| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
Smokers (Health Care Charges)
15. Mr. Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield): If he will introduce a system of health care charges for smokers before they receive NHS treatment. [77713]
The Minister for Public Health (Ms Tessa Jowell): The Government have no plans to introduce such a system. I am quite sure that my hon. Friend needs no reminding that to do so would be in breach of the founding principles of the NHS: it is open to all regardless of income; it treats sick people when they need treatment because they need treatment, not because of why they need treatment.
Mr. Sheerman: I know that, like me, my right hon. Friend wants not to penalise smokers but to help them liberate themselves from a disgusting habit that damages their health and future. Does she agree that it is worrying that, after many years of decline in smoking, the use of tobacco is increasing again, especially among young people, and particularly women? Will she stand up to all the pressures on her, unlike the previous Secretary of State for Health, the right hon. Member for South-West Surrey (Mrs. Bottomley), who, even in the face of a recommendation from three Cabinet Ministers, including the Deputy Prime Minister, would not ban tobacco advertising?
Ms Jowell: I have seen the reports, to which my hon. Friend refers, of the right hon. Member for South-West Surrey (Mrs. Bottomley) not supporting a ban on tobacco advertising. We know that our strategy against smoking, particularly to reduce smoking among young people, will
not work unless we ban tobacco advertising, which is why we will ban tobacco advertising. We know that smoking is the single greatest cause of health inequality. We know that the right hon. Lady, when she was Secretary of State, banned the term "inequality" in the Department of Health. It is therefore not surprising that she refused to take measures to reduce inequality in health. We will tackle smoking and we will reduce health inequality.
Mr. John Bercow (Buckingham): I warmly congratulate the Minister on her reply to the original question. Does she agree that there is no reason on earth why smokers, of whom I ceased to be one on 25 June 1986, should pay an extra tax for NHS treatment, given that they contribute approximately six times more to the Exchequer than they cost the NHS in treatment for smoking-related illnesses? Does she agree furthermore, that if she were so foolish--which she is not--to pursue the pernicious nostrum recommended by the hon. Member for Huddersfield (Mr. Sheerman), she would in all logic have to extend it to people suffering from alcohol-related illnesses or, indeed, avoidable obesity?
Ms Jowell: I have from time to time wondered how the hon. Gentleman might be an example to the young people of this nation: this afternoon, he has revealed to the House that young people can admire him for the fact that he gave up smoking.
Ms Gisela Stuart (Birmingham, Edgbaston): I congratulate my right hon. Friend on her commitment to reduce smoking among young people, particularly women. Will she congratulate Birmingham health authority on its tremendous work and commitment to make Birmingham a smoke-free city by 2005?
Ms Jowell: I am delighted to join my hon. Friend in congratulating the leadership shown in Birmingham in declaring itself a smoke-free city. We hope that, as we implement the agreement to extend smoke-free public places, other cities will enjoy the benefits that the people of Birmingham are enjoying.
Modernising Government
3.30 pm
The Minister for the Cabinet Office (Dr. Jack Cunningham): Madam Speaker, with permission, I should like to make a statement on the modernising government White Paper, which I am publishing today. Copies will be available in the Vote Office when I sit down. The White Paper sets out the Government's vision of public service into the next millennium. It provides new directions for change. It is also a clear statement that government must be responsive to the public and that policies and services must be shaped around people's needs.
Modernisation is a hallmark of this Government. We are reforming the welfare and criminal justice systems, rebuilding the national health service, raising standardsin schools and restructuring our democratic and constitutional framework. To achieve those goals, we must also modernise the way in which government itself works. It is modernisation with a purpose: to make life better for people and for business, too.
The White Paper is based around five principles: first, policy that is forward looking and able to deliver outcomes that matter, and not simply short-term in its aims. Policy must tackle causes, not symptoms, and be measured by results, rather than activity. Policies must be designed around shared goals, not just organisational structures. Policy making must also reflect the needs of different groups--women, older people, ethnic minorities and people with disabilities among them. We want a wider input into policy making from those who deliver it and those who are affected by it.
