Speeches by Robertson.

“Of course, innovation, and the environment that leads to innovation, does tend to thrive in a competitive environment, but I have some concerns without further context about whether incentivising competition through prize money is the way to go. Certainly, if we asked the great British public the straightforward questi…”

“An explanation of what is meant by “prizes” might assist not only the Committee but the public more widely. It is a rather odd word and does not sit hugely comfortably with the serious issue of promoting innovation in the NHS and healthcare in this country. It rather more conjures up the idea of a lottery or a game sho…”

“At a time when the Government and the Minister talk about efficiencies and saving money and when excellent organisations such as Healthwatch, which delivers its work for a surprisingly limited amount of money, are to disappear, it is rather remarkable to see these provisions without greater context, although I do wonde…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Roger. Clause 7 says—I abbreviate: “The Secretary of State must exercise functions…with a view to ensuring that…there are sufficient people with appropriate education and training to meet the workforce needs of the health service, and…there is an effective system i…”

“But even then, within one Department, MHCLG, different data is used to assess the connectivity and remoteness, of, for example, the Isle of Wight when funding the Isle of Wight council and the way it delivers adult social care and children’s services. I have yet to find a logical explanation why the remoteness of the i…”

“A parent cannot consent to their child engaging in sexual activity and soon they will not be able to consent to their child having a social media account, so why does the Secretary of State think that a parent should consent to drugs being administered to their child to supress their puberty and alter their sexual deve…”

“The shadow Minister points to a much wider issue entirely relevant to the Government’s plans here: the more reorganisation we do, the more we shrink the bandwidth to deal with smaller and more operational problems because so much of the resource has been pulled in. In my area, although it is probably true everywhere, r…”

“It is a pleasure to serve on the Committee with you in the Chair, Sir Jeremy. I echo and endorse all the comments made by the shadow Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Sleaford and North Hykeham, who was comprehensive in setting out our position. I therefore speak from a broad consensus surrounding the Committee t…”

“HB58 Public Health Medicine Committee (PHMC)”

“Soaring taxes are putting visitors off coming to the UK—that is what the boss of British Airways says. Does the Minister agree?”

“HB42 Heidi”

“HB43 Huntington’s Disease Association”

“I plainly agree with those laudable aims and I am sure that, without NHS England, there will be opportunities to achieve all of those things in the future. However, they are not inevitable; it is not inevitable that three, five or 10 years down the line we will not be back in a situation of bureaucracy and complexity, …”

“My namesake the hon. Member for Lichfield made some persuasive arguments about democratic accountability, from the Minister straight through to the operation and delivery of services without the bureaucracy of NHS England. I do not seek to disagree with his comments about where we go from here, but NHS England has not …”

“HB44 Chris Byrne MBA”

“HB56 Dr Ata-Amonoo MD MSc MBA (International Economics/Risk)”

“HB45 Don Beckett, Director, Healthwatch Worcestershire”

“HB46 Healthwatch North East & North Cumbria (joint submission)”

“HB55 Royal College of Pathologists”

“In terms of accountability, the intention behind setting up NHS England was to try and take the politics out of delivering health and out of operational decision making. The concern is that the reverse will happen if we get rid of it; we may layer in extra politics around it. At the end of the day, the responsibility f…”