Dr Andrew Murrison
MP for South West Wiltshire · Conservative · United Kingdom
“It is good to hear that the Government plan to replenish the dwindling stocks of Patriot missiles in Ukraine, which I suspect it will need this winter. However, Patriot is low volume and high cost. What the Ukrainians need is high volume and low cost.”
“Currently, the Royal Navy has an offshore patrol vessel permanently stationed in the Falkland Islands, but given the threat that is being faced and our need to demonstrate resolve—the sort of thing that, sadly, we did not demonstrate in the early 1980s, which led to miscalculation—will the Minister consider speaking to her MOD colleagues…”
“Since the Foreign Secretary is not going to get the co-operation, fulsome or otherwise, of the Israeli state in differentiating goods and services made in the settlements from those that are assembled, repackaged, produced and grown in Israel itself, how is he going to distinguish the one from the other?”
“The Government insisted on applying the social time preference rate to the disastrous Chagos deal to make an appalling deal look slightly better.”
“Will the First Secretary of State’s exercise in delivering democracy and local accountability and empowering local people include a look at large organisations that cannot be described as governmental or as quangos but that nevertheless exist firmly within the public domain, are established by statute, serve the public and are big employe…”
“I congratulate the Government on the hiring of Alistair Burt—he is a good hire and will do great things for some of these most complex of cases—but does the Minister agree that many of these cases are extremely difficult and exceptionally traumatic, and that it is far better to prevent them happening in the first place?”
The complete record
Every one of 4,639 lines we hold for Dr Andrew Murrison, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 80 of 93.
“Although he did not mention them, I am sure the Minister will agree that student presentation teams do a very good job in boosting recruitment. Indeed, on 7 February he said: “These presentations are extremely well received”, adding that they offered “significant benefits for future recruiting.” —[ Official Report , 7 February 2007; Vol. 456, c. 922W.] Why, then, at a time when our armed forces are so grossly under-recruited, is the Minister scrapping those formidable recruiting sergeants? Is it to save the blushes of the Secretary of State for Defence in his other part-time job, given left-wing opposition to the teams’ entering Scottish and Welsh schools?”
“The Secretary of State is struggling for a good news story in all of this, so may I offer him one? It is the relatively low rate of health care-acquired infections in community hospitals. Does he not think it ironic that the Government are embarking on the biggest community hospital closure programme in the history of the NHS?”
“In Iraq 7.4 Americans are wounded for each fatality, whereas the official UK figure is 1.6. What explanation of that gross disparity can the Minister offer other than the obvious one, which is a failure by the Ministry fully to reflect the casualty burden that our armed forces sustain?”
“What happened to the repair and maintenance budget in the last financial year? If the right hon. Gentleman does not know, perhaps he might like to check the National Audit Office report on the subject.”
“But the strand of care for those who have given extraordinary service, embodied in the GI Bill and the Veterans Administration, and extended this year in the inauguration of the President’s Commission on Care for America’s Returning Wounded Warriors, is indicative of our best friend’s far more generous interpretation of the military covenant. I hope that the Minister will say what lessons he has learned from the US and how he intends to implement best practice here. Our armed forces are a mirror of the society from which they are drawn, yet increasingly their deal looks second-rate. What are they to make of compensation for the most severe battlefield injuries, reluctantly increased by Ministers to £285,000, against nearly £500,000 for an RAF typist with repetitive strain injury of the thumb?”
“Clearly, that would be a nonsense, and we understand that the MOD has been obliged to change tack. The United States is often held out as the exemplar in delivering the military covenant. I simply do not know why America lauds servicemen in a way that we do not. My hon. Friend the Member for Canterbury (Mr. Brazier) touched on some of the possible reasons. I am realistic enough to appreciate that the attitudinal differences between our two countries mean that our servicemen will not be patriotically ushered to the front of queues or showered with cinema tickets.”
“The Royal British Legion is correct to point out, as we have, that the vast majority of personnel will simply not benefit from the changes announced on the hoof last week, and that the changes will not benefit those with a single devastating injury of the sort sustained by Lance Corporal Martin Edwards. As the Minister’s announcement was, admittedly, by way of launching a consultation, I hope that he will listen to those with the best interests of servicemen at heart before finalising his plans; I say that in all sincerity. So far, those plans have been chaotic. We understood initially that an increase in retrospective payments was “highly unlikely”. If that were so, people injured in Operation Telic I to IV would have found themselves at a financial disadvantage compared with people hurt post-April 2005.”
