House of Commons
Tuesday 20 May 1997
The House met at half-past Two o'clock
PRAYERS
[Madam Speaker in the Chair]
Member Sworn
The following Member took and subscribed the Oath
Thomas Graham, esquire, West Renfrewshire.
Motion made,
To be considered on Tuesday 3 June.
That--
20 May 1997 : Column 490
(1) the Promoters of every Private Bill which originated in this House or was brought from the House of Lords in the last Parliament shall have leave to proceed with that Bill, if they think fit, in the present Session;
(2) every such Bill which originated in this House shall be presented to the House not later than the fifth day on which the House sits after this day;
(3) there shall be deposited with every Bill so presented a declaration signed by the Agent for the Bill, stating that the Bill is the same, in every respect, as the Bill at the last stage of its proceedings in this House in the last Parliament;
(4) every Bill so presented shall be laid by one of the Clerks in the Private Bill Office on the Table of the House on the next meeting of the House after the day on which the Bill was presented;
(5) every Bill so laid on the Table shall be deemed to have been read the first time and (if the Bill had been read a second time in the last Parliament) to have been read a second time and--
(i) if such Bill had been referred to the Committee on Unopposed Bills in the last Parliament, it shall stand so referred;
(ii) if such Bill had been referred to a Committee during the last Parliament and not reported by that Committee to the House, the Bill shall stand committed and--
(a) all Petitions against the Bill which stood referred to the Committee on the Bill shall stand referred to the Committee on the Bill in the present Session, subject to the determination of any outstanding objection to the locus standi of any petitioner; and
(b) any minutes of evidence taken before the Committee on the Bill shall stand referred to the Committee on the Bill in the present Session;
(iii) if such Bill had been reported by any Committee, it shall be ordered to be read the third time unless it had been reported with Amendments in the last Parliament and had not been considered as so amended, in which case it shall be ordered to lie upon the Table;
(iv) if such Bill had been read the third time in the last Parliament, it shall be deemed to have been read the third time;
(6) paragraph (2) of Standing Order 166 relating to Private Business (First reading) shall not apply to any Bill brought from the House of Lords in the present Session and to which this Order relates;
(7) when any Bill which was brought from the House of Lords in the last Parliament and to which this Order relates is brought from the House of Lords in the present Session, the Agent for the Bill shall deposit in the Private Bill Office a declaration, signed by him, stating that the Bill is the same, in every respect, as the Bill which was brought from the House of Lords in the last Parliament and, as soon as a certificate by one of the Clerks in the Private Bill Office that such a declaration has been so deposited has been laid upon the Table of the House--
(i) unless the Examiner had reported pursuant to Standing Order 74 relating to Private Business (Examination of bills brought from the House of Lords, etc.), the Bill shall stand referred to the Examiners;
(ii) if the Examiner had so reported, the Bill shall be ordered to be read a second time, or, if it had been read a second time, it shall be read a second time and committed; but
(iii) if the Bill had been reported by a Committee with Amendments in the last Parliament it shall be committed to the Chairman of Ways and Means who shall make only such Amendments to the Bill as had been made thereto by the Committee in the last Parliament, and shall report the Bill to the House forthwith, and the Bill shall be ordered to lie upon the Table;
(8) any Bill which under the provisions of this Order is deemed to have been read the first time, or the first and second time, or the first, second and third time, shall be recorded in the Journal of the House as having been so read;
(9) without prejudice to the provisions of paragraph (5) of this Order, only those Petitions against any Bill which stood referred to the Committee on the Bill and which had not been withdrawn or had been deposited pursuant to paragraph (b) of Standing Order 126 relating to Private Business (Reference to committee of petitions against bill) shall stand referred to the Committee on the same Bill in the present Session;
(10) in relation to any Bill to which this Order applies Standing Order 127 relating to Private Business (Right of audience before committees on opposed bills) shall have effect as if the words "under Standing Order 126 (Reference to committee of petitions against bill)" were omitted;
Hon. Members:
Object.
(11) where any Standing Order had been dispensed with in respect of any private Bill in the last Parliament, those Standing Orders shall be deemed to have been ordered to be dispensed with in respect of any such Bill presented or brought from the Lords in pursuance of this Order;
(12) any Standing Orders complied with in respect of any Bill originating in the House of Lords to which this Order relates shall be deemed to have been complied with in respect of such Bill if the same is brought from the House of Lords in the present Session, and any notices published or given and any deposits made in respect of such Bill in the last Parliament shall be held to have been published, given and made, respectively, for the Bill so brought from the House of Lords in the present Session;
(13) no further fees shall be charged in respect of proceedings on a Bill in respect of which fees have been incurred in the last Parliament.
