Commons
Westminster Hall
1 December 2025
7 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
It is a great pleasure to see you presiding, Ms Barker. This has been a good debate, and very good points have been made by hon. Members on all sides, including the hon. Member for Beckenham and Penge (Liam Conlon), who has just spoken. This is a rare and important opportunity to talk about the vita…
I am coming very close to the end of my speech, and I think Ms Barker would want me to continue to allow for more speakers.
+5 more contributions in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
26 November 2025
1994 RAF Chinook Crash
Did the Minister just say that all of these documents would be FOI-able and would then be released, albeit in redacted form, presumably in the usual way, with personal details being blacked out?
Commons
Debate
11 November 2025
BBC Leadership
The internet is full of people who think they are in touch with a bigger truth and that it does not matter what happens to all sorts of littler truths along the way in getting that bigger truth across. In his letter to my hon. Friend the Member for Gosport (Dame Caroline Dinenage), the Chair of the …
Commons
Ministerial Statement
5 November 2025
Curriculum and Assessment Review
This is a thorough piece of work from Professor Francis. There are things in it to welcome, including the retention of key stage 2 assessments and the triple science entitlement, although the Government will have to say where the resourcing will come from to make that a reality. In truth, there are …
Commons
Debate
4 November 2025
5 contributions
Supporting High Streets
It is a pleasure to take part in this debate, Madam Deputy Speaker. It is natural in these debates that we repeatedly hear phrases like “lifeblood” and “beating heart”, because colleagues across the House love our town and village centres; they are the essence of our local communities. For me, that …
I largely agree. In truth, it is a blend. Having distinctive independent traders is what sets all our towns apart; it makes them unique and it makes us very proud of them. But customers want both those independent traders and some brand-name retailers, and there is nothing wrong with being a brand-n…
+3 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Work and Pensions
27 October 2025
Post-16 Education: Skills Needed in the Economy
One of the worries about the new regime and Skills England is the loss of independence, and the loss of what we had in the former Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education: a guaranteed business voice, written into law. How will the Secretary of State ensure that business has a voice in …
Commons
Westminster Hall
27 October 2025
Holidays During School Term Time
Could the hon. Member explain how he would stop that practice by the holiday companies?
Commons
Oral Questions
21 October 2025
Topical Questions
Alton and Petersfield hospitals give excellent step-up, step-down and end-of-life care. The trust is introducing more home-based care, which is good, but it also proposes closing a ward in one of the community hospitals. Will the Minister ensure that there remain sufficient beds and sufficient capac…
Commons
Oral Questions
Education
20 October 2025
Higher-level Learning Target
After the creative reimagining of the Government’s target for hiring more teachers, it would be helpful to have some precision on the record for the target of two thirds of young people in higher learning. We know that higher learning means level 4 or above, but what exactly is a gold-standard appre…
Commons
Westminster Hall
15 October 2025
Educational Assessment System Reform
It is good to see you in the Chair, Ms Lewell. Assessment in education is obviously one of the most important aspects of what we do in education. It gives children a chance to show what they have learned, what they can do, and we want that to be stretching, but also to be fair. Anything that measure…
Commons
Debate
15 September 2025
4 contributions
Employment Rights Bill
In the positive spirit in which the Secretary of State speaks, will he commit on the Floor of the House that the reference period used to calculate hours for sectors that have serious seasonality—we have heard about boat building, hospitality, tourism and farming—will not be a ridiculously short per…
I intend to speak mainly to the provisions dealing with guaranteed hours, but I begin with a word of thanks to the Government for what they have announced about special constables. It is not quite as good as adopting the amendment, but I welcome the review. I also commend my hon. Friend the Member f…
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Treasury
9 September 2025
2 contributions
Agricultural Property Relief and Business Property Relief: Impact on Farming
22. If she will meet with representatives of the farming industry to discuss the potential impact of changes to agricultural property relief and business property relief on that sector.
