Commons
Ministerial Statement
5 January 2026
Venezuela
At the weekend, Donald Trump invoked the Monroe doctrine. From her statement, the Foreign Secretary seems to accept that in some cases, the UN charter is secondary to great powers’ spheres of influence. What criteria does she use to decide when the charter is trumped by 19th-century thinking? She ha…
Commons
Oral Questions
Work and Pensions
8 December 2025
Topical Questions
Employers across the construction, care and manufacturing sectors have warned that Skills England’s dumbed down reforms mean that apprenticeships will not be recognised by professional bodies. Today’s announcement of 50,000 apprenticeships is meaningless if employers will not recognise those standar…
Commons
Westminster Hall
3 December 2025
Oxford to Cambridge Growth Corridor
It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Sir Jeremy. I congratulate the hon. Member for Cambridge (Daniel Zeichner) on securing the debate.
The Oxford-Cambridge growth corridor has had something of a tortured history. For nearly two decades, various iterations of the vision have promised tr…
Commons
Oral Questions
1 December 2025
Topical Questions
We found out last week that the international student levy will raise £445 million from our universities, but only 1% of that will go to the maintenance grants that Ministers have claimed to justify this damaging tax on our universities. Worse still, the flat fee design hits hardest the universities…
Commons
Debate
24 November 2025
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
I am sure my hon. Friends will be relieved to hear that I will be making a very focused speech.
My new clauses 7, 8 and 9 address missed opportunities in the skills devolution elements of this Bill. Skills are the foundation of economic growth, which is supposedly this Government’s overriding missi…
Commons
Oral Questions
24 November 2025
2 contributions
Proposed New Town: Tempsford
6. What the infrastructure requirements are for supporting the proposed new town at Tempsford.
I thank the Minister for his answer. St Neots is the nearest town to the proposed east coast main line and East West Rail interchange station that would be central to any new town development at Tempsford. Many recognise the opportunities of our area, but my constituents also need clarity, particula…
Commons
Oral Questions
12 November 2025
2 contributions
Universities: Research and Development
1. What steps her Department is taking with universities to develop its research and development policies.
I thank the Secretary of State for her answer. The UK’s universities do indeed produce world-class research, but I would suggest that we are still missing too many opportunities in commercialisation. The Government’s proof of concept fund is really quite inadequate—from the figures, it is 30 times o…
Commons
Oral Questions
11 November 2025
2 contributions
Probation Service
3. What steps he is taking to support the Probation Service.
In July 2024, inspectors rated Cambridgeshire and Peterborough probation service inadequate, with major leadership failures and child safeguarding assessed as adequate in just 28% of cases. The action plan committed to increasing probation officer staffing by 87% by March 2026, but the National Audi…
Commons
Debate
3 November 2025
Huntingdon Train Attack
I join the Home Secretary and my constituency neighbour, the hon. Member for Huntingdon (Ben Obese-Jecty), in sending my thoughts to the victims and their families. I pay tribute to Cambridgeshire police, Cambridgeshire fire and rescue service, the East of England ambulance service, the staff at Add…
Commons
Westminster Hall
29 October 2025
International Baccalaureate: Funding in State Schools
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Roger.
I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Didcot and Wantage (Olly Glover) for securing this debate about a decision that demonstrates at the very least a profoundly flawed approach to policymaking and at worst a wilful dismantling …
Commons
Oral Questions
21 October 2025
Topical Questions
T3. The Arthur Rank hospice in Cambridgeshire is losing £829,000 in NHS funding, which is forcing the closure of nine beds—40% of its capacity. Does the Minister believe that dying patients are cared for better in overstretched hospital wards than in specialist hospices, and will he please not fob m…
Commons
Debate
20 October 2025
Post-16 Education and Skills Strategy
I too thank the Secretary of State for advance sight of her statement. There is far too much in this White Paper to respond to comprehensively in two minutes, so let me focus on three critical issues.
The first issue is V-levels. The Secretary of State talks about ending confusion, yet she is intro…
Commons
Westminster Hall
16 October 2025
2 contributions
Ada Lovelace Day
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Furniss. I congratulate the hon. Member for Morecambe and Lunesdale (Lizzi Collinge) on securing this important debate. Some Members may remember a debate that I held a few months ago on the contribution of maths to the UK. There was, I think, cr…
I certainly support the increase in apprenticeships; getting more young people on to any course that offers opportunity is ultimately what it is all about, and I look forward to scrutinising the Government’s White Paper on post-16 education when it comes out—in the near term, I believe.
