Helen Hayes MP: speeches

Speeches

• 10 Dec 2024 · Lobular Breast Cancer · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Gentleman—who is my hon. Friend—very much indeed for that intervention. Heather died in St Christopher’s hospice near her home on 30 August. She was 48 years old. Shortly before she died, Heather’s daughter, who was due to start secondary school in September, visited her mummy in the hospice, so that she could see her in her school uniform. In that unbearable heartbreaking detail is why we must do better on lobular breast cancer: better on awareness of symptoms and better at research into treatments. The heartbreak of Heather’s story and the impact on her family and friends is sadly replicated for too many women and their loved ones throughout the UK. Lobular breast cancer is the second most common type of breast cancer, accounting for 15% of all breast cancers, and 22 women a day are diagnosed with lobular breast cancer in the UK. It behaves differently from other forms of the disease, mostly strikingly because it does not cause lumps, and it is often completely invisible on a mammogram.

• 10 Dec 2024 · Lobular Breast Cancer · Hansard source

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  I beg to move, That this House has considered the treatment of lobular breast cancer. It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Ms Vaz. I secured this debate in memory of my constituent, who was also my close friend, Heather Cripps. I welcome Heather’s husband David and her sister Jenny to the Public Gallery. I will come to Heather’s story shortly, but I also want to welcome to the Public Gallery my mother-in-law Cressida, who survived lobular breast cancer 22 years ago, as well as several others whose lives have been touched by lobular breast cancer. Many of them have provided me with briefings in preparation for the debate, for which I am grateful. I met Heather in 2016 when, as someone who had pretty much never run for a bus before, I was roped into a free 5 km parkrun at 9 am on Saturday mornings in Dulwich park. Heather was a serious runner, and running was a huge part of her life. She took pity on me and decided that her inexperienced local MP needed a friend to run with, and she became that friend. We worked out that we lived close to each other, and it was not long before I was picking her up to go to the parkrun, and we would run together most weeks. Heather was a dedicated public servant, spending her whole life working in the Home Office. It is a testament to her professionalism that she never spoke with me about the content of her work. What she did speak about as we ran was her family, her husband David and two precious daughters. Heather was an amazing mum. She spent so much of her time thinking about what her girls would enjoy, planning birthday parties and holidays and, earlier this year, plotting a trip to Wales to culminate in the surprise collection of a new puppy. In 2020, at the height of the covid-19 pandemic, Heather started to get terrible back pain. For several months this was treated as a musculoskeletal issue. She was given pain medication, but it got worse and worse. Eventually, she was diagnosed with stage 4 invasive lobular breast cancer. The back pain was the result of the cancer having spread to her spine. For three years, chemotherapy held the cancer at bay but, when Heather came to Parliament almost exactly a year ago to campaign on lobular breast cancer, she mentioned to me that she once again had back pain, which she thought could be the cancer recurring.

• 10 Dec 2024 · Lobular Breast Cancer · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for bringing the story of her constituent to this debate. This is exactly the reason why we need to find better means of diagnosis and treatment for lobular breast cancer. I will come talk about some of those means shortly. Currently, there are no treatments specific to lobular breast cancer. This must change. The issues have been well documented by Dr Susan Michaelis, founder of the Lobular Moon Shot Project. Susan was 50 when she noticed a small, pale, 1 mm mark on her left breast in 2012. She had no lump and both a mammogram and an ultrasound were reassuring. Six months later, the small mark had become redder and Susan had a biopsy that confirmed she had invasive lobular breast cancer. Susan’s cancer had spread to her neck, the back of her head, the eye area and her ribs. She is now on her sixth line of treatment. Dr Michaelis is a qualified air accident investigator. She focuses on how accidents can be prevented by learning from past mistakes, and has used these skills to look at how treatments have failed her. In doing so, she has identified the need for a new approach.

