Speeches by Smyth.

“Put simply, the answer to the hon. Lady’s questions is that we are not seeking to change other aspects. The CQC wants to get to points as soon as possible, so the 12-month period has not been changed. The function of clause 63 is merely to recognise the issues around the three years and to change that to five years. We…”

“I think that the record will show that I have taken several interventions in recent days, and I will continue to do so. I have been very clear that we have some fundamental disagreements on philosophy and approach. I will desperately try not to veer into the next groups, but it may be tricky. I am sure that you will st…”

“Apologies—I missed the exact question as to what needed to be changed. Could the hon. Lady repeat that?”

“I am just computing that in my brain. Can I seek clarification on that?”

“The 10-year health plan reaffirms the Government’s commitment to families affected by bereavement or serious harm, ensuring that lessons are learned from their experience and that more cases are fully reviewed and acted on. Families seek closure following serious harm to or the death of a loved one by wanting to unders…”

“I am going to try to go through these points because I have listened carefully to everybody’s contributions. If there is something outstanding, I will be happy to come back to it. To answer some of the direct questions that were put to me about the Dash review, I do not recall anybody particularly disagreeing with its …”

“I thank my hon. Friend for making the intention of her comments clear to the Committee. It is right that we need to build trust in patient voice and experience. We will pick up on that in our debate on local healthwatch branches, because that is perhaps where Members of Parliament are particularly important. At a natio…”

“These are minor and technical amendments. Government amendments 20 to 22 make changes to the Armed Forces Act 2006 to remove references to NHS England, reflecting that NHS England will be abolished. Those amendments are consequential to the Armed Forces Bill 2026. Government amendment 83 makes changes to the Children’s…”

“As the UK resilience action plan sets out, we are living through a period of profound change. Ensuring that our institutions are clear in what they must do to prepare for, respond to and recover from emergencies is essential. With that mind, the clause is necessary. It clarifies the existing duties on NHS trusts under …”

“Question put, That the clause stand part of the Bill.”

“Clause 64 ordered to stand part of the Bill.”

“I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.”

“Again, we have had an important discussion, particularly around the issue of independence; I accept that it is difficult and that there are arguments on both sides. We have heard a lot about Professor Croisdale-Appleby’s evidence on behalf of Healthwatch. I made this argument on Second Reading: we have had this arrange…”

“To ensure that these new arrangements are a success, effective oversight and transparency will be critical. That is already a key consideration in establishing the patient experience directorate, and the Bill includes additional key safeguards. First, integrated care boards will be required to publish an annual stateme…”

“I am grateful to the hon. Member for North Shropshire for bringing this discussion before the Committee. I put on record our thanks for the work she has done in this area and for her engagement with me, and indeed with officials at the Department, to help us understand it more clearly, particularly in the light of the …”

“At a national level, as part of the regulatory function of local authority adult social care commissioning, the CQC will also look at whether the statutory functions of local authorities are being met. Additionally, the Secretary of State will have a new power to direct ICBs on the exercise of their functions if that i…”

“I thank the hon. Lady for her comments. The purpose of the new clauses is to support our life sciences and medicine sector, in order to make that more streamlined. She will be aware of the proposals about the negative and affirmative procedure. If there were particular issues of scrutiny, normal parliamentary rules and…”

“My hon. Friend the Member for Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket spoke to new clause 74, which was tabled by my hon. Friend the Member for Rugby. That new clause raises some important issues around transparency, which I am passionate about and have often spoken about. The new patient experience directorate within the refor…”

“The existing complaints regulations allow people to make a formal complaint to providers of services or to a commissioner of services, and ultimately to the appropriate ombudsman. Healthwatch has no statutory role in relation to complaints, so the abolition of Healthwatch services will therefore not affect the complain…”

“Clause 65 and schedule 10 will abolish the current local healthwatch arrangements and place responsibility for gathering the views of local people firmly with the bodies with the clearest levers to act: integrated care boards and local authorities. At present, many organisations are gathering views, running engagement …”