Commons
Committee Stage
12 June 2025
9 contributions
Mental Health Bill [ Lords ] (Fourth sitting)
I rise briefly to dilate on clause 6, on Liberal Democrat amendment 11 and on Government amendment 30. Those of us on the Health and Social Care Committee recently had a fascinating panel about the disparities for black and minority ethnic groups in maternity, and it does not end there, as we can se…
On a point of order, Mr Vickers. Just to be clear, I counted six Noes, and I think you announced five. Can we just check on that?
+7 more contributions in this session
Commons
Committee Stage
12 June 2025
8 contributions
Mental Health Bill [ Lords ] (Third sitting)
I entirely agree with my hon. Friend’s request to the Government for a review two years after implementation. Does he agree that it needs to be cross-governmental? The Home Office and other bodies such as the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and the NHS will need to be involved.
Before my hon. Friend moves on to the amendments, I want to press him on the point about training, which my hon. Friend the Member for Solihull West and Shirley brought up. I support the change to the thresholds for detention but, given that it is potentially quite a significant change, what level o…
+6 more contributions in this session
Commons
Committee Stage
10 June 2025
14 contributions
Mental Health Bill [ Lords ] (First sitting)
I support the comments of the Minister and the hon. Member for Winchester on the issue. On a cross-party basis, I know that my right hon. Friend the Member for Godalming and Ash (Sir Jeremy Hunt) has taken a close interest. Could he also be included in those discussions?
On the point made by the hon. Member for Ashford about local authorities, given that the Government are devolving and reorganising local government structures across parts of the country, how will the Minister ensure that the standards around this issue—and other health and social care issues—are ma…
+12 more contributions in this session
Commons
Committee Stage
10 June 2025
23 contributions
Mental Health Bill [ Lords ] (Second sitting)
Thrilled.
I have been listening carefully to the hon. Member’s argument. I do not disagree with anything in it; I just fail to see how the amendment fits with the clause that we are discussing, which I think may be the point that the hon. Member for Ashford is making.
As far as I can tell, clause 4 is about …
+21 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Housing, Communities and Local Government
9 June 2025
2 contributions
New Unitary Authorities
1. What steps her Department is taking to help prevent new unitary authorities from requiring exceptional financial support.
The rushed local government reorganisation means that Waverley borough in my area will be forced to join other authorities that are debt-ridden, such as Woking. What will the Secretary of State do to ensure that residents in my area do not pay a financial price for the woes of other authorities?
Commons
Debate
5 June 2025
2 contributions
Bank Closures and Banking Hubs
I thank the hon. Member for Blyth and Ashington (Ian Lavery) for securing this debate.
In my constituency of Farnham and Bordon, the situation is stark. Although I welcome the fact that we have secured a temporary banking hub in The Shed, in Bordon, on the Hampshire side, it rapidly needs to have a…
I entirely agree with my hon. Friend; he makes a very convincing point. When we are dealing with something as vital as personal finances, it should not be too much to demand to see a person face to face.
The legislation we rely on to manage access to banking, including the Financial Services and Ma…
Commons
Prime Minister's Questions
Prime Minister
4 June 2025
Engagements
Q11. Since July, health services in my constituency have got worse. The Chase hospital may close, the promised health hub in Bordon has not arrived, and this week we have learned that in-patient wards in Haslemere are being closed because of a lack of GP cover. The Prime Minister promised hundreds m…
Commons
Debate
3 June 2025
2 contributions
Dementia Care
The hon. Member is making a powerful speech, especially with that last point. Is he, like me, concerned that ICBs will have their funding cut by 50%? Dementia will be one of the many conditions that will suffer because of that.
The hon. Gentleman’s story of his saving his local centre rings a bell with me. The Hunter Centre in Haslemere, which had been run by the Alzheimer’s Society, looked like it was going to close in 2017, but because of some great work by Anne Downing, it was saved and is now thriving—in fact, I am a p…
Commons
Oral Questions
3 June 2025
Topical Questions
T2. Across my constituency I hear the same thing from parents, school staff and youth workers: early signs of offending behaviour are often missed or not acted on until it is too late; and in rural areas, stretched services and limited access to youth provision make the problem worse. Given the succ…
Commons
Westminster Hall
21 May 2025
Parkinson’s Disease
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Stuart. I thank the hon. Member for Colne Valley (Paul Davies) for his role in securing this vital debate and all Members who contributed.
