Celebrating 75 years of our NHS

I signed the 75 Birthday card for the NHS. This is a great reminder of how long the NHS has been in all our lives. We wish the NHS many Happy returns and look forward to many more. As Nye Bevan the founder of the NHS said "The NHS will last as long as there are folk left with the faith to fight for it". 

‘Parkrun for the NHS’ – celebrating the NHS’s 75th anniversaryParliamentarians met in New Palace Yard to take part in the Parkrun NHS 75 for a special run to celebrate the NHS’s 75th birthday.The event, spearheaded by Nick Smith MP, Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group Parkrun, saw 22 MPs, from a range of political parties, run or walk around St James’s Park. 



About parkrunParkrun started in 2004 with just 13 runners and 5 volunteers in London’s Bushy Park. Events now take place in more than 2,200 locations in over 20 countries around the world.Parkrun is a UK-based global health and wellbeing charity that encourages movement in the company of others, in the outdoors, whether walking, jogging, running, volunteering or coming along to cheer and socialise. There is no time limit and no one finishes last. Everyone is welcome to come along. Find your local event or register at https://www.parkrun.org.uk/

The Draft Environmental Protection (Plastic Plates etc. and Polystyrene Containers etc.) (England) Regulations 2023  is to restrict the supply of single-use plastic plates, bowls and trays and to ban the supply of single-use plastic cutlery, balloon sticks and expanded and extruded polystyrene food and drink containers, including cups. This statutory instrument applies to England only as environmental protection is a devolved matter.

I asked the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Rebecca Pow "Will she say whether local authorities, which are broadly the enforcers of the measure, will be given extra resources?".

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State answered "There has been full consultation on the funding that will be required for trading standards departments to carry out the duties that will fall to them. It amounts to approximately £660,000 a year over three years, and local authorities have agreed that that is an adequate sum. There was much negotiation with them to make sure that the funding was in the right ballpark, but such measures are always reviewed three to five years after implementation to see how they are working and whether any tweaks are needed. I can therefore assure the right hon. Lady that resources have been discussed and clarified".

I am pleased the Minister confirmed that local authorities will be provided with extra funding to enforce these regulations which will come into effect in October later this year.

On Monday 3 July 2023 I attended the reception hosted by the Football Association and Tracey Crouch MP ahead of the FIFA Women's World Cup.  Both Gillian Keegan MP, Secretary of State for Education, and Lucy Frazer KC MP, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport,  spoke about and supported the inclusion of more girls and women in football.

Ellen White is a record goalscorer for the England Women's Team and spoke about the need to involve more girls in football which is part of the FA's campaign to Let Girls Play.

I signed the card to wish the Lionesses 'Good luck' for the forthcoming World Cup.

The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care came to the House on Monday 3 July 2023 to present the NHS Long-term Workforce Plan. This was announced by NHS England on Thursday 29 June and in a written statement on Friday 30 June before the Secretary of State announced it to the House. I asked the Secretary of State a question:  I associate myself with the remarks the Secretary of State made about Bob Kerslake. He was a true public servant, and his death is our loss. What is the point of a workforce plan if the Secretary of State is not actually talking to the workforce? When will he talk to the junior doctors and the consultants? Can I also ask whether the work on the workforce plan will start forthwith or sometime in the future?



The Secretary of State said he had settled with the NHS but I indicated dissent as he has not spoken to Junior Doctors and the Consultants who are going on strike again. He did not mention when the workforce plan would come into effect.