Jayne Kirkham MP: speeches

Speeches

• 15 Sept 2026 · Tourism: Overnight Visitor Levy · Hansard source

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  As a Cornish MP, I welcome this measure. It is important that local leaders, particularly those in non-mayoral areas, will get the opportunity to make this decision in consultation with businesses in their areas. Will the Minister confirm that emergency and temporary accommodation, as well as low-cost holiday options such as tents and caravans, could be excluded from the levy?

• 15 Sept 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  Despite the MOJ not collecting figures for the number of people in prison for joint enterprise, we know that there are hundreds, but the Law Commission has sadly confirmed that it will not look at that area of law under the homicide review. Does the Secretary of State intend to look at this most difficult area of law to reform it, and what will happen to those prisoners convicted of joint enterprise crimes under the early release scheme?

• 14 Sept 2026 · SEND Specialists: Schools · Hansard source

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  In Cornwall and my constituency, children needing specialist SEND places have missed out this September. Some have been offered partial education otherwise than at school arrangements instead or are even at home. We inherited a system that has let down a generation. Will the Minister confirm that the new Bill is on its way and that it will close the gap for children in my constituency? When will it take effect?

• 14 Sept 2026 · SEND Specialists: Schools · Hansard source

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  12. What steps her Department is taking to ensure that schools have access to specialist expertise in SEND.

• 14 Sept 2026 · Israel and Palestine · Hansard source

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  The Government’s decision last week to ban trade with illegal Israeli settlements, strengthen sanctions and state clearly that Israel’s ongoing occupation of Palestinian territory is unlawful was very welcome. The humanitarian situation in Gaza remains appalling. There have been more than 1,303 fatalities and 4,336 injuries in Gaza since the ceasefire began in October 2025, with children being the most affected. Two thirds of the population still face critical, emergency levels of hunger, according to the World Food Programme, and the water situation is catastrophic, with Gazans dependent on water trucks normally reserved for the immediate aftermath of a crisis. Although more aid is now getting in, for a long time that was not the case, with Israel restricting lifesaving supplies, leading to a man-made famine being declared in August 2025 by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification famine review committee. Additionally, for the past three years Gaza has been the deadliest place on earth to be a humanitarian, making up more than half of the humanitarian deaths around the world. It is in that context that my constituent James Henderson—Jim—was providing vital security support for World Central Kitchen in Gaza in 2024. A former Royal Marine, his family say that he was passionate about doing good and showing up for people in dire need thousands of miles from home. On 1 April 2024, Jim, along with six colleagues, was travelling in a clearly marked World Central Kitchen convoy on a road identified as accessible for humanitarian aid, transporting food to the north of the Gaza strip, close to the famine. The convoy was subject to an IDF drone attack and all seven humanitarian workers were killed. I welcome the steps that the Government have taken to secure accountability since the attack, including pressing the Israeli ambassador for an investigation, and I know that the former Prime Minister, Middle East Minister and Foreign Secretary met with the Henderson family. I was very disappointed to hear on 19 August that Israel will not be launching a criminal investigation into the attack. The joint statement by the Governments of the UK, Australia and Canada condemning the situation as shameful was exactly the right thing to do, and I strongly believe that further action must be taken. Rather than demonstrating remorse, the commanding officer, Colonel Mendel, has reportedly sought to justify the strikes and said that he does not regret the order that he made. The IDF has maintained that it believed that Hamas had taken control of the WCK convoy after it allegedly deviated from an approved route. However, World Central Kitchen has strongly disputed that account, stating that the IDF was fully aware of the convoy’s movements, activities and purpose. An independent investigation into the WCK killings remains essential to establish the full facts of what occurred and deliver justice for the victims and their families. Confidence in the integrity of any investigation depends on it being independent and transparent. The family and I would like the Minister’s confirmation on one point. There have been persistent rumours that there were RAF planes flying that day and that they passed intelligence on the convoy to the IDF. Will the Minister reconfirm that that was not the case? What happened to Jim and the other brave humanitarian workers should never have happened. Aid workers play a critical role in saving lives in conflict zones and must be able to carry out their work safely and without fear of being targeted. I was pleased to hear the Minister for the Middle East agree earlier that those responsible for the deaths must be held to account. The international community must send a clear message that attacks on humanitarian personnel by the IDF cannot go without justice.

