Commons
Westminster Hall
8 July 2026
National Youth Strategy
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship today, Ms McVey.
I pay tribute to the hon. Member for Huddersfield (Harpreet Uppal) for securing this important debate and I also pay tribute to all the other Members who have spoken in it for making really excellent speeches. Some very compelling p…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
2 July 2026
Historical Forced Adoption
I thank the Prime Minister for advance sight of his statement. On behalf of the Liberal Democrats, I welcome the Prime Minister’s apology, and we associate ourselves fully with all his remarks, including those about being united as one House in this apology.
I pay tribute to all the mothers and chi…
Commons
Proceedings
30 June 2026
Points of Order
On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. I wrote to the Justice Minister in the other place, Baroness Levitt, on 20 March this year on behalf of my constituent Lowrie Roberts, regarding the existing policy and legal framework relating to contact rights between extended family and children followin…
Commons
Oral Questions
Cabinet Office
25 June 2026
2 contributions
Topical Questions
T1. If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.
I have heard from a number of constituents who worked for the civil service and have faced delays in getting their pension scheme payments, including a single mum who was forced to take early retirement due to a terminal cancer diagnosis. She told me that she just wanted to get her affairs in order …
Commons
Oral Questions
Treasury
23 June 2026
2 contributions
Heathrow Airport Expansion: Economic Growth outside London
16. What assessment she has made of the potential impact of Heathrow airport’s expansion on economic growth in regions outside London.
When the Chancellor announced her support for Heathrow expansion last year, she claimed that it would deliver 0.43% GDP growth. The Heathrow expansion national policy statement snuck out last week predicts a 90% reduction in that figure to just 0.05% growth; what little growth there might be will la…
Commons
Oral Questions
Education
22 June 2026
SEND: Improvement
First, we heard that Ministers were trying to rig the SEND consultation with pre-written responses. Now it has emerged that the Department for Education-funded charity Contact, which supports local parent carer forums, has issued guidance stating that parents may be blocked from these groups if they…
Commons
Oral Questions
Education
22 June 2026
Schools Funding
With the growing obesity and mental health crises among our children and young people, quality physical education has never been more important, yet annual funding for PE will be slashed by a staggering 22% under the new PE and school sport partnerships network, with primary schools hit particularly…
Commons
Westminster Hall
22 June 2026
3 contributions
Spinal Muscular Atrophy: Newborn Screening Test
I congratulate the hon. Member on his speech. I join him in paying tribute to Jesy Nelson and her campaigning. I also pay tribute to the parents of little Charlie in my constituency. In the words of his mother, he was
“very lucky to celebrate his first birthday last August.”
He was treated with ge…
rose—
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
15 June 2026
Brain Cancer
I have been contacted by constituents on behalf of young adults and children who are fighting for access to treatment. I am afraid that this all became far too real for me this time last year, when a dear friend of mine was diagnosed with glioblastoma; they are now in palliative care, probably with …
Commons
Oral Questions
Health and Social Care
9 June 2026
2 contributions
Healthwatch
20. If he will make it his policy to retain Healthwatch.
When Boots decided to close two pharmacies in Hampton, leaving a large number of elderly and vulnerable residents without local pharmacy provision, Healthwatch Richmond played a crucial role in ensuring that we got a new community pharmacy in the area. That locally led patient voice cannot be replac…
Commons
Proceedings
8 June 2026
2 contributions
Digital Safety: Children
(Urgent Question): To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology if she will make a statement on the Government’s new policy announcements regarding children’s online safety.
Thank you for granting this urgent question, Mr Speaker. I thank the Minister for his response. Today and over the weekend, we have seen a Prime Minister who has spent months completely disengaged from the digital threats facing our young people suddenly experiencing an eleventh-hour damascene conve…
Commons
Oral Questions
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
4 June 2026
Topical Questions
Following the brilliant news that the River Thames at Ham and Kingston is to be designated as a bathing water area, does the Secretary of State think that Thames Water’s proposals to pump treated sewage into the river just a few metres further downstream at Teddington are compatible?
