Commons
Westminster Hall
13 January 2026
2 contributions
Universities: Statutory Duty of Care
It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Sir Christopher. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Rushcliffe (James Naish) on setting out the case for a statutory duty of care so well.
Students face an array of intersecting pressures throughout their student journey. One is the cost of living…
I agree. We must legislate in this place; that is why we are here. I particularly want to thank the student unions, because they are the people who are making the case, day by day, to the employers and the universities about the need to provide that statutory duty and the necessary services.
I want…
Commons
Debate
12 January 2026
Higher Education: Government Support
I am devastated to hear of the situation in Southend. In York, financial pressures are also prevalent. It is very clear that the financial model is failing. This is impacted by not only the resourcing that universities are able to generate but the change to international student visas. Does my hon. …
Commons
Oral Questions
Housing, Communities and Local Government
12 January 2026
Topical Questions
The local housing allowance covers just over half of private rents for social tenants in York, as private rents are so extortionate, so will the Government review the broad rental market area, which does not work for our area? It has not been reviewed properly since 2008.
Commons
Prime Minister's Questions
Prime Minister
7 January 2026
Engagements
Q9. Many independent business owners I have met fear the cumulative impact of the rateable value revision and relief reductions. In York, hospitality businesses will see an average business rates rise of 41%, music venues a rise of 44.4% and many independent shops increases of around 27%, meaning do…
Commons
Oral Questions
Energy Security and Net Zero
6 January 2026
Topical Questions
We are really excited about the University of York’s work to develop deep geothermal heat, and we believe that greater cost efficiencies can be achieved by sequencing projects, especially when it comes to hiring the drilling rig and equipment. How are the Government driving efficiencies in deep geot…
Commons
Westminster Hall
6 January 2026
BBC Charter Renewal
It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Mrs Harris. I congratulate the right hon. Member for Maldon (Sir John Whittingdale) on securing today’s debate.
A new charter is an opportunity for a real reset for the BBC. We have heard many criticisms in the debate, but this is an opportunity for a fresh…
Commons
Westminster Hall
6 January 2026
Poverty and Welfare Policies
I am grateful to my hon. Friend for today’s debate. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s essentials guarantee sets a minimum that people should receive through the social security system. For a single person, it is £120, which is £28 more than they are receiving; for a couple, it is £205, which is £60 m…
Commons
Debate
5 January 2026
Middle East and North Africa
The provision of aid and healthcare is needed at pace, yet over the past 27 months pace has not been the response. Is the Minister taking a step back and looking, for instance, at the instruments available to him, such as the international law framework, to ensure that they can operate at pace? Clea…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
5 January 2026
Venezuela
In order to hold up international law, it is important that there is robust accountability on two fronts. First, on how we use the intelligence that we have as a country ahead of actions being taken, can the Foreign Secretary say how she used the UK intelligence before this operation? Secondly, on t…
Commons
Westminster Hall
5 January 2026
2 contributions
Free Bus Travel: Over-60s
I am grateful for the speech that my hon. and learned Friend is making and I thank the 237 people in my constituency who signed the petition. At the root of this debate is the issue of inequality. There are many forms of inequality around bus use. The petition draws attention to the geographical ine…
Would the Minister look again at the settlement he has given to the Mayor for York and North Yorkshire? There will be fewer choices available to the mayor because of the reduction in that settlement. The mayor would perhaps also like to use some of his other transport budgets to subsidise bus travel…
Commons
Debate
15 December 2025
Sudan: Humanitarian Situation
We know that health workers have been targeted and killed, that 80% of health facilities are no longer functioning and that a generation have not received vaccines. We have seen this happen not only in Sudan, but in other conflicts. Rather than being reactionary or using the law retrospectively, wha…
Commons
Debate
15 December 2025
NHS: Winter Preparedness
I refer the House to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests as a former leader on healthcare in a trade union, and also as a clinician in respiratory medicine. I am deeply concerned about patients right now. I recognise that the Health Secretary shared a lot of information with the…
Commons
Prime Minister's Questions
Prime Minister
10 December 2025
Engagements
Q3. While the last Government were indifferent to child poverty, this Government’s driving mission must be to eradicate child poverty, and the strategy is a first step on that path. Over the first 1,001 critical days in pregnancy and early years, poverty contributes to malnourished babies, developme…
Commons
Oral Questions
Women and Equalities
10 December 2025
2 contributions
Unfair Dismissal: Protected Characteristics
5. If she will monitor the protected characteristics of people judged to have been unfairly dismissed in the first six months of employment.
