Browse content similar to 06/02/2013. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Morning, folks. This is the Daily Politics. They have been arguing | :00:39. | :00:43. | |
about it all week. Last night, MPs voted to allow gay men and women to | :00:43. | :00:47. | |
get married. So is that the end of the story? Or will those who | :00:47. | :00:50. | |
disagree fight on in the committee stages and the House of Lords? | :00:50. | :00:54. | |
What went wrong with our health service in Staffordshire? We know | :00:54. | :00:57. | |
that thousands of patients received appalling standards of care. | :00:57. | :01:01. | |
Hundreds died. Why? We will bring you the results of the official | :01:01. | :01:06. | |
investigation. We meet the man who wants to rip up | :01:06. | :01:12. | |
the rules about building houses and see an end to buy-to-let landlords. | :01:12. | :01:16. | |
The decibel level is far too high. The Prime Minister should not have | :01:16. | :01:19. | |
to shout. Just how noisy is the Chamber | :01:19. | :01:23. | |
during PMQs? We will have the results of a special Daily Politics | :01:23. | :01:28. | |
experiment to find out. All that in the next hour and a | :01:28. | :01:31. | |
half. Joining us for the duration, Business Minister Michael Fallon | :01:31. | :01:34. | |
and Shadow Justice Secretary Sadiq Khan. | :01:34. | :01:40. | |
But first - the big vote last night. If you have been watching the Daily | :01:40. | :01:43. | |
Politics this week, you will know that MPs on both sides of the House | :01:43. | :01:49. | |
have deeply held beliefs about gay marriage. David Cameron has always | :01:49. | :01:52. | |
said that he believes people should be able to marry their same-sex | :01:52. | :01:57. | |
partners, not despite being a Tory, but because he is a Tory. Which has | :01:57. | :02:02. | |
not quite convinced a major chunk of the Tory party. Last night when | :02:02. | :02:05. | |
MPs had their first vote on the issue, more Tory backbenchers voted | :02:05. | :02:11. | |
against than for it, and a large number abstained. | :02:11. | :02:16. | |
This bill is about one thing. It is about fairness, it is about giving | :02:16. | :02:20. | |
those who want to get married the opportunity to do so whilst | :02:20. | :02:25. | |
protecting the rights of those who do not agree with same-sex marriage. | :02:25. | :02:31. | |
The definition of marriage is based on the definition of sex. In the | :02:31. | :02:36. | |
19th and did three Act, it is impossible, absolutely impossible, | :02:36. | :02:43. | |
to shoehorn in same-sex marriage and to provide equality -- 1973 Act. | :02:43. | :02:49. | |
We have discriminated against Catholics, women, people from | :02:49. | :02:53. | |
ethnic minorities, but very gradually, not always completely | :02:53. | :02:59. | |
but perceptibly, this House has passed legislation to remove such | :02:59. | :03:04. | |
discrimination. Is this not another example to do so? Are the marriages | :03:04. | :03:08. | |
of millions of straight people about to be threatened because a | :03:08. | :03:11. | |
few thousand gay people are permitted to join? What will they | :03:11. | :03:17. | |
say? Our marriage is over, Sir Elton John has just got engaged to | :03:17. | :03:23. | |
David Furnish. If the government is serious about this, take it away, | :03:23. | :03:29. | |
or abolish the civil partnerships Bill, abolish civil marriage, and | :03:29. | :03:34. | |
create a civil union bill that applies to all people, irrespective | :03:34. | :03:39. | |
of their sexuality or relationships, and that means brothers and | :03:39. | :03:43. | |
brothers and sisters and sisters and brothers and sisters. | :03:43. | :03:48. | |
cheeses are I know was born illegitimate, a refugee, with eight | :03:48. | :03:54. | |
death warrant on his name -- cheeses that I know. That is why it | :03:54. | :04:02. | |
is right for those to vote on this bill -- Jesus I know. | :04:02. | :04:05. | |
Well in the end, there was a huge Parliamentary majority in favour of | :04:05. | :04:10. | |
gay marriage on this, the first vote on the matter. David Cameron, | :04:10. | :04:14. | |
Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg all voted in favour. But 136 | :04:14. | :04:17. | |
Conservatives, 22 Labour and four Lib Dem MPs did not follow their | :04:17. | :04:21. | |
leaders into the division lobbies on a free vote. Michael Fallon was | :04:21. | :04:25. | |
one of them. Why could David Cameron not persuade you? It was a | :04:25. | :04:30. | |
free vote, it was not political. That is the point of the a free | :04:30. | :04:35. | |
vote. It is up for each member and Minister to vote according to their | :04:35. | :04:40. | |
own conscience. But he spoke openly and consistently in favour of gay | :04:40. | :04:45. | |
marriage, wanting to encourage as many Conservative MPs to follow him. | :04:45. | :04:50. | |
What was it about the issue that could not persuade you? You would | :04:50. | :04:55. | |
have been pretty scornful to announce a free vote and then 95% | :04:55. | :04:59. | |
of Conservative MPs went into the lobby behind him. But David Cameron | :04:59. | :05:04. | |
will be disappointed. There are divisions in the party about this | :05:04. | :05:09. | |
and in the country. If you are coming to redefine one of the | :05:09. | :05:13. | |
central institutions in society, you probably need to do so on the | :05:13. | :05:18. | |
basis of a lot more concerned than exists at the moment. But the | :05:18. | :05:21. | |
majority of people in parliament voted the other way, I was wrong, | :05:21. | :05:26. | |
and we have to accept that. Do you think people in your party who | :05:26. | :05:31. | |
voted in favour listened to you and your colleagues concerned? Yes, we | :05:31. | :05:36. | |
had a passionate e-mails from each side and if I may say so I think | :05:36. | :05:41. | |
the debate yesterday should parliament at its best. Some very | :05:41. | :05:45. | |
powerful speeches on both sides. I think a reasonable amount of | :05:45. | :05:50. | |
respect from each side. You do? Some people clearly feel very | :05:50. | :05:54. | |
strongly that we should not discriminate against gay people. | :05:54. | :05:58. | |
Other people think there is something special about marriage | :05:58. | :06:03. | |
that needs to be protected. But it is not over yet. This does not mean | :06:03. | :06:11. | |
that a gay couple can go out next weekend and get married. No. I am | :06:11. | :06:17. | |
pleased that society can recognise love and relationships. The entire | :06:17. | :06:24. | |
Shadow Cabinet had a free vote and 85% voted in favour. It has to go | :06:24. | :06:28. | |
to committee upstairs, then it comes to report stage and a third | :06:28. | :06:31. | |
reading and then it will go to the House of Lords, so it will be a | :06:32. | :06:36. | |
number of months before it is finally through parliament. What | :06:36. | :06:39. | |
will happen a lot in the parliamentary road? Will you and | :06:39. | :06:44. | |
your colleagues tried to amend the bill? Or your colleagues in the | :06:44. | :06:50. | |
House of Lords? I certainly won't. It was a massive majority, as Sadiq | :06:50. | :06:54. | |
Khan has said. We have to respect the view of the House of Commons. | :06:54. | :06:59. | |
Maybe other colleagues will quibble about the details of the | :06:59. | :07:04. | |
legislation. It is important that the protections for the Church are | :07:04. | :07:09. | |
robust and violet. Then, don't forget, there is a second phase in | :07:10. | :07:14. | |
parliament -- robust and valid. The Commons has spoke and I think those | :07:14. | :07:17. | |
of us to oppose the bill need to respect the majority who were in | :07:17. | :07:22. | |
favour. The do you think there will be any attempts to amend the bill | :07:22. | :07:27. | |
in the House of Lords? I am sure there will be attempts to amend it, | :07:27. | :07:31. | |
just like you have people bringing frivolous cases in the future that | :07:31. | :07:37. | |
will not succeed. The key thing is to try to have as many mechanisms | :07:37. | :07:41. | |
in the bill to respect religious freedom, article 9 in the European | :07:41. | :07:45. | |
Convention. We need to make sure that there is faith groups are | :07:45. | :07:50. | |
protected from their believes not being compromised. On that issue, | :07:50. | :07:56. | |
you spoke of protections. As a Muslim, did you come under any | :07:56. | :08:00. | |
pressure from Muslim faith groups to say, the Sadiq Khan, don't vote | :08:00. | :08:07. | |
for this? I am an MP who is Muslim rather than a Muslim MP. Might | :08:07. | :08:14. | |
consist it -- constituents are Catholics, Jewish people, Anglicans, | :08:14. | :08:23. | |
Methodists, Hindu... I had communication from all sides. On | :08:23. | :08:28. | |
all issues, not just this one. Should David Cameron have spoken in | :08:28. | :08:33. | |
this debate, bearing in mind he has said such a lot about this issue? | :08:33. | :08:38. | |
You are suggesting he should have been trying to bully his own | :08:38. | :08:42. | |
ministers and members into following into the lobby. Would we | :08:42. | :08:47. | |
not have expected to have heard from him? If you are the leader of | :08:47. | :08:50. | |
the party and you have made this famous quotes of saying, I support | :08:50. | :08:55. | |
gay rights because I am a Tory. He might have wanted to emphasise that | :08:55. | :09:01. | |
during the debate or even listened to it? I think it is to his credit | :09:01. | :09:07. | |
that he did not make this a party issue. There will be people who on | :09:07. | :09:11. | |
matters of conscience would expect that from parliament. I don't think | :09:11. | :09:16. | |
it would have sweet individual members and ministers for us. -- | :09:17. | :09:20. | |
would have swayed. People have very strong views on this. I don't think | :09:20. | :09:28. | |
it would have made that much difference. Thank you. | :09:28. | :09:33. | |
While we were talking we are just getting word of what is in the | :09:33. | :09:37. | |
Francis report into the scandal of what happened in their mid- | :09:37. | :09:46. | |
Staffordshire Hospital Trust in 2005 up to 2008. We understand the | :09:46. | :09:53. | |
report calls for zero tolerance to poor standards of care. He says | :09:53. | :09:57. | |
hospitals which failed to comply with this fundamental standard | :09:57. | :10:04. | |
should be forced to close. He has made 290 sweeping recommendations | :10:04. | :10:10. | |
for health care regulators and possibly a hospital inspectorate. | :10:10. | :10:14. | |
He attacks the local health authorities and the trust board | :10:14. | :10:18. | |
although he does not name any one individual and organisation for | :10:18. | :10:22. | |
what he describes as the disaster at Stafford Hospital. If you | :10:22. | :10:30. | |
remember, between 401,200 people died and at this hospital's trust | :10:30. | :10:37. | |
care -- between 400 people and 1200 people died. The patients were | :10:37. | :10:42. | |
forced to drink water from vases, lying in their own excrement, | :10:42. | :10:46. | |
relatives forced to come in to look after them themselves. A long- | :10:46. | :10:51. | |
running scandal in the NHS. We are just getting the report now. We | :10:51. | :10:54. | |
will bring more as we get it and of course a statement by the Prime | :10:54. | :10:58. | |
Minister to the Commons at 12:30pm. We will bring you that statement | :10:59. | :11:02. | |
and reaction to it. Jo has the background. | :11:02. | :11:08. | |
The yes. The public inquiry has investigated | :11:08. | :11:11. | |
how managers and those charged with overseeing the NHS failed to do | :11:11. | :11:16. | |
anything about the failings at Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust. In 2009 | :11:16. | :11:18. | |
the Healthcare Commission, the predecessor of the current Care | :11:18. | :11:21. | |
Quality Commission, reported that at least 400 more patients died at | :11:21. | :11:24. | |
Stafford Hospital between 2005 and 2009 than would have been expected, | :11:24. | :11:31. | |
