Commons
Oral Questions
Health and Social Care
14 July 2026
3 contributions
NHS Trusts: Digital Infrastructure
This Government will invest up to £10 billion in NHS technology and transformation by 2028-29. That includes ambient voice technology, which supports doctors to write up notes more quickly so that they can focus on patient care, and the single patient record, which will bring a patient’s health data…
I put it on the record that my hon. Friend has been a most determined advocate for patients and staff at the North West Anglia NHS foundation trust, who clearly deserve better IT systems. We have agreed plans to replace the trust’s electronic patient record system and supporting infrastructure. We w…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Health and Social Care
14 July 2026
3 contributions
NHS Workforce: Sickness Absence
This Government are committed to improving the health and wellbeing of our hard-working NHS staff, and we have set an ambition to reduce sickness absence to its lowest recorded level. As part of meeting that ambition, we have launched new staff standards to improve their working lives, and we will i…
The 10-year health plan committed to our ambition to reduce sickness absence from 5.1%, which it was in July 2025, to the lowest recorded level in the NHS, at approximately 4.1%. As I set out in my earlier remarks, staff standards cover health and wellbeing, line management, flexible working, tackli…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Health and Social Care
14 July 2026
8 contributions
Topical Questions
As you know, Mr Speaker, the Minister for Secondary Care, my hon. Friend the Member for Bristol South (Karin Smyth), is not here this morning as she is attending the graduation of her son Will. I am sure that the whole House will join me in congratulating Will on his achievement.
Since I last updat…
We want to improve the NHS estate across the country, and that is why we are increasing capital investment to £15 billion a year by 2028-29. I am happy to write to the hon. Lady with further details on the specific investment in her constituency.
+6 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Health and Social Care
14 July 2026
3 contributions
NHS Accountability
The Health Bill, which is going through Parliament now, will restore clear accountability to the NHS. By abolishing NHS England, we are ending the confusion created by having two separate centres. Responsibility for national decision making will be brought back to Government, while local leaders wil…
I think it is fair to say that while Healthwatch has in some areas played an important role, it has fundamentally separated those listening to patients from those who have the power to make changes. Our reforms in the Health Bill will put patient voice at the heart of shaping services. Those respons…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Ministerial Statement
30 June 2026
20 contributions
National Maternity and Neonatal Investigation
With permission, Madam Deputy Speaker, I shall make a statement on the national maternity and neonatal investigation.
Less than a week ago, I stood at this Dispatch Box to respond to the report by Donna Ockenden that exposed devastating failings over more than a decade in Nottingham. As many right …
I thank the shadow Secretary of State not only for his questions, but for his tone and approach. When I gave the statement about Donna Ockenden’s report last week, we all agreed that the responsibility to deliver real change is shared by everyone in this House, so I appreciate his approach.
The rig…
+18 more contributions in this session
Commons
Ministerial Statement
24 June 2026
9 contributions
Nottingham Maternity and Neonatal Services
With permission, Madam Deputy Speaker, I will make a statement on the independent review of maternity services at Nottingham University hospitals NHS trust.
Donna Ockenden’s review is the largest into a maternity service in the history of the NHS. The nature and sheer scale of the failings it expos…
I thank the shadow Secretary of State for not only the content but the tone of his response, and for the approach that he has taken. I firmly welcome this collaborative approach, because he rightly points out that this is an area that we should work across parties and across this whole House to addr…
+7 more contributions in this session
Commons
Proceedings
23 June 2026
Puberty Blockers
I know what a sensitive, emotive and difficult issue this is. As I said in the House yesterday, I have myself struggled with the profound challenges this subject raises. We all, as adults, owe a duty of care to every child and young person in this country. That is a responsibility I bear, both as a …
Commons
Ministerial Statement
22 June 2026
Pathways Study: Puberty Suppression
With your permission, Madam Deputy Speaker, I shall make a statement on the Pathways trial.