As we have heard today, Parkinson’s affects 153,000 people in the UK; more shockingly, every hour, two mor…
Commons
Westminster Hall
20 May 2025
2 contributions
Adoption and Kinship Placements
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Harris. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for South West Devon (Rebecca Smith) on securing this important debate. Keen observers of Westminster Hall debates will have noticed that she responded on behalf of His Majesty’s Opposition to the…
I know what a doughty champion my hon. Friend is for this cause, and I entirely agree with him. The Government need to set out precisely what they will do going forward, as well as reversing the cut that they made. I seek clarification on what the Minister’s adoption strategy is, beyond the delayed …
Commons
Westminster Hall
20 May 2025
4 contributions
Pensions: Expatriates
I beg to move,
That this House has considered pensions for people living overseas.
I thank the Backbench Business Committee for allowing this debate. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Dowd. For over 70 years, successive Governments have upheld the frozen pension policy. The res…
I entirely agree with the hon. Member, and I will come on to some of that later. He is absolutely right that there is not just a severe financial impact, but a moral impact. Constituents of ours, who have paid their dues—and, in Anne’s case, more than paid their dues given what they have done for th…
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
19 May 2025
3 contributions
Mental Health Bill [Lords]
Despite having worked in healthcare for most of my career and serving on the Health and Social Care Select Committee, having listened to the speeches thus far this evening, I feel in awe of the experience of hon. Members on both sides of the House, especially the hon. Member for Sittingbourne and Sh…
I agree with the hon. Gentleman that more can be done to help people in crisis. What I would say, however—I think my hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge also made this point—is that there are people who are at such a point that, unfortunately, they need to be incarcerated in order to …
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Debate
16 May 2025
5 contributions
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
What concerns me about new clause 11 is that, essentially, people can shop around if one doctor is unwilling. The hon. Lady has given a list of reasons why a doctor might be unwilling, but surely one of the reasons could be that there is a fundamental change in a person’s circumstances and they do n…
On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. I would like your advice. Mr Speaker said that more than 90 people wish to speak in the debate. We have been debating the amendments for an hour and a half and four speeches have been made. If we go to 2 o’clock, that will mean fewer than 20 speakers. I und…
+3 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
15 May 2025
Topical Questions
Farnborough airport’s noise and emission pollution affects a significant part of my constituency. The airport has announced that it will be launching its consultation to expand in August. This has obviously brought a lot of concern from residents groups and campaigners, who are worried that people w…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
14 May 2025
2 contributions
Infected Blood Inquiry: Government Response
On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker.
The partner of Helen, my constituent from Farnham, died in 1994 from infected blood. Unfortunately, Helen now has stage 4B ovarian cancer, so she is not in a great state. She wrote to the Chief Secretary in August and, despite chasing this up numerous times, it took months for a rather unsympathetic…
Commons
Westminster Hall
13 May 2025
Churches and Religious Buildings: Communities
The hon. Lady and I have had a number of exchanges in the Chamber on this issue. In her role as a Church Commissioner, given the concerns she has raised about projects failing and craftsmen being put out of work, has she had any reassurance from the Government that schemes already started, even if a…
Commons
Oral Questions
6 May 2025
2 contributions
NHS England: Abolition
10. What progress he has made on the abolition of NHS England.
The Secretary of State claims to support change, yet delays to NHS reorganisation, including to the promised abolition of NHS England, suggest otherwise. Is it not the truth, as he outlined in his Guardian article, that he is bogging the system down in a slow, top-heavy restructuring, while resortin…
Commons
Proceedings
1 May 2025
Parkinson’s Awareness Month
It is a pleasure to speak on behalf of His Majesty’s Opposition in this most important debate. I commend the hon. Member for Dunfermline and Dollar (Graeme Downie) for securing it and for his heartfelt and impassioned speech. I was particularly moved by the recitation of Bobbie’s poem and the highli…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
1 May 2025
Point of Order
On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. In response to my topical question earlier, the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, the right hon. Member for Stalybridge and Hyde (Jonathan Reynolds), expressed his disappointment that I had not invited him to my constituency—in fact, I have never s…
Commons
Oral Questions
Business and Trade
1 May 2025
2 contributions
Topical Questions
T1. If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.
To bring the Secretary of State to Hampshire and Surrey, there are major regeneration schemes under way in my constituency at Farnham, in Brightwells, and the new town centre in Bordon. Both will ultimately depend on attracting physical businesses, be it retail, hospitality or otherwise, for their l…
Commons
Oral Questions
Business and Trade
1 May 2025
2 contributions
Hospitality Industry
5. What steps he is taking to support the hospitality industry.
Pubs and the hospitality industry are by their very nature seasonal businesses and rely heavily on flexible working patterns. I saw this at first hand when being served by many younger staff on my recent pub tour of the constituency. Why is the Minister, through the powers in the Employment Rights B…