On the 17th October, the Boundary Commission published their revised proposals for the boundary changes and have announced that they will be proposing that the constituency of Washington and Sunderland West remains intact, with the addition of the Sandhill ward.

Since the initial proposals, Sharon has campaigned for the five wards in Washington to remain within one constituency and for the town to have recognition in the name of a Parliamentary constituency.

This included presenting to the Boundary Commission in Newcastle on the 14^th November 2016, where Sharon was the only MP from Tyne and Wear making a representation and the only elected official calling for the town to be kept within one constituency. She called on the Commission to rethink their proposal, citing emails from constituents who felt passionately about maintaining the Parliamentary representation they have had since 2010 when the town was united into one constituency.

Reacting to the Commission’s revised proposals, Sharon Hodgson MP, said:

“The new boundary proposals set out in the Boundary Commission’s revised proposals are fantastic and I am delighted that the campaigning by myself and many Washington residents has proven worthwhile and seen the town’s importance recognised by the Boundary Review, after their shocking decision to split the town across three constituencies.

“At the time, it was deeply disappointing to see this important town’s Parliamentary representation watered down, including no name recognition in any of the three proposed constituencies. The people of Washington are very proud of their area and it is important that their concerns were raised; that is why I went to the Commission’s public meeting last November and called for the town to remain united within one constituency.

“The new changes now keep the Washington and Sunderland West constituency completely intact, with the inclusion of the Sandhill area of Sunderland, and maintains the long and proud heritage of the two areas. These are still only proposals, that is why it is important that residents of Washington and Sunderland West make their support for this plan known to the Commission so that they do not change their minds during the final stages of the review.”

• The Boundary Commission will now undertake a final consultation on the revised proposals which will run for 8-weeks, from the 17^th October to 11^th December 2017. These views will help form the final decisions made by the Commission. To submit views on the revised proposals, local residents can go to the Commission’s website and submit their views. The link to the website is: www.bce2018.org.uk
• You can read Sharon Hodgson MP’s contribution to the public hearing in Newcastle on the 14^th November 2016, by following this link and going to page 43: https://boundarycommissionforengland.independent.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/FINAL-BC-Newcastle-20161114-with-index.pdf

This week saw the commemoration of Baby Loss Awareness Week (9th October – 15th October) with many events in Parliament.

As part of the week, Sharon attended the Baby Loss APPG reception where MPs heard many accounts from families affected by baby loss, including Emma who gave a heartfelt account of losing her baby, Oscar, which nobody will forget. This was as well as attending the General Debate on Baby Loss and the remembrance service in the Chapel of St Mary of Undercroft.

Many families will be affected by the loss of a baby and it is important that bereavement support is on offer to families to cope with such a loss at whatever stage it occurs from very early pregnancy through perinatal to neonatal and beyond; this was the theme of this year’s awareness week.

The week provides people with the chance to raise awareness of issues around pregnancy and baby loss in the UK and is a collaboration between more than 40 charities.

Following the week’s events, Sharon said:

“As someone who has experienced the loss of a baby, this is an issue very close to my heart and it is important for MPs to work together to raise awareness of such issues, especially ones which can prove difficult to talk about to show that people are not alone in coping with the sad loss of a baby.  I was proud to once again show my support and I thank everyone who made it such a special and memorable week.”

To find out more about Baby Loss Awareness Week, you can visit the Baby Loss Awareness Week website here: https://babyloss-awareness.org/

There will also be a global wave of light at 7pm on the 15th October (which coincides with International Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day), where people will share a photo of a lit candle on social media and take a moment to remember. You can read more about this by following this link: https://babyloss-awareness.org/get-involved/#wave-light 

Sharon Hodgson MP's report - Sep-Oct 2017 number 97

Click on the picture above to read Sharon Hodgson MP's report - News from Westminster - Sep-Oct 2017 number 97

After forwarding residents' concerns on to the City Council, here is the response, posted here by way of an update.  This is the latest reply as at 02/10/2017.

Click on the image below to download it.

At the 2017 Labour Party Conference in Brighton, Sharon was invited to speak at a fringe event hosted by the Socialist Health Association to discuss Labour Party policy on public health and also the importance of addressing the social determinants of health. 

You can read Sharon's speech below. 

CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY

Thank you.

It is wonderful to be with you today to discuss an important issue: public health.

Labour has always believed in the importance of championing our public health needs, staff and services.

