Janet Daby MP: speeches

Speeches

• 16 Jun 2026 · Health Bill (First sitting) · Hansard source

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  Q Dr Benneyworth, you mentioned protected disclosures, and you said that individuals or organisations may have a fear of reprisals. Would you like to say anything more on that? What would you like to see from the CQC or in the Bill? Dr Benneyworth: Yes, absolutely—we have seen that in so many of our investigations. It can often be exacerbated by different parts of the system working together. To give you an example, we looked at mental health in-patient settings. There is national guidance that says that people should not use risk assessment tools around self-harm, but when we looked we found that, on the ground, everyone was using these tools. We asked why that was, and we were given two reasons. One was that the IT systems were set up such that you could not move past the front screen without ticking one of the risk assessment boxes, and the other reason was that people were fearful about being in front of a coroner and asked about risk assessment tools, so we took action on both those fronts. Another thing that we see is about speaking up. There are definite inequalities at play when people are speaking up. We have seen significant racial discrimination. We wrote a report about temporary workers. We find that people working as locums or agency staff often feel a lot less able to speak up if there are patient concerns. If you are black or from other global majority groups, to be able to speak up is even harder. On the back of that, we made a recommendation to the National Guardian’s Office, and it has done a lot of work with temporary workers, looking at how we can improve their ability to speak up. We still have a huge way to go on culture generally, but particularly on discrimination and the inequalities that we see in every one of our investigations.

• 3 Feb 2026 · Universal Credit (Removal of Two Child Limit) Bill · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend—I call him that even though he sits on the other side of the House—for stating that so eloquently and accurately. This means that the previous Conservative Government got it wrong. I would also add that with rents rising and mortgages increasing, they got it wrong. Who suffers? It is babies, toddlers, primary and secondary school children, and that is wrong. Unlike the previous Government, this Government accept the overwhelming scale of this challenge. I am sure that Ministers will agree that more still needs to be done. To bring further reality to the situation, my own son has paid for a schoolfriend’s lunch on more than one occasion when they have not had enough money on their lanyard. I am sure that many other children also share food with their friends because they have compassion and do not want their friends to go hungry. I welcome the Government’s decision to lift the two-child benefit cap, which will provide crucial support to an estimated 3,530 children across my constituency. It is a significant step and I commend the Government for taking it. Breakfast clubs are absolutely fantastic, but they are limited to primary schools, meaning that secondary school children miss out. There could be three children from the same household where two children receive breakfast at primary school but the other goes hungry at secondary school. That is not right. Parents should not have to worry about their ability to feed their children and teachers should not have to subsidise parents or the state by feeding their pupils. As I come to an end, I must mention the remarkable football player Marcus Rashford, who knew what it was like to go hungry as a child and is now dedicated to ensuring that it does not happen to other children. I respect his efforts to reduce child poverty. I ask this Government to make the necessary effort to keep children out of poverty and to support them to ensure they have a full stomach and reach their full potential in life.

• 16 Jul 2025 · Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life · Hansard source

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  I do not know anybody who does not enjoy some type of music. Children must have the experience of enjoying music, and I cannot imagine a family hub that does not have some type of musical instrument. This Government encourages the creative arts and music, and will continue to do so. Indeed, my own daughter is learning how to play the guitar. The hon. Member for Twickenham (Munira Wilson) mentioned that every child deserves the best start in life, and the hon. Member for East Wiltshire (Danny Kruger) said that this is a cross-party issue. I could not agree more. I also reassure the hon. Member for East Wiltshire that we support, and will support, parents, including single parents, and carers. This Government want to give children the very best start in life, hence the strategy and what we are introducing and speaking about this afternoon.