Commons
Westminster Hall
9 July 2025
Early Years Providers: Government Support
Does the hon. Member agree that although expanding nursery-based provision in schools is unquestionably laudable in improving access to childcare, we must guard against inadvertently passing on to primary school teachers the responsibility for teaching basic life skills that could and should have be…
Commons
Debate
3 July 2025
Women’s State Pension Age: Financial Redress
I congratulate the hon. Lady profoundly on securing this much-needed debate. Does she agree that it is shameful that Labour made personal pledges to WASPI women over social media as a vehicle to get elected, but then tossed aside those promises and turned its back on more than 7,000 women, including…
Commons
Debate
1 July 2025
Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill
Does my hon. Friend share my concern about the fate of unpaid carers, given that carer’s allowance hinges on a disabled person receiving PIP? With one in five people in my constituency who are disabled, which is well above the national average, should the Secretary of State commit to delinking carer…
Commons
Oral Questions
Treasury
1 July 2025
2 contributions
Economic Growth: Rural Areas
12. What fiscal steps she is taking to help increase growth in rural areas.
While I welcome the Government’s rural growth plans, I am concerned about the persistent poverty in many rural areas. The additional costs of living in these communities—known as the rural premium—exacerbate hardship. What specific steps will the Chancellor take to support those in, or near, poverty…
Commons
Debate
26 June 2025
Armed Forces Day
Rather fittingly, this debate comes in the shadow of the NATO summit at The Hague yesterday, with its headline pledge for defence spending to reach 5% of GDP by the midpoint of the next decade. I echo remarks from across the House about how we live in an increasingly volatile world —perhaps more vol…
Commons
Westminster Hall
25 June 2025
GP Funding: South-west England
I appreciate that recruitment, including of GPs, is extraordinarily difficult in the south-west. In Minehead, there is one GP practice and just one doctor. He is outstanding, and everybody knows him—to that extent, he fits the named GP pledge—but he serves 11,000 people. Rural premium or not, would …
Commons
Debate
24 June 2025
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
My observation is that there is simply no such thing as affordable housing in my constituency. If someone is earning £12 an hour and £20,000 a year, a house that costs £30,000 is not affordable. Does my hon. Friend agree that the only sort of housing that people can afford in my constituency is soci…
Commons
Debate
24 June 2025
Department of Health and Social Care
There are very legitimate concerns about rumoured plans to merge integrated care boards across the country. When ICBs merge, the promise of unified oversight gives way to a bureaucratic structure that prioritises large-scale efficiency over the nuanced understanding of local communities. Each locali…
Commons
Debate
24 June 2025
2 contributions
Department for Education
Does the hon. Member agree that it is important that we have a broad exploratory curriculum at GCSE level, and that the recent decision to close off certain subjects for year 9 students at Tiverton high school in my constituency reflects a trend towards a narrowing of academic opportunity, which is …
Will my hon. Friend give way?
Commons
Westminster Hall
19 June 2025
Social Mobility: Careers Education
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Lewell.
In my constituency of Tiverton and Minehead, we have almost no sixth-form provision, with the exception of a small number of places at Petroc college in Tiverton and West Somerset college in Minehead. At the crucial juncture of 16 to 18,…
Commons
Westminster Hall
18 June 2025
Businesses in Rural Areas
At the end of the high season for tourists, does the hon. Gentleman agree that we should reduce tourism VAT to lower prices and allow businesses to increase investment, particularly in coastal and rural communities such as those in my constituency? That would boost growth in tourist economies. There…
Commons
Westminster Hall
17 June 2025
2 contributions
Disabled People in Poverty
Does the hon. Member agree that these proposed or suspected cuts to PIP and other benefits are a sword of Damocles hanging over disabled people in this country? Although the savings are expected to be about £4.5 billion across Britain by 2029-30, that does not factor in any of the broader systemic c…
My hon. Friend reminds me of a remarkable institution in my Tiverton and Minehead constituency called Foxes Hotel, which trains people with mental disabilities to become employed in hotels and hospitality centres across the country. In fact, one young lady from Foxes works in our kitchens in the Hou…
Commons
Westminster Hall
17 June 2025
Genocide Convention: UK Compliance
This morning I was at a very moving service at St Paul’s cathedral to recognise the 30th anniversary of the genocide at Srebrenica. One of the VIP guests was His Excellency the Palestinian ambassador. Would the Minister have any idea why he was considered to be such an important guest at such an occ…
Commons
Debate
12 June 2025
SEND Funding
I hope the hon. Gentleman agrees that under the current model, families must first endure an unnecessarily prolonged, complex and emotionally draining diagnostic process before resources finally begin to trickle in. That is a reactive approach, which not only delays the sense of support but undermin…
Commons
Westminster Hall
12 June 2025
Long-term Medical Conditions
My office is supporting a vulnerable, elderly constituent, who has multiple sclerosis and suffers nervous breakdowns, having also battled hip cancer and undergone a hip replacement. Does the Minister agree that the failure to provide people with social care and early-intervention support can often e…
Commons
Westminster Hall
11 June 2025
NHS Funding: South-west
My constituency, which straddles the Devon-Somerset border, has a disproportionately elderly population. We have perhaps even greater and more regular healthcare needs than some other parts of the country, but significant funding shortfalls have hit GP practices particularly hard.