as a result of what it called That led to the government setting | :11:31. | :11:34. | |
up an independent inquiry, chaired by Robert Francis QC, which looked | :11:34. | :11:38. | |
at what went wrong more closely. So in 2010 he reported shocking | :11:38. | :11:43. | |
details of how patients had been mistreated. There was a wholly | :11:43. | :11:47. | |
unacceptable standard of hygiene, and deficient food. He also found | :11:47. | :11:50. | |
there had been a chronic shortage of staff and that nurses had often | :11:50. | :11:54. | |
been dismissive and uncaring. Robert Francis's second inquiry, | :11:54. | :11:57. | |
which is what we are getting today, looks at the failures of management, | :11:57. | :12:00. | |
oversight and regulation and will recommend changes to the structure | :12:00. | :12:07. | |
of how NHS hospitals are monitored. The government has said it already | :12:07. | :12:12. | |
wants a new duty of candour. Hospitals which tried to cover up | :12:12. | :12:16. | |
bad care could be fined or even shut down. Francis is also likely | :12:17. | :12:19. | |
to recommend establishing a new post of chief inspector of | :12:19. | :12:23. | |
hospitals for England. And many here at Westminster will be looking | :12:23. | :12:26. | |
at what he says closely to see if there is any criticism that can be | :12:26. | :12:30. | |
laid at the door of the previous Labour government. | :12:30. | :12:35. | |
The report is being published around now. For the latest, we are | :12:35. | :12:45. | |
:12:45. | :12:46. | ||
joined by Phil Mackie from outside We already know from the previous | :12:46. | :12:51. | |
reports just how shocking big hair was that went on here between 2005 | :12:51. | :12:59. | |
and 2009 -- just how shocking the care was. I spoke to a woman whose | :12:59. | :13:08. | |
daughter was complaining for 18 months of stomach pains. She picked | :13:08. | :13:13. | |
up so many different infections, C difficile and MRSA, it eventually | :13:13. | :13:19. | |
killed her. That lady said she did not want heads to roll. She wanted | :13:19. | :13:24. | |
reform to the NHS. That is what it is hoped the Francis report will | :13:24. | :13:28. | |
bring for the many campaigners who have been hoping for various things, | :13:28. | :13:32. | |
including allowing whistle-blow was more freedom to speak out, stopping | :13:32. | :13:38. | |
gagging clauses, paying more attention to patients, and | :13:38. | :13:43. | |
admitting more openly when things go wrong. But fundamentally to | :13:43. | :13:47. | |
start at basic levels of care. Things that went on at Stafford | :13:47. | :13:51. | |
Hospital were going on elsewhere in the country and probably still are. | :13:51. | :13:56. | |
That is acknowledged in this report. This is why the report is seen as | :13:56. | :14:02. | |
being so significant. We are just getting more from this report on | :14:02. | :14:08. | |
the Mid Staffordshire Hospital NHS Trust. Fundamental rights denied, | :14:08. | :14:13. | |
appalling and unnecessary suffering, lack of care, compassion, humanity | :14:13. | :14:18. | |
and leadership. The words of Francis QC, who has | :14:18. | :14:23. | |
led this latest report. His second report into what happened. | :14:23. | :14:26. | |
We are joined by Mike Farrar, the chief executive of the NHS | :14:26. | :14:28. | |
Confederation, which represents hospitals and other organisations | :14:28. | :14:38. | |
:14:38. | :14:48. | ||
This is probably the worst record of care in the NHS since it was | :14:48. | :14:52. | |
founded in the 1940s. Why have there been no criminal charges, no | :14:52. | :14:59. | |
sackings, nobody struck off by the GMC? I would echo your view that | :14:59. | :15:03. | |
this is one of the worst days in the NHS's history. As somebody who | :15:03. | :15:07. | |
came into the service to do good things, I'm ashamed of what | :15:07. | :15:10. | |
happened in Staffordshire. The actions against individuals of | :15:10. | :15:14. | |
other regulatory bodies. Robert Francis is going to look at how | :15:14. | :15:19. | |
this regulatory bodies are working. Why have there been between 400 to | :15:19. | :15:24. | |
1200 people died, were killed in effect, because of inadequate care? | :15:24. | :15:31. | |
At the very most, at the very least, institutional manslaughter. Why | :15:31. | :15:35. | |
have there been no criminal charges? It's really a question of | :15:35. | :15:40. | |
what the regulatory regime allows us to do. I'm very interested in | :15:40. | :15:43. | |
not just what punitive action and accountability needs to be taken | :15:43. | :15:46. | |
for what happened, I'm really thinking of the way in which the | :15:46. | :15:50. | |
patient that your correspondent mentioned said what we need to do | :15:50. | :15:54. | |
was make sure this doesn't happen again. I know that's what you want | :15:54. | :15:57. | |
to talk about, but let's look at what has happened. Why have only | :15:57. | :16:03. | |
three of the doctors involved, why have only three been called now | :16:03. | :16:09. | |
before the General Medical Council on fitness to practise? Why has | :16:09. | :16:14. | |
nobody been struck off? I don't represent the General Medical | :16:14. | :16:18. | |
Council's views. I think they have to think very seriously about this. | :16:18. | :16:21. | |
If they want to reassure the public that they can have confidence in | :16:21. | :16:26. | |
the NHS, then they need to take action, if appropriate, they need | :16:26. | :16:32. | |
to act. It is for them to determine. Why is it the case that the chief | :16:32. | :16:35. | |
executive of this hospital, who was in charge at the time and appointed | :16:35. | :16:39. | |
by the man who is now the chief executive of the NHS, he left with | :16:39. | :16:45. | |
a pay-off and now has another job in the health industry - why? | :16:45. | :16:50. | |
is a big issue for Ross. People who are deemed to have been failing to | :16:50. | :16:53. | |
the extent where they have not upheld the values of the health | :16:53. | :16:57. | |
service, we shouldn't have a system whereby people are working again. | :16:57. | :17:01. | |
But there are many cases where understanding what went wrong is a | :17:01. | :17:05. | |
question of helping people explained and trying to put things | :17:05. | :17:10. | |
right. You know as well as I do that rather than criminal charges | :17:10. | :17:14. | |
and people being struck off, most of the people involved in the mid- | :17:14. | :17:17. | |
Staffs spag bol have either taken pay-offs and disappeared or been | :17:17. | :17:25. | |
moved around the NHS. Do you accept that it is perfectly possible, | :17:25. | :17:30. | |
perhaps not in the grand, horrific scale of made it Staffs, that what | :17:30. | :17:34. | |
happened there is happening now and other hospitals? I do believe it's | :17:34. | :17:39. | |
lessons, we've got to think this is not just about one hospital. I | :17:40. | :17:43. | |
don't think it's widespread and I don't think it's on anything like | :17:43. | :17:47. | |
the scale. But there are issues in other hospitals where the culture | :17:47. | :17:50. | |
of those organisations is the kind of thing we saw in mid- | :17:50. | :17:53. | |
Staffordshire. What we need to do today is absolutely learn these | :17:54. | :17:59. | |
lessons and be as honest and open as we can. We know that among | :17:59. | :18:04. | |
doctors, clinicians and even medical students there's a list of | :18:04. | :18:08. | |
hospitals that they wouldn't want to go to themselves or send friends | :18:08. | :18:14. | |
or family to. Do you know that list? I do. I know a list not where | :18:14. | :18:18. | |
people shouldn't go, but I know the list that describes the variation | :18:18. | :18:23. | |
in performance between hospitals. Can we have that list? It should be | :18:23. | :18:27. | |
made available. When I was in the north-west, my previous job, that's | :18:27. | :18:31. | |
what we did. We published the variation in standards of care. | :18:31. | :18:35. | |
What that did, importantly, was not only get the public access to | :18:35. | :18:39. | |
understand that, but it was an incentive for the clinicians to | :18:39. | :18:43. | |
improve their services. So you are confirming there is a secret list | :18:43. | :18:46. | |
know within the NHS to which they themselves would not wish to be | :18:46. | :18:52. | |
treated at, but we, the people who paid �2 billion a week for our | :18:52. | :18:58. | |
services, we are not allowed to know that list. What I'm not saying | :18:58. | :19:02. | |
is, there is not a secret list about where people want to be | :19:02. | :19:06. | |
treated, but there is information within the service about the | :19:06. | :19:09. | |
variability of performance. If we are to learn the lessons from its | :19:09. | :19:13. | |
stature, we need to make it more public. The public need to see more | :19:13. | :19:16. | |
about the variations. The case we've been making for change to | :19:16. | :19:20. | |
improve our outcomes relies on the public understanding that | :19:20. | :19:24. | |
variability. This is very important. This is a chance to open up and | :19:24. | :19:27. | |
make sure the NHS, which belongs to the people,, we provide that data | :19:28. | :19:32. | |
for them to see that variability. how could Labour have let this | :19:32. | :19:38. | |
happen? It's shocking. The report that is coming out today, there | :19:38. | :19:42. | |
will be nothing new in relation to the lack of care provided a full | :19:42. | :19:45. | |
patients, we know from the first inquiry that the level of care | :19:45. | :19:49. | |
inquiry was shocking. You boasted about being the party of the NHS. | :19:49. | :19:53. | |
This was when you were in power, and you were travelling the amount | :19:53. | :19:58. | |
of money spent on the NHS. This isn't the normal Tory cuts | :19:58. | :20:01. | |
narratives. This happened on your watch when he was stuffing money | :20:01. | :20:06. | |
into it. No excuses for Mid Staffordshire. But to extrapolate | :20:06. | :20:09. | |
from Mid Staffordshire that the entire NHS has a problem, or that | :20:09. | :20:12. | |
all the money invested in extra nurses and doctors was a waste of | :20:12. | :20:20. | |
time would be wrong. Nobody is saying that. No one is saying that | :20:20. | :20:27. | |
the entire NHS is like Mid-Staffs. Don't set up on and Sally on that. | :20:27. | :20:31. | |
But what Mr Fallon has conceded is what is happening at Mid-Staffs | :20:31. | :20:35. | |
could still be happening and has happened in other parts of the NHS. | :20:35. | :20:39. | |
The reason why it's more likely to happen than not is because one of | :20:39. | :20:43. | |
the lessons from Mid Staffordshire, in the emergency units there were | :20:43. | :20:46. | |
50 % less doctors and nurses than they should have been. Another less | :20:46. | :20:51. | |
that could lead to problems. We also know there are cultural | :20:51. | :20:55. | |
problems where the management... results in patients having to drink | :20:55. | :21:00. | |
water out of farce as. The report says there were less than half the | :21:00. | :21:03. | |
levels of doctors and nurses in the indie than they should have been. | :21:04. | :21:08. | |
I'm not using that as an excuse, and explaining the facts uncovered | :21:08. | :21:13. | |
today by Robert Francis. Why didn't you have a public inquiry when you | :21:13. | :21:20. | |
were in government? Andy Burnham ordered an inquiry. The important | :21:20. | :21:23. | |
thing was to get the lessons quickly. Within five months, France | :21:23. | :21:28. | |
has produced his first report. This public inquiry has taken two-and-a- | :21:28. | :21:32. | |
half years. Not belittling the lessons learned today, but two-and- | :21:32. | :21:37. | |
a-half years was too long. The man who was chairman of the Strategic | :21:37. | :21:43. | |
Health Authorities under which Mid- Staffs came, and is strongly | :21:43. | :21:46. | |
criticised in the Francis report, is the man who will point to the | :21:46. | :21:50. | |