• 10 Sept 2026 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  The Home Office’s revocation of health and social care visas linked to single employers has disproportionately increased recently. That is concerning, because it leaves 40,000 social care workers displaced, and only a small number are getting alternative employment. I am worried that people are slipping into the grey market. Can the Leader of the House ascertain with Home Office colleagues what steps the Home Office takes to track outcomes for those workers?

• 10 Sept 2026 · Fathers and Positive Male Role Models · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mrs Hobhouse. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Bishop Auckland (Sam Rushworth) on securing this debate; it has been fascinating so far. The Centre for Social Justice’s recent report, which a number of people have talked about, revealed that 76% of people surveyed believed that teenagers today lack proper role models in popular culture. The opportunity for young men to find positive male role models is limited. We have talked about there being 1,000 fewer youth clubs today than there were 15 years ago, and the number of youth workers has fallen by over a third. When young men feel disconnected and lack representations of positive masculinity, an empty space can open up, and unfortunately some of the loudest and most harmful voices are all too keen to fill it. That disconnection can carry real-world consequences. Between April and June 2026, 530,000 young men aged 16 to 24—13.7%—were not in education, employment or training, compared with 12.3% of young women. The CSJ highlights that the proportion of young men who are NEET is climbing. That can snowball into strain on health and relationships or tip over into the criminal justice system; when it gets really bad, we see very high suicide rates, as we have in Cornwall, particularly for men. However, there are examples of community-led interventions that help young men to find positive male role models. I see them across my constituency. We have a Men Walking and Talking Group, which brings men together to walk, talk openly and support each other. It is often much easier to talk walking side by side than face to face. That group has been meeting for over 75 weeks, with good turnout. We also have ABandOfBrothers, which mentors young men aged 18 to 25 who are caught up in or at risk of getting into the criminal justice system. They are paired with older men who volunteer to act as mentors. They get outside, talk to each other and offer a community-based opportunity to strengthen cohesion and support young men who have often had chaotic lives and are trying to navigate the complexities of growing up. Having a supportive foundation is really important when young men become dads themselves. That was the goal of DadPad, created in 2012 by Julian Bose from Truro. Having personal experience of the lack of guidance for expectant fathers, he developed a guide himself to support men navigating that transition. We need to reach boys far earlier to avoid the formation of the empty space in the first place. Across Cornwall, we have holiday and sports programmes, such as football camps run by Plymouth Argyle’s community trust, that give young people healthy environments and men to look up to outside of home and school. Those community-led initiatives are important, but they cannot fill the gap on their own. The men’s health strategy published by the Government last November provides a policy framework to tackle the empty space. By addressing early on the physical and mental health inequalities that boys and men face, we create the structural conditions whereby young men can succeed. For the last three years, I have tried to be both dad and mum. Obviously, I cannot, but I am very lucky that there are uncles, teachers, sportspeople, godparents, grandparents and cousins who can all provide effective examples for my son and other young men. In Cornwall, we have great examples of groups providing those opportunities. When the national policy and local initiatives align, we can ensure that young men have many positive examples so that they can build their aspirations, grow into their masculinity and benefit themselves, their future families and society as a whole.

• 10 Sept 2026 · Fathers and Positive Male Role Models · Hansard source

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  Does my hon. Friend recognise that it can be particularly difficult for men in the armed forces, who are often away? Even were there a willingness to provide paternity leave at 90% of pay, sometimes they simply cannot get the time. That is another thing that we need to consider when we are talking about male role models—men who work away.

• 10 Sept 2026 · Social Housing Bill [Lords] · Hansard source

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  I welcome the measures in the Bill on right to buy, including those on exempting properties in designated rural areas and council homes for market rent from the scheme. I welcome Baroness Taylor’s commitment to look at introducing a power for those rural areas to be designated in regulations, and potentially with local authorities. Between 1979 and 2025, Cornwall council sold off nearly 11,000 council houses, which is more than the current remaining HRA council housing stock. Meanwhile, we have nearly 25,000 households on the housing register and more than 800 people in temporary and emergency accommodation. Too often, homes that were once part of the social housing stock have been converted into holiday lets or student accommodation, which places huge pressure on an already stretched housing market. The covenants and deeds of ex-council houses, which are intended to prevent them from being used for profit, could and should be properly enforced. I recently found a former council home on the Beacon in Falmouth being advertised on a website for £2,500 a week. That is not right. Our ambition for council homes must reach every corner of the country, including rural and coastal communities such as those in Cornwall, where the need is so acute. One of the barriers to delivering more council housing locally is the level of HRA debt, which is an important factor alongside repairs, the state of the construction market and council expertise in building. Will the Government please look at options to help councils build when they are faced with such barriers?

