Lauren Sullivan MP: speeches

Speeches

• 22 Jan 2025 · Child Arrangements: Presumption of Parental Involvement · Hansard source

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  May I ask the Minister for some advice, then? If some of our constituents have found that the family courts process and procedures have led to the re-traumatising of victims, what advice can we offer them? As the Minister eloquently set out, the family courts are not designed to do that, but it does occur.

• 14 Jan 2025 · Parking: Town Centres · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for securing this very important debate. Of course, parking is a problem that does not exist in isolation; as she just mentioned, it is linked to public transport. In many areas, including in my local area of Gravesham, there is a large rural network, but of course such networks are not served by buses, which is why people are forced into their cars. Does she agree that we need to work with our local authorities to improve rural infrastructure, thereby alleviating issues, including parking, in our town centres?

• 8 Jan 2025 · Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill · Hansard source

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  Will the right hon. Lady concede that the academisation process has meant that the off-rolling that we have seen up and down this country has led to the crisis in SEND? That is the whole point of how the academy system has, apparently, improved standards. It has not—it has decreased inclusion. Will she please show us how the academy system has helped our children who are now stuck at home because they have been off-rolled?

• 8 Jan 2025 · Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill · Hansard source

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  Will the shadow Minister give way?

• 9 Dec 2024 · Planning Committees: Reform · Hansard source

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  I welcome the mandatory training. As a former chair of a planning committee, I know that training was part of the process that we implemented, so it is good to see that it will be delivered across the board. We approved some developments multiple times on the same site, such as a maternity block in my constituency, which was then flipped and sold on to another developer. Could the Minister please tell us what steps are being taken to account for land banking or flipping sites via developers?

• 19 Nov 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T2. What steps are Ministers taking to address the ongoing shortages of medications for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, which have been going on for 18 months?

• 18 Nov 2024 · Bus Funding · Hansard source

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  I thank the Secretary of State for the £23 million for Kent county council. As a Kent county councillor—for a little bit longer—I have seen the ridiculous bidding wars and the hoops we have had to jump through for many, many years. Will the money be ringfenced for buses, while allowing Kent county council the flexibility to spend it on the KCC Travel Saver—a fantastic initiative to help kids get around Kent to local schools? Will the money facilitate that?

• 14 Nov 2024 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Will the Leader of the House join me in congratulating my constituent Michelle Bramble on her well-deserved win at the Local Government Chronicle awards for her excellent work in equality, diversity and inclusion over many years, and her valuable experience in Gravesham? Will she schedule a debate on the importance of EDI champions and their work in our local communities to foster inclusive environments for all our constituents?

• 12 Nov 2024 · National Youth Strategy · Hansard source

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  The Secretary of State rightly pointed out the amazing work that trusted adults and youth workers do. Today, the average youth contract is about nine months. How will we address that in the national youth strategy, as well as support youth workers to access qualifications, to help them thrive and support our young people?

• 29 Oct 2024 · Lower Thames Crossing · Hansard source

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  I want to focus on the merits of the lower Thames crossing for Gravesham, where one in five people have no qualifications and two in five live in relative poverty. Is my hon. Friend as outraged as I am by the announcement that the skills hub for the south part, in Kent, is to be in Maidstone, and not in Gravesham, where it could address some of those issues?

• 29 Oct 2024 · Lower Thames Crossing · Hansard source

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  Gravesham is going to suffer from poor air quality, a lack of housing through workers coming into the area, increased congestion and loss of ancient woodland. Yet there is a lack of investment in training and skills in the area affected most by the crossing. Does the Minister agree with me that Gravesham residents deserve to be fully supported and the effects mitigated?

• 23 Oct 2024 · Budget Sustainability Plan · Hansard source

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  4. Whether he has had discussions with the Northern Ireland Executive on the budget sustainability plan.

• 23 Oct 2024 · Budget Sustainability Plan · Hansard source

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  Does the Secretary of State agree that to ensure sustainable finances the Northern Ireland Executive need to take steps to reform the NHS and public services?

• 23 Oct 2024 · Windsor Framework: Travel with Pets · Hansard source

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  Question 4, Mr Speaker. [ Laughter. ]

• 10 Oct 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  While the lower Thames crossing is under review, what steps is the Secretary of State taking to promote river transport crossings such as river buses?