That this Order be a Standing Order of the House.--[The Chairman of Ways and Means.]
HEALTH
Health Service Funding
1. Mr. Nicholas Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on his Department's funding priorities for the future of the NHS. [272]
The Secretary of State for Health (Mr. Frank Dobson): We are committed to raise spending on the national health service in real terms every year. We intend to ensure that every pound spent in the NHS provides maximum benefit to patients. That is why we are determined to end the internal market introduced by the previous Government, which has proved enormously expensive as well as unfair to patients and repugnant to members of both the medical and nursing professions.
Mr. Winterton: I congratulate the right hon. Gentleman on his appointment to one of the most important portfolios in the Government and I genuinely wish him well. I am sure he realises my total commitment to the health service in all the years that I have been a Member of Parliament. Will he therefore indicate whether he believes that the Government will be able to equal the 75 per cent. additional resources above inflation achieved by the last Government if they take into account the increasing needs of the elderly and the tremendous opportunities for the health service arising from the advancement of medical science and technology?
Mr. Dobson: I thank the hon. Gentleman for his kind words and pay tribute to the way in which he has always stuck up for the national health service, especially when he was Chairman of the Select Committee on Health. I can tell him that we are determined to end the endless reorganisations on which previous Governments have insisted, which have consumed vast amounts of resources and forced hard-working people in the NHS to reapply for their own jobs. We are determined to end the paperchase that the present system has introduced and to ensure that the resources that Parliament has voted are deployed to help patients rather than to bolster a bureaucracy.
Ms Abbott: When he considers his funding priorities for the health service, will my right hon. Friend take into account strong feelings in Hackney about the future of Bart's hospital, especially those about the Queen Elizabeth II children's hospital? As things stand, the Queen Elizabeth II may be closed before replacement facilities are fully on stream. Will he bear in mind local feeling?
Mr. Dobson: I will always bear in mind local feelings. I have already been approached by innumerable hon. Members on both sides of the House about local feelings about their local hospitals. We shall not be able to oblige everyone, but I can assure my hon. Friend that when we promised a review of health services in London, we meant that that would be a real review; it will not simply endorse the decisions of the previous Government.
Mr. Simon Hughes: The Secretary of State knows that I warmly welcome him and his team to their
responsibilities, and I warmly welcome their commitment to reduce the waiting list by 100,000 as a first step. Will a test of the success of this Administration be that that target is met in the next 12 months; and, if not by then, by when?
Mr. Dobson: Our commitment was, first, to reduce spending on bureaucracy in the health service. We have instructed the chief executive of the health service, and he has accepted the instruction, to reduce spending on administration by £100 million in the current financial year. That money will be deployed in helping people on the waiting list and, specifically, in reducing the waiting list for cancer treatment. Beyond that, I am never going to stand at the Dispatch Box and make promises that I am not sure that I can keep.
Mr. Dobson: I am being barracked by the Secretary of State--[Laughter.]--the Secretary of State who left us with an inheritance of lengthening waiting lists, increasing waiting times, 36 health authorities in debt, 111 health trusts in debt, a shortage of nurses and a shortage of doctors; and he asks me to start setting artificial deadlines. What a cheek.
Audrey Wise: While I congratulate my right hon. Friend on his appointment, may I recommend that he considers the recent Select Committee reports on children's health, which contained many helpful suggestions, and urge him to ensure that we improve the care given to sick children, especially in relation to the availability of qualified children's nurses for home care?
Mr. Dobson: I can give that undertaking. We are keen to do all we can to implement the Select Committee's recommendations about children's health.
Mr. Horam: On the promises that the right hon. Gentleman might keep, does he recall that the Labour party made a specific promise to eliminate mixed-sex wards? Does he have a plan to do that? Will he publish the plan and, if so, when?
Mr. Dobson: I understand that the Government who have just left office promised to get rid of mixed-sex wards. We have made inquiries about the progress that has been made. As far as we can see, under the programme that they left us with, in very many hospitals there was no possibility of eliminating mixed-sex wards in the 20th century. We will speed up that process.
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