In the coastal we…
Commons
Westminster Hall
11 June 2025
Theft of Tools of Trade
Does the hon. Member agree that the scourge of rural crime, especially the theft of essential agricultural tools and equipment, demands a two-pronged approach, with more bobbies on the beat who are known in their local area, as well as significantly harsher sentencing? Theft in our rural areas serio…
Commons
Westminster Hall
10 June 2025
2 contributions
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
I speak as the mother of man who was not diagnosed with ADHD until he was 31. Fortunately for him, he has a very good employer who has made his life considerably easier than it might otherwise have been. However, I am appalled to have found out recently that great institutions such as the British Ar…
May I bring the Minister back to the subject of my earlier intervention? Will she, as a matter of urgency, take it up with the Home Secretary and get a decision? We should not discriminate against people with ADHD by preventing them from joining the services, whether it be the police, the Army, the …
Commons
Westminster Hall
10 June 2025
USAID Funding Pause
My hon. Friend is making some compelling points. Does he agree that the crucial point is that if Britain retreats from our role as a leader in international development, we not only undermine our unique soft power but leave vital regions exposed, ceding ground to the increasing assertiveness of host…
Commons
Westminster Hall
9 June 2025
Non-stun Slaughter of Animals
I am very glad that my hon. Friend has mentioned the issues surrounding this practice so sensitively. I want to begin by saying that my comments are based on animal welfare issues, as reflected by my constituents. Does he agree that this practice is not only outdated but barbaric, and that it inflic…
Commons
Prime Minister's Questions
Prime Minister
4 June 2025
Engagements
Q2. My constituent, Molly, is a single mother caring for a child with cancer. She cannot work because of her caring responsibilities. Since January, she has tried to claim disability living allowance and universal credit, but faced constant Department for Work and Pensions bureaucracy. That bureaucr…
Commons
Westminster Hall
4 June 2025
Disadvantaged Communities
Does the hon. Member agree that it is important to recognise the interconnected barriers in such discussions? The dearth of post-16 education and poor transport connectivity blunt young people’s ambitions and further entrench the disadvantages of which she speaks in areas such as my constituency.
Commons
Debate
3 June 2025
Yeovil Hospital: Maternity Unit
I am sure that my hon. Friend knows about the problems that we have had at Tiverton district hospital. I was lucky enough to have had my three sons at the old Tiverton hospital. I am sure that people not being able to go to Yeovil hospital to give birth will push down—literally—into Tiverton hospita…
Commons
Debate
3 June 2025
Dementia Care
Dementia is a uniquely tragic disease because it is, after all, an attack on the mind and on one’s memories. It is a terminal malady for which there is currently no cure and which affects almost every family in the country. My constituent, Timothy, said this of his family’s experience with the disea…
Commons
Westminster Hall
3 June 2025
Groceries Code Adjudicator
The Groceries Code Adjudicator is of course vital, but my party and I believe that its remit is too narrow. Does my right hon. Friend agree with me that it is time for a new groceries code regulatory authority, with powers to introduce price floors and ceilings, ensuring fair prices for suppliers an…