chief-executive to the Mid Staffs Hospital. He's now the man under | :21:50. | :21:54. | |
your government who is the chairman of the NHS commissioning Board. How | :21:54. | :21:58. | |
did that happen? He is, yes. We will have to see the report as to | :21:59. | :22:03. | |
what level of responsibility Mr Francis attracts to him. But he | :22:04. | :22:08. | |
wasn't the one running the hospital. He was supervising it. We need to | :22:08. | :22:12. | |
be clear what this report says. It's one thing to say, how did | :22:12. | :22:16. | |
Labour allow it to happen? If it emerges that it was Labour have | :22:16. | :22:19. | |
encouraged it to happen through the target obsessed culture that all of | :22:19. | :22:24. | |
these trusts were under, if that emerges today then we are certainly | :22:24. | :22:30. | |
looking for an apology from former Labour ministers. Andy Burnham and | :22:30. | :22:34. | |
Alan Johnston have both apologised. If it emerges that the results of | :22:34. | :22:39. | |
the inquiry are that less regulations lead to catastrophe, as | :22:39. | :22:42. | |
the minister in charge of reducing regulation, one of the downside of | :22:42. | :22:45. | |
having been up regulation for managers is you can have this sort | :22:45. | :22:48. | |
of problem. Managers who are doing an appalling job leave the trust, | :22:49. | :22:52. | |
get a pay-off and go somewhere else within the organisation. It's | :22:52. | :22:56. | |
important to point out there on reforms already on the way, partly | :22:56. | :23:01. | |
as a result of the first report. Will any of these reforms address | :23:01. | :23:07. | |
what happened at Mid Staffs? Most patients are checked hourly to make | :23:07. | :23:12. | |
sure they are being fed properly, they are not dehydrated. But the | :23:12. | :23:16. | |
crucial... It's not a target, that's a practice. To say patients | :23:16. | :23:25. | |
should be checked hourly is a target. It's a rule. From April, | :23:25. | :23:28. | |
GPs, if they are not happy but the hospital they preferred their | :23:28. | :23:31. | |
patients to, they will be in the driving seat from this April and | :23:31. | :23:35. | |
will be able to stop sending patients to a hospital like | :23:35. | :23:38. | |
Stafford and transferred them elsewhere. For the first time, GPs | :23:38. | :23:43. | |
will be properly in charge. Do we need an external hospital | :23:43. | :23:47. | |
inspectorate, like a schools inspectorate that can go in, and if | :23:47. | :23:51. | |
they discover even a shadow of what was happening at Mid-Staffs they | :23:51. | :23:56. | |
say, either improve or you close? There's a very important point | :23:56. | :23:59. | |
about the extent to which you rely on external regulation and | :23:59. | :24:03. | |
inspection, for what is partly a job of the culture within that | :24:03. | :24:06. | |
organisation. Because we've lost some of the public confidence, | :24:06. | :24:10. | |
there is a strong argument about improving our regulatory system. | :24:10. | :24:15. | |
What about an inspectorate? Staff gave great care when they feel | :24:15. | :24:19. | |
really valued, not really inspected. We have to have a situation inside | :24:19. | :24:23. | |
hospitals where people take ownership. That is incredibly vague. | :24:23. | :24:28. | |
We don't know what the culture is until we are in hospital and are in | :24:28. | :24:32. | |
no condition to argue about the culture. We are hoping at the very | :24:32. | :24:35. | |
least we may get a glass of water and some decent care that we paid | :24:35. | :24:39. | |
for through our taxes. Do we need an inspectorate to ensure that we | :24:39. | :24:46. | |
don't end up in a hospital like Mid-Staffs? We already have | :24:46. | :24:49. | |
inspection in the Care Quality Commission. Robert Francis will say | :24:49. | :24:53. | |
it has not worked properly we need to look carefully at that. If we | :24:53. | :24:58. | |
simply think this is about better regulation outside of the hospital, | :24:58. | :25:03. | |
we miss the point of it. The NHS does 1 million consultations every | :25:03. | :25:06. | |
36 hours. We can't expect all of that. You rely heavily on the staff | :25:06. | :25:10. | |
at the bedside showing care and compassion, and you get that | :25:10. | :25:14. | |
because you have a good culture in those hospitals. Inspection back | :25:14. | :25:23. | |
that up but it starts with people inside the hospital do. We are | :25:23. | :25:29. | |
going to go to PMQs at noon today. The Prime Minister will be making a | :25:29. | :25:32. | |
statement. It is not the Health Secretary that is making a | :25:32. | :25:36. | |
statement, which is indicative of the severity of this matter. The | :25:36. | :25:43. | |
Prime Minister himself will make the statement on the Frances report. | :25:43. | :25:49. | |
We will bring you part of that. In the run-up to PMQs, we always have | :25:49. | :25:57. | |
what is the highlight of the fun side of the Daily Politics. There's | :25:57. | :26:01. | |
almost nothing that money can't buy in the 21st century. In fact, we | :26:01. | :26:05. | |
heard last night that if you have �20,000 to spare, you could have | :26:05. | :26:09. | |
landed yourself but this fantastic work of art at a charity auction. | :26:10. | :26:13. | |
Showing the care for penmanship of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, | :26:13. | :26:18. | |
George Osborne. Vanguard he hasn't got anything else to do, like run | :26:18. | :26:22. | |
the economy. It does look like he had to take the day off to finish | :26:22. | :26:28. | |
that, does it? Even �20,000 is not enough for this. The Daily Politics | :26:28. | :26:36. | |
mug. It is! Actually, you can only get it if you win our weekly Guess | :26:36. | :26:46. | |
:26:46. | :26:55. | ||
the Year competition. Let's see if We have had Mr Powell in the party | :26:55. | :27:05. | |
:27:05. | :27:22. | ||
until quite recently. Perhaps he # It's an ancient Chinese art and | :27:22. | :27:32. | |
:27:32. | :27:43. | ||
# So how could I ever refuse. # I feel like I win when I lose. | :27:43. | :27:53. | |
:27:53. | :27:57. | ||
# Waterloo, couldn't escape if I To begin with a chance of winning a | :27:57. | :28:00. | |
Daily Politics mug, send your answer to our special quiz e-mail | :28:00. | :28:04. | |
address which is on screen now. You can see the full terms and | :28:05. | :28:14. | |
:28:15. | :28:15. | ||
It is coming up to midday. Let's take a look at Big Ben. It means | :28:15. | :28:19. | |
only one thing. Prime Minister's Questions. Steve Richards of the | :28:19. | :28:25. | |
Independent is here. Welcome back. The Mid-Staffs is the Big story, | :28:25. | :28:30. | |
not just of the day but of the week, may be of the month. It's a service | :28:30. | :28:35. | |
we all use and depend on. This is yet another appalling report on it. | :28:35. | :28:39. | |
Because the Prime Minister is making a statement at 1230, am I | :28:39. | :28:43. | |
right in thinking the leader of the opposition will not go on this at | :28:43. | :28:47. | |
PMQs? Absolutely. He will be responding to David Cameron. It is | :28:47. | :28:51. | |
fascinating that David Cameron has decided he is making the statement, | :28:51. | :28:56. | |
on about 10 different levels. He will avoid that at PMQs. My guess | :28:56. | :29:00. | |
is he will avoid gay marriage as well, because they agreed. There | :29:00. | :29:03. | |
will probably be a joke about the division in the Tory parliamentary | :29:03. | :29:06. | |
party, but I don't think you will go bit of that. On the banks, they | :29:07. | :29:11. | |
are broadly in the same place at the moment. My guess is he would | :29:11. | :29:14. | |
choose something else on which there is a big difference, welfare | :29:14. | :29:24. | |
reform or something. The economy. If in doubt, use the economy. There | :29:24. | :29:29. | |
will be a few jokes, but they will both be fully aware that the news | :29:29. | :29:33. | |
story to emerge in the next hour or so will be their exchanges on Mid- | :29:33. | :29:37. | |
Staffs. He and Cameron will be relatively relaxed about what | :29:37. | :29:41. | |
follows in the next half-an-hour. Perhaps that will affect the mood | :29:41. | :29:46. | |
of the house as well. That they know that following PMQs, there's | :29:46. | :29:49. | |
something very serious about hundreds of lives that were lost, | :29:49. | :29:54. | |
about a problem in the service that we are also proud of. It's a | :29:54. | :29:58. | |
massive story. David Cameron obviously recognises the severity | :29:58. | :30:03. | |
of the story. Clearly, every act is multi-layered. He sees some | :30:03. | :30:07. | |
political advantage in making the statement. It happened under | :30:07. | :30:10. | |
Labour's watch. But it's a really interesting story because in | :30:10. | :30:14. | |
opposition, David Cameron would always say to me, if there's a | :30:14. | :30:17. | |
problem in a single hospital, we will say, this is not a government | :30:18. | :30:22. | |
problem, we have localised health care, it's their problem. He's | :30:22. | :30:25. | |
doing the exact opposite and saying, look, I'm taking responsibility for | :30:25. | :30:29. | |
this. He's done this kind of father of the nation at what the Bloody | :30:30. | :30:33. | |
Sunday inquiry. He did it with Hillsborough. He was thought to do | :30:33. | :30:37. | |
very well with both of these and be seen to speak about party issues. | :30:37. | :30:42. | |
Were he tried to do the same with this? Tonally, perhaps, but this is | :30:42. | :30:46. | |
also highly political. Everything to do with the NHS is. It's also to | :30:46. | :30:51. | |
do with the present debate. I think he will part the use it to say, | :30:51. | :30:55. | |
look, this is why we felt the need to reform the NHS. Unlike those | :30:56. | :30:59. | |
previous statements, which he did brilliantly about past events, | :30:59. | :31:03. | |
there's a political dimension to this one. It isn't clear to me how | :31:03. | :31:07. | |
the Government's reforms, they made the right or wrong, but it's not | :31:07. | :31:11. | |
clear how they would impact directly on the midst of City | :31:11. | :31:16. | |
Whitton. I'm sorry, I asked that question and I can't take the | :31:16. | :31:26. | |
:31:26. | :31:34. | ||
I thank my right honourable friend for the answer. Having given my | :31:34. | :31:38. | |
right honourable friend notice of my question, which he may find | :31:38. | :31:44. | |
useful in the sense that it is transparent and also very modern... | :31:44. | :31:47. | |
Can my right honourable friend say that in response to the many | :31:47. | :31:53. | |
concerns expressed in yesterday's debate, which he ensure that civil | :31:53. | :31:56. | |
partnerships are open to heterosexual couples on an equal | :31:56. | :32:01. | |
basis with homosexual couples? very grateful to my honourable | :32:01. | :32:07. | |
friend for giving me notice of his questions. Frankly, I am a marriage | :32:07. | :32:12. | |
man. I am a great supporter of marriage. I want to promote, defend | :32:12. | :32:16. | |
and encourage marriage and the great thing about last night's vote | :32:16. | :32:21. | |
is that two gay people who love it sure there will now be able to get | :32:21. | :32:29. | |
married and I think we should be promoting marriage. Ed Miliband! | :32:29. | :32:34. | |
Speaker, I want to ask the Prime Minister about the bedroom tax. | :32:34. | :32:39. | |
Alison in Middlesbrough has 18- year-old twin sons in the army. The | :32:39. | :32:43. | |
bedroom tax means that while her sons are a way, she will be charged | :32:43. | :32:48. | |
more for their bedrooms. She says, I resent the fact that my sons are | :32:48. | :32:52. | |
serving their country and in return will not have a home to come home | :32:52. | :32:56. | |
to when they are granted their much-needed leaves. What is the | :32:56. | :33:02. | |
Prime Minister's answer to Alison? Let me make clear, this is not | :33:02. | :33:12. | |
:33:12. | :33:16. | ||