“It is difficult to see Labour’s armed forces compensation scheme as anything other than a second-rate deal, which is inferior in important respects to elements of the preceding war pension scheme, imperfect though that undoubtedly was, and which uniquely attempts to swim against the tide of society’s prevailing compensation culture. The formulaic way in which compensation is pegged ignores the fact that a broken body is so much more than the sum of constituent injuries. It addresses quality of life forgone in the most bludgeonly way imaginable and is untenable.”
“Diane Dernie, mother of Lance Bombardier Ben Parkinson, who said of injured servicemen: “They are simply figures on a balance sheet. They do not have any role, any function and the MOD wants to dispose of them as cheaply as possible.” Meanwhile, Ben, even after Ministers have been shamed by public outcry into doubling his payment, faces a bleak future. No doubt the Minister will crow about guaranteed income payments, but on close examination those appear frugal, and for junior soldiers unrepresentative of potential future earnings. I am sorry if I detected a scoff from the Under-Secretary of State for Defence—he criticised me earlier in a rather crude intervention, if I may say so—but that is certainly the view of the service community. If he doubts that, I suggest that he look at the website to which I referred.”
“It is important to acknowledge, however, that there have been times in our history when our troops have not been given the respect to which they are surely entitled. Rudyard Kipling described the plight of Tommy Atkins. Although Kipling’s Tommy emerged in the 1890s, he is chiefly associated with our engagement in total war in two obvious fights for national survival. His descendants are involved in conflicts that are much more discretionary, and that do not command the support of the British public in anything like the same way. In my view, that means that the Government owe more than ever to today’s men and women who are putting their lives on the line in pursuit of their foreign policy. That is all the more reason for disappointment at the attitude adopted by Ministers, captured perfectly by Mrs.”
“Hamilton) entered with regard to Scotland, but the Royal British Legion has felt it necessary to mount its “Honour the covenant” campaign this autumn, while a completely new organisation, the British Armed Forces Federation, was created this summer to lobby for a better deal for the service community. Unofficial forces websites have sprung up. I draw the Minister’s attention particularly to the Army Rumour Service website—better known, if you will forgive me, Mr. Deputy Speaker, by its acronym ARRSE—which provides a free and frank window on the views of an increasingly dischuffed service population. In 25 years of service in the armed forces, I can never remember anything quite like this.”
“It is always a pleasure to follow my hon. Friend the Member for The Wrekin (Mark Pritchard). I enjoyed his general strategic overview, as well as his specific points about the DNA and defence attachés. I hope that the Minister will have answers to those questions at his fingertips when he replies. I declare an interest as a medical officer in the Royal Naval Reserve, and I am in receipt of a naval pension. We have heard 14 Back-Bench speeches today, all of which had merit, even if in some cases one had to dig a little deep to find it. Ministers can surely be in no doubt that the military covenant has been broken. I appreciate the caveat that the hon. Member for Midlothian (Mr.”
“No, I will not. I do not have enough time. How do Ministers think soldiers feel when they see civil servants receiving an extra £100,000 a year to serve in dangerous places, and all they can aspire to is a bit of extra pay in lieu of tax that they have paid?”
“Friend the Member for North Essex (Mr. Jenkin) called defence the Cinderella of public services, and I fear that he is correct. A number of Members mentioned housing. When I was a practising doctor I had a fair amount to do with military public health, but I never thought that as a Member of Parliament I would visit barracks that were infested with cockroaches. One young man said to me, “I do not have to put up with cockroaches when I am at my mum’s house, so I do not see why I should have to do so when I am living in barracks.” What messages do conditions like that send to the men and women whom Ministers say they value so highly?”
