Commons
Debate
8 July 2025
Football Governance Bill [Lords]
My hon. Friend the Member for Bolton North East (Kirith Entwistle) mentioned what happened with Bolton Wanderers. Fans of Reading FC across Berkshire, including in Bracknell, experienced something similar when they were able to support the club to be saved from an unfit owner. Does the Secretary of …
Commons
Ministerial Statement
8 July 2025
Road and Rail Projects
When Heathrow airport sets out its growth plans, a key component of them will be the plans for improved access by public transport. Will the Secretary of State urge it to look at the southern rail link, which should run through my constituency specifically, of course? It could have huge benefits acr…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
7 July 2025
Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life
The previous Conservative Government did not give a penny to Bracknell Forest council to deliver early years support through family hubs. Can the Secretary of State confirm that she will end that injustice? Bracknell families need that support too—for SEND and speech and language, as well as health …
Commons
Oral Questions
7 July 2025
Topical Questions
T8. The nationally recognised BRAVE—Building Resilience and Valuing Emotions—programme supported adult survivors of domestic abuse in Berkshire, but after our Conservative police and crime commissioner cut its funding by 25%, the scheme was left unviable. Does the Minister share my deep disappoin…
Commons
Proceedings
2 July 2025
British Indian Ocean Territory: Sovereignty
The cost of this deal is equivalent to a quarter of 1% of our defence budget, and that is in the context of a Government who have made the highest sustained increase in defence spending since the cold war. When the Minister speaks to our international friends and allies, what is their message about …
Commons
Debate
30 June 2025
Road Safety Powers: Parish and Town Councils
My hon. Friend is being incredibly generous with his time. The point he is advancing is so important: this is not just about the safety of people, although that is really important. Just this week, we saw a horrible incident in my constituency where some geese were run over. That was a very traumati…
Commons
Debate
25 June 2025
Department for Transport
This Government’s commitment to supporting transport across the country has led to a quadrupling of money for local transport grants, meaning that Bracknell Forest council will receive almost £7 million of transport funding through the spending review. To return to her previous point about strategy,…
Commons
Debate
25 June 2025
National Armaments Director
I agree that we need an increase in troop numbers, but the challenge for any Government is not only setting the important policy, but saying how they would pay for it. I therefore invite the hon. Member to set out the Liberal Democrats’ plan for paying for her proposals. Please let her not say that …
Commons
Debate
24 June 2025
2 contributions
Department for Education
As a former teacher, school governor and university lecturer, and as chair of the all-party parliamentary groups on schools, learning and assessment, on classics and on social mobility, may I say how proud I am to stand here as a Labour MP elected on a manifesto commitment to break down barriers to …
In the spirit of saying things that are not true and making brazen statements, I wonder whether the hon. Member can get on to the bit of his speech where he pretends that the Conservative Government invested more in our schools.
Commons
Ministerial Statement
24 June 2025
China Audit
I thank the Foreign Secretary for his statement and that answer. He will know that in Bracknell and the wider Berkshire area we have a large Hong Kong community, who have been terrified at the threat of national repression from the Hong Kong Government. What message can he share with my constituents…
Commons
Proceedings
23 June 2025
Pride Month
I welcome the tone with which the Minister has approached this really important point. Will he touch on the proposed guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission, which he will know is out for consultation? One section that really concerns trans constituents is about disclosures and requir…
Commons
Oral Questions
Health and Social Care
17 June 2025
Topical Questions
I declare an interest, as my brother is a GP. When my residents are able to get a GP appointment, they are frustrated when they are sent halfway across the borough to a different surgery from the one they are registered with by their primary care network. Can we address that, and is it part of our p…
Commons
Oral Questions
Education
16 June 2025
Topical Questions
T10. Earlier this month, I opened the Launch Pad, a new SEND provision at Sandhurst school, and I was shown around by Ben, who told me how the Launch Pad had helped him to access education. As the Government work at pace to fix the broken SEND system, what is the Minister’s message for young people …
Commons
Debate
12 June 2025
SEND Funding
