Stephen Kinnock
MP for Aberafan Maesteg · Labour · United Kingdom
“I thank the shadow Secretary of State for her kind words and look forward to our exchanges across the Dispatch Box. I am ready to engage with her on getting the maximum benefits for the people of Wales.”
“I thank the right hon. Lady and look forward to working with her. My understanding is that there were challenges around the helicopter capability. Decisions were taken by Natural Resources Wales some time ago to change the way that the tendering for helicopter capability works. We certainly need to look at that.”
“I thank my right hon. Friend for his question. Like him, I pay tribute to all those involved in the collective and heroic response to the wildfires.”
“I thank the right hon. Lady for her question. Many of the ideas coming forward for devolving power right across our United Kingdom, beyond Cardiff Bay and Holyrood, are very exciting, and I look forward to exploring them with her.”
“Just to be clear, this is not about staying out of the issue; it is about respecting the devolution settlement, but being prepared to work constructively where we can in partnership with the Welsh Government. The hon.”
“I know about and welcome the right hon. Gentleman’s strong connections to Wales. I recognise the connectivity benefits that WSMR’s proposal could deliver, particularly for passengers in Wales and the west midlands.”
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“Should the new clause be passed, further work may be needed to determine how the offence would be enforced. I also note that there is no provision for any defence in relation to the offences—for example, where a person responds to inquiries. Restrictions on advertising always need careful consideration and drafting, given the potential unintended consequences and European convention on human rights impacts—particularly in relation to article 10, on freedom of speech. That is particularly so when breaches of the restrictions are made a criminal offence, as is the case here.”
“Thank you, Sir Roger, for giving me permission to remove my jacket. It is greatly appreciated. I assume that other hon. Gentlemen in the room are also able to do the same, should they wish to do so. New clause 9 would make it a criminal offence for a person to advertise their services as a co-ordinating doctor or an independent doctor under the Bill. The offence would apply to a person who, in the course of a business, publishes or causes publication of an advertisement for the services of acting as a co-ordinating doctor or an independent doctor under the Bill, or who prints, devises or distributes an advertisement or causes that for the promotion of such services. The offence is wide-ranging and could include, for example, a person who unknowingly transmitted such advertising via electronic communications or social media.”
“A legal requirement that all services, as well as reports, declarations or certificates of eligibility, must be provided in Welsh, where an individual’s first or preferred language is Welsh, would go beyond usual practice in England. Such a requirement may lead to operational issues, such as there being a reduced pool of registered medical practitioners or assisted dying panel members who are able to carry out the functions under the Bill. I want to put on record again the Government’s continued commitment to devolution and to working with the devolved Governments. The Government have taken a neutral position on the Bill and on the matter of assisted dying, but we are committed to working together with the Welsh Government to resolve any legal and technical issues, and to discussing constitutional matters that might arise.”
“The new clause would ensure that anyone seeking assistance under the Bill in England or Wales receives any services, reports, declarations or certificates of eligibility in Welsh if that is their first or preferred language. It is linked to the amendments tabled by the promoter to ensure that the form and content of any statement or declaration be set out in regulations, rather in the schedules to the Bill. The new clause would require any regulations made specifying the form and content of declarations or statements required in relation to the first declaration, the co-ordinating and independent doctors’ assessments, the second declaration and the final statement to make provision for those to be provided in both English and Welsh.”
“In the absence of definitions, issues could arise as to who is covered by the term “family member” and as to the meaning of “contemporaneously”. The additional referrals would add to the length of the application process.”
“New clause 30 would introduce a duty on medical or other healthcare professionals involved in a person’s care, including assessing doctors, should they receive an indication that the person is seeking assistance to end their own life contemporaneously with one of their family members. The duty has two parts. First, the medical or other healthcare professional who receives the indication must notify the person’s co-ordinating doctor and a registered medical practitioner from the person’s GP practice. Secondly, if an assessing doctor receives notification of that fact, they must refer that person for assessment by a registered medical practitioner specialising in psychiatry and a registered social worker, and must take account of their opinion. The assessing doctor must share that opinion with the other assessing doctor.”
“I associate myself with the comments of the hon. Member for East Wiltshire about the amazing work of the staff and the Clerks. May I say thank you very much to everybody? New clause 34 seeks to prevent assisted dying under the Bill from being considered a medical treatment. As drafted, the Bill is silent on the question whether the provision of assistance under the Bill can be considered a treatment. If accepted, the amendment may be interpreted to mean that the term “medical treatment” in any other legislation may not be interpreted to include assisted dying. The term “medical treatment” is used in many different contexts across the statute book and has different meanings according to context. The clause is therefore likely to produce unpredictable and potentially unintended effects.”
