3 minute read
MPs’ Round-Up
By Faith Eckersall
Rural life campaigners Dorset CPRE have welcomed Dorset Council’s criticism of the rules which govern new housing requirements. Council leader Spencer Flower had stated: “The current National Planning Framework is not providing councils with the means to promote sustainable development through their Local Plans but is instead about chasing government housing targets.” Dorset CPRE – which has vigorously criticised Dorset’s 39,000 housing target – said Cllr Flower’s remarks ‘show a willingness to develop a Local Plan more suited to Dorset and its residents.’ Previously, Dorset CPRE stated that the Dorset Local Plan was being developed ‘too quickly and without an adequate evidence base’. Dorset CPRE spokesman, Peter Bowyer, said: “We now hope there will be positive dialogues with community organisations and residents in Dorset to arrive at a
GREEN AND PLEASANT: A typical Dorset hamlet
Picture: STEVEBELASCO.NET
housing figure of closer to 22,000 up to 2038, adequate provision of affordable/social housing, and compatibility of the Dorset Local Plan with actions to address the Climate and Ecological Emergencies.” He said the group looked forward to the outcome of communications between the Secretary of State and Dorset Council. He also welcomed the opportunity for an extension of the Local Plan period, as well as the potential development of a new approach to Local Plans ‘that reflects the needs of the residents of Dorset’.
NHS needs more private sector resources
The end of Covid-19 restrictions is the right decision and most welcome. We must all learn to live with this coronavirus as we have had to with influenza. It is good that individual freedom and responsibility will replace State coercion and control. Sadly, the legacy from the Pandemic will last for much longer. Many of the consequences of the prolonged lockdowns on physical and mental wellbeing and our social and economic lives are yet to be realised. I have called on the Government to take action to help reduce the current excessive levels of fear and anxiety engendered by the Pandemic. The confidence of both young and old in normal life needs to be rebuilt. This problem is acute among children who have not returned to school and employees who have not returned to their workplace. The need for return to the workplace was highlighted in answer to one of my Parliamentary questions. The Health Minister said that employees in the Department of Health and Social Care are only being expected to return to the office for at least four days a month! A national newspaper rightly ridiculed the absurdity of the Minister’s response. n I was able to expand upon the need for NHS reform in a speech in the House of Commons on World Cancer Day, February 4. In introducing my National Health Service Co-Funding and Co-Payment Bill I pointed out that there were 50,000 fewer cancer diagnoses across the United Kingdom during the Pandemic. In that period NHS cancer treatments fell by some 6%. Even before the Pandemic the United Kingdom in 2019 was recording a much higher rate of fatalities from cancer than in most of the 38 Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries. Our rate was 20% higher than in Australia and the United States. The UK is also lagging in access to diagnostics. Whereas the average across the OECD is 45 CT, MRI and PET scanners per million population, we only have 16 per million. These facts show that there is no room for complacency. I am, therefore, arguing that more private sector resources are needed and that there is no reason why co-funding and co-payment within our National Health Service should not be extended. Patients already often need to pay towards the cost of prescriptions, dental care, eye care and social care. They are not allowed, however, to pay towards the NHS in other sectors. Is it reasonable any longer to prevent people contributing towards their own NHS costs unless they fall into the categories above? My hope is that there will now be informed public debate about encouraging more contributions towards health care in this country from private individuals.
