14/06/2011 The Record

Welcome to The Record. The headlines... The Health Secretary

defends the watering down of changes to the NHS in England. The

Government scraps plans to force councils to collect rubbish every

week. But Labour's unimpressed. Will she apologised to families who

have been led up the garden path by what she has said? And as a

drought's declared in parts of England how about a national grid

for water? The Government has unveiled big changes to its

controversial plans for the NHS in England. It's accepted

recommendations from a panel of health experts known as the "Future

Forum". Ahead of the announcement in the Commons the Prime Minister,

Deputy Prime Minister and Health Secretary visited a central London

hospital to meet staff and patients. It's part of their latest attempts

to show they have listened to the concerns of health professionals

and those who use the NHS. In the Commons, the Health Secretary

announced the changes to the Bill which the government had put on

hold while it consulted on the plans. I have always said a One

there to be no decision about me without make for patients when it

comes to their own care. -- without me. Order. Let's hear the statement

So we will further clarify the duties on the NHS commissioning

Board and clinical commissioning groups to involve patients, carers

and the public. Commissioning groups will have to consult the

public on their annual commissioning plans and involve

them in any changes that would affect patients' services. One of

the main ways patients will influence the NHS will be through

the exercise will informed choice. We will amend the Bill to

strengthen and that the size commissioners duty to promote

patient choice. Choice of any qualified provide will be limited

to those areas where there is a national, or local tariff. It will

ensure competition is based solely on quality. This tariff development

alongside a best-value approach to tended services will save guard

against cherry-picking -- attended. It all protect and promote the

interests of patients, we will remove its duty to promote

competition as though that where an end in itself. Instead it will be

under a duty to support services integrated around the needs of

patients and the continuous improvement of quality. Through the

recommendations of the NHS future forum and our response we have

demonstrated a willingness to To make big changes, not abandon

the principles of reform which the forum themselves said were

supported across the service, but to be clear the NHS is too

important and modernisation to vital for us not be sure of getting

the legislation right. Humiliating. The health secretary has had health

policy taken out of his hands. He has spent the last nine months

telling anyone who criticised the government's health plans that they

were wrong and that they did not understand. Today he admits he is

wrong. How can he argue this blueprint for the biggest

reorganisation in chess history with any credibility, or integrity

-- NHS history? The man Who mistook so badly last year telling us how

you will mess up next year, too. -- he will. Does the Secretary of

State not recognise that by pretending to produce a

collaborative Silk purse out of competitive pigs areas will not

work? The government's response has satisfied 70 per cent of the demand

for changes on the list. It is seemingly not enough, clearly

cannot be enough, because ironically it is the list of

amendments tabled by the Labour Party during the committee stage.

Why does he think it is so hard to build consensus and why are the

Labour Party being given amendments they asked for and being so

pointlessly churlish? I have to tell my honourable friend There are

many things beyond many of us to understand. One of them is the

Labour Party and the way in which they approach a policy. This is

clear evidence of a listening government. Is the Secretary of

State -- does the Secretary of State agree with me that what the

NHS now meets is a consensus across all political parties and for

everybody to put their money where their mouth is and support the NHS

and these changes as we move forward? Does the Secretary of

State on the stammer when the Labour government was empowered

increase the money from 33 billion to 111 billion in one Derek -- won

decade. And now we are witnessing, at a cost of �2 billion, a new

Frankenstein monster all to pacify a these liberals and Judas with

their 80 pieces of silver. I have a mission for the honourable

gentleman, I think he should have to Wales because in England this

coalition government has committed to increase in NHS Budget in real

terms in the light of this Parliament, the King's Fund

reported the other week that in Wales a Labour Government is

intending to reduce in real terms the NHS Budget by over eight per

cent. I welcome the changes that were announced today and I welcome

the right thing. But I am very concerned that the bureaucracy that

will be around after all these changes goes through could be worse

than what we have at the moment. I genuinely would like to be

reassured on that. I'm grateful to the honourable lady for a support

for the majority of these recommendations. The bureaucracy

will reduce in the NHS as a consequence of all this, for one

simple reason, because we are shifting the ownership of

commissioning and the responsibility for the design and

delivery of services from what is essentially a distant managerial

organisation into one that is locked into the clinical decision-

making of doctors and nurses across the service. What we have now is in

danger of being a dog's breakfast. How much has this cost the UK

taxpayer so far this reorganisation? Listening exercise

to date on 14th June has cost �36,640.97. The process of

modernisation in the NHS is saving hundreds of millions of pounds

every month. A few minutes earlier, Labour MPs

had been gleeful about what they saw as another humiliating U-turn

by Ministers, this one over rubbish. The Government's decided it won't,

after all, force local councils in England to go back to weekly bin

collections following the decision of many of them to remove rubbish

from houses on a fortnightly basis. The change to less frequent

collections has proved unpopular with some but the previous

government insisted it would boost We will make it easier for people

to recycle and tackle measures introduced by the last government

which encouraged councils are specifically to cut the scope of

collections. We will remove the criminal sanctions applying to

householders so that households are not menaced for simple mistakes.