“Rebuilding our broken dentistry system is a priority for this Government. We are already rolling out 700,000 extra urgent dental appointments a year, as promised in our manifesto; we have launched a supervised toothbrushing scheme for three to five-year-olds; and we are committed to reforming the dental contract and making NHS dentistry fit for the future in the long term.”
“My hon. Friend is absolutely right. After 14 years of Tory neglect and incompetence, far too many people are still struggling to find an NHS appointment. This Government are tackling the challenges for patients trying to access NHS dental care by delivering 700,000 more urgent dental appointments a year and by recruiting new dentists to areas that need them. My hon. Friend’s local integrated care board has been asked to deliver nearly 17,000 of the additional urgent appointments. I am in no doubt that she will continue to campaign tirelessly on behalf of her constituents.”
“I am sorry to hear of the difficulties faced by Mr Buckley. Sadly, that is a challenge we face nationally after 14 years of abject failure from those now on the Opposition Benches. There are no quick fixes or easy answers, but we are committed to reforming the contract and helping those who need it most. My hon. Friend’s local ICB has been asked to deliver more than 46,000 additional urgent care appointments from April onwards, getting care to those constituents who need it most. The north-west has also been allocated 21 posts in the golden hello scheme to recruit dentists into underserved areas.”
“It is shameful that tooth decay is the biggest reason for hospital admissions of children aged between five and nine, and the inequalities surrounding that are stark. On 7 March, we confirmed a £11.4 million investment in supervised toothbrushing for three to-five-year-olds. The scheme is targeted at children in the most deprived areas—those in index of multiple deprivation groups 1 and 2—and will reach up to 600,000 children. Our innovative partnership with Colgate-Palmolive will result in the donation of more than 23 million toothbrushes and toothpastes, providing outstanding value for taxpayers’ money.”
“My hon. Friend has demonstrated again that she is a tireless campaigner for the people of Aldershot, and I am sorry to hear of the challenges faced by her constituents. This Government will deliver 700,000 more urgent dental appointments a year, and will recruit new dentists to the areas that need them most. My hon. Friend’s local ICB has been asked to deliver nearly 7,000 of those additional urgent care appointments in the year from April. In the long term, we will reform the dental contract with the sector, with a shift to focusing on prevention and improving the retention of NHS dentists.”
“As my hon. Friend says, we are delivering 700,000 additional urgent appointments. Patients are not limited to a registered practice in England, and practices are required to keep their status up to date on the NHS website. Anyone struggling to find a dentist should go to nhs.uk or call 111. It is also clear that while NHS England is not mandating an approach to the purchasing of these additional appointments, ICBs could consider either buying more appointments through new or recommissioned contracts or modifying existing contracts, and/or using flexible commissioning.”
“I thank the right hon. Gentleman for the constructive meeting and discussion that we had on this matter. As he will know, we are exploring the use of provisional registration for overseas dentists, and we are urging the GDC to arrange more examinations for dentists. I have a meeting set up in short order with the head of the GDC, and I will keep the right hon. Gentleman posted on that conversation.”
“I absolutely agree. The state of NHS dentistry in our country is shameful. The golden hello scheme enables 240 dentists to receive a £20,000 joining bonus payment to work in dental deserts, and we are negotiating with the British Dental Association the long-term reform of the contract. The issue is not the number of dentists in the country, but the paucity of dentists who are doing NHS work.”
“I find it quite striking when Conservative Members stand up and describe the abysmal state of NHS dentistry. It makes me think, “Well, who created this mess in the first place?” But that is as an aside. The fact is that we have the golden hello scheme for dentists to come and work in so-called dental deserts. We recognise that the fundamental problem is around incentives for dentists to do NHS work. That is why we are doing a long-term contract negotiation to ensure we have an NHS dentistry contract that is fit for purpose and where every penny allocated to NHS dentistry is spent on NHS dentistry.”
“I thank the hon. Gentleman for that question. I have met hon. Members from the area and made it clear that in principle we support any creation of new teaching capacity for dentistry. What I have also set out is that, before we can give an instruction to the Office for Students to go ahead with that work, we have to have the settlement of the comprehensive spending review, so we know what our financial envelope is. We will not have that until June, but certainly we will be looking at that as and when we know whether the funding will be available.”
