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Showing every spoken contribution, including 12,832 under 12 words. Hide short remarks
She did. As she will know, the content of ministerial answers to questions and contributions on the Floor of the House is not a matter for the Chair, but those on the Government Front Bench will have noted her remarks. If any correction to the record is necessary because of an inadvertent error, I am sure it will be forthcoming.
This is clearly a very unfortunate incident, and full transparency is essential. Does the Minister have a view on what the overall cost of the incident was to the UK economy? If the Government do not have that figure at the moment, will he update the House on that separately? What plans do the Government have, working with industry, to compensate affected passengers? There will have been all manner of costs borne by those who were unable to fly, and I am sure that collectively, they run into millions of pounds.
Bromsgrove continues to grind to a halt because of Worcestershire county council’s disastrous delivery of a local transport scheme, BREP—the Bromsgrove route enhancement programme. The scheme is backed by tens of millions of pounds of central Government funding. I recently wrote to the Transport Secretary with 34 questions that my constituents want answers to, and I received a reply that, frankly, did not answer a single one. I have resubmitted a letter to the Transport Secretary imploring her to answer questions. I am sure that I am often an irritant to the Government—whether through my campaign to protect Bromsgrove’s green belt or on this matter—but I make a plea to the Leader of the House: will he press the Transport Secretary to support me in seeking answers in the interests of my constituents?
Many of my constituents work at Heathrow airport. They have had to work extra hours, as the right hon. Member for Hayes and Harlington (John McDonnell) mentioned, and they have suffered abuse, too. I put on record my appreciation for all that they have done. Even more of my constituents use Heathrow for business travel and social travel. Some will have insurance, but others will not. What advice is the Department giving to those people who have been affected on claiming compensation and alternative opportunities for travel? Has he set up a hotline, for example, whereby people can phone in and get advice immediately?
Since the changes, we have been inundated with requests from Select Committees to have statements in the House, which I welcome. Next Tuesday, before the two debates that have been scheduled, there will be Select Committee statements on the Treasury and Public Accounts Committee reports. I know that the Leader of the House will share my concern about the debate on Baby Loss Awareness Week being scheduled for the first day back after recess, following what happened last year, when the number of Government statements meant that the debate took place late at night and it was difficult for many Members to contribute. We thought long and hard before allocating the debate and approaching the sponsors, who were insistent that they wanted the debate on the first day back. I hope that the Leader of the House will again provide protected time and prevail on his colleagues not to have too many Government statements, so that we can have a reasonable debate on the subject. In addition, there are potentially another five Select Committee statements to come forward in the next few weeks, which I once again welcome. If we are offered 22 October, we have potential debates ready to go. In Westminster Hall, on Tuesday there will be a debate on building safety remediation of residential buildings. On Tuesday 13 October there will be a debate on the future of the UK coach industry. On Thursday 15 October there will be a Select Committee statement from the Joint Committee on Human Rights, followed by debates on support for unpaid carers and on the progress towards a smokefree UK. On Tuesday 20 October there will be a debate on manufacturing skills. On Thursday 22 October there will be a debate on compensation for Equitable Life policyholders. I am sure that the whole House will recognise the importance of hospital radio across the country. It gives great comfort to patients, through the music, the discussions and the news, particularly when people are suffering in hospital. I am pleased to say that Radio Brockley, which operates at the Royal National Orthopaedic hospital in my constituency, will be celebrating its 60th anniversary next month, before we come back from recess. It is the longest-running hospital radio station in London. Indeed, we have volunteers who have served for more than 40 years, giving their service to that hospital. I am sure that the Leader of the House will join me in congratulating Radio Brockley on this wonderful anniversary. Perhaps we could have a statement in Government time on the importance of hospital radio in the health service and the benefits it brings to patients and staff.