• 10 Sept 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  I very much welcome the procurement changes that this Government have brought in. In the summer, the docks in my constituency lost a UK Research and Innovation contract on the RRS Sir David Attenborough to a Danish dockyard. Can the Minister assure me that the new rules will refer to agencies across government, rather than just procurements within Government?

• 10 Sept 2026 · Severe Weather Incidents · Hansard source

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  Returning to the topic of Cornwall, the Minister mentioned the possibility that Cornwall could be a pilot area for storm resilience measures, so it would be good to hear more about that. Measures to raise awareness would be very welcome, and guidelines for how people in Cornwall should act—on an individual, a local emergency plan, a council and a unitary level—would be useful going forward. Could the Minister say more about that?

• 9 Sept 2026 · Ticket Price Regulation: Live Events · Hansard source

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  Does my hon. Friend agree that community-owned venues are better protected against that kind of touting? If live music belonged to the people who watched it and used it, that would be the way to protect it most—through community and co-operative ownership.

• 8 Sept 2026 · Israel and Palestine · Hansard source

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  My constituent, Jim Henderson, was killed in the World Central Kitchen attack on 1 April 2024. Two weeks ago, the Israeli authorities said there would be no further investigation. Our Government and the Canadian and Australian Governments condemn that decision. The commander who ordered the strike said he does not regret it. What more can we do to ensure there is accountability?

• 7 Sept 2026 · Housing Revenue Account: Council Houses · Hansard source

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  11. What support her Department is providing to councils to help them use their housing revenue account to build council houses.

• 7 Sept 2026 · Housing Revenue Account: Council Houses · Hansard source

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  This Government have committed to council housing and taken steps to boost it, which is fantastic. Cornwall council’s housing revenue account has struggled to build because it has had to invest in repairs, meaning that it has had to reduce the amount of funds available annually for new homes. Of course, another of the barriers to delivering new council homes is debt; over £90 million of it is the result of self-financing arrangements dating back to 2012. If that debt were reduced, Cornwall council and others could do more. Will the Government consider options to write off HRA debt, or at least provide lower-cost financing such as that made available to registered providers through the National Housing Bank?

• 3 Sept 2026 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Over the recess, two serious incidents happened in Truro in my constituency—one led to a death, and one involved a very large knife. Neighbourhood policing in my constituency has been decimated, more recently due to sickness and officers being continually seconded to other duties. Will the Leader of the House take my concerns to colleagues in the Home Office about the allocation of neighbourhood policing in Truro and Falmouth and the regulations on the size of knives in food establishments?