“I am grateful to the Secretary of State for his intervention, but it does not move us much further forward. I seriously suggest that he listen to the British Armed Forces Federation and the Royal British Legion, and look at their websites. He should listen to them, not to me. I have to say that I am not surprised that the Royal British Legion thinks ill of an Administration whose armed forces compensation scheme is designed to shift the burden of proof in the MOD’s favour, to narrow eligibility criteria and to impose onerous time restrictions on claimants. That is precisely what the scheme has done. I know Ministers mean well—I do not doubt that—but these are hardly the actions of Ministers who are falling over themselves to fulfil their side of the military covenant. In one of the most thoughtful contributions of the day, my hon.”
“Given the job of work that our troops do, I have to ask whether we have our priorities right. It is surely right for our military to be able to rely on married quarters of at least the standard that they might expect if their landlord were a housing association or a local authority.”
“It is Battlesbury barracks in Warminster. The hon. Gentleman may wish to pay it a visit. Half the MOD’s bed spaces are classed as poor, and the National Audit Office reckons that it will take years to put the position right. These are hardly homes fit for heroes. Yet, as the NAO has revealed, £13.5 million in planned maintenance and repairs scheduled for 2006-07 had to be deferred because of budgetary complaints—a point that appears to have been lost on the right hon. Member for Islwyn (Mr. Touhig). Students in college halls of residence and their parents would be appalled at the conditions that barracks dwellers must routinely endure, but barracks, unlike halls of residence, are closed institutions. What the public do not see, Ministers apparently do not worry about.”
“It seems to me that not only are the Government looking to my party to set the agenda, but the Liberal Democrats are at it as well.”
“Without timelines, all the commitments made last week and in the July statement are no more than aspirations. That, along with the failure of defence spending—at 1.5 per cent.—to keep pace with defence-related inflation and no commensurate fall in operational tempo, means that, as the Royal United Service Institute pointed out last week, an overly optimistic comprehensive spending review is likely to be followed by defence strategic guidance for the next 10 years that will disappoint those of us eagerly anticipating carriers, FRES and attack aircraft. That is all the more reason for a proper strategic defence review. I am pleased to note that the hon. Member for North Devon (Nick Harvey) appears to agree with us on that—much as it pains me to have much in common with the Liberal Democrats.”
“The Minister stated to me in a letter dated 1 September: “I can understand how you might feel surprised at our inability to provide information on the total cost of the Territorial Army.” He is utterly right that I am surprised, because he is saying that his axemen have been hacking away at the TA without having any idea about savings that might be achieved, or whether consequential costs would need to be borne elsewhere. How can we possibly secure maximum advantage for the cash available if we have no handle on relative costings? Given that the Minister of State has no idea about the cost drivers within his own Department, it is hardly surprising that he cannot give timelines for procurement—as was painfully obviously apparent in his contribution last Tuesday.”
“Words mean what words say, and we as politicians should understand that full well. At a time when this Government’s foreign policy is so heavily reliant on the TA, it behoves Ministers to choose their words carefully. The Defence Analytical Services Agency tells us that our volunteer reserves stand at 36,000, down from 46,000 in April 2000, yet in Iraq and Afghanistan they have been employed as never before. Given their battle-proven capabilities, it seems to me that the only reason for cutting the TA is a failure to demonstrate cost-effectiveness. Therefore, during the summer I asked how much the TA costs. We learned on Tuesday how difficult it is to pin Ministers down on defence costs, but in this instance it appears that they simply do not have a clue.”
“Member for Dundee, East (Stewart Hosie) also touched briefly on defence procurement. The right hon. Member for Edinburgh, East (Dr. Strang) talked about Afghanistan and its flourishing poppy crop, as did the hon. Member for Portsmouth, North (Sarah McCarthy-Fry)—if I may say so without embarrassing her, in what was a most thoughtful contribution. Despite the debt it owes to our reserve forces, it appears that the Labour party continues to conflate the Territorial Army with the Home Guard. If anyone doubts that, they should take a look at the Home Secretary’s unworthy line at the expense of the TA while playing to the gallery in Bournemouth last month. I have written to the right hon. Lady and invited her to come to the House and explain herself and apologise. I regret to have to say that, to date, she has been silent on that.”
