidence for the Gover…”

“6. What assessment he has made of the potential impact of proposed changes to jury trials on the criminal justice system.”

“In your experience, would GPs welcome doing that if given the resources to be able to do it?”

“Are there any other specific changes that you would make to the pathway to ensure that you get to the position that Dr O’Brien was talking about?”

“Do you accept the Royal College of Physicians’ assessment that that is what is happening?”

“We have had evidence from the Royal College of Physicians, who raised concerns about surgery being prioritised on a first come, first served-type basis rather than on clinical need. Do you both recognise that characterisation? What could ICBs or, indeed, the Government do to address the problem?”

“We could have an interesting debate about causal symptoms, but I will leave it there. Thank you very much.”

“Who is responsible for doing that? Is it ICBs individually, a national governmental change, or NHS England—or the Department as it will be? Who is responsible for getting it to the state that you are talking about?”

“On a point of order, Mr Speaker. I seek your guidance on a long-established convention of this House that Members notify other Members when they intend to visit another Member’s constituency in an official or political capacity. Over the weekend, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, the right hon. Member for Kingston a…”

“The Secretary of State talks about deregulation, but does he not accept that adding 330 pages-worth of regulation in the Employment Rights Act 2025, at a cost of a billion pounds to the economy, is having the opposite effect? Youth unemployment in my constituency has gone up by 28% in just one year.”

“Before the hon. Member moves on, I should correct what he said: CIL was introduced in Waverley in 2019, and the Liberal Democrats took over the council one month later. The idea that the Conservatives brought it in is utter nonsense. The Liberal Democrats have now had seven years to try to fix it, and they have not. I …”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Turner. I congratulate my right hon. Friend the Member for Godalming and Ash (Sir Jeremy Hunt) on securing this debate. I have applied for a similar debate twice, but clearly I do not have the touch of a former Chancellor in the Westminster Hall lottery. This is a v…”

“As the Government’s reforms to special educational needs and disabilities provision focus on pushing children into mainstream education, they risk removing specialist support from many who need it and undermining successful work programmes, such as the Witherslack futures programme. Will the Secretary of State meet me …”

“In response to my question about Jonathan Powell’s security clearance, the Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister said: “I do not have that information to hand.””

“Thank you, Mr Speaker. The Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister said that he did not have the information to hand but did not indicate whether he was going to let me know what the answer was when he did have that information to hand. If the Chief Secretary does not provide me with a written answer to that question, wh…”

“Yes.”

“T7. Happy St George’s day, Mr Speaker. When was Jonathan Powell appointed as the Prime Minister’s special envoy to the British Indian Ocean Territory, and what security clearance was he given on appointment.”

“May I wish you a very happy St George’s day, Madam Deputy Speaker? It is a privilege to respond to this debate on behalf of His Majesty’s most loyal Opposition and to recognise the invaluable contribution of allied health professionals, especially those living and working in my Farnham and Bordon constituency. Having s…”

“The hon. Lady, with whom I serve on the Health and Social Care Committee, always raises important points. What the last Government were trying to do—certainly by the end—with their workforce plan, which was the first of its kind, was to ensure that the workforce began to expand again. That is what all of us across the …”