It is without a shadow of a doubt that health is a crucial area of policy for any government, and especially when the future of our public services are an important issue for many people.

Health, therefore, should be given the prominence it deserves, as it affects all of our lives.

It must be a top priority of any government to not only improve the health of our nation, so that we can be more productive in our working and social lives, but also ensure that our NHS is fighting fit for the future.

Labour – as a government-in-waiting – are prepared for this task.

Yet, it is safe to say, that the NHS as it stands now is not as fighting fit as it should be due to continued Tory negligence. Jeremy Hunt likes to snipe back that this is Labour talking down the NHS, but the reality of the situation is we are fighting to defend it from his attacks.

The saying remains true: you can never trust the Tories with our NHS.

That is why over the last year, Labour’s Shadow Health team – led by Jonathan Ashworth – have held the Tories feet to the fire and held them accountable for their actions, or inaction, when it comes to the NHS – we are not letting them get away with anything!

Labour founded the NHS, and it is Labour who will save the NHS. We will never allow it to be treat as second best. It is far too precious to allow that to happen.

These pressures we talk about were laid bare in NHS England’s Five Year Forward View Refresh, published in March, which showed the true scale of the challenges facing the health service.

Whilst on the face of it there were welcome measures, it was clear if you read between the lines, that the Government have failed to give the NHS the funding it needs but also deserves.

This is especially true when it comes to public health, which we saw fall from being the third top priority in the vision to being slotted into the NHS 10-point Efficiency Plan.

Whilst public health can save the NHS and other health services a lot of money and time, it should not solely be about cost-savings but should be the driver that supports us all to live healthier lives.

This means championing better public health in our country which focuses on tackling the entrenched health inequalities we see in society, with the permeation of ill-health seen in our communities and ensuring our NHS is fighting fit going into the future.

This last point is something I touched upon when I spoke to the North East’s branch of the Socialist Health Association in January of this year; where I criticised the flopped “radical upgrade in prevention and public health” promised in NHS England’s Five Year Forward View.

It was clear in January, just as it is clear now, that whilst we are seeing initiatives to improve public health, they are not going far enough – which is deeply concerning.

This is what I call the “public health crisis”. What we have is the crisis in our NHS, manufactured by the Tories, which is having a knock-on effect on public health, as it leaves little space to invest money or time.

This negligence of public health is all down to a lack of political will to step up to the plate and act on determinants of poor health, but the short-sighted cuts we are seeing too.

The scale and impact of these cuts were identified earlier this year, when the King’s Fund analysed DCLG data on local authority public health spending, following the settled landscape of all the reforms and shifting of responsibilities since 2013.

And the prognosis was not good.

The King’s Fund identified the biggest losers in percentage terms were sexual health promotion and prevention, and wider tobacco control; both of which face eye-watering cuts of more than 30 percent.

The conclusion of the analysis was damning to say the very least: “… there is little doubt that we are now entering the realm of real reductions in public health services. This is a direct result of the reduced priority that central government gives to public health.”

This is creating a perfect storm that future generations will have to weather. Irresponsibility of the highest form of this Government.

It is our moral duty not to put off dealing with public health issues until a later date. One, because it causes problems for future generations and two, it can have serious ramifications for our NHS.

It is a belief of mine – and one I know others in the room will share – that we must deal with issues at the source rather than further down-stream.

That is why it is important that Labour, working in tandem with the Socialist Health Association and others, promotes a better vision for public health.

At the snap General Election, Labour offered a visionary and forward-thinking approach to public health, which renewed our commitment as a Party to keep people fit and well.

Much of what we focused on was to do with children and our promise to make Britain’s children the healthiest in the world – an ambition I have championed ever since becoming an MP.

Though we focused on children – this does not mean what we were proposing would not have health benefits for adults, as our policies would have created healthier environments for everyone.

Our main pledge focused around clamping down on management consultancy costs in the NHS, which would recoup £250 million into the Treasury coffers and would be earmarked to fund our Child Health Fund, whilst we passed a Child Health Bill in Parliament.

Both of these initiatives would provide us with the legislative capacity to ensure all departments inputted into a cross-departmental childhood obesity strategy to ensure every action taken by Government took into consideration the health of future generations, the Child Health Fund would help: it would implement the strategy, grow our public health workforce; support local authorities with health promotion; and, administer our Index of Child Health – to measure progress on four key indicators of children’s health: obesity, dental health, mental health and early years.

