Speeches by Stafford.

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Lewell-Buck. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk (John Lamont) on leading today’s debate. I declare an interest as the father of children who currently attend an independent school. I am afraid it is not a pleasure to spe…”

“If I understand the hon. Lady’s point, it is that because the Labour Government now have a stonking majority, this policy is therefore approved by the British people. Is she therefore saying that in 2017 they rejected this policy, in 2019 they rejected this policy, and then suddenly in 2024 the majority of the populati…”

“Okay, so what are you inputting into those proposals that you would like to see?”

“I suppose the concern that I have is that given that the Secretary of State essentially sacked the outgoing chair, for whatever reason, I want to be confident that you will not just be a mouthpiece for the Secretary of State and the Department. What reassurance can you give me on that?”

“In terms of your application to this role, were you tapped up or spoken to by the Secretary of State or anyone within the Department to do the role, or did you just put this forward yourself?”

“On that point of being outside, how many meetings, conversations or discussions have you had with the Secretary of State in the last six months? You do not need to give a precise figure, but just a rough ballpark.”

“Are you saying that, under your chairmanship, the distinct line between the Department and NHS England will blur and become—let’s be positive—more collaborative than it is currently? I am trying to get a handle on what the Secretary of State seems to be doing, and how comfortable or otherwise you are with that.”

“When you say the centre, do you mean NHS England or the Department?”

“I understand; thank you. You just said that you do not want a big top-down reorganisation, but Amanda Pritchard hinted at this very strongly when she was in front of us a few weeks ago, and it has been announced in the papers today that there is going to be quite a lot of restructuring between NHS England and the Depar…”

“You know how to push my buttons by talking about GIRFT, so well done on that. I should declare that I used to work for the Getting It Right First Time programme. How would you achieve that without significant change and top-down reorganisation? You have said that ICBs are likely to remain, but you seem to be advocating…”

“You said in another part of your submission that you were going to look to significantly improve the governance and accountability, which is presumably the bit you just touched on. What do you think is currently not working about governance and accountability, and what tangible things would you like to see changed so t…”

“Yes, but, just to clarify, in your statement you said that is what you want to do. From your point of view, what would that look like?”

“Good morning, Dr Dash. In your submission, you told us that one of your priorities for your first year as chair would be to “clarify the relative roles of NHSE, ICBs and providers”. What changes do you want to make to those groups?”

“My hon. Friend makes a powerful point. Having listened to most of the debate, I make the allied point that while Labour Members have justified the need to raise taxes—which, like him, I entirely disagree with—we have heard not a single word from them about the impact of tax rises on family farms, family businesses and …”

“I would hope not, but I wanted to hear you say it. For my final question, let me go back to where I started. In your application, you said that you wanted to “clarify and simplify” the relationship between NHSE and the Department, and that “the interface between NHSE and DHSC should be better utilised”. To a degree, yo…”

“I understand that the hon. Member has gone through the Bill line by line, but the businesses that are reporting to me, and apparently also speak to him, are seriously concerned. In our villages, including Churt, Tilford, Passfield and Headley Down, the village shop and the pub are the heart and soul of our tight-knit c…”

“Thank you very much.”

“Today’s debate on the disastrous impact of the Labour Government’s policies, including on my constituency of Farnham and Bordon, of which Haslemere, Liphook and the surrounding villages are part, is timely. My inbox is filled with complaints and concerns from small family businesses about that impact. Small and family …”

“Will the hon. Lady give way?”

“Kilnside farm in my constituency, run by Bob Milton, is only 36 acres in total. It is a tiny farm, yet it will be subject to the new taxes. How can the Minister say that only 4% will be affected? Even the smallest farmers in my constituency will be hit.”