Jess Brown-Fuller MP: speeches

Speeches

• 21 May 2025 · Ukraine: Forcibly Deported Children · Hansard source

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  The strength of feeling in the room is shown by the raw emotion of the hon. Gentleman and that of my hon. Friend the Member for Horsham (John Milne). Does the hon. Gentleman agree that the most important thing we can do today is take the opportunity to come together, across the parties, and recognise the need to continue to support these Ukrainian families?

• 21 May 2025 · Ukraine: Forcibly Deported Children · Hansard source

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  Does the hon. Member agree that we should support not only the return of the abducted Ukrainian children, but their reintegration into their families and communities through rehabilitation programmes that address the psychological and developmental trauma that has been inflicted by their forced deportation?

• 15 May 2025 · World Asthma Day · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Dr Huq, and always a pleasure to see the Minister in her place. I thank the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) for securing this important and timely debate to mark World Asthma Day, which took place last week. As the chair of the all-party parliamentary group for respiratory health, he is a tireless advocate for the millions of people across the UK living with lung conditions—and, indeed, multiple other conditions. As my party’s health spokesperson, I have been in this Chamber many times for debates that he has secured. He is certainly a credit to the less-spoken-about health conditions. His commitment to raising awareness and driving change in health is deeply appreciated, and I commend him for his leadership. To mark World Asthma Day 2025, the Global Initiative for Asthma has chosen the theme “Make Inhaled Treatments Accessible for ALL”. It is pertinent that this debate follows one on international development and global health—a powerful reminder of the need to ensure people with asthma have access to the treatments they need, not just to manage their day-to-day symptoms, but to prevent life-threatening attacks. Asthma remains one of the most common chronic health conditions worldwide, yet, as the hon. Gentleman clearly set out, progress over the past two decades have been slow. Lung conditions are now the third biggest killer in the UK. Hospitalisations due to respiratory illness have doubled in the past 20 years, and the UK has seen little improvement in outcomes over that time. Those are not just statistics—they are people, and they reflect a systematic failure to treat respiratory health with the seriousness it demands. There are 7.2 million people living with diagnosed asthma in the UK today, including 2 million children—one in nine adults and one in eight children. The UK’s asthma death rate is higher than the OECD average, and the highest in Europe. Every day, four people in this country die from asthma attacks. Every 10 seconds, someone experiences an asthma attack that could be life-threatening. That should be a wake-up call. In my constituency of Chichester, 7.5% of GP patients aged six and over have been prescribed some form of asthma-related medication in the past year. That statistic is higher than the national average, and it represents hundreds of families trying to manage a condition that, with the right support, should not prevent anyone from living a full and active life. Yet time and again those are the families let down in other areas, by poor housing, air pollution—as the hon. Member for Bournemouth West (Jessica Toale) mentioned—inconsistent care and a public health system that has been hollowed out over the past decade. The UK should be a world leader in public health. We have a long history of innovation, grassroots sports, high-quality food production and leading medical research, but, thanks to the previous Government, we now lag behind our international peers. It is profoundly troubling that our children experience some of the worst asthma outcomes across Europe and other high-income countries. The Liberal Democrats are calling on the Government to take urgent action. First and foremost, we must reverse the Conservative cuts to public health funding, but we must not stop there. We need a comprehensive approach that tackles the root causes of poor lung health, from poverty and cold, damp housing to polluted air and hazardous working environments. We want an increase to the public health grant delivered by local authorities, with part of that funding set out for communities facing the greatest health inequalities. Those communities must be supported by co-designed solutions, including better smoking cessation services, stronger action on air quality and improvements to housing and occupational health. Prevention must be at the heart of our approach. That means investing in primary care, supporting individuals to improve their own health and giving local areas the tools they need to build healthier environments. It is one of the most effective ways that we can reduce pressure on NHS services and deliver better value for money to taxpayers. The Liberal Democrats would also take decisive action on air pollution by passing a clean air Act based on World Health Organisation guidelines and establishing a new air quality agency to enforce those standards. We must do more to ensure access to consistent, high-quality care for those already living with long-term respiratory conditions such as asthma. That includes guaranteeing that people with severe asthma have access to a named GP so that they do not have to constantly retell their story to new clinicians, and increasing the capacity of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency so that new treatments can reach patients more quickly. I was on a Delegated Legislation Committee earlier this week, with the Minister, where the funding for the MHRA was increased. However, it was not clear whether that would speed up the process of getting new medicines to patients. As the hon. Member for Strangford rightly pointed out, the scale of this issue demands urgency. Four asthma deaths every day and a life-threatening attack every 10 seconds are tragedies could be prevented, if only we prioritised respiratory health as we ought to. Will the Minister, therefore, commit to setting aside part of the public health grant to support those communities facing the largest health inequalities? Will the Government propose a new clean air Act based on World Health Organisation guidelines, to ensure those with severe, long-term respiratory conditions are not breathing in harmful pollutants? Finally, when can we expect the publication of the 10-year health plan, and will respiratory health be included? Asthma is not just a clinical issue; it is a question of justice and of whether we are willing to tackle the social and environmental factors that make people ill in the first place. I hope the Minister will reflect seriously on what has been said today.