Yet, we didn’t stop there, we made clear that we would go further than the Tories’ dismal Childhood Obesity Plan and implement a ban on adverts promoting unhealthy food during primetime television – such as X Factor or Britain’s Got Talent – which is estimated to reduce children’s viewing of junk food advertising by 82%.

We also set out that we would ring-fence public health budgets to protect services into the future, instead of seeing them wither on the vine as we have seen under the Tories.  

Though at present we are not in government to implement these ideas, this does not mean that we are taking child health of our radar. Far from it.

As Jonathan announced at the beginning of the summer, Labour will be establishing a Child Health Forum, so we can work with experts to design a programme we can implement in Government so we can be proud of our record on improving children’s health.

And I hope as many of you will help feed into this on-going work and contact Jon.

But it is not just children’s health we must improve, it is everyone’s health.

Improving the health of our country is a matter of social justice – one of the core principles of the Labour Party.

Health inequality is an issue which we must continually work on to get right. Complacency should never be accepted as the norm when it comes to the health of our society.

That is why we must do all that we can to address health inequality.

We all know the conclusion of the facts around health inequality: people in more deprived areas of the country do not live as long or with as good health, compared to those in more affluent areas.

This is health inequality in its most brutal form.

This was why Sir Michael Marmot was right to say in his 2010 report that there is a social gradient in health: the lower a person’s social position, the worse his or her health will be.

Sadly, this is something we have yet to see materialise in public health policy, with report after report arguing that we have not made serious inroads into health inequalities.

That is why we must have a renewed campaign to address the social injustices of ill-health. We must do more.

This is a stark realisation when only a couple of weeks ago, Sir Michael Marmot made an important, and eloquent, intervention into the discourse around health inequalities.

He said: “the UK is becoming the sick men and women of Europe.”

In his letter to the Times, Marmot identified that from 2011 to 2015, the increase in life expectancy was the slowest in Europe amongst women and the second slowest amongst men. This is worrying when from 1920 to 2010, life expectancy rose from 55 to 78 for men and 59 to 82 for women; roughly a one-year rise every four years.

Yet, in such a short period of time, we have seen the work of previous governments stalled by the current government, who as we know have not taken the health of our country seriously.

We know exactly why this is: this is down to the government’s choices around austerity.

As I previously mentioned, we have seen public health services slashed, an NHS facing unprecedented pressures, social care and education crippled and people’s living standards weakened.

Each of these have serious ramifications on our health.

Marmot may have been more reserved in his suggestions about the impact of austerity, but we all know it has been a significant factor to the increase in poor health in our society.

How can it be right in the 21^st century for a child to be born into a family living on a poor council estate and grow up with completely different life chances and health outcomes than a child born to a more affluent family.

If this does not raise concern, then what will?

Social justice and equal opportunity are central to Labour values, and it is important that we reflect these in how we approach our health policies too.

This is something that I have supported in the past, and still do to this day, including championing the 1001 Critical Days initiative which works to ensure that a child’s formative months and years help set them up for the future.

Along with doggedly championing universal free school meals for the last 10 years, but also pushing on smoking and sexual health issues during my time as Shadow Minister for Public Health.

But it also means taking action for people now – who have been failed in their early lives.

A Labour Government would make social justice a driver of all government policy, but it would also ensure that the health of the nation is considered in every step we take.

Labour in opposition in Parliament and where we are in power across the country are doing just that, now.

Take for example, the excellent work of my colleague, Sue Hayman – Labour’s Shadow Environment Secretary – who has been leading the way on air quality and holding the Government to account on improving the environment we live in.

Or ensuring families have decent, affordable housing to live in, rather than squalid private accommodation, as being done by our Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan.

Or working to improve transport infrastructure that supports healthy lifestyles, such as that pledged by Andy Burnham in Manchester.

Or in Wales, where we have seen the Welsh Labour Government give powers to Public Health Wales to scrutinise new legislation’s impact on health.

Labour has, and always will be, a proud champion of improved public health and ensuring it is considered as part of everything that we do.

But it is important that we create systems where this is easier to do, and not just rely upon the values that drive us in the Labour Party, but instead embed them into the system.

This is why I am interested to work more to improve the roles of Public Health England and local Directors of Public Health to ensure the health of our nation is kept high on the agenda.

It is initiatives like those I have mentioned which will help ensure that the social determinants of health are addressed, but it also about injecting innovative thinking into our approach to public health.