I thank the Secretary of State for his statement and welcome him to his place. I also welcome the ongoing commitment to defend Ukraine. In his statement, he reaffirmed the UK’s commitment to providing more than 120,000 drones to Ukraine this year, which I very much welcome. He also mentioned the recent plot to sabotage a UK drone factory. What action is being taken to ensure that UK manufacturing facilities are safe and secure, and if any action is required, who is funding that?
I welcome the Defence Secretary to his place. Romanian, Polish and Latvian airspace have all been violated by the Putin regime in the last year, and Russian drones are regularly shot down over NATO territory, yet the threshold for a NATO response is far too high. That only encourages Russia’s recklessness and probing of us, and it means that the risk of miscalculation by Russia, or of an attack on us, becomes much higher. Will the Defence Secretary commit to working with us to increase the number of article 4 referrals put forward, so that we crack down on this? If we do not pay any attention to those violations or dismiss them, we only increase the risk and the consequences to us, and we do not deter future threats.
I welcome the Minister to his post. I very much look forward to him updating the House on his negotiating mandate and his conversations with the European trade commissioner. Earlier this summer, the Prime Minister said that it would be wrong to rerun divisive arguments about rejoining the EU, but, soon after, the Minister refused to rule out rejoin being an option in the next Labour manifesto. Will he tell the House: will Labour rule out rejoin featuring in its next manifesto? [Interruption.]
It is perfectly reasonable to rule things out. The Minister has had plenty of time to talk to No. 10 since his interview on Sky. I am sure the Labour party would rule out many things at this stage—I am sure it would rule out leaving the European convention on human rights, getting rid of net-zero targets and bringing back the death penalty—so why is it so hard for the Minister and the Government to rule out rejoining the EU?
Over the summer, the Prime Minister announced that mayors will keep a proportion of income tax receipts. Why will mayors like Conservative Mayor Ben Houchen not be allowed to use that money to cut taxes or offer rebates to local residents and businesses?
I thank the right hon. Lady for her answer, but she did not answer my question. My question was about the income tax receipts that Ben Houchen will be allowed to retain. Over the summer, she said that he would not be allowed to use that to give rebates to local individuals and businesses. At the moment, councils already have the power to levy council tax discounts and business rate discounts. Why can mayors not do the same with income tax receipts?
With permission, I would like to provide the House with a brief update on the additional pressures on health this summer as a result of the heat, the action our NHS has taken in response, and some of the next steps the Department is taking on investment and reform to help our NHS improve its resilience and performance in the face of new health challenges. Before I do that, let me say, as I did last night, what a pleasure and honour it is to be back at this Dispatch Box as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, 27 years after I first became a Health Minister under the last Labour Government. While there have been many changes in health and healthcare in the last quarter century, the values that underpin our NHS—care and compassion for all of us, based on need and not the ability to pay—are the best of British values, and they have endured through generations. What has also endured is the incredible dedication of NHS and social care staff. As a result of their work and with the support of this Government, and despite record health demand, we have seen millions of additional appointments; record numbers of patients receiving treatment; waiting lists down by 350,000 in two years; ambulance and A&E waiting times down in the winter; thousands of extra doctors, nurses and mental health workers in place; and patient satisfaction with access to GP services up to 75% from 61% two years ago. Alongside recognising the dedication of NHS staff, I want to recognise the impact that covid had on staff across our NHS and social care and the pressures they faced. They were there for us then and we should not forget that now. That is one reason why it makes me incredibly angry that the figures show that one in seven NHS workers have faced violence and abuse while doing their job, and the figure is much higher in emergency care. That is a disgrace, and I hope I speak for the whole House when I say to those staff: we are on your side and we will always stand up for you. Let me pay tribute to my immediate predecessors in this role, my right hon. Friends the Members for Ilford North (Wes Streeting) and for Ealing North (James Murray). I also pay tribute to the work of other Health Ministers over the last two years who together have commissioned the Darzi report, drawn up the NHS 10-year plan and the cancer plan—for which I pay particular tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for West Lancashire (Ashley Dalton)—and driven the additional investment, reforms and improvements in performance we have seen in the last two years. I want to focus on the immediate pressures on health that our NHS has faced, exacerbated by the summer heat. We have experienced what has officially been registered as the hottest summer on record, with five heatwaves, 40 days of temperatures above 30° and extremes that we now expect to be the new normal because of the impact of climate change. During May and June of this year, it is estimated that there were more than 2,800 excess deaths. To put that in