Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Topical Questions

Tuesday 23 June 2020 · 3 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 3 Partly answered 0 Not answered 0

Key points

  • Jon Ashworth questioned the Secretary of State about local testing issues in Leicester, receiving a response that emphasized the importance of local outbreak control.
  • Munira Wilson inquired about the delay in bringing forward a White Paper on mental health, to which the Secretary of State committed to proceed with the work and highlighted the Wessely review as significant.
  • Simon Baynes discussed the importance of combating loneliness, especially for elderly people, receiving agreement from the Secretary of State who noted the relevance of the issue due to the impact of the pandemic.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Jon Ashworth Lab Leicester South
NHS
Context

The shadow Secretary of State questions the efficacy of the test and trace strategy.

Question

In recent days, I have been listening to excuses from the Secretary of State. He is like Eric Morecambe in that he plays all the right notes but not necessarily in the right order. Local areas such as Leicester still do not have local data; GPs cannot refer people for testing; NHS staff are not tested regularly; and tracers at a Serco and Sitel call centre say they have nothing to do. This is not world-beating, it's like a wing and a prayer. When will we get a functional test, trace and isolate strategy?

Answer from Matthew Hancock (The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care)

The shadow Secretary of State is far better when he supports the Government than when he pretends to oppose them. We have seen him explaining why steps taken by the Government are sensible, why it's important to move from a national lockdown as much as possible to local outbreak control, and why test and trace is important. When he criticises spending on protecting the NHS and implementing actions needed to exit lockdown as wasted money, that appears to be opposition for its own sake.

Answered

Not addressed: The inefficacy of current testing and tracing measures

How: Shifts Blame, Personal Attack

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Q2 Munira Wilson Lib Dem Redcar
Women & Equalities Mental Health
Context

Wilson addresses the Secretary of State about racial disparities under the Mental Health Act.

Question

The Secretary of State rightly says that black lives matter. The time for action is now, yet latest figures show that black African and black Caribbean people are four times more likely to be detained under the Mental Health Act. When will he bring forward the White Paper on the mental health Bill? Will he please ensure that that legislation enshrines the four principles laid out in the Wessely review, including treating the patient as an individual, so that we can start to tackle racial disparities in mental health treatment?

Answer from The Secretary of State (Matthew Hancock)

We will bring forward that White Paper. The work has been ongoing even while we have been dealing with coronavirus. As far as I am concerned, the Wessely review is one of the finest pieces of work on the treatment of mental ill health that has been done anywhere in the world.

Answered
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Q3 Simon Baynes Con Bromley and Chislehurst
NHS
Context

Baynes highlights the importance of combatting loneliness for elderly people during Loneliness Awareness Week.

Question

We have just marked Loneliness Awareness Week. Does the Secretary of State agree that combating loneliness is vital in ensuring the health and wellbeing of elderly people? I have seen excellent work at the Rainbow Centre in Penley in my constituency and by the charity I helped to set up, the Concertina Charitable Trust, which provides live music in care homes and day centres.

Answer from The Secretary of State (Matthew Hancock)

Absolutely. When we set up the loneliness strategy in 2018, when I was the Culture Secretary, I had no idea that covid-19 would make it so vital. I very much hope that, in England at least, the measures the Prime Minister is due to set out very shortly might help in that regard. Covid has underlined the importance of loneliness as an issue that we must directly and actively tackle.

Answered
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