By injecting innovation and utilising our political will, we can ensure the gap in health inequalities will shrink further and health outcomes improve.

We must fully realise the vision set out in the Five Year Forward View as a promise to not only ourselves, but to the generations that come after us.

It is important that we work together to create and implement health policy that brings about real change for those who live in poor health; we cannot continue to allow people’s health to be determined by factors completely out of their control.

Every one of us in this room shares that passion and drive to improve our nation’s health.

We know we will never take our nation’s health for granted.

There is still a long way to go to improve our nation’s health, but with our collective passion, we can achieve a more equal, socially just, and most importantly, healthier society.

In her capacity as Chair of the Art, Craft and Design in Education APPG, Sharon spoke at the Annual General Meeting of the Artists Union England held in Newcastle.

In her speech, Sharon spoke about the importance of trade unionism, the need for artists to collectively work together and across the labour movement on issues affecting artists, and the importance of art and creativity to society. 

You can read Sharon's speech below. 

CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY

Thank you. It is an honour to be invited to speak at your AGM.

For those who don’t know who I am, I’m Sharon Hodgson, the Member of Parliament for Washington and Sunderland West and Shadow Minister for Public Health.

However, I am here to talk to you in another of my many capacities, and that is as an advocate for the arts in our society, along with being the chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Art, Craft and Design in Education.

I have been an advocate for the arts for as long as I have been a Member of Parliament; understanding not just how important art can be to the wellbeing of society, but also, how important art can be to our economy as well.

These are both points I will touch upon in my speech today, but also about the importance of unionism.

As a proud trade unionist myself, I believe it is important for workers to unionise so they can collectively work together to improve their working environment and working life.

Unions are crucial in providing workers with a voice in the workplace that stands up for them, and this is why it is welcome to see artists – like yourselves – unionising.

We all know the exploitative pay and conditions that artists can face and the fact that artists are working more, for less pay; sometimes even for free.

Unionising also allows artists to show solidarity with other workers by affiliating to umbrella union groups such as the TUC, to work on shared campaigns from campaigning against cuts in art education or on pay and conditions.

That is why it is welcome that Art Union England is now an affiliated member of the TUC and attended the conference for the first time last week, where you raised the key issues of art and investment.

Art and the creative sectors that you all work in are crucial to society and our economy, and have a significant presence.

The latest figures show that the creative industries contributed £87 billion to the UK economy – that work out at roughly 5% of the total. Whilst the sector employed nearly 2 million people, around 6% of all UK jobs.

This just goes to show the importance of art to our society, and how we must ensure we help nurture this sector to continue to flourish.

This is why working with other unions to ensure that the views of artists are heard by Government, politicians and wider society is so important but also to consider different and innovative ways to ensure that art continues to remain a central part of our lives.

I read with interest the motion tabled by AUE at TUC conference in Brighton, which called for an agreement to be made amongst affiliated members that “1 percent of any new-build construction, renovation, conversion or major refurbishment … be spent on buying or commissioning of public art.” Or as it is commonly known Percent for Art schemes.

When reading further into this, it was interesting to see policies similar to this have been around in the USA and other European countries for a number of years. Take New York for example, which saw a policy like this introduced in 1982 and since then has seen nearly 300 projects completed with accumulated art work commissions of over $41 million.

This reaffirms the belief I have held for so long on the importance of art to society.

For me, art has been an integral part of our humanity ever since the dawn of time when the first caveman drew a buffalo on the first cave wall.

This is because art makes our hearts sing and therefore should be enjoyed by everybody, without any restrictions on access to great projects.

As the “A Policy for the Arts” white paper published back in 1965 by Jennie Lee, the first arts minister appointed in the UK by Harold Wilson, said art: “should not be regarded as something remote from everyday life.”

This is why a policy which incorporates art as a part of the commissioning process and spending on major public projects helps allow art to be a central part of public life, but also helps to reverse the concerning erosion of art in society due to short-sighted budget cuts.

Access to art in society is something I have campaigned on, including fighting to protect ancient heritage crafts to ensuring children have access to art that allows them to expand their horizons - but one of my main campaigns has been around the EBacc.

This is something that I have campaigned on in my capacity as Chair of the Art, Craft and Design in Education APPG, and I have worked closely with the National Society for Education in Art and Design and the Bacc to the Future campaign.  

