Lauren Edwards MP: speeches

Speeches

• 19 May 2025 · Mental Health Bill [Lords] · Hansard source

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  I welcome today’s Second Reading of the Bill. I would like to focus on one aspect of the legislation: the removal of autism and learning disability from the definition of mental disorder under section 3 of the Mental Health Act 1983. I recently visited a wonderful local charity, the Challenging Behaviour Foundation. It is the only UK charity specifically focused on the needs of children, young people and adults with severe learning disabilities whose behaviour may be described as challenging, and their families. On that visit, I was shocked to learn that under the Mental Health Act, autistic people and people with a learning disability can be detained in mental health hospitals indefinitely, just because they are autistic or have a learning disability. I thank the hon. Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Dr Spencer) for sharing his extensive professional experience, but I disagree with him on one point: in my view, autism and learning disability are not mental health conditions, and I do not believe that they should be treated as such in law, which is a view shared by a lot of people in the sector who I have spoken to in advance of the debate. This issue is currently affecting a lot of people. As my hon. Friend the Member for Penistone and Stocksbridge (Dr Tidball) said, over 2,000 autistic people and people with a learning disability are in mental health hospitals in England today, the vast majority of whom are there under the Mental Health Act. Importantly, around 225 of them are under the age of 18, so this is affecting a lot of our young people. Mental health hospitals are often inappropriate for autistic people and people with a learning disability. Once detained, they can get stuck in those settings for many years, which can be deeply overwhelming and damaging and lead to lifelong trauma. As my hon. Friend the Member for Penistone and Stocksbridge mentioned, the average length of stay for current in-patients is nearly five years, and we have to ask ourselves why that is. The latest available data shows that the key reasons for delayed discharge are a lack of suitable housing and a lack of social care. Charities like CBF continue to hear worrying stories of abuse, over-medication, unnecessary restraint and seclusion in these settings. Back in 2011, “Panorama” uncovered abuse at Winterbourne View hospital, bringing attention to the fact that many people with a learning disability and autistic people were being detained in hospitals, when they could and should be living in the community. Since then, there have been numerous policy interventions and action plans from the previous Government. However, sadly they have not resulted in the changes promised and all national targets to reduce in-patient numbers have been missed; in fact, the numbers have increased. Legislative change is clearly needed, and I welcome the change to detention criteria in the Bill that will mean that autistic people and people with a learning disability cannot be detained for treatment unless they have a co-occurring mental health condition that requires in-patient mental health care. However, on page 72 of the impact assessment, the Government say that the proposed changes “will only be switched on when systems are able to demonstrate sufficient level of community support”. Ensuring appropriate provision of services in the community is crucial to supporting autistic people and those with a learning disability, so that they can be discharged from hospital, and so that we can prevent needs from escalating, and prevent admission to mental health hospitals. However, if there is no comprehensive, fully resourced plan to build capacity in the community and enable this change to be “switched on”, this vital reform could be delayed for far too long. I urge the Government to publish a comprehensive plan to ensure that the change to detention criteria can be commenced, and to ensure accountability for this process. Ideally, commencement would be in 2027, in line with modelling in the impact assessment. I also ask that those changes be co-produced with the people who will be affected by them. The previous Government’s “Building the Right Support Service Model” could act as the starting point, but I draw the Minister’s attention to the challenging behaviour national strategy group, co-ordinated by CBF, which has developed a co-produced, lifelong action plan that sets out not only the changes that need to be made to get community support right, but resources and best practice. I encourage the Minister to meet families to better understand the impact of inappropriate detention on people with a learning disability or autism and their families. I would be happy to help co-ordinate that through CBF.

• 5 Nov 2024 · Income Tax (Charge) · Hansard source

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  This Budget will improve the lives of so many of my constituents in Rochester and Strood. They will see the benefit in their wage slips, see the things they care most about in their community, such as the local pub and their high street, supported, and see their public services finally invested in again. Investment in the NHS through this Budget is key. It was the No. 1 issue raised on the doorsteps in the election and is perhaps best exemplified by the struggle to book a GP appointment. The simplest of tasks—for someone to seek help from a medical professional when they are ill—was made into what felt like an impossible task after 14 years of Conservative government. I reminded voters many times during the election that the NHS is always safer in Labour’s hands, so I am delighted to see that our first Budget sets us up to meet that promise so quickly. As others have mentioned, we have a record-breaking £22 billion increase in day-to-day spending, a £3.1 billion capital boost to pay for new technology and improve our buildings, and a landmark public consultation to set out a long-term plan for how the NHS develops over the next decade. I am proud that we are a Government who have been transparent and honest with people about our priorities to fund that investment. The Chancellor has delivered a Budget that protects working people and instead asks big businesses and the well off to contribute. The Budget does not dodge the tough choices just to get through the next media cycle, but instead is informed by Lord Darzi’s thorough point-in-time assessment of the state of the NHS that was handed back to us by the Conservatives. It lays the foundation to take the NHS from the analogue to digital, from hospital to community-led care and from treating sickness to focusing on prevention and promoting good health. Those approaches will take different forms across the country, but I draw the Minister’s attention to the potential for an elective care centre in the former Debenhams store on Chatham High Street in my constituency. I have written to the Secretary of State about this proposal, and I would welcome a conversation about its merits, particularly as it is a good example of the invest-to-save model that is promoted so well in the Budget. It would not only free up space at the Medway Maritime hospital and help tackle waiting lists, but would have further benefits by supporting town centre economic regeneration. I welcome provision in the Budget for a £600 million increase in local government spending to support social care. Like many MPs, I have a background in local government and I understand all too well how much the uplift is needed.

• 5 Nov 2024 · Income Tax (Charge) · Hansard source

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  I have only 20 seconds left, so apologies, but I will not. We all know that the social care sector needs to be transformed, and I hope that over time we can move to a more fully integrated health and social care system in this country. Future Budgets may be able to apply the same exemptions to charitable care homes as happens for the NHS. That would be to the benefit of places such as Frindsbury House in my constituency, which is run with great care and compassion by the Mortimer Society.

• 29 Jul 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T6. Last week, a horrific incident took place in my constituency, with the attack on uniformed Royal Engineer Lieutenant Colonel Mark Teeton on the streets of Brompton. Will my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary join me in paying tribute to Kent Police, ambulance and NHS workers, Medway council and senior officers from the Brompton barracks, who worked so well together to quickly arrest the suspect, save Mark’s life, support his family and reassure the local community?