I know what a sensitive, emotive and difficult issue this is. I myself have wrestled with, and at times struggled with, the profound challenges that this subject raises. In all of my consideration and delibe…
Commons
Oral Questions
Health and Social Care
9 June 2026
13 contributions
Topical Questions
The NHS matters deeply to me, to every one of my colleagues and to people right across the country. That is why we are not wasting a second in driving delivery and pushing forward with extending prostate cancer screening to protect men at most risk, appointing a new national maternity adviser to giv…
I am aware of the issues at Eastbourne district general hospital. Patients, staff and visitors deserve better than power cuts and electrical failures, which is why this Government have set out a credible and deliverable plan to deliver the new hospitals programme. I would gently remind the hon. Gent…
+11 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Health and Social Care
9 June 2026
2 contributions
Health Services for Men
Too many men lead too much of their lives in poor health and face barriers to access to health services. We have published England’s first ever men’s health strategy to get men speaking about their physical and mental health, and we are getting on with implementing it. From partnering with the Premi…
Let me be really clear in my advice to any man who is worried about prostate cancer, whether he has symptoms or not: go and discuss it with your GP. Testing is available when GPs recommend it, and I would recommend to no man that he should worry about it in silence, sit at home and fret about what m…
Commons
Oral Questions
Health and Social Care
9 June 2026
3 contributions
Care in the Community
This Government’s focus on shifting from hospital to community will benefit millions of people and increase access to care. This shift is underpinned by new community diagnostic centres that now deliver faster, more accessible care at 109 sites, 12 hours a day, seven days a week. By 2030, we will ha…
This may not be the first project initiated under the last Government that has not exactly run ahead at the fastest pace possible. We need to ensure that neighbourhood health provision is delivered as quickly as possible across the country. Our plans to increase the number of neighbourhood health ce…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Health and Social Care
9 June 2026
8 contributions
Health Inequalities
Thank you, Mr Speaker.
This Labour Government were elected to build an NHS fit for the future. As Secretary of State, I am accelerating modernisation, but health inequalities start long before people access the NHS, so our focus on prevention in the 10-year health strategy is crucial, as is the wor…
My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Funding must not be held up; it must get to the frontline to help patients, his constituents and people across the country. We are supporting ICBs to work differently with providers to identify and meet the needs of their communities on a new population-based appr…
+6 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
1 June 2026
27 contributions
Health Bill
I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time.
Madam Deputy Speaker, if you were to ask anyone in Britain what they think about the NHS, I bet they would give you an answer without hesitation. No one would be lost for words, because everyone has an opinion. Regardless of whether they tell …
The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right to draw attention to the importance of having the right approach to cancer, and our national cancer plan sets out what we as a Government are doing to achieve that. He is also right to point to the regional variation in different parts of the country, and to sa…
+25 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
28 April 2026
Topical Questions
Whatever the purpose, spending funded from bonds issued by the Government adds to the national debt and so must be considered within the fiscal rules. But the hon. Gentleman is right to point to the importance of research and development within the defence industry to support economic growth. I am p…
Commons
Oral Questions
28 April 2026
3 contributions
Costs for Commuters
The Government are acting to ease the cost of living for commuters, including by extending the £3 national bus fare cap to March 2027. We have also frozen regulated rail fares for the first time in 30 years, which will save the average commuter travelling from Worthing to London using an annual seas…
My hon. Friend is right to make it clear that improving services for passengers is our absolute priority as rail operations come into public ownership. When Southern rail is brought into public ownership, it will be expected to focus relentlessly on improving passenger experience, reliability and pu…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
28 April 2026
2 contributions
Economic Growth in Wales
The Government are investing in Wales’s industrial future and unlocking economic growth, including by providing £2.5 billion for the UK’s first small modular reactor in Anglesey to support up to 3,000 jobs and power 3 million homes. We have also recently agreed a new £50 million defence growth deal …
I completely agree with my hon. Friend that the UK and Welsh Labour Governments’ generational commitment to the future of rail in Wales is fantastic for her constituents right across Monmouthshire. It is frankly outrageous to hear Reform’s leader in Wales trying to tell people what they want, and ev…
Commons
Oral Questions
28 April 2026
4 contributions
Defence Industrial Strategy
The Chancellor and the Defence Secretary meet regularly to discuss defence, including the defence industrial strategy. As part of those discussions, they recently met leaders from the UK financial sector to discuss how private investment can also be leveraged to accelerate defence readiness, buildin…