attacks, this is a benefit. -- a tax. First of all, it all the time | :33:16. | :33:21. | |
that Labour was in government, if you were in a private sector rented | :33:21. | :33:25. | |
home and you were in receipt of housing benefit, you did not get | :33:25. | :33:30. | |
any benefit for empty rooms. That is important. It is only fair we | :33:30. | :33:36. | |
treat people in social housing the same way. If anyone is away from | :33:36. | :33:40. | |
home then obviously their earnings are not counted and therefore the | :33:40. | :33:47. | |
benefits of that person are likely to go up. SHOUTING. | :33:47. | :33:53. | |
I look forward to him explaining to Alison why her paying �25 a week | :33:53. | :34:01. | |
more from April is not a tax on her! And as for his point about the | :34:01. | :34:05. | |
private rented sector, I think he misunderstands the point of social | :34:05. | :34:10. | |
housing. Part of its purpose is to protect the most vulnerable and | :34:10. | :34:15. | |
according to the government's figures, two-thirds of the people | :34:15. | :34:19. | |
hit a disabled. Let me tell the Prime Minister about any mail I | :34:19. | :34:24. | |
received last week. It says, my wife has a degenerative condition | :34:24. | :34:28. | |
and is cared for in bed. Due to her illness and my own medical | :34:28. | :34:32. | |
conditions, I sleep in the spare bedroom. | :34:32. | :34:37. | |
A why is it fair for him and hundreds of thousands of others, | :34:37. | :34:43. | |
disabled people like him, to be hit by the bedroom tax? As with every | :34:43. | :34:47. | |
honourable member, if he wants me or the Department of Work and | :34:47. | :34:54. | |
Pensions to look at a specific case, of course I will. Let me make some | :34:54. | :34:59. | |
detailed points of. First of all, there is a �50 million fund to deal | :34:59. | :35:04. | |
with difficult cases. But let me also make the basic argument of | :35:04. | :35:09. | |
fairness that he seems to miss. If you are in private renting housing | :35:09. | :35:13. | |
and receive no housing benefit, you don't get money for an extra room. | :35:14. | :35:18. | |
If you are in private housing and to get housing benefit, you don't | :35:18. | :35:22. | |
get money for an extra room. So why should we be doing more for people | :35:22. | :35:26. | |
in social housing on housing benefit of their own people in | :35:26. | :35:30. | |
private housing on housing benefit? Another additional point that | :35:30. | :35:37. | |
frankly he has got to engage in. The housing benefit bill is now �23 | :35:37. | :35:42. | |
billion a year! We know that he is against capping welfare, we know he | :35:42. | :35:47. | |
is against restricting welfare to below the rate of increase in wages, | :35:47. | :35:51. | |
we know all the things he is against. We are beginning to wonder | :35:51. | :35:58. | |
what on earth he is for! He is spending more than �8 billion more | :35:58. | :36:02. | |
than he planned on housing benefit because of his economic failure | :36:02. | :36:08. | |
during this parliament! And I just say to him, the whole point of | :36:08. | :36:11. | |
social housing is to protect families including the disabled. He | :36:11. | :36:15. | |
does not sound like he will do anything for military families or | :36:15. | :36:21. | |
the disabled, but let's talk about a group of people he Eva's -- he is | :36:21. | :36:25. | |
moved by. I have a letter sent on his behalf by the Conservative | :36:25. | :36:30. | |
Party treasurer about the so-called mansion tax and it says this: "we | :36:30. | :36:34. | |
promised that no homes tax will be introduced during the course of | :36:34. | :36:40. | |
this parliament. To keep the taxman out of your home, please help by | :36:40. | :36:46. | |
donating today and supporting the no homes tax campaign". Can the | :36:46. | :36:49. | |
Prime Minster explain what is it about the plight of those people | :36:49. | :36:52. | |
that he finds so much more compelling than those hit by the | :36:53. | :37:01. | |
bedroom tax? If he is in favour of a mansion tax, why didn't he | :37:01. | :37:05. | |
introduce one in the 13 years in government? If he is so passionate | :37:05. | :37:09. | |
about social housing, why didn't he build any when he was in | :37:09. | :37:13. | |
government? If he thinks we are spending too much on housing | :37:13. | :37:17. | |
benefit, why does see a POS each and every attempt we meant to get | :37:18. | :37:22. | |
the Welfare Bill under control -- why does he opposed? The fact is, | :37:22. | :37:26. | |
we are on this side of people who work hard and want to do the right | :37:27. | :37:32. | |
thing! All he can ever do is spend more money! I do say to the Prime | :37:32. | :37:38. | |
Minister, he should not get so het up. After all, he has got nearly | :37:38. | :37:48. | |
:37:48. | :37:49. | ||
half his parliamentary party behind him! CHEERING. Mr Speaker, and the | :37:49. | :37:56. | |
policy is not just unfair, it is not going to work either. In Hull, | :37:56. | :38:02. | |
4700 people are going to be hit by the bedroom tax and there are just | :38:02. | :38:06. | |
73 council property is for them to move to. Can the Prime Minister | :38:06. | :38:11. | |
explain how exactly that is going to work? What this government is | :38:11. | :38:16. | |
doing it... We are building more houses and controlling welfare | :38:16. | :38:21. | |
bills but frankly the question is one he has to answer, too. If he is | :38:21. | :38:25. | |
against the welfare cap and restrictions on increased welfare, | :38:25. | :38:30. | |
if he opposes reform or disability benefits and each and every welfare | :38:30. | :38:35. | |
change we make, how on earth is he going to get control of public | :38:35. | :38:45. | |
:38:45. | :38:45. | ||
spending? A clue is in the title, a prime minister's Quincy -- Prime | :38:45. | :38:49. | |
Minister's Questions. He is opposed to answer the questions. I thought | :38:49. | :38:53. | |
he might say move to the private rented sector because there are not | :38:53. | :39:03. | |
enough council properties, but this is where... But this is where... I | :39:03. | :39:07. | |
would like him to say what those people should do! The policy is | :39:07. | :39:11. | |
supposed to save money and this is where it is not going to work out. | :39:11. | :39:17. | |
Another woman wrote to me and said, my rent for my family home... | :39:17. | :39:24. | |
SHOUTING. I don't know why they are groaning, Mr Speaker. Thousands of | :39:24. | :39:29. | |
their constituents will be hit by this! Another woman who wrote to me | :39:29. | :39:36. | |
says "my rent for my family home is �65.68 whereas a one-bedroom in the | :39:36. | :39:41. | |
private sector would cost over �100". How can it possibly makes | :39:41. | :39:45. | |
sense to force people into a situation where they cost the state | :39:45. | :39:51. | |
more, not less, by moving to the private rented sector? The his | :39:51. | :39:59. | |
government is building more homes! If he supports that, perhaps he | :39:59. | :40:02. | |
will tell us he supports the changes to the planning system, | :40:02. | :40:06. | |
their new homes bonus, the things that will get more homes built and | :40:06. | :40:10. | |
more people into jobs? We have 1 million extra people working in the | :40:10. | :40:16. | |
private sector. That is what he has got to engage in. He has got | :40:16. | :40:20. | |
absolutely no suggestions for how to get on top of well-fed, get the | :40:20. | :40:25. | |
deficit down and get the economy moving -- get on top of welfare. | :40:25. | :40:29. | |
Today we discovered he has not even got a clue about his own policy | :40:29. | :40:33. | |
that he will introduce in April and his answers remind us what his | :40:33. | :40:37. | |
party and the country are saying about him. The only people he | :40:37. | :40:41. | |
listens to our small group of rich and powerful people at the top. | :40:41. | :40:46. | |
That is why he has come up with a policy that is unfair. He is a | :40:46. | :40:49. | |
prime minister who is weak, incompetent and totally out of | :40:49. | :40:56. | |
touch! Totally pathetic scripted rubbish that we get used to every | :40:56. | :41:01. | |
Wednesday. On the issue of who listens to whom, I have a very | :41:01. | :41:07. | |
clear idea of who he listens to, because we heard it in the LSE | :41:07. | :41:13. | |
lecture by Len McCluskey! Len McCluskey said this. He said, oh I | :41:13. | :41:17. | |
met Ed Miliband and he asked me this question, this is the question | :41:17. | :41:22. | |
he asked Len McCluskey. If you had three wishes, three things you | :41:22. | :41:27. | |
would like us to do if we got back into power, what would you like | :41:27. | :41:34. | |
them to be? Len McCluskey's answer: Trade union freedom, trade union | :41:34. | :41:38. | |
freedom, trade union freedom. That is who he was to be fairy godmother | :41:38. | :41:48. | |
:41:48. | :41:51. | ||
to! James Arbuthnot! At the time of the strategic defence and security | :41:51. | :41:55. | |
review, two-and-a-half years ago, my right honourable friend is said | :41:55. | :41:59. | |
my own strong view is that this structure will require a year on | :41:59. | :42:03. | |
year real terms growth in the defence budget in the years beyond | :42:03. | :42:10. | |
2015. Does that remain his view? As he heard any similar view expressed | :42:10. | :42:16. | |
by the leader of the opposition? -- has he heard? It does remain my | :42:16. | :42:20. | |
view but I am the only party leader who believes that in the use be on | :42:20. | :42:25. | |
this parliament, we should be increasing defence spending -- in | :42:25. | :42:29. | |
that the years beyond this parliament. But the good news is | :42:29. | :42:33. | |
that it is actually agreed government policy that the defence | :42:33. | :42:38. | |
equipment programme does need real terms increases after 2015, and | :42:38. | :42:42. | |
that is very important for us to be able to plan the exceptional | :42:42. | :42:46. | |
equipment programme that we have to give us some of the best-equipped | :42:46. | :42:53. | |
armed forces anywhere in the world. Mr Speaker, the Budget Office | :42:53. | :42:57. | |
responsibility, the Office for Budget Responsibility rather... | :42:57. | :43:06. | |
Laughter... Tells us that the bankers will spend �500 million | :43:06. | :43:11. | |
less in the bank has tax than the Prime Minister promised last year, | :43:11. | :43:15. | |
yet in April he will inflict a �500 million cut in the poorest through | :43:15. | :43:20. | |
the empty bedroom tax. How can he justify taking from the Paul and | :43:20. | :43:28. | |
giving to the rich? Robin Hood! the poor. We think the bank levy is | :43:28. | :43:31. | |
a better answer than a one-off bonus tax and the bank levy will be | :43:31. | :43:35. | |
paid every year and so it will raise considerably more than a one- | :43:35. | :43:39. | |
off bonus tax and what the Chancellor has done, when the bank | :43:39. | :43:43. | |
levy has not come up to the figures that we require, is to increase the | :43:43. | :43:50. | |
bank levy to make sure that it does. Can I remind the House of my | :43:50. | :43:54. | |
declared interest? Tomorrow the Prime Minister will go to Brussels | :43:54. | :44:00. | |
to rightly argue for a reduction in CAP funding. Will he ensure that | :44:00. | :44:05. | |
any reduction applies to farmers right across Europe and not just in | :44:05. | :44:09. | |
the UK? Will he make sure he does not fall into the trap fallen into | :44:09. | :44:14. | |
by his predecessor in 2005, that when pressing for cuts ended up | :44:15. | :44:19. | |
with a cut to the one part that everybody thinks is worth well, | :44:19. | :44:23. | |
which is cut to the environment and the World Development Programme? | :44:23. | :44:28. | |
right honourable friend speaks very knowledgeably about this. These | :44:28. | :44:32. | |
will be extremely difficult negotiations and obviously our aim | :44:32. | :44:37. | |
is what the significant cut I have spoken about, but the point about | :44:37. | :44:41. | |