• 10 Dec 2024 · Lobular Breast Cancer · Hansard source

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  I thank all hon. Members who have contributed. They have brought their constituents’ stories and their own personal experiences to the debate. We have many issues to work on in this House, but there is a particular responsibility when an issue presents itself in a personal way through a devastating story, whether that is through a constituent, somebody we know or our own personal experience. When we see an opportunity for things to be done, it is imperative for us all to bring that to this place. I am grateful to hon. Members for the spirit in which the debate has been conducted, the high level of consensus and the high level of commitment to see change for patients with lobular cancer. I am grateful to the Minister for her engagement with the debate. I know she is committed to this area. In closing, I ask that she looks in further detail at two issues. The first is the proportional allocation of the funding available through the NIHR for research into breast cancer. We have heard again and again today that lobular cancer accounts for 15% of all breast cancers, yet currently attracts only a tiny fraction of dedicated research. We know that the improvements we have seen in treatments and outcomes for different types of cancer diagnosis always hinge on the investment put into research to find the cures. There is a disproportionality there that can and must be changed. The second area I ask the Minister to look at in a little more detail is the advice and guidance given to clinicians in primary care, to make sure that there is a consistent understanding of the symptoms of lobular cancer and its distinctiveness as a disease compared with ductal cancer, and to make sure that every woman presenting to her GP is able to access accurate advice and swift onward referral. It is important across the whole range of women’s health conditions that women are trusted and listened to when they present with symptoms to their GP, and this is an area where I believe primary care can do better, be more consistent and deliver better outcomes as a consequence. I pay tribute once again to Dr Susan Michaelis and all those who campaign on this issue on the basis of their deeply difficult personal experiences. I give my commitment that for as long as I have a voice in this place, I will continue to work on this issue until we see the changes that are needed.

• 10 Dec 2024 · Lobular Breast Cancer · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Lady very much for that intervention and for sharing her personal story. I pay tribute to Dr Michaelis for her research and campaigning on lobular cancer. I hope that all Members have received their Dr Susan Michaelis rose this week, named in her honour, and will plant it as a reminder of the urgency of her work. There are so many other stories. Katie Swinburne was 47 when she was diagnosed with invasive lobular cancer in her left breast, leading to a double mastectomy, radiotherapy and 10 years of targeted chemotherapy. She writes: “It is very hard to accept that none of my treatment is specific to lobular breast cancer and no one can tell me if it is working or has been effective…I find myself living in fear of recurrence. I deserved to have an early diagnosis. I did not get this. I deserve a specific treatment; I do not have this. I have three young children; they deserve to have a mum. I deserve effective follow up; I do not get this. I need you to change this for me, my husband, my family, all the women with a lobular diagnosis and all the women who will be diagnosed in the future.” Emma Hunwick writes: “I was a happy, healthy and relatively fit 49-year-old professional woman when I noticed a tiny pull in my right nipple. No lump, no other obvious external changes. An annual medical and referral just 12 days later resulted in a clear mammogram and a clear second 3D mammogram. An ultrasound then reported an area of 2 cm of concern. I rapidly went from ‘caught early’ to borderline stage 2 breast cancer. After my mastectomy I was informed that I was in fact stage 3c invasive lobular breast cancer…I am now at high risk with predicted survival outcomes at 10 and 15 years of approximately 45% and 30% respectively...I need to know that the vital scientific research into lobular breast cancer is being done now. Not next year or in 10 years but starting now, so that I might survive longer and continue to work with less worry about whether the standard monitoring tests that missed my first cancer, will miss a recurrence.” Kirstin Spencer’s story is also typical. Diagnosed in 2018, she and had a double mastectomy, but was warned that, especially in the first two years afterwards, the disease could recur in areas such as the scar tissue, chest wall and surrounding skin. She was told that vigilance and well-managed medical follow-up were everything. Within a year of her diagnosis, she developed red-flag symptoms that were repeatedly dismissed by her breast specialist. She was refused follow-up treatment and sent for psychological counselling. By the time that a new GP listened to her concerns, substantial recurrence was confirmed, with extensive metastatic disease. My mother-in-law Cressida’s story is very different from Heather’s, and we are all so grateful to the doctors who treated her and for the subsequent 22 years of health that she has had and continues to enjoy. Cressida did not have any grandchildren when she was diagnosed, but a prompt diagnosis meant that she has been able to be closely involved in the lives of eight subsequent grandchildren, as a much-loved granny. But Cressida’s outcome was about luck rather than design, so much so that it was only very recently, when reviewing her medical notes, that she found out that the type of cancer she had was lobular. Breast cancer survival rates are directly impacted by the stage of diagnosis. Late diagnosis, which is all too common for lobular breast cancer, leads to far worse outcomes. To improve this situation, we need much better awareness of the full range of breast cancer symptoms, including the very small skin changes that are typical of lobular cancer. Not all cancers cause lumps. A clear mammogram does not provide absolute reassurance, because lobular cancer typically does not show on a mammogram. We need lobular-specific research and treatments. Staff at Manchester Breast Centre have stated that they are able to do the research to understand the complete pathology of lobular breast cancer—research that has never been done—to pave the way for bespoke treatments to be developed. This will take five years and cost £20 million—moonshot funding that will be recouped many times over in the tax revenue paid by women like Heather, who would be able to continue working, and in the NHS costs that will be saved. Hundreds of MPs in the last Parliament and this one have listened to the stories of constituents affected by lobular breast cancer and pledged their support for the Lobular Moon Shot Project. Lobular cancer is the sixth most common cancer in women. It is more common than ovarian, brain, central nervous system, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, pancreatic and kidney cancers. I know that the Minister cares deeply about women’s health equality and I put it to her that lobular cancer is a women’s health equality issue.