“The announcement by Ministers of more cash for combat stress was welcome, but the fact that it was such a sudden and substantial injection more than four years after the start of Operation Telic calls into question the foresight of an MOD that has meanwhile been happy to preside over the serious erosion of uniformed military psychiatry. The right hon. Member for Walsall, South (Mr. George) talked in his discussion of finance about Labour being on the brink of fantasy—to borrow his words—in the 1980s. He also looked forward to aircraft carriers and FRES—the future rapid effect system—as did the hon. Member for Preston (Mr. Hendrick). I shall say more about that if I have time. My hon. Friend the Member for Congleton (Ann Winterton) discussed defence equipment in her inimitable, robust and highly thoughtful fashion. The hon.”
“The Minister must say whether that is because they have complex medical needs that demand tertiary and higher specialist medical care—which is fine—or because the new medical managed arrangements supported in all parts of the House are inadequate. My chief concern, however, is not about care in theatre—or role 3 back home at Selly Oak or in the wider NHS. My chief concern is not about health care at all; instead, it is about care, by which I mean what happens when a person is done with Selly Oak and begins to face the future with a broken body or broken mind.”
“His report cuts through the hierarchy that surrounds Ministers and demands their critical appraisal. I hope that Ministers have satisfied themselves that any shortcomings identified by him have now been remedied, and that in so doing they have not been content simply to accept any old flannel from the general staff. In the last month alone 145 injured soldiers have been repatriated for treatment, yet we learn that because our UK military hospitals have now closed, soldiers are being nursed not with their comrades but alongside civilians. My hon. Friend the Member for Canterbury mentioned that point.”
“It is important for our troops to know that they will be well looked after, but we should not seek to cover up the concerns of highly experienced and respected professionals such as Lieutenant-Colonel Paul Parker of the Royal Army Medical Corps, a consultant orthopaedic surgeon who has presented us with a picture of military medicine in Afghanistan that is not rosy. His view is that medical evacuation, basic supplies in military hospitals and medical imaging in theatre are inadequate. I hope Ministers agree that the way in which they provide for our injured lies at the very heart of our military covenant. Over the weekend, the Army’s top brass were accused of failing to stand up for their people. Lieutenant-Colonel Parker has certainly stood up for those in his care, and as a doctor and as an officer he deserves great credit.”
“No, I will not. On resettlement, personnel seeking social housing must not be disadvantaged by their peripatetic careers, as they are currently. I believe that that point was made by the hon. Member for Midlothian. The hon. Member for Falkirk (Mr. Joyce) described at first hand his experience of married quarters. My experience was slightly different: we at least had indoor sanitation. My experience of health care at the point of wounding in theatre at roles 1 and 2 has been fairly positive.”
“The Minister has accused the Conservatives of using the armed forces as a political football. That is a disgraceful allegation. What does he make of his own Prime Minister’s recent efforts—grandstanding in Iraq?”
“Does my hon. Friend share my dismay regarding the advisers whom the Government have chosen to take forward their proposals on the NHS? It is hardly surprising that the review is going in the direction that it is, with a focus on tertiary centres, as the advisers are Lord Darzi, Roger Boyle and George Alberti. Excellent though they are, they have no experience of primary or intermediate health care, and it is hardly surprising that general practitioners therefore feel that they are being marginalised in the Government’s plans, almost exclusively in the interests of highly specialist and tertiary centres.”
“I am sure that the hon. Gentleman is aware that our indigenous defence industry is important to FRES and support for our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, and I notice that his signature is absent from an early-day motion 2030 tabled in the names of his hon. Friends the Members for Colchester (Bob Russell) and for St. Ives (Andrew George). That motion would have the effect of imposing a windfall tax on our indigenous defence suppliers so will the hon. Member for North Devon (Nick Harvey) add his name to that? If not, what conversations will he be having with his hon. Friends?”
“On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker. I seek your advice on what opportunities exist for the Home Secretary, whom I have contacted, to correct the impression that she gave at her party’s conference in Bournemouth—the impression that she does not hold our Territorial Army, on which her Government are heavily reliant, in the high esteem that is surely its due.”
“The Secretary of State has talked a lot about the state of prisons and overcrowding. Does he agree that one easy win might be to remove prison cells from the extraordinary smoking provisions that his Government introduced in the Health Act 2006? Those provisions appeared to be endorsed by his Cabinet colleagues as recently as 26 June, when the then Secretary of State for Health made the incredible assertion that a prison cell is akin to a prisoner’s own home.”
