Speeches by Johnson.

“It is a pleasure and a privilege to serve under your chairmanship, Dr Murrison. I pass my condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of Christina McKelvie. I know she meant a lot to many of the people in this room. Members on both sides will recognise the vital importance of the topic before us today in relation…”

“I completely agree that we need evidence-based policy, and that, in whatever policy area we are looking at, we should challenge and probe policies to ensure we are doing things in the right way. Drugs should not be available in our prisons. People should receive treatment if they have gone into prison due to a drug-rel…”

“It is now a truth universally acknowledged that smoking is bad for one’s health. It is the leading cause of preventable death in this country, responsible for over 80,000 deaths every year. When we say that number, it is easy to allow it to trip off the tongue as another statistic without really realising just how many…”

“My hon. Friend makes a fair point. We know the black market exists, but the amendment would enable the Government to understand the scale of that black market and the changes in it, so that regulation could be enforced more robustly. On amendment 90, as currently drafted the legislation will ban all forms of advertisin…”

“As is usually the case, I find myself agreeing with my right hon. Friend, and that is of course why we have tabled the amendment: it will give us the evidence that we and the enforcement authorities require to make sure that the black market is reduced.”

“That is certainly a significant possibility, and that is the reason for moving the amendment, as my hon. Friend will understand. Illegal products can include smuggled and counterfeit cigarettes, vapes with nicotine levels way above the legal limits, and products containing illegal and potentially dangerous ingredients.…”

“Schools face a huge rise in costs imminently due to the rise in national insurance contributions. Headteachers had been reassured by the Government that schools would be recompensed with money to cover these costs, yet Sir Robert Pattinson academy in my constituency—a great school—finds itself £33,000 short. Will the C…”

“A directive from the Treasury reported in The Times appears to suggest that house building by the Government will help with the backlog of asylum seekers staying in hotels. Does the Minister believe that individuals who have arrived in the UK illegally should be given access to social housing ahead of British citizens?”

“Given the findings of the Sullivan review on patient and health safety, which came about as a result of inaccurate and poor data collection, can the right hon. Gentleman confirm what meetings he has had with Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology to discuss the reliability of the data on sex that is …”

“The UK Health Security Agency, for which the Secretary of State is responsible, publishes health statistics. This includes data on sexually transmitted infections, which is published by sexual orientation and sex. However, a footnote states that women are defined in the dataset as “women and trans women”, which does so…”

“I want to raise the issue of neglect, which is a rising form of child abuse. Some would say that failing to brush your children’s teeth—or ensure that they are brushed—or failure to give your child breakfast on a morning is a form of neglectful parenting. The Government have chosen, rather than setting the expectation …”

“It is about the lack of availability of respite care and the fact that it gets cancelled on short notice, which leaves people in a difficult situation.”

“Have you asked for more?”

“Minister, have you bid for more money specifically for respite care in the spending review?”

“I wanted to ask about children with severe disabilities who often need respite care provision, which they should be getting and many are not getting, or not getting the number of days or hours that are supposed to be available, leaving a huge strain on those families. You cannot just ring up a babysitter because of the…”

“I suppose it depends on the size of the organisation that you are looking at, the amount you are expecting people to give and the demographic of the people you employ. I would be interested if you could write to the Committee with your understanding of that.”

“What kinship care provision have you made in a number of days or weeks? What is the cost of that to the Department? What is the estimate you have of the cost of that to the country if it was rolled out across all employers?”

“But, Minister, it is often not. It is not uncommon for a strategy meeting to be called without the medical professionals being given due time and awareness of when that meeting is. It is not uncommon for social care to have concerns raised about child protection by doctors and nurses and then to not be properly listene…”

“I have a supplementary to that question. You have been talking about other Departments, in particular MHCLG. I wanted to ask you a question about Health. I am a children’s doctor, as you may know, and I—and I know many of my colleagues—find it frustrating how frequently Health is not listened to in the context of child…”

“But that is not what you have done, with respect, Minister. You have not said, “We have children who are not getting breakfast. We need to make sure those children get breakfast.” You said, “We have children who are not getting breakfast. We need to feed every child in the country breakfast.” You have not targeted supp…”