Speeches by Stafford.

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Edward. I congratulate the hon. Member for Tunbridge Wells (Mike Martin) on securing the debate. I rise today not just as a constituency MP, but as vice-chairman of the all-party parliamentary group for special educational needs and disabilities and as someone alar…”

“I will not give way. That is not just wrong; it is unconscionable. Meanwhile, Labour’s VAT raid on education has pushed more than 13,000 pupils out of the independent sector—10,000 more than the Government predicted. That means more pressure on already overstretched state schools, more crowded classrooms, more exhauste…”

“This Labour Government have begun a full-scale assault on the British economy. In just one year they have presided over a shambles that has punished workers, hammered businesses and betrayed every promise they made on tax to my constituents in Farnham, Bordon, Haslemere, Liphook and the surrounding villages. Let us loo…”

“I respect the hon. Lady deeply, but I must say that I entirely disagree. Pitting the state sector against the independent sector, and vice versa, is entirely the wrong way to go about it—it would damage education. I am very happy to take her around More House or Undershaw in my constituency to show her the amazing work…”

“I’ll take that as a maybe.”

“Is that a yes?”

“Unfortunately, I doubt you will be able to give this question a snap answer, but I look forward to you writing to me if not. Sir Jim, in an answer to me earlier, the Secretary of State suggested that he did not see it as being the role of resident doctors to be involved in productivity and efficiency. Is that your take…”

“Good afternoon, Secretary of State. Unfortunately, I shall continue some of that line of questioning. Can I characterise your view on the strikes as being that the strikes prior to the general election were reasonable, whereas those after the general election were unreasonable? Just a yes or no, please.”

“Maybe you would cite the GIRFT programme as an example.”

“If I have mischaracterised him, I apologise, but specifically then, where do you see the workforce playing its role in efficiency and productivity?”

“I will leave that there, because I am sure the Chair wants me to finish. This will be the final question from me. There are a number of health-related concerns in my constituency of Farnham and Bordon. Will you be willing to come and meet some of the doctors and patients in my constituency to hear their concerns?”

“It’s not really the fundamental reform that you were talking about a few minutes ago.”

“That brings me nicely on to what Age UK has said, which is that “delaying the process of comprehensive social care reform will only make it harder to restore the NHS…to health in this Parliament, or even the next”. Don’t you accept that, as Age UK seems to be suggesting, kicking social care to the end of this Parliamen…”

“So why has there been pretty much no inclusion of social care in the 10 year plan?”

“I do not mean to cut you off, but we only have a small amount of time, and I want to ask you about one other subject. The Darzi report, which you commissioned, said that “the dire state of social care” is among the reasons that the NHS is in “critical condition”. You said, at the Labour party conference, “There is no s…”

“I suppose what I am trying to get to, Secretary of State, is what your view on this is. I understand the processes, but what is your view? Do you think that public sector NHS staff should get an above-inflation increase over the next few years, or not?”

“Given that, as the Committee heard some months ago from the then CFO of NHS England, most of the amount of money put in in the last Budget was eaten up by pay rises, inflation, drug costs and so on, and there is therefore not a vast amount of money left, will you commit to having no above-inflation increases for any he…”

“I hope we do not get there either, but if we do, Secretary of State, would they be being reasonable or unreasonable, given your previous comments on the issue?”

“I think you have made that point clearly, Secretary of State, and I suggest that we all agree with that point of view. In December 2023, you noted that the then Government were giving a higher pay rise to doctors than to nurses. You said it was “completely wrong”, “a slap in the face to nurses”, and fundamentally unfai…”

“But is that not part of the problem, Secretary of State? You gave them a massively inflation-busting pay rise and asked no increase in productivity or efficiency from them, so they have essentially just come back for more. Do you accept no responsibility whatsoever for the position that we are now in?”