Amanda Hack MP: speeches

Speeches

• 2 Jul 2026 · Heart Disease and Stroke: Premature Deaths · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dame Siobhain. I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for South Ribble (Mr Foster) for securing this important debate and for his opening remarks on his own health. We all wish him well. My speech today will focus on heart health. I am a former chair of the all-party parliamentary group on cardiac risk in the young, where unknown heart conditions among young people are discussed. Keeping hearts healthy carries a broad message around prevention, lifestyle and early intervention, but what tools are we giving people? Diet is a key example, and it starts with our young people. We cannot talk about reducing premature deaths from heart disease and stroke without talking about the environments in which people live. As an active member of the APPG on school food, where I was proud to serve alongside the Minister, I know how important it is for school food to meet nutritional standards and build healthy lifestyles and eating habits from an early age. Last year, 34% of year 6 children in my constituency were classed as obese. Meeting them where they are at with healthy habits when they are young is crucial. That is why I am so pleased to see free breakfast clubs rolling out across the country—I have two in my constituency—as well as plans to overhaul school food standards for the first time in over a decade. It is now about convincing parents that school food is healthy and nutritional for their children, particularly when under 2% of packed lunches meet the current school food nutritional standards. Will the Minister outline what steps will be taken to change the perception of school food, in line with the valuable work the Government have been putting in to change it? Meeting people where they are at with lifestyle changes is also crucial when we look at exercise. The majority of my constituents work in logistics, manufacturing and retail, doing physically demanding jobs that are often shift-based, which can make it really hard to maintain regular diet and exercise routines. Will the Minister outline what steps the Department is taking to ensure that infrastructure in semi-rural constituencies like mine can support walking, cycling and everyday physical activity, as well as allowing access to good, nutritious food? For example, my constituency is home to the heart of the national forest, a beautiful green space that encourages physical activity and exploration, but the only way to get there is by car, which seems counterintuitive. On a positive note, the recently announced £8 million investment to improve community healthcare and access to weight management services across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland through the Government obesity pathways innovation programme is greatly welcome. Having served on the health scrutiny committee for five years as a county councillor, I have seen at first hand the impact that providing easier access to support can have on improving people’s health outcomes and reducing pressure on our NHS later in life. That investment will make it easier for people to access the support that they need in their own communities, whether that is advice on healthy living, behavioural support or clinical support where needed. Like the right hon. Member for Rayleigh and Wickford (Mr Francois), I pay tribute to the service of our colleagues in the NHS. We are incredibly proud that the children’s heart health facility provided by Glenfield hospital is still in the east midlands. Although ambulance times have improved nationally, the east midlands is still a little way behind national standards. As of May this year, we have the second highest average ambulance wait time across England for category 2 responses, which would include a suspected heart attack or a stroke, at 36 minutes. That is 11 minutes longer than the current national target, and twice as long as the target set pre-pandemic. For those who are aware—I thank the British Heart Foundation for its continued support for me in my role here—every minute counts. Every minute that somebody suffering a heart attack spends away from crucial health advice can mean a 10% lower chance of survival. It should therefore not be a surprise that as of February last year, the survival rate among people who had an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in the east midlands was only one in 14. Will the Minister set out what further action her Department is taking to bring down wait times, focusing on regions such as the east midlands, which is far behind the rest of the UK average? As the former chair of the all-party parliamentary group on cardiac risk in the young, I want to highlight the importance of cardiac health screening, of which I am an avid champion, as the Minister knows. Screening is a crucial way to target premature deaths. With the National Screening Committee consulting on whether to expand the recommendation of screening to people below 39, now is a pressing time to engage with it. In Italy, which introduced such screening in the 1980s, cardiac deaths among young people have dropped by 85%. We know that early detection through cardiac screening allows timely interventions that can save lives. In my constituency, we have also been trying to build resilience. Rural communities are so much further away from main hospitals and health services, so we have been looking at how we can ensure that people know where their nearest defib is. We will now be doing an annual defib dash to encourage people to recognise where the defibs are. We have also been increasing CPR training and access in my community. The British Heart Foundation and the ResusReady campaign have been key to helping me deliver that. Ultimately, reducing premature deaths from heart disease and stroke is about building a system and building the resilience that supports people at every stage, in every area of our country. I look forward to the Minister’s response.