Labour turned its fire on the Communities Secretary, Eric Pickles.

Before the election it was said it was a basic right for every English

man and woman to be able to put the remnant of their chicken tikka

masala in their been without having to wait a fortnight for it to be

collected. -- in their bin. Perhaps the Secretary of State could

explain why the government position has changed. It is a bit rich

coming from the opposition who had 13 years to get to grips with

landfill. It could, if it wanted, have got on and burnt wood,

materials, textiles if it had so chosen to do. I fear the opposition

is still in denial about the dreadful economic legacy it has

left. We is unacceptable to have rotting food waste hanging around

for up to a fortnight in bins. Would she tell councils hopefully

they will release have a weekly collection? I said a response to an

earlier collection -- question from the right honourable lady that we

believe it is important to support local authorities are want to

provide a weekly collection of the smelly part of the waste and death

row will make available �10 million to assist them in that. -- DEFRA.

Why is she so selfishly hanging onto this which she could have led

the community Secretary... I might remind the honourable gentleman

that we are a coalition government, a government of two parties... And

he might like to read the coalition agreement's commitment which is

that the government would work towards a zero waste economy and

encourage councils to pay people to recycle and the Jews littering and

measures to promote a huge increase in energy from waste through our

digestion as set out in our review today. Five years ago the

Conservatives made the same promise over weekly collections, then break

it. Now they have spent too 0.5 million with their Lib Dem friends

on a complicated recycling scheme with 10 different bins, boxes and

bags which has turned Newcastle into a curiosity. It could not now

afford to reinstate... Order. I did appeal for short questions. A

sentence. Isn't that government's pickle over this reflective...

think the most important message is that the government is trying to

make it easier for people to do the right thing. So whether you are at

home trying to deal with your household refuge, -- refused, at

work, or on the go, we must make it easier to waste less and recycle

more. I thank my right honourable friend for the flexibility, in

contrast to my right honourable friend ahead of me. My local

authority of works with the private sector, they provide a two weekly

service but a weekly food waste. The key factor has been a

flexibility of a good contract with the private sector. Would she not

agree as local authorities who have been dogmatic about not using

competitive tendering should be again? It is all very well behind -

- hiding behind the language of local choices, her government

promised they would bring back weedy Bin collections across the

country. -- of Wheatley bin collections. -- weekly bin

collections. I made it clear the coalition consists of two parties

who struck an agreement. It included provisions on waste which

we are fulfilling today. I said that had clearly.

Legislation designed to improve pupil behaviour and give schools in

England greater "autonomy" has had its first airing in the Lords.

Approved by the Commons last month, a key provision of the Education

Bill is that all new schools should be academies which are publicly-

funded but free from state control. Labour gave notice that it would be

challenging several measures in the Bill while a Liberal Democrat said

It is the rather lifeless word. We want outstanding heads and teachers

to be free to use their experience to do what is best for the children.

In legislation, there is a danger that we sometimes prescribed

everything. The difficulty with that in polls is that the effect

over time is to soak up the system and make professionals feel

constrained in exercising their judgment on the ground. We believe

that teachers need the authority to search for items which could be

brought into school to cause harm or injury. We also propose to give

them the power to search for and confiscate items banned under

school rules. Had there was also in the ancient of unfair allegations

been made by pupils against teachers. When a people or someone

on their behalf alleges the teacher has caused an offence. Alongside

legislation that we would like to pit in place so that these

incidents are dealt with quickly, up these measures will hopefully

provide better support for teachers. At the time when the debate is

about trying to drive up academic standards and spread out resources

freely, at this bill fails to meet the challenge. Instead it seeks to

redefine the relationship between schools, parents and local

communities, gives diminished responsibility and, as such, there

is plenty in this bill to give us cause for concern. She also

criticised the idea of new academies. The idea has been turned

on its head. Now, every school will be encouraged to become an academy.

It means by 2050, we could have an all a Academy world. 20,000 schools

all with their own admission policy. Schools will have the clear

incentive to admit the most able students and with the in weekend

adjudicator and greater competition between schools, backdoor selection

becomes more likely. Such a world could be a dangerous place for less

academic children or those with special needs. Can sense were also

feared about other concerns. It is about the trust about preparing a

child for its future life in the workplace. I have concerns about

training and I will be raising these as the bill progresses.

think the Government could make the mistake of thinking that a child's

education only takes place in school. From birth onwards, a child

is learning and yet a full-time educator spends less than 30 % of

its making hours in school. Yet one who sponsors the Academy spoke of

his experience. It is ironic that I should be an Academy sponsor, given

that I played truant for six months! Therefore, I do have

something in common with those who feel a bit disenfranchised and I

left school with only a couple of all levels. Lord Edmiston there,

making his first speech in the House of Lords.