“I thank the hon. Gentleman for that question and I congratulate him again on his 60th birthday. [ Laughter. ] He raises an important point on teaching and training in dentistry. There is not enough capacity in the system. We absolutely want to ensure that we are building that capacity. As I said, a lot of that will depend on the comprehensive spending review settlement in June. I would be more than happy to discuss the issue with him in greater detail once we have a better sense of where we are on the funding.”
“This Government recognise the vital role that community pharmacies play as an integral part of our health system and local community. We are working with Community Pharmacy England on the pharmacy contract, which will start to stabilise the sector and make it fit for the future, and we will announce the outcome very shortly. On hub and spoke dispensing, we intend to lay draft secondary legislation in the coming weeks to come into force later this year.”
“My hon. Friend is right that we inherited a community pharmacy system that had been neglected for far too long, such that over the past two years, on average six pharmacies have been closing every week. A wide range of community pharmacies and representative organisations fed into the public consultation on hub and spoke reform, and I am pleased to confirm that their responses were overwhelmingly positive in support of model 1 of hub and spoke, which we will be going with.”
“The right hon. Gentleman is right that a big part of the Government’s shift from hospital to community is the pivotal role that community pharmacies will play in that process. We are committed to the Pharmacy First model of enabling community pharmacies to do more clinical work, such as the type that he just described. That is at the heart of our 10-year plan.”
“We will publish the economic analysis imminently. He mentioned the National Pharmacy Association, which gives me the opportunity to say that I think that the collective action that it is taking is premature, unnecessary and detrimental to community pharmacy patients. I urge the NPA to reconsider its position and wait for the outcome of our negotiations with the CPE, which will come very shortly. We will announce that very soon.”
“On the NPA, it has taken us a while to clean up the utter mess that we inherited in community pharmacy. That involved agreeing financial envelopes and getting into negotiations with CPE. Those negotiations have been constructive, and I am delighted to confirm again that we will soon announce the outcome of those negotiations. What we see here is the shadow Minister apparently taking the side of people taking collective action in a premature way that is detrimental to patients. They would be better off waiting for the outcome. The Government are taking industrial relations into the 21st century, as opposed to the performative nonsense that we saw for 14 years.”
“When someone is detained, family involvement is extremely valuable, and families should be supported to maintain contact with their loved ones. Our Mental Health Bill will strengthen requirements to involve families in people’s care. We will require clinicians to involve patients and their families where possible when developing new statutory care and treatment plans.”
“I know that the hon. Member has met my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State about at least one of those constituency cases. NHS England has asked mental health trusts to review the care of high-risk patients and has published national guidance on the standards of care that are expected. Ultimately, the Mental Health Act is there to protect people and provide the necessary powers to enable clinicians to manage and support such patients—and to do so, where possible, in the community.”
“My hon. Friend will be aware that we are bringing forward the Mental Health Bill, and an important part of that legislation will enable family members—when they are chosen as a nominated person—to have powers to request assessment under the Act, challenge decisions and request considerations of discharge in line with the nearest relative powers.”
“I am very sorry to hear about my hon. Friend’s constituents’ experience. Accessing vital medicines while travelling between nations should be seamless, and I will ask NHS England to work with NHS Scotland to better understand what needs to change to make things easier for patients across the UK.”
“My hon. Friend is absolutely right that shifting care from hospitals to the community is at the heart of our 10-year plan. I would be happy to meet the doctors leading this pilot to find out more about the excellent work that she describes.”
“My hon. Friend is right that the hospice sector has been provided with the largest capital spend in a generation—£100 million. We are also providing £26 million of revenue funding to children and young people’s hospices. I can confirm that hospices will play a key role in our shift from hospitals to the community, as he set out in his question.”
“The hon. Member raises an important issue. We are investing in 8,500 more mental health specialists, as well as specialists in every school, and in Young Futures hubs across the country, to ensure that we do whatever we can to prevent these tragedies.”
“That is a vital issue. The Casey commission will look at how best to create a fair and affordable adult social care system, and at which structural reforms will be needed where health and social care meet, because reform must always be married with investment.”
“When we strive to improve men’s health, it will not just transform the lives of boys and men, but those of their wives, mothers, sisters, partners, mates, neighbours, children, teachers and doctors. That is why I strongly encourage all the men listening to this debate to go to the Change NHS online portal, to give their views on how to build an NHS that is fit for the future through our 10-year health plan. Together, we will transform healthcare for men in the Rother valley, in the north of England, and across our country. Question put and agreed to.”