agriculture is important, particularly about the flexibility | :44:41. | :44:44. | |
we required to make sure things like that rural development | :44:44. | :44:49. | |
programme can continue to succeed. We know the Prime Minister has met | :44:49. | :44:54. | |
lots of millionaires. But has he ever met anyone who will lose their | :44:54. | :45:04. | |
:45:04. | :45:13. | ||
I have RAF Brize Norton in my constituency, so I have many forces | :45:13. | :45:17. | |
families living there. But what they say to me is they want a | :45:17. | :45:20. | |
government that is on the side of people who work hard and do the | :45:20. | :45:23. | |
right thing. They support the fact that we are capping welfare, we are | :45:23. | :45:26. | |
getting on top of immigration and clearing up the mess left by her | :45:26. | :45:35. | |
party. Today is the United Nations International Date of zero- | :45:35. | :45:37. | |
tolerance to female genital mutilation. Does the Prime Minister | :45:37. | :45:40. | |
agree with me that Britain should be doing all it can to combat this | :45:40. | :45:45. | |
dreadful abuse of the Human Rights of Women and girls, overseas and | :45:46. | :45:52. | |
here in the UK? I completely agree. She is right to raise this. The | :45:52. | :45:55. | |
government has made progress on this, chairing a forum looking | :45:55. | :45:59. | |
right across the piece, including what we do overseas in terms of our | :45:59. | :46:03. | |
aid programme and trying to prevent the horrific female genital | :46:03. | :46:08. | |
mutilation, but also to make sure here that the Crown Prosecution | :46:08. | :46:10. | |
Service and others are aware of the law on to everything they can to | :46:10. | :46:17. | |
make sure it is properly prosecuted. Can the Prime Minister confirmed | :46:17. | :46:24. | |
that Atos have declared that much of the third is fit for work? -- | :46:24. | :46:30. | |
Richard III. That is not a constituency case that has come my | :46:30. | :46:35. | |
way. All I can say is I hope it's going to engender a great | :46:35. | :46:39. | |
historical understanding of these events. I hope it will be a great | :46:39. | :46:47. | |
boost to the great city of Leicester. This week's announcement | :46:47. | :46:50. | |
that the work of the Stockton Insolvency Service is moving to | :46:50. | :46:54. | |
Newcastle is the latest in a long series of similar announcements | :46:54. | :46:57. | |
affecting the Tees Valley, including the closure of | :46:57. | :47:01. | |
Middlesbrough's HMRC office by the previous government. Will the Prime | :47:01. | :47:05. | |
Minister look to bring extra work to the HMRC office in Stockton and | :47:05. | :47:11. | |
to moving another public-sector agency to the Tees Valley? I will | :47:11. | :47:14. | |
look carefully at what my Honourable Friend says. Of course | :47:14. | :47:17. | |
we want to make sure that public sector jobs are fairly distributed | :47:18. | :47:21. | |
around the country. But we have to be frank, the real need for our | :47:21. | :47:25. | |
economy is a rebalancing with a growth in the private sector to | :47:25. | :47:28. | |
make up for the fact that public sector jobs have declined. As we | :47:28. | :47:32. | |
look over the last two-and-a-half years, the million extra private | :47:32. | :47:36. | |
sector jobs has more than offset the decline in public sector and | :47:36. | :47:39. | |
employment. That is why we can see unemployment falling around the | :47:39. | :47:46. | |
country. The Prime Minister may not be aware of an opinion poll by the | :47:46. | :47:51. | |
BBC in Northern Ireland which shows that in all of the six counties of | :47:51. | :47:53. | |
Northern Ireland there is now a clear majority in favour of the | :47:53. | :47:56. | |
Union. Because people right across Northern Ireland recognise that | :47:56. | :48:00. | |
when it comes to being part of this United Kingdom, we are better off | :48:00. | :48:07. | |
together. I sometimes try and avoid opinion polls, so I haven't seen | :48:07. | :48:10. | |
that one. It looks like one that will lift the spirits of almost | :48:10. | :48:15. | |
everyone in this house, because we believe in the United Kingdom and | :48:15. | :48:23. | |
we believe in Northern Ireland being part of that UK. Can the | :48:23. | :48:28. | |
Prime Minister reassure this house that he still believes in | :48:28. | :48:32. | |
increasing spending on the NHS, making sure that those funds go to | :48:32. | :48:36. | |
the frontline doctors and nurses at the frontline of our service? | :48:37. | :48:41. | |
give him that assurance. That is why we are committed to increase | :48:41. | :48:44. | |
NHS spending during this Parliament for each year in this Parliament. | :48:44. | :48:48. | |
We are on course to do that. But we do want to make sure the money goes | :48:48. | :48:52. | |
to the front line. That is why the number of managers and | :48:52. | :48:55. | |
administrators in our NHS is right down and the number of clinical | :48:55. | :49:02. | |
staff is right up. Was it the double-dip recession, the slowdown | :49:02. | :49:05. | |
in deficit reduction or the projected 60 % increase in national | :49:05. | :49:08. | |
debt over the next five years that led the Prime Minister to state | :49:08. | :49:13. | |
that he had full confidence in his Chancellor? Why have confidence in | :49:13. | :49:18. | |
the Chancellor, the deficit is down 25 %. Deraa 1 million extra private | :49:18. | :49:26. | |
sector jobs. We are cleaning up the mess made by the party opposite. | :49:26. | :49:30. | |
Dover, plans are moving forward for the building of a new hospital, | :49:30. | :49:34. | |
after a decade in which local hospital services were decimated. | :49:34. | :49:39. | |
Can I, too, say the need to increase investment in the NHS and | :49:39. | :49:44. | |
ensure real focus on the frontline. On this day particularly, when we | :49:44. | :49:48. | |
are back to discuss what happened at the Staffordshire Hospital, it | :49:48. | :49:51. | |
is a day to talk about the importance of care in our health | :49:51. | :49:54. | |
service, the importance of the frontline and the have porters, | :49:54. | :49:58. | |
above all, of really looking at quality and listening to patients. | :49:58. | :50:01. | |
Under this government, of course resources have been constrained, | :50:01. | :50:05. | |
for all the reasons we have discussed across the despatch box | :50:05. | :50:08. | |
as week in week out, but we did make a conscious choice to put more | :50:08. | :50:11. | |
money into the NHS and to get back to the front five. That is why | :50:12. | :50:18. | |
there are 5900 or doctors and there are 19,000 fewer non-clinical staff. | :50:18. | :50:21. | |
The money is going into the frontline of the bloggers needs to | :50:21. | :50:29. | |
be on the quality and patients. -- but the focus needs to be on the | :50:29. | :50:33. | |
quality and the patience. Is the Prime Minister concerned about | :50:33. | :50:37. | |
suicide levels in our society? Will he assure me and his party of the | :50:37. | :50:40. | |
Government's support to raise awareness of the issues and work | :50:40. | :50:44. | |
with devolved administrations to tackle the scourge across all of | :50:44. | :50:51. | |
the UK and Northern Ireland. And I commend the Honourable Gentleman | :50:51. | :50:53. | |
and Democratic Unionists for bringing this issue forward. The | :50:53. | :50:58. | |
whole issue of suicide is one we often don't talk enough about in | :50:58. | :51:02. | |
our society. I think it is absolutely right to do so. It is a | :51:02. | :51:05. | |
shocking statistic that in Northern Ireland, almost six times the | :51:05. | :51:09. | |
number of people killed in road traffic accidents of lost to | :51:09. | :51:13. | |
suicide. Raising awareness of this and making sure there's a proper | :51:13. | :51:16. | |
Cross Government's strategy to help people deal with this is vitally | :51:16. | :51:21. | |
important. As a result of the financial mess the Labour | :51:21. | :51:31. | |
:51:31. | :51:38. | ||
government left the country in... Local councils... Order, a house | :51:38. | :51:44. | |
must come down. I intend to get through the questions. Local | :51:44. | :51:49. | |
councils have raised as tough a budget settlement as most other | :51:49. | :51:53. | |
government departments. Does the Prime Minister share my dismay that | :51:53. | :51:58. | |
Manchester City Council is choosing to close libraries, leisure centres | :51:58. | :52:02. | |
and the Mersey Valley warden service, while at the same time was | :52:02. | :52:06. | |
happy to spend hundreds of thousands of pounds on an Alicia | :52:06. | :52:12. | |
Keys concert, and leave 100 million reserve sitting in the bank? | :52:12. | :52:16. | |
makes an important point. Of course councils face difficult spending | :52:16. | :52:20. | |
decisions. But if you look at the level of spending on the level of | :52:20. | :52:22. | |
grant they are still getting in many cases, it is equivalent to | :52:22. | :52:26. | |
what we were getting under the last government. Obviously the economy | :52:26. | :52:30. | |
has declined since then and so we have to cut our cloth accordingly. | :52:30. | :52:34. | |
But they should be held accountable for the decisions they make. In | :52:34. | :52:38. | |
some cases they can be little doubt that councils are making high- | :52:38. | :52:41. | |
profile cuts to try and make a point, and they shouldn't be | :52:41. | :52:44. | |
damaging people's livelihoods, they should be doing the best for their | :52:44. | :52:51. | |
cities. Would the Prime Minister confirm for the record that thanks | :52:51. | :52:54. | |
to his cuts to the childcare element of the working tax credit, | :52:54. | :53:02. | |
families with children are losing up to �1,500 a year? What has | :53:02. | :53:06. | |
happened and have a child tax credit is we increased it by �390 | :53:06. | :53:10. | |
in the early budgets of this government. If you look at the | :53:10. | :53:16. | |
benefits for Ade two parent, two child family, they will be getting | :53:16. | :53:21. | |
over �1,500 extra this year, that's �30 a week, compared to 2010. The | :53:21. | :53:28. | |
Honourable Gentleman is wrong. the Prime Minister paid tribute to | :53:28. | :53:33. | |
the new President of Somalia, whose government has made remarkable | :53:33. | :53:37. | |
progress over the last few months? Although there is still a long way | :53:37. | :53:41. | |
to go, would he agree with me that the Somali and peace process is a | :53:41. | :53:44. | |
really good example of Britain combining aid and development with | :53:45. | :53:47. | |
energising the neighbouring states and the diplomatic community | :53:47. | :53:53. | |
worldwide? Can he tell the House, what role does he envisage here in | :53:53. | :53:59. | |
the UK? He makes an important point. Anyone wondering the relevance of | :53:59. | :54:02. | |
Somalia to hear in the UK, we have to remember that this country has | :54:02. | :54:07. | |
been the author of huge amounts of problems, from terrorism, piracy, | :54:07. | :54:12. | |
mass migration. Even to the most hardy sceptic of our aid budget, I | :54:12. | :54:16. | |
would say this is a really good case where engagement, aid and | :54:16. | :54:20. | |
diplomacy can help that country to mend itself for the future. In | :54:20. | :54:23. | |
terms of the diaspora, I hope they will give full support to the new | :54:23. | :54:27. | |
President, who is demonstrating huge grip in his country at mending | :54:27. | :54:31. | |
that pop -- mending the problems that have devilled that country for | :54:31. | :54:35. | |
so long. The Prime Minister's Korea probably peaked when he was a | :54:35. | :54:41. | |
backbench member of the Home Affairs Committee in 2005. Can he | :54:41. | :54:46. | |
revived his progressive courage at that time when he looks at the | :54:46. | :54:51. | |
report from the all-party group about the awful problems of new | :54:51. | :54:59. | |
drugs that on the market but are not controlled in any way? I am | :54:59. | :55:03. | |
