Speeches by George.

“The Minister is shaking his head, but it simply is not possible through the pre-development process. Although I have met the Secretary of State to discuss how we can move forward shovel-ready projects that are held back at the moment, will Ministers meet Members of Parliament who are concerned about the thousands of ho…”

“The hon. Lady is making a very strong point about evidence-based policymaking. She will be aware of the truism of what we do in this place: that we need to draw lines in legislation between freedoms and responsibilities, and in this case between rights and public protection. She acknowledges that the Government should …”

“As an Oliver Cromwell enthusiast, will the Leader of the House find time for a debate on the purpose and function of the other place? I am sure that he will have studied very closely the wording of early-day motion 2709, which addresses the role of the House of Lords. [That this House believes that the use of filibuste…”

“The Minister has referred to a local transport grant that is of course not available to the Isles of Scilly in my constituency, because it is not deemed to be a local transport authority. Attending medical appointments for my constituents from off-islands on a day like today would cost them £120 return. The Secretary o…”

“So the latest information you have on delivery is not clear. Presumably it is still being delivered now, even though it is late in the winter. Is that right?”

“It relates to a wider question about the management of hospital beds, high occupancy levels and the fact that you can predict this. You may say that it has plateaued this year and not increased significantly, but the fact is that it has increased over the last five years. On that basis, when you have in excess of 95% t…”

“Such as?”

“The vaccination rate is very low in that area, about 40%.”

“Those figures in the first week of December are the ones I was looking at.”

“Flu vaccine take-up has fallen, has it not?”

“On the back of that, one of the Government’s three shifts over the last 18 months has been from sickness to prevention. Clearly, vaccination has to be up there. Annie, from your perspective—and I am sure you are in touch with your colleagues around the country—how prepared do you think ICBs are to take on the role? Wha…”

“One area you will be taking on, and this is really a question for others, is a system that is clearly failing. If you look at hospital admissions in respect of winter flu outbreaks, vaccination levels have clearly gone down over the last year. This year has been the worst on record as far as hospital admissions are con…”

“Coming back to a question Ben asked earlier, in terms of quantifying the consequences of not vaccinating. Without question, certainly in the last five years of hospital admissions, the cost is greater to the taxpayer than it would be if your prevention and vaccination programmes were in place.”

“I will be brief, Madam Deputy Speaker. I congratulate the hon. Member for Argyll, Bute and South Lochaber (Brendan O’Hara) on bringing this issue to the House. I was worried that we would concentrate primarily on the jurisprudence—on the merits of the arguments over whether the threshold in the definition has been reac…”

“rose—”

“That begs the question of whether innovation is better developed through central diktat, as it were. Do clinicians at the front line operate too much within a straitjacket of what the centre is dictating and not have sufficient freedom to, as you say, identify where problems are and innovate at the frontline, rather th…”

“The innovation and adoption strategy, which the Chair mentioned—”

“Can I challenge on one example? In, I think, 2010, the NHS Confederation produced a report, which was a form of innovation, saying why we need fewer hospital beds. That was quietly rolled out and now we end up with corridor care and ambulances queuing outside hospitals. It is not a great innovation.”

“We need that, so thank you.”

“Kathy, you are closer to the frontline, but still somewhat distant from it. Do you perceive that the environment is sufficiently enabling for innovation to happen without it having the okay from the centre?”