Kate Osamor MP: speeches 2025

Speeches

• 18 Dec 2025 · Legal Professions: Diversity · Hansard source

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  5. What steps she is taking to help to improve levels of diversity in legal professions.

• 18 Dec 2025 · Legal Professions: Diversity · Hansard source

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  I thank the Solicitor General for her response; I know she has done a lot of work in this area. I need to read out a quotation in the Chamber from the Lammy review: “A fundamental source of mistrust” in the criminal justice system among black, Asian and minority ethnic communities “is the lack of diversity among those who wield power within it.” What impact will the proposed judge-only trials and the empowering of legal professionals have on the trust of under-represented groups in our legal system?

• 18 Dec 2025 · Air Quality · Hansard source

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  2. What steps she is taking to improve air quality.

• 18 Dec 2025 · Air Quality · Hansard source

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  The Government’s policy to strengthen standards for new waste incinerators to receive planning approval was a step in the right direction. However, it was no comfort for my constituents, whose health will be impacted by the massive new Edmonton incinerator, which is currently being built. Can I urge the Government to take further action to reduce the incentive for waste authorities to continue to rely on incineration for decades to come?

• 16 Dec 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T8. Home Office changes to skilled worker visa thresholds will impact large numbers of prison officers who have migrated from countries such as Nigeria. The Prison Officers Association has made it clear that the prison system could collapse if this policy is applied. Will Ministers please update the House on what conversations are ongoing with the Home Office and whether there will be any exceptions?

• 1 Dec 2025 · Child Poverty Strategy · Hansard source

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  7. What recent progress the child poverty taskforce has made on publishing a child poverty strategy.

• 1 Dec 2025 · Child Poverty Strategy · Hansard source

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  I welcome the announcement that the two-child benefit cap will be scrapped, lifting hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty. However, according to the Institute for Public Policy Research and Praxis, there are an estimated 382,000 children in poverty whose families are subject to no recourse to public funds and who will not be helped by that measure. Will the Secretary of State promise me that the child poverty strategy will include extra assistance for migrant households?

• 22 Jul 2025 · 10-Year Health Plan: Prevention of Ill Health · Hansard source

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  I thank the Minister for her response. Sickle cell disease disproportionately affects people from African and Caribbean backgrounds, yet systematic inequalities persist. A recent NHS Race and Health Observatory report reveals that research funding for cystic fibrosis is 2.5 times higher, despite similar prevalence. Will the Minister commit to addressing the chronic underfunding and ensure equitable investment in research and workforce specialist training for sickle cell patients across the NHS?

• 22 Jul 2025 · 10-Year Health Plan: Prevention of Ill Health · Hansard source

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  8. What assessment he has made of the potential impact of the 10-year health plan for England on the prevention of ill health.

• 22 Jul 2025 · Humanitarian Situation in Sudan · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dr Huq. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Huddersfield (Harpreet Uppal) for securing this important and timely debate. The humanitarian crisis in Sudan is among the most acute and neglected emergencies in the world today. Since the outbreak of violence in April 2023, Sudan has become the site of the largest displacement crisis in the world. As of July 2025, more than 12 million people have been forcibly displaced due to the ongoing conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces. We are witnessing not just a conflict but hell on earth. In 2024, Sudan’s humanitarian indicators collapsed even further. Famine looms large, cholera outbreaks have intensified, and more than 80% of hospitals have been destroyed or rendered unusable. In El Fasher and North Kordofan, civilians are trapped under relentless shelling. MSF withdrew after repeated attacks on health facilities, illustrating systematic violations of international humanitarian law. In its 2025 report, MSF warned: “Mass atrocities are underway in Sudan’s North Darfur region”. People are not only caught in indiscriminate heavy fighting but actively targeted by the RSF and its allies, notably on the basis of their ethnicity. The RSF has carried out massacres, torched villages and attacked refugee camps in Darfur, forcing hundreds of thousands to flee, including many who were originally displaced during the Darfur war in the 2000s. Sexual violence against women and girls from particular ethnic groups has been documented. Those atrocities, highlighted by the deputy prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, are war crimes and crimes against humanity. Despite the UK’s £120 million pledge at the London conference on Sudan, the UN’s humanitarian response plan remains less than 50% funded. Aid is stranded in Port Sudan. Relief convoys are looted. People are starving, not because food is unavailable but because it cannot reach them. The crisis demands a bold and principled response. Therefore, I call on the Government to address six points. First, they should release the remainder of the committed £120 million, to ensure that support reaches those in Sudan and neighbouring countries that host displaced people. Secondly, they should reconsider their wide cuts to the UK aid budget and safeguard long-term funding, especially for the post-conflict rebuilding phase. Thirdly, the Government should use diplomatic levers to pressure countries, particularly the UAE, which has been credibly accused of arming the RSF with advanced Chinese weaponry, in violation of the UN arms embargo. Amnesty International has documented GB50A guided bombs and AH4 howitzer systems, previously exported only to the UAE, being used by the RSF forces in Khartoum and Darfur. Fourthly, the Government should push for a fully monitored ceasefire and secure unhindered humanitarian access. Fifthly, they should expand resettlement schemes for Sudanese nationals, to ensure swift and compassionate protection. Sixthly, the Government should back accountability mechanisms, including the UN fact-finding mission and the International Criminal Court, to ensure that justice is served. I honour the work of the Sudanese diaspora in the UK. Their advocacy, resilience and courage must be reflected in our foreign policy response. Sudan may feel distant to some, but the consequences of our silence are all too near—lost lives, fractured communities and a betrayal of our humanitarian commitments. Impunity is a threat to international security. If international law is to mean anything, there must be consequences. Let us be clear in this House today: the Sudanese people are not forgotten. We stand with them.

