Commons
Debate
15 October 2025
Work for Serving Prisoners
The issue of work in prison is something we have considered on the Justice Committee. Separately, I have recently visited prisons, where I had the opportunity to talk to prisoners. Does my hon. Friend agree that meaningful work in prisons can not only erase the boredom that can lead to drug use but …
Commons
Westminster Hall
15 October 2025
2 contributions
Educational Assessment System Reform
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Lewell. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Hertford and Stortford (Josh Dean) for securing this important debate. I also thank the charity YoungMinds for its hard work and dedication to supporting young people’s mental health and wellbeing. I had…
Does the hon. Member agree that exams do not even test resilience? I consider myself to be quite a resilient person, but I used to hate exams. Even though I retook my A-levels and succeeded in getting them, for years afterwards I used to have dreams about not having passed my A-levels, and I do not …
Commons
Westminster Hall
15 October 2025
3 contributions
Knife Crime
Does my hon. Friend agree that, whether we like it or not, social isolation and a lack of opportunities are possible causes of knife crime? I am an OnSide youth zone champion, and my constituency has The Way youth zone. It is launching a comprehensive knife crime prevention initiative to tackle such…
Will the hon. Lady give way?
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
14 October 2025
2 contributions
Tackling Climate Change: International Co-operation
18. What discussions he has had with his international counterparts on tackling climate change.
Young people in my constituency of Wolverhampton West are particularly concerned about protecting the environment and the future of our planet. I have been contacted by students at Wolverhampton girls’ high school and St Edmund’s Catholic academy, and recently I was proud to attend a climate justice…
Commons
Westminster Hall
14 October 2025
Postural Tachycardia Syndrome
I thank my hon. Friend for giving way again. Like others in this room, I have had many constituents ask me to represent them today. One such constituent, Sophie Evans-Carey, has spent the last six months in hospital and just wants to get her life back. Does my hon. Friend agree that we need to incre…
Commons
Debate
15 September 2025
Provision of Council Housing
According to the charity Crisis, only 1.4% of one to three-bedroom properties in my constituency are affordable to renters who need housing benefits, while the number of people on the social housing waiting list in Wolverhampton has nearly tripled in three years and rents have surged by over 35% in …
Commons
Westminster Hall
15 September 2025
3 contributions
Children with SEND: Assessments and Support
Recently, I held a roundtable for parents and carers, and we had a very moving discussion. One parent spoke about how her son had not been to school since January and had missed out on his GCSEs. Does the hon. Lady agree that we need a holistic procedure whereby schools and local authorities work wi…
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dr Allin-Khan. I thank the 123 constituents in my constituency of Wolverhampton West who have signed this petition for support for children with SEND. In Wolverhampton, nearly one in five is currently receiving SEND support or has an education, health …
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
10 September 2025
Occupied Palestinian Territories: Humanitarian Access
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Stringer.
The humanitarian crisis that we are continuing to see in Gaza is appalling, horrific and unforgivable, and continues to worsen day by day. Since January, there have been 44,000 admissions of children for the treatment of acute malnutri…
Commons
Westminster Hall
10 September 2025
3 contributions
Equality Act 2010: Impact on British Society
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship for the first time, Dr Allin-Khan. I thank the hon. Member for Romford (Andrew Rosindell) for securing the debate, although I have to say that I disagree with everything he said.
The Equality Act represented a pivotal change in our society and in our l…
I accept that we should not have tick-box exercises, but does the hon. Member not agree that legislation should reflect changing social values? Were it not for the fact that we have equality legislation, we might still be suffering the social ills that we suffered back in the ’60s and ’70s, which I …
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Proceedings
8 September 2025
Palestine Action: Proscription and Protests
Many of those arrested over the weekend for simply holding placards were older and disabled citizens and human rights activists, who can hardly be described as terrorists. Considering that the UN human rights chief has warned that proscription dangerously conflates protest with terrorism, does the M…
Commons
Proceedings
4 September 2025
Business of the House
Over the summer recess, two older Sikh taxi drivers were attacked outside Wolverhampton train station, one of whom is a constituent of mine. Although I commend British Transport police for making arrests quickly, meeting me and acknowledging that the attacks were racially motivated, many people, inc…
Commons
Oral Questions
Solicitor General
4 September 2025
2 contributions
People Smuggling
1. What steps she is taking to help ensure the effective prosecution of people smugglers. [R]
I welcome the Government’s steps to deter people smuggling and end the exploitation of vulnerable people. I also want to highlight the work that Wolverhampton City of Sanctuary does in my constituency to help refugees rebuild their lives. As the Home Secretary confirmed only this week, one of the Go…
Commons
Westminster Hall
3 September 2025
2 contributions
Pavement Parking
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mrs Hobhouse. The issue of pavement parking has been raised with me in my constituency of Wolverhampton West. Measures have already been introduced in Scotland and Wales, where legislative action has been taken to deal with pavement parking. Pavement p…
I totally agree. When I walk around and see cars and other vehicles parked on pavements, I sometimes wonder why people could not just have parked them on the road. There never seems to be any valid reason why they are parked on the pavement.