• 2 Sept 2026 · Rural Upper-tier Local Authorities · Hansard source

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  It is an honour to serve under your chairship, Mrs Barker. I thank the hon. Member for North Shropshire (Helen Morgan) for securing this debate, which is important and relevant to me. I will probably shorten my speech a little, as the Minister is getting a double dose of Cornwall this afternoon—I apologise for that. We underwent major local government consolidation early in Cornwall. We became a unitary, from a county council and six districts, in 2009. We are now the third largest unitary in the country by population and the fourth largest by area, but the 12th least densely populated of the 62. That creates quite unique opportunities, but also challenges. I want to talk a bit about third-tier councils, because the establishment of our large unitary coincided with austerity. The council withdrew from quite a lot of services—all but the most statutory, really. That meant that the third-tier town and parish councils stepped up and took the reins, preventing the sell-off and closure of all sorts of things, such as green spaces, toilets, libraries and leisure centres—so much of the infrastructure that made our town special. It is great having services run by the people who live there and use them, but there are issues that need sorting out. When third-tier councillors’ councils grow, they still get no pay or expenses. We also have conduct issues clogging up the desks of upper-tier council monitoring officers, who do not have the teeth to sort them out. Precepts in towns have grown significantly larger than in rural parishes. People on one side of a road might be paying £30 for their precept, while those on the other side are paying for everything in the town, so their precept could be £400-plus a year, and obviously those parish residents will still rely on those services. Although third-tier councils are now big in Cornwall and have big budgets—£5 million or £6 million—they are still not recognised or trusted to get external funding. Everything has to come through the unitary, which can lead to a parent-child relationship. In the previous White Paper, we had the support of the previous—and now current—Secretary of State for sorting some of those issues out, as well as things like remote voting and meetings for third-tier councillors. I really hope the Department will pick that up again for third-tier councils. On devolution, obviously the Prime Minister made a statement yesterday, which was very welcome. The focus on further devolution and growth in every postcode is very welcome to those of us in places like Cornwall. We did have a devolution deal back in 2015. It was the first non-metropolitan devo deal. We got a level 2 deal in 2023. There have been a number of situations in which we have benefited quite a lot. On public transport, for example, we got the power to franchise buses and make enhanced partnerships back in 2015. So far, we have gone into enhanced partnerships, but we are now running a pilot to see how franchising could work in rural areas, where it is much more difficult to make it work. We picked it up and ran with it. We were the first rural area to introduce smart ticketing, for example. It will be interesting for us and North Yorkshire to see how franchising could be possible in a rural place. Devolution could also be really important for housing. We are working towards a memorandum of understanding with Homes England, but a full strategic place partnership would also be helpful and important to us. Turning to economic growth, we lost all our EU funding in 2020, which led to a real slowdown in our growth. We did have the shared prosperity fund, but that is now finished. We had access to the Kernow industrial growth fund, which was fantastic, but we continue to need economic growth support in emerging areas, which chimes and aligns very well with the Government’s industrial strategy. The Prime Minister has been talking a lot about the devolution of post-16 skills. In Cornwall, we know our businesses—so does the council, and the further education providers. That could work really well for us, so I am really excited to talk about a future devolution deal with the Prime Minister, as well as making the epic trip to Manchester and going to No. 10 North. Although devolution is an exciting example of progress, it cannot overcome the financial pressures facing our more rural councils. We have heard some examples of things that cost more. Cornwall’s core spending power fell between 2010 and 2018 because of austerity and that Conservative Government, but funding has improved since then and the Government have made efforts to create a fairer funding settlement. Nevertheless, we are still below others in real terms. We have also used the second homes council tax premium, which brought in around £23 million, but even with that we remain in that position. Rurality and peripherality make things cost more. We have heard some examples already, but I want to mention temporary accommodation, as a room in a Travelodge costs £50 in the winter and £100 in the summer. Meanwhile, home-to-school transport is crazy expensive. We cannot use buses and end up using taxis, and there are long distances involved, which makes it difficult. Furthermore, contracts for emergency accommodation also go through the roof in the summer. In children’s social care, there are very few providers and contracts get very few bidders. It is very difficult and we end up having people placed out of Cornwall, which is a very long way to go and is not good for the population. There is also a population increase in the summer; we get about 4 million visitors. That is fantastic and it is good for our economy, but it increases demand on vital services, particularly on things such as environmental health, waste collection and emergency services, as well as public amenities. Something like an overnight visitor levy could be used for that, and we are quite excited about the potential for that to be devolved. In conclusion, Cornwall highlights the opportunities and the challenges of rural upper-tier authorities. We are further down the line than a lot of other authorities—we have had a unitary authority for a long time—and we have seen where that takes us, particularly having lost services that are then picked up by the third tiers. Devolution will be good for us because it will mean that those decisions are taken locally, but for rural authorities to really thrive, that funding needs to reflect the additional costs and pressures of where we are in those sparsely populated areas and the fact that transport in particular is so difficult for us.

• 2 Sept 2026 · EU Membership Referendum: Impact on the UK · Hansard source

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  It is an honour to serve under your chairship, Ms Butler. I will talk about the impact of the EU referendum on my part of the UK. In ’99, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly was recognised as a region in the EU in its own right and granted objective 1 status, reflecting the fact that we were one of the poorest areas not just in the UK but in western Europe. We received over €1 billion in EU funding between 2014 and 2020. Our economy would not have grown as much as it did over the 20 years of objective 1 status without EU money, but the impact went far beyond economic growth. To give some examples: on trains, we had a passing loop and points put into our train service, which made it much quicker and better; on buses, we set up park and ride; on cars, we had the dualling of the A30. We had an airport funded, which is now floundering. On renewables, United Downs meant our first geothermal power plant was established, while on culture, we had the Hall for Cornwall. In healthcare we had dental and medical schools; we have a combined university campus in Cornwall for the first time. The impacts were huge, and we lost a great deal because of the referendum. Almost everywhere people go in Cornwall, they can see a distinctive—but far too small—blue sign signifying that a building or something else was funded by the EU. That was transformational for us. In 2016, the leave campaign promised that Cornwall and the UK as a whole would not be worse off. That promise has fallen short. We did get shared prosperity funding from the Government afterwards and, along with the other Cornish Labour MPs, I helped to secure the Kernow industrial growth fund for economic growth, but there is a gap: because of that funding, other Government support dwindled. We are now looking forward to a devolution deal, as the Prime Minister mentioned yesterday, to make sure that some of that capacity and growth is restored. The impact on our rural communities has been significant, as my hon. Friend the Member for Hexham (Joe Morris) pointed out: particularly on our fishers, who were sold out by the leave campaign, and on our farmers, who had a rocky and uncertain road out of the common agricultural policy and the unhelpful trade deals that we had to deal with. Fortunately, we now have a new land use strategy and the environmental land management deal, and we are working our way out of that. On exports, this Government are looking at a new EU trade and veterinary deal as well.