I have repeatedly called on the Government to address this issue – even bringing Nick Gibb, the school’s minister, before the Art, Craft and Design in Education APPG for nearly an hour and a half to discuss the impact of the EBacc on art subjects.

However, the concerns that this is negatively affecting the pipeline continue to go ignored.

This is deeply worrying when the latest figures released following last month’s GCSE results showed a fall in the number of young people taking an Art and Design GCSE for the second consecutive year with the total number being the lowest since 2001, at a total of 3.2 per cent.

The current position we see is one of creative industries booming but education policies failing to recognise creativity will be one of the main drivers of our 21^st century economy.

This is why it is important to have unions such as yourselves standing up for art – may it be through advocating for better financial support for the arts within wider infrastructure projects or against the disastrous policies facing our education sector.

As artists, you all have the knowledge and experience to go to the Government and lobby against the worst excesses of their policies and ensure that the next generation of artists after you are supported to achieve great things.

The way to do this is collectively and working across the labour movement – with other arts unions, such as the musician’s union and with education unions, such as the National Education Union and NASUWT, but with the Labour Party too.

So, I wish you luck in the future as your union grows and look forward to working with you all in the future to ensure that art continues to make our hearts sing.

Collectively we can work to stop art from withering away and save an essential part of our humanity.

We must fight to protect art, champion art and invest in art at every possible opportunity. 

Sharon signed up to support the UK’s drowning prevention charity in its work to reduce drowning and provide water safety education and lifesaving awards across the UK and Ireland.

Representatives from The Royal Life Saving Society UK (RLSS UK) made the trip to Parliament ahead of its annual national Don’t Drink and Drown campaign which, this year, runs from December 4 to the 10.

Sharon Hodgson MP was invited to find out more about the charity and its work, and learnt shocking statistics about alcohol and drug related drownings.

An average of 73 people a year, the equivalent of one in every five, who lose their lives to drowning have alcohol or drugs in their system. Those most at risk include 17 to 29-year-olds, 45- 49-year-olds and 60 to 64-year-olds, particularly males.

In Tyne and Wear, there have been 30 accidental drownings between 2012 and 2016, 10 of which involved alcohol.

Sharon said:

“Too often in our local area we hear of the lives lost because of accidental drowning. That is why water safety is such an important issue to me and why I want to raise awareness of campaigns like the RLLS UK’s Don’t Drink and Drown campaign.

“Raising awareness of the risks of drowning is crucial in reducing the number of people who lose their lives in the water every year, especially following drinking. That is why I am pleased to sign the pledge to support the RLSS UK in their aim to reduce the rate of drowning in the UK and will continue to raise awareness of the risks of drowning in our local area.”

The RLSS UK works tirelessly to promote drowning prevention messages and deliver water safety education nationally, as well as offering a range of awards and programmes that teach lifesaving skills to all ages.

Read Sharon's latest Echo column below or find it on the Sunderland Echo website. 

As Parliament returns from summer recess, Brexit has dominated not only the headlines but the Parliamentary agenda too as we began the passage of the Great Repeal Bill (now known as the EU Withdrawal Bill).

This Bill has received a lot of interest, especially from those concerned that it was to block Brexit.

The simple answer is no, it was not.

We are leaving the EU come March 2019, as was decided during the referendum and endorsed by the Parliamentary vote in March to trigger Article 50 – which I voted for.

However, the Bill put before Parliament was a power grab by Tory ministers to cut Parliament out of the process and give ministers unfettered power to change laws as we convert EU legislation into British law without any scrutiny by Parliament, laws such as workers’ rights to animal welfare and environmental protections.

Since the General Election in June, the Tories have been acting as if they won a huge majority.

That is far from the reality of it with Theresa May relying on the help of the DUP to stay in Number 10.

Parliament is the centre of our democracy and should not be side-lined.

I take my role in Parliament very seriously, including when it comes to Brexit and ensuring the best deal possible for our area.

To remove all accountability and scrutiny of the Government by Parliament is something that I could not support.

This is why I could not vote for the Bill in its current form this week and will work with colleagues across the House to improve the Bill as it continues its passage through Parliament.

As I have said before: Brexit is one of the biggest political, economic and diplomatic issues this country will face – this has not changed.

It is crucial that Parliament is consulted by the Government, instead of railroaded as ministers grab powers to rewrite legislation without scrutiny.

No Government, especially a minority government, should hold such powers.

