Anna Dixon MP: speeches 2024

Speeches

• 16 Dec 2024 · Water (Special Measures) Bill [Lords] · Hansard source

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  The hon. Gentleman talks about the Environment Agency being under-powered and under-resourced. With rivers like the River Wharfe, it has clearly failed to address illegal discharges and to enforce the law. Does he, like me, welcome the fact that the Bill will introduce more support for enforcement by allowing the Environment Agency to recover the cost of any enforcement from the offending water companies?

• 16 Dec 2024 · Water (Special Measures) Bill [Lords] · Hansard source

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  Anyone who has visited Shipley will know that the River Aire and the River Wharfe flow through the beautiful dales countryside of my Yorkshire constituency, and indeed that of my neighbour, the hon. Member for Keighley and Ilkley (Robbie Moore). I grew up paddling in the Wharfe, and as an adult I enjoy a regular dip. It was therefore a bit of a shock to learn that raw sewage was being regularly dumped in our rivers—some 1,753 times in 2023. I do not think that that is quite top of the poops, but it is not far off. I pay tribute to the local activists who have done so much to expose this scandal and campaign to protect our environment. The Ilkley Clean River Group has been at the forefront of the campaign to end the sewage scandal. Formed in 2018, through citizen science it has shown that untreated sewage was being dumped in our rivers even at times of low rainfall. The group worked very hard to secure bathing status in 2020—the Wharfe was the first river to do so in the UK—and the group highlighted the public health risk to bathers, but it should not have needed brave local residents to challenge the water companies. The regulators have failed in their job. That is why I am so proud that the Bill will require more frequent and accurate monitoring, and introduce fixed monetary penalties so that companies do not get away with it any longer. Under the last Government, our water was catastrophically mismanaged. Regulation was weakened, there was a failure to invest in infrastructure, and record levels of sewage were pumped into our rivers and seas. Meanwhile, bosses creamed off the profits and paid themselves in bonuses. Along with others, I call on the Yorkshire Water chief executive officer to hand back her £371,000 bonus. It is clear that change is needed, and change is coming with the Bill. It is long overdue that water companies are held to account and that we put in place the mechanisms to restrict executive bonuses. Many of my constituents, though, feel dismayed that it falls on them to pay the price, quite literally, for water companies’ failures. Customer bills are due to rise 18% next year in the Shipley constituency. Despite having no debt when privatised in 1990, Yorkshire Water has since accrued £6.5 billion of debt; today 19% of customer bills are spent just on servicing that debt. Under-investment has left my constituency with creaking infrastructure, high bills and polluted rivers. I am pleased that the Government have set up an independent commission on water. To undertake fundamental reform, it is vital that that includes in-depth analysis of the finances and governance structures. Our once beautiful rivers, such as the Wharfe and Aire, are now awash with sewage, and our water infrastructure is leaking. I welcome the Bill, and the measures that it sets out to deal with the crisis in our water industry.

• 12 Dec 2024 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Next year, Bradford district will take on the honour of city of culture. My constituency will be hosting events celebrating local artists and our industrial heritage. Will my right hon. Friend join me in wishing Bradford 2025 well, and will she consider granting time for a debate on the contribution of northern cities to our British culture?

• 12 Dec 2024 · Disability History Month · Hansard source

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  It is fantastic to hear about all that the Government are doing on disability. My right hon. Friend the Minister will know that many disabled people rely on family and friends to provide care and support to enable them to have a full life—to participate in work, school and other things that they enjoy—so will he reassure me and others that, in taking a cross-departmental approach to disability, he will be considering the important role of family carers?

• 12 Dec 2024 · LGBT Veterans: Etherton Review · Hansard source

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  Earlier this year, a veteran from Bailden in my constituency contacted me. Victoria served in the women’s Royal Army Corps, but was dismissed due to her sexuality. She was subjected to imprisonment and mistreatment, which many would consider abuse. As a result, Victoria has suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder for over 40 years. I welcome the Government’s commitment to raising the compensation funds to £75 million for veterans such as Victoria. I am pleased that the hon. Gentleman supports that, and I ask him to join me in welcoming today’s historic announcement, which completes the important work that the Conservative party began when it was in government to deliver on the recommendations of the Etherton review.

• 11 Dec 2024 · NHS Waiting Lists · Hansard source

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  As the Secretary of State has just said, it was under the last Prime Minister that waiting lists increased faster in England than in Wales. Does the Secretary of State agree that recent Budget announcements by both the UK and Welsh Governments demonstrate that both Governments understand the importance of fixing our NHS and delivering for the people of the whole United Kingdom?

