Speeches by Johnson.

“There is no detail in the Bill. As my hon. Friend the Member for Isle of Wight East said, there is nothing in the legislation requiring the computers in his local area to talk to the computers in my local area.”

“In the event that someone from Scotland comes into the hon. Gentleman’s hospital near Dover and a doctor wants to look at their healthcare record, does the hon. Gentleman envisage that the doctor will log on to their local system and see the records from Scotland, or that they will have access to the Scottish system to…”

“If it is to include both, who will translate it into the simplest form and how much will that cost?”

“The clause says that information could be made available “to people involved in the provision to patients of health care or social care anywhere in the British Islands”. That implies that the English system will be used to share information with people outside England—in the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands, Scotland, …”

“I have a couple of questions. In lots of ways the provisions derive from clause 1 and the abolition of NHS England. Schedule 7 refers to operating a system in the interests of the health service, which is not the same as operating it in the interests of the patients. Does the Minister have any comments on that? The Nuf…”

“My hon. Friend is making a very important point. Does he also think that it is possible for the system to have some designs built into it that identify that someone from another area of the country, or from another department or different profession is unexpectedly looking at results? Perhaps AI could help with this.”

“The amendments would introduce a primary care investment standard, requiring the ICBs to increase spending on primary care services at least in line with the growth of the total funding that they receive. The Secretary of State would be able to implement financial penalties if ICBs failed to comply. As the hon. Member …”

“Amendments 9 and 10 have some similar issues to the last two Liberal Democrat amendments. They referred to the primary care investment, while these amendments refer to the mental health investment standard, which seeks to define the proportion of NHS money spent on mental health and maintaining it at a static position.…”

“Clause 43 is particularly long: it runs to almost two pages of text. Essentially, clause 43 transfers the responsibility for funding ICBs, and deciding how they use the resources, from NHS England to the Secretary of State. In many cases, that is consistent with the Government’s plan to abolish NHS England, take decisi…”

“My hon. Friend is talking about uncertainty. Essentially, those powers could not be used at all to direct or they could be used to micromanage. It is not clear what the intent is.”

“I note that proposed new section 223GA to the 2006 Act, inserted by clause 43, includes the duty to “publish any directions” but there is no timing for that. Does my hon. Friend agree that it is important to understand how soon after the direction is made we should expect the Minister to publish it?”

“Clause 45 makes technical changes to the licence conditions, allowing the Secretary of State to use those conditions as a tool to ensure compliance with legal requirements beyond those in the Health and Social Care Act 2012. That power is somewhat open-ended, which reduces certainty for providers, particularly independ…”

“On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. On 15 October 2024, the former Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, the right hon. Member for Ilford North (Wes Streeting), said: “This Government are committed, as we were in opposition, to doubling the number of medical school places.”—[Official Report, 15 October …”

“Clause 42 changes parts of the NHS Act 2006 and the Health and Care Act 2022 concerning NHS England’s funding and financial responsibilities. Currently, the NHS Act 2006 contains sections relating to NHS England’s finances, including section 223B, “Funding of NHS England”; section 223C, “Financial duties of NHS England…”

“I have just a couple of questions for the Minister. Could that make ICBs less willing to set up companies for business services or joint ventures, potentially hampering innovation? If an ICB company generates liabilities that an ICB cannot meet, who becomes liable? If it is the ICB, is that not essentially the Governme…”

“I have a question: the Secretary of State would consult with the CQC but the CQC would no longer be able to initiate the appointment of the TSA and approve the final report. That weakens the role of the regulator, yet in so many other ways the Government wish to strengthen the role of the CQC and give it more and more …”

“In many ways, these changes align with the new operational structure after the abolition of NHS England. Unlike many things that the Government are doing, there are clear timeframes guaranteeing a clear public record of why intervention was needed: the TSA appointment must be made within five working days of the order …”

“Schedule 6 provides that once such a trust special administrator is appointed, the trust’s chair and directors are suspended, although that does not affect the executive directors’ employment status. It requires the administrator to produce a draft report, consult relevant parties and then produce a final report with r…”

“Clause 38 introduces schedule 6, which relates to special administration for trusts and foundation trusts. Essentially, schedule 6 replaces NHS England with the Secretary of State in the trust special administration regime, which seems necessary because of the abolition of NHS England. It gives the Secretary of State r…”

“Clause 37 amends section 134 to remove the requirement for NHSE to maintain financial assistance mechanisms for foundation trusts in special administration. It amends section 134(2)(a) of the 2012 Act to remove a reference to financial assistance provided under section 65D(12) of the NHS Act 2006, and amends section 13…”