Given the Prime Minister’s clear commitment to growth that benefits every community in every corner of the UK, his Ministers will no doubt be disturbed at polling showing that four fifths of farmers have postponed or delayed investment since the Budget. Is it not time for a rethink of this policy—if…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
4 September 2025
Early Education and Childcare
There were five major expansions of early years education and childcare entitlement under the last Government; what the Minister has announced today would have been our sixth. But since we formed this policy, the new Government have made a massive increase in the tax on jobs. When will Ministers nex…
Commons
Debate
3 September 2025
Hospitality Sector
I am sad to say that the number of payroll employees in this country has fallen by 149,000 in the past year. We now have unemployment inching up towards 5%, with youth unemployment much higher than that. Why do I mention that in the context of a debate about hospitality? It is because a disproportio…
Commons
Oral Questions
22 July 2025
Topical Questions
Does the Secretary of State agree with me about the importance of step-down provision, provided by community hospitals such as Petersfield and Alton, both for patient care and for relieving pressure on acute hospitals, such as Queen Alexandra and Basingstoke?
Commons
Ministerial Statement
21 July 2025
Infected Blood Inquiry: Additional Report
I welcome what the Paymaster General has said about removing administrative burdens to payment and accepting the recommendations, and his commitment to working with the community and doing so in a timely way. I know that he will continue to devote his considerable energies to those things. Could he …
Commons
Oral Questions
21 July 2025
Teacher Recruitment
The Government have tried to have it every which way on these elusive 6,500 extra teachers. If the Labour manifesto had meant that only secondary teachers counted, but they could be in any subject, presumably that is what it would have said. What it actually said was 6,500 new specialist teachers in…
Commons
Westminster Hall
10 July 2025
Victims of Terrorism: State Support
Thank you for calling me, Mrs Harris. I first met Travis Frain, the constituent of the hon. Member for Rossendale and Darwen (Andy MacNae), when I was Security Minister at the Home Office. Travis has been instrumental in the survivors movement. He was one of a number of brave victims, survivors and …
Commons
Westminster Hall
8 July 2025
Down’s Syndrome Regression Disorder
I rise to speak briefly in support of the case put so comprehensively and powerfully by the hon. Member for Thurrock (Jen Craft).
The APPG on Down syndrome, of which the hon. Member for Mid Cheshire (Andrew Cooper) and I are both members, was given a very striking presentation on Down syndrome regr…
Commons
Westminster Hall
8 July 2025
7 contributions
Generative Artificial Intelligence: Schools
I beg to move,
That this House has considered the use of generative artificial intelligence in schools.
It is a great pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Sir Jeremy. You will not be presiding over a heated political debate this afternoon, and I hope this is a good opportunity to openly discus…
Funnily enough, I agree with the hon. Member, though not necessarily about statutory requirements. It is certainly true—in fact, he inadvertently leads me on to my next point—that we need to be careful and discerning in using these products. There are many risks, including the safeguarding risks inh…
+5 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
7 July 2025
2 contributions
Fraud
6. What recent assessment she has made of trends in the incidence of fraud.
As the Minister says, fraud is the largest volume category of crime; it was coming down under the last Government, but over the past full year it has gone back up again dramatically. The Online Safety Act 2023 is a landmark reform, but criminals will always seek new channels, so what will the Minist…
Commons
Westminster Hall
1 July 2025
3 contributions
Hospitality Sector
It is a great pleasure to see you in the Chair, Ms Butler, and a privilege to take part in these proceedings under your guidance. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Kingswinford and South Staffordshire (Mike Wood) on setting out his case—our case—so comprehensively and compellingly.
It is…
And the national health service—sorry, I am coming back to hospitality, Ms Butler. As it turns out, one of the biggest users of zero-hours contracts in the country is the national health service.
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Ministerial Statement
30 June 2025
Welfare Reform
There were almost a million fewer workless households in 2024 than in 2010. One factor behind that was universal credit and reducing the barriers and perceived risks of going back into work if people were not sure how it would work out. Notwithstanding the right to try, if there are to be two differ…
Commons
Debate
24 June 2025
4 contributions
Department for Education
This debate is a very important opportunity to discuss the upcoming cuts in the Department for Education. We know from the estimates document that overall resource departmental expenditure limits are coming down. We are told that that is largely a technical change as a result of changes to the stude…
My right hon. Friend makes powerful points, including about the additional unfunded cost pressures for nursery providers—of course, that argument also extends to regular state-funded schools. The one thing I might quibble with is his statement that this Labour Government came in promising to do so m…
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
18 June 2025
Businesses in Rural Areas
It is a great pleasure to see you in the Chair, Mr Western.
The family farm tax was a hammer blow to our agricultural businesses. We understand that the Government seek to raise money, but there is an alternative on the table: the so-called clawback proposal. I hope that the Minister will update us…