perspective, it is almost twice as many as the 1,500 heat-related deaths during the entire summer of last year. Once the analysis of July and August is complete, it will be clear that the extreme heat we have seen this year has had an unprecedented impact on the health of the nation and represents a new significant threat to the very oldest, the very youngest and the most vulnerable in our society. Extreme temperatures also pose additional challenges to the normal functioning of the NHS. This July saw the highest number of attendances at A&E of any month in any year in the history of the NHS. Ambulance teams handled over 800,000 incidents that month—the second highest for a month outside winter. This is against a backdrop of continued pressure in A&E. Today’s National Audit Office report recognises that the NHS is beginning to see improvements in A&E performance, but not yet at the scale that we need to see. The heat has highlighted some of the weaknesses in the NHS estate, including overheated wards and operating theatres. This comes against a backdrop of the damaging under-investment in NHS estates that we inherited. This was highlighted in the Darzi report, which said that the NHS was “starved of capital” after 2009, impacting on productivity and performance as well as letting patients and staff down. Let me set out the action we are now taking to boost the resilience and performance of our NHS in the face of these new summer and other pressures. First, in the spending review, we allocated for the first time a multi-year £6.75 billion estate safety fund. I can announce the first wave of investment from this fund today, covering 950 hospital projects across England, which will receive a share of a £1.5 billion investment to fix urgent problems with ageing buildings and facilities. The schemes will tackle issues including failing fire safety systems, outdated ventilation and ageing electrical equipment that could put patients and staff at risk. More than £32 million will be spent specifically on projects that include improving cooling and ventilation, and helping hospitals cope with extreme heat as well as winter pressures. As part of that funding, I can announce 10 major schemes worth £200 million for Wycombe hospital in High Wycombe; the Royal Free hospital in north London; the Linden centre in Essex; the John Howard centre in London; Lister hospital in Hertfordshire; Southend hospital in Essex; the Stepping Hill hospital in Stockport; St George’s hospital in Stafford; the Bristol royal infirmary; and the Queen Elizabeth hospital in Gateshead. I have also asked the NHS to look in particular at extreme weather resilience as part of future waves of capital plans. The second action is about resilience and planning. For many years, the NHS has run a detailed planning process to ensure that it is prepared for the pressures of the winter months; however, this summer has shown us that seasonal resilience is just as important at other times of year. That is why we have established a new heat taskforce that includes the chief medical officer, NHS England leaders and several NHS chief executives from services that have been most affected. I have requested that the taskforce should examine the impact on vulnerable groups, including the frail, expectant mothers and those with mental health conditions. I will chair its first meeting in the coming weeks. The taskforce will help to ensure that our summer planning is on the same footing as our winter planning—looking at staffing, expert teams, patient flow, corridor care, links to social care and, crucially, prevention and public health. That comes against a backdrop of a £450 million investment to improve urgent and emergency care, expanding urgent care centres and mental health A&Es, and shifting more care into the community. The third area is social care. Many of those who are most vulnerable to extreme heat are in social care, so the work that our care system does is vital for people’s health. We also know that the persistent lack of join-up between health and social care continues to be a problem, with frail elderly people who would be better cared for at home being sent to hospital and patients being held in hospital for far too long because care support is not in place. This feels like groundhog day: we were having the same discussions about co-ordination between health and social care when I was last a Health Minister 25 years ago. The Government are taking action, including through the better care fund, neighbourhood health and an additional £4 billion investment into adult social care by 2028-29, as well as through the planning process to improve co-ordination. However, the problems are structural and will need much more substantial reform. That is why the Prime Minister announced this summer that we are bringing forward Baroness Casey’s commission to report next year and, alongside that, taking forward cross-party talks to see what consensus can be built. The legislation to create our NHS went through this House 80 years ago this autumn. At its heart was the idea that, as Nye Bevan said on Second Reading, it would “lift the shadow from millions of homes.”—[Official Report, 30 April 1946; Vol. 422, c. 63.] It was to ensure that there was a health service to care for all of us whenever we needed it, improving the health of our nation. Ensuring that that shadow stays far from our doors for the next 80 years means not just the modernisation of the NHS, the 10-year plan and the improvements we will debate many times in the House; it means building the level of resilience, be it to changing weather and climate or for a changing world that impacts on our health and healthcare. We will do that only by working together and with the dedicated staff, patients and communities across the country. I commend this statement to the House.