• 10 Dec 2024 · Lobular Breast Cancer · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention. She makes the point extremely well. How can it be that there are so few targeted programmes to improve the diagnosis and treatment of a cancer that affects 15% of breast cancer patients? How can it be that such poor information is provided to women that does not empower them to seek help when the symptoms of lobular cancer recur? How can it be that women are lured into a false sense of security when they receive a clear mammogram, or are fobbed off when they raise concerns? We need to do better for women affected by lobular breast cancer, in memory of Heather and many more women like her who will not live to see their children grow up. We need to do better for women like Dr Susan Michaelis, who are living today with their lobular cancer being held just about at bay by generic breast cancer treatments, but who live with the constant anxiety that one day the treatment will stop working. We need to do better for the 22 women today and the 22 women tomorrow—the 22 women every single day—who are diagnosed with lobular cancer. I have a number of asks to make of the Minister. Will she commit to investigate why there are so few targeted programmes to improve diagnosis, research and treatment of a cancer that affects 15% of breast cancer patients? Will she confirm that lobular cancer will remain a priority in the Government’s women’s health strategy? Will she take steps to address the lack of information given to women about mammograms, so that every woman is reminded to remain vigilant for non-lump changes in their breasts, including very small changes? Will she take steps to improve the education of primary care doctors on the symptoms of lobular breast cancer, so that women are not provided with false reassurance, but promptly referred for diagnostic tests? For patients treated for ductal breast cancer, the first five years are critical, but for lobular breast cancer the risk will remain for 10 years and sometimes beyond, yet lobular patients are typically released from surveillance care after only five years. Will the Minister take steps to ensure that there is a specific follow-up pathway for lobular breast cancer? Will she support Manchester Breast Centre’s call for Lobular Moon Shot funding—£20 million over five years—to enable the basic pathology of lobular cancer to be fully understood as the foundation for developing bespoke treatments? Will she look at the fairness of the distribution of research funding to ensure that this funding can be identified without further delay? I know the heartbreak that Heather's death has caused for all who knew and loved her, and most especially for her family. We can act to ensure that, in future, women like Heather who are diagnosed with lobular cancer can live to see their children grow up, and it is imperative that we do so.

