Adam Dance MP: speeches

Speeches

• 21 Oct 2025 · Mandatory Digital ID · Hansard source

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  Does my hon. Friend agree that Labour needs to wake up? This scheme could put our personal data at risk, while costing taxpayers billions and doing little to restore public trust in the immigration service.

• 21 Oct 2025 · Ending Homelessness · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Efford. I thank the hon. Members for Harrow East (Bob Blackman) and for Liverpool Wavertree (Paula Barker) for securing the debate. Since I was elected, housing and homelessness has been the biggest issue that my team have been dealing with in Yeovil. We have had hundreds of cases. I will share a few stories to highlight the impossible situations in which some people find themselves in my constituency, but I will not share their names due to the nature of the cases. One constituent has been homeless since April, after the breakdown of his long-term relationship. As he shared a tenancy with his ex-partner, he was left in a complex legal position. If he removed himself from the tenancy, he risked being labelled purposely homeless, but if he remained on the tenancy, the council would consider him still to have suitable accommodation. After several months, the council accepted a release duty and offered him a placement in shared accommodation. However, he had to decline the offer because of the high level of drug activity at the property—he feared he would relapse. Since then, he has been denied any further housing support. This constituent, as is the case for so many constituents like him, is just trying to get his life back on track, but now he is living in a garage with no access to basic facilities. Unfortunately, there are so many other stories. For example, my office was made aware of a blind woman sleeping rough in Ninesprings park; she was forced out of her home because squatters took possession of it. She would have remained entirely off the radar, with no engagement from local authorities, if a member of the public had not approached her and told her to reach out to my office. A country is only as good as the support it gives to the most vulnerable, and right now we must do more to end homelessness. But homelessness is not just a housing issue. We desperately need to invest more in drug treatment and rehabilitation, and get more mental health hubs in rural communities. We also need more community centres and police officers, to tackle crime and reach out to vulnerable people. Finally, as that last case shows, we must ensure that local authorities’ homelessness relief systems are accessible to those who are visually impaired, neurodiverse or homeless with no access to technology. I ask the Minister to review this matter urgently. Hearing today’s heartbreaking stories, it is difficult not to feel hopeless and powerless. But we are not powerless; we have the power.

• 15 Oct 2025 · Knife Crime · Hansard source

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  Does the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) agree that knife crime is not increasing just in towns and cities and that we desperately need more funding for community policing in rural areas, such as the Yeovil constituency?

• 15 Oct 2025 · Knife Crime · Hansard source

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  On a point of order, Ms McVey. May I just correct the record? I think you may have called me by the wrong name when I intervened.

• 15 Oct 2025 · Knife Crime · Hansard source

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  Will the hon. Member give way?

• 15 Oct 2025 · Educational Assessment System Reform · Hansard source

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  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 this debate. With severe attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and dyslexia, I struggled at school and hated exams. The current system of exam-based learning has a role to play in higher education, but it is far from perfect. Today I will focus on the changes we can make to the assessment system so that it is fairer on neurodiverse students because there is an attainment gap. The British Dyslexia Association found that in the 2023-24 academic year, just two in 10 students with special educational needs achieved a grade 5 or above in English and maths GCSE, compared with over half the students without SEND—that is an attainment gap of over 30%. Current assessments, such as GCSEs, are focused on an intense number of written exams, which favour good memory recall, fluent reading and writing and correct spelling in a high-pressure, timed environment. When someone’s strength lies in creative thinking, problem solving or practical or artistic work, then exams are not testing or rewarding for their strengths. While assistive technologies can make a huge difference, they are not available for too many neurodiverse people. The BDA found that only one in five dyslexic pupils say they have access to assistive technology at school—that is shocking. The bigger problem is that too many neurodiverse kids do not have their needs identified at all. I come back to to dyslexia: 80% of dyslexics will leave school without their needs formally identified—unless, of course, they are lucky enough to come from a high income family, as 90% of children from households earning over £100,000 have a formal diagnosis, according to the BDA. That is just not fair. The result is not just an attainment gap, but damage to mental health. Seven in 10 people with dyslexia say it has made them feel bad about themselves—I know that all too well. Nearly eight in 10 say people assume they are not clever. I have a list of demands for the Minister today—and they are demands, because things as they stand really are not good enough. One, identify and support needs for early universal screening and better teacher training on neurodivergence. I have written to the Minister to ask for a meeting on that and I am still waiting to hear back. Two, reduce the intensity and number of exams and have more coursework or continuous assessments where possible. Three, introduce and properly invest in more vocational and functional pathways. Yeovil college in my constituency is fantastic at that. Four, invest in access to assistive technologies and integrate it into teacher training and testing as early as possible. Five, get a designated mental health professional in every school who is trained to support SEND children with anxiety at school. Finally, look at removing spelling, punctuation, and grammar marks from non-English exams. As listeners can tell, I struggle even reading my own speech. People are struggling on a daily basis and we need that support. If we act on this, we can finally move towards an education system that teaches and tests for the strengths in all of us. Surely that can only be a good thing.