I thank the shadow Secretary of State for his response. As I did not reply to him yesterday, I did not have the opportunity to welcome him to his post. He referred to my personal links to East Hampshire. I should say that I remember going to see the GP at the health centre on Anstey Road in Alton, because of an earache—not that I am associating the right hon. Gentleman with earache. The shadow Secretary of State raised the issue of this summer. Despite the record demand on the health service in July, there were actually improvements in performance on waiting lists, waiting times and emergency care as a result of the huge amount of planning and work that had been done on performance, particularly for A&E, emergency care and electives. That is a tribute to the work across the national health service and all the planning work that had been done nationally, including to improve performance. The right hon. Gentleman rightly raised the issue of preparedness for the coming winter. Health Ministers have meetings about the winter in the summer and we are now increasingly going to have to have meetings about summer in the winter as well, but that planning is already well under way right across the NHS and across NHS England. We will provide updates for the House in due course. The right hon. Gentleman raised some particular issues to do with heat. The NHS approach should be about seasonal resilience to be ready for what might be extremes of flooding, extremes of hot weather and different kinds of conditions that will impact on the country, so that it is able to respond to changing patterns of health need. That is why things such as capital investment are so important in building that greater resilience, which we do not have at the moment because of what we inherited. It is also why we now have a specific heat taskforce to look through the journey on both prevention and how we modernise, and to ensure that the right response is in place right across the NHS. I am happy to discuss those details further with the shadow Secretary of State as that work progresses. I hope that he will recognise the investment that has gone in over the last two years, in contrast to what we inherited, and the improvements and reforms that are taking place as a result of the changes we have made. I look forward to discussing those with him further.
I thank my hon. Friend for recognising the crucial role that ambulance staff and paramedics play in our emergency care, and the importance of the NHS supporting its staff—our NHS is the staff; it is the people who make up the service. I do not know the details of the individual case she raises, but I will ensure that it is passed on to NHS England. I certainly agree that we need to ensure that staff have the support they need.
I thank the hon. Member for her questions, and for drawing on her expertise and interest in this area. On capital funding, that is exactly why we are allocating £32 million as part of the capital fund that we have set out specifically to deal with repairs and safety issues that have become acute across the NHS estate as a result of more than a decade of capital underfunding of the NHS. Ara Darzi made it clear in his report that this has had a huge impact on patients and staff, but also on the NHS’s productivity, because we have facilities that cannot be used because of that capital underfunding. That £32 million will be targeted at measures to improve cooling systems, but I have asked the NHS to look further, as part of the second wave of funding, at other areas across the country where there will be particular needs as a result of buildings needing to deal with extreme heat, which they were never designed for. As a result of the announcements I have made today, £1.5 billion is now going into improvements to existing facilities, to upgrade them and ensure that they reach the right quality and standards. On the hon. Member’s point about corridor care, nobody should have to be seen or treated in a corridor, or have to wait for a long time at one of the most distressing times of all, when they need emergency care and support. I have seen some phenomenal examples and have discussed the work that hospitals such as Watford have done to eliminate their corridor care challenges. We have introduced reporting and publication of those statistics for the first time, exactly to ensure that we have that priority. But I pay tribute to the work done by A&E teams to improve performance, despite the huge increase in demand that they saw in July—they are doing a really important job.
