Commons
Debate
15 December 2025
NHS: Winter Preparedness
My constituent Fred is eligible for a flu vaccination, but has had his appointment cancelled three times due to a lack of vaccines in the local area. Pharmacies and GPs are asked to guess what their need will be, sometimes a year in advance and without sight of the JCVI’s eligibility criteria, and t…
Commons
Oral Questions
Defence
15 December 2025
2 contributions
Veterans
13. What steps he is taking to ensure that veterans receive adequate support after leaving the armed forces.
My constituent Liz was thrown out of the military for being gay and has since received redress for this injustice via the LGBT financial recognition scheme. Liz told me that she has never attended any veteran support group because her discharge from the military left her feeling unworthy of the titl…
Commons
Westminster Hall
9 December 2025
2 contributions
Creative Education
Will the Minister give way?
Does the Minister agree that a creative arts education opens up multiple opportunities and careers for young people that do not necessarily involve being on a stage or creating music? The creative industries need intelligent engineers to make the lights and sound work, so a creative education can op…
Commons
Westminster Hall
9 December 2025
5 contributions
Water Scarcity
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Stuart. I am very aware that the Division bell might ring at any moment to signal that we have to go to the main Chamber for a vote, so I will very slowly begin what I had planned to be a three or four-minute speech, while waiting for the bell to…
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Stuart, as much as it was 15 minutes ago. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Horsham for securing this important debate.
The south-east, where my constituency is, has been designated as water stressed since 2021. As reflected in many of the c…
+3 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
8 December 2025
Child Poverty Strategy
I refer Members to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests as chair of the all-party parliamentary group for infant feeding.
The Government’s response to the Competition and Markets Authority’s report into infant formula, which aims to give parents the confidence to choose any bran…
Commons
Proceedings
8 December 2025
Restriction of Jury Trials
The Liberal Democrats agree that under the current system victims and survivors of rape are being failed and far too few see justice served. However, for those victims who do decide to proceed through the justice system, fewer than 10% withdraw after a charge has been made, so the Deputy Prime Minis…
Commons
Westminster Hall
3 December 2025
2 contributions
Local Media
The shadow Minister makes a very valid point about businesses diversifying and utilising the new online space. I have V2 Radio in my patch, which is a relatively new radio station, but in order to attract people to its radio station, it also puts its news on social media and has a really active webs…
Does the Minister recognise that, while we are talking about the struggles local media outlets are facing—and that huge drop in revenue over 15 years—taking away £32 million by removing the opportunity for them to carry advertisements for licence changes could have a huge impact?
Commons
Ministerial Statement
2 December 2025
Criminal Court Reform
The Government’s plan, announced today, to reduce the use of trial by jury would be an historic upheaval of our court system, with profound consequences. The Justice Secretary has not argued in favour of judge-only trials on their own terms; instead, he has argued that there is no alternative, which…
Commons
Westminster Hall
2 December 2025
2 contributions
Catapults and Antisocial Behaviour
I congratulate the hon. and gallant Member for Spelthorne (Lincoln Jopp) on securing this important debate. As many Members present will attest, there appears to be a rising use of catapults, as well as an increase in antisocial behaviour more broadly, especially in areas with large bodies of water …
The Minister raises a really important point about data. I say the same whenever I am out in my constituency doing Q&As—report, report, report—but there is always a reticence from my constituents, who say that they feel like they are reporting all the time, then they never hear back from the pol…
Commons
Proceedings
27 November 2025
Business of the House
The Chichester district council local plan was finally adopted this summer after years of speculative development in our area in the wrong places and without the right infrastructure to go with it. This robust local plan was hard fought for by local councillors, but this Government’s new housing tar…
Commons
Proceedings
27 November 2025
Right to Trial by Jury
The leaked memo from the Ministry of Justice, which reveals plans to rip up our criminal justice system, is particularly surprising, given that the Deputy Prime Minister himself has stated that “Jury trials are fundamental”. In a report that he wrote, he called jury trials
“a success story of our j…
Commons
Oral Questions
27 November 2025
Access to Arts and Culture
I refer Members to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests, as I am the chair of the all-party parliamentary group for performing arts education and training— I said that as quickly as I could!