• 15 Sept 2025 · Children with SEND: Assessments and Support · Hansard source

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  With my ten-minute rule Bill, I have given the Minister good ideas to take forward. Will she look at including them in the White Paper?

• 15 Sept 2025 · Children with SEND: Assessments and Support · Hansard source

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  Will the Minister give way?

• 15 Sept 2025 · Children with SEND: Assessments and Support · Hansard source

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  Although it is great to see so many Members here to debate this issue, it shows how dire things are in the SEND system. Somerset is one of the 40 lowest-funded education authorities in the UK. I have heard from many constituents, such as Becky, whose son has been denied mainstream education for over a year because no school feels that it has the resources to support him, and Kayleigh, who is struggling to get the one-to-one provision that her child’s EHCP requires. People in Yeovil are worried about the planned changes in the upcoming SEND White Paper: Ministers have failed to rule out scrapping EHCPs without a clear vision of what comes next, and people fear a similar mess to the recent attempts at personal independence payment reforms. In the time that I have, I will focus not on negativity, but on what steps we can take to change things. The Government have to make sure that they do several things if they want to start fixing the SEND system. They must not just cut provision to save money. A child’s right to assessment must be protected. For a start, I suggest that the Government support my ten-minute rule Bill on universal screening and teacher training on neurodivergence. We also need to invest in new special school places and education centres. Finally, all our councils need funding fairly, by extending the profit cap from children’s social care to SEND provision, and by making sure that the national Government support any child whose needs exceed a specific cost threshold. The Government cannot afford to get this wrong. Change cannot just mean more cuts; it has to be built on the experience and knowledge of everyone involved in education. Young people across the country deserve so much better. Since my ten-minute rule Bill, I have had thousands of people across the country support that motion, and my casework is going through the roof. We need change now, and I hope the Government listen.

• 15 Sept 2025 · Children with SEND: Assessments and Support · Hansard source

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  Will the Minister give way? It will take 10 seconds.

• 10 Sept 2025 · Neurodivergence (Screening and Teacher Training) · Hansard source