“It is backed by the mental health investment standard, which continues in 2025-26 to ensure that mental health funding is ringfenced to support delivery of our commitments, including those outlined in the NHS planning guidance. The Government have a statutory requirement to publish an annual statement setting out expectations for NHS mental health spending before the next financial year begins. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State will publish that statement in due course. I will end with a call to action. Suicide is everyone’s business; when we improve men’s health, the benefits can ripple through families, communities, societies and the economy.”
“The Department for Education is also reviewing the relationship, sex and health education statutory guidance, and the Secretary of State for Education is clear that children’s wellbeing should be at the heart of it. The DFE will look carefully at the consultation responses, considering relevant evidence and talking to partners, including on mental wellbeing and suicide prevention, before setting out next steps and engaging with wider experts. As part of this process, the DFE will explore whether additional content is required, including on suicide and self-harm. Mental health is, and remains, a priority for the NHS.”
“Young people present unique challenges, and early intervention is vital if we want to stop children and young people from reaching crisis point today or developing mental health issues in the longer term. Schools and colleges play an important role in that early support, which is why we are providing access to a mental health professional for every school. We know that mental health support teams, such as the With Me In Mind team based in Doncaster and Rotherham, help to meet the mental health needs of children and young people in education settings. We are also committed to rolling out open access Young Futures hubs in communities. This national network is expected to bring local services together and deliver support for young people facing mental health challenges.”
“However, I look forward to seeing the results of DSIT’s research into the impact of smartphones on children, which is due to be published in May this year. Our current focus is on keeping young people safe while also benefiting from the latest technology. By the summer, robust new protections for children will be in force through the Online Safety Act 2023 to protect them from harmful content and ensure that they have an age-appropriate experience online. Alongside getting those laws in place, we are committed to building the evidence base to inform future action to protect young people online. It is not only the dangers of technology that are a concern for young people.”
“We should all be concerned about the widespread availability of harmful content online that promotes suicide and self-harm and can be easily accessed by people who may be vulnerable. The suicide prevention strategy for England identifies online safety as a priority area for action across Government. We are working closely with our colleagues at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology in this area, including to deliver the commitments in the strategy and to look at what else can be done to address online harms, including harmful content shared on pro-suicide websites and forums. There is still uncertainty about the relationship between screen time, social media use and child development.”
“We are also committed to improving the support available to those experiencing a mental health crisis. This year, the Government are providing £26 million in capital investment to open new mental health crisis centres, reducing pressure on busy A&E services and ensuring that people have the support they need when and where they need it. These new centres will include crisis houses, providing overnight accommodation, sanctuaries and safe havens, calm environments for people to visit during the day and mental health-specific spaces in or adjacent to A&E departments. I am also grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Rother Valley for raising the important issue of technology, which can have a profoundly damaging effect.”
“Individuals can self-refer to specialist gambling clinics in England, where they can be supported by psychiatrists. Our suicide prevention strategy for England identifies gambling as a common risk factor and lists actions to reduce suicide as a result of gambling. We will explore opportunities to go further to support people with gambling addictions. It can be hard for a young man in today’s society, particularly for boys in the most deprived areas of England, who are expected to live almost 10 years less than those in the wealthiest areas. We are committed to improving the nation’s mental health services to ensure that individuals can get the support they need when they need it. We are recruiting 8,500 new mental health workers, who will be trained to support people at risk of suicide.”
“It rightly focuses on key drivers that we know can affect men’s lives, such as gambling, financial difficulties and substance misuse. Rotherham council has developed a three-year plan for suicide prevention and self-harm, which I understand is currently out for consultation with local partners. I commend the council and all local partners involved in the development of the plan. I hope that it will provide a strong foundation for a new partnership between local government and national Government, because people in my hon. Friend’s constituency deserve backing at every level. My hon. Friend raised the shocking issue of young men taking their own lives as a result of problem gambling. The NHS has expanded support for those who need help to overcome gambling addictions.”
“With that in mind, I would like to express my gratitude for the hard work and dedication of local frontline services, including the voluntary sector, which play such a vital role in supporting people who experience suicidal thoughts or contemplate taking their own lives. Such organisations include Andy’s Man Club, Rotherham Samaritans and James’ Place, to name just a few. The cross-sector suicide prevention strategy for England, which was published in 2023, has made some progress, and we are working closely with local authorities, health systems and our partners in the voluntary community to see that progress through. The strategy identifies middle-aged men as a priority group for targeted support at a national level.”