• 9 Dec 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  We know that good quality early years education can play a significant role in closing the disadvantage gap, yet the Government have inherited a situation in which families who live in disadvantaged areas are the least likely to be able to access good quality childcare. How will the Secretary of State ensure that access to good quality childcare and early years education is at the heart of the Government’s child poverty strategy?

• 27 Nov 2024 · Respect Orders and Antisocial Behaviour · Hansard source

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  I welcome the measures that the Minister has set out today and the Government’s commitment to tackling antisocial behaviour, which is an urgent issue in my constituency, particularly in town centres. But the most urgent issue that we face in tackling these issues is the number of police officers. My hon. Friend will be aware that the previous Government allocated funding to recruit police officers, and then withdrew it when the Met was unable to meet its target due to a set of unique challenges in London. Can my right hon. Friend give her firm assurance that the unique challenges facing the Met are fully understood, and that the Government will provide it with the resources that it needs to tackle this very serious issue in our communities?

• 18 Nov 2024 · Children’s Social Care · Hansard source

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  I welcome the action that the Government have announced today to improve children’s social care. The Secretary of State will know that families from the poorest neighbourhoods are 14 times more likely to be referred to children’s social care than those from the richest areas, and that there is a growing body of evidence linking child poverty to the rise in children entering the care system. How will she ensure that the upcoming child poverty strategy delivers more stability and safety for children and ensures that fewer families enter the kind of crises that result in their children being removed from their care?

• 6 Nov 2024 · Budget Resolutions · Hansard source

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  I congratulate all hon. Members who have made their maiden speeches today. The economic inheritance from the last 14 years could hardly have been any worse. Conservative Governments have serially undermined our public services: they stripped them of funding, made it harder to deliver and demoralised dedicated public servants. The impact of their political choices could not have been clearer. In multiple crises, which spanned from our NHS and social care to local authority services, schools, prisons, policing and criminal justice, housing and universities, instead of reinvesting to rebuild, they promised billions of pounds of entirely unfunded tax cuts in a desperate bid to cling on to power. They have been the vandals of our public services and our economy, and they have left this new Labour Government with a colossal and daunting task to restore and rebuild. I welcome the Budget, which seeks to fix the foundations and begin the restoration that is needed. I regret that the actions of the previous Government mean that the road to recovery is so long. The additional £1 billion in the Budget for SEND is as welcome as it is essential. The crisis in the SEND system is the biggest current challenge in the education system, with far-reaching consequences for children and families who are being let down, schools that cannot meet the needs of their pupils, and local authorities that are being driven to the edge of bankruptcy by the costs. I urge the Government to ensure that SEND remains at the forefront of discussions in the comprehensive spending review, because £1 billion, while welcome, is only a third of the current in-year deficit in the SEND budget. The statutory override, which protects local authority general fund accounts from SEND deficits, is due to come to an end in March 2026, and local authorities will soon need certainty about what will happen after that date. Without a clear plan, more local authorities will be issuing section 114 notices—that is not something that the Government can allow to happen. As a constituency MP, I want to use my remaining time to raise two other issues arising from the Budget. The additional funding for the NHS is desperately needed. The allocation for individual areas and health trusts has not yet been made. I want to make a particular plea for capital funding for King’s College hospital. King’s is currently facing severe financial challenges, which it is working hard to address, but that is made harder by a lack of funding for the essential equipment that staff need to increase productivity and deliver the services that patients need. Finally, while the additional injection of £100 million for social housing in London and changes to the regulations on right to buy are welcome, the crisis in London is so deep that the Government must turn their attention to the local housing allowance, which must keep pace with rents in London to avoid even more families being forced into temporary accommodation, with knock-on consequences for local authority budgets. The Budget seeks to fix the foundations and undo the damage that the Conservatives have done. There is much more to do, but the Budget is a very welcome first step on the road. I am pleased to vote for it today.

