Gill Furniss MP: speeches 2025

Speeches

• 5 Feb 2025 · Closure of High Street Services: Rural Areas · Hansard source

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  Order. I remind Members that they should bob if they wish to be called in the debate. I also remind them that interventions are meant to be very brief if we are to allow everyone to speak in this big debate.

• 5 Feb 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  I was delighted recently to visit Chaucer school, a great school in my constituency with fantastic young people and innovative and motivated teaching staff, but 14 years of Tory government did not do enough for more than 300,000 children across the country attending schools that are stuck and kept receiving poor Ofsted judgments. Will the Prime Minister set out how this Government will tackle inequality and tear down barriers to opportunity through our plan for change?

• 15 Jan 2025 · Endometriosis: Women in the Workplace · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for that point, and I completely agree. Although the Employment Rights Bill does require large employers to publish equality action plans, there is no specific mention of reproductive conditions. What discussions is the Minister having with her colleagues in the Department for Business and Trade to ensure that those issues are not forgotten? What hope can we have that employers will understand the condition if even some medical professionals do not? All too often, we have heard stories from women who have been told, “It’s just a heavy period” and, “Suck it up—every woman goes through this.”

• 15 Jan 2025 · Endometriosis: Women in the Workplace · Hansard source

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  I am sorry; I have got to make progress. I do not underestimate the task for Ministers in fixing our NHS after it was left in tatters by the previous Government. Waiting lists for gynaecological care have grown faster than those for any other specialty in recent years, leaving many women in agony. The women’s health strategy correctly identified some of these chronic issues, but in the absence of funding to back that up, we have gone further and further backwards from what we need. For instance, women’s health hubs have improved women’s access to healthcare services, but the previous Government failed to give them long-term certainty and their funding is set to run out in March. As the Government work hard to rebuild the NHS, improving gynaecological care must be at the centre of that, because women have waited long enough. Will the Minister therefore update the House on how the Government will implement the measures in the women’s health strategy? We must continue to encourage research into endometriosis. Our world-leading researchers are doing vital work in clinical trials to find better ways to manage and treat this condition. They will not stop until they find a cure. Therefore, will the Minister outline what steps she is taking to support clinical research and ensure that women are able to get on to those clinical trials? If we have a cure, it is obvious that we will not have any of the problems that I have spoken about. I commend the Women and Equalities Committee on its excellent report into women’s reproductive health conditions. It has made a number of recommendations, including on employment rights, and I look forward to reading the Government’s response. I hope that they will listen to calls to give specific mention to reproductive health as part of the Employment Rights Bill, which has cross-party support. I also praise Endometriosis UK for its invaluable work in supporting women with this condition and campaigning for change. It acts as the secretariat for the all-party parliamentary group on endometriosis, of which I am an officer.

• 15 Jan 2025 · Endometriosis: Women in the Workplace · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is absolutely right—that is what we are talking about. For many years, the APPG was chaired by our dear friend David Amess. David campaigned tirelessly for improvements to endometriosis care, and he will forever remain on our minds as we continue his legacy.

• 15 Jan 2025 · Endometriosis: Women in the Workplace · Hansard source

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  I am grateful for this opportunity to raise the plight of women with endometriosis and the everyday struggles they face in the workplace. Endometriosis was first identified in 1860, but progress in improving the lives of women suffering from it has moved at a glacial pace since then. As the Women and Equalities Committee so accurately put it: “Women and girls are missing out on their education, career opportunities, relationships, social lives and are having their fertility impacted because of neglected reproductive health conditions.” This debate focuses on the impact of endometriosis on women in the workplace. I chose this specific focus of attention because an examination of all the issues facing women with this condition would far exceed the time constraints of an Adjournment debate; it would span an entire Parliament and more.

• 15 Jan 2025 · Endometriosis: Women in the Workplace · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend. The average length of time taken is now eight years, which is not good. Many women feel unable to speak openly about endometriosis as they would other conditions, as if it were something to be ashamed of. Research shows that 23% of women take time off work because of period health issues while 80% lie about reasons for absence if they are related to periods. Having said that, endometriosis is not just about periods; it is a whole-body complaint. I do not think there is an organ in the body up to the chest that has not been found to be affected by what is a crippling disease.

• 15 Jan 2025 · Endometriosis: Women in the Workplace · Hansard source

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  Absolutely, and I will come to that shortly. That leaves women feeling dismissed, ignored and belittled by the very people who should be helping them. The result is that it takes almost nine years on average to get a diagnosis of endometriosis in the UK. I therefore look forward to hearing from the Minister on the steps she is taking to promote better awareness.

• 15 Jan 2025 · Endometriosis: Women in the Workplace · Hansard source

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  I thank the right hon. Member for that intervention, and I absolutely agree. I pay tribute to you, Madam Deputy Speaker, and to the right hon. Member for the efforts he has put in over many years. Stigma and a lack of awareness by employers means that reproductive health conditions can have a significant effect on women’s experiences at work. It is almost impossible to remain at work when suffering from chronic pain and the mental toll that these conditions cause.

• 15 Jan 2025 · Endometriosis: Women in the Workplace · Hansard source

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  I completely agree, and it has serious consequences. Women may need to have a stoma because of the damage done to their bowels. The right hon. Member and I have both met quite young women their 20s who have needed to have hysterectomies and will never be able to bear a child. Endometriosis should not mean that women have to put their careers on hold and leave the jobs they have worked hard to get. Employers can take simple steps such as offering flexible working, access to period products and time off to attend appointments to build the type of workplace envisioned in the women’s health strategy. I am pleased that the Government have brought forward the Employment Rights Bill, which will be the biggest boost to workers’ rights in a generation. That offers the perfect opportunity to begin to change the workplace experience of women with endometriosis.

• 15 Jan 2025 · Endometriosis: Women in the Workplace · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Member for that point. The issue has been known about for a long time. The women’s health strategy, published in 2022, painted a picture of what workplaces should be like over the next 10 years, arguing that women should “feel able to speak openly about their health and to be confident that they will be supported by their employer and workplace colleagues, with an end to taboos” and that “women experiencing women’s health issues such as period problems, endometriosis, fertility treatment, miscarriage and menopause” must “feel well supported in their workplaces.” This is a far cry from the reality facing women in the workplace today.

• 14 Jan 2025 · Coastguard Helicopter Services · Hansard source

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  Yes.

• 14 Jan 2025 · Parking: Town Centres · Hansard source

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  I will call Sonia Kumar, and then I will call the Minister to respond. There will not be an opportunity for the Member in charge to wind up, as is the convention for 30-minute debates.

• 13 Jan 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  Knife crime continues to have a devastating impact on all too many lives in Sheffield. I recently chaired a roundtable in my constituency, which brought together local leaders, police, schools and voluntary organisations that are all on the frontline. Does the Secretary of State agree that it is vital to work together with key stakeholders so that we can build a collaborative approach to ending knife crime once and for all?

• 13 Jan 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T1. If she will make a statement on her departmental responsibilities.