Commons
Prime Minister's Questions
Prime Minister
9 July 2025
Engagements
Q10. I will add to the many calls that the Prime Minister has already heard about the broken SEND system. I met headteachers and SEND co-ordinators in my constituency of Chichester last week. They all told me the same thing: the SEND system is broken. It is adversarial, parents are at breaking poi…
Commons
Westminster Hall
9 July 2025
8 contributions
LGBT Financial Recognition Scheme
I beg to move,
That this House has considered the LGBT Financial Recognition Scheme.
I am grateful for the opportunity to bring this important debate to Westminster Hall. I begin by thanking all colleagues present; I am happy to take interventions. I also thank those joining us in the Gallery, esp…
The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right to reflect on the fact that the policy that has been put in place means justice for those veterans. Today I will speak about the speed at which we actually see justice served for veterans who suffered wholly indefensible treatment.
Nobody decides to go into th…
+6 more contributions in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
9 July 2025
4 contributions
Early Years Providers: Government Support
I thank the hon. Member for Sherwood Forest (Michelle Welsh) for securing this important and timely debate—I am sure she intended it to fall in the week when the Secretary of State announced the roll-out of Best Start centres. I also pay tribute to the hon. Lady for her ongoing advocacy for children…
My hon. Friend raises a valid and important point that has been made in various contributions to this debate. At the start of this week, I spent my morning at Fishbourne pre-school. It does not have a lovely name like the Bears or the Acorns—I am quite jealous, actually—but it is a brilliant, popula…
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
8 July 2025
Down’s Syndrome Regression Disorder
I thank the hon. Member for Thurrock (Jen Craft) for securing this important debate, and for her ongoing advocacy on behalf of people with Down’s syndrome and those with special educational needs. The hon. Lady was in the Chamber yesterday when the Secretary of State made her statement about Best St…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
7 July 2025
Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life
I sincerely thank the Secretary of State for today’s announcement, recognising that one-stop shops for advice and support should be available to every parent in every community. I am sure she will know that my local authority, West Sussex county council, currently does not receive Start for Life fun…
Commons
Oral Questions
7 July 2025
2 contributions
Neighbourhood Policing
1. What steps she is taking to deliver effective community policing.
Special constables play a vital role in visible community policing, but the number of specials dropped by over 700 between 2023 and 2024, and we lost one in four in the same period in my constituency of Chichester, which is represented by Sussex police. Will the Home Secretary consider practical inc…
Commons
Debate
1 July 2025
8 contributions
Infant Feeding
It is a pleasure to bring this Adjournment debate to the Chamber on a topic close to my heart. I refer hon. Members to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests as the Chair of the all-party parliamentary group for infant feeding. I am pleased as always to see the Minister in her plac…
I thank the hon. Member for her intervention. I was so pleased to hear the statement in the House earlier today. I know that she has been a tireless advocate for making sure that parental leave for all parents is improved dramatically. I thank her for her advocacy in that area.
+6 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
1 July 2025
Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill
Lauren, from my constituency, is a bright and determined 16-year-old young woman, who has just completed her GCSEs and came to do work experience in my office. She has cerebral palsy and is applying for PIP not because she wants a handout, but because she knows that she will need support to live ind…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
1 July 2025
Parental Leave Review
A key barrier for many women returning to the workplace after starting a family is the challenge of balancing work with feeding their child. There is a lack of facilities in many workplaces, with no provision for expressing or storing breast milk. Will the review consider improving provisions for br…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
26 June 2025
Business of the House
My constituent Liz was thrown out of the RAF in 1969 when a love letter from her girlfriend was discovered. Not only did she lose her career but, as she recently discovered, she has had a criminal record for 50 years. The compensation scheme for veterans has been open since December last year, but t…
Commons
Oral Questions
Transport
26 June 2025
Passenger Rail Performance: Cumbria
Much like Cumbria, my constituents and rail users in Chichester share a part of the Brighton mainline when commuting into London. Unfortunately for them, the journey time into London Victoria—on the rare occasion when everything is running on time—is nearly 100 minutes, which is above average for ci…
Commons
Westminster Hall
26 June 2025
2 contributions
IVF Egg Donation: Young Women
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Efford. I congratulate the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) on securing this important debate on an issue that affects so many. Although his focus was on egg retrieval, he also identified the value of IVF to families across the UK. Like o…
