Commons
Ministerial Statement
25 November 2025
G20 and Ukraine
I refer the House to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests as the host of a Ukrainian.
Given the growing instability around the world and the absence of the US President from both the G20 summit and COP30, how will the Prime Minister use the close relationship between the UK and …
Commons
Petition
24 November 2025
Sale of Disposable Barbecues
I rise to present a petition about the sale of disposable barbecues. The petitioners and I ask the Government to note that 2025 has been the worst year on record for UK wildfires, with Dorset seeing over 900 of them. Disposable barbecues have been the initial cause of many, so we are calling for a b…
Commons
Debate
24 November 2025
3 contributions
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
I was fortunate to be part of the Bill Committee for this monstrous Bill—monstrous in size, I should clarify—so my summer was spent digesting each and every clause, and seeking to understand whether it does fulfil its ambitious title and move powers closer to communities. I must be clear that the la…
I am very happy to move new clause 29, should the hon. Member not have the opportunity to—
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
24 November 2025
Estate Management Companies
I was contacted by residents of Canford Paddock, who wrote to me about ongoing unregulated estate fees, which particularly relate to a suitable alternative natural greenspace—SANG—that was a condition of the development, as it is near a site of special scientific interest. The privately owned SANG i…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
20 November 2025
Reoffending: Rehabilitation in Prisons
Around half of prisoners are neurodivergent and the population of young prisoners with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is around 10 times higher than in the population at large. With such specialist targeted support needed for those prisoners, we have heard that they have been let down by t…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
20 November 2025
Migration: Settlement Pathway
In the summer, I spent the morning with Anushka, a senior social care worker in Wimborne. She and her colleagues earn more than the earnings threshold and came here with their families on the understanding that they could make a new life here, contributing to society and paying their taxes. The rece…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
20 November 2025
Business of the House
Will the Leader of the House join me in congratulating Jacques Jefferies, a grandson of my constituent Susan Jefferies, on his selection for Team GB at the winter Olympics in February? Does he share my frustration that Jacques has had to set up a fundraising page to make it financially possible to g…
Commons
Oral Questions
20 November 2025
Bus Services
The age of participation increased from 16 to 18 some 10 years ago, but the age until which funded bus travel is available for those children who live too far away from the nearest school stayed at 16. I visited Purbeck school a couple of weeks ago. Many of the children who attend that school live i…
Commons
Oral Questions
18 November 2025
Warm Home Discount: Fuel Poverty
Many thousands of my residents live in park homes, in places such as Regency Heights and Stoborough Green, and have no ability to choose their energy supplier and limited access to a lot of schemes. What is the Minister’s Department doing to make sure that they have access to the warm homes initiati…
Commons
Proceedings
17 November 2025
Illegal Waste: Organised Crime
I am sure that we were all shocked to see the images from the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Bicester and Woodstock (Calum Miller). Rural police forces are the worst-funded in the country, with Dorset rock bottom. That is made much worse by the amount of additional visitors. We welcom…
Commons
Westminster Hall
17 November 2025
2 contributions
Parkinson’s Disease
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Lewell.
Imagine being told that you have a progressive, incurable condition and then waiting over a year just to see a specialist. That is the reality for so many people with Parkinson’s and the number of people with Parkinson’s is set to double…
I am so pleased that my hon. Friend has made that intervention, because I am just coming on to tell people about my constituent in Wimborne. He said that he, his brother and his nephew have all been diagnosed with Parkinson’s. When he was first diagnosed, he saw a Parkinson’s nurse every six months …