It is important that our democracy is not watered down and just as I consulted with constituents and promised to continue listening to their views during this process, so should the Government with Parliament.

Parliament is elected by the people to hold the Government to account and pass and amend legislation.

This Bill, in its current form, is an affront to democracy.

Sat 9th Sept, 2017

Caption: Above, Sharon attends public exhibition by Coast Communications for the propsed Rolton Kilbride gasification plant at Washington.

Caption: Above, Sharon talking to an emissions expert at the exhibition.

Caption: Above and below, Sharon discussing the exhibition with Washington Councillors Dianne and David Snowdon.

As part of the First Phase of the Path to Excellence consultation, Sharon was invited to attend a meeting of the Sunderland and South Tyneside Joint Health Scrutiny Committee to give her views on the consultation and the proposed plans.

Sharon's comments from the meeting can be read below. 

If any constituent wishes to include their views in this consultation, they can visit the Path to Excellence website and fill out the survey there: https://pathtoexcellence.org.uk/take-part-survey/ 

Further details about the proposed plans can be read on the Path to Excellence website. 

PLEASE NOTE THE CONSULTATION CLOSES AT MIDNIGHT ON THE 15TH OCTOBER 2017. 

** CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY **

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you for inviting me to speak to your committee this afternoon.

I don’t want to speak for too long, as I know there is a packed agenda of other stakeholders to hear from.

In my contribution, I just want to raise some points about the consultation along with seeking reassurances that as many people as possible are being consulted with, especially those from disadvantaged groups.

As we know, these proposed plans come at a time when the NHS is facing serious reductions in its resources form central government with every growing demand by patients.

The work of our NHS staff is commendable and we should never stop praising them for their hard work and dedication – something I know every one of us in the room here today can agree upon.

However, I want to seek assurances from those here today that the plans being put forward will not put further strains on our already overly stretched NHS staff and guarantee that patients will not see a diminished quality or access to services?

Capacity has already been mentioned with regard to Sunderland Royal Hospital and I’m sure will be mentioned again by others. But also the Royal Victoria Infirmary and Queen Elizabeth Hospital could be effected.

We cannot escape the fact that these plans are about cuts. Cuts which are passed off as efficiencies but nevertheless, are being inflicted upon our NHS from a national position which is ideologically driven.

We know efficiencies can always be made when it comes to our public services, but the drive to make our NHS more efficient should never be done in a way that impedes on the experiences of staff and patients alike.

I’m aware some centralising of services make sense and can greatly improve the services offered so this is about taking the public, staff and patients on this journey with a full and transparent consultation, which is why we are all here today.

Service users and staff should be at the centre of every decision made. I know that my constituents want to see quality NHS services in their local area that they can access with ease by staff who are confident in the structures designed.

That is why I welcome that this consultation is happening, whilst recognising there are concerns about how it is being done. For example, am I correct in thinking that people are not allowed or encouraged just to turn up at the public hearings – but have to register first to be allowed to attend?

People should have their voices heard on these proposals, as we know that people value our NHS so dearly. The consultation events being held are important, but as we know people may not have the chance to attend these sessions and will instead take part in the survey on the Path to Excellence website.

Though, from recent information released to the public, there have only been 414 survey responses to date. Is that correct? It may be a little higher since that figure was released. Now I don’t have the population figure to hand that this consultation covers but it’s many hundreds of thousands, possibly not much short of ½ million. So that does seem a little low to me?

So I have genuine concerns that these responses will not fully reflect the thoughts of local people, and as a crucial way for people to engage with this consultation, I hope that the two remaining sessions planned will be opened up to as many people as possible to allow people with as many opportunities as possible to engage with the future of local provision.

Decisions as great as these should have the fullest engagement from local people so that services reflect what they wish and expect.

It is also important that groups who are harder to engage with, through many complex reasons, have their say including young people and older people, disabled people, BME communities and LGBT people.

Some of these groups access services on a regular basis and it is crucial that they are listened to, just as all of us should be.

I understand that support is out there for charities and organisations to provide routes in for these groups to engage with the consultation – and I would welcome an update from the committee on this and what they hope to do further to ensure everyone is listened to.

These plans will change the very nature of our local NHS services. Consultation is important so that people are not caught unaware when a service may close and they then struggle to access it.

I hope the committee can give me the reassurances that this consultation is being done in a way that everyone can have their say, and we can ensure our NHS reflects the wishes of local people.