• 2 Sept 2026 · EU Membership Referendum: Impact on the UK · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend makes a good point, which I was rushing through due to lack of time. The impact on farmers has been huge in so many ways, particularly with exports and imports. It is really important that the sanitary and phytosanitary agreement takes that into account. We are lucky in that we are hoping for a fast outcome on that agreement, to try to mend some of the terrible damage that has been done to our food sector. To conclude, perhaps the most pernicious aspect—maybe even more than the financial trauma—was the way that the Brexit vote split us as a society and hardened and coarsened our discourse. Families fell out. We are still polarised, quick to anger and less tolerant. Politicians and the media—all of us, really—had a part to play in that, and that is taking even longer to fix.

• 1 Sept 2026 · Face-to-Face Banking: Rural Areas · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Wishart. I thank the hon. Member for South Devon (Caroline Voaden)—who faces issues similar to those we have in Cornwall—for securing this debate. Lloyds, the last bank in Falmouth, closed in March. Big banks have been pulling their branches out of our towns and cities at great speed since covid. From the Moor to Market Street in Falmouth, the most obviously empty and degrading buildings are those that used to have banks in them. The population of Falmouth and Penryn, plus the villages, is approaching 30,000. We now have a banking hub, which opened when Lloyds closed. However, like the hub mentioned by my hon. Friend the Member for South West Norfolk (Terry Jermy), our hub has only a temporary location, in the town council offices, and I am concerned that it does not have a more permanent home. None of the numerous empty buildings in Falmouth —most of which used to be banks—is decreed suitable for a more permanent banking hub. Ours is one of the 230 banking hubs now in the UK. I support the Government’s commitment to increase that number to 350—if not more—by the end of this Parliament. I hope that more of those banking hubs find a permanent home. The Post Office had been the last bastion against that change until now. Customers are directed to post offices by closing banks, but that is now changing. The franchise model that the Post Office has adopted means that it relies on bigger stores to run post offices, which leaves it vulnerable to high street closures. The post office in Truro—Cornwall’s capital—is closing in October because it resides inside a TGJones that used to be a WH Smith. Due to the Post Office insisting on finding another franchise rather than a direct store, we have to wait for a commercial procurement process for a host company, which will leave the capital of Cornwall without a post office—we do not know for how long—and vulnerable to the same thing happening again. The Post Office can justify that by saying that there is another post office just under a mile away as the crow flies, but it is a tiny shop across a dual carriageway, and it is in no way suitable to serve the capital city of Cornwall.

• 14 Jul 2026 · Coastal Communities: Isolation and Hidden Deprivation · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Alec. I am so pleased that my hon. Friend the Member for Isle of Wight West (Richard Quigley) secured this debate. Isolation and hidden deprivation in coastal communities is such an important issue. Cornwall is not an island, like the Isle of Wight, but we are a rural peninsula with sea on three sides. We were identified by the EU as one of the poorest areas of western Europe, and we received the highest level of structural funding from 1999. Since then, we have not often been selected to receive Government funding that uses the indices of multiple deprivation as a measure, because those indices favour more densely populated areas at the expense of sparser, more rural parts of the country. Poor infrastructure, high housing costs, precarious seasonal employment and lack of access to healthcare, transport and education are major issues for Cornish residents, and they are all drivers of poverty in rural and coastal places. This particularly hits our young people and the opportunities open to them, and in the short time I have, I want to talk about that. Professor Ovenden-Hope has written about the concept of educational isolation in places such as ours. The problems include recruiting teachers, getting to school, and low aspiration due to the distance that young people have to travel to get further and higher education. The education maintenance allowance, set up in 2004, was a real boon to places such as mine. The two FE colleges in the middle of Cornwall grew massively, but that meant that sixth forms shut. Although there is a great system of education and apprenticeships, the EMA’s abolition left a real problem, with students across Cornwall having to travel long distances to those FE colleges without the money to help them do that. There was a bursary, but bus routes were scrapped, the private providers left, and we have been left with young people really struggling to get to education—further education particularly—and to the work placements and job opportunities that are so important for them. In urban places with mayors, there is free or cheap travel for under-19s. In Cornwall, the college funds most of it, which results in real inequity. We now have real issues with our young people not being able to access the work opportunities or FE that they would like, and they are therefore dropping out earlier. That has a real impact, and it places them at a distinct disadvantage compared with young people in urban areas. I have raised this issue with the potential new Prime Minister, and I really hope that we can address it.