• 9 Dec 2024 · Fireworks: Sale and Use · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Gentleman for introducing this really important debate. Like his constituents, mine next door in Shipley have raised concerns about antisocial fireworks. Under the last Labour Government, the Fireworks Act 2003 and the Fireworks Regulations 2004 were introduced to restrict the antisocial use of fireworks; since then, there has been very little action. Does the hon. Gentleman agree that a review to tighten up the regulations is long overdue?

• 9 Dec 2024 · Skills Training · Hansard source

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  8. What steps she is taking to reform skills training.

• 9 Dec 2024 · Skills Training · Hansard source

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  Some 3.8 million people aged 19 and over benefit from skills education in England every year. I pay tribute to all the hard-working professionals employed in further education, including at Shipley college in my constituency. However, businesses in Saltaire tell me that they struggle to recruit people with the digital and tech skills that they need locally. I welcome steps taken by the Government to address skills shortage vacancies. Will the Secretary of State assure me that the benefits of Skills England will be felt by businesses in Shipley?

• 5 Dec 2024 · Cumberlege Review: Pelvic Mesh · Hansard source

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  I think the right hon. Gentleman makes a very valid point. Obviously, from my professional background, I see myself as fairly well-informed, but the scale of the damage done by this particular implant—the pelvic mesh—is also a shock to me. It is really timely that new Members are made aware of this issue. Hopefully, we can support any efforts to continue to raise it, and I commend Members who have been in this place for longer on their work to date. I hope that the Minister will reflect on the specific point about research. As someone with a research background, I absolutely agree with you—I am sorry, Mr Stringer; I meant the right hon. Gentleman—that more effort needs to be put into research, not only on how we might treat such cases in future, but on the remedial effect.

• 5 Dec 2024 · Cumberlege Review: Pelvic Mesh · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for securing this important debate. The NHS has a clinical negligence scheme and it spends a lot of money on lawyers. Does my hon. Friend agree that victims of this particular scandal should, like many others, get no-fault compensation? And does he think the NHS should look at its clinical negligence scheme and move towards no-fault in order to reduce the spend on lawyers?

• 5 Dec 2024 · Cumberlege Review: Pelvic Mesh · Hansard source

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  It is an honour to speak under your chairmanship, Mr Stringer. I again congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Harlow (Chris Vince) on securing this important debate and highlighting the trauma caused to many women, such as his constituent Debbie, by the pelvic mesh scandal. Before entering Parliament I spent 20 years in the health and care sector, including at the Department of Health and Social Care as a senior civil servant. Patient safety and quality were part of my responsibilities. I was involved with some of the inquiries into tragedies of maternal and infant deaths, such as at Morecambe Bay; with the Government response to the Francis inquiry into the tragic deaths at Stafford hospital; and with subsequent reviews by Sir Bruce Keogh. That is more than a decade ago. As my hon. Friend was saying, the NHS is fantastic at its best; it is there to heal and cure. But it is a tragedy that there continue to be patients who suffer harm as a result of medical care and treatment. The pelvic mesh scandal, I am afraid, follows a long line of other scandals—not least the infected blood scandal. I am obviously pleased that the Government have recognised the harm caused by that scandal and are committed to a full and fair compensation scheme. Obviously, here we are seeking redress for the women who have been harmed. It is important that we learn from the past as well as prevent scandals such as this from happening again in future. As has been the case with many other Members, a constituent approached me about this issue. I am pleased with the male allyship on show today. The voices of women are often not heard; there are power issues when it comes to surgeons, who are often male. This follows other scandals involving unnecessary hysterectomies, for example. We need to remember some of the horrific consequences for women such as Julie, who lives in Baildon in my constituency. Her story is similar to some of those that have already been shared. The details are pretty harrowing. Her life has been torn apart as a result of both the mental and physical consequences. I will not go into the details of her case, which are similar to those already mentioned. We must look for redress for the unnecessary suffering and seek to put the issue right. Like other Members, I pay tribute to Baroness Cumberlege for her work on the review. I have admired her from afar for a long time; in the 1990s, she was Health Minister when I was early in my health career and she did fantastic work on maternity services in 2015. That resulted in recommendations and the setting-up of networks; we have seen progress on that as well as care and advice, and obviously I welcome that. For women who had mesh inserted, particularly for urinary incontinence and vaginal prolapse, it is vital that such services are accessible in every region, as my hon. Friend the Member for Harlow said. More needs to be done. In particular, under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 the statute of limitation for faulty medical devices is just 10 years. That is obviously too short a timeframe for pelvic mesh, because it can easily take longer than 10 years for the most serious negative effects to come to light. I have written to the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, seeking an amendment to that Act to increase the statute of limitation to 20 years for faulty medical devices and products. I am pleased to say that a review is under way. Will the Minister follow up on that and ensure that the representations made are followed through on behalf of people affected in the future and seek justice? Drawing on my professional background, I want to address the points made about the products. There are significant clinical trials for drugs and pharmaceuticals, but we do not gather sufficient evidence before products such as mesh go into widespread use. I again urge the Minister and others, including the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and the National Institute for Health and Care Research, to ensure that all devices and products—particularly implants—go through a proper clinical trial process before they are licensed. That relates to the point about device licensing. Drug licensing is very strict and takes place over many years, but do we have sufficient device regulation for these sorts of implants? On professional regulation, we obviously give the surgeons the benefit of the doubt and hope that they were using best practice at the time, but we have to recognise that in some cases surgeons and doctors do not operate in the best interests of the patient, and that full informed consent may not be given. We have seen examples of that, even after the problems with pelvic mesh came to light. I urge the Government to look at whether the professional regulation is strong enough. Since my early work in this area, I have maintained an interest in patient safety. As the newly elected vice-chair for the all-party parliamentary group on patient safety, I look forward to continuing to work with the chair, the right hon. Member for Godalming and Ash (Jeremy Hunt); I worked with him when he was Secretary of State for Health and Social Care. Hopefully, we will work with other Members across the House to improve safety in the NHS and address the pelvic mesh scandal and other issues. I hope that no one suffers in the way that women such as Debbie and my constituent Julie have in the past. We must protect patients for the future.

