Speeches by George.

“My hon. Friend is right about the need for the state to be open and honest in all these cases. As I mentioned earlier, the duty of candour already exists in the NHS. Nevertheless, in inquests where the duty of candour should be to the fore, the state comes along with barristers, lawyers and their supporters, and the vi…”

“I congratulate the hon. Member for Liverpool West Derby (Ian Byrne) on bringing forward this debate and on the passion with which he is advancing the case. The attendance in the Chamber today demonstrates the strength of feeling on the issue. My contribution will draw attention to an area of Government where the duty o…”

“The hon. Member makes a very strong case for Cornwall. He should urge his colleagues in government to welcome amendments to the Bill that strengthen Cornwall’s ability to achieve its unique and very special status, which we believe needs to be enshrined in this legislation as well as the historic record.”

“Meur ras—I am grateful to the hon. Member for giving way. He will be aware that in previous Parliaments I led campaigns to secure the recognition of the Cornish language and the Cornish people. Does he agree that this is not an issue of isolationism? It is not about cutting ourselves off, but about cutting ourselves in…”

“We often get distracted by the semantics and jurisprudence of terms such as “genocide” and “ethnic cleansing”, but it is clear that, with the exception of a few, this House appears united—just as the country is as a whole—in its opposition to the actions of the far-right Netanyahu Government. The Foreign Secretary says…”

“Further to that very encouraging response from the Secretary of State, does he acknowledge that Cornwall is the poorest region in the United Kingdom? It has great opportunities, as the hon. Member for Camborne and Redruth (Perran Moon) pointed out, but it has been hampered since losing the highest level of EU structura…”

“I want you to succeed. I want this to succeed. The values are unarguable. The shifts make a lot of sense—no one would argue with the suggestion that we need to shift from prevention to sickness. Therefore, we want the process to succeed. In the case of shifting from hospital to community, the question is: how? It is li…”

“And you believe that that is possible in relation to the emergency entrance into the hospital, which is the one that I was referring to? Are you content that it can be managed and that you can get on top of this crisis at the same time as doing everything else? We have to call it a crisis, and it is still a crisis. It …”

“That is helpful, and we will monitor that as time goes on. Moving on, you mentioned that patients can be treated egregiously—I think that was the term that you used—and that you had dealt with a number of those cases. Looking at chapter 7 of the document, to what extent do you think there needs to be more in relation t…”

“One area where I think that safe staffing is important is nursing. You mentioned that earlier, and you have heard the RCN talking about nurses’ pay and conditions today. I know that Sally comes from a nursing background. Very often people go into nursing, commit their whole careers to it, and finish on band 5, which at…”

“Of course. That is all in the report.”

“Okay. I have a final question. In the social care contracts for my area, both the NHS and the local authority are proposing to pay social care workers £12.79 an hour, irrespective of whether they work on a holiday, during unsocial hours or anything else. The national living wage is £12.21.”

“How can we possibly fill those contracts when the service itself is not prepared to pay for it?”

“You have made the patient voice a high priority, and not just in terms of patient power, as you said in your introductory remarks, but you are scrapping Healthwatch. What will you put in its place to ensure that there is an independent vehicle to make sure the patient voice can be heard?”

“I am pleased that the Minister has announced that the overall size and shape of the network will remain the same, and he has also indicated that remuneration must be part of the consultation. As he will know—I have corresponded with him on this matter—the towns of Porthleven and Newlyn in my constituency have been with…”

“I am Andrew George, representing west Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. Stephen, you mentioned that you would see the contract as a success if you both achieved no underspend—I think “not a penny of underspend” was your expression—and were on top of all the needs for emergency treatment. Those are the two factors that …”

“I am Andrew George, representing west Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. We are a large dentistry desert for people because you cannot go north, south or west to find a dentist and you can go 120 miles up to Exeter and still struggle to find a dentist. That is what it is like for our area. You will be pleased to know th…”

“On the incentives to encourage new dentists or graduates to come into the NHS, you were talking about tie-ins earlier. If you are to meet or fill the gaps in the dentistry desert, to what extent will you use incentives or requirements that tie them to geographic areas where the need is greatest?”

“Yes, absolutely. We will come back to the contract on another occasion, because it doesn’t tie up in my mind. On the questions or the theme of urgency that Danny raised earlier, we understood that the workforce plan was literally days away. We were talking about the summer, and now we are talking about later this year.…”

“Do I have time for one more question?”