Speeches by Stafford.

“Sir Ciarán continued by saying that we have to”

““This function has been slightly outside and independent, playing back into decisions; we have to ensure that the level of independence remains somehow in how this is constructed”.––[Official Report, Health Public Bill Committee, 16 June 2026; c. 40, Q67.]”

“The Government have not explained how those relationships will be maintained, nor have they explained how the expertise accumulated by local healthwatch organisations over many years will be preserved. The Committee is being asked to assume that a statutory function can simply be relocated without affecting the way it …”

““One of the reasons there is a difference or variation among the 153 is that the amount of funding is very different. Some of them get 10 times the funding of others”.”

“Indeed, Professor Croisdale-Appleby accepted that there is variation across the 153 local healthwatch organisations. He did not seek to deny it, but he challenged the Government’s explanation for why that variation exists. He told the Committee:”

“The Government have relied heavily on another element of Dr Dash’s review—namely, that the performance of local healthwatch organisations is too variable to justify retaining the present statutory model. At first sight, that seems to be a reasonable criticism. If there is significant inconsistency across England, refor…”

“The Government repeatedly assure us that operational independence will remain, but operational independence is not the same as institutional independence. Indeed, that distinction was brought into sharp focus during our evidence sessions. Dr Rosie Benneyworth, the chief executive of HSSIB, explained why safe space matt…”

““Healthwatch Haringey plays an enormously important role in being a champion for the ecosystem within a locality. The Local Government Association is very concerned about some of the discussions.””

“That intervention deserves attention, because it did not come from an Opposition Member seeking to frustrate the Bill; it came from a Member on the Government Benches, recognising the contribution made by Healthwatch in her own community and the concerns expressed by local government about the proposals before us. The …”

““I do not see a conflict. I think they are complementary”.––[Official Report, Health Public Bill Committee, 16 June 2026; c. 5, Q3.]”

““to bring the voice of patients closer to the people who plan and deliver services.”—[Official Report, 1 June 2026; Vol. 786, c. 887.]”

“The concern has not come solely from Opposition Benches. On Second Reading, the hon. Member for Hornsey and Friern Barnet (Catherine West) intervened on the Secretary of State:”

“With respect to Dr Dash, that assertion does not answer the concern. Two organisations may be complementary; that does not mean they should become one. The police and the Crown Prosecution Service are complementary, as are the National Audit Office and the Treasury, and the air accidents investigation branch and the Ci…”

“I therefore put a series of questions directly to Dr Dash during our evidence session. I reminded her that the King’s Fund, Nuffield Trust and the Health Foundation appeared before the Health and Social Care Committee, and all three advised against bringing HSSIB into the CQC. I observed that no one apart from her and …”

“On a point of order, Sir Roger. I am a parliamentary patron and champion of Action on ME. I feel I ought to put that on the record, as we have an amendment on ME.”

“As my hon. Friend said earlier, the problem comes when this new body within the CQC has to investigate the CQC. In the oral evidence session, I asked Dr Dash what would happen if the problem was CQC, and she gave what is probably the most extraordinary answer out of the many extraordinary answers she gave. It is worth …”

“New clause 74 was tabled by the hon. Member for Rugby, and the hon. Member for Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket spoke to it. I have a lot of sympathy for what the hon. Member for Rugby is trying to achieve here. Clearly—I hope that I am not putting words in his mouth—he tabled it because he has similar scepticism about t…”

“T6. During the election, the Government promised to cut bills by £300; in fact, they have gone up by £300. With that level of financial acumen, the Secretary of State will fit right in, in his new job at the Treasury, but my constituents and local businesses want their bills cut now, not at some nebulous point in the f…”

“Before I address the clauses, I say for the record that 21 years ago this morning, 52 people were murdered and 784 injured by Islamist terrorists in London. I pay tribute to all the medical professionals who treated those people in such difficult circumstances. I will speak to clauses 59 to 63 together because they all…”

“There are some problems. The new clause mentions complaints but, although I fell into this trap when talking a moment ago, Healthwatch does not really deal with complaints; it raises issues and systemic failures that can be brought up through the system. Likewise, I am concerned that nothing in the new clause covers wh…”