Health and Education — 30 Nov 2004 at 18:45

The Aye-voters failed to add to the motion to pass the Queen's speech:

That an humble Address be presented to Her Majesty, as follows:

Most Gracious Sovereign. We, Your Majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects, the Commons of the United Kingdom and Great Britain and Northern Ireland, in Parliament assembled, beg leave to offer our humble thanks to Your Majesty for the Gracious Speech which Your Majesty has addressed to both Houses of Parliament.

the sentence:

...but deplore the absence of any measures in the Gracious Speech which would reduce the burden of centrally-imposed targets, bureaucracy and regulation on the NHS and the Education Service; call on Ministers to implement urgently the action needed to deliver cleaner hospitals and to strengthen school discipline; regret the omission of measures to abolish top-up fees; note that legislation to reduce the size of Ofsted will merely reverse part of the huge increases in its staffing levels since 1997; reject the Government's intention to impose additional fees on those attending further education colleges and deprecate the damage this will cause to adult and vocational education; further regret the carry-over of the School Transport Bill, which will impose extra financial burdens on hard-working families; are concerned at the failure to take forward legislation on mental health in a form that would protect the rights of people with mental health problems and promote their access to treatment; further regret the lack of any proposals in the Gracious Speech to provide effective public health services; and further deplore the absence of measures to promote freedom and independence for health and education professionals or effective choice of patients and parents.

Debate in Parliament | Historical Hansard | Source |