Speeches by Kinnock.

“I thank the hon. Member for that. There is no doubt that the NHS, universities and others need to do more to get students, trainees and qualified doctors and mental health specialists in places where the NHS and patients need them. We will publish a refreshed workforce plan later this year to ensure that the NHS has th…”

“If we were to make an assessment of the way in which the SNP has mismanaged its responsibilities in Scotland we would be here for a very long time. I am not sure I can answer my hon. Friend’s question in the round, but I am sure that colleagues from the SNP will be welcoming the record investment that the UK Government…”

“I carefully note the fact that the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, who is sitting next to me, has an interest in this issue, so I will tread very carefully with my answer. I understand that the hon. Gentleman has discussed this matter with the Minister for Secondary Care. The North East London health and…”

“My hon. Friend will know that when we came into Government we inherited the absurd situation where the additional roles reimbursement scheme was weighed down by red tape and it was not actually possible to recruit GPs. We changed that. We invested an extra £82 million and as a result we have well over 1,000 more GPs on…”

“I thank the hon. Lady for that question, but I did not quite catch the word she used. The virus was called? [Interruption.] Oh—RSV, yes. We are certainly looking at increasing the coverage of the RSV vaccination. I do not have the statistics to hand at the moment, but I would be happy to write to her on that point.”

“I do not think any decisions are being made for political reasons—our medical and health staff are very much focused on doing the right thing from a clinical point of view. The hon. Lady raises an important point about continuity of care, with people constantly having to be re-referred into the system. Part of the reas…”

“We are getting the NHS back on its feet and making it fit for the future by shifting care to the community with £889 million more for GPs, 1,700 additional frontline GPs, 700,000 extra urgent dental appointments annually and a 19% uplift to the community pharmacy contract. Looking to the future, our commitment to build…”

“It is really good to hear about the fantastic work going on in my hon. Friend’s constituency. We are working with systems to move to a neighbourhood health model by building on existing good practice, particularly around the development of multidisciplinary teams. Aylesbury is an outstanding example of that. Ahead of t…”

“The right hon. Member is right to point to children’s dental health. After we won the election in July, I looked across my portfolio and it was pretty much a car crash in every aspect, thanks to the incompetence of previous Governments. Perhaps the most shocking statistic of all is that the biggest reason five to nine-…”

“I thank my hon. Friend for that important question. The role that midwives play, alongside other community health services such as district nurses, has been chronically underfunded and neglected over the past 14 years. She will be pleased to know that the role of community healthcare is front and centre in our 10-year …”

“I have to correct the hon. Lady: the commission is up and running, Baroness Casey has started meetings and she had a roundtable just a few weeks ago with people who have lived experience. The hon. Lady is therefore not correct on that point and I am sure that she will want to correct the record. On the point about dela…”

“May I just tackle the idea that we are not working at pace on these issues? We have had the unpaid carer’s uplift from £151 to £196, which is the biggest uplift in carer’s allowance since the 1970s when the policy was brought in; hundreds of millions of pounds’ uplift in the disabled facilities grant; and groundbreakin…”

“I am sorry to hear about the issues that my hon. Friend’s constituents are experiencing. I understand that he has raised the issue with the North East and North Cumbria ICB, which is investigating his concerns. I would be happy to be kept informed, and if he is not happy with the outcome of that investigation, he shoul…”

“We have provided hospices in England with a record £100 million in capital funding, as my hon. Friend will know. ICBs are responsible for commissioning palliative and end-of-life care services, including hospices, to meet the needs of their local populations. NHS England has published statutory guidance to support that…”

“The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right to point to the neglect and incompetence of the past 14 years. We are fighting to get NHS dentistry back to where it needs to be. An important first step, of course, is the 700,000 additional urgent appointments and supervised tooth-brushing programme, but long-term contract refor…”

“My hon. Friend is right to raise that important point. It is truly shameful that 4.5 million children in the UK now live in poverty. We are developing an ambitious strategy that tackles root causes, and we are already taking action. Alongside cross-Government work on free school meals, breakfast clubs and funded childc…”

“The hon. Gentleman is right to point to the anomalies in the eyecare system. There are concerns about the role that some aspects of the independent sector are playing, particularly in the light of the lucrative nature of cataract operations. If he writes to me, I will be happy to set out the issues, and I guarantee tha…”

“I refer the hon. Lady to the impact assessment, which is of course not a forecast but a set of scenarios. In it, detail is given on expected numbers and the capacity of the system to deal with the service. Amendments 13 and 82 to 85 relate to the appointment of the voluntary assisted dying commissioner and panel member…”

“I can confirm that it is absolutely the policy intent of the sponsor for that to be a backstop. The Government are working on that basis to ensure that it is a backstop and not a target. Amendment 42 seeks to remove the four-year backstop. Although that is a matter for Members to decide, we note that if both that amend…”

“I associate the Government with the words of the Opposition spokesman regarding the tragic incident in India. As Members will know, the Government remain neutral on the passage of the Bill and on the principle of assisted dying. We have always been clear that this is a decision for Parliament. However, the Government a…”