Lifelong op…
Commons
Debate
14 October 2025
2 contributions
Mental Health Bill [Lords]
I will speak to amendments 24 to 28 and 36 to 38 in my name, which address gaps in crisis provision and accountability for autistic people and people with learning disabilities.
On Second Reading, I told this House about Declan Morrison, my constituent who died aged just 26 after spending 10 days i…
I agree that resources need to be put in place to support the many good measures in the Bill and in many of the proposed amendments. In Declan’s case, services were created in the wake of tragedy and funding was found, but too often such services disappear when attention moves elsewhere.
I recognis…
Commons
Debate
11 September 2025
Life Sciences Investment
I welcome the Minister to his place. It is incredibly disappointing that MSD has pulled out of this billion-pound investment in the UK, including the loss of more than 100 jobs in important life sciences infrastructure. However, this has been on the cards for some time, and the warnings to Governmen…
Commons
Oral Questions
11 September 2025
Topical Questions
T4. Rail commuters in St Neots face a rise of nearly £400 for an annual season ticket to London next year, paying over £7,000 for the first time for services plagued by delays and cancellations. How does the Secretary of State justify that policy to my constituents?
Commons
Westminster Hall
9 September 2025
Neurodivergent People: Employment
I thank my neighbour, my hon. Friend the Member for Ely and East Cambridgeshire (Charlotte Cane), for securing this important debate. I would like to use my time to focus on some of the great work being carried out by organisations in my constituency and to share some of the practical suggestions th…
Commons
Debate
8 September 2025
Defence Industrial Strategy
The Minister has made a number of announcements about skills in the defence industrial strategy, which is much appreciated, but can he explain how they will integrate with existing skills frameworks and whether the industry will be given the flexibility to develop new courses at the “wartime pace” t…
Commons
Oral Questions
Women and Equalities
3 September 2025
Topical Questions
T2. A constituent with muscular dystrophy reports facing a wait of eight to 12 months for AJM Healthcare to deliver a new wheelchair, which is far beyond the 18-week target. What steps will the Minister take with her health colleagues to address the really poor performance by AJM Healthcare nationwi…
Commons
Oral Questions
Women and Equalities
3 September 2025
2 contributions
Support for Trans People
2. What steps she is taking to support trans people in the context of the Supreme Court judgment in the case of For Women Scotland v . Scottish Ministers of 16 April 2025.
The Minister will be aware that many trans people with gender recognition certificates followed all the legal processes in good faith, often over many years, and made legally binding commitments to live in their acquired gender for life. Yet now that they find themselves legally bound to live in one…
Commons
Debate
2 September 2025
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
When the Government get something right, it is important to acknowledge that. The community right-to-buy provisions in the Bill represent the genuine empowerment that constituents need. I therefore acknowledge that.
In my constituency, I have a village community that is desperate to buy the local p…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
21 July 2025
Infected Blood Inquiry: Additional Report
I, too, thank the Minister for his statement, in particular the fact that IBCA will design and introduce a process for registration. Sir Brian Langstaff concluded that the current approach to compensation perpetuates harm by creating different treatment for registered and unregistered victims. Can t…
Commons
Westminster Hall
3 July 2025
2 contributions
Music Education
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship this afternoon, Ms Vaz. I congratulate the hon. Member for Southgate and Wood Green (Bambos Charalambous) on securing this important debate. I say that as someone who, just a few weeks ago, stood in this hall and led a debate on the contribution of m…
I could not agree more. This absolutely goes beyond the practicalities of learning an instrument or understanding music theory. It is about those soft skills that we so regularly talk about in sport, but less so in music for some reason, and that is a cultural challenge.
Beyond that, music can also…
Commons
Westminster Hall
3 July 2025
Children with Allergies: School Safeguarding
It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Ms Lewell. I thank the hon. Member for Redditch (Chris Bloore) for securing this debate and for his forthcoming introduction of the school allergy safety Bill to Parliament. As a parent, I understand the concerns when a child starts their school life. We hop…
Commons
Debate
1 July 2025
Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill
Terrified, anxious and angry—these are the words that Citizens Advice Rural Cambridgeshire has heard most since these changes were proposed. I recently hosted an emergency forum in St Neots that brought together those on the frontline—food banks, advice bureaux, charities and social organisations—to…