• 27 Feb 2025 · War in Ukraine: Third Anniversary · Hansard source

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  I thank the right hon. Member for Chingford and Woodford Green (Sir Iain Duncan Smith) for securing this important debate. I recognise that, quite rightly, the debate has focused on our responsibility to support Ukraine’s war effort against Putin’s unprovoked and illegal attack in Ukraine, but I wish to talk about our continued commitment to Ukrainians here, as the hon. Member for Gosport (Dame Caroline Dinenage) and my hon. Friend the Member for Bath (Wera Hobhouse) both mentioned. Since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, more than 218,000 Ukrainians have arrived in the UK under the Ukraine family and sponsorship schemes. I am incredibly proud of my constituency of Chichester, which has taken more Ukrainian refugees than any other city in this country, and those refugees have now become a valued part of our community. Now more than ever, we must stand firmly with our Ukrainian friends, both in defending their sovereign territory and in ensuring that those who are here can live safely and comfortably. The original visa scheme, as the Minister will know, was for three years, and with the three-year anniversary being marked this week, many visas are now expiring. The Government have asked Ukrainians to apply for the Ukraine permission extension scheme, which will extend their visa for a further 18 months. However, they are allowed to apply for that extension scheme only when their visa has 28 days or fewer left on it. This is causing myriad difficulties for that community, including in their ability to renew employment contracts, extend leases or set up new leases on rented accommodation, or commit to education opportunities. I had the opportunity to visit Bishop Luffa school in Chichester last month, and met a group of Ukrainian students, who have not only become well-liked by staff and students, but have excelled in their studies and are expected to finish their A-levels with high grades across the board in subjects such as mathematics and the sciences. Those students are the doctors and the scientists of the future, yet there is no clear direction from the Department for Education on how they should pursue higher education—be it via the same routes as their UK counterparts with whom they have studied, as refugees, or as international students. I have raised this matter with the Secretary of State for Education and I hope that there will be clearer guidance in the near future for students who are desperate to study in the UK.

• 27 Feb 2025 · War in Ukraine: Third Anniversary · Hansard source

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  Absolutely, I share my hon. Friend’s concerns about the fact that the time spent here is not counting towards the right to remain or settled status. As the hon. Member for Gosport mentioned, these families have found homes and built communities here in the UK, and they just want to know either way what will happen to them in the future. The young people I was speaking about are often cared for by one parent or by grandparents, while their other family members defend Ukraine’s sovereignty. Some families have reported that estate agents are requesting from these single-parent Ukrainian families a six-month up-front rental deposit. That is untenable across the country, but especially in areas such as Chichester, where the average one-bedroom flat is £1,200 a month. Employers are also asking for proof of visa status, which is causing families additional stress when they are waiting for a visa decision, sometimes just days before their visa expires. For those Ukrainians on zero-hours contracts, it is directly impacting their ability to earn money to contribute to UK society and provide a safe home for them and their dependants. If the Ukrainians were given a 90-day window before their visas expired, as originally proposed by the Home Office, rather than the very short timeframe they are being given, the situation could be vastly improved. I thank Opora, the UK charity supporting Ukrainians here in the UK, for all the support that it is giving those families who are navigating what can often be a complicated, convoluted and long process of reapplying for these schemes, and for taking the time to brief me properly on the situation that these families find themselves in. Today’s debate will rightly be dominated by what we can do for Ukraine and our steadfast support across the house, but I hope that the Minister is working closely with his Home Office colleagues so that, while we support the brave Ukrainians who are heroically defending their country, we can also continue to support the community of Ukrainians here in the UK.

