Commons
Oral Questions
Science, Innovation and Technology
1 July 2026
Topical Questions
This Government are boosting digital and AI skills by embedding media literacy across all key stages, including by introducing an AI-inclusive computing GCSE and a £20 million early careers jobs alliance. We will ensure that digital inclusion is fundamental as the Government work to develop digital …
Commons
Westminster Hall
2 June 2026
3 contributions
Preparedness for National Emergencies
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mrs Barker. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Dunfermline and Dollar (Graeme Downie) on his work in this area and on securing this important debate.
In the interest of time, I intend to go through my pre-prepared remarks, but I have noted t…
I will get on to preparedness and the impact of global events, including in the middle east, but I will come back to my hon. Friend on specifics. Responsibility for the overarching resilience system is led by the COBR Directorate in the Cabinet Office. Colleagues are rightly asking about the role th…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Science, Innovation and Technology
20 May 2026
2 contributions
Digital Inclusion
The Labour Government are the first in a decade to publish a digital inclusion action plan, to ensure that everybody benefits from our digital society. Seventy-three per cent of the £11.9 million digital inclusion innovation fund supported charities, many of them grassroots organisations. Through th…
The hon. Gentleman raises a very important point; I know that he has an excellent record in this area. The digital inclusion fund was designed as a one-year programme to allow us to understand what works in digital inclusion. I share his concerns. We remain committed to building a digitally inclusiv…
Commons
Oral Questions
5 March 2026
2 contributions
Digital ID Scheme: Public consultation
Public services should be there for us when we need them, but right now it is too hard for people to get what they need. The new, free-to-access digital ID intends to change that by supporting the personalising of public services, making everyday life easier for everyone. The consultation will be la…
I thank my hon. Friend for his well wishes; I am grateful for the opportunity to help to dispel any misinformation on this exciting programme of digital transformation of our public services. Let me be clear: this will not be compulsory, and there is no central pot of data. In my early conversations…
Commons
Debate
3 February 2026
Universal Credit (Removal of Two Child Limit) Bill
Of course I support the Bill. It is what we are here for: to do this at the stroke of a pen—not of any pen, but that of a Government pen—after years in opposition, hoping to be able to come in and enact the sort of change we are able to make today. I am proud to stand in support of this Bill, and of…
Commons
Debate
3 February 2026
Iran
I thank the Minister for his work on this matter and for his statement. I want to raise the testimony of a constituent, a British-Iranian woman who fled Iran after being arrested three times for campaigning for the rights of women and children. She was raped and tortured in detention. Following the …
Commons
Ministerial Statement
20 January 2026
Mobile Phones and Social Media: Use by Children
I welcome the leadership that the Secretary of State is showing on this issue. In Bury North, parental appetite for a ban on mobile phones is real, but so are the practical considerations when parents rightly want to track the location of their children, have a form of emergency contact and be able …
Commons
Oral Questions
13 January 2026
Topical Questions
T4. Following my recent meeting with Bury’s child and adolescent mental health services, can I ask the Secretary of State whether he has considered the merits of separating neurodiversity services from core CAMHS mental health provision? Will he meet me and Bury’s health leaders to discuss this ap…
Commons
Oral Questions
Defence
15 December 2025
Topical Questions
T9. I welcome the Government’s commitment to supporting servicemen and women, including those from Bury North, to travel home for Christmas. Given Bury’s long and proud military tradition and our ambition to host a Valour centre, will the Minister set out what practical steps the Government are ta…
Commons
Westminster Hall
4 December 2025
Acquired Brain Injury Action Plan
The right hon. Gentleman is making a typically thoughtful contribution, and I congratulate him on securing this debate. I also thank Clare Harrison, a constituent of mine, from the Brain Injury Group for bringing this important matter to my attention.
The right hon. Gentleman makes a point about th…
Commons
Westminster Hall
8 September 2025
Indefinite Leave to Remain
My hon. Friend is being very generous in giving way and is making excellent remarks. At the weekend, I met Sid, who is in the Gallery today, and he made many of the excellent points that my hon. Friend is making. On the issue of the BNO route, the extension from five to 10 years makes it look as tho…
Commons
Proceedings
4 September 2025
Business of the House
The return to school in Bury North has seen the Derby and the Elton high schools introduce smartphone bans. I congratulate the principals Helen Hubert and Jonathan Wilton on their leadership in doing so. Like many of my Labour colleagues, through my smartphone-free schools campaign I have heard from…
Commons
Oral Questions
Solicitor General
4 September 2025
2 contributions
Economic Crime
10. What steps her Department is taking with the Serious Fraud Office to tackle economic crime.
A businessman in my constituency has been defrauded of £100,000. Local police lack the skills and resources to investigate, and the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau says that it cannot identify a line of inquiry, even though my constituent has compiled evidence himself. To his great credit, my con…
Commons
Debate
2 September 2025
2 contributions
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
Will my right hon. Friend give way on that point?