New initiatives in the White Paper include the new Centre for Management and Policy Studies, identifying and spreading good practice in policy making; joint training for Ministers and officials in policy making; and a drive to remove unnecessary regulation and ensure that future regulations are necessary and proportionate. Where Departments are preparing policies that impose regulatory burdens, high-quality regulatory impact assessments must be submitted to Ministers and agreed by the Cabinet Office before decisions are taken.
The Government also intend, when parliamentary time allows, to increase the flexibility of the Deregulation and Contracting Out Act 1994 to facilitate deregulatory action.
Secondly, public services should meet the needs of citizens, and not just at the convenience of the service providers. People are rightly impatient with ineffective and inconvenient services that stem simply from the way in which government is organised. They should not have to worry about what part of government they are dealing with. They want services that are joined up and responsive to their needs. People are used to private sector services being available when they want them. The Government are committed to delivering public services 24 hours a day, seven days a week, where there is demand.
The modernising government White Paper sets out action to reduce obstacles to joined-up working, commits government to working through local partnerships and one-stop shops to achieve those services and includes clear commitments to making common life episodes, which we all experience, less bureaucratic and less burdensome.
The third principle is that of delivering high-quality public services and not tolerating mediocrity. The Government are committed to ensuring that our public services are innovative, effective and efficient. Some of our public services are outstanding. Others simply are not good enough. We intend to bring them up to the level of the best and make sure that the best get even better. I emphasise that we are not prepared to tolerate mediocrity of the kind that we inherited from the previous Administration.
We are committed to quality and continuous improvement of services, and we will use competition to deliver improvement, but the Government will not make the mistake of rigidly preferring private sector delivery over public sector, or vice versa. Instead, we will review all central and local government department services and activities over the next five years to identify the best supplier in each case.
In addition, we will set up "learning labs", encouraging new ways of working by front-line staff by suspending rules and removing red tape that stifles innovation, and, as part of our focus on delivery, we will ask all permanent secretaries to ensure that their Departments have the capacity to drive through achievement of the key Government targets and to take personal responsibility for ensuring that that happens.
Fourthly, we will develop government for the information age. The Government intend that, within three years, people will be able electronically to look for work and be matched to job vacancies; submit tax returns and VAT returns; access health care advice through NHS Direct; apply for regional business support grants; be paid by government for goods and services, and notify different parts of government of details, such as change of address, through one transaction.
Looking ahead, we propose that 100 per cent. of dealings with government should be capable of electronic delivery by 2008. We will achieve that by developing a corporate information technology strategy for government, establishing frameworks across government on issues such as digital signatures, smart cards and websites.
Government must also serve those who feel excluded from developments in information technology. We will ensure that information age government increases the choice of how citizens and businesses receive services, and not restrict it. We must also address people's concern that information technology could lead to "big brother" government. Our belief is that data protection should be an objective of information age government, and not an obstacle to it.
Fifthly, the Government will value public service, not denigrate it. The public service must be the agent of the changes identified throughout the White Paper. We must make sure that it is properly equipped to rise to the challenge and properly rewarded for success. We will remove unnecessary bureaucracy which prevents public servants from experimenting, innovating and delivering a better product. We want staff at all levels to contribute to evaluating policies and services, and to put forward ideas about how they might be improved. We will explore the scope for financial rewards for staff who identify financial savings or service improvements.
The public service must also reflect the full diversity of society. At present, it does not. The White Paper therefore includes a range of measures--linked to tough new
targets--to tackle the under-representation of women, people from ethnic minority groups and people with disabilities in the senior ranks of the public service.
The Government will develop a civil service for the 21st century. We will provide incentives for innovation and collaborative working. We will bring in morepeople from outside, open up recruitment, and create opportunities for able, younger staff to be promoted more quickly. We will bring together key players from across the public sector to exchange experience and work more closely together.
The White Paper is a programme for the whole of the public sector--local government, central Government, the health service--and we have worked closely with them all in developing it. We want to mobilise all the public sector's resources to achieve the outcomes that people want from government.
| Next Section
| Index | Home Page |