Anna Dixon MP: speeches

Speeches

• 16 Jun 2025 · Level 7 Apprenticeships: Funding · Hansard source

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  I welcome the Government’s plans to create those 120,000 training opportunities for young people, including these higher-level apprenticeships. However, we know that there are significant shortages of those able to provide training and mentorship. With only 65% of 55 to 64-year-olds employed, does the Minister agree that there is an opportunity to retrain older workers so they can pass on their experience to the next generation?

• 7 May 2025 · Personal Independence Payment: Disabled People · Hansard source

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  Will the Minister give way?

• 7 May 2025 · Personal Independence Payment: Disabled People · Hansard source

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  I apologise for not getting here earlier; I have been listening to carers who have been sharing their stories. I spoke to a woman who is caring for her husband, who has a neurodegenerative disease and currently scores only two points across the board. Their family would be penalised under the tightening restrictions. Does the Minister agree that somebody with a neurological and degenerative disease should be counted as severely disabled and protected from the changes?

• 22 Apr 2025 · Retail Investment · Hansard source

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  Constituents of mine value the role of the credit union, and the Bradford credit union in particular, for small savers on low incomes. Does the Minister see a role for credit unions alongside building societies in helping to encourage not only saving, but making early steps into investment, as we have discussed in this debate, for some of our poorest constituents?

• 3 Apr 2025 · Grassroots Sports · Hansard source

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  15. What steps is she taking to allocate funding to local grassroots sports facilities in the north of England.

• 27 Mar 2025 · Promoting Active Travel · Hansard source

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  4. What steps she is taking to promote active travel.

• 27 Mar 2025 · Promoting Active Travel · Hansard source

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  Increasing active travel by 50% in England would result in 1.8 million fewer GP visits and 4 million fewer sick days. I therefore welcome the Government’s commitment, reiterated by the Minister, to build 300 miles of new cycle lanes and walkways. Will the Minister meet me and the Friends of Wharfedale Greenway to see how we can secure investment to open up this amazing active travel corridor in Wharfedale and boost the health of my constituents?

• 5 Mar 2025 · Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office · Hansard source

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  Will my hon. Friend give way?

• 27 Feb 2025 · Creative Industries · Hansard source

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  7. What steps her Department has taken to help support creative industries in Bradford.

• 4 Feb 2025 · Warm Homes Plan · Hansard source

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  In 2023, it emerged that a number of substandard retrofitting works were carried out as part of Government schemes. In some cases, properties were left with structural damage. When households sought redress, they found that many of the authorised contractors had folded, and they have been left to pick up the bill. Will the Minister assure me and my constituents in Shipley that, under the warm homes plan, sufficient safeguards will be put in place to protect households from rogue companies?

• 4 Feb 2025 · Warm Homes Plan · Hansard source

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  7. What steps he is taking to introduce the warm homes plan.

• 30 Jan 2025 · Proportional Representation: General Elections · Hansard source

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• 6 Jan 2025 · Support for Veterans · Hansard source

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  20. What steps he is taking to improve support for veterans.

• 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.

• 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?

• 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.

• 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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  19. What steps he is taking to introduce a warm homes plan.

• 6 Nov 2024 · Fuel Poverty · Hansard source

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  Despite all the measures that the shadow Minister says the previous Government took, The Lancet and the Institute of Health Equity have estimated that 102 excess winter deaths in the Shipley constituency alone were due to cold homes. It seems to me that those are shocking figures and that nothing the last Government did actually reduced fuel poverty or deaths from cold homes.

• 31 Oct 2024 · Small Businesses: Scaling Up · Hansard source

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  10. What steps he is taking to help support small businesses to scale-up.

• 29 Oct 2024 · Public Spending: Value for Money · Hansard source

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  17. What steps she is taking to help ensure value for money in public spending.

• 22 Oct 2024 · Whistleblowing Protections · Hansard source

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  I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent Central (Gareth Snell) on obtaining this important debate on whistleblowing, under your chairmanship, Sir Mark. I know from speaking recently to a couple of constituents who are whistleblowers that part of the fear of speaking up, which my hon. Friend rightly highlights, is the imbalance of power between public institutions and the individual whistleblower. The costs, as my hon. Friend said, are heavy on the individual. They can obviously be emotional, due to the stress of these processes. They can also be financial, when the individual tries to maintain their reputation against the full force of public institutions defending themselves and taking the matter through the courts. Those institutions have full access to public funds, which costs the taxpayer a lot. Does my hon. Friend agree that the Prime Minister’s promise of a duty of candour could be a step forward in changing that imbalance of power between public institutions and whistleblowers? Hopefully, in time, if the public sector takes that duty of candour seriously, we can reduce the need for whistleblowers to call things out.

• 9 Sept 2024 · Government Policy on Health · Hansard source

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  I congratulate my right hon. Friend on taking advice from his predecessors. As someone who worked as a senior civil servant in the Department under Alan Milburn, I would like to echo my right hon. Friend’s comments about what a fantastic Secretary of State he was and speak to his record in that position. I also worked as a civil servant under the coalition Government. Will the Secretary of State also be seeking advice from Andy Burnham who, as Secretary of State when Labour last left office, left record low waiting times and high public satisfaction?

• 5 Sept 2024 · SEND Provision · Hansard source

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  Will my hon. Friend give way?

• 5 Sept 2024 · SEND Provision · Hansard source

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  Will the hon. Member give way?