• 30 Jun 2026 · Financial Inclusion: Young People · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir John. Thank you for allowing me to speak. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Hertford and Stortford (Josh Dean) for giving us the opportunity to reflect on the importance of financial inclusion among young people. As the former co-chair of the all-party parliamentary group on financial education for young people, I am really pleased to see the work that the Government have already done to expand education to support young people. I will focus on financial education as a way to remove the barriers to financial inclusion for young people. In its 2025-26 review, the London Foundation for Banking & Finance found that 64% of young people surveyed felt anxious about money, and that only 19% could answer basic financial literacy questions. It is therefore vital that we roll out our curriculum changes as soon as possible, as 80% of those youngsters wanted to learn more about finance—they are willing and ready. Will the Minister set out how we will provide financial education for young people? How will we ensure that there are enough teachers and that they are supported to teach that vital skill? It is crucial that we do not focus just on those still in school. Financial inclusion for young people must also include young people over 16. Before coming to this place, I worked for a housing association, and I undertook a significant piece of work on financial and digital inclusion. It was immediately clear that many adults need support, so how can we ensure that financial inclusion also covers those who are post 16? It is clear that financial vulnerability leads to high loan interest—a poverty premium, so to speak. That burden falls particularly heavily on young people. Young people in temporary accommodation are often financially trapped by their circumstances. I put on the record my thanks to Young Enterprise and particularly Alice Clarke, not only for its support as the secretariat for the APPG but for being a leader in this space and helping to prepare young people for the future. We will be doing an investigation into how to support financial inclusion post-16, because 16 to 18-year-olds in school or college are at a key stage in their lives when it comes to making financial decisions about their future. There are excellent examples of engaging with schools to support teachers with lesson plans and resources, but we need to ensure that we have an equivalent for those aged 16 and above, so that those young people can continue to be engaged. Will the Minister set out how we can ensure that when they are rolled out, the youth hubs can continue to engage 16 to 24-year-olds, particularly on financial inclusion, so that we can support our young people to grow and learn financially? Finally, as the parent of a 19-year-old, I know about the barriers faced by young people, including with car insurance. Like the hon. Member for Keighley and Ilkley (Robbie Moore), I have a rural constituency, so having access to a car is important because the lack of transport is holding people back. We need to understand how to work with the insurance sector to ensure that young people are not unfairly penalised for the financial cost of insurance.

• 29 Jun 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  Safeguarding has been a key focus of the Work and Pensions Committee, so I was shocked to hear that my constituent Barbara Skedd received a letter to her executors, incorrectly notifying them of her death. This resulted in Barbara’s benefits being stopped, including the personal independence payment and all her pensions. My team have been working hard to get those reinstated. Can the Secretary of State outline what steps he is taking to ensure that those kinds of errors are minimised, and that the appropriate package of support is put in place so that when errors do occur, they are dealt with quickly?

• 24 Jun 2026 · Nottingham Maternity and Neonatal Services · Hansard source

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  I thank the Secretary of State for his statement and the confirmation that he will expand the Hillsborough law to apply to those clinicians who did not speak but should have spoken. I also want to put on record my thanks to my hon. Friend the Member for Sherwood Forest (Michelle Welsh) for her leadership and courage, as well as my heartfelt sadness that so many families endured so much harm. This report has been so thoroughly and expertly delivered by Donna Ockenden, and it has to be the watershed moment. A key feature of this report and every meeting with Donna and the families has been an overwhelming sense of failure at every single level: failure to listen, failure to react and failure to prevent harm. The experiences of the harmed families will stay with me forever. Will the Secretary of State outline how the immediate and essential actions, including the first one—listening to women and families—will be the catalyst for the change that we need? What steps will he take in his first day of taking forward this report to ensure that we do not have Nottingham repeated elsewhere?