• 4 Dec 2024 · Farming and Inheritance Tax · Hansard source

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  I backed British farming ahead of the general election, and I back the farmers in my constituency. I am proud to sit on these Benches with a Labour Government who are backing British farmers with an investment of £5 billion in the recent Budget. Does my hon. Friend agree that it is absolutely essential that we make sure that the money gets into the pockets of our farmers? My farmers complain about the delays that they experienced when the Conservative party was in power.

• 4 Dec 2024 · Farming and Inheritance Tax · Hansard source

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  The hon. Gentleman mentioned tenant farmers, and I know that he will have some in his constituency, as I do in mine in Shipley. Nationwide, a third of all farmland is managed by tenant farmers. Last month, the Department announced the appointment of a new commissioner for the tenant farming sector in England, which I hope that the hon. Gentleman will welcome. Does he agree that the last Government were operating much more in the interests of large landowners than of tenant farmers?

• 3 Dec 2024 · Home-to-School Transport: Children with SEND · Hansard source

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  It is an honour to speak under your chairmanship, Sir Mark, and I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Thurrock (Jen Craft) for securing this debate. As a member of the Public Accounts Committee, I have had to scrutinise the National Audit Office’s report on SEND. According to that report, local authorities spent some £1.4 billion on home-to-school transport in 2022-23—an 80% real-terms increase since 2015-16. I am delighted that this Government have brought forward an additional £1 billion in the recent Budget for SEND funding, which will go some way to covering the high costs faced by local authorities, but we know that we need to change the provision. In Bradford, the council’s travel assistance service spends £54,000 per day on home-to-school taxis alone. Those numbers are eye-watering. Only through prioritising SEND support in our mainstream local schools will we alleviate those financial pressures on local authorities, and I welcome the priority that the Government have given to that. The main point that has been made in this debate is that it would help all the many families in this situation if their children were in local schools. That would not only reduce expensive transport costs, but improve outcomes for disabled children and their families.

• 3 Dec 2024 · Home-to-School Transport: Children with SEND · Hansard source

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  Will the Minister give way?

• 3 Dec 2024 · Home-to-School Transport: Children with SEND · Hansard source

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  Will the right hon. Lady give way?

• 29 Nov 2024 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill · Hansard source

