Commons
Westminster Hall
8 September 2026
9 contributions
World Suicide Prevention Day
I beg to move,
That this House has considered World Suicide Prevention Day.
I am grateful for having secured this debate, Sir Christopher, and it is a pleasure to see you in the Chair for it. This Thursday is World Suicide Prevention Day, an event marked through the World Health Organisation. Each…
I am indeed aware of that work and of the difficulties faced by the farming community, and it is important that we address those. This year, as in the last two years, the theme for World Suicide Prevention Day is “Changing the Narrative on Suicide”, accompanied by a direct call to action to start th…
+7 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
8 September 2026
Health Bill
I welcome the Bill, and was pleased to be a member of the Bill Committee. I also welcome the Government’s new clauses, about which the Minister has spoken today.
New clause 159, to which I have added my name, seeks to address a long-standing legislative omission in our health service. I thank my ho…
Commons
Oral Questions
Church Commissioners
3 September 2026
2 contributions
Places of Worship Renewal Fund
11. What discussions the Church of England has had with the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on the second round of applications for the places of worship renewal fund.
In communities like Blaydon and Consett, historic parish churches, such as St Ives’ church in Leadgate—known locally as the miners’ cathedral—are irreplaceable heritage assets, but carry huge repair burdens. What discussions has my hon. Friend had with the Department to ensure that round 2 funding i…
Commons
Oral Questions
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
1 September 2026
2 contributions
Climate Change: International Partners
9. What steps his Department is taking with international partners to help tackle climate change.
My constituents in Blaydon and Consett have suffered through a summer of extreme heat, seeing trains cancelled, signal interruptions and wildfires. Climate change affects every single one of us—not only in the UK but globally, as we have heard today—so how is climate change resilience being embedded…
Commons
Proceedings
1 September 2026
2 contributions
Speaker’s Statement
9. What steps his Department is taking with international partners to help tackle climate change.
My constituents in Blaydon and Consett have suffered through a summer of extreme heat, seeing trains cancelled, signal interruptions and wildfires. Climate change affects every single one of us—not only in the UK but globally, as we have heard today—so how is climate change resilience being embedded…
Commons
Oral Questions
Solicitor General
9 July 2026
2 contributions
Violence against Women and Girls: Prosecution Rates
6. What steps she is taking to help increase prosecution rates for crimes involving violence against women and girls.
It is absolutely vital that victims are at the heart of our justice system. My Blaydon and Consett constituents know that for too long, the system has not been working for victims of rape and serious sexual offences. What impact does the Solicitor General believe that the early victims’ right to rev…
Commons
Oral Questions
Cabinet Office
25 June 2026
Public Procurement: SMEs
14. What steps he is taking to help support small and medium-sized businesses through reforms to public procurement.
Commons
Westminster Hall
22 June 2026
3 contributions
Spinal Muscular Atrophy: Newborn Screening Test
It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Mr Mundell. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Sunderland Central (Lewis Atkinson) for opening this vital debate on behalf of the nearly 150,000 people who signed the e-petition. I am glad that, with the help and promotion of Jesy Nelson, who broug…
I certainly do agree. The test should be made available to everyone to prevent people from living with the effects of SMA that could have been diagnosed and treated.
As I was saying, it is important that we now have testing, but we must expand it to the whole of the UK very quickly.
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
17 June 2026
6 contributions
Mental Health: Parity of Esteem
I beg to move,
That this House has considered parity of esteem between physical and mental health.
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mrs Hobhouse. In my constituency surgeries I see the devastating consequences of our failure to treat mental illness with the urgency it requires. In m…
The hon. Member might be reading my mind, because I will come on to that issue. I am sorry to hear of the death of his constituent—it is tragic.
+4 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Housing, Communities and Local Government
15 June 2026
2 contributions
New Social and Affordable Homes: Blaydon and Consett
13. What steps he is taking to build more social and affordable homes in Blaydon and Consett constituency.
For 14 years, the Conservatives presided over a house building crisis that locked a generation out of home ownership and left social housing in short supply. In Blaydon and Consett, my constituents have been calling for years for more social and affordable housing to be built. Will the Minister say …
