Speeches by Murray.

“I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend. He is absolutely right to point to the record investment that this Labour Government are putting in, not just for the day-to-day running of the health service, but the critical capital investment, after the capital budget was starved for so many years under the Conservative party…”

“The 10-year health plan committed to our ambition to reduce sickness absence from 5.1%, which it was in July 2025, to the lowest recorded level in the NHS, at approximately 4.1%. As I set out in my earlier remarks, staff standards cover health and wellbeing, line management, flexible working, tackling violence and raci…”

“To talk about the shift towards prevention, I think prevention varies depending on what we are seeking to prevent. With certain aspects of lifestyle and determinants of ill health, we know better what we need to do. Smoking is a good example, where we have the Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026 and a long history of using taxa…”

“Before I come in, can I check whether Sam wanted to come in on that very briefly?”

“For me, that work with the DWP and with Alan Milburn and the work that he has been doing is absolutely critical, not just for NEETs and making sure we help young people into work, but to help young people with the rise of mental ill health among them at the moment and the broader pressure on mental health services acro…”

“That is where we need more focus in the future. I am clear that the headline—the moonshot, if you like—about making sure we have the healthiest generation ever and, as you quoted, reducing the epidemic of obesity, is the right thing to focus on. In terms of what levers we use and what outcomes we want specifically want…”

“On community, again, certain parts of it are more defined, while other parts are less defined. I think that the overall idea is something that everyone agrees with—I do not think that anyone would disagree that having more health services delivered closer to people in the community, rather than in hospitals or acute se…”

“I think the principle is very ingrained in what we do. I know it is a slightly different thing, but we were talking about the tech investment earlier. That is £10 billion in tech over the next three years with £41 billion of benefits over the next decade. I think the principle about investing up front to reduce costs o…”

“I suppose one of the reasons why I started with technology is that, in some ways, the path on that is the most defined, because we know some of the big programmes that will bring great benefit. The challenge is to make sure that, first, those programmes are rolled out right across the country and we get the local area—”

“I am not going to give it an exact rating like that. It would be too much of a simplistic response for me to give, but I can talk about it in detail.”

“To come back quickly on that wi-fi point, because it is a serious one, one of the things that I have done as Secretary of State is to draw together the oversight of all the tech programmes right across the NHS. One part of our work is to look at the minimum foundations that trusts need to be able to take on board those…”

“Very quickly, I don’t think it is fair to say that the Department has not given it a second thought since, because I think that if you look at everything it has been doing around nutrient profile modelling and pushing for bans on advertising, all those are really important steps forward. I think that it is not credible…”

“RAG rate the three shifts—it is a tricky one when you say, “Pick your favourite of your three children.””

“Thanks for having me along to the Committee this morning. Having seen it from both sides, I recognise that the extra investment put into the health service and into social care as a result of decisions that the Chancellor has taken in the first two years of Government has been critical to improving the performance of t…”

“We are clear about what the likely ranges are—”

“With respect, Alex, the 10-year health plan sets out the broad target. If you are talking about a specific target, I think it is right to have the specific levers that we would use to get there clearly laid out. Work has happened around—as I mentioned—nutrient profile modelling and the bans on advertising certain foods…”

“The point I was making is that the work is twofold: one part is making sure we have more mental health provision, so that people on waiting lists can get seen, but it is also about saying to some young people that going on the CAMHS waiting list may not be the right thing for them.”

“As I said earlier in my comments, when it comes to obesity, prevention is the part we need to focus on more—”

“I am sure it will look at the careers of people working in social care, because the workforce is so critical—it would be very hard to consider the future of social care without considering the workforce. I am not being deliberately evasive on this; it is an important principle that if you have got an independent commis…”

“I think that is the right question to be asking—”