Peter Kyle MP: speeches 2025

Speeches

• 8 Jan 2025 · NHS Diagnostic Processes: Technological Innovation · Hansard source

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  I can indeed commit to that. The Government see the embrace of proven technologies and innovation as fundamental to the future survival of the NHS. I was incredibly happy to see that last autumn, the Royal Wolverhampton NHS trust began enrolling patients in a global-first trial of completely personalised cancer vaccines, as part of a £1 billion investment negotiated by my Department. That shows the way forward and how co-operation between Departments will deliver for patients and public service users across the country.

• 8 Jan 2025 · NHS Diagnostic Processes: Technological Innovation · Hansard source

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  The first thing that we have done is increase to record levels overall the Government’s investment in R&D. Pioneering work is also going on through Innovate UK, the Advanced Research and Invention Agency and the different funding bodies that are available to take different levels of risk when it comes to supporting, creating and upscaling innovation. The work that the Chancellor is doing to reform our pension system will unlock capital, because fundamentally we must get more domestic capital into the venture capital community so that we can get domestic innovation supported by domestic capital to upscale and solve the challenges that the hon. Member talked about.

• 8 Jan 2025 · NHS Diagnostic Processes: Technological Innovation · Hansard source

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  I am grateful for the hon. Member’s question. I have visited Huddersfield hospital, which is one of the first hospitals to fully integrate AI in its radiotherapy and scanning work. Having stood there and seen its power for early diagnosis through its ability to detect patterns at an incredibly early stage, I am left in no doubt that, had my mother been scanned at that hospital, she would still be alive today. She was scanned three times, but the progress of her lung cancer was missed and she died several weeks after collapsing, with it not having been detected. This is the power of technology. AI is a human power that will transform lives and we are determined to ensure—

• 8 Jan 2025 · NHS Diagnostic Processes: Technological Innovation · Hansard source

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  I confirm that I have been working with the Health Secretary—indeed, we recently visited St Tommy’s across the road from here to see how new technology is being used in diagnostics. It is increasing the number of scans and improving the quality of those scans to diagnose disease early and prevent it from having the worst outcome. That is being rolled out across the country, and I am working closely with the Health Secretary to ensure that such innovations are put to good use for the country.

• 8 Jan 2025 · NHS Diagnostic Processes: Technological Innovation · Hansard source

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  My Department is working incredibly closely with the Department of Health and Social Care, and the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and I are joined at the hip on these issues. That includes unprecedented investment in research and development to understand how better to diagnose disease. There is co-investment in initiatives such as health innovation networks, which have enabled 1.2 million patients to access proven innovations, and the digital centre of Government, which we have created, is partnering closely with the NHS to improve the deployment and innovation of technology.

• 8 Jan 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  The hon. Gentleman raises a very important point, one that the Government are committed to. That is why we increased research and development spending to the highest of any Government in this country. It will have a direct impact on the issues he raises.

• 8 Jan 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  We have seen fear and lies spread about life in Britain, with those who have done little or nothing to combat child sexual abuse stretching every sinew to jump on the bandwagon. This Government are committed to justice for the victims and punishment for the perpetrators of abuse wherever it happens and whoever commits it, and I pay tribute to the work of the Prime Minister and, in particular, the Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department, my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham Yardley (Jess Phillips), in that regard. The illegal content codes that Ofcom set out last month are the single biggest change to online safety for a generation.

• 8 Jan 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  The hon. Lady asks an important question. Broadcast TV is legally protected until 2034. This Government are committed to ensuring audiences can access television in a way that suits them. Too many people are excluded from digital activity because they lack the basic skills. In the not-too-distant future, I will be launching the digital inclusion plan. I know that the hon. Lady takes cross-party working very seriously, so I hope she will meet me so I can brief her on that work and involve her ideas as we develop it.

• 8 Jan 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  I agree, of course. Technological innovation will be key to the move to net zero, and the UK will be at the forefront of that. SMRs are particularly exciting. I have met Rolls-Royce, which has a great advocate in my hon. Friend. I look forward to hearing more from him and seeing how we can support this exciting technology into the future.

• 8 Jan 2025 · Employer National Insurance Contributions · Hansard source

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  We have found ways to get new investment into universities, which we are putting on a solid financial footing. This is just the start. We always knew that we could not fix all the problems that we inherited from that last Administration in six months, but we are finding ways to take that great start forward to get new investment into universities. I reassure the House that the war on universities by that Administration has ended.

• 8 Jan 2025 · Employer National Insurance Contributions · Hansard source

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  The Government have increased investment in R&D to record levels. We have also repaired the public finances, including the black hole left by the previous Administration. We have done so by protecting the smallest businesses through the impact of doubling the employment allowance to £10,500, meaning that 865,000 employers will pay nothing in additional tax.

• 8 Jan 2025 · Employer National Insurance Contributions · Hansard source

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  We have put the public finances on a solid footing. Our economy is now stable in a way that has not been the case for 14 years. The Conservatives want all the benefits of the last Budget without saying how they will pay for any of it. Until they do, they will not be taken seriously by anyone, including the business that the hon. Gentleman referenced.

• 8 Jan 2025 · Employer National Insurance Contributions · Hansard source

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  I think the hon. Gentleman missed the investment summit that the Government held just before Christmas, at which a record £60 billion was invested into this country, £24 billion of which was AI-related. That is almost as much going directly into AI as was committed in total at the previous Government’s investment summit. This Government are unlocking investment; the previous Administration wrecked our economy and public services, and failed to secure faith in our economy for foreign companies to invest in this country.