I thank my hon. Friend for raising this. He is right to stand up for the staff at Hillingdon but also right across the country. These people are doing the most important jobs in the country: caring for all of us at the time when we need them most, at the time when things go wrong in our lives—when we are sick and we need help and support. It is a total disgrace that, while doing that job, they should face abuse, violence, discrimination or racism. It is totally appalling and unacceptable. I am keen to work with staff groups, trade unions and NHS organisations right across the country to uphold strong standards, stand up for our staff and ensure that they have the support they need, and I look forward to working with him on this.
My hon. Friend the Minister for Secondary Care has been looking in detail at that report. We obviously take all reports immensely seriously. The advice and guidance have been in place for some time and rightly provide huge amounts of support, advice and, actually, improvements in healthcare right across the country. Where there are cases where things go wrong or where cases are raised with us, we will always investigate them and take them immensely seriously. We will also always ensure that the whole regulatory framework is there to ensure that the highest standards are upheld.
My hon. Friend is exactly right. What she describes in Ealing is a hugely important example of the way that modernising our basic estate and facilities can ensure that they are fit for different kinds of conditions and circumstances in the future, and that we are able to reduce the energy bills that put other pressures on our NHS, meaning we can get that money back into frontline care. I pay tribute to the work of the NHS in her constituency.
The hon. Member talks about Stepping Hill hospital in Stockport, so I hope that she welcomes the fact that the hospital is one of 10 major schemes included in funding worth £200 million, which is part of the £1.5 billion investment that we are putting into improving our NHS estate. I gently remind her that some of the problems in the capital estate go back to austerity and what happened in the reduction in capital funding after 2010.
My hon. Friend is exactly right about the importance of preventing people who do not need to go to hospital from having to go there. Frankly, it would be better for those people to be treated and supported either in their own homes or in care homes. The overall approach to improving our health through the service and care that is supported needs to include primary care, acute care and social care. The integrated care board needs to work with York hospital on the improvements to the facilities that are needed. I look forward to hearing more from her about what professionals working in the health system in York want to see, to ensure that they have the facilities they need.
I thank the hon. Lady for her work and that of her Committee. The Committee, as a result of its extensive work, has highlighted many of the issues that the Government have needed to look at and have then responded to, so I welcome its work. I look forward to giving evidence to the Committee and responding to the inquiries it has under way. One of the issues that I have asked the taskforce looking at summer pressures to consider is staffing resilience. While there were all sorts of extremely good preparations in place for summer, meaning that many areas responded well, including in July, she is right to raise the issue of staff resilience and the impact of the pattern of staff holidays—all our holidays—on planning. I take that immensely seriously. The hon. Lady is right to raise the workforce plan. We are continuing to work to complete the workforce plan, because it is needed. We are looking at how we ensure that we have a proper workforce plan around social care and what the links should be. One key area that we want to prioritise in response to Baroness Casey’s work is to develop a proper workforce strategy for social care, alongside the work being done for the NHS.
I thank my hon. Friend not only for his question but for his considerable work in this field, both before he came to this place and through the issues he has been raising here. Our intention is to bring forward a new mental health strategy before Christmas, and I completely agree with him that we need to look at waiting times and where we can make early interventions around mental health. Earlier this summer, we announced new mental health A&E provision. As part of the work led by the chief medical officer, we have asked for work to be done looking at the impact of extreme heat, including on mental health and the most vulnerable populations. My hon. Friend is right to raise the health inequalities here.
