Edward Argar

16 Jul 2026   Local Government Reorganisation

I live in my patch and I know that there will be genuine local fury at the contempt this Government have shown for my constituents in approving a Leicester city land grab, which has cross-party opposition locally. I have been clear through…

9 Jul 2026   Health Bill (Fifteenth sitting)

The hon. Gentleman will probably be aware of the King’s Fund report from late last year, which covers the years 2010 to 2025. It highlighted that the growth rate was only 5% for managers during those 15 years, but 94% for children’s nurses…

9 Jul 2026   Health Bill (Fourteenth sitting)

Does my hon. Friend recognise the statistic that between 1997 and 2007, the then Government closed 32,000 hospital beds—more than double the number closed between 2010 and 2022? That is when the big reductions took place, and they failed t…

9 Jul 2026   Health Bill (Fourteenth sitting)

The hon. Lady pre-empts me— I am afraid I have rather a few more remarks to come to. I planned to through the subsections and paragraphs of her new clauses to acknowledge exactly that. For example, in proposed new clause 56(4), she highlig…

9 Jul 2026   Health Bill (Fourteenth sitting)

The hon. Gentleman makes a valid point, and I suspect that he has seen this issue in his professional career. Often, when a death occurs in a clinical setting, multiple factors are contributory. I think that that is why my hon. Friend the …

9 Jul 2026   Health Bill (Fourteenth sitting)

I agree with the broad thrust of the points made by the hon. Member for North Shropshire in highlighting the impact of corridor care on patients, on families and on those seeking to provide the care for those patients. I suspect that prett…

7 Jul 2026   Health Bill (Thirteenth sitting)

My questions will be very brief. I am conscious that, given that these are mostly Liberal Democrat new clauses, for once I will be asking the hon. Member for Winchester for a response, not the Minister. New clause 4 would require that c…

7 Jul 2026   Health Bill (Thirteenth sitting)

Clause 65 and schedule 10 focus on local healthwatch arrangements. As I said when speaking to the previous group of amendments, Healthwatch is respected and trusted at a national level, and that is even more the case at a local level. I f…

7 Jul 2026   Health Bill (Thirteenth sitting)

I will confine my remarks to group 47, conscious that the next group will give us an opportunity to discuss local arrangements, so I will stick to the national ones. We are all aware of the significant role that Healthwatch England play…

7 Jul 2026   Health Bill (Thirteenth sitting)

On that point, will the Minister briefly give way?

7 Jul 2026   Health Bill (Twelfth sitting)

My hon. Friend is rightly highlighting the importance of independence, and trust in the independence, of the organisations investigating failures and making recommendations. Does he agree that that is only half of it? Those organisations a…

7 Jul 2026   Health Bill (Twelfth sitting)

The hon. Lady makes her point extremely clearly, and I do agree with exactly the point she makes, because in any organisation it is a big step for an individual employed by or working in the organisation to make a complaint about their org…

7 Jul 2026   Health Bill (Twelfth sitting)

I do think that the scope of the review, who determined the six organisations and how that was looked at is important, and I am sure that the Minister will be able to clarify that when she makes her concluding remarks. However, there are a…

7 Jul 2026   Health Bill (Twelfth sitting)

My hon. Friend the shadow Minister is right to highlight, for want of a better way of putting it, the cumulative challenges that will potentially be piled on the CQC, on top of the pre-existing challenges with how that organisation is func…

7 Jul 2026   Health Bill (Twelfth sitting)

I am particularly keen to speak on clauses 59 to 63, because HSSIB was a key part of the Health and Care Act 2022, which I took through as a Minister. At that time, I was grateful for not only the fearless and tough questioning from the no…

6 Jul 2026   Civil Service Pensions

Sadly, it is not just Capita that is missing deadlines; it is the Government, too. I raised a constituent’s case in ministerial correspondence in mid-February and received a response from the Parliamentary Secretary only on 30 June, four-a…

2 Jul 2026   Health Bill (Eleventh sitting)

That is the challenge. The Minister knows her brief very well—if I may say, I hope that whatever happens in a few weeks’ time, she retains it. She is that rare thing among Ministers in Government: someone who comes to their position with a…

2 Jul 2026   Health Bill (Eleventh sitting)

The hon. Member for Ashford made his point very clearly about what happens when something goes wrong and someone behaves inappropriately—the shadow Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Sleaford and North Hykeham, has highlighted some ve…

2 Jul 2026   Health Bill (Eleventh sitting)

I want to speak primarily to amendment 49, in the name of my hon. Friend the Member for Sleaford and North Hykeham, the shadow Minister, and to agree with what my hon. Friend the Member for Farnham and Bordon has just said. Sadly, there wi…

2 Jul 2026   Health Bill (Tenth sitting)

It is a pleasure, as always, to serve under your chairship, Ms Lewell. I am grateful to the hon. Member for Winchester for his explanation of amendments 60 and 61. Like my hon. Friend the shadow Minister, I entirely understand what he i…

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