grateful for his view of my career trajectory. I won't ask him about | :55:03. | :55:11. | |
his. I think that the Home Affairs Select Committee that I work on, I | :55:11. | :55:15. | |
did learn some important lessons from that. The priority we should | :55:15. | :55:19. | |
give in terms of tackling drugs, to education and treatment. Those of | :55:19. | :55:23. | |
the absolutely key arms of what needs to be done. Then I don't | :55:23. | :55:27. | |
believe we should be legalising any drugs that are currently illegal. | :55:27. | :55:33. | |
In terms of current legal highs and problems relating to the last | :55:33. | :55:38. | |
question about things like CAT, we need to look at the evidence of | :55:38. | :55:44. | |
what will work best. In Solihull, over 80,000 people have benefited | :55:44. | :55:49. | |
from our policy of raising the threshold at which people start to | :55:49. | :55:57. | |
pay tax. This morning, the IFS confirmed that this policy is right, | :55:57. | :56:02. | |
and those who have the broadest shoulders are bearing the greatest | :56:02. | :56:09. | |
burden of tax. In the light of this, will the government commit to | :56:09. | :56:15. | |
raising the threshold at which people pay tax to �10,000 in his | :56:15. | :56:23. | |
Budget? She is absolutely right. Raising the threshold before which | :56:23. | :56:27. | |
people start to pay tax has been absolutely right. What it has meant | :56:27. | :56:32. | |
is someone on minimum-wage, working full-time, their tax bill has been | :56:32. | :56:37. | |
cut by half. That is a huge change to help people who work hard, who | :56:37. | :56:40. | |
want to do the right thing. It is this government that is rewarding | :56:40. | :56:44. | |
them. She mentions the Institute for Fiscal Studies Green Budget out | :56:44. | :56:48. | |
this morning, I haven't had that much time to study it. But on the | :56:48. | :56:52. | |
issue of fairness it says this. The whole set of tax and benefit | :56:53. | :57:01. | |
changes introduced between the start of 2010 and 2015-2016 hit the | :57:01. | :57:07. | |
richest hardest -- households hardest. The leader of the | :57:07. | :57:11. | |
opposition asked the Prime Minister a simple question to which he gave | :57:11. | :57:15. | |
no adequate reply. I will ask it again. What is the difference | :57:15. | :57:19. | |
between a bedroom tax on the disabled and a mansion tax on | :57:19. | :57:25. | |
millionaires? I don't accept that the bedroom tax is a tax. It is an | :57:25. | :57:31. | |
issue about benefit. As a country, we are spending �23 billion on | :57:31. | :57:35. | |
housing benefit. We have to have a debate in this country. The last | :57:35. | :57:38. | |
government said we had to have a debate in this country about | :57:38. | :57:42. | |
getting on top of housing benefit. Indeed, it featured in the Labour | :57:42. | :57:46. | |
manifesto. The manifesto on which they were all elected. But since | :57:46. | :57:50. | |
they have moved to the opposition benches, they have given up all | :57:50. | :57:57. | |
pretence at responsibility at all. Can the Prime Minister reconcile | :57:57. | :58:01. | |
his recent comments on the need to accelerate major infrastructure | :58:01. | :58:04. | |
projects that the Government's decision to postpone forming a | :58:04. | :58:07. | |
policy on airports until after the next general election, and what he | :58:07. | :58:15. | |
reconsider and bring back review for what? -- bring that review | :58:15. | :58:19. | |
forward? It looks at what how would Davies has said in terms of his | :58:19. | :58:22. | |
review, he has said this is a very complicated issue that merits | :58:22. | :58:27. | |
proper examination that will take time. We need, as a country, to | :58:27. | :58:31. | |
make major decisions about airport and airport capacity. We should be | :58:31. | :58:34. | |
aiming as far as is possible to try and make these decisions on a | :58:34. | :58:43. | |
cross-party basis. I hope that the report will help that to happen. | :58:43. | :58:49. | |
Last night's vote on same-sex marriage is widely regarded as a | :58:49. | :58:53. | |
historic vote. Does the Prime Minister agree with me that it is a | :58:53. | :58:58. | |
tribute to all of the people down the decades, in all parties and in | :58:58. | :59:04. | |
no party, behind the scenes and in public, who have worked for such | :59:04. | :59:07. | |
equality? And does the Prime Minister agree with me that the | :59:08. | :59:12. | |
vote proves that the Ark of history Ben's slowly, but it bends towards | :59:12. | :59:20. | |
justice? I agree. I think last night's vote will be seen not just | :59:20. | :59:24. | |
as making sure there is a proper element of equality, but also | :59:24. | :59:29. | |
helping us to build a stronger and fairer society. I thought many of | :59:29. | :59:33. | |
the speeches made last night were very moving, very emotional and I | :59:33. | :59:36. | |
would pay tribute to all of those people who actually made this case, | :59:36. | :59:40. | |
some of them for many years, saying that they want their love to count | :59:40. | :59:44. | |
the same way that a man and woman's love for each of accounts. That is | :59:44. | :59:48. | |
what we have opened now in this country. That is why I'm proud that | :59:48. | :59:54. | |
its this government that has brought it forward. For years, | :59:54. | :59:59. | |
young people in cool and break have enjoyed some of the lowest per | :59:59. | :00:03. | |
pupil school funding in the country. This has become critical for Caddis | :00:03. | :00:07. | |
such as the East Riding of Yorkshire. Can the Prime Minister | :00:07. | :00:10. | |
look closely at the East Riding of Yorkshire and the lower level of | :00:10. | :00:15. | |
per pupil funding they receive? will look closely at what he has | :00:15. | :00:20. | |
said. I would make a couple of points. Within the education budget | :00:20. | :00:25. | |
we have prioritised the per pupil funding, so there hasn't been a | :00:25. | :00:29. | |
reduction in that. I think it's very important schools can see | :00:29. | :00:32. | |
forward to future years, the sorts of budgets they will have given the | :00:32. | :00:36. | |
role of children coming to the school. The second thing we've done | :00:36. | :00:40. | |
is to the Academy programme. To encourage the devolution of more of | :00:40. | :00:43. | |
the school budget to the school's director. I still think there's | :00:43. | :00:53. | |
:00:53. | :00:58. | ||
Why was a motion to strengthen patient and public involvement in | :00:58. | :01:02. | |
the new patient watchdog rejected by the government in the other | :01:02. | :01:06. | |
place last night? We do want to see patients have a stronger voice in | :01:06. | :01:12. | |
the NHS and we are about to debate in some length about how that is | :01:12. | :01:16. | |
down. One of the most important ways will be making sure that the | :01:16. | :01:21. | |
mandate of the NHS commissioning board has at its heart quality | :01:21. | :01:26. | |
nursing and the voice of patience. We also need to look at how health | :01:26. | :01:30. | |
watch is going to work to make sure it is truly independent and we have | :01:30. | :01:34. | |
to understand that some of the ways we have tried to empower patients | :01:34. | :01:39. | |
in the past always with good intentions, from governments of | :01:39. | :01:44. | |
both sides, we have to listen to what Francis says when he says it | :01:44. | :01:51. | |
just has not worked. With more women in work then ever before, | :01:51. | :01:56. | |
with more men in work than ever before, with more jobs created in | :01:56. | :02:01. | |
the private sector, with the Prime Minister not agree with me that the | :02:01. | :02:05. | |
Chancellor's plan is not only working but the economy is | :02:05. | :02:11. | |
beginning to turn the corner! think we should listen very | :02:11. | :02:15. | |
carefully to what the Governor of the Bank of England said, who said | :02:15. | :02:19. | |
of course growth is slower than we would like that the economy is | :02:19. | :02:23. | |
moving in the right direction, the rebalancing is taking place, the | :02:23. | :02:28. | |
things that need to be fixed in our economy in terms of bank lending | :02:28. | :02:32. | |
and housing supply, they are being fixed. That is what the | :02:32. | :02:37. | |
Government's is determined to do. One of my constituents has learned | :02:38. | :02:43. | |
that when the bedroom tax is introduced, she will have �24 a | :02:43. | :02:49. | |
week to live on. She is so anxious about how she is going to manage. | :02:49. | :02:55. | |
She is having cognitive behaviour therapy. But her anxiety is totally | :02:55. | :02:58. | |
understandable. Does the Prime Minister agree with me that those | :02:58. | :03:03. | |
who should be receiving a cognitive behaviour therapy are the ones, | :03:03. | :03:10. | |
namely his ministers, who think she could live on �24 a week! The party | :03:10. | :03:14. | |
opposite does have to address the fact that for 13 years in | :03:14. | :03:18. | |
government, they were perfectly content to have a housing benefit | :03:18. | :03:22. | |
system for people who lived in private sector housing where there | :03:22. | :03:26. | |
was no extra benefit for empty rooms and I cannot understand why | :03:27. | :03:31. | |
they can't see it is unfair to have one all four people with the | :03:31. | :03:35. | |
benefit of social housing and another rule for people in private | :03:35. | :03:41. | |
housing. Week after week, Labour MPs come here opposing benefit | :03:41. | :03:45. | |
changes and everything we do to deal with the mess they left and to | :03:45. | :03:49. | |
fill in the deficit they left us and until they can learn they have | :03:49. | :03:53. | |
to take some of the responsibility for the mess they left, no one will | :03:53. | :04:00. | |
ever listen to them. Prime Minister's questions ends but | :04:00. | :04:04. | |
we will stay here to hear the beginning of the Prime Minister's | :04:04. | :04:11. | |
statement on the mid- Staffordshire Trust. | :04:11. | :04:18. | |
Mr Speaker, I have a deep affection for our National Health Service. I | :04:18. | :04:22. | |
will never forget all of the things that doctors and nurses have done | :04:22. | :04:29. | |
for my family in times of real difficulty. I love my our NHS. I | :04:29. | :04:34. | |
think it is a fantastic institution. It says a huge amount about our | :04:34. | :04:39. | |
country. I always want to think the best of it and I have huge | :04:39. | :04:42. | |
admiration for the doctors, nurses and health workers would dedicate | :04:42. | :04:48. | |
their lives to caring for our loved ones, but we do them and the whole | :04:48. | :04:51. | |
reputation of the NHS a grave disservice if we failed to speak | :04:51. | :04:57. | |
out when things go wrong. What happened at the Mid-Staffordshire | :04:57. | :05:02. | |
NHS Foundation Trust between 2005 and 2009 was not just roll, it was | :05:03. | :05:09. | |
truly dreadful. -- not just roll. Hundreds of people suffered | :05:09. | :05:14. | |
appalling neglect and mistreatment. Some patients was so desperate for | :05:14. | :05:18. | |
water they were drinking from flower vases. Many were given the | :05:18. | :05:25. | |
wrong medication and left to wet themselves and lie in their own | :05:25. | :05:30. | |
urine for days. Relatives were ignored was met approached when | :05:30. | :05:33. | |
they pointed out the most basic things that could have saved their | :05:33. | :05:36. | |
loved ones from pain and death. We can only begin to imagine the | :05:37. | :05:41. | |
suffering endured by those whose trust in the health service was | :05:41. | :05:45. | |
betrayed at their most vulnerable moment. That is why I believe it is | :05:45. | :05:51. | |
right to make the statement today. There was a Healthcare Commission | :05:51. | :05:56. | |
investigation into 1009, the first independent inquiry in 2010, and | :05:56. | :06:02. | |
long before that the testimony of bereaved relatives, like Cure The | :06:02. | :06:08. | |