• 5 Jun 2025 · Infected Blood Compensation Scheme · Hansard source

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  The infected blood inquiry heard from black and Asian victims who say that they were even more dramatically let down due to discrimination, which has helped to create an understandable mistrust of the authorities and a lack of faith that justice will be done. Please could the Minister ensure that he does all he can to reach out to all communities to encourage everyone who is entitled to apply for the compensation scheme to do so?

• 5 Jun 2025 · Infected Blood Compensation Scheme · Hansard source

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  19. What recent progress he has made on establishing an infected blood compensation scheme.

• 3 Jun 2025 · Female Offenders · Hansard source

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  21. What steps her Department is taking to support female offenders.

• 3 Jun 2025 · Female Offenders · Hansard source

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  I thank the Minister for his preview. As chair of the all-party parliamentary group on women affected by the criminal justice system, I welcome the independent sentencing review’s final report. I note that the review encourages the Government to consider introducing statutory defences for victims of domestic abuse, including where coercion has been a factor in their offending, to prevent unnecessarily criminalising them. Will the Government look further at those proposals?

• 24 Apr 2025 · Infected Blood Compensation Scheme · Hansard source

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  My constituent, who is 77 years old, is a victim of the infected blood scandal. He is worried that haemophilia patients infected with hepatitis are being sidelined by the compensation scheme. He tells me that he was told those on the special category mechanism with hepatitis C would be upgraded to the same level as those with cirrhosis, but that position has now been reversed. Will the Minister look into my constituent’s concerns about disparities for haemophiliacs infected with hepatitis?

• 24 Apr 2025 · Infected Blood Compensation Scheme · Hansard source

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  1. What recent progress he has made on the infected blood compensation scheme.

• 1 Apr 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  Last week, BBC reporter Mark Lowen was arrested and deported from Turkey after covering the ongoing protest movement, as part of a broader crackdown on journalists. This followed the arrest of President Erdoğan’s leading political rival. Will the Foreign Secretary commit to conveying the concerns of this House to his Turkish counterpart at the earliest opportunity?

• 27 Feb 2025 · Diocese of Jerusalem · Hansard source

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  On the west bank and in Jerusalem, the security situation and the economic conditions are worsening, with increasing violence and a decline in the number of pilgrims visiting. That has led to a rising level of emigration, as many Christians leave the Holy Land, where generations before them had lived. Will my hon. Friend outline the work the Church is doing to assist the diocese in supporting its dwindling congregations in these difficult times?

• 27 Feb 2025 · Diocese of Jerusalem · Hansard source

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  7. What support the Church is providing to the diocese of Jerusalem, in the context of the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

• 25 Feb 2025 · Sudan · Hansard source

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  14. What steps he is taking to help tackle the humanitarian situation in Sudan.

• 25 Feb 2025 · Sudan · Hansard source

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  In recent days, Sudanese armed forces have advanced into El-Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan state, ending a two-year siege by the Rapid Support Forces. This has caused serious food shortages in North Kordofan, which is deemed to be suffering famine conditions under the integrated food security phase classification. What are the Government doing to ensure that aid is fast-tracked into the city?

• 11 Feb 2025 · Hospices · Hansard source

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  7. What steps his Department is taking to support hospices.

• 11 Feb 2025 · Hospices · Hansard source

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  North London Hospice in my constituency has a site in Winchmore Hill that receives one third of its funding from the NHS, with the rest coming from the generosity of the public. Many of its services, such as out-patients and wellbeing, are funded entirely by donations. While it welcomes the announcement of the £100 million in funding, what assurances can the Government provide about long-term hospice funding, given the significant delays in accessing funding from integrated care boards this year? Hospices are anxious to seek clarity about the allocation and distribution of this funding.

• 14 Jan 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T9. Violence in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo is escalating, with both the March 23 group and Government forces claiming recent advances. The toll on civilians is devastating, with rising deaths, displacement, rape and gender-based violence. Can the Minister outline how the Government are supporting the Angolan-led Luanda process towards a ceasefire?