“I accept a great deal of the hon. Gentleman’s comments. However, does he accept that one cannot possibly have effective rehabilitation as long as there is overcrowding? The current prison population means that there must be more prison cells. Surely he understands that.”
“British military fatalities are, tragically, outstripping the capacity of the coroner service, so the receiving coroner, Wiltshire’s David Masters, to whom I spoke this morning, is relieved that his long-awaited ministerial meeting has—under pressure—been brought forward to 25 July, and that he will now be able to put the case for the resources needed to tackle the military inquest backlog over which this Government have presided, to their lasting shame. As a redeeming measure, what will the Secretary of State do on behalf of the deceased and their long-suffering families to ensure that the coroner has everything he needs, without any more procrastination, in accordance with last Thursday’s remarks by his right hon. and learned Friend the Leader of the House?”
“Of course women want choice, but the point that I was trying to make was that they might want to have their babies in midwife-led units, such as the one that is about to be shut down in my constituency.”
“On 1 July, prison cells will be one of the very few enclosed public places where people can smoke, yet the health of the prison population is appalling and half of those who enter prison as non-smokers leave as smokers. When the Secretary of State has gone, she will best be remembered for her spectacular U-turn on smoke-free pubs. In the very short time remaining to her, will she assess the health consequences for convicts and prison officers of the exceptional smoking rights that she has granted to prisoners?”
“As the Minister knows, I have a particular interest in this issue. What would he say to Lieutenant-Colonel Parker—to whom he may be referring—who has said that treatment in Afghanistan is excessively slow and has catalogued a range of shortcomings, of which he has first-hand and expert experience, in the medical care that he and others are able to provide to our troops there and in Iraq? The Minister talks of his commitment to our troops in action. Clearly, the perception on the front line is very different, and I am surprised by his complacency.”
“I would not for one moment accuse the hon. Gentleman of being a food fascist, but if he were to remove sugar from people’s diets, what would he replace it with, given the relative calorific value of the alternatives?”
“It seems that the link between sugar and obesity has not been established, so the FSA might reasonably take the view that salt, which is proven to be harmful, must be its prime focus, rather than sugar.”
“Member for North Norfolk, I do not eat it as I do not have a Waitrose near my house. I have an Asda, and its sticky chilli chicken contains 19.2 g of sugar per 100 g. Tesco’s crispy beef and sweet chilli sauce contains 23.1 g per 100 g, which is a remarkable amount of added sugar. Neither of those products appeals to me, but clearly they cater for consumers’ tastes. If other palatable ingredients, such as salt, are driven down, inevitably they must be replaced with something if the company is to continue to sell its products. I am slightly concerned that in forcing down one ingredient, we are driving up others without having first assessed which ingredient is more damaging.”
“We have heard about Special K, which I do not recall having had for a long time, but my parents and grandparents used to have it and it seems that it was a lot less sugary back in 1978 when the data started to be gathered for the Widdowson textbook, which is the trade text. The sugar content has risen dramatically since then. Various other foodstuffs were discussed by the hon. Members for North Norfolk and for Middlesbrough, South and East Cleveland, and I shall not repeat what they said, but I am a little alarmed to find that fruit and even vegetables are now being bred to enhance their sugar content. The carrots that I ate in 1978 contained 5.4 g of sugar per 100 g, but that increased alarmingly to 7.4 g of sugar per 100 g in 2002 to match consumers’ palates. Waitrose soup has been mentioned but, unlike the hon.”
“While he is about it, perhaps he would comment on other initiatives that have been launched since the White Paper “Choosing Health”—for example, the teen life check and the obesity toolkit. Initiatives introduced by the Government and their agencies often have unintended consequences, and I am thinking particularly of the FSA’s attack on salt, which I fully support. However, it seems that there is a conflict between salt and sugar. As I said about the competing benefits of various substances in smoothies and fruit drinks, we must compare and contrast, and work out what is for the best. Kellogg’s has been up front and said that it is adding sugar to some of its cereals because salt is being reduced, presumably because of pressure from the Government and their agencies.”
