Plan for Change

I am pleased to report to the House that we are making progress in delivering our plan for change. After years of rising NHS waiting lists under the Conservatives, those waiting lists are now falling and last month we announced that we had met our first step pledge to deliver 2 million additional NHS appointments seven months early. In addition to that, the first 750 breakfast clubs will open in April to help children get the best start to their learning day, and our new criminal justice legislation is being introduced to protect the public from crime and antisocial behaviour, including the introduction of respect orders targeted at known troublemakers in our local communities.

I thank the Minister for that answer. I was proud to vote for the £22.6 billion increase in NHS spending, which means that we are getting 2 million more appointments seven months early and that waiting lists are coming down. Of course, there is still a long way to go and the British public deserve to know that every penny of that extra investment is being spent as efficiently as possible. Will the Minister update the House on what the Government’s plans are to reform the NHS to ensure that every single penny is spent wisely?

My hon. Friend is absolutely right; the additional resources for the NHS were only made possible by the Budget proposed by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor back in October. My hon. Friend is also right to say that as more money goes into the NHS, there is a duty to ensure that that is matched by reform. The 10-year health plan will set out how we will deliver an NHS by creating a reformed and modern health service to ensure that the extra investment results in faster and more convenient treatment for patients, because that is what we all want to see.

Over the last 14 years, my Camborne, Redruth and Hayle constituency has seen child poverty rise. A third of secondary school children are now persistently absent from school, educational attainment is below the national average and life expectancy has actually fallen. Those were 14 years of abject failure, for which my constituents will never forgive the Conservative party. Does the Minister agree that the true test of success of our plan for change and a decade of renewal should be measured in the positive changes to the lives of our poorest communities?

My hon. Friend puts it well. The missions that we have set out are focused on delivering long-term and ambitious outcomes that will make a meaningful difference to people’s lives. Specifically on the issue he raised on child poverty and the best start in life, the plan for change has a specific target to close the development gap between children who are starting school, and to ensure that more children are ready to start school and to learn and to give them the opportunities that education can bring. Our aim is that people from all backgrounds can benefit from those policies, and that is why the plan for change will make a real difference to people’s lives in all parts of the country.