• 4 Nov 2024 · Special Educational Needs and Disabilities · Hansard source

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  The additional £1 billion in the Budget for SEND support is very welcome, but the Minister will know that local authorities remain anxious about the forthcoming end to the statutory override of dedicated schools grant deficits in March 2026. What discussions is the Minister having with the Treasury and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on a plan to prevent the end of the statutory override from becoming a cliff-edge financial calamity for local authorities and children with SEND?

• 4 Nov 2024 · Higher Education Reform · Hansard source

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  First, let me put it on the record that I am the parent of a young person in her first year at university. The Secretary of State has set out very clearly the case for our universities and the justification for her announcement today. However, as young people who might be applying for university as the announcement is being made might see only the headlines, what steps is she taking to ensure that it is communicated effectively, so that it does not deter young people from low and middle-income backgrounds from applying to university in the first place?

• 28 Oct 2024 · Middle East · Hansard source

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  The situation in northern Gaza is beyond desperate, with many reports of actions that have every appearance of aiming to empty the territory of its entire population. The UN humanitarian chief, Joyce Msuya, has warned that the entire population is at risk of dying. The strategy of the Israeli Government is intolerable, and has failed on its own terms, because the hostages have not been released, as we all want to see. Can the Foreign Secretary say what happens next? What further meaningful action are the Government planning to take to safeguard lives in northern Gaza and secure an immediate ceasefire?

• 24 Oct 2024 · Special Educational Needs and Disabilities · Hansard source

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  The National Audit Office report could not be clearer: children and young people and their families are being failed by a SEND system that cannot meet their needs, and local authorities are being driven to the edge of a financial precipice by a £3.4 billion funding gap. This Government have inherited an appalling legacy. The Government are clear that their focus is on the early identification of need and the inclusivity of mainstream schools, but the report notes that there is currently no process or funding to support early identification, and no specific funding or Ofsted measure on SEND support or inclusivity. Can the Minister say more about how the Government will provide the resources and the levers of accountability to address the scale of the crisis?

• 24 Oct 2024 · Black History Month · Hansard source

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  I congratulate my hon. Friend on leading this important debate in Government time. The Black Cultural Archives, which I am hugely proud to say is based in my constituency on Windrush Square, is the only national organisation dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of black history in the United Kingdom. It does not currently have recognition as a national organisation. Will the Minister work with me and the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport to ensure that the Black Cultural Archives has that status and recognition, as well as sustainable funding, given the vital role it plays?

• 9 Oct 2024 · Renters’ Rights Bill · Hansard source

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  I support this long-overdue Bill. Almost a quarter of households in Dulwich and West Norwood are renting privately, and many of them live with the instability caused by an under-regulated market. I am contacted every week by constituents who are living in unacceptable conditions, facing unaffordable rent increases or threatened with a section 21 no-fault eviction. Private renting is fundamentally unsustainable and unstable. Too many local renters are living in poor-quality accommodation, suffering with damp and mould, but with limited levers to hold their landlord or letting agency to account. Those who complain risk reprisal evictions, from which they have no protection. Tenants are forced by rent hikes and section 21 notices to move frequently, and they are denied the security of a long-term home. Parents put children into school not knowing whether they will be able to afford to stay in the area for the duration of their education. Increasingly, young families are being priced out of London, and that contributes to a dramatic drop in school rolls, so I warmly welcome this Bill.