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  I am honoured to have been called in this debate. It has been moving to hear contributions from across the House. Feelings have been particularly raw for me, as I witnessed my close friend Sharon dying of cancer over the last few months aged just 55. She had good access to palliative and hospice care, and died at home with her sister and niece. But even with that support, her final days were difficult. Her sister wrote to me: “she was highly distressed, everyday she said she’d had enough and wanted to die—it was very undignified for her and it was heartbreaking to observe but be powerless to help.” Each story we hear of loss and grief is unique. As legislators, we must consider everyone who will be affected, both directly and indirectly, by a change in the law. The public and the courts are rightly looking to Parliament to answer the question of whether the provision of assisted suicide should be a legal option. It is incumbent on us as parliamentarians to do the job properly. Like many other Members, I have spent the past weeks listening to constituents and professionals in my Shipley constituency and experts in this place. I have read numerous reports and articles. As well as the moral and ethical dilemmas, there are many complex legal and practical considerations that need careful examination. I take a different view from the right hon. Member for Goole and Pocklington (David Davis), who has just spoken. I welcome the reassurances from my hon. Friend the Member for Spen Valley (Kim Leadbeater) and her commitment that the Bill Committee should take evidence, but I am not confident that a private Member’s Bill process will be able to adequately address the issues. That is why I have co-sponsored the cross-party amendment, tabled by my colleague the hon. Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Dr Spencer), to call for an independent review and a systematic public consultation on these legal changes and for an independent assessment of the provision of palliative care. With a background in health and social care, and specifically in ageing, I am particularly mindful of the context of the Bill and I wish to make three brief observations that concern me. First, we have heard many times about inequalities in access to palliative and end-of-life care. According to Hospice UK some 100,000 people die each year who could benefit from end-of-life care but do not receive it. Those who are non-white and from lower socioeconomic backgrounds are less likely to get care. Unless terminally ill people are confident of access to high quality end-of-life care, how can they make an informed choice about assisted dying? I believe that investment in palliative care must come before a change in the law is implemented. My second point is about the failure to reform social care. Some people have to spend their life savings, including the value of their home, on care. Much of the responsibility for providing care falls to family members who fill the gap. Older and disabled people with a terminal illness may feel an unspoken pressure to go down the route of assisted dying to protect their inheritance, or because they do not want to be a burden. There is a real, direct risk of coercion. Annually there are 400,000 cases of domestic abuse against older people in England and Wales. My third concern is that the NHS is on its knees, as outlined in the Darzi report, and an impact assessment is needed to understand fully the cost of implementation to the NHS. Do we have the doctors? What additional training is required? What is the opportunity cost of the necessary but lengthy process of establishing consent, capacity, and absence of coercion? Without that we risk making dying legal, but finding that it is available only to those who can pay. I will conclude my remarks, respectful of the fact that many colleagues want to speak. I recognise that people can benefit from a potential change in the law—people such as my friend Sharon, for whom palliative care was unable to relieve her suffering. However, there are also many who could be put at risk by a change in the law, and other direct and indirect costs and consequences that need to be weighed up. I believe we should adopt the precautionary principle in this case, and without a proper public consultation and a detailed examination, I will be unable to support the Bill today.

• 28 Nov 2024 · People Housebound due to Disability: Church Support · Hansard source

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  In the report of the archbishops’ commission on reimagining care, which I chaired, we recognise the important role of churches and faith communities in supporting older and disabled people. The report asked the Church of England to consider developing resources and capacity in local churches “to adopt an asset-based approach to engaging with disabled people and older people in their communities.” Can my hon. Friend update the House on what action the Church is taking to fulfil that recommendation?

• 28 Nov 2024 · People Housebound due to Disability: Church Support · Hansard source

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  5. What steps the Church is taking to support people that are housebound due to a disability.

• 28 Nov 2024 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  For many new Members, tomorrow is the first time we will debate a private Member’s Bill. Together with other MPs, I have tabled a reasoned amendment that calls for an independent review and public consultation before the Bill should return to this House for further debate. Will my right hon. Friend explain to the House when a reasoned amendment, if selected, will be considered, and reassure the House that this would not impact the time available for tomorrow’s important debate?

• 27 Nov 2024 · Sewage Discharges: South West · Hansard source

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  Although I am not from the south-west, I have the beautiful River Wharfe flowing through my constituency of Shipley. Until now, we have been relying for transparency on Top of the Poops, which shows that there were over 2,450 overflows of sewage pollution last year. Does the Minister agree that these are national problems, and we really need to tackle this not only with South West Water, but with the likes of Yorkshire Water, to make sure these sewage outflows stop in future?

• 26 Nov 2024 · Tobacco and Vapes Bill · Hansard source

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  I congratulate my right hon. Friend on introducing this once-in-a generation public health measure. As he acknowledges, too many people are dying young from the effects of smoking. They are losing out on being grandparents and on the opportunity to live a long and healthy life. Smoking is a leading cause of health inequality, so does he agree that the proposals will help close the shocking gap in life expectancy between the rich and poor?

• 14 Nov 2024 · National Insurance Contributions: Healthcare · Hansard source

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  Between 2013 and 2023, during the Conservatives’ time in government, the number of general practices fell from 8,044 to 6,419. Does my hon. Friend agree that it is a bit rich for the Conservatives to pretend now that they care so much about general practice, given that 1,600 practices closed on their watch?

• 12 Nov 2024 · Warm Homes Plan · Hansard source

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  Given that 64% of homes in Shipley have an energy performance certificate rating of D or below, I very much welcome the Government’s commitment to the warm homes plan. The charity Groundwork provides a “warm homes healthy people” scheme across Bradford district, installing energy-efficiency measures, and offering advice and support on energy bills. Does the Minister agree that local charities need support to continue to help those who are most in need this winter?