Investment in defence under this Government is under way—just look at the contracts. Over a thousand have been signed since the general election: I point the hon. Gentleman, and anyone else in the Chamber, to the billion-pound contract for medium helicopters in Yeovil, the half-a-billion pounds inve…
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Treasury
10 March 2026
4 contributions
Topical Questions
Businesses in the hon. Lady’s constituency, and indeed across the country, can know that, whatever instability we face in the world in the months and weeks ahead, the Government have done the right thing for the economy by bringing down inflation, interest rates, borrowing, debt and debt costs. All …
As my hon. Friend makes clear, we need to ensure that our extra funding for local roads maintenance is spent effectively, and that local residents can hold councils like Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole to account. The Liberal Democrats have typically not been shy about mentioning potholes in the…
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Treasury
10 March 2026
4 contributions
OBR Growth Projections: Departmental Spending
At the spring forecast last week, my right hon. Friend the Chancellor showed that we have the right economic plan. Our plan has lowered inflation, borrowing, debt and debt interest payments. Our approach means that investment is up, helping to create the conditions for growth across the UK. Our firm…
If the right hon. Gentleman looks at the plans that we set out through our spending review, he will be clear that we are increasing spending by £50 billion a year by 2028-29 compared with the previous Government’s plans. At the same time, we are ensuring that taxpayers get value for money. We are ma…
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Treasury
10 March 2026
3 contributions
Community Ownership
Through the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill, the Government are introducing a strong, new community right to buy. That will empower communities to take ownership of and protect local assets. Alongside those new powers, the Pride in Place programme will provide up to £5.8 billion ov…
My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Pride in Place funding can be used for communities to take ownership of and support local assets, from youth centres to libraries and cultural venues. I am very glad to hear that the funding will make such a positive difference to her constituents in Woodgate and …
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Debate
15 January 2026
Covid-19: Financial Support
I, too, congratulate the hon. Member for Stratford-on-Avon (Manuela Perteghella) on securing this debate. I thank hon. Members from both sides of the House for their powerful contributions. Although much of the debate has rightly focused on the detail of the financial support made available by the t…
Commons
Debate
10 December 2025
17 contributions
Conduct of the Chancellor of the Exchequer
I thank the Opposition for giving me another opportunity to remind Conservative Members how the Budget cut the cost of living, cut NHS waiting lists and cut Government borrowing.
I have seen the shadow Chancellor across the Dispatch Box so much in recent weeks, on what feels like a daily basis, tha…
I am unclear whether the hon. Gentleman supports our £150 off energy bills and our extra £150 off for those 6 million households on the lowest income. That will benefit people right across the UK with the cost of living challenges they face. We know that that is what matters to people right across B…
+15 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
9 December 2025
6 contributions
Topical Questions
The child poverty strategy published last week sets out the steps that we are taking to support families now, as well as the building blocks that we are putting in place for the long term. We will lift 550,000 children out of poverty by removing the two-child limit and through other measures, includ…
I can be clear that we are committed to the OBR’s independence as a forecaster and to the core role it plays within our fiscal framework. The Chancellor has also been clear, however, that forecasts are not our destiny. We will not let Britain be held back by the failures of the previous Government. …
+4 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
9 December 2025
4 contributions
Economic Growth: Rural Areas
Growth is the No. 1 mission of this Government, and we are committed to unlocking growth in every corner of this country. We have committed £2.7 billion per year to supporting sustainable farming, £2.3 billion of transport funding for places beyond city regions through the local transport grant, and…
I welcome the hon. Gentleman drawing attention to the importance of productivity in the UK economy and our prospects for growth. As we know, the Office for Budget Responsibility reviewed the productivity impact of the previous Government’s record in office and found that the decisions they had taken…
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
9 December 2025
5 contributions
Support for NHS Patients
The spending review 2025 provided record investment in the NHS, including the largest ever health capital budget. That investment has enabled a reduction in waiting lists of 230,000, with an extra 5.2 million NHS appointments. At autumn Budget 2025, the Chancellor protected NHS investment by allowin…
I thank my hon. Friend for his question. Like him, I will always be grateful to the incredible NHS staff who got me back fighting strong after I was diagnosed with a neuromuscular condition in my 20s. People across the country have stories like ours because we all depend on the NHS, and that is why …
+3 more contributions in this session