• 9 Oct 2024 · Renters’ Rights Bill · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend makes a good point. This crisis in private renting is taking an unbearable toll on the health and wellbeing, the financial security and the stability of families across the country, which is why this Bill is so welcome. I will table an amendment to the Bill. Last year, constituents of mine tragically lost their son to suicide. He was in his first year of university and had signed a tenancy for his second-year accommodation shortly before his death. The tenancy, which had not started when this young man died, included a guarantor agreement signed by his parents. After their son’s death, the letting agency insisted that the agreement applied even in the event of a tenant’s death and, shockingly, began pursuing my constituents for rent payments. While facing the unbearable loss of their son, my constituents were forced to find another student to take on his tenancy in order to be relieved of their responsibility for the rent. This type of clause is not in every guarantor agreement, and it is wholly unnecessary. Landlords can insure themselves against loss of rent in the event of the death of a tenant. My amendment would outlaw the pursuit of guarantors for rent owed by a deceased tenant, to protect other families from this cruel treatment while they are grieving. I am grateful to the Minister for Housing and Planning for his positive engagement on this issue, both in opposition and since he has been appointed to the Department. I hope the Government can accept my amendment, which was drafted with assistance from lawyers at Shelter, as a straightforward solution. I hope Members from across the House can all agree that no one facing bereavement should have to worry that they will be pursued for their loved one’s rent. Finally, on affordability, rents in Lambeth and Southwark have grown rapidly in recent years. I welcome the measures in the Bill to ensure limits to rent increases under the section 8 process, and to ban landlords from accepting rents from prospective tenants above the asking price. However, the scale of the crisis in London is so significant that there is a need for further action on rent rises. I hope that as the Bill progresses through the House, my hon. Friends will listen to the calls of the Renter’s Reform Coalition and the Mayor of London, and will consider what more can be done to stabilise rents and assist with affordability. For too long, reform of the private rented sector has been neglected, leaving renters in Dulwich and West Norwood suffering with insecurity, poor accommodation and rising costs. The effect of this crisis in private renting is destabilising for our communities and harmful for health; I see the impact of the crisis every single week in my constituency. The Renters’ Rights Bill will be transformative for my constituents, and I will be proud to support it this evening.

• 9 Sept 2024 · Children in Care: Educational Outcomes · Hansard source

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  The drop-out rate from university for care-experienced students is 38%, compared with just 6% for non-care-experienced young people. As thousands of students are arriving at university for the first time this week, what steps is the Minister taking to ensure that there is a consistent package of support for care-experienced students at every university to help them overcome the barriers that they too often face, and to ensure that university is a place where they feel welcome and can thrive?

• 9 Sept 2024 · Children in Care: Educational Outcomes · Hansard source

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  14. What steps she is taking to help improve educational outcomes for (a) children in social care and (b) other care-experienced young people.

• 9 Sept 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T4. The early years sector faces significant challenges in delivering the roll-out of the expanded childcare offer promised by the last Government. The sector consistently cites the inability to recruit and retain staff as the biggest difficulty. Can the Minister confirm when the Government plan to publish the promised workforce strategy for the early years, and what opportunities there will be for the sector to have its say?

• 5 Sept 2024 · UK-EU Trade · Hansard source

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  6. What steps his Department is taking to improve the UK’s trading relationship with the EU.

• 5 Sept 2024 · UK-EU Trade · Hansard source

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  Goods exports to the European Union are still 11% lower than in 2019, before the Brexit agreement took effect. Can the Minister confirm that, in seeking to grow the UK economy, the Government will take an evidence-based approach to the UK’s trading relationship with our nearest neighbours, and will take all possible measures to remove the barriers to trade that are holding our country back?

• 29 Jul 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  For the communities in my constituency mourning the loss of a young person to knife crime, the Government’s commitment to ban zombie knives, machetes and ninja swords cannot come soon enough. Can the Home Secretary confirm that, in bringing forward this vital legislation, she will ensure that the penalties for selling those weapons illegally will be substantial and that they will apply personally to executives at the highest level in any retail outlet, including online marketplaces such as eBay and Amazon?