That is exactly why the hon. Member for Strangford brought forward this debate, and we share his concerns that any attempt to create a market for egg donation could lead to perverse outcomes. Advertising for egg donors to come forward should reflect that, stressing the benefits to others rather than…
Commons
Debate
25 June 2025
2 contributions
Department for Transport
My constituents in Chichester are beyond frustrated by the congestion on our A road, the A27. A bypass was originally included in the road investment strategy pipeline covering 2025 to 2030, but that has since been deferred to 2030 to 2035, with no guaranteed funding. Does the hon. Member agree that…
My hon. Friend mentions safety measures. In my constituency, we have the Fishbourne roundabout on the A27, which many of my constituents avoid like the plague. I was on that roundabout in my car just the other week with a staff member, and we had a very near miss. Does my hon. Friend agree that deal…
Commons
Westminster Hall
25 June 2025
3 contributions
GP Funding: South-west England
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Dame Siobhain. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Newton Abbot (Martin Wrigley) for securing today’s important and timely debate. He is a tireless advocate for his local community, and I commend him for shining a spotlight on GP funding and the b…
I am sure the Minister will talk about the hub and spoke model that the Government are championing, but my hon. Friend is right about the difficulties in rural areas especially. Many constituents have talked to me about the distance they are having to travel to get basic medication that means they c…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Debate
18 June 2025
Crime and Policing Bill
My hon. Friend talks about community policing and getting police officers back into the community, so does he support my new clause 157, which seeks to streamline the way police case files are prepared and submitted to the Crown Prosecution Service? It is a common-sense approach that would reduce re…
Commons
Westminster Hall
18 June 2025
Businesses in Rural Areas
Does my hon. Friend recognise that rural communities always seem to carry the burden of losing out on everything? They have the businesses struggling to get people through the door, they lose their public transport and they lose their health provision. I am seeing that in my constituency, where a ru…
Commons
Oral Questions
Health and Social Care
17 June 2025
Access to GPs
Access to GPs in my constituency of Chichester is being undermined by the closure of the Westbourne branch of Emsworth medical practice at the end of this month. Patients will now have to travel to Emsworth, but we are talking about a small rural village, and there is no public transport to get my e…
Commons
Debate
10 June 2025
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
I am sure my hon. Friend knows his legislation very well, but the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 stated that Ministers have a duty to further the purposes of protected landscapes such as national landscapes. Does he think that we have missed an opportunity in this Bill by not giving national…
Commons
Oral Questions
Housing, Communities and Local Government
9 June 2025
Topical Questions
Three hundred social homes are at risk in my Chichester constituency, despite having outline planning permission, because developers are rejecting offers from registered providers. Will the Minister commit to action to stop developers evading their obligation, and will he meet me to help me protect …
Commons
Prime Minister's Questions
Prime Minister
4 June 2025
Engagements
Q6. Sir Jon Cunliffe’s interim report, published yesterday, laid out the fundamental changes needed for our water sector. That is felt no more acutely than in my constituency of Chichester. We have a harbour that is in an unfavourable, declining condition and sewage is blighting our tourism indust…
Commons
Westminster Hall
4 June 2025
Business Rates Relief: High-street Businesses
I am sure that the hon. Gentleman will join me in congratulating Robin’s Nest coffee shop in my constituency, which has just celebrated its first birthday. In the year that the shop has been open, its owners have seen their business rates double, and they have written to me to say that they might no…
Commons
Debate
2 June 2025
Bus Services (No. 2) Bill [Lords]
My hon. Friend talks about collaboration across borders and county councils. I have an issue in my constituency because of a proposal to close the GP practice in Westbourne, but there is no bus service for all the patients in Westbourne to get to Emsworth, which is over the border into Hampshire cou…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
22 May 2025
Independent Sentencing Review
The Government’s plans lay out an expectation that they will be able to manage ex-offenders in the community under intensive supervision. A probation officer in my constituency recently told me that she was told off by her bosses for spending too long with offenders when she was booking just 15-minu…
Commons
Debate
21 May 2025
Business and the Economy
The hon. Member makes a great point. I was contacted by Yoddi, who owns La Fish in my constituency of Chichester. He says that the rise in national insurance contributions will cost him £1,200 a month that he now has to find. He has two choices, one of which is passing on that cost to consumers. We …
Commons
Westminster Hall
21 May 2025
Broadband and Mobile Connectivity: Rural Areas
Does my hon. Friend agree that rurality does not necessarily correlate with population density? My constituency is a city, albeit a small one, yet mobile signal is non-existent in the city centre, and businesses have had real issues attaching to any sort of broadband availability.