I take very seriously the importance of patient voice in local health services, and in ensuring that that local patient voice can be heard. That is why I have said that we will look further at the provisions around Healthwatch and what happens in local areas to ensure that there is proper accountability and strong patient voice. We will do that before those issues are discussed in the House of Lords, because I take them seriously. On the overall reforms, we know that the current system has not been working, that there has been too much duplication and that there is a legacy from the damaging 2012 reforms. What we want to see now is a much more streamlined and effective system that gets support to the frontline.
I welcome my hon. Friend’s determination and enthusiasm. While he managed to refer to the hospital twice, I think he only managed to refer to Harlow once, so he may be slipping. I am delighted that the hospital is included in wave 2 of the new hospital programme. Obviously, there is considerable work under way to ensure that the project stays on track and that the planning is in place. This is part of our commitment to upgrade, to increase the capital investment in our NHS and to ensure that there are facilities for the staff who work in the NHS and, most of all, for patients in Harlow. I thank, through him, the NHS staff who work in his constituency,
I too take very seriously the pressures on acute hospitals across the country, including the pressures around beds and services. It is really important that we have the right kinds of facilities. I believe that the prevention work for people who do not need to be in hospital and who would be better cared for in the community has to start straight away, because that is the right thing to do. We want to take further measures around neighbourhood health, and we are building plans right across the country that we want to see more of, but none of that is an alternative to having good acute care and strong hospitals that perform well; we all need those to be there whenever we need them. However, we are not serving patients and communities in the best possible way if we are not also doing more to prevent people needing to go into hospital—certainly for long stays—in the first place.
I join my hon. Friend in thanking the NHS and social care staff in Rugby. He is absolutely right to refer to the allied health professionals, support staff, catering staff and, crucially, the porters. He has raised that last point with me before; as some of the staff who spend the most time in direct contact with patients, they are hugely important. We must never underestimate the importance of every role in our health service, so I welcome his point. We have provided £450 million to transform urgent and emergency care, and we are already seeing improvements taking place, despite the very strong pressures on emergency care. I pay tribute to all those involved.
That is exactly one of the issues I have asked the chief medical officer to look at. If we are going to face more extreme heat conditions, what is the impact on those who are the most vulnerable? That includes those who are housebound and those who are the most disabled. Those are issues for local authorities to look at in local areas, but I have asked the chief medical officer to look at them nationally.
I thank my hon. Friend for the work that I know she is doing in her constituency and for recognising the impact that this issue has. The chief medical officer attended a meeting chaired by the Prime Minister to look at the wildfires over the summer. We are already looking at how we ensure rapid advice is given to people who suffer from asthma or other conditions that might be exacerbated by wildfire smoke so that public health messages can go out and reach them in those areas. We can do that prevention work, but that is part of ensuring that our NHS is resilient enough to respond to whatever healthcare issues are raised by different extreme events.
The hon. Member makes an important point. There are two issues here. The first issue is that there is a legacy of a lack of capital investment in the resilience of our NHS estates, and that includes capital investment around equipment. That goes back over many years and was highlighted in the Darzi report. That is why we are turning that around with the safety fund, which can start to respond to and put money into looking at exactly these issues, including £32 million dedicated around heating issues as part of this wave of funding. The second issue is that, if we are honest with ourselves, many of our NHS buildings were not designed with climate change in mind or to anticipate weather that we do not expect to see in this country. That means that we all have to start rethinking ways of working to ensure that we respond to that challenge.
I welcome my hon. Friend standing up for healthcare in his constituency. We are asking ICBs to look at the priority needs at different locations in each area, and it is vital that they look at pressures around rural areas and for every community in each area to ensure that all areas have the services they need.
The better care fund is hugely important—I think it has £9 billion that is being jointly allocated. It is for the NHS and local authorities to work together on ensuring that we help to prevent people from entering hospital when they do not need to and that we have the proper services and co-ordination in place. We are also looking at the neighbourhood health programme, as that is another area in which we should look place by place at better co-ordination and ways of working. Those things are really important and will continue. As part of the response to Louise Casey’s review, we also want to look at how we can better bring together all these different approaches, because there is the same fundamental, core issue: whatever we have tried at different times, we are still not effectively co-ordinating health and social care, and we have to do that.
