Commons
Westminster Hall
27 November 2025
3 contributions
Domestic Abuse: Children
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Jardine. I am grateful for the opportunity to speak, and I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Isle of Wight West (Mr Quigley) for securing this debate. It is incredibly emotional, and he opened it passionately and well.
There are children in my co…
The hon. Member is correct that these are really emotional subjects. It is happening to too many children across our country, and my constituent says it better than I could:
“This is not just about my family; it highlights a much wider and deeply concerning issue. Too many parents are silenced and …
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Prime Minister's Questions
Prime Minister
26 November 2025
Engagements
Q9. After eight years of traffic chaos and increasingly creative traffic diversions, residents of Parkside and Marston Grange in my constituency are beginning to wonder whether the A513 at Beaconside is a permanent monument to the traffic cone. In the time that Staffordshire county council and Taylo…
Commons
Westminster Hall
26 November 2025
Young People not in Education, Employment or Training
I thank my hon. Friend and constituency neighbour for giving way on that point. He is absolutely right to speak about the importance of skills. I point to the Newcastle and Stafford Colleges Group, because our constituencies share a college. Does he agree with me that colleges such as NSCG, which ar…
Commons
Debate
11 November 2025
Remembrance Day: Armed Forces
Remembrance is more than a moment of silence. It is more than standing still, heads bowed, to honour those who served and those who gave the ultimate sacrifice, and it is more than just a day. It is about how we choose to treat those who remain with us and about the daily choices that we make, as a …
Commons
Ministerial Statement
5 November 2025
Curriculum and Assessment Review
Earlier this year, I held a debate on access to sport in schools, and one of my key points was how vital sport is for children’s mental health, and particularly for building their resilience. I am pleased that the review recognises that, and recommends broadening physical education’s role to reflect…
Commons
Prime Minister's Questions
Prime Minister
5 November 2025
Engagements
Q10. It is at this time of year that many of us think of those who have served their country and continue to do so—those like my grandad who served in world war two and brought up my dad and my uncles in forces accommodation, and those like my nephew currently serving, who sends me videos of accommo…
Commons
Debate
3 November 2025
Care Leavers
I thank my hon. Friend for securing this really important debate. One issue that came up in my life previous to becoming an MP, and that has come up since, is access to period products for care-experienced young people, particularly as they transition out of care. My hon. Friend has spoken about the…
Commons
Debate
30 October 2025
Property Service Charges
I thank my hon. Friend, who is also from Staffordshire, for giving way. A constituent has got in touch with me to say, “It genuinely feels like they are stealing money from us.” Another said, “I just feel like we are a cash cow for these companies.” Does my hon. Friend agree that if managing agents …
Commons
Oral Questions
Work and Pensions
27 October 2025
Topical Questions
I recently visited Drake Hall women’s prison in my constituency of Stafford, Eccleshall and the villages, which has the brilliant initiative of a Halfords training centre to support people into employment once they leave the prison estate. It supports people all over the country, not just in my cons…
Commons
Oral Questions
21 October 2025
Topical Questions
In my constituency of Stafford, Eccleshall and the villages, I recently ran a survey, which had a whopping 99% response rate, in support of an urgent treatment centre in my constituency. Would the Minister agree to meet me to discuss urgent treatment provision in my constituency?
Commons
Westminster Hall
16 October 2025
Ada Lovelace Day
I thank my hon. Friend for securing this debate on a matter close to my own heart. My first job out of university was supporting women into science, technology, engineering and maths. Today, I would like to pay tribute to Georgina Barnard from my constituency. Last month, we opened the institute of …
Commons
Westminster Hall
14 October 2025
Criminal Courts: Independent Review
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Efford. I thank the right hon. and learned Member for Kenilworth and Southam (Sir Jeremy Wright) for securing this debate. Sir Brian Leveson’s report—I have it as being 388 pages—begins with historical quotes, all of which roughly translate to the s…
Commons
Oral Questions
Justice
16 September 2025
Topical Questions
T7. May I associate myself with the Secretary of State’s remarks about the remarkable achievements of the Hillsborough campaigners?Last week I met Soroptimist International members in Stafford, who raised concerns about mothers in Drake Hall Prison in my constituency. Every year, 17,000 children hav…
Commons
Westminster Hall
9 September 2025
2 contributions
Housing: North Staffordshire
It cannot be denied that we are in the worst housing crisis since world war two. I thank the Minister for his engagement; we have previously discussed this issue in relation to my constituency of Stafford, Eccleshall and the villages. We need housing, but the village of Loggerheads, right in the nor…
The Minister and I discussed this issue just prior to the recess, particularly in relation to Eccleshall, where greenfield sites with really poor transport infrastructure, as well as poor sewage and water infrastructure, are being proposed for development. I gently remind him that we were going to m…
Commons
Westminster Hall
9 September 2025
2 contributions
Neurodivergent People: Employment
Will the hon. Member give way?
