Speeches by Streeting.

“If I think about some of the examples that I have seen, it is not just about top-down direction; it is also about horizontal leadership across different parts of the NHS. For example, I recently went up to the Redcar constituency with Anna Turley and Amanda Pritchard, the chief exec of NHS England, and I saw how the co…”

“I would say a few things. First, one of the first things I did, within weeks of coming in, was find the money to deal with the issue of GP unemployment so that we could deploy 1,000 more GPs to the frontline within this financial year. I was really clear up front—not least because I did not want GPs to think, “I really…”

“Absolutely.”

“I do not feel that the organisations I walked into in July, which I now lead, had the degree of openness and partnership with, in particular, the voluntary and community sector, or—and Tom might want to speak to this with his previous local government hat on. Look, I come from local government, and the situation is def…”

“First of all, we designed in accessibility with how we commissioned the partner agencies that we have involved in the consultation process. We did give it that consideration at the design phase, but I take your criticism on the chin in terms of people still feeling that when we launched it was not as accessible as it s…”

“I will say two things. First—to deal with the cynicism—the plan is not already finalised or written and drafted. I do not have a secret draft in my drawer. We took some flak for that, by the way. We came into government and when we launched the 10-year plan engagement, people said, “Why don’t you already have your 10-y…”

“Fine. Finally, men—that classically under-represented group in our society, but men’s health is a serious issue—accounted for only 34% of the responses. In all of those areas we will be going further with our partners, and we are thinking about how we do our social media outreach to try to drive up participation.”

“They should not be taking decisions ahead of seeing the allocations. As I say, we are in a much better position than we would have been had the Chancellor not done the heavy lifting that she did in the Budget to plug the black hole we walked into, stabilise public finances and start fixing the foundations of our public…”

“I can definitely say across health and social care that we are better off thanks to the decisions the Chancellor took at the Budget to invest in health and social care. As I have said very clearly, particularly in terms of primary care, hospices and so on—I understand that people want to set their budgets for the year …”

“We went through the spending review and Budget process with the Chancellor. We made clear what the pressures are in the system. We obviously came into Government with a manifesto that we were determined to deliver and hit the ground running with. The Chancellor and the chief secretary took our pressures and ambitions i…”

“I know that by the end of this Parliament we need to be able to see demonstrable improvement in the NHS. The Prime Minister has particularly emphasised through our plan for change the 18-week target from referral to treatment. We want to achieve that by the end of this Parliament. We will only be able to do that if we …”

“Waiting lists are coming down, and there are other things. If I think about this winter, which I am sure we will come on to, there are already demonstrable improvements. The fact that we are going into winter without the backdrop of national strikes for the first time in three years is a real improvement for people. Th…”

“That depends on the wider contextual factors. For example, we are already seeing pressures this winter at this moment that we do not normally see until the winter peak—as far as I’m concerned, that is next month, not this month. It is challenging, but there are things that we have done as a Government in the last five …”

“It is a very live issue at the moment. I am currently deciding allocations for different parts of the NHS and social care, taking into account the range of pressures that we are under and the determination to deliver against our manifesto commitment.”

“Over the course of the coming days and weeks, we will be setting out those allocations.”

“Yes, I think we have to do so very early in the new year. I recognise what you are saying, which is that people are making decisions for the next financial year. I would just point out that, notwithstanding the wider pressures on the public finances and the economy, we are in a much better position than we would have b…”

“We are in a much better position with the £26 billion of investment for the coming year. The spending review is now under way, and the Chief Secretary has just written to the Cabinet to get that process going. We will obviously go into that spending review making a strong case for both investment and reform in health a…”

“Again, we have done well on capital out of this Budget. We were never going to be able to deal with 14 years of under-capitalisation and the stark picture painted by Lord Darzi in a single Budget. But what this enables us to do is to invest in the estate and also prioritise some of the investment, particularly in techn…”

“I will bring in Matt as well to reflect on performance and experience over time. On this point, Tom is absolutely right. The Chancellor’s fiscal rule will sometimes be challenging. If I think back to the pressures and choices that some of my Conservative predecessors made, there have been points at which they relied on…”

“That brings us to the final point on our new hospitals programme. As well as the palpable frustrations our communities have experienced, seeing projects delayed and delayed, with promises made and promises broken, there has been a real knock of confidence in the construction industry and supply chain. One thing I have …”