• 29 Jan 2025 · Outsourcing: Government Departments · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Jeremy. I thank the hon. Member for Middlesbrough and Thornaby East (Andy McDonald) for securing today’s important debate. I think we can agree across the House that this debate is really about the workers, and the disproportionate effect that outsourcing has on some—especially those in the BAME community, as the hon. Member for Bradford East (Imran Hussain) and the right hon. Member for Hayes and Harlington (John McDonnell) mentioned. Time and again, we have seen examples of Government Departments outsourcing their obligations to others who have failed to fulfil their duties, representing poor value for money for the public. Examples of such systemic failures include procurement issues in the NHS, poor accommodation standards in the military, and failing, poorly designed programmes for tutoring in English schools. In 2022-23, the public sector spent around £326 billion—29% of its total spending—buying goods and services from the private sector. As my hon. Friend the Member for Carshalton and Wallington (Bobby Dean) reflected, that creates monopolies in the private sector, so support in the public sector is totally eroded and it is unable to provide those services any more. As the hon. Member for Normanton and Hemsworth (Jon Trickett) said, this means that a third of taxpayer money is now being spent on outsourcing. In the light of those figures, we must ensure that public procurement processes do not undermine confidence in our institutions, especially following years of a Conservative Government that caused significant damage to public trust in politics and public institutions. Let me give an example of the lack of accountability that the hon. Member for Normanton and Hemsworth talked about. With local authorities reneging on their responsibilities to manage new roads, land management companies such as FirstPort come in and charge excessive fees to homeowners. Politicians of all parties—the Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats—have hauled that company in to say, “You are treating your householders poorly,” but how do we actually hold them to account if they are a private company providing a private service? Nothing will change unless we bring the service back in house. During the covid pandemic, there were clear failures in procurement processes, particularly through the use of VIP lanes for Government contracts. That led to £9 billion being wasted on personal protective equipment that had to be written off, and £2.6 billion being spent on items deemed not suitable for the NHS, which accounted for one in 10 items purchased overall. It is imperative that robust rules are in place to guarantee that vital public spending is conducted effectively, efficiently and transparently, and that scandals like the misuse of VIP lanes will be avoided. There are huge opportunities in the NHS to get this right. The Government should investigate the merits of national commissioning and procurement of National Institute for Health and Care Excellence-approved digital technology, devices and diagnostics, much like is currently done for medicines. There are fantastic examples of integrated care boards using commissioned services that have improved patient experience and created a more joined-up health pathway, but we do not see those best-practice models rolled out across the whole of our healthcare service, because of the fragmented approach to procurement, with individual ICBs doing their own commissioning. Far from restricting choice for local NHS trusts, cutting the cost of new tech and digital services could make them available for the first time in areas where they currently are not available. Care boards often have to commission such innovations and services from companies separately, causing a far greater overall cost. As many Members have said today, we have no evidence that commissioning services out actually saves the public sector any money at all. The NHS has huge buying power and the Government should make the most of it to improve patient treatment. Commissioning based on NICE guidelines could also help clinicians to better determine which devices or digital innovations work best for their patients. Something that is often missed when we talk about outsourcing is that frontline services in healthcare are already all outsourced. Nobody working in the frontline of our healthcare professions is employed directly by the NHS. Our general practitioners, pharmacists, dentists and audiologists are all outsourced; they are all part of private companies. I recently saw the real effect of that, when a GP federation that provided doctors across my constituency and the wider area fell apart. Suddenly, lots of doctors who, as far as they were concerned, worked for the NHS were out of work with no recompense. We know that we have a crisis and that we need doctors on the frontline providing general practice services, but when that private company collapsed, there was nothing available for those doctors, even though they had always felt that they were part of the NHS. The Liberal Democrats also really want to improve the standard of Ministry of Defence housing by reviewing outsourced housing and maintenance contracts, which have represented poor value for money, leading to inadequate accommodation for our service personnel. The facilities are often outsourced, too, as the hon. Member for Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey (Graham Leadbitter) said. The Thorney Island barracks in my constituency have long called for improvements to accommodation and infrastructure facilities, so I was glad to hear about plans for new accommodation to be constructed there later this year. However, too many of our service personnel across the country have to put up with homes leaking sewage, inadequate rooms for their families and a lack of basic information about when improvements will be forthcoming. The MOD has historically failed to get good value for money from its management of contracts for service family accommodation, which it leases from Annington Property Ltd. In the 1990s, the Conservative Government sold off MOD accommodation to Annington, which made £550 million in profit in 2021, but the MOD is still responsible for the upkeep of the properties, with five maintenance contracts worth £640 million being established in 2022. We welcome the Government’s commitment to reviewing outsourced services through public interest tests to prevent a recurrence of scandals such as the PPE debacle and the challenges faced in MOD housing provision, but it is essential that outsourcing occurs with full transparency from Government Departments, to ensure that deals struck represent good value for money for the public and are not handouts to “VIPs” without a proper process in place. The Liberal Democrats would also ensure that Ministers received annual training to prevent further scandals about standards, and we would enshrine the ministerial code in legislation. We will continue to call for measures that strengthen tests to prevent misuse of public funds, in order to rebuild trust in our institutions.

• 28 Jan 2025 · Gaza: Humanitarian Situation · Hansard source

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  According to the UN, 1.9 million people in Gaza are currently displaced, which is 90% of the population. Half of them are children. How will the Minister work to secure the right of return and self-determination for Palestinians in Gaza, especially in the light of the calls from the US President to “clean out” Palestinians from the region?

• 7 Jan 2025 · Northern Gaza · Hansard source

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  Women who can get access to hospital provision in northern Gaza are undergoing C-sections without any anaesthetic, and new mothers—180 every day—are struggling to find clean water to provide formula for their new babies or continue to breastfeed, but Israel continues to restrict aid. The United Nations has made three attempts in the last three days to reach Gaza, and has been refused every time. The Minister has mentioned political solutions but seems to be avoiding consequences so I will ask the question again: what consequences can Israel expect from this Government if it continues to ignore international law and the urgent requirement to get the care that is needed for women and children in Gaza?

• 6 Jan 2025 · Support for Veterans · Hansard source

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  Maggie Haynes is the founder of Tuppenny Barn, a horticultural therapy charity in my constituency, and she is a veteran herself. She established a female veterans course after observing that the challenges faced by women leaving the armed forces combined with poor communication from the MOD was leaving them unaware of the services available to them. What is the Minister doing to improve support for female veterans?