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  I beg to move, That leave be given to bring in a Bill to make provision about screening for neurodivergence in children at primary school; to make provision about teacher training relating to neurodivergence; and for connected purposes. I thank hon. Members across the House for their support, and I thank the right hon. former Member for West Suffolk for bringing forward similar Bills in the past. School was hard for me, and that is putting it lightly. Dyslexia meant that reading and writing was challenging. Words seemed to float all over the page—in fact, they are doing so right now, so I ask hon. Members to please bear with me through this speech as I am likely to make some mistakes. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder meant that concentrating was a nightmare, with the slightest thing pulling my attention away. I believed that school was not for me, I fell behind, I was bullied and I certainly acted out. I am not alone in that. Since I started campaigning, I have heard from so many people who struggle, from constituents to celebrities such as Jamie Oliver, who is a great advocate in this area. I wish I could share them all today, but we would be here for many days. Around one in seven people in the UK have what we might call neurodivergence. It is a non-medical umbrella term describing the ways people’s brains may develop or work differently from the norm. In some ways, we are all neurodivergent to a greater or lesser extent. Neurodivergence is not a weakness, a condition or a flaw—I want to make that crystal clear. In other ways, it is a superpower and you can do anything you want with the right support—I definitely have with what I have done today. We are problem solvers, critical thinkers and fantastic creators, but with those strengths come challenges such as reading, writing, social skills or maths. That does not mean there is anything wrong with us; it just means that we learn and understand things differently, and we might need to be supported in different ways from others. I was lucky at school, because I was identified and got the support I needed. That is why I am standing here today. That support gave me the confidence to fight for what I believe in. Getting into politics and into this place was certainly not on my agenda at school, but I feel that I have to do all I can to make sure that everyone in communities such as Yeovil and beyond get the help that I had in school, or better. Despite all the progress that our country has made in recognising and empowering neurodiverse people, and despite our amazing educators working their socks off—believe me, they do—things seem to have got worse in places such as Somerset since I was at school. Our schools are under-resourced, under-supported and local authorities are totally underfunded. We have the phonics screener, but this test does not cover all the areas that neurodiverse people may struggle and need support with, such as attention control or working memory. Evidence also suggests that neurodiverse children can just memorise the words for the test, meaning that their actual needs may be overlooked. That is one of their superpowers! Even when a child’s needs are identified, there is no proper dedicated special educational needs and disabilities training in initial teacher training or continuous professional development programmes. Nor is it there for teaching assistants. Our overworked teaching staff are pretty much just left to get on with it themselves, and that is not good enough. Some schools manage fantastically, particularly when they are properly funded, but others are struggling. In some ways, this is another of those postcode lotteries we hear so much about. Our children, their families and our teachers deserve better. That is why I am introducing this Bill today. Members will be pleased to know that it is not complicated. In fact, the idea behind it is fairly simple. It is about getting the Government to use their resources and knowledge to bring everyone together to act, so that we can create a system to better identify neurodivergence and support children early on. What I am proposing can be broken down into three parts. First, we need to define what we are introducing: universal screening, and teaching training on this. Before the legislation can come into effect, the Secretary of State must lay a report before the House that defines neurodivergence. Secondly, we need a programme of universal screening for neurodivergence in primary school age children. This would preferably be a light-touch, teacher-led process. As I have said, we all sit on the spectrum of neurodivergence in some way—no matter what others say—so the screening should not be about labels but about creating a profile of strengths and weaknesses. This will help teachers to identify where all their pupils sit on the spectrum of neurodivergence and the level of support they need, from in-classroom adjustments to more formal referrals. Finally, we need proper teacher training. The Secretary of State must produce statutory guidance on training for teachers on neurodivergence in initial teacher training and in continuous professional development. This should be for all teaching staff. This training should provide teaching staff with: a clear understanding of neurodivergence, knowledge of how it presents differently in different people, and the tools and resources to support their pupils. I do not want this Bill to be about forcing labels on young people. That will not help. Again, it is about helping teachers to identify all their pupils’ strengths and weaknesses. The Government will be pleased to know that it is not about forcing costly screeners on schools either. While I have not set out a preference, the Universal Classroom has worked with teachers to create a universal screener that will be free, so this will not break the bank. Most importantly, this is not about putting more burdens on to our fantastic teachers. I personally believe that teachers do far too much for far too little pay, support or thanks. I urge the Government to look at the National Education Union’s list of 23 admin tasks that teachers should not be doing. This Bill is about empowering teachers to do what they signed up for and care deeply about—namely, educating and supporting all their pupils. To go back to the Universal Classroom screener, it only takes five to 10 minutes per pupil. With the profiles from a screener like that and with better training, all our teachers will have the confidence to make the right adjustments for each child in their class. Even small things such as different paper, extra time or time-out cards can make life-changing differences. I know this only too well. What I am proposing today is no silver bullet. It must go alongside other changes in education. If the Government would rather take on these measures in their upcoming White Paper or in some other legislation, fine, I do not really care. All that matters is that we get on with it. We have had enough debating and enough promising. Let’s bring everyone together, roll up our sleeves and take the next steps to making education inclusive and accessible for every child. Question put and agreed to. Ordered, That Adam Dance, Tessa Munt, Ed Davey, Munira Wilson, James MacCleary, Freddie van Mierlo, Ian Roome, Ann Davies, Clive Jones, Lewis Cocking, Juliet Campbell and Vikki Slade present the Bill. Adam Dance accordingly presented the Bill. Bill read the First time; to be read a Second time on Friday 21 November, and to be printed (Bill 303).

