Commons
Westminster Hall
26 November 2025
Young People not in Education, Employment or Training
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Dowd. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Amber Valley (Linsey Farnsworth) for securing this important debate.
Due to the pressure of time, I will focus on one group of young people. At the Work and Pensions Committee this morning we took evid…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
13 November 2025
Police Reform
I thank the Minister for her statement. My constituents want a focus on neighbourhood policing, improving standards and a major police station in the local area. However, after an excellent PCC in Lord Willy Bach, and Sir Clive Loader before that, our current PCC has created an office mired with con…
Commons
Westminster Hall
13 November 2025
Rogue Builders
A constituent of mine recently shared that she hired a builder who took payment for professional services—but everything about the work was fraudulent. She told me that she felt abandoned by a black hole of referrals, despite multiple agencies confirming that it was actually a criminal matter. The w…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
5 November 2025
Curriculum and Assessment Review
I thank the Secretary of State for her statement, and for her commitment to our young people. Parents and teachers will know just how gruelling the GCSE exams are for our students, many of whom are undertaking mocks as we speak. I welcome the commitment to working with Ofqual to reduce time volume b…
Commons
Westminster Hall
5 November 2025
Fresh and Nutritious Food: Inequality of Access
Earlier this year, in my capacity as co-chair of the all-party parliamentary group for food and drink, I hosted a roundtable on increasing access to healthy fruit and vegetables. Innocent Drinks has led a sector response on that inequality and has proposed a focus on access around schools. Does my h…
Commons
Oral Questions
Business and Trade
30 October 2025
Topical Questions
In recent years, imported bricks have made up nearly 20% of the UK brick market, yet I know that organisations such as Ibstock Brick in North West Leicestershire can supply the bricks for the homes that we need. How do we make sure that UK brick manufacturers can maximise investment, employ local pe…
Commons
Debate
20 October 2025
A50/A500 Corridor
I thank my hon. Friend for securing this important Adjournment debate. I was recently contacted by a constituent who regularly travels between Castle Donington and Littleover. They say that every evening last year, the A50 was either closed or restricted, or the access slip roads were closed. Does m…
Commons
Debate
20 October 2025
Post-16 Education and Skills Strategy
I welcome the statement, including the key commitment to breaking down barriers to opportunities to enable young people to gain the education that they deserve. This new focus will also support the employers who have been consistently talking to me about the skills challenges they face, particularly…
Commons
Debate
13 October 2025
Baby Loss
I thank my hon. Friends the Members for Rossendale and Darwen (Andy MacNae) and for Sherwood Forest (Michelle Welsh) and the right hon. Member for Godalming and Ash (Sir Jeremy Hunt) for securing this important debate during Baby Loss Awareness Week to give those who have experienced pregnancy and b…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
11 September 2025
Suicide Prevention
I thank the Backbench Business Committee for granting this debate and my hon. Friend the Member for Doncaster East and the Isle of Axholme (Lee Pitcher) for securing it and for making his opening remarks in such an amazing way. We heard the devastating numbers and the personal experience of the impa…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
11 September 2025
Business of the House
I welcome the Leader of the House to his place. Last weekend, I had the pleasure of attending the 100-year anniversary of the Midland Red Coalville bus garage, which showcased some fantastic buses through history for people to enjoy. Will the Leader of the House join me in thanking Leicester Transpo…
Commons
Westminster Hall
11 September 2025
2 contributions
Non-surgical Aesthetic and Cosmetic Treatments
It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Sir Desmond. I thank the hon. Member for Bromsgrove (Bradley Thomas) for securing this important debate.
With every cosmetic or surgical procedure, there are always risks, so we need our practitioners to be fully trained and experienced in the work t…
The case that my hon. Friend mentions is the reason that we are all here. The pursuit of beauty enhancement should not risk somebody’s life, so regulation is very important.
The most recent cases recorded in the east midlands involve reports of patients experiencing difficulty in swallowing, slurre…
Commons
Westminster Hall
2 September 2025
2 contributions
Defibrillators
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Stringer. I thank the hon. Member for Bishop Auckland (Sam Rushworth) for bringing forward this important debate. I declare my membership of the all-party parliamentary group for defibrillators.