“Today, mental ill health is on the rise, and the shocking fact is that suicide is the biggest killer for men under 50. Just as we are determined to end the injustices that women face in healthcare, we will not shy away from the need to focus on men’s health too. That is why the Government will publish a men’s health strategy to tackle those problems head-on. In November, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care brought together leading campaigners, experts and the Premier League to gather ideas and inform our strategy and our 10-year health plan. We take suicide prevention extremely seriously, because every suicide is a tragedy that has a devastating and enduring impact on families, friends and communities.”
“I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Rother Valley (Jake Richards) for securing this debate and for raising the extremely serious issue of male suicide. I also congratulate him on obtaining his first Adjournment debate. I am sure that it will not be the last. He is a doughty campaigner for his constituents. I thank other Members for their valuable contributions, particularly my hon. Friend the Member for Portsmouth North (Amanda Martin), who made a powerful speech. I offer my deepest condolences to those who have been tragically bereaved by suicide. Men tend to seek help for their mental health less than women. As my hon. Friend the Member for Rother Valley said, men are also more likely to die by suicide, accounting for three out of four suicides. Rates in Rother Valley sadly reflect that statistic.”
“Patient choice is at the heart of this Government’s commitment to build an NHS fit for the future, and all patients should be offered face-to-face appointments when it is in their best interests. Question put and agreed to.”
“Our goal is to reduce the number of lives lost to cancer over the next 10 years. The plan will spell out how we will improve outcomes for cancer patients, speed up diagnosis and treatment and ensure patients have access to the latest treatments and technology. We will bring this country’s survival rates back up to the best in the world. Our NHS belongs to the people. Those are not just my words; they are in the NHS constitution. Fourteen years of Tory failure left our NHS broken but not beaten. Everything this Government have done since the election has been geared towards saving the NHS and giving it back to the people. We are putting power back in patient hands, because it is their health service and it must work for them. Last week, my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister announced reforms that will shift power away from the centre.”
“We will move towards a neighbourhood health service, improve continuity of care for those who would benefit from seeing the same clinician regularly, which is associated with better health outcomes and fewer A&E attendances, and we will drive the shift from analogue to digital by ensuring that all practices are employing the full functionality of GP Connect. Let me turn to cancer. The Government are determined to tackle the biggest killers. My right hon. Friend the Health Secretary has announced that a national cancer plan for England will be published later this year. The plan will put patients at its heart and will cover the entirety of the cancer pathway, from referral and diagnosis to treatment and ongoing care. It will seek to improve every aspect of cancer care and the experience and outcomes for people with cancer.”
“It is not just about resource and funding, however. We are bulldozing bureaucracy for GPs, so that they spend less time pushing paper and more time seeing patients like Laura. We are training thousands more GPs, modernising the booking system, ending the 8 am scramble and bringing back the family doctor. Those measures should make it possible for GPs to guarantee a face-to-face appointment for all who want one. The Government are committed to shifting the focus of our NHS from hospital to community.”
“It is the first time that the contract has been accepted in four long years. The reformed contact agreed between the Government and the GPC will improve services for patients, make progress towards our health mission and, crucially, require practices to make it possible for patients to go online to request an appointment throughout the duration of core opening hours. That will free up time for patients who prefer to call or visit in person. Those changes are backed by an extra £889 million, representing a cash growth of more than 7% in overall contract investment, bringing total spend on the GP contract to £13.2 billion this financial year. That is the largest uplift to GP funding in a generation, and it means we are beginning to reverse a decade of a dwindling share of NHS resources going to general practice.”
“Gentleman that the figures for his integrated care board in Lincolnshire are in line with the national average at 65%. It is possible that, in some practices, defaulting to remote appointments was a temporary and necessary measure during the pandemic, but in some cases, that may have become a habit that has become difficult to shake. Let us be clear that this is not the fault of GPs per se; it is the fault of the last Government, which left them underfunded, understaffed and in crisis. That is why we are doing everything we can to remedy the downward spiral that GP services have found themselves in after 14 years of Tory neglect and failure. I was absolutely delighted that the general practitioners committee England voted in favour of this year’s GP contract last month.”
“Let me be crystal clear from this Dispatch Box: GPs must provide face-to-face appointments, alongside remote consultations. Online services must always be provided in addition to, rather than as a replacement for, in-person consultations. Patients have a right to request a face-to-face appointment, and practices must make every effort to meet their preference unless there are good clinical reasons to the contrary, such as in cases where the patient tests positive for an infectious disease. There are clear benefits to attending an appointment in person. GPs pick up cues from body language and foster a more personal relationship with their patients, and that is important if we are to bring back the family doctor. Last year, GPs delivered 380 million appointments throughout England. Two thirds of those were in person, and I can tell the hon.”