• 23 Jun 2026 · Fly-tipping: Residential Areas · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Stringer. We have heard some meaningful contributions so far, and I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes (Melanie Onn) for giving us the opportunity to praise our communities for the extremely hard work they are putting into our areas, but also to call out the situation that has got us here. In my constituency of North West Leicestershire, I am proud to have some incredibly dedicated litter picking groups. Their commitment to keeping our towns and surrounding areas clean is amazing, but it should not be necessary. I want to thank a number of them today, including the locally known Belton Sam, Coalville CAN for its recent litter pick of Coalville, and the regular litter pickers, including those in Hugglescote and Market Street in Ashby-de-la-Zouch. There are so many more who help from a much wider area and who travel to litter pick across Leicestershire, including my good friends Gibbo and Bob. They tell me that they are reporting an increasing number of fly-tips and have seen an increase in the amount of litter dropped in their local communities. For this speech, I reached out to Carly Hosker, a constituent and member of Castle Donington Litter Wombles. Carly said: “Fly-tipping affects everyone who lives nearby. It’s an eyesore, can attract even more rubbish, is a danger to wildlife and often leaves local people feeling ignored and very frustrated when nothing gets done about it. For me, it’s disheartening to see areas that should be enjoyed by residents, walkers, cyclists and families covered in waste.” I have been a regular litter picker over the years and have to agree with Carly’s words. As our constituents’ representatives, it is now our job to back those words with action. Does the Minister agree that those responsible for these issues should be able to deal with those who commit acts of fly-tipping, rather than dealing with the communities forced to clean up after them? I welcome the measures already announced in the waste crime action plan, because the scale of this issue is significant. Across the east midlands alone, there were around 96,000 fly-tipping incidents in a single year. My own council, North West Leicestershire, has dealt with about 700, or two every single day. Nationally, the picture is worsening, with over 1.2 million incidents recorded across England in 2024-25—a 9% increase in just one year. Those figures do not even include the waste dumped on private land, with landowners often shouldering the costs themselves. I worked for a housing association for many years, and fly-tipping was a huge financial burden on it. There is also the frustration about the highway, where there is often confusion about who is responsible: is it the district, the county or National Highways? We have hotspots all over North West Leicestershire, including the A42 and the A453, to name just two. They are gateways into my constituency, but they are too dangerous for volunteers, and we have to question why it should be left to volunteers to clean them up. There is often no clear approach led by authorities. Could the Minister please outline the cross-authority work that has been done so that the gateways to our communities—our highways—are not forgotten as “somebody else’s responsibility”. In this House, we owe it to Carly, Litter Wombles across the country and every community volunteer to match their commitment to action.

• 22 Jun 2026 · British Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Member for Ashfield (Lee Anderson) for bringing forward this debate. He will know, because I have spoken to him before about this, that my father-in-law’s pit would fall within his constituency. My constituency of North West Leicestershire has about 2,200 coalminers, of whom a big majority are in the BCSSS. I am reassured by the Minister’s comments about making sure we get fairness. Can he say some more about how these decisions will be made, and how soon we can get fair justice for our miners?

• 18 Jun 2026 · Access to Music and Dance Training · Hansard source

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  Musical theatre and dance are important parts of the creative industries. Kristian Thomas Company in my constituency provides extensive training for young people aged four upwards, up to formal qualifications at BTEC and foundation degree level. What financial support is given to organisations such as KTC so that they can continue offering valuable education in the arts for all young people in North West Leicestershire?

• 15 Jun 2026 · Social Media Ban for Under-16s · Hansard source

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  I thank the Secretary of State for her statement and welcome the decisive action she has taken. As a parent, I have seen at first hand how harmful predators stalk gaming sites, so I am glad that these have been included. As students in North West Leicestershire complete their GCSEs this week, can the Secretary of State provide more information about how we will ensure that free education resources continue and how this will be implemented in the light of the ban?

• 15 Jun 2026 · NHS Dentistry · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Members for Yeovil (Adam Dance), for Waveney Valley (Adrian Ramsay) and for Farnham and Bordon (Gregory Stafford), and my hon. Friend the Member for Sunderland Central (Lewis Atkinson), for giving us this opportunity to discuss dentistry. This situation of access to dentistry is not new. From 2007 to 2014, I managed the Braunstone health and social care centre in the constituency of my right hon. Friend the Member for Leicester West (Liz Kendall). The centre was designed to bring NHS organisations together, with space for a dentist and an optician. However, we were unsuccessful at attracting NHS dentists and opticians to work in the centre, so those spaces were repurposed for other NHS services. Flash forward to today: I have been working with Fiona Ellwood, a constituent and associate professor and director of dental education at the University of Lincoln, on how we tackle the NHS dentistry issue head-on. Fiona and I have been working together on a proposal to utilise the workforce we already have, which I shared with the Minister a few weeks ago; we would welcome a meeting with him to discuss this further. As of last month, there were just shy of 70,000 dental nurses and around 47,000 dentists in the UK, which I am pleased to see represents a workforce expansion of over 5% under this Government. However, despite seven distinct professional groups making up the dental team, dentists remain overstretched because patients are funnelled to them for almost everything—even cases that trained dental nurses, dental hygienists or dental therapists could safely handle. NHS data confirms that dental therapists and hygienists deliver just 5% of total service activity. That baseline has stagnated for years, trapping dentists under a mountain of work when the entire workforce, if utilised, could make systematic improvements to dental care. Just imagine the appointments that could be released if we just used the current workforce in a different way. The current situation is inefficient and expensive and is driving dentists out of the NHS, while 13 million people across the country are left with a completely unmet need for NHS dentistry. My constituency of North West Leicestershire already has the second lowest rate for units of dental activity in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. There were 14 contract terminations between February 2021 and July 2024, and one practice was terminated in Ashby in my constituency. We do not have a lack of talent; we have a failure of deployment. Dental therapists can do over 70% of routine primary care. Why do we not use the service that we have? We could realise clear benefits if the whole dentistry workforce was utilised according to skills and experience, rather than according to what a dentist can or cannot do. Dental nurses also have the greatest capacity to take on intervention and preventive work, and to work with flexibility and agility within community and neighbourhood settings. Many are already oral health practitioners in their own right. I am greatly pleased that a training centre in Lincolnshire offering courses in dental hygiene and therapy will open in 2026, accepting around 30 students in its first year. It will teach a new BSC in dental hygiene and therapy alongside a foundational course designed to help dental nurses and other healthcare professionals retrain and reskill. Members and the Minister will no doubt aware that the 2009 Steele review of NHS dentistry proposed a tiered model of care, matching patients to the right professionals at the right time, with prevention at its core. It was never fully realised, but maybe it is time to dust it off. A genuinely tiered NHS dental service would cut waiting lists, free up dentists to focus on complex care, and make better use of dental nurses and dental therapists, who are already trained and ready to do those jobs. Most importantly, it would shift the system towards prevention, not crisis management, which I note is a core priority of the Department.