“I am not aware that the Food Standards Agency has looked at the issue, and I would be interested to know what it makes of it and particularly what it thinks about reports that dehydration degrades people’s ability to do maths in schools. The school fruit and vegetable scheme was launched three years ago at a cost of £77 million, and I understand that the Department of Health is reviewing that. Will the Minister comment on where we have got to with that review and with emerging reports that it has not significantly changed behaviour? I would be interested to know whether the Minister, on the basis of the evidence available to him now, intends to change the school fruit and vegetable scheme and, if so, in what way.”
“Certainly the packaging suggests that they are full of good stuff and sometimes that they contain as much as five pieces of fruit compressed into a little bottle. Therefore, they seem to be a good thing and an easy way of satisfying the Government’s insistence that we should consume five pieces of fruit or veg a day. They are, of course, high in good things such as antioxidants, but they may also be high in substances such as sugar, so how do we play one off against the other? The hon. Gentleman also mentioned dehydration. I have had correspondence from various authorities on the subject, but I am having difficulty in working out what part dehydration plays, particularly as we live in a temperate climate.”
“I was disappointed to read the results of the prospective study from Plymouth because I would like to believe, as I am sure would the Minister, that providing sports facilities and exercise in schools will lead to a long-term change in people’s behaviour so that they enhance the energy-out side of the equation. Unfortunately, that research suggests that the pattern is more complex. I would like to know where we are with the “Choosing Activity, a physical activity plan” of March 2004, which was relaunched in August last year, particularly in the context of focusing on energy out and taking into account those two important studies, the results of which we had earlier this year. The hon. Member for Middlesbrough, South and East Cleveland mentioned fruit juices and smoothies. Most of us assume that smoothies are a good thing.”
“When trying to work out what is fact and what is fiction, it is probably worth while reflecting on energy in and energy out. There has been a recent series of interesting results from academic institutions that have looked at the energy-out side of the equation. We cannot consider energy in—sugar—without considering energy out. The Minister will be aware of Plymouth’s prospective EarlyBird study and the recent cross-sectional study at Bristol university. On first examination, they appear to be contradictory, but when taken together they show that there is a difficulty in the assumption that providing exercise for schoolchildren will alter behaviour in the long term.”
“Indeed, a core sugar has a calorific value, but so do many other substances. My intervention was aimed at establishing that we should not necessarily assume that sugar will lead automatically to obesity. If sugar is removed from the diet, what is it replaced with? I hesitate to mention the Sugar Association because it clearly has an interest in a debate about sugar. Nevertheless, it points out legitimately that fats deliver more than twice the number of calories per gram than the carbohydrate sugar. Furthermore, and probably more importantly, fat is laid down while energy from other sources is quickly burned off. It would be beneficial to think a little more laterally about the contribution that sugar and other forms of energy-providing substances make to obesity.”
“We are on safe ground in asserting that obesity can lead to conditions such as type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, cerebral vascular disease, various forms of arthritis, cancer and probably some forms of mental ill health, but in 2002, the National Academy of Sciences concluded: “There is no clear and consistent association between increased intake of added sugar and BMI”— that is, body mass index. The hon. Gentleman alluded to that, and it is central to any debate about obesity and sugar. Although the hon. Member for North Norfolk (Norman Lamb) was kind enough to say that I am an expert, I am not. It is important not to draw easy conclusions. As the hon. Gentleman said, relativity comes into it, but most of us as lay people probably feel that sugar does lead to obesity.”
“I shall try not to expand my contribution to fit the time available. I congratulate the hon. Member for Middlesbrough, South and East Cleveland (Dr. Kumar) on raising this important subject and on his having consistently done so over several years by way of parliamentary questions and early-day motions. It is important to avoid junk science and drawing easy conclusions. We know several things about the subject, without fear of peradventure. We know that obesity is dramatically on the rise, and we have a particular problem in this country according to the Eurostat data that has recently become available.”
“Members for Middlesbrough, South and East Cleveland and for North Norfolk, it seems strange that a mechanism that was set up to improve health should fail so signally to address one of the biggest public health problems that we face today—obesity.”