Commons
Oral Questions
Transport
11 June 2026
2 contributions
Bus Services
13. What plans she has to work with local leaders to improve bus services.
People across the north-east, including in my constituency of Blaydon and Consett, have been benefiting from a £2.50 bus fare for a single journey, funded thanks to the Labour Government and Kim McGuinness, our Labour Mayor of the North East. With that fare, there have been over 100 million bus jour…
Commons
Prime Minister's Questions
Prime Minister
10 June 2026
Engagements
Q6. The British Standards Institution is 125 years old this year. I am proud to have been working closely with it to produce and publish BS 30480: the world’s first free standard on suicide and the workplace. The standard has now been downloaded more than 12,500 times. As we all work towards reducin…
Commons
Proceedings
10 June 2026
Speaker’s Statement
Q6. The British Standards Institution is 125 years old this year. I am proud to have been working closely with it to produce and publish BS 30480: the world’s first free standard on suicide and the workplace. The standard has now been downloaded more than 12,500 times. As we all work towards reducin…
Commons
Oral Questions
Health and Social Care
9 June 2026
2 contributions
Suicide Prevention Strategy
4. What assessment he has made of the adequacy of progress on implementing the suicide prevention strategy for England.
The strategy said that it would
“reduce the suicide rate over the next 5 years—with initial reductions observed within half this time or sooner”.
However, we have now passed the halfway point, and sadly, those initial reductions have not been achieved. What is the Government’s plan to ensure that …
Commons
Oral Questions
Justice
19 May 2026
Topical Questions
T9. The latest Women’s Aid annual audit highlights that nearly 80% of domestic abuse survivors now face devastating tech-facilitated abuse and online stalking. How will the Ministry of Justice collaborate across Government to ensure that our courts and prosecutors are fully equipped to tackle digita…
Commons
Oral Questions
23 April 2026
Business of the House
I recently had the chance to speak to air cadets at 1509 (Blaydon) Squadron, my local air training corps, where I received a good grilling on the job of an MP and on a wide range of issues affecting the cadets. They told me how they are learning practical and social skills, as well as being provided…
Commons
Oral Questions
16 April 2026
Business of the House
Consett is full of great community-focused organisations. Recently, I met those at Shadows of Light CIC, which offers dog-assisted therapy for care homes, young people, those at risk of suicide and veterans. I met them at the Foundation For Good, another charity in Consett, which focuses on wellbein…
Commons
Westminster Hall
14 April 2026
7 contributions
National Suicide Prevention Standard
I beg to move,
That this House has considered Government support for businesses implementing National Suicide Prevention Standard BS 30480.
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Stringer. This debate is about a risk we often overlook in our workplaces, but which can have a great im…
Of course small and medium-sized enterprises are in a difficult position without large resources, but there are lots of things we can do. As the hon. Member suggests, I will ask the Minister what we can do to ensure that SMEs also have the ability to take part in this training.
+5 more contributions in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
13 April 2026
2 contributions
Disclosure and Safeguarding: At-risk Children
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Mundell. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Sunderland Central (Lewis Atkinson) for introducing the debate on behalf of the Petitions Committee and the petitioners, and for setting out clearly the need for a child risk disclosure mechanism for…
I agree with the hon. Gentleman. I know that Gemma and Rachael have worked very closely with Star Hobson’s family to ensure that lessons are learned and action is taken. That is why there is such widespread support for this proposal.
Maya’s law would place a statutory duty across multiple agencies,…
Commons
Westminster Hall
26 March 2026
2 contributions
Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and Craniocervical Instability
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Furniss. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Cannock Chase (Josh Newbury) on securing this important debate.
Over recent years, I have been contacted by a number of constituents with EDS, many of whom have severe health issues because of t…
I will of course join the hon. Member in that, as he will hear at the conclusion of my speech.
Because of those delays in diagnosis and the lack of early management, patients are deteriorating more quickly and ending up on neurosurgery waiting lists, when much more could have been done at an early …
Commons
Debate
19 March 2026
2 contributions
Pre-1997 Pensions: Discretionary Increases
rose —
I congratulate my hon. Friend and constituency neighbour on securing this debate and raising this issue. He will have constituents, as I do, who have been writing to us on this issue and feel very strongly that an injustice has been done.
Commons
Debate
19 March 2026
Online Harms
I congratulate the hon. Member for St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire (Ian Sollom) on securing the debate and I thank the Backbench Business Committee for granting it.
Facing harm online is one of the biggest struggles that our young people face daily, from toxic influencers trying to push a certain w…
Commons
Oral Questions
11 March 2026
Royal Mail: Universal Service Obligation
I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Blyth and Ashington (Ian Lavery) for asking this urgent question because, as he will know, too many constituents are suffering this situation. When this first started, I asked Royal Mail why it was happening. I got polite replies, but frankly, at this stage, fin…
Commons
Proceedings
5 March 2026
Business of the House
Earlier this morning, I joined Samaritans at Waterloo station for the launch of its “Small Talk Saves Lives” campaign, which encourages people to start simple conversations with those who look as though they may be in distress. Can we have a debate in Government time on the importance of mental heal…