• 11 Jun 2026 · Legacy of Jo Cox · Hansard source

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  It is pleasure to follow my hon. Friend the Member for Portsmouth North (Amanda Martin). This debate is exactly the legacy of Jo Cox. It is about Jo’s legacy, and every single Member who has spoken has mentioned a memory—a sparkle of Jo. I thank Jo’s sister, my hon. Friend the Member for Spen Valley (Kim Leadbeater), for her incredibly thoughtful contribution, which took strength and courage to deliver. I also pay tribute to the Minister on the way she opened the debate. The way in which she set the tone gave us the ability to say what we want to say about Jo. I put on the record my thanks to Jo for her dedicated work on strengthening communities and advocating for everyone to be treated with respect, as we have heard so much about today. In her honour, I particularly want to talk about loneliness in our communities and why she was such an avid champion of targeting it. I hope to provide the same hope that Jo brought to Westminster with her sparkle. Before I do that, a lot has been said about the Members of Parliament who arrived in this place at the same time as Jo, but not so much has been said about the impact of her death on our wider Labour family. I was a member of South Leicestershire Labour party at the time, and had been the 2015 general election candidate for South Leicestershire. We, like so many, were not just truly saddened but shocked by Jo’s death. It was so difficult—we just could not fathom that it could have happened. It was beyond belief. In true South Leicestershire constituency Labour party tradition, a decision was made to honour Jo with a permanent tribute. We have a plaque and an acer tree planted in Mossdale meadows—a lovely part of South Leicestershire—to allow us to remember Jo. Of course, it bears her most famous quote from her maiden speech. I want to give particular thanks to some members of my CLP, because out of that confusion about what had happened, action sprung into place, as often does with the people we know and trust every day. I thank Sandra Parkinson, Lord Willy Bach in the other place, Caroline Bach, Councillor Nick Brown, who is leader of Braunstone town council, and the late Councillor David Gair for their work to get the tribute to Jo firmly in place in Leicestershire. The plaque was our way of remembering Jo, but its unveiling coincided with our get-together event, at the place where we bring our community together and make sure people are okay. I have to admit that when I need a little bit of solitude and silence, I make my way to the plaque. It is a really lovely space. Jo Cox famously said: “I will not live in a country where thousands of people are living lonely lives, forgotten by the rest of us”. I share that sentiment. I have been door-knocking fairly regularly throughout most of my adult life, but the post-pandemic feeling on the doorsteps was something I had not experienced before. More people than ever wanted me to come into their homes to chat. It was a really unusual experience. They were super lonely. They had felt isolation much more than they had realised. If we look at the data and information, that should not feel surprising. Roughly 7% of adults in England reported feeling lonely often or always, and that proportion remains relatively high post pandemic. On top of that, adults living with a disability are twice as likely to experience persistent loneliness. There are also groups we often forget. New mothers often feel incredibly lonely, and those whose gender identity differs from their sex registered at birth are three times more likely to feel lonely. Loneliness is also disproportionately high among the long-term unemployed and those who are financially struggling. That is why we have to give people hope and make sure that we tackle some of the core issues in our society. In this age, Jo’s statement that we have more in common than that which divides us is a more important reminder than ever. It is not a huge leap to say that loneliness is partly to blame for the division and anger we see today—isolation triggers people. As the Jo Cox Foundation reminds us, loneliness is linked to lower trust, reduced civic participation and increased feelings of exclusion, and that weakens community cohesion and increases vulnerability and polarisation. How can we as communities look out for one another? How can we promote community cohesion? How can we tackle loneliness? Just on Saturday, I went to an inspirational event: Woodstock in Whitwick’s annual cheque-giving event. Social inclusion is the organisation’s main focus, and it is run exclusively by volunteers focused on giving back to their community. Alongside hosting its main annual fundraiser Woodstock—a community music festival—it holds events, including “bingo buddies” on the last Friday of every month, a free bingo session for older people, with a raffle, teas and cakes. For so many, sadly, it is the only time they get out of the house. It is such an important space in which to socialise. Our communities are the ability to unlock the answers to some of these questions. Our communities are championing each other all the time. Woodstock in Whitwick actively looks at ways to help others, raising money throughout the year to give to those most in need in my community. For those the organisation has helped but who have lost their battle to cancer or to other trauma, it sends a hamper to the family—a little reminder that they are not alone and that they have their whole community behind them. Since 2002, Woodstock in Whitwick has have donated more than £150,000 to individual families and community groups. Most recently, it has donated to Loros, Bright Hope, Leicester Royal infirmary’s intensive care unit garden and so much more. The impact on our local community has been profound, and something we need so much more of. I hope that through my short speech, we will understand that Jo’s legacy is not just about the sadness that we feel and the grief we have we have shared today, but about hope and the opportunity to carry Jo’s legacy forward. We can continue collectively to create a better society and be a bit more like Jo.