• 24 Jul 2024 · Education and Opportunity · Hansard source

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  May I start by congratulating you, Madam Deputy Speaker, on your election, and say what a great pleasure it is to see you in your place? I also congratulate the Secretary of State on her appointment. I know how deep her commitment is to increasing opportunity and adjusting disadvantage for children across our country. Education from the early years through school and on to further and higher education is arguably the most important tool in the Government’s box for addressing disadvantage. I am therefore delighted to see that breaking down the barriers to opportunity at every stage is one of the core missions of this Labour Government. Labour has always recognised the importance of education as a route to addressing poverty, disadvantage and inequality, as well as to driving economic growth. It is at the heart of what we believe in and at the heart of what we have always delivered in government—from comprehensive schools to the Open University, from Sure Start to the London Challenge for school improvement. This new Labour Government will continue in that proud tradition of delivering for our children and young people with free breakfast clubs in every primary school; new nursery places across the country; open access mental health support in schools and communities; more teachers in our schools; a new fit-for-purpose curriculum; a further education sector to deliver the skills that young people need to thrive and our economy needs to grow; and new support to protect young people from serious violence. I wish to highlight today, as we discuss the commitment of this new Government and also the mess that they have inherited after 14 years of Conservative cuts to children's services, some of the issues that are most pressing in my constituency. Services are now really stretched to the limit as they seek to support children, young people and their families. The first issue is the funding crisis facing maintained nursery schools, which often provide a gold standard of early years education. Some 64 % of them are located in areas with the greatest deprivation. I have two in my constituency: Effra nursery school and children’s centre and Dulwich Wood nursery school. They are constituted as schools, and therefore have the additional expertise—and also the additional costs—of fully qualified headteachers and teaching staff. The number of maintained nurseries has already dropped dramatically and only 400 now remain, many of which face severe financial difficulties. I therefore urge the Government to bring forward measures in the Budget to ensure that the depth of knowledge, expertise and quality in our maintained nursery schools is not lost, and that they are put on a sustainable financial footing. The second issue is special educational needs and disabilities support. I am grateful to the Secretary of State for mentioning the work that I did in this regard when we were in opposition. In the context of the decimation of local authority funding since 2010 and with increasing presentation of additional needs across the country, local councils and schools are simply buckling under the pressure of resources that they do not have and needs that they cannot meet, while families are suffering the consequences. At a recent visit to an outstanding school in my constituency, the headteacher broke down as she described the conflict of seeking to be an inclusive school with the reality of simply not having the funding that she needed to deliver for children with additional needs. Increasingly, local authorities are being driven to the edge of financial viability by the costs of SEND support and SEND transport. I really welcome this Government’s focus on the inclusivity of mainstream schools, but they will need to work very closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Department of Health and Social Care to ensure that there is a sustainable approach to funding SEND support, which schools cannot deliver in isolation. Thirdly, the outcomes for care-experienced people after 14 years of Conservative Government are utterly disgraceful. The system is so broken that frequently the state takes the decision to remove a child from their family because they are not considered to be safe, and places them in an environment in which they are even less safe and secure. Care-experienced people are so over-represented in both the criminal justice system and the homeless population because they are being so badly failed. If the Government are serious about tackling these challenges, they must turn their attention to delivering better support and better outcomes for care-experienced people. One way that this situation could be turned around is through the development of a new care experience covenant, placed on a statutory footing, requiring every part of the public sector to take the responsibilities of corporate parenting seriously, supported by a national care leaver offer. I wonder whether the Minister is able to make any commitments in that regard today. Finally, the Conservative Government changed the schools funding formula to remove the disadvantage weighting. That had the effect of proactively funnelling funding away from schools in constituencies such as mine with high levels of deprivation to more affluent areas of the country, and my local schools are really feeling the impact as they seek to provide an excellent education for every child. Will the Minister give an undertaking to look at the schools funding formula, to ensure both that schools in the most disadvantaged areas of the country have the resources they need to deliver for every child, and that the formula itself is no longer pitting different areas of the country against each other, but represents a genuine levelling up of the resources for our schools? I know that this Government will transform the life chances of children and young people across our country and make sure that no child is left behind. I look forward to seeing further plans come to fruition, as children, young people and their life chances are once again placed where they should be—at the centre of our national life.