As has already been said, every minute that someone i…
Of course, I agree; heart health is really important, but access is key, too. We can all do our own bit. We can check if the defib nearest to us is registered and encourage a community audit. If it is not registered, someone in an emergency might not know it is there. Every school in North West Leic…
Commons
Oral Questions
Business and Trade
17 July 2025
Topical Questions
At a panel discussion earlier this year, I joined a group of leading women in the hospitality sector, who repeatedly highlighted that the lack of female representation in leadership roles and ownership is a persistent barrier to progress in the sector. What steps is the Minister taking to support wo…
Commons
Westminster Hall
17 July 2025
RAF Photographic Reconnaissance Unit
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Vaz. It is also a privilege to have the opportunity to speak in this important debate, which I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Carlisle (Ms Minns) for bringing forward. As another granddaughter of a world war two veteran, I am ashamed to say tha…
Commons
Debate
11 July 2025
Rare Cancers Bill
I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh South West (Dr Arthur) for his tireless work on the Bill. If anyone gets the opportunity to listen to the podcast he did a few weeks ago, it is well worth listening to—really insightful. He offers the opportunity to address the deep inequalities faced …
Commons
Proceedings
10 July 2025
Business of the House
A few weeks ago, I was invited to bowl at Ibstock bowls club at a joint fundraising event with Sands United FC Ashby. That team welcomes men from across my constituency who have been bereaved by pregnancy loss and child loss to play football and to chat if they need to. Will the Leader of the House …
Commons
Ministerial Statement
8 July 2025
Road and Rail Projects
I thank the Secretary of State for her statement, and for the significant investment in transport across the UK. The confirmation of funding for the A511 corridor in the east midlands is extremely welcome. For far too long, communities such as mine have been overlooked by the previous Government for…
Commons
Debate
8 July 2025
Government Resilience Action Plan
I thank the Minister for his statement. As a former Leicestershire county councillor, and as a health scrutineer before, during and after the pandemic, it was clear to me that local knowledge from our public health teams and NHS services played an important role; however, they know that they could h…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
7 July 2025
Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life
I thank the Secretary of State for her statement. At a recent joint meeting of the Work and Pensions Committee and the Education Committee, Sure Start was named by the panel as the previous Labour Government’s most positive policy for children. The policy had a very proud legacy, yet the Conservativ…
Commons
Debate
4 July 2025
Absent Voting (Elections in Scotland and Wales) Bill
I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh North and Leith (Tracy Gilbert) for bringing forward this important change. Does my hon. Friend the Member for Aylesbury (Laura Kyrke-Smith) agree that we need to continue to have the conversation about what democracy means to people, and that creating…
Commons
Debate
4 July 2025
Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats and Ferrets) Bill
My constituency is the home of Canine Partners, the organisation that provides canine companions for individuals with disabilities. I just wanted to reflect on the positive effect those dogs have on the people who care for them.
Commons
Westminster Hall
3 July 2025
Children with Allergies: School Safeguarding
I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Redditch (Chris Bloore) on securing this important debate. My hon. Friend the Member for Nuneaton (Jodie Gosling) is talking about cuts. As a parent of a child with multiple allergies, I used to get support from Leicestershire county council for nutrition…
Commons
Debate
30 June 2025
Road Safety Powers: Parish and Town Councils
I thank my hon. Friend for bringing this really important debate to the House. In my community there is an area called Griffydam, and residents there have been trying for years and years to have something happen to their local community. One of the interesting things is the benchmarks—local knowledg…
Commons
Committee Stage
26 June 2025
2 contributions
Bus Services (No. 2) Bill [ Lords ] (Second sitting)
The shadow Minister raises an important point about competition and the customer being at the heart of bus services. Will he share with us why so many rural bus services have been cut, if the commercial operator is king and the focus is on customers? That is not the experience we feel in rural commu…
The hon. Gentleman’s analogy ignores the passenger transport strategies that local government should already be undertaking, and the fact that local government already does a large piece of work to make sure that those strategies are relevant to the local economy. The Bill gives local government the…