• 11 Jun 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  The Minister will know that I have been campaigning on the availability of driving tests, so I was pleased to see this week that our changes have released driving tests back into the system. Will he update me on how the demand for tests in my North West Leicestershire constituency will be matched with the supply of new driving tests?

• 3 Jun 2026 · Rail Freight · Hansard source

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  It was great to welcome the Minister to my constituency to visit the east midlands rail freight terminal, which has huge potential to take vehicles off the road and on to rail. Bardon has a quarry, and a private spur of the Ivanhoe line is used. In the conversation about reopening the Ivanhoe line, only a passenger assessment has been undertaken. Will the Minister consider both freight and passenger rail in future conversations about bringing rail lines back into use?

• 3 Jun 2026 · Small Towns: Transport Links · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Roger. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Rossendale and Darwen (Andy MacNae) for bringing forward this important debate. It is a pleasure to be back in Westminster Hall to speak about the No. 1 subject in my inbox. Coalville and Ashby are the seventh and eighth largest towns in Leicestershire, so they are not small, but we still struggle with bus services. As the Minister knows, I rarely miss an opportunity to highlight that I do not have a single passenger rail service anywhere in my constituency. The campaign to reopen the Ivanhoe line is still ongoing. Those are just the headlines from my constituency; the reality for our towns runs far deeper. Other rural MPs will know that improving transport links is a never-ending discussion. If a bus service is cancelled in North West Leicestershire, there is nothing else—no back-up, no alternative. People are simply stranded; hospital appointments are missed and shift patterns lost. My constituent went to watch Leicester City play football on a Saturday and caught the last bus back to Ashby at 5.30 pm, just a few minutes after the end of the game. However, when the bus terminated halfway in Coalville, the seventh largest town in Leicestershire, they could not get back to Ashby, the eighth largest, after 6 pm on a Saturday. This is not just about getting to work; it is about our night-time economy and the impact on the growth of our towns. Even when services do exist, they do not always serve people well. New housing estates, which are often just beyond the edges of our town centres, are left disconnected, meaning that residents cannot easily reach the high street, and the high street cannot benefit from the people who live just a few minutes away by bus. When we talk about transport in small towns, we are not talking about getting from A to B; we are talking about whether our town centres survive and thrive. We need to go much further. I was proud to serve on the Bus Services Bill Committee, and of the work that our Government have done so far—I welcome their commitment to getting more funding to local authorities—but I have three questions for the Minister. First, HS2 was supposed to have gone through my constituency without stopping. Despite writing several letters, I still do not have any resolution for the 74 homes stuck in HS2 Ltd ownership. I want to use that money for the benefit of my constituency. Secondly, there needs to be a better path for concessionary fares, as the situation across the country is uneven. I represent an old population, who use concessionary fares more, so that is a problem for my local authority. Finally, I will say that bus services are for leisure as well as for work.

