Speeches by George.

“That is enormously helpful. As you say, the last Health Committee recommended one further contact, and that would have been far too modest as far as you are concerned. That was to have been a follow-up question. It was interesting that in answer to the question from the Chair earlier, in terms of two big asks, you did …”

“On the back of that, I have a final question. To what extent is retention of the workforce an issue? Given the workloads that you are talking about, one might conclude that they create pressure that would further result in people leaving the profession earlier than we would like.”

“Back to you, Alison. On health visitor contacts, I am reflecting on the line of questioning raised by Beccy a moment ago. Five mandatory contacts are required. The statistics say that approximately one in five missed the contact at the appropriate time—the one-to-two week contact, the six-to-eight week contact and so o…”

“Sorry, did you say eight contacts?”

“Moving on from that and reflecting on the workforce challenges within the sector, particularly workload challenges, it is quite clear that if the Government are pursuing their three shifts—two of which are highly relevant to your area of work—one is prevention, and the other is the shift from hospital to community. Wha…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Dr Allin-Khan. I warmly congratulate the right hon. Member for South Holland and The Deepings (Sir John Hayes) on the manner in which he introduced the issues and perambulated around the full range of factors that are clearly having a significant impact on this country…”

“Because of the time limitation, I just want to bring in Abdirahim as well. You are focused on your own area, although I am not saying that you do not look at how you compare with others. One assumes that you are benchmarking against things that are happening in a wider sphere. Where do you sit? How is the commissioning…”

“Can I ask you both—I will bring in Abdirahim as well—about the process of commissioning from ICBs or local authorities? First of all—this one may be primarily aimed at Karyn—what is the national picture? Let me just be devil’s advocate. If we are depending on the voluntary and community sector to provide services, we c…”

“When you are commissioned by your 23 local authorities, do you have a template offer to them or do you tailor it to the needs of that particular local authority or ICB that is commissioning? Are you commissioning with the ICBs or the local authorities? You said, “local authorities”, so I am not clear.”

“You are building up a community of mutual support.”

“I just wanted you to say that. I want to be clear that we are not talking about professionals hand-holding people as professionals to book appointments and make arrangements for them.”

“Can I just interrupt you there? You are saying that a lot of the benefit of the service that you provide is through peer support and volunteers.”

“There were lots of process references there. I want to get down to the nuts and bolts and the bricks and mortar, as it were. How much professional assistance is provided, whether that be administrative and about co-ordinating things? How much volunteer effort is going in? Accommodation seems to be a key element of what…”

“On a practical basis, as I understand it, you also arrange or provide accommodation. Three projects in the UK have been given plaudits by the WHO, no less. You say you are not really a mental health organisation, yet the WHO describes you as such.”

“Karyn, going from the geographically very specific and very much advocacy-based—I was very impressed by that—KeyRing is more nationally based. You were started in 1990. Tell us more about how you work.”

“I am just trying to bring this all together. You mentioned the 10-year plan. You see all the talent out there in the voluntary and community enterprise sector. How should the Government engage with you to ensure that all the talent that is there is harnessed and best utilised going forward? How can you be commissioned …”

“Fishermen in my constituency were let down by the Conservatives and their Brexit friends, and they now feel very disappointed by the news about EU vessel access within the six to 12-mile zone. Both before and since Brexit, we have retained regulatory autonomy in that zone. Will the Prime Minister ensure that we exercis…”

“Although it is long overdue, I warmly welcome the sentiment behind the Government’s announcement. The hon. Member for Leicester South (Shockat Adam) and I visited Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories last month. What we saw there was absolutely shocking. Others have described it as apartheid; I think it is a…”

“Thank you very much. That is very helpful.”

“No.”