We are very proud of the work of our Greater Manchester Mayor, Andy Burnham. On the issue of driving change, I would like to raise a point about drivers. Half of private hire taxis in Greater Manchester are licensed outside the area. That undermines local enforcement and accountability as well as lo…
Commons
Oral Questions
21 July 2025
Topical Questions
I recently hosted a series of engagements and roundtables on the SEN reforms, and it is impossible to ignore the sheer size of the problems this Government are confronting. Will the Secretary of State confirm that the legal right to specialist support will remain a core principle of every child’s en…
Commons
Prime Minister's Questions
Prime Minister
16 July 2025
Engagements
In 2017 I led a Select Committee inquiry that warned of an emerging disaster in special educational needs and disability services. Those warnings went unheeded by the Conservatives, who left behind a broken system, which even they have since admitted is, “Lose, lose, lose.” Can the Prime Minister co…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
3 July 2025
NHS 10-Year Plan
I commend not only my right hon. Friend and his team on today’s 10-year plan but also the leadership and Budget of our right hon. Friend the Chancellor, who made today and the next 10 years of our NHS possible. For too long, the NHS has been stuck in crisis mode. My right hon. Friend the Secretary o…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
3 July 2025
Business of the House
My team and I recently helped a woman in my constituency to divorce her abusive partner and reclaim her home by pressing for her to have access to legal aid. However, because of delays and errors by her legal aid solicitors, who failed to grasp the complexity and risk involved, she remains exposed t…
Commons
Oral Questions
3 July 2025
2 contributions
Live Music: Creative Industries Sector Plan
3. What steps her Department is taking to ensure the creative industries sector plan supports the growth of live music.
The Secretary of State will know that Oasis kicks off their world tour this week, and I am proud that their first English gig is in the borough of Bury—a brilliant moment for Manchester’s world-class live music scene. Hosting the five sold-out shows with 72,000 fans a night brings the band 50 millio…
Commons
Westminster Hall
11 June 2025
Theft of Tools of Trade
My hon. Friend is a champion for our tradespeople and I commend her work. A constituent of mine had his tools nicked three times. There is the cost of repairing any damage, the cost of replacing the tools, the loss in earnings while he waits and the cost of the insurance premium, as well as the repu…
Commons
Debate
10 June 2025
2 contributions
Data (Use and Access) Bill [Lords]
I hope that the shadow Minister sought permission to misappropriate Julia Donaldson’s wonderful work. It is hardly an example that any of us should follow.
We are back here again. I put on record my thanks to Government Front Benchers for their engagement on this issue. It was particularly welcome …
I thank my hon. Friend for her intervention, which as ever is rooted in the first-hand experience and professional success that brought her to this place. She should be listened to, and her warnings about the implications of not taking transparency seriously should be heeded.
Secondly, I will retur…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
4 June 2025
Regional Growth
It was a pleasure to hear my right hon. Friend refer to Bury North in his statement, and I welcome the investment for trams and buses in Bury North; it comes hot on the heels of the announcement only this week of vital school and hospital funding. New buses and new tram stops are about connecting pe…
Commons
Debate
3 June 2025
Data (Use and Access) Bill [Lords]
I echo the comments of my hon. Friends about how open and engaging both the Minister and the Secretary of State have been on this issue. As for the consideration of working groups, can the Minister confirm that the Government’s policy is to ensure that both sides are in the room at the same time, wi…
Commons
Debate
22 May 2025
Data (Use and Access) Bill [Lords]
My right hon. Friend’s tone is most welcome, but it is also consistent with how he has been both in private and public on this matter, and I thank him for that, while sharing much of his taste in music. Does he agree that transparency should be a prerequisite for all AI development, not a matter for…
Commons
Westminster Hall
21 May 2025
Broadband and Mobile Connectivity: Rural Areas
Openreach has changed its mind several times about the affected community of Affetside in my constituency. What advice would you give that resolute, resilient community as it tries to convince Openreach to honour not just its historical commitment, but the one that it made, through me, only in Decem…