• 23 Jul 2024 · Immigration and Home Affairs · Hansard source

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  First, I congratulate the hon. Member for Fylde (Mr Snowden) on his maiden speech. It was a moving speech, and I know that his family and his constituents will be very proud of his commitment to work on the issues around Crohn’s and colitis, which is a devastating and difficult disease for those who have to endure it. It is a privilege for me to represent the communities of Dulwich, West Norwood, Herne Hill, Gipsy Hill, and parts of Brixton, Crystal Palace, Camberwell and Tulse Hill, and I am grateful to everyone who voted to send me here for a fourth time. I am especially grateful to the residents of Champion Hill ward, who voted for me for the first time in this election due to boundary changes. I am delighted to be speaking for the first time from the Government side of the House of Commons. Over the past nine years in this place, I have seen the impact of the Conservatives’ political decisions on my constituents. I have seen the housing crisis deepen every single year. Our local schools have struggled as the schools funding formula was changed to redirect funding away from constituencies like mine with high levels of deprivation to more affluent areas of the country. Local authority funding has been decimated, affecting the ability of our local councils to keep delivering the services that residents need. Our local health services have been placed under unbearable pressure. Parents are paying more than their rent or mortgage for a childcare place, and our police are unable to fill essential roles in neighbourhood policing. There is not a single part of our public sector that is not at least partially broken after 14 years of cuts and neglect, while every Gracious Speech that I have listened to until now has made something else worse than it was before. Among the most egregious legacies of the past 14 years of Conservative government has been the impact on the life chances of children and young people. Seven hundred thousand more children are living in poverty than in 2010. There has been a shocking decline in children and young people’s mental health. We have seen 1,300 Sure Start centres close, spiralling numbers of teenagers entering the care system and parents across the country battling for special educational needs and disabilities support. So I am deeply heartened to see that this Gracious Speech sets out a legislative programme that begins the process of renewal and restoration that our country needs and that will start to improve the life chances of children and young people. Legislation will increase the number of teachers in our schools, improve the mental health and wellbeing of young people, ensure that no child in primary school has to start the school day hungry, increase the number of nursery places and deliver better support for young people who are at risk of serious violence. I welcome the establishment of the child poverty taskforce. Child poverty is a scourge on our society. The increase over the past 14 years is shameful, and it must be a core driving mission of the Government to eradicate it. Child poverty does not happen in isolation. Children live in poverty because their parents are poor. The solutions to poverty are multiple and include making work pay; more genuinely affordable housing; reducing energy bills; and creating a social security system that actually acts as an effective safety net. I understand the need both for a comprehensive strategy for tackling child poverty and for all public spending decisions to be fully funded and affordable, but two things are important. First, the child poverty taskforce must work with urgency and speed, and it must result in concrete action soon. Childhood is short, and the years that are blighted by poverty cannot be rerun. Secondly, the taskforce and the Government must follow the evidence. That includes evidence from the Institute for Fiscal Studies, the Trussell Trust and a wide range of experts showing a clear correlation between the two-child cap on child benefit and increased child poverty, as well as the alleviation that would come from lifting it. I hope that the Government will consider that evidence as part of a wider, comprehensive strategy. Several wider challenges affecting children and young people were not included in the King’s Speech but will require imminent strategic decision making from our new Government. They include the crisis in SEND support and the safety valve programme, which is forcing many councils to make impossible cuts to services that vulnerable residents rely on while families are left fighting in the tribunal for SEND support. There is also the financial crisis in our university sector, which should be the pride of our country, helping us to face the future, prepare the next generation and deliver world-class research. Universities are also the fulcrum of the local economy in cities and towns across the country. Their collapse would be catastrophic for jobs and economic growth. The Government must therefore ensure that a plan is in place that offers meaningful interventions to stem the current crisis and allow our universities to stabilise and chart a sustainable course. When a country invests in its children and young people, it invests in the future. When it delivers a better society for children and young people, it delivers a better society for everyone. When it acts to protect the most vulnerable. It places all of us on a more solid foundation. I welcome this Gracious Speech from our new Labour Government and look forward to seeing the Government deliver for our children and young people in the coming months.