Speeches by Stafford.

“I thank the hon. Member for Blyth and Ashington (Ian Lavery) for securing this debate. In my constituency of Farnham and Bordon, the situation is stark. Although I welcome the fact that we have secured a temporary banking hub in The Shed, in Bordon, on the Hampshire side, it rapidly needs to have a permanent location. …”

“I want to come back on a point you made about caseload. What would you say is a safe caseload for a health visitor?”

“That is a relatively depressing answer, and it seems like it is only getting worse.”

“My question is about the workforce. Alison, we have heard that there is currently a shortage of around 5,000 health visitors. Can you tell us what is causing that shortage and how it can be addressed?”

“Family hubs obviously do not just have health visitors in them. Rukshana and Rachel, are there any other workforce problems with the multidisciplinary team? Where are the shortages, and what can we do about it?”

“That all sounds absolutely fascinating. I would love to spend more time on it but, to go back to workforce, what does the support the Government give you to develop your own workforce in the hubs look like, practically? Is it just that money is sent and you get on with it, or is there something more to it?”

“Thank you; that is really helpful. The programme guidance for a family hub says that investment will be available for workforce development in the 75 local authority areas where central Government do support hubs. What has the support looked like in practice?”

“The Chair is telling me that we have to wind up. I defer back to you, Chairman.”

“What could be done to address this? Is the answer simply funding, or is there something else?”

“Q11. Since July, health services in my constituency have got worse. The Chase hospital may close, the promised health hub in Bordon has not arrived, and this week we have learned that in-patient wards in Haslemere are being closed because of a lack of GP cover. The Prime Minister promised hundreds more GPs. Could he po…”

“The hon. Member is making a powerful speech, especially with that last point. Is he, like me, concerned that ICBs will have their funding cut by 50%? Dementia will be one of the many conditions that will suffer because of that.”

“The hon. Gentleman’s story of his saving his local centre rings a bell with me. The Hunter Centre in Haslemere, which had been run by the Alzheimer’s Society, looked like it was going to close in 2017, but because of some great work by Anne Downing, it was saved and is now thriving—in fact, I am a patron—so I am sure t…”

“T2. Across my constituency I hear the same thing from parents, school staff and youth workers: early signs of offending behaviour are often missed or not acted on until it is too late; and in rural areas, stretched services and limited access to youth provision make the problem worse. Given the success of the Haslemere…”

“I do not want to put you on the spot, but are there things that NHS England could be doing differently to achieve what you are trying to do?”

“Who is currently restricting you and being prescriptive about that?”

“Reflecting upon the wider social needs for people with SMI in particular, what action would you like to see from Government—and, indeed, NHS England, while it still exists—to enable services to better meet the needs of those people?”

“You have both been very positive. I would not want you to go away from here without having the opportunity to describe what might be improved in that situation. In terms of the funding and support model, is there more that could be done?”

“You have both been involved in trialling innovative models for delivering mental health services. Can you give me an idea of how challenging it has been to get the funding and support to be able to do that? What are the enablers to scaling up the models, once they have been piloted?”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Stuart. I thank the hon. Member for Colne Valley (Paul Davies) for his role in securing this vital debate and all Members who contributed. As we have heard today, Parkinson’s affects 153,000 people in the UK; more shockingly, every hour, two more people are diagnose…”

“I know what a doughty champion my hon. Friend is for this cause, and I entirely agree with him. The Government need to set out precisely what they will do going forward, as well as reversing the cut that they made. I seek clarification on what the Minister’s adoption strategy is, beyond the delayed and unfair cuts that…”