The right hon. Gentleman makes a profoundly important point. There is a real and urgent need to reform the SEND system, and that of course includes how it is funded. Does he welcome the £750 million ringfenced in yesterday’s spring statement for exactly that: to transform our SEND system to make it …
Commons
Ministerial Statement
12 June 2025
Spending Review: Health and Social Care
I warmly welcome the largest-ever capital investment in our NHS in the spending review yesterday, building on the Chancellor’s announcement in last year’s Budget of the money to rebuild RAAC-infested hospitals such as Frimley Park hospital, which will benefit my constituents. That was committed to b…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
9 June 2025
Winter Fuel Payment
I welcome this news, which will mean that more pensioners in Bracknell Forest receive this important benefit, and the Government’s recommitment to the triple lock. Does the Minister agree that a Conservative party that cannot decide whether it supports giving winter fuel payments to millionaires, wh…
Commons
Proceedings
4 June 2025
7 contributions
Street Parking on Estates: Bracknell Forest
I am delighted to have secured this Adjournment debate on an issue that might not be right at the top of the political agenda, but affects the lives of hundreds of people in my constituency every day: street parking on residential estates in Bracknell. It is a topic that comes up on the doorstep per…
I thank my hon. Friend for that insightful intervention. In Bracknell Forest, we have few permit parking zones, because they simply would not work for our community. The point that he makes is absolutely correct, and I will come back time and again in this debate to the need for local areas to come …
+5 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
3 June 2025
Dementia Care
The hon. Member is absolutely right that respite care is important. In my constituency, Sandhurst day centre offers fantastic respite care, allowing people with dementia to stay as active and as social as possible for as long as possible, which we know also keeps people out of hospital for longer. D…
Commons
Debate
3 June 2025
Armed Forces Commissioner Bill
The Minister is absolutely right. We have to have that zero tolerance approach, not only because it is right for our service personnel who sacrifice so much and for their families, but because it strengthens our whole armed forces. That is why it was so important to see that focus on personnel in th…
Commons
Proceedings
3 June 2025
Thames Water
As Thames Water dumped sewage into the Cut and the Blackwater in my constituency, the Conservative Government washed their hands not in it, but of it. This Government are acting to ban bonuses, to issue the biggest fine we have seen from Ofwat and to bring in criminal liability. As we seek more acti…
Commons
Debate
2 June 2025
3 contributions
Bus Services (No. 2) Bill [Lords]
Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
I thank the hon. Gentleman for giving way. I was just curious why, if buses are so popular and important, as he rightly says, so few of his Back-Bench colleagues are lining up to speak in this important debate?
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Home Department
2 June 2025
2 contributions
Neighbourhood Policing
2. What recent progress her Department has made on improving neighbourhood policing in Bracknell Forest.
Bracknell Forest has seen a spate of tool thefts recently. Tool theft is a double whammy: traders have to fork out thousands for new tools, all while they are out of work. I have raised this issue with Thames Valley police and the police and crime commissioner, but what more can be done through the …
Commons
Ministerial Statement
22 May 2025
4 contributions
Mental Health Bill: Legislative Scrutiny
It is an honour to present to the House the Joint Committee on Human Rights’ report into the Mental Health Bill. As Members will know, the Joint Committee is a cross-party body of both Houses, chaired by Lord Alton of Liverpool, whose remit is to examine matters relating to human rights within the U…
We did look at whether the process for assessing people was appropriate, and that issue came up. It is one where the individual’s human rights are exercised, and we must strike a careful balance between the need to protect them and those around them and to ensure that the deprivation of liberty is o…
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Proceedings
22 May 2025
School Teachers’ Review Body: Recommendations
I declare an interest, as I was a primary school governor right up until the election and I am the chair of the all-party parliamentary group for schools, learning and assessment. It is quite shocking to hear Opposition Members’ protestations about school funding, given the absolutely dire state in …
Commons
Ministerial Statement
20 May 2025
UK-EU Summit
Morrisons has said that the deal will
“ease…pressure on food prices”,
Asda has said it
“has the potential to significantly reduce costs and bureaucracy”,
and the British Retail Consortium has said it will help to “keep costs down”. Does the Prime Minister agree with their assessment that this de…