I am very happy to talk to my hon. Friend further about this issue, as I know other Health Ministers will be. She is rightly standing up for the patients—particularly new mums—and staff in her constituency who are affected by the facilities. It is hugely welcome that we managed to include Kettering hospital in wave 2 of the new hospital programme, given the new facilities it needs. Obviously, there is a lot of work to be done, and there will need to be discussions about prioritisation locally—about what can be done and when. I also welcome my hon. Friend prioritising maternity issues, which are an important personal priority for me; I think we have not taken them seriously enough, across the health service, for too long.
I thank the hon. Member for raising this issue. We have invested an additional £29 billion in the national health service this year, and we have also recruited thousands more doctors, nurses, midwives and mental health workers. It is important that investment goes in. Alongside that, we also now have the major new hospitals programme. In addition, the £1.5 billion I announced today is part of a £6.75 billion fund to improve existing facilities where there are safety issues, in order to ensure that the NHS has the facilities it needs.
My hon. Friend is right to raise this issue. It is an example of the way in which the under-investment over more than a decade—since 2009—has had an impact on both safety and performance, because it has meant that facilities cannot be effectively used. That is why we have the estate safety fund in place, and why we encourage local areas to prioritise what further capital improvements and other improvements they can make. I look forward to discussing this further with my hon. Friend.
I can assure the hon. Member that the chief medical officer looks very seriously at all the broader issues around prevention. We deal with health inequalities, and we know that issues around housing, buildings and communities have a big impact on our health. Some areas have traditionally provided community centres for cold weather, so that there is somewhere for people to go—somewhere they can stay warm and see other people in the community—when the weather gets cold, if they are worried about heating their homes. Some areas have now started to do the same thing to ensure that there are cooler places for people to go. That is an example of communities coming together to respond to challenges, so it is actually local communities that we need to empower.
I draw the hon. Member’s attention to the work we have set out, including the new planning processes for summer pressures. As part of the heat taskforce’s work, we are setting out the framework for local areas to do their resilience planning. Local NHS managers need to ensure that their systems are resilient to extreme heat, just as they do for winter pressures. Our NHS needs to be resilient at all times of year, and it is important that also happens in Leicester.
I welcome the hon. Member’s point. The £1.5 billion that I announced today covers 950 projects across England, right across the NHS, to deal with some of the safety issues and to improve facilities. Each area needs to ensure that it has looked at issues around infection control and building repairs so that they are making best use of the funding they will get.
I know this is an issue that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education already takes very seriously. She recognises the importance of keeping children in school. Just as we are ensuring that the NHS is sufficiently resilient, public buildings across the country need to take seriously how we deal with the changing weather and climate that we face.
As the hon. Member knows, we have different waves of work as part of the new hospital programme—which depends on prioritisation being done within ICBs and regions—and for the first time, this Government have set up a dedicated fund for safety improvements, the estates safety fund, which is worth £6.75 billion. The first wave of £1.5 billion in funding will deal with the 950 projects I have announced. We are turning around the substantial under-investment we inherited from the previous Government, but I would again gently point out to the hon. Member that Ara Darzi’s report identified that the big drop in capital investment in our national health service that has led to many of these problems started after 2009, as part of austerity under the coalition Government.
I take the point that the hon. Member has made very seriously, and will ensure that one of the Health Ministers talks to him further about the details. It is immensely important that families who have lost a loved one have the respect and support they need to be able to bid farewell to their loved one, and it is also immensely important that we treat those who are deceased with the utmost respect. That has not always happened, which is why we are proposing the regulation of services in this area, but it is also why we need to make sure that existing facilities work properly.