We know that workers are often unfairly dismissed before the two-year threshold despite the application of the Equality Act 2010. That threshold was one year under the previous Labour Government; we are reducing it again down to six months. However, there is still a risk of disabled workers, ethnic …
Commons
Oral Questions
9 December 2025
Topical Questions
Independent businesses in York are really struggling with the revaluation of business rates. In 2024 they were £6,200; in 2025 they are £15,000; and in 2026 they will be £19,100, after discounts. Will the Minister meet representatives from York High Street Forum to understand the challenge of those …
Commons
Debate
8 December 2025
Employment Rights Bill
The point that my hon. Friend is making is that this is not about fair dismissal, but about unfair dismissal. Does he agree that the people who will experience the most discrimination will be disabled workers, young workers and ethnic minority workers?
Commons
Oral Questions
Work and Pensions
8 December 2025
Topical Questions
On Friday, I learned of an 81-year-old constituent who had had to return to work because of the cost of living in York. Will the Government take a deep dive and carry out an inquiry into poverty in later life, so that we can ensure that we deal with pensioner poverty once and for all?
Commons
Westminster Hall
8 December 2025
2 contributions
Digital ID
I have scanned the Labour manifesto, in which ID cards do not feature, and I have sought the evidence that ID cards prohibit illegal working, but there is none. Yet we are told that digital ID is the way forward.
I understand the argument about the data in the pocket, the convenience, everything in…
I will just press on.
If DWP data and NHS data are in the wrong hands, social security will become insecurity; if Home Office data contains someone’s location, then the ICE teams will find them. This could be our future. Behind our screens, the datasets that researchers use for good will be used by…
Commons
Westminster Hall
3 December 2025
2 contributions
Local Media
I am grateful to be called in this debate with you in the Chair, Dr Allin-Khan, and to the hon. Member for Bromley and Biggin Hill (Peter Fortune).
With the media industry’s moves from print to broadcast to digital, and we with the rapid rise of generative artificial intelligence, there are new cha…
I was certainly referring to such an example in my speech, but I am particularly concerned about the influence that disinformation is having on this place and on the policies of Governments over time, which have been brought out in response to that social, unregulated space. Is that not all the more…
Commons
Westminster Hall
2 December 2025
Homelessness: Funding
It is a pleasure to contribute with you in the Chair, Mr Vickers. I congratulate the hon. Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman) on securing this debate. He has focused homeless prevention, but we need also to think seriously about homeless recovery and permanence as we move forward.
It is right tha…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
1 December 2025
Office for Budget Responsibility Forecasts
To bring to a conclusion the ensuing debate about who knew what and when, does my right hon. Friend agree that he should publish a detailed timetable of the economic information that the Chancellor was in receipt of, including the return on tax receipts and the impact on wage growth?
Commons
Oral Questions
1 December 2025
Topical Questions
City of York council has gone from “requires improvement” to “outstanding” in all areas due to the innovation it is driving. In particular, it has been working on halving the number of children in social care, ending the use of agency workers and setting up a SEND hub. The director of children’s soc…
Commons
Oral Questions
1 December 2025
Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund
I met people from my regional adoption agency just last Thursday—I thank them and all their partners for their excellent work—who raised the adoption and special guardianship support fund, recognising that the quantum in resource is not there and that the demand is so high. Will the Minister meet th…
Commons
Debate
26 November 2025
2 contributions
Budget Resolutions
I like drilling into the data and getting to the facts. You can see a correlation between the rise in people claiming social security and the rise in waiting lists in the NHS—they map identically through all Parliaments, whether Tory or Labour. Will the right hon. Member look at the data before maki…
Indifference to poverty, as we have just heard, marks out the political divisions of our time. The task of restructuring our economy to ensure that those who serve and work hard are not exploited by profiteers and the powerful is our mission. Today, it is clear which side Labour is on. Leveraging re…
Commons
Westminster Hall
26 November 2025
Children of Alcoholics
I am really grateful for all that the hon. Gentleman does in this place. I want to raise the issue of foetal alcohol spectrum disorder. We know that its prevalence is now 4%, which is higher than autism, and there is no screening programme for pregnant women, as the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim S…