Walton Hall Academy in my constituency, which I visited when I was first elected as an MP, continues to raise the difficulty of getting work experience for its neurodivergent pupils. Does the hon. Member agree that it is as important to support businesses through the work experience process as it is…
Commons
Westminster Hall
22 July 2025
2 contributions
Housing Provision in Stafford
I beg to move,
That this House has considered housing provision in Stafford.
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dr Huq. I thank the Backbench Business Committee for granting this debate.
To give some understanding of the local picture, Stafford borough is currently without an adopted…
I completely agree with the hon. Gentleman. My dad does not work any more, but he was a bricklayer. He always said to me that if he had owned his own business, he would have built bungalows because there is always a need for them—this country can never build enough bungalows. We need a mix of housin…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
21 July 2025
Independent Water Commission
On Crooked Bridge Road in my constituency of Stafford, Eccleshall and the villages, it has taken the county council far too long to accept responsibility for faulty pipes. The buck has been passed between the council and Severn Trent, and the investigative work will not even start till 1 August. Wil…
Commons
Debate
17 July 2025
2 contributions
Global Plastics Treaty
I thank the right hon. Member for Orkney and Shetland (Mr Carmichael) for securing this debate. I know he is deeply committed to this issue.
I want to draw attention to a part of this crisis that is often overlooked but no less urgent: microplastics, which I know the Minister is passionate about to…
I was not familiar with the legislation that France has passed. When I buy clothes, I try to make sure that I buy natural fibres, which can be tough to do—I find that I really have to search for them. We could look at introducing similar legislation, which sounds like a very sensible piece of work.
…
Commons
Proceedings
17 July 2025
Business of the House
Members who are frequent flyers at business questions may contradict me when I say that Stafford is the best constituency, but I do not think that any would contradict its being the most gridlocked, so I thank the Leader of the House for her answer last week.
I have recently seen a huge surge in ca…
Commons
Proceedings
17 July 2025
Strategy for Elections
As a member of the Speaker’s Conference, I have heard evidence that has shocked me to my core, so I know how much needed these reforms are.
This week I have held my first summer school with 16 and 17-year-olds this week. Twenty of them have been learning about how they can make a change not only in…
Commons
Proceedings
16 July 2025
Commemoration of Matchgirls’ Strike
I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Stratford and Bow (Uma Kumaran) for securing this important debate on a topic that needs a greater light shining on it. I find the debate similarly emotional, having worked with women and girls throughout my career to help them find their voice. The matchgirls u…
Commons
Debate
16 July 2025
2 contributions
Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life
rose—
I am grateful to see so many Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent MPs in the Chamber today. I am especially pleased to be here today, because I have a group of brilliant young people from my own constituency of Stafford, Eccleshall and the villages participating in my first ever summer school; they are …
Commons
Westminster Hall
16 July 2025
2 contributions
Further Education Institutions
rose—
I thank my hon. Friend for calling the debate. I am proud to represent the best FE college in the country—I am sorry to everyone else—because I have Newcastle and Stafford Colleges Group in my constituency. The work that it is doing to increase social mobility is incredibly important, but by the end…
Commons
Oral Questions
Housing, Communities and Local Government
14 July 2025
Topical Questions
Last week, nearly 3,000 people across Stafford borough were told at short notice that Homes Plus, one of our housing associations, is effectively scrapping the current housing waiting list. It also said that nearly 2,000 people no longer had a housing need, but it has not explained how it has come t…
Commons
Debate
10 July 2025
2 contributions
Children’s Health
I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Stroud (Dr Opher) for securing this debate. Like many colleagues in this House, I stood for election on a promise to help raise the healthiest generation of children in our country’s history—a bold ambition, but a worthy one. In order to get there, we need to lo…
I am already on record as criticising Staffordshire county council today, so I will hold off in this debate—although it could be better at everything.
My commitment to play is why I co-sponsored the amendment to the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, in the name of my hon. Friend the Member for Bour…