Engagements — House of Commons, 2019-05-15
Topic: Health
Questions: The Prime Minister has often spoken about how important it is to ensure that everyone gets a fair chance in life, which of course include carers. Will she therefore join me in welcoming the award given to Annette Collier at Friday’s Pride of Rugby awards, run by our fabulous local radio station? Annette is a leader for Rugby Young Carers, and her great dedication, inspiration and enthusiasm is helping youngsters in my constituency to live their own lives.; As already noted, 40 years ago, Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister. During her premiership, she convinced people like me and people from modest backgrounds right across the country that it is the Conservative party that is the party of opportunity and aspiration. Does the Prime Minister agree that education plays a pivotal role in unlocking these opportunities and enabling social mobility, and will education and skills funding receive the attention it therefore deserves in the upcoming spending round?; Can the Prime Minister confirm that, if we were to stay in a customs union and the single market, we would have to pay billions into the European Union, we could not do free trade deals around the world and we could not control our own immigration, and that we will never betray the promise that we made at the last general election that we will deliver the full Brexit—unlike the broken promises from the Labour party?; This Government say they are committed to tackling climate change, yet too often the evidence suggests otherwise. Take the examples of their support for an oil refinery in Bahrain but their refusal to help award-winning tidal energy specialists Nova Innovation. The reality is, 99.4% of UK export finance in the energy sector goes on fossil fuel projects. If this Government are serious about addressing the climate emergency, will they prove it by investing in the future, not the past?; It is vital for trust in the Prime Minister and the Government for dates to be set and then stuck to. Can we have a definitive and unalterable date for the release of the Green Paper on adult care?; I do not know about you, Mr Speaker, but it is looking a bit threadbare over on the Conservative Back Benches below the gangway. Maybe we should examine the reason why. The Government can barely secure double figures in the opinion polls. The UK is now an international laughing-stock, with the Prime Minister’s Back Bench just wanting her going, as does the nation. She is now going to be bringing back her withdrawal agreement for a fourth tanking, as her Back Bench queue up to say they will not support her. Has the road now just run out, Prime Minister? For the sake of her nation, will she please just go—and let Scotland go too?; In Somerset, 15,200 children are now in good and outstanding schools compared with 2010—great news—but, despite 5.9% more funding per pupil going into Somerset, teachers and parents in Taunton Deane are increasingly coming to me to say that they are under funding pressures. They are in the fifth lowest for secondary school funding and the bottom third for primary school funding. Does the Prime Minister agree that to give our children the very best opportunity in life we must correct that funding injustice in Somerset? With a stronger economy overseen by this Government, we can and should do it.; As this is Mental Health Awareness Week, does the Prime Minister agree with the Labour party that it is time to scrap tests for pre-teenage children, such as SATS and, in Kent, the 11-plus, which we know cause them to experience stress, anxiety and a sense of failure?; It is Mental Health Awareness Week and it is also exam time. At Anglia Ruskin University in Chelmsford, the staff and students care deeply about supporting all those with mental health issues. Will my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister urge the Secretaries of State for Health and for Education to work together to provide a specific fund, so that our universities can develop new and innovative ways to help students with mental health pressures?
Theresa Mary May (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is right to raise the issue of mental health in universities. It is important and it is a priority for the Government. NHS England is already working closely with Universities UK, through the Mental Health in Higher Education programme, to build the capability and capacity of universities to improve student welfare services and access to mental health services. However, I am happy to ask both the Health and Education Secretaries to consider options to look at the issue further.