• 13 Jul 2026 · Immigration and Asylum Bill · Hansard source

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  Even in rural areas like Cornwall, community schemes welcoming Syrian refugees are working very well. They show that community sponsorship schemes can work well across the country.

• 8 Jul 2026 · Draft Batteries (Placing on the Market) (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2026 · Hansard source

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  Does the hon. and learned Member agree that we will be aligning ourselves with this regulation? We will consult on aligning with it in the autumn. I understand that these regulations will make batteries safer and easier to recycle. In the long term, we need to do this anyway.

• 8 Jul 2026 · NHS Corridor Care · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Tooting (Dr Allin-Khan) for organising this debate. It is really important and very timely. Corridor care is a visible symptom of the pressure our NHS is under. According to Age UK, the number of people experiencing corridor care has grown 563-fold since 2015. In Cornwall, where I am from, it is no longer a seasonal response to winter or summer pressures but happens all year round. This is true of the Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS trust in my constituency, which includes Treliske, Cornwall’s only major acute hospital. On any given day in May, 31 patients in RCHT were receiving corridor care in the emergency department and 16 on the wards. One ex-clinician said to me that corridor care “distresses patients, costs lives and demoralises staff”. Patients treated in temporary escalation spaces face a lack of privacy and dignity and limited access to necessities such as food, water and toileting. They experience worse outcomes as well. The Royal College of Emergency Medicine has estimated that in 2024 there were 16,500-plus associated excess deaths related to stays of 12 hours or more before being admitted. We know that part of the root cause of the problem is a lack of bed space and staff in hospitals. While Treliske’s overall four-hour performance has averaged 45.8% so far this year, its performance for patients admitted to hospital averages 26.3%, so patients just are not moving through the system quickly enough. Since this Government came to power, there have been some welcome improvements, particularly in ambulance handover times. Our local ambulance trust, the South Western Ambulance Service NHS foundation trust, has got much faster at moving patients from ambulances, so that the ambulances do not waste so much time sitting outside the emergency department, but of course, moving patients faster can increase the queue in ED and the need for corridor care there. On any given day in May, 103 hospital beds were occupied by patients who were fit to leave, which represents over 15% of all general and acute beds within the trust. It is crucial that we address gaps in community and social care provision and strengthen the integration between hospitals and social care so that these patients can come out faster, reducing the pressure. The 10-year plan is committed to ending corridor care, and I welcome that emphasis. Part of that approach involves strengthening co-ordination between the NHS, social care and the voluntary sector. We have very good neighbourhood health teams in Cornwall. They are ahead of the game and their community health and wellbeing workers are proven to make a real impact on hospital admissions. The NHS’s urgent and emergency care plan sets out a number of other important measures to reduce corridor care, including reducing internal discharge delays of more than 48 hours and investing £450 million in same-day emergency care. I welcome the expansion of same-day emergency care capacity at our community hospitals and the efforts that are being made by mobilising the third sector. However, that must be balanced with the fact that sending people home so early without proper rehab can increase the risk of them coming back and increase the demands on GP surgeries. Kernow Health CIC runs out-of-hours GPs, a 111 advice service, and a line for clinicians to talk to paramedics. That has led to some people not having to go into hospital. We also have a specialist falls car that can help with nine callouts a day, and stop people going into hospital when they fall. So much more could be done and there have been many suggestions, but ultimately, corridor care needs to be treated as a system-wide problem. We must also look again at the way we treat people at weekends, because closure over a weekend can make such a difference.

• 7 Jul 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  There is so much innovation going on in my constituency for floating offshore wind in the Celtic sea, including by companies such as Reflex Marine, but we need the test and demo models up in the Celtic sea to test the technology. The contracts for difference in the next auction will be crucial for offshore wind in the Celtic sea. Will the Minister commit to recognising that in future auction rounds?