NHS and Julie Bailey, who laid bare the most unspeakable catalogue of | :06:08. | :06:12. | |
failures at the Trust. Even after these reports, some really | :06:12. | :06:16. | |
important questions remain unanswered. How were these | :06:16. | :06:20. | |
appalling events allowed to happen? How were they allowed to continue | :06:20. | :06:25. | |
for so long? Why were so many bereaved families and whistle-blow | :06:25. | :06:30. | |
was ignored for so long? Could something like this happen again? | :06:30. | :06:34. | |
Basic questions about wider failures in the system, not just at | :06:34. | :06:39. | |
the hospital but right across the NHS, including its regulators and | :06:39. | :06:43. | |
the Department of Health. That is why the families called for this | :06:43. | :06:48. | |
public inquiry and that is why this government granted one and I am | :06:48. | :06:52. | |
sure the House will want to join me in expressing thanks to Robert | :06:52. | :06:57. | |
Francis and his team over the last three years. The inquiry finds that | :06:57. | :07:01. | |
the appalling suffering at Stafford Hospital was primarily caught by a | :07:01. | :07:06. | |
serious failure on behalf of the trust board, which failed to listen | :07:06. | :07:10. | |
to patients and staff and failed to tackle an insidious negative | :07:10. | :07:14. | |
culture involving a tolerance of poor standards and a disengagement | :07:14. | :07:19. | |
from managerial and leadership responsibilities. But the inquiry | :07:19. | :07:23. | |
finds that the failure went far wider. The Primary Care Trust | :07:23. | :07:27. | |
assumed others were taking responsibility and made little | :07:27. | :07:31. | |
attempt to collect proper information on the quality of care. | :07:31. | :07:36. | |
The Strategic Health Authority was "to remote from the patients it was | :07:36. | :07:40. | |
there to serve and failed to be sufficiently sensitive to signs | :07:40. | :07:45. | |
that patients may be at risk". Regulators, including the then | :07:45. | :07:50. | |
Healthcare Commission, failed to protect patients. Too many doctors | :07:50. | :07:54. | |
kept their heads down instead of speaking out when things went wrong. | :07:55. | :08:00. | |
The Royal College of Nursing was ineffective, both as a professional | :08:00. | :08:03. | |
organisation and as a trade union. The Department of Health was too | :08:03. | :08:08. | |
remote from the reality of the services that they oversee. The way | :08:08. | :08:11. | |
Robert Francis chronicles the evidence of systemic failure means | :08:11. | :08:15. | |
we cannot say with confidence that failings of care are limited to one | :08:15. | :08:19. | |
hospital but let us also be clear about what the report does not say. | :08:19. | :08:25. | |
France's does not claim any specific policy. -- France's. He | :08:25. | :08:29. | |
does not blame the last Secretary of State for Health. He says we | :08:30. | :08:33. | |
should not seek scapegoats. Looking beyond the specific failures that | :08:33. | :08:38. | |
he does clearly catalogue, I believe you can identify three | :08:38. | :08:44. | |
fundamental problems with the culture of our NHS. First, a focus | :08:44. | :08:48. | |
on finance and figures at the expense of patient care. He says | :08:48. | :08:53. | |
that explicitly. This was underpinned by a preoccupation with | :08:53. | :08:58. | |
Anne Owers set of top-down targets, as you to the exclusion of patient | :08:58. | :09:05. | |
safety -- with a set of Top Gun targets. Second, there was an | :09:05. | :09:08. | |
attitude that patient care was always someone else's problem. In | :09:08. | :09:14. | |
short, no one was accountable. He speaks about defensiveness and | :09:14. | :09:19. | |
complacency. Instead of facing up to date to which should have | :09:19. | :09:24. | |
employed a real cause for concern, Robert Francis finds that there is | :09:24. | :09:27. | |
a culture of only explaining the positives rather than any critical | :09:27. | :09:33. | |
analysis. Put simply, Mr Speaker... The Prime Minister making a | :09:33. | :09:36. | |
statement on the Francis Report into the mid- Staffordshire | :09:36. | :09:40. | |
Hospital Trust. Those who wish to see that in full can switch to be | :09:40. | :09:44. | |
busy parliament and probably BBC News will run more of it and we | :09:44. | :09:50. | |
have as well. He went through a catalogue of failures, | :09:50. | :09:57. | |
institutional failures, that the inquiry identifiers. Above all it | :09:57. | :10:04. | |
blames the Trust bought, for tolerance of poor standards. The | :10:04. | :10:09. | |
Primary Care Trust and the strategic health authority, Monitor | :10:09. | :10:15. | |
and other regulators, seeming to accept sub-standard care. The Royal | :10:15. | :10:20. | |
College of Nursing is, described as ineffective. Add that together and | :10:20. | :10:24. | |
you have what the Prime Minister and the report calls "systemic | :10:24. | :10:30. | |
failure". I think David Cameron got to the essence of it when he said | :10:30. | :10:35. | |
no one felt accountable. There was blurred lines of accountability and | :10:35. | :10:39. | |
that one body thought another body was responsible and they thought | :10:39. | :10:44. | |
somebody else was responsible. This has been a problem with the NHS all | :10:44. | :10:49. | |
the way through. It was a problem to some extent with the Blairite | :10:49. | :10:54. | |
reforms introduced by the previous Labour government in terms of, here | :10:54. | :10:59. | |
is and national funded body but should politicians be responsible | :10:59. | :11:05. | |
for the delivery of it? Not fully answered. That is not fully | :11:05. | :11:10. | |
answered by the Andrew Lansley reforms. This is the problem. In | :11:10. | :11:16. | |
PMQs, David Cameron says one of the other themes was we had been trying | :11:16. | :11:19. | |
to empower patients and the mechanisms of empowerment simply | :11:19. | :11:23. | |
have not worked. How you answer these things are massively | :11:23. | :11:28. | |
complicated. But the problem is clear. It is a running theme, with | :11:28. | :11:32. | |
the BBC, the police and all the other reason things. Who is | :11:32. | :11:36. | |
accountable to whom? This is not clear enough in his publicly-funded | :11:36. | :11:43. | |
services. It is a big, big political issue. Both this | :11:43. | :11:47. | |
government and the last government have tried to empower patients but | :11:47. | :11:53. | |
every time governments do, the Royal Colleges, the NHS elite, | :11:54. | :11:58. | |
people with a vested interest, the NHS trade unions, they down every | :11:58. | :12:03. | |
change as a threat? They claim any kind of private and market | :12:03. | :12:09. | |
mechanism is the slippery road to a US-style private health system. | :12:09. | :12:17. | |
These very elites, as this report has just adumbrated, they are at | :12:17. | :12:24. | |
the centre of this. They failed. Patients in any event seemed to | :12:24. | :12:28. | |
deferred to experts, especially if you are not articulate and July | :12:29. | :12:32. | |
confidence. We had patients who were articulate and two were still | :12:33. | :12:38. | |
ignored. But even staff felt there was a culture where they could not | :12:38. | :12:43. | |
report for fear of reprisals. We have brought in legislation to | :12:43. | :12:48. | |
protect whistleblowers but there is still a culture, staff lack the | :12:48. | :12:52. | |
confidence to bring to management's attention some serious concerns | :12:52. | :12:56. | |
they had. Will there be a change in public attitude as a result of | :12:56. | :13:02. | |
this? When we stop fooling ourselves that the NHS is the envy | :13:02. | :13:06. | |
of the world? A claim for which I have seen not a scintilla of | :13:06. | :13:11. | |
evidence. Maybe the envy of the Third World. Not of the rest of | :13:11. | :13:16. | |
Europe. Will we start to change our attitude, which my parents had, we | :13:16. | :13:22. | |
are lucky to have it? And will we start demanding a lot more for the | :13:22. | :13:27. | |
�2 billion a week we spent on it? week ought to do that but I do | :13:27. | :13:31. | |
think you should be critical of the whole of the NHS. There are some | :13:31. | :13:35. | |
excellent practices and parts of the NHS and if you are very | :13:35. | :13:40. | |
seriously ill in this country you are with a better chance... | :13:40. | :13:45. | |
Depending on hospital you get into. There were too many of these bodies, | :13:45. | :13:49. | |
we can both agree on that politically, and nobody was in | :13:49. | :13:54. | |
overall charge and the people felt it was going wrong were not able to | :13:54. | :13:58. | |
do anything. We can try to give patients more information but the | :13:58. | :14:02. | |
best answer to this is to empower the clinicians who are closest to | :14:02. | :14:07. | |
the patients, the GPs, and from April onwards they will be able to | :14:07. | :14:11. | |
say, we are no longer sending patients to that hospital. We are | :14:11. | :14:16. | |
not happy with the cleanliness. We will send them to another hospital. | :14:16. | :14:21. | |
That is fine, Michael. There is regulation for doctors and nurses, | :14:21. | :14:27. | |
but what about the manager's? Who regulates them? Who is responsible | :14:27. | :14:32. | |
for bad managers being sacked? We had a chief executive who is now | :14:32. | :14:38. | |
running another energy as charity. That is the real issue. It is | :14:38. | :14:41. | |
saying GPs hold the power and the commissioning staff and the | :14:41. | :14:46. | |
budgets... There were too many managers. So systemic failure is | :14:46. | :14:56. | |
:14:56. | :15:00. | ||
coming from the management in this They might not have known about | :15:00. | :15:03. | |
what was going on in Stafford hospital. They might have continued | :15:04. | :15:07. | |
sending patients there, which raises another huge issue. It's | :15:07. | :15:13. | |
about information as to what's going on inside these institutions. | :15:13. | :15:17. | |
Mike Farrow said earlier that this is absolutely key. The whole thing | :15:17. | :15:21. | |
needs to be opened up. Whenever a light is shone on public funded | :15:21. | :15:25. | |
institutions, you then get upgrades to urgency, we've got to reform | :15:25. | :15:30. | |
this. And as to this broad political question. Where do we go | :15:30. | :15:36. | |
from here in terms of major reform? It's my sense that Labour has no | :15:36. | :15:40. | |
grand plan in the making for reforms of the NHS, they tried that | :15:40. | :15:43. | |
when they were in power. The Conservatives, we saw what happened | :15:43. | :15:47. | |
to them when they tried to reform it, they are not going to go there | :15:47. | :15:53. | |
again either. I think there will be consensus that further change is | :15:53. | :15:56. | |
required. There needs to be a debate on what form the change | :15:56. | :16:00. | |
takes place in. The debate in Britain has been simplistic. Reform | :16:00. | :16:04. | |
bursars and to reform, as if there's only one set of reforms | :16:04. | :16:09. | |
that are acceptable or Status Quo. We've got to get beyond that, to | :16:09. | :16:12. | |
have a much subtler and more intelligent play. There's a chance | :16:12. | :16:22. | |
:16:22. | :16:23. | ||
of that happening in the light of these revelations. A sombre mood in | :16:23. | :16:26. | |
the chamber for the Prime Minister's statement on the | :16:26. | :16:28. | |
hospital and the report to date. It's not always like that. If you | :16:29. | :16:31. | |
were watching the programme on Monday, you will have seen as | :16:31. | :16:35. | |
talking about how loud it gets in the chamber during Prime Minister's | :16:35. | :16:39. | |
Questions. The Speaker, John Bercow, has been complaining that its | :16:39. | :16:44. | |
louder than a deep purple rock concert from the 1970s. But how | :16:44. | :16:48. | |
loud is loud? If I start talking to you like this in a little whisper, | :16:48. | :16:52. | |
