Speeches by Streeting.

“When any of us travel abroad, we expect to take out travel insurance and pay for our healthcare needs overseas, and that is the standard that we expect for visitors to our country. We have lots more to do to improve on that front. I deplore the comments made by the hon. Gentleman’s party leader, who said that he does n…”

“This Government are taking a hard-headed approach to cutting waiting times. We are investing an extra £26 billion in our NHS, and where the independent sector has spare capacity, we will pay to get NHS patients treated faster and free at the point of use. So far, our approach to investment and reform has cut waiting li…”

“I have said it before, and I will say it again: the NHS will be privatised over my dead body. This party founded the NHS as a publicly funded public service, free at the point of use. We use the independent sector to cut waiting lists, and guess what? The SNP-led Government in Scotland do the same thing. We have made i…”

“GPs are at the front door to our NHS. Today, I can announce that we are supporting more than 1,000 surgeries across the country to modernise their buildings, backed by more than £102 million—the biggest public investment in GP facilities for five years. Following years of neglect, this vital funding will create additio…”

“I would be delighted to do so. Since we came into government, we have made this announcement today, put £889 million into general practice and agreed a contract with GPs, including reform for patient access and services. We are fixing the front door to the NHS, but of course that will take time. We recruited 1,500 more…”

“I thank the shadow Minister for her constructive question. I would be delighted to hear more about that initiative. She is absolutely right about timely access to medicines, and through a combination of service reform and the modernisation of technology, we can assist clinicians and patients to help them to manage thei…”

“I will tell the hon. Lady what we are not going to do: we are not going to see £1.7 billion wasted on strikes by resident doctors or 1.5 million cancelled operations and appointments, which is exactly what happened on the Conservatives’ watch. Within three weeks, we ended the strike by resident doctors and we have cut …”

“Dates for meetings with the commission are now a matter for the independent commission.”

“The funding is still there, but as many people have urged me, including the right hon. Gentleman, we are taking the decision to give more freedom and flexibility to independent care boards, systems and providers to determine how they can best spend NHS resources on services to improve patient care, safety and outcomes.…”

“We are absolutely convinced that better use of digital tools will enable us to reduce the number of missed appointments significantly and factor in the likelihood of no-shows, so that we can reduce waste and eliminate inefficiency. I understand the case for penalties that the hon. Gentleman is making, but that is not a…”

“We are committed to the mental health investment standard. That has been consistent and will be delivered for the coming year. On the overall proportion of spend in mental health as part of the overall NHS baseline, I hope to see it rise over the course of the Parliament, but—”

“Yes. They are certainly available, and the Library would have those figures, but I am happy to share those with the Committee.”

“However, it has to be seen in the context of the £26 billion the Chancellor allocated to health and social care, which kicks in this week, much of which is directed towards many things that we committed to at the last election, including the serious amount of investment going into our elective reform plan and the wider…”

“I will say a couple of things. First, my Department and the Department for Work and Pensions have a good working relationship, including a joint health and work team, doing some innovative things—the WorkWell initiative and some of the work that we are developing together in the context of the forthcoming spending revi…”

“There will be a bit of both. Against the backdrop of the challenges, we cannot afford the luxury of double-running things all over the shop. That is part of the reason why we are going after unnecessary duplication. In different parts of the country—you will have seen the front pages in recent days—we are beginning to …”

“I will say a few things and then bring Jim Mackey in. First, ICBs are here to stay. There is not going to be an NHS reform bill that abolishes ICBs. As Jim alluded to in the HSJ, we have encountered a demand against the reductions that we have asked ICBs to make in the attempt to go after duplication and the challenge …”

“No specific date, but it will take up to two years. In the meantime, I am mindful that in doing something of this nature, when and how information is conveyed is a challenge. In any organisation I have ever worked in where I have either been part of a restructure or led a restructure, we would never have handled the pr…”

“We are looking at this as a process over up to two years. That does not mean that that will be when everything is done. There is a process, of bringing teams and the organisation together, and reducing headcount, which will start in the coming months. Although there is much that we can do with changes to primary legisl…”

“No. Certainly not.”

“It depends on the issue. I am glad you asked that question, because it is important for me to underscore this, as the person who has been in this chair for the last nine months. When I think of my team or the team I am responsible for, I don’t just think about the Department of Health and Social Care. I think about the…”