• 2 Jun 2026 · Community Pharmacies · Hansard source

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  The hon. Member is making a powerful speech about the importance of community pharmacy. There are pharmacies on the edge of my constituency, serving Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. The inconsistency of integrated care board delivery can create problems for local communities trying to get medicines. Does the hon. Member agree that we need consistency of approach?

• 2 Jun 2026 · Preparedness for National Emergencies · Hansard source

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  It was really useful to observe the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Resilience Forum test exercise to understand what could go wrong and how it would deal with it. Does my hon. Friend agree that local resilience forums are crucial to our preparedness in national emergencies, because they know what our local communities need?

• 18 May 2026 · Backing Business to Create Economic Growth · Hansard source

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  My constituency of North West Leicestershire is right in the centre of the UK. It is a constituency of makers and movers, with around 25% working in logistics, and a further 15% in manufacturing, mining and utilities, the latter of which aligns with one of the broader industrial strengths of the east midlands, as one of the most manufacturing-intensive regions in the country. North West Leicestershire is also home to one of three sites in the only inland freeport in the UK. However, the site proposed for Leicestershire has created considerable concern for the local community. The proposed site was identified as a freeport by previous Conservative administrations, both locally and nationally, but it is next to an 825-year-old village with heritage status. When we are considering growth, we need to make sure that we take our communities with us. They need to be part of the decision-making process, not to feel that they are an afterthought. North West Leicestershire also has 4,000 people working in the construction sector, which is an important sector for us, as well as nationally headquartering a number of house builders. There are also three Ibstock brick sites and a number of quarries in my constituency. We have significant construction capacity, and a real opportunity to meet our social housing targets, as well as the social housing renewal ambitions set out in the King’s Speech, by using the industry strengths that we have right on our doorstep—British bricks building homes so that families can thrive. I welcome Secretary of State’s earlier mention of ceramics, and I look forward to a further announcement. My farmers have been feeding our country for generations, and play a core part in the growth opportunity offered by the European partnership Bill announced in the King’s Speech, which has potential to increase agricultural exports to the EU by 16%. The Bill also offers smoother trade arrangements with the EU. Capturing the potential of current trade agreements is key, with my constituency being home to East Midlands airport—the largest small-parcel freight operation in the country. Making sure that our SMEs can access those trading relationships and opportunities will also be key when it comes to growth. Also beneficial is the introduction of the small business protections (late payments) Bill announced in the King’s Speech, which will improve cash flow for SMEs and support business resilience. It will also mark the biggest action on late payments in 25 years. That is interesting to me, because in 1998 I wrote my dissertation on small business support, and I pointed out the impact of late payments as a barrier to growth. Late payments cost the UK economy £11 billion a year and close around 38 small firms every day. Just imagine the growth potential if small businesses could invest the money that they are simply owed. Access to finance is also a huge concern for SMEs, but as the last two physical banks in my towns are departing—Lloyds in Coalville is closing at the end of next month, and NatWest in Ashby is due to close imminently now that we have a temporary banking hub—I worry that my constituency is already at a disadvantage. We cannot underestimate the impact that will have on my local businesses, which is why I welcome the work on the enhancing financial services Bill. I also want to talk briefly about the establishment of new forests across the UK, replicating the success of the national forest, which is central to my constituency. The pioneering work that the national forest has done in creating new growth opportunities for rural businesses has been transformational, so much so that even the Oxford-Cambridge growth corridor wants to get in on the act and get a forest too. I have said it before and I will continue to say it: the national forest is a treasure, but access is limited without access to a car. Poor transport connectivity is not only an inconvenience but a real limiter of growth. When people cannot reliably get to work, businesses struggle to recruit and retain staff. When roads are congested and public transport is patchy, productivity suffers and investment goes elsewhere. As I have mentioned before, when we do not have a single passenger rail service across my entire constituency—despite being a logistics hub, despite having an international airport and despite being home to the east midlands rail freight terminal—my businesses will continue to feel the impact. There is a huge opportunity in expanding rail and I am hopeful that the railways and passenger benefits Bill opens up the discussion about towns like mine being served by rail. Backing British business means backing people, high streets and the infrastructure behind them. The Bills laid out in the King’s Speech are a promising start, and success will depend on whether the smallest firms can be considered in delivery.

• 23 Apr 2026 · Courts and Tribunals Bill (Tenth sitting) · Hansard source

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  I am finding it difficult to listen to the hon. Member’s speech. I do not believe that we can talk about balance when 68 children have lost their lives because of the presumption. I feel that we have to take forward this clause; it is so important. I want to understand the hon. Member’s terminology and whether she can reflect on the fact that 68 children have already lost their lives because of this presumption.