The ability for people to walk on pavements is crucial. W…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
1 September 2025
Middle East
Instead of taking substantive steps to end the appalling situation in Gaza and agreeing to an immediate ceasefire and long-term sustainable peace, the Israeli Government have ignored us. They have failed to let aid go through, and created a man-made famine. It appears to me that the Israeli Governme…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
1 September 2025
Borders and Asylum
I am very glad the Home Secretary has acknowledged that, like other countries, we have a duty to safeguard those fleeing persecution and seeking sanctuary in Britain. The reason we had 400 asylum hotels back in 2023, at a cost of £9 million a day, and we now have just over 200 asylum hotels, is that…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
22 July 2025
Orgreave Inquiry
I remember clearly the miners’ strike of 1984 and, in particular, what happened at Orgreave, and I know that it has many painful memories for a lot of people, so let me first thank and commend the Government for holding this statutory public inquiry. It appears that after four decades we will finall…
Commons
Westminster Hall
22 July 2025
3 contributions
Black Country Day
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Vaz. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Tipton and Wednesbury (Antonia Bance) for securing this debate. It is a pleasure to see fellow Black Country colleagues and others in the Chamber, on the last day before summer recess, to acknowledge an imp…
Yes, Jeff Astle was indeed a great player.
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Ministerial Statement
10 July 2025
Resident Doctors: Industrial Action
Does my right hon. Friend agree that we were right to settle the strikes last year, for the sake of ensuring the future of the NHS, protecting the interests of the public and showing our doctors that they are valued, that that will always be his position, and that it is therefore somewhat surprising…
Commons
Proceedings
10 July 2025
Business of the House
Tea is the most popular beverage in the world next to water, providing work for about 13 million people worldwide, but half of young Kenyan tea pickers surveyed by Fairtrade said that the impact of climate change on tea production was the biggest challenge, and only one in five tea farmers and worke…
Commons
Oral Questions
10 July 2025
2 contributions
Civil Service Relocation
3. What steps he is taking to relocate civil service roles to locations outside London.
I thank my right hon. Friend for his answer. I do indeed feel blessed to have the dual head- quarters of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, which employs more than 250 people, right next to my constituency office in Wolverhampton West. I welcome the Government’s plans to move…
Commons
Proceedings
9 July 2025
Trial by Jury: Proposed Restrictions
Does my hon. and learned Friend agree that trial by jury is, and will always remain, a fundamental concept of our British justice system, but we also need to ensure that we restore victims’ faith in the system, and do what we can to ensure justice is not denied by justice being delayed?
Commons
Oral Questions
8 July 2025
2 contributions
Probation Officers
11. What steps she is taking to support probation officers.
An effective Probation Service is crucial for the rehabilitation and resettlement of prisoners to reduce reoffending. Although I welcome the number of new probation officers to be recruited, Napo reports that probation workloads are unmanageable, staff turnover and sickness are high, and probation o…
Commons
Debate
7 July 2025
Government Performance against Fiscal Rules
Does the Chief Secretary agree that this Government have had the courage to make the difficult but necessary decisions in an effort to ensure sound public finances and improve the economy, while the Opposition have hid behind their mistakes and have no credible economic plan of their own?
Commons
Ministerial Statement
3 July 2025
Business of the House
Last week at a council meeting, when medical dispensation was being sought for Labour councillor Carol Hyatt in the Merry Hill ward of my constituency so that she could undergo cancer treatment, a Reform UK councillor said that was not fair on taxpayers. Will the Leader of the House first please joi…
Commons
Westminster Hall
2 July 2025
2 contributions
West Bank: Forced Displacement
On my hon. Friend’s point, what is happening in the west bank has legally been defined as a war crime by the International Criminal Court. As a supporter of the rule of law, should the UK not therefore condemn these actions as horrific war crimes committed by the Israeli Government, and encourage th…
Does the Minister agree that the UK Government recognising a sovereign state of Palestine now would add more weight to the pressure we are trying to exert on Israel?