The music and dance scheme funds exceptional schools that train the next generation of a…
Commons
Westminster Hall
27 November 2025
2 contributions
Domestic Abuse: Children
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Jardine. I thank the hon. Member for Isle of Wight West (Mr Quigley) for securing this timely and poignant debate, highlighting that children in their own right are victims of domestic abuse, and sharing some powerful words from his constituents.…
My hon. Friend makes a really important point about local government reorganisation. Voluntary and charitable sector organisations rely on local authority funding and Government funding—they rely on multiple streams of income. I plead with the Minister to make sure that the Government funding, at le…
Commons
Westminster Hall
25 November 2025
2 contributions
Level 7 Apprenticeships
My hon. Friend is making an impassioned speech about the reason for keeping level 7 apprenticeships. She talks about construction, but has she considered the impact that the loss of level 7 apprenticeships will have on town planners as well? Arun district council has relied on the chartered town pla…
Will the Minister outline the possible impacts on local authorities taking on a town planning role? There are serious budget constraints on local authorities. It is hard to keep and retain staff in a planning department, especially when they are attracted to the private sector. Local authorities use…
Commons
Westminster Hall
18 November 2025
3 contributions
Land Use Change: Food Security
The right hon. Lady makes a really important point. The value of a farm depends on where it is are based, but farmers do not see that money, because they are—I know this phrase is often used—asset rich and cash poor, so families are put in the awful situation of potentially having to sell off parts …
I thank the right hon. Member for Aldridge-Brownhills (Wendy Morton) for securing this important debate. It is important for the entire country, including my constituents in Chichester, who regularly think about the land and the way it is used. In our area, with the pressures from the South Downs na…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Ministerial Statement
13 November 2025
Police Reform
The abolition of police and crime commissioners is welcome. My constituents in Chichester are understandably frustrated by how unclear it is what benefit the role brings; they rarely see a PC due to decreased numbers in our area. The policing function will pass to a mayor next year. Can the Minister…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
13 November 2025
Business of the House
Residents in Chichester living on managed estates have written to me about the exploitative practices of estate management companies, and the service charges that they are charged for work that is funded but never delivered. Fees more than double year on year, and residents have no power to challeng…
Commons
Oral Questions
Solicitor General
13 November 2025
Violence against Women and Girls
Prosecution rates in cases of violence against women and girls are harmed by the requirement that the police provide the CPS with redacted evidence under the general data protection regulation. Given the wider delays already affecting our justice system, does the Solicitor General agree that it woul…
Commons
Oral Questions
13 November 2025
Access to Nature
Over the summer, the renovation of the Centurion Way was extended, and the cycle path now goes all the way from Chichester to West Dean in my constituency. Mr Speaker, you would be more than welcome to come to join me on a bike to cycle the new length. The restoration of this once crucial transport …
Commons
Debate
11 November 2025
Remembrance Day: Armed Forces
The Minister is right to acknowledge not just the veterans, but those who have loved them. Today my son had the privilege of reading at our local cenotaph the names of those who were killed in world war two as well as the name of my best friend, who was a Royal Marine and died in 2012 in Afghanistan…
Commons
Debate
11 November 2025
Prisoner Releases in Error
If the situation was not so serious, it would be laughable. It seems like people currently have tougher checks to speak to an adviser at His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs or to get a GP appointment than offenders have to be released from prison.
Since the mistaken releases of recent weeks, I have h…
Commons
Oral Questions
11 November 2025
Topical Questions
Reports by charities and the Domestic Abuse Commissioner show that the family court system, which is plagued by delays, continues to provide the perfect environment for perpetrators of domestic abuse to continue to coerce and control. Training in identifying the signs of domestic abuse is not curren…
Commons
Oral Questions
11 November 2025
Probation Service
Like much of the justice system, the Probation Service is buckling under the strain after a decade of being undervalued by the previous Government. The injection of £700 million by 2028 was welcomed last year, but it has yet to be felt on the frontline of probation, which is estimated to be 10,000 s…
Commons
Debate
3 November 2025
Public Office (Accountability) Bill
It is a privilege to follow the right hon. Member for Liverpool Garston (Maria Eagle). I thank her for her impassioned speech, and for shining a light on a broken system since 1997. Today is her day, as much as it is the day for all those campaigning for change.
On 15 April 1989, fans of Liverpool …
Commons
Debate
29 October 2025
Sentencing Bill
As the House has heard repeatedly in recent weeks, our justice system is crumbling under the strain in our courts, prisons and probation services, bulging at the seams, stretched to the limit and ultimately failing all who come into contact with it. It is not adequately punishing criminals, not reha…