• 21 Apr 2026 · Courts and Tribunals Bill (Seventh sitting) · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Jardine. My hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham Erdington is a passionate advocate for fairness and equality, as she has demonstrated throughout this Committee and in her work more broadly. By tabling new clause 29, she offers an approach to ensuring that we can build confidence in the system once the changes have been implemented. We have to recognise that the system is not creating fairness at the moment. We have significant backlogs, which have more than doubled since 2019. Continuing with the system as we find it is simply not an option. Ensuring that trials go ahead in a timely manner will also improve fairness. On Second Reading, I spoke about my experience as a victim of an either-way offence. The defendant chose a jury trial. The choice to experience a jury was not mine. I did not choose to be cross-examined by the defendant. I did not choose for the case to be postponed twice, and colleagues working in the system, who had to arrange for witnesses and courts to be available not just once but three times, did not choose those postponements either. We heard the testimony from Chief Constable Sacha Hatchett about the process and the impact that delays are having on all parts of the system. She said: “Our focus has to be on victims and on keeping people safer from harm. That is absolutely where our officers are, but the caseload and the work that is generated by delays in the system do affect our officers.” –– [ Official Report, Courts and Tribunals Public Bill Committee, 25 March 2026; c. 68, Q137.] We have an opportunity to tackle the backlog and to put trust back into the system. I spoke to the CPS in the east midlands just a few weeks ago, and it said that it is currently listing cases for 2028. We cannot just rely on increasing sitting days to solve the backlog. If it were that simple, we would not have an increasing backlog today. We cannot just rely on improving technology. We have to work through a whole package of changes, and that was echoed in Sir Brian Leveson’s report. I have heard, not only in the Chamber but in this Committee, that jury trials are a cornerstone of the legal system, but we have to be honest with ourselves. That cornerstone is at risk if changes are not made. We need to ensure that changes to the system, including to jury trials, create confidence in that very system. The evidence presented by my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham Erdington identified that we need to address the perception of fairness from those of any ethnic background or those who are white British and live in lower-income households. It needs addressing now, even without the changes—we have to reflect on that. The current system has to be addressed, and I would welcome a response from the Minister on how we can work through the detail of the review mechanism suggested by my hon. Friend.

• 25 Mar 2026 · Courts and Tribunals Bill (First sitting) · Hansard source

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  Q Thank you for sharing your experiences. It has been incredibly powerful. Jade Blue, you said that change is not optional—we need to reduce the suffering. That has resonated with me. We need to create a system that is bearable. As victims—and you have obviously experienced trials at different places in the system—do you feel that these reforms would have made the system bearable? Is there anything specific in the reforms that you could point to? Jade Blue McCrossen-Nethercott: I guess there is the hope of fewer adjournments and fewer last-minute changes, which we hear about quite a lot. Any measure that could increase capacity for these kinds of cases is a measure we could get behind. Just having that—being able to plan your life and have reassurances that it will be going ahead—is important. In the past, one of us mentioned floating trials for rape cases, which is, quite frankly, just absurd. Being able to have dedicated time to ensure that these cases do not become floating trials and that there is capacity for them to be seen in a prompt and timely manner would be welcome. Morwenna Loughman: The first time my trial was listed, unbeknown to me and the rest of my family, it was listed as a floating trial, which means that two or more cases—in this instance, rape cases—are scheduled for the same time, on the same date and in the same court, on the assumption that at least two of you will drop over the course because it is so harrowing and re-traumatising. That is why mine got delayed right at the last minute. We have talked a lot about the education of judges, which is absolutely essential, but we must also consider the education of juries. As I have said, they are not bastions of infallibility. The man who raped me was convicted. He was found guilty, but not unanimously. He was sentenced to 15 years, which gives an indication as to the level of injury that I sustained. Two members of the jury found him not guilty and acquitted him of all charges. It was a majority vote; there was no unanimity, and it took them three and a half days to deliberate, even though I had received 48 injuries and he was arrested on the scene. I could go on about the extenuating circumstances. In every sense, how did it take them three and a half days to not even conclusively decide that this man had raped me? Charlotte Meijer: I will add to that. The removal in the Bill of the defendant’s right to elect will make the victim feel empowered, knowing that the perpetrator is not in control. As I have said, there is the recording of magistrates courts, and the Bill is our hope that the waiting time will go down. That is the core reason why we are doing this. The system cannot get any worse than it is, so the waiting going down will be a significant change.

