Speeches by Smyth.

“We need to get to a state of being very clear what procedures we are talking about at different times. With the high-risk areas, once we get through that then they would be subject to the usual procedures about if something goes wrong. I am struggling a bit with what is behind that question in terms of recompense. We h…”

“I absolutely understand where the question is coming from, the need to educate the public about some of these risks and the horrors that we have seen, including deaths, and perhaps we will come on to this. But we need to get this right, and I am happy to bring in Aidan on some technicalities about what you ban and what…”

“First, can I say, Chair, thank you for inviting us? We made a really big announcement in August and I know it has been widely welcomed and there are a lot of questions to ask. It is complex—as I know your Committee has explored—and we are very pleased to be able to come today to share some of that, but also to hear fro…”

“It is a really important point, and officials working very closely with colleagues in Scotland has been really helpful in advance of us making the announcement back in August. Gavin might want to say a bit more about this, but it has been really helpful to share that and to work well together on that. Clearly health is…”

“That will also be true of some products themselves subject to what we are becoming accustomed to with regard to our role outside the European Union, and the need to work across an internal market in the United Kingdom.”

“How this works operationally for people is to be advised about. As I said, the advice is there on the NHS website and more detailed in those other guidance documents. We need to be guided by what works ordinarily, and sometimes that is not known to people. How would those who are not involved in practising medicine kno…”

“Yes. Obviously, this is a really important part of this work, and there is information available on the NHS website for people who are contemplating this. People should have all the relevant information about what the treatment involves, the benefits, the risks and where there are reasonable alternative treatments. Aid…”

“Indeed. I saw the college’s submission and obviously we want to work closely with it and we welcome its co-operation with working with this and I totally understand where it is coming from on this. In fact in August, when I announced this from Southmead Hospital in Bristol, it was the surgeons that were just delighted …”

“I am going to come to Aidan, but first though we worked with the college—”

“Again, that is the challenge that we are talking to people about right now; it is really helpful to have that aired and, if I may say so, for the Committee to raise that. We recognise that it is really challenging; it is like the proverbial onion is it not? You take away one part and there are more: the nature of the p…”

“Those are absolutely parts of the discussion which is why we cannot do something today. That is why we want to be realistic with the Committee and the public and the industry and local authorities and talk closely with them about this. Clearly we are in conversation with them all in advance of the announcement, which i…”

“Yes, which is why, as I said to Ms Niblett, we absolutely do recognise how important many of these businesses are, so we will have to balance that transition period coming forward. As I said, many of these industries are already paying for training their staff and are in well maintained premises and so they want to mak…”

“On that point, I agree with what Adian has identified. Part of the wider work will look at how much it costs and how large-scale it is, rather than on anecdote, to see whether we can build it into routine datasets. We will do that as part of the continuing work. Again, I come back to the importance of the work and anno…”

“Unless Aidan can tell me differently about the use of the word mandatory, I am not sure how to come forward on that. This is partly an MHRA issue around devices and so on.”

“To add to my earlier point, we are in a slightly different place because of Baroness Cumberlege’s work and the intervening time. I totally take your point about medical misogyny, and many of us would absolutely recognise it. My colleague, Baroness Merron, is working on the updated women’s health strategy. We are workin…”

“In terms of the Department of Health and Social Care, unless I am advised otherwise, I would need to come back to you on what the specific relationship is, if that is okay?”

“I cannot speak directly on that sphere; I am afraid it is beyond my particular purview. The Department will continue to make sure it works with the Advertising Standards Authority to make sure it knows what we are doing, which will obviously be important. As I said earlier, the link across DSIT, the Department for Educ…”

“More widely, it is not just a Department issue. You were alluding to young people; we are working closely with our colleagues across the Department for Education around mental health support in schools and so on. The advertising I referred to earlier—the linking with influencers—is an important role across government t…”

“As my right hon. Friend has just said, we have delivered on that commitment. The hon. Member talks about the reorganisation being a distraction. If her party had focused taxpayers’ money on patient services rather than ballooning bureaucracy, with costs increasing both among providers and through ICBs, we would not hav…”

“We know that there have been issues with the urgent emergency care response. We are absolutely committed to supporting ambulance trusts to continually improve the patient experience. The urgent emergency care plan for 2025-26 is backed by nearly £450 million of funding. I am happy to discuss that further with my hon. F…”