Commons
Oral Questions
11 November 2025
2 contributions
Courts System: Funding
15. What steps his Department is taking to provide adequate funding for the courts system.
I was fortunate to visit Poole magistrates court last week; indeed, it is interesting to hear mention of the state of buildings, because they were appalling. I was most concerned when the district judge and court manager explained to me that there is no shortage of magistrates or court space and tha…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
5 November 2025
Curriculum and Assessment Review
I welcome the broadening of the curriculum, which will allow more children to find joy in learning, particularly children with special educational needs, who really need the benefit of creative skills. As a vice-chair of the all-party parliamentary group for performing arts education and training, a…
Commons
Debate
4 November 2025
Supporting High Streets
I hope that the shadow Minister will explain something to me. I totally agree that business rates need reform, but I am deeply concerned about the hole in local government finance that it will cause. My local council, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, has calculated that it retains £66 million fr…
Commons
Oral Questions
4 November 2025
HMRC Customer Service
My constituent Hollie from Wimborne applied for a self-assessment refund of just £300 in April. When she chased it in June, she was told it had gone to a specialist tax team, with no reason and no time frame given. She complained in August, but it is now November, and she has heard nothing. While sh…
Commons
Oral Questions
Defence
3 November 2025
Topical Questions
T10. Several of my veteran constituents have contacted me about very long delays in payments under the armed forces compensation scheme. Mr Butler, who lives near Wareham, has two separate claims—one for hearing loss and another for an arm injury—and has been waiting two years for an outcome. As w…
Commons
Westminster Hall
3 November 2025
Video Games: Consumer Law
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Mundell. I thank the 236 constituents from my constituency for signing this petition and, in particular, Haydn Shaw for spending quite a lot of time with me last month to explain the impact that this situation has on him and other gamers. I have …
Commons
Proceedings
30 October 2025
Business of the House
Many residents are writing to me to share their frustrations with long delays at the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency following medical disclosures, describing it as not fit for purpose. I am particularly concerned for young people such as Maisie from Shapwick and Alfie from Canford Heath, who ca…
Commons
Oral Questions
Business and Trade
30 October 2025
Topical Questions
I launched my “Pub of the Year” award at the Goods Yard in Broadstone last week. Fifty-four pubs and two breweries in Mid Dorset and North Poole support 1,600 jobs and underpin the vibrancy of our towns and villages, but two thirds of them have had to cut jobs or hours since the damaging jobs tax. H…
Commons
Oral Questions
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
28 October 2025
Topical Questions
T7. On Saturday, I joined CAFOD and my constituents Karl, Harry and Jo on a deadlift challenge. We—and yes, Mr Speaker, that includes me—collectively lifted more than 100 tonnes, the equivalent of five aid planes to Gaza. CAFOD also works in the west bank, where Palestinians are being treated as sec…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
22 October 2025
Heathrow: National Airports Review
Can the Secretary of State update the House with a bit more detail on the progress of airspace modernisation in relation to noise? Residents in my constituency who are on the flightpath for Bournemouth airport have no night-time restrictions and are seeing massive increases. In places such as Dorset…
Commons
Debate
20 October 2025
Post-16 Education and Skills Strategy
Media reports, but not the statement, talked about the resit regime for English and maths, and I hope that the young people who fail to achieve the grades but who thrive with functional skills were not listening to the shadow Minister dismiss their achievements. Was the Secretary of State aware that…
Commons
Oral Questions
Education
20 October 2025
Childcare: Affordability
My constituent Seb told me how pleased he was when the Government extended the role of free childcare, but his nursery changed the rules so that the free hours can be taken only after 1 o’clock and have to be spread over four days a week. That means that the previously paid-for care is not now free,…
Commons
Westminster Hall
15 October 2025
3 contributions
Educational Assessment System Reform
It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Ms Lewell. I thank the hon. Member for Hertford and Stortford (Josh Dean) for securing the debate.
The current assessment system is failing our children, our teachers and our society. A combination of factors is at play: the focus of school inspectio…
I absolutely agree. I thank my hon. Friend for his intervention and allowing me to pause in my emotion. My constituent Kacie did not pass her English and maths GCSEs. She got close, but she was forced to resit them at college where she went backwards. Now she is being blocked from progressing on her…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
15 September 2025
Children with SEND: Assessments and Support
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dr Allin-Khan. The SEND crisis is destroying the life chances of children—not only those with additional needs, but their classmates, whose education also suffers as teachers struggle to cope with an unmanageable range of needs. Families are failed and…