• 25 Mar 2026 · Courts and Tribunals Bill (First sitting) · Hansard source

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  Q To put the focus back on victims, Dame Vera explained clearly that it is the defendant who chooses. What would be the victim’s choice? Dame Vera Baird: Is that not part of why this is very odd? We do not give a person alleged to have committed a very serious crime and whose life will be utterly transformed by what happens in the jury a right not to have a jury trial or to pick where he goes at all—and why would we?—but we do give that right to a small cohort of people on relatively small trials. Some of the trials are big, but the bigger ones will go into the judge court, not stay in the magistrates court. Why, when we have legislated for where these cases should be tried, do we allow that relatively small cohort to pick, in addition to the legislation the state has set out? The difference is between a magistrates court case coming in six months and a Crown court case coming in three or four years. That is the impact on the victim. For what? As I have already said, the majority—73%—of people offered a jury trial do not take it up. There is no understanding anywhere—not at the Bar, I can tell you—that it is fairer than a judge-alone or magistrates trial would be. Everybody at the Bar has had cases where they were absolutely shocked when a conviction happened because they never thought it possible and cases where they have got people off when they never thought it possible—of course, they are very chipper about that. Ask them when they come later. There is absolutely no hallmark anywhere that says jury trial is the only fair way. Judges find facts in all kinds of cases outside the criminal courts. Of course, they also do so in trials; they have to decide, “Is there enough factual evidence here even for a case that a jury can answer?” They are a pretty good substitute for a jury—if that is how you want to look at it—to deliver fair trial.

• 25 Mar 2026 · Courts and Tribunals Bill (Second sitting) · Hansard source

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  Q Thank you for being here. You have already looked at the impact that delays are having on officers, including the impact of managing a larger caseload. How are officers managing the sense that victims feel that they are exposed for such a long time before their case gets to trial? I imagine that the management work that you need to do is quite difficult. How are you dealing with it? Chief Constable Hatchett: A lot of it falls to the witness care units. Those are the individuals who are at the sharp end, dealing with victims and witnesses, trying to keep them on board. They do a phenomenal job, and they do it under really difficult circumstances. Every officer investigates, particularly in the serious cases—

• 25 Mar 2026 · Courts and Tribunals Bill (Second sitting) · Hansard source

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  Q Following on from the shadow Minister’s question about what good reform looks like, we have had a period of reform in the justice system. What would be your measure of success? We know the system is creaking under pressure, so what would success look like? Sarah Sackman: There are two tests that I set myself, and neither is going to be easy to achieve within this Parliament. The first essay question is: can you deal with the intolerable delays? Can you ensure swift justice? That does not mean summary justice. That does not mean rushing through the cases, but it does mean getting through the caseload quicker so that people are not waiting for years. At the end of this Parliament, I do not want people waiting years for justice. That is the first test. It is the timeliness, which is the essential ingredient of fairness. The second thing is: we are in a crisis, but we have an opportunity—with justice being the focus of our Parliament and our national debate for the first time in a very long time, and with real investment from the Treasury—to create something better. Our justice system has remained largely unreformed since the 1970s. There are lots of things that people might like about the 1970s, not least the music, but there were lots about our social values and our societal norms that were very different then. It was a different place for women, for black and minority ethnic communities, for gay people and lots of other communities. I do not think the system that was designed then is the one that we would design now. We heard earlier from Katrin Hohl, who is leading work for the Government to embed some of the Soteria measures, which have been so good and progressive in the police and the CPS, into our courts. I know it can sound like a cheesy cliché, but my objective is the idea of building back something better, and designing a system that is not just sustainable and capable of dealing with the delays question but, in terms of its design, centres victims and is fair, particularly to women and black and minority ethnic communities. That is my objective: can we get a more progressive justice system?

• 23 Mar 2026 · Rail Connections to London: Rural Towns · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is absolutely right. It is really problematic if nobody is able to get to these hubs.

• 23 Mar 2026 · Rail Connections to London: Rural Towns · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend, whose constituency almost neighbours mine, for her intervention. I absolutely agree; buses and trains make up the bulk of my constituency casework, as people are struggling to get to where they need to go. I would happily campaign alongside my hon. Friend on that issue.

• 23 Mar 2026 · Rail Connections to London: Rural Towns · Hansard source

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  I have every sympathy with the point that my hon. Friend is making. My train has been cancelled for six decades, which shows the impact in my constituency. There is a real issue with connectivity. I would welcome the Minister setting out what assessment has been made of the economic benefits of previous lines in the restoring your railway project since the updates to the Green Book, particularly in the light of the recently opened Northumberland line service, which has smashed its projections on putting more passengers on to the network by 40%.