then I'll be speaking at a level of 30 decibels. If I revert to my | :16:53. | :16:59. | |
normal, loud, speech pattern, the decibel levels are around 60. But | :16:59. | :17:03. | |
maybe it's a bit more. Prolonged exposure to noise levels above 85 | :17:03. | :17:10. | |
can cause damage to your hearing. If you are Maria Sharapova or... | :17:10. | :17:15. | |
The undisputed queen of tennis grunts, she hits the scale at a | :17:15. | :17:21. | |
massive 101 decibels. Watch out if you are the ballboy! A rock concert | :17:21. | :17:26. | |
can be around 120 decibels. Two of the MPs they were talking to about | :17:26. | :17:29. | |
noise in the chamber kindly agreed to take their mobile phones and | :17:29. | :17:33. | |
iPad into the chamber, having downloaded and app that reads the | :17:33. | :17:43. | |
:17:43. | :17:48. | ||
noise levels. The Conservative... How high to the reading go? It was | :17:48. | :17:54. | |
quite disappointing. I got to about 94. But it was a very sombre, very | :17:55. | :18:00. | |
subdued session. I don't think I've ever been to such a well-behaved | :18:00. | :18:10. | |
:18:10. | :18:12. | ||
Prime Minister's Questions. Alan Cairns, did yours read any higher? | :18:12. | :18:18. | |
I got 98 at the back. I think that came from the laughter on the | :18:18. | :18:22. | |
question on Richard III. Because of the statement we were expecting and | :18:22. | :18:26. | |
the seriousness of that, everyone was quite subdued. That was also | :18:26. | :18:29. | |
after last night's vote, where there was some tension. People were | :18:29. | :18:39. | |
:18:39. | :18:40. | ||
may be using it as a time to take stock. It's funny that you think | :18:40. | :18:44. | |
that is quiet. I suppose half an hour once a week isn't going to do | :18:44. | :18:54. | |
any damage, but 90 and 98 is still very loud. I stand by everything I | :18:54. | :18:58. | |
said on Monday about it being awful, really bolstered on the whole it is | :18:58. | :19:02. | |
extremely Walkers. It is just a Yelling match. It is not very | :19:02. | :19:07. | |
attractive. I'm going to carry on taking this wonderful gadget in | :19:07. | :19:11. | |
week after week, give it another couple of weeks and we will be | :19:11. | :19:21. | |
:19:21. | :19:23. | ||
massively up. If it reaches 120 decibels, you are in deep purple | :19:23. | :19:33. | |
:19:33. | :19:34. | ||
concerts territory. I'm sure that last week it did. Last week was | :19:34. | :19:37. | |
probably the loudest I've experienced. I asked a question in | :19:37. | :19:40. | |
it last week, and it is the most intimidating environment, where | :19:40. | :19:44. | |
people are shouting as you are trying to concentrate and hold your | :19:44. | :19:47. | |
own in terms of projecting your voice and remembering your words at | :19:47. | :19:57. | |
:19:57. | :20:01. | ||
the same time. How can the grunting tennis player be as loud as a rock | :20:01. | :20:11. | |
:20:11. | :20:19. | ||
concert? It is the pitch. It's the pitch at which she grants. It is | :20:19. | :20:27. | |
incredibly noisy. Below the gangway on both sides is quite loud. It can | :20:27. | :20:32. | |
be incredibly noisy. If you are asking questions, you literally | :20:32. | :20:42. | |
:20:42. | :20:43. | ||
can't hear the questions are asked. I'm not so sure the opposite is a | :20:43. | :20:53. | |
:20:53. | :20:58. | ||
good idea, it completely sterile Have you ever been told off by the | :20:58. | :21:03. | |
Speaker for speaking out loud? By both of them! A miscarriage of | :21:03. | :21:07. | |
justice. Millions of young people are priced | :21:07. | :21:11. | |
out of buying a home on their own. Millions more are hoping house | :21:11. | :21:16. | |
prices remain high to prevent a slide into negative equity. Ross | :21:16. | :21:21. | |
Clark has been looking at this for his new book, in which he | :21:21. | :21:31. | |
:21:31. | :21:43. | ||
emphasises how unprecedented the Houses like these in Mitcham, south | :21:43. | :21:46. | |
London, enabled a million families to become homeowners in the great | :21:46. | :21:51. | |
building boom between the two walls. When these houses behind me were | :21:51. | :21:58. | |
built in the early 1930s, they cost between �315.530 pounds, which in | :21:58. | :22:04. | |
today's money is between �18,000.30 �1,000. Yet one of these houses | :22:04. | :22:12. | |
just down the road is now for sale for �335,000. And that is after a | :22:12. | :22:15. | |
suppose it crash. House price inflation has made a fortune for | :22:15. | :22:19. | |
some people but but others it has frustrated their dream of ever | :22:19. | :22:23. | |
owning a home. Yet none of the political parties has any credible | :22:23. | :22:26. | |
scheme for helping frustrated would-be homeowners. The | :22:26. | :22:29. | |
coalition's says it wants to increase housebuilding by listening | :22:29. | :22:33. | |
the planning system. We certainly need more houses, but that is only | :22:33. | :22:43. | |
:22:43. | :22:50. | ||
This newly built two-bedroomed home is the equivalent of the 1930s | :22:50. | :22:53. | |
homes just down the road. But the difference is that this property is | :22:53. | :22:58. | |
quite likely to be bought as a speculative investment. We are | :22:59. | :23:02. | |
returning to a Victorian social structure in which a large class of | :23:02. | :23:10. | |
tenant's rent their homes from a small class of landlords. One | :23:10. | :23:13. | |
solution could be to place restrictive covenants on most new | :23:13. | :23:17. | |
homes, to say they could only ever be used as owner-occupied | :23:17. | :23:20. | |
properties. People are actually going to live in them, they could | :23:20. | :23:30. | |
:23:30. | :23:34. | ||
not be bought by speculators. Also, we could reduce the cost of | :23:34. | :23:38. | |
building new homes by doing as post-war government did with the | :23:38. | :23:42. | |
new towns. Compulsory purchase and development land at his land use | :23:42. | :23:45. | |
valley, and in its planning permission and then selling it on | :23:45. | :23:48. | |
to housebuilders at much lower prices than they currently have to | :23:48. | :23:51. | |
pay for their land, taking just enough profit to pay for local | :23:51. | :23:59. | |
infrastructure. Houses may never be as cheap again as they were 80 | :23:59. | :24:02. | |
years ago, but there's no reason why they cannot be a price which | :24:02. | :24:06. | |
allows young people to do as they're great grandparents did, | :24:06. | :24:10. | |
take the big step from tenants to homeowners. | :24:10. | :24:16. | |
Ross Clark is with us now. Michael Fallon, home ownership has fallen | :24:17. | :24:20. | |
for the first time since records began 60 years ago, Britain has the | :24:20. | :24:23. | |
lowest rate of new home construction in almost a century - | :24:23. | :24:27. | |
what are you doing about it? How many more homes have been built | :24:27. | :24:35. | |
since 2010? Over 113,000 in the first year. We have plans for | :24:35. | :24:38. | |
175,000 affordable homes. We've simplified the planning system, we | :24:38. | :24:41. | |
are unlocking some of the rules that have prevented affordable | :24:41. | :24:45. | |
housing being built, because these agreements were signed at the top | :24:45. | :24:49. | |
of the boom when prices were much higher. We've got a Bill going | :24:49. | :24:53. | |
through Parliament to unlock that now. You will see more houses being | :24:53. | :24:57. | |
built. That is one side of it. are still not affordable for very | :24:57. | :25:01. | |
many young people who cannot get the deposit to put down on buying a | :25:01. | :25:05. | |
home. Do you agree with the assessment that there is now this | :25:05. | :25:08. | |
generational gap between people who own their own homes and those who | :25:08. | :25:12. | |
will never be able to own their own homes and will be tenants forever? | :25:12. | :25:15. | |
That's too pessimistic. Some of the money we've made available through | :25:16. | :25:18. | |
the funding for lending scheme is not getting through into the | :25:18. | :25:22. | |
mortgage markets. I think you will find a better supply of mortgage | :25:22. | :25:27. | |
finance coming through. I accept they've got to raise a higher | :25:27. | :25:33. | |
deposit and perhaps our generation had to raise. Self-certified | :25:33. | :25:37. | |
mortgages, some of those rules have been tightened. What do you do | :25:37. | :25:40. | |
about house prices? Which government in its right mind is | :25:40. | :25:44. | |
going to do anything to either freeze house prices where they are | :25:44. | :25:48. | |
or bring them down? You can't control house prices. There are | :25:48. | :25:52. | |
things you can do. The can increase supply. Michael, I hope you are | :25:52. | :25:56. | |
right in relation to the figures to give but, frankly speaking, the | :25:56. | :26:00. | |
experience of my constituency is very different than yours. I knock | :26:00. | :26:04. | |
on doors where three generations are living in the same households, | :26:04. | :26:09. | |
no prospect of getting up to �50,000 deposit required to buy a | :26:09. | :26:14. | |
property in London. Our obsession with owner-occupiers is detracting | :26:14. | :26:17. | |
from the fact there aren't enough properties to rent at affordable | :26:17. | :26:21. | |
rates. Interest rates are low, so if you can't afford a mortgage with | :26:21. | :26:26. | |
these interest rates and you can't afford to rent because of high | :26:26. | :26:28. | |
rates of rent from private landlords, what are you going to | :26:28. | :26:32. | |
do? Do you have any confidence that the situation will change | :26:32. | :26:37. | |
dramatically? A Meikle talks about affordable housing. Affordable | :26:37. | :26:42. | |
housing is a word which really refers to housing either for rent, | :26:42. | :26:45. | |
for shared ownership, it's usually shared ownership property which | :26:45. | :26:51. | |
gets the name affordable housing. I don't think people really want to | :26:51. | :26:53. | |
buy half a house. When they set out on their career ladder, they want | :26:53. | :27:01. | |
to buy a whole house not half a house. The point was made, does | :27:01. | :27:04. | |
home-ownership matter? We've got this obsession with home ownership. | :27:04. | :27:09. | |
This is an argument with turns to the advanced by people who already | :27:09. | :27:12. | |
own their own property. It's not an argument I've ever heard for made | :27:12. | :27:17. | |
by people in their 20s, trying to get on the housing ladder. These | :27:17. | :27:21. | |
aren't benefit claimants, these are people in good jobs, well-paid jobs | :27:21. | :27:24. | |
who 30 years ago would have had absolutely no problem in buying a | :27:24. | :27:30. | |
property at all. One thing about buy-to-let, because you raised this | :27:30. | :27:35. | |
issue about ending that sort of speculative market, which certainly | :27:35. | :27:38. | |
boomed under Labour's time because capital gains tax came down. Would | :27:38. | :27:43. | |
you back an option like that? buy-to-let market is reviving again | :27:43. | :27:48. | |
now. A is that a good thing? yes, we do need people to build | :27:48. | :27:53. | |
more properties. We are making it easier to change use, to convert | :27:53. | :27:56. | |
from commercial premises or offices and to get that converted into | :27:56. | :28:01. | |
housing. That is one of the answers in the very overcrowded and expense | :28:01. | :28:06. | |
of inner-cities. A few people owning lots and lots of houses, | :28:06. | :28:13. | |
some of our colleagues do that, but housing is affordable to all, | :28:13. | :28:16. | |
whether to rent or own. The problem now is the supply side, it happens | :28:16. | :28:21. | |
towards the end of our time in government... You can't sell off | :28:21. | :28:28. | |
all the social housing... We are going to do Guess the Year. The | :28:28. | :28:38. | |
:28:38. | :28:42. | ||
year was 1974. Let's see who has You win the Daily Politics mug. | :28:42. | :28:47. |