Speeches by Robertson.

“I will make a little progress and then I will be happy to give way. The National Council for Voluntary Organisations estimates that the overall cost of the money taken from charities and transferred into the Treasury will be £1.4 billion. That is money being taken from charitable sources and transferred into the Treasu…”

“I agree with both those points. Charities tell us that the change will be the straw that breaks the camel’s back for many. I know that because, immediately before entering Parliament, I worked for a nursing charity supporting dementia carers. The Government know the pressure created by the national insurance contributi…”

“I thank the Minister for coming here to address the arguments that have been made, particularly as they were about a set of decisions that were not made by her personally or by her Department. I thank her for assuring Members in this debate that she will go back and make strong representations to her colleagues. There …”

“I will give some examples before I give way to my hon. Friend. The change will cost Marie Curie almost £3 million a year, and it says that without further support critical services for the terminally ill may be scaled back. Hospices throughout the country will pay between £30 million and £50 million a year. For the Mou…”

“I agree with the hon. Member. Broadly speaking, Age UK operates as small charities in individual communities. Age UK in the Isle of Wight, where my constituency is, also faces paying tens of thousands of pounds. On a national scale, that might not seem like much money, but it makes a huge difference at the local level …”

“I do agree. It looks like the Government do not understand that healthcare is delivered not only by the NHS, so when they chose to exempt the NHS from the damaging rises, they either did not understand or had disregard for all the other healthcare providers, without which the NHS could not function properly.”

“I agree that the Minister needs to go back and do that. That is why I secured the debate. The chief executive of Crisis said: “Increasing employers’ National Insurance contributions will have a dreadful impact on charities at a time when we are seeing unprecedented demand for our services.” Some 75% of charities are re…”

“I give way to my right hon. Friend the Member for Beverley and Holderness (Graham Stuart).”

“I will make a little progress and then come back to the hon. Gentleman. Most charities are suffering as they try to raise charitable funds, yet the Government have decided to take some of those charitable funds for themselves. For charities that support older people, such as Age UK, the simultaneous impact of the withd…”

“It is not for me to do your job, Secretary of State. I am asking you to justify your decisions. Can you give assurances to health and social care providers that are not the NHS—GPs, pharmacies, social care, hospices—that you will return the money you are taking from them through the Budget via national insurance contri…”

“You have pledged £26 billion to the NHS and just 2.5% of that—£600 million—to social care. With respect, I think it is misleading to say “£26 billion for health and social care”. The vast majority—98%—is for the NHS, which is not the same as health and social care. Can you give GPs—”

“Good morning, Secretary of State. It is good to see you. I have some questions on the national insurance contributions levied on employers in the Budget. At the beginning of this session, you said health and social care is facing the worst crisis in history. In hindsight, do you think it is probably the wrong time to t…”

“Can we just be clear that the £26 billion is not for health and social care? It is for the NHS. Those two terms are not interchangeable. GPs will not benefit from the £22 billion for day-to-day spending, nor will social care, pharmacy or hospice. Unless your announcement pledges money to GPs, can you give any assurance…”

“I am saying: return the money to healthcare providers, instead of taking with one hand and giving with the other. Returning to hospital to community, you are giving some tantalising suggestions that there will be something coming down the road. You talk about doing it in a timely way. A timely way for you and the Depar…”

“Can we take early in the new year to be January?”

“We are talking about less than £250 million to return to GPs, pharmacies and hospices. That is a drop in the ocean for the Treasury, but a huge pressure on GPs. I would suggest that they are more likely to agree with me than you.”

“Thank you.”

“I think £250 million is a drop in the ocean for the Treasury, and I think GPs, pharmacists and hospices would agree with me. Can I ask you about the Darzi report? Darzi says that to deliver hospital to community and treatment to prevention, you need to hardwire changes in the system by adjusting financial incentives. D…”

“So how is levying tax on community providers, but not on acute trusts, incentivising hospital to community and treatment to prevention? How is that incentivising moving from acute to community?”

“When?”