• 10 Sept 2025 · Qatar: Israeli Strike · Hansard source

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  I have said this before, but so many constituents from Yeovil—some as young as 11—have told me that they are so frustrated that Britain is not doing more. Will the Minister reassure my constituents that the Government are doing all they can to make sure that these strikes do not break down the peace process completely and that enough aid gets into Gaza now?

• 10 Sept 2025 · Russian Drones: Violation of Polish Airspace · Hansard source

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  Does the Minister agree that we need to take stronger steps to deter Putin? That starts with seizing billions in frozen Russian assets across the UK and using them to support Ukraine in its fight against Russia, because Putin has shown that if we give him an inch, he will take a mile.

• 9 Sept 2025 · Neurodivergent People: Employment · Hansard source

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  Does my hon. Friend agree that the challenges neurodiverse people face with employment often start at school, and that we need universal screening for neurodivergence, alongside proper teacher training, so that our fantastic teaching staff are given the tools and confidence to identify and support all their pupils?

• 9 Jul 2025 · Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill · Hansard source

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  I wish to speak in favour of amendments 12, 13 and 17, and Liberal Democrat new clauses 2, 3, 6 and 7. The Bill has been an absolute shambles from the start; there was no consultation with disabled people, and there has been last-minute chopping and changing. The Timms review and the removal of the PIP elements of the Bill are welcome, but the process that got us there has left disabled people in Yeovil fearful, and with little confidence in the Government. For example, my constituent Noel has unfortunately been unable to work due to a degenerative condition. He receives universal credit and has been left deeply distressed by the proposed changes; he visits my office almost daily for support. He is not alone. So many people in Yeovil have made it clear that the proposals are just unfair. The whole point of the Bill, as far as I can tell, was to get people back into meaningful work and lower the welfare bill—things that I think we all want—but at no stage has the Bill done what is needed to help get people back into meaningful work: address the crisis in our NHS and social care system, and our growing chronic health issues. I have constituents who would have ended up homeless as a result of the original proposals, and now, without a full impact assessment, we do not really know what effect the Bill will have on our constituents. I am really concerned that people with Parkinson’s and conditions like MS will effectively be excluded, as a result of the criteria, from the higher rate of the health element of universal credit. At the very least, I urge colleagues to support amendment 17 to address that. The original Bill was supposed to save around £5.5 billion, but the Institute for Fiscal Studies predicts that the amended version will deliver basically no savings over the next four years, as over that period, the forecast savings from reducing the universal credit health element for new claimants will be offset or exceeded by the cost of increasing the UC standard allowance. What is the actual point of this Bill?

• 9 Jul 2025 · Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill · Hansard source

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  I completely agree with my hon. Friend and neighbour. We will see a huge impact from ICBs having to make a 50% cut. We are already seeing the impact in Yeovil, as hon. Members will have heard me say. The maternity unit has had its funding cut, and is being shut for six months. The Bill was not produced with disabled people; lots of its content is being removed; there is no impact assessment; and the Bill is not likely to make any real savings. This tells me that the Government should go back to the drawing board, and either withdraw the Bill, or adopt the Lib Dem amendments and new clauses that require proper consultation and impact assessments. Either way, the Government must stop making decisions about disabled people without them. I thank some Labour Back Benchers for having a backbone and voting against their Government in support of disabled people. I hope they do so again today.