A former Tory minister says the government should consider a

"national grid" for water. Lord Glenarthur's comments come after a

state of drought was declared in parts of England following the

driest spring on record. Many areas of the South and East

have turned dry and dusty after months with little rain. The recent

showers in parts of England have done little to help farmers worried

about the impact on their crops. The subject came up at Lords

Questions, when a former Plaid Cymru leader raised comments by the

Lord Mayor of London. The that the shortages of water in London might

be helped by a making large reservoirs in Wales, up fund will

buy it channels of canals. Could he reassure us that that is not the

case? I was not aware of this proposal. We heard from the side

opposite that Wales has had its fair share and parts of Scotland

have certainly had their fair share. Has any work been done to try and

work out a way of transporting water more nationally to a areas

which are suffering, which as my colleague Lord Cathcart so

constituency is. Add good deal of water has already transferred

within the United Kingdom. There are some longer links. There are

indeed links between what are ways in the veins and Essex. There are

regulatory regimes and the will talk to them to see if there are

ways we're trading of water can be done between companies. They are

the key companies at the centre of this.

Foreign Secretary William Hague has told MPs he is pressing for

humanitarian help to be given to Syrians attacked by their own

military. Mr Hague told the Commons he was

due to meet the foreign minister of Turkey and would raise the issue

then. He said Turkey was Syria's closest foreign neighbour.

People are heading for the country's borders and hoping to

flee, amid reports that 1,000 Syrians have been killed since the

start of demonstrations and violence in the country.

There has been widespread international condemnation of the

regime of Syria's President Assad, which has used force to suppress

the protests. In the Commons, MPs asked what was being done by the

international community. The Syrian government continues to use it

unacceptable violence against brought democracy protesters. They

have launched offences against the range of villages and we have

reports of large military build-ups in other towns. There are credible

reports that over 1,000 people have been killed since the beginning of

the protests. This violence is unacceptable and must top. I thank

the Foreign Secretary for his answer, but a bit like to know if

there is any progress on the Red Cross getting access to help

civilians who have been attacked? That is a good question and, sadly,

the answer is No. This was discussed a few days ago with the

Red Cross and one of the things we have called on the Syrian

government to let in his humanitarian access. This remains a

work prime consideration in Syria. I will discuss this with the

Turkish Foreign Minister and see what can be done more to work with

Turkey, Syria's closest neighbour. The House will be aware that 5,000

refugees have registered on the border. This evening, he will be

speaking to the newly elected Turkish government about the

situation in Syria. Kenny inform the House how hard he will be if

pressing Turkey, who have European Union aspirations, how they will

approach this question mark yes, I will of course be doing this and

the Prime Minister has already talked to the new Prime Minister of

Turkey since the general election was decided last week. Turkey,

despite the general election campaign, has been spending a lot

of time and effort trying to persuade Turkey - - Syria to adopt

a more neutral approach to this. William Hague there. And the main

news again... The Health Secretary has confirmed

major changes to the government's health reforms in England. GPs will

no longer be solely responsible for commissioning care and competition

will not be imposed by a new health care regulator. It follows a two-

month consultation and review by an independent panel of experts.

Three mobile phone companies have told MPs they have not contacted

customers whose mobile phones may have been hacked. In evidence to

the Commons Home Affairs Committee, representatives from Vodafone,

Orange and T-Mobile said they had not told their customers in case

they disrupted a police investigation. O2 did tell

customers, after first clearing it with police. But eyebrows were

raised at what the committee chair suggested could be seen as a

complacent attitude. We estimate that there are about 40 victims on

the Vodafone network, but what we have not seen is the information

that the police hold. So we cannot wait get an exact figure yet. We

have been working with the police on this. We provided the police

with the information that they asked for and in order not to

jeopardise any police inquiry, we did not inform customers. Was there

not an assumption by the police that you would have contacted the

victims? That is not the case, no. We work closely with the

Metropolitan Police in all cases so that we would not jeopardise their

inquiry. He did not ask for you to contact the customers? Nor, they

did not say that. Nobody involved in the case at the time has any Rec

Polish chain of as being asked to contact the victims. We needed

decision to tell our customers. We did contact the customers. How do

you find out who the where? We went back through records so that we

could work out who would be affected. So you did not wait for

the police to give you the go- ahead? You simply went through your

own records and did it? Yes, that is the case. And what did you tell

them? We told them that there was a criminal investigation ongoing, so

we could not tell them a lot more at that stage. We informed the

customers of that. We had a list of customers who we thought might have

been affected and we put together a team who contacted them and spoke

to them and said, this is what we believe may have happened. Nor, we

were under the impression that we could not get in touch with

customers because it could affect a police operation. So you were not

told not to contact the customers? Nor, we believe that there are a

number of circumstances in which that could prejudice an inquiry and

we would not want to do that. are the circumstances of that?

There are people who it they will work with in companies where other

people are holding their phones for them and things like that. But is

that not rather a complacent attitude, that there was this

allegations off for hiking and your company did nothing? No, I do not

think so. We did not want to prejudice any police investigation.

Now, we have been hearing about this in relation to the stars and

celebrities. Did it come as any surprise that you found out that

this had been taking place? I think at that time, the industry was not

aware of the problem. Sometimes, you get word through the industry

that there could be a weakness and the problem. But there was nothing

like that this time. Representatives of some of our

major mobile companies there, appearing before MPs in the row

over phone hacking. And that is it for now, but do join me at the same