Commons
Ministerial Statement
4 June 2026
Children’s Social Care: Enduring Relationships Strategy
I have no doubt that it is a moment of immense pride for the Minister to be able to announce as Government policy many things that he recommended in his own independent review, and we welcome them.
Every child deserves to have deep, trusting, lifelong relationships, yet, as we have heard, too many …
Commons
Westminster Hall
3 June 2026
Improving the UK Visa System
I thank the hon. Member for giving way so early in his speech. He hits on the issue that communication with the Home Office is challenging. I would go so far as to say that there is a cultural problem in the Home Office, whether for visa applications or naturalisation applications. A family in my co…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
2 June 2026
Milburn Review: Interim Report
Alan Milburn, in his excellent but devastating report, makes it clear that the young people most at risk of ending up out of education or employment are likely to go to a further education college, and he identifies that 32,000 of those FE places are currently unfunded. Just last year, in her skills…
Commons
Debate
27 April 2026
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
I am dismayed that we find ourselves here yet again on this Bill. I remind the House that this is the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, and currently one of the biggest threats to our children’s wellbeing is online harms, not least as a result of harmful social media, alongside other online har…
Commons
Debate
22 April 2026
2 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
I will try my best, Madam Deputy Speaker. Every family has the ambition to send their child to the best school—preferably close by—so we welcome the Government’s moves to strengthen the duty of the schools adjudicator to take account of quality of educational provision and parental preference in an …
Will the Minister give way?
Commons
Debate
21 April 2026
Middle East: Economic Update
The Chancellor said in her statement:
“Every choice I make will be about keeping costs down for families and businesses”.
However, when I speak to small business owners on high streets across my constituency of Twickenham, Teddington and the Hamptons—especially café and restaurant owners—they tell…
Commons
Oral Questions
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
21 April 2026
West Bank: Illegal Settlements
The Foreign Secretary has just reiterated that it is this Government’s stated objective and aim to recognise the Palestinian state, yet there are Members of the Israeli Government who say that it is their policy to expand illegal settlements in order to undermine a viable Palestinian state. Will she…
Commons
Oral Questions
Education
20 April 2026
Topical Questions
I was deeply alarmed by reports that Labour MPs were being given pre-written feedback to share, following consultation sessions with constituents on the Government’s special needs reforms. The Secretary of State promised to put families at the heart of her changes, so will she assure parents and car…
Commons
Oral Questions
Education
20 April 2026
Falling School Rolls
With falling school rolls in Twickenham, across London and in other parts of the country, school budgets are coming under increasing pressure that is compounded by the underfunding of teachers’ pay rises, breakfast clubs and free school meals. Data from the House of Commons Library predicts a £4.4 b…
Commons
Debate
15 April 2026
2 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
I am very pleased that we have proper time for debate today. I record my dismay that our last debate on this Bill was cut so short, when we had so many important amendments to consider. We spent more time walking through the voting Lobby than scrutinising the provisions of law that we are sent here …
I could not agree more. There is a plethora of evidence out there showing that we have to act, and we have to act now. I simply cannot understand why the Government are not committing to doing something soon.
Going back to the US court cases, one document revealed that Meta executives claimed:
“If…
Commons
Oral Questions
14 April 2026
Healthy Babies Funding
May I welcome the Minister to her new post? The Government’s support for Healthy Babies is very welcome, but the best way to keep babies who have type 1 spinal muscular atrophy healthy and help them to lead normal lives is by screening them at birth, because they can then access transformative gene …
Commons
Oral Questions
19 March 2026
Topical Questions
T3. My constituent Caroline fell ill after swimming in the River Thames. She needed antibiotic treatment and was warned by her doctor never to swim in the river again. Like many others, she has been enraged by Channel 4’s “Dirty Business”. Will the Secretary of State step up and not just replace Ofw…
Commons
Proceedings
18 March 2026
Student Loans
I too welcome the reintroduction of maintenance grants, which, let us be clear, were scrapped by George Osborne when he was left to his own devices in 2015. However, does the hon. Lady accept that £1,000 a year for certain selected subjects will not even touch the sides and suggests that some poor s…