Speeches by Streeting.

“We have certainly seen a debate since I was asked a question on Laura Kuenssberg’s programme about this issue, and it is a welcome one.”

“We want to see access and waiting times improve across the board, whether we are talking about physical health conditions or mental health conditions. That is why in mental health we see real-terms increases, and the same applies to physical health services. Let’s not underestimate the link between the two. There are m…”

“We are asking the system to embark on big reforms over the coming years, and it is important that we give leaders freedom and flexibility.”

“On planning guidance, we felt it was important to subject the system to fewer centralised targets. That will be a key part of how we govern and lead the NHS over the course of this Parliament. The NHS has been overloaded with targets. The planning guidance and—this comes on to the changes we are making to NHS England—t…”

“Of course, whether it is mental health, general practice, dentistry, schools, prisons—across the board, if we had more money available, that would be quite useful, but we are making decisions against a very challenging fiscal background. None the less, we are committing to our manifesto. I think I misspoke earlier, so …”

“No, I really don’t accept that at all. Mental health spending is going up in real terms. If it was not going up in real terms—if the actual spend in mental health was falling backwards—that would be a fair charge, but that is not the case. For 2025-26 we will be spending just shy of £179 million on mental health servic…”

“That is all subject to the spending review. I will add the other caveat that if you think about the investment we have just put into general practice—the £889 million that is going into general practice—although it would not be classified in these numbers as mental health spend, it is an important part of the mental he…”

“We are committed to the mental health investment standard. That has been consistent and will be delivered for the coming year. On the overall proportion of spend in mental health as part of the overall NHS baseline, I hope to see it rise over the course of the Parliament, but—”

“Yes. They are certainly available, and the Library would have those figures, but I am happy to share those with the Committee.”

“However, it has to be seen in the context of the £26 billion the Chancellor allocated to health and social care, which kicks in this week, much of which is directed towards many things that we committed to at the last election, including the serious amount of investment going into our elective reform plan and the wider…”

“It is worth probably £100 million or £200 million—in that order. Chair: That is not small change.”

“The proportion has decreased by 0.07%.”

“Yes, I think so. I think we are seeing some signs of the NHS’s recovery, and we are seeing radicalism from the Government in terms of reform. We are seeing that welcomed across the party political divide. That is a good thing, and we will continue to work in this spirit. I have been delighted, informally as well as for…”

“No Parliament can bind its successor, but I thought it was encouraging how many of my predecessors—Labour and Conservative—were, to different degrees, welcoming of the changes we are making, some more cautiously than others, and some emphasising different opportunities or risks to different degrees. Broadly speaking, w…”

“There is different appetite from some of our mayors as well. Andy Burnham recently put out some interesting ideas and is doing some interesting work, particularly in the prevention space, that I think we should look at. One of the many interesting things about Andy is that he has sat in my chair before and is now drivi…”

“I do not want to set any new hares running.”

“I think I said OHID had been abolished, and it was the other way around.”

“I will say two things about this. One is that with the level of capital underinvestment, which was identified very starkly in the Darzi Report, I constantly feel pressure from parliamentarians, who are constantly under pressure from their constituents about not only the new hospital’s programme but the crumbling hospit…”

“We are at the beginning of the process now, but in terms of what the impact of the changes will be, that will depend very much on how we constitute the new organisation and what it looks like.”

“Throughout the process, but I can report back to you in more detail down the line.”