• 10 Oct 2024 · Mental Health Support · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Dowd. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Ashford (Sojan Joseph) for securing this afternoon’s important debate. As we know, one in four of us will deal with a mental health issue at some point in our lives. As is the case across the country, following the decade of under-investment that has just been referred to, my constituents in Gravesham are concerned about the difficulty of accessing the right support in good time, without waiting on waiting lists for years. We can all agree that mental health is just as important as physical health, and that the strain on the NHS at this moment in time is enormous. The system is very close to breaking point. If the system is close to breaking, so are our young people. The lack of open access to universal provision was, I think, touched upon by the hon. Member for Hinckley and Bosworth (Dr Evans). It is about having a safe place to discuss mental wellbeing so that we prevent those people then needing further additional help. In Gravesham, we are fortunate to have the Elliott Holmes Memorial Fund, a community interest company that aims to give direct access for counselling to young people in Gravesham. At the moment, there are no people on the waiting list, because they are being seen by dedicated counsellors. Based on national statistics, 1,200 young people in Gravesham between the ages of 13 and 19 are struggling with their mental health, but the fund has helped 271 young people since 2022. I would like to place on the record my thanks to the fund for providing a space for young people’s issues to be heard. The fund was set up in memory of Elliott Holmes, who tragically took his own life in 2020 after suffering from mental illness for a number of years. After his passing, his family set up the fund to try to keep other young people from that path. I would like to thank them for that. I know that this Government are committed to addressing the mental health crisis that we are facing, and I am pleased to see that the King’s Speech included specific mention of legislation, in the form of a mental health Bill. In particular, I would be pleased to hear what further things we can do to prevent this deepening, worsening crisis.

• 11 Sept 2024 · Building Safety and Resilience · Hansard source

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  Does my hon. Friend agree that it is also about insurance? I have a constituent in a similar situation who has had to pay £2,500 in insurance costs.

• 5 Sept 2024 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  The Leader of the House will know that on the Government Benches we value adult education and community learning, and we know that there are many paths in education and skills, not just schools. In Gravesham, the Tory-controlled Kent county council is proposing to close a long-standing adult education centre, the Victoria centre, which has been at the heart of the community for years. Could we please have a debate on the support that local councils give to such community provision and how they should enhance it, not close it?

• 3 Sept 2024 · Fly-tipping · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Efford. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Ealing Southall (Deirdre Costigan) for securing this important debate on fly-tipping. As we have heard, fly-tipping blights communities and landowners, on both publicly and privately owned land. There is a misconception that fly-tipping is a small-scale crime committed by individuals or unscrupulous small waste removal businesses. The reality is that it is often connected with organised crime. I give credit to my local authority, Gravesham borough council, for the work it has done on tackling the problem in my constituency. It recognised the impact of fly-tipping and in 2020 set up the environmental enforcement team. The team uses a range of enforcement actions to prevent and tackle the issue, from verbal advice right up to criminal prosecution. Indeed, in the past year the team prosecuted 39 cases, each resulting in successful prosecutions. They work closely with the media team and Kent police to raise awareness and deter other potential offenders. I put on record my thanks to the team and its partners, as well as to the over 500 Gravesham community champions, for helping clear up our streets. That good work, however, is often not enough, and there are outstanding issues to be addressed, of which I will raise a couple now. Small authorities such as Gravesham do not have access to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency database, so if a person is suspected of committing an offence, small authorities have to follow the DVLA rules. It would help those agencies if they could have access to the database, so that they could do more forensic investigations. The other issue is about justice in the courts system. We know that there is a huge backlog in that system, but it is also about the chasing of unpaid financial penalties that do not necessarily cover the cost of clean-up. Again, it is about the flexibility of the fixed penalty notices. My final reflection is about the legislative framework. When I reached out to Gravesham borough council, it quoted six main pieces of legislation that it operates under. Simplifying that legislation and putting it all in one place will make it easier for local authorities to use, our courts to prosecute and the general public to understand. I hope that that could be looked at over the course of the Government’s term. I look forward to hearing the Minister set out her Department’s policies in that area, and to working with Government on the matter. We can all agree that those who blight our beautiful countryside and streets should be the ones to pay to clear it, or, better still, that they should not dump in the first place.

• 24 Jul 2024 · Education and Opportunity · Hansard source

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  Thank you very much, Madam Deputy Speaker, and may I congratulate you on your new post and wish you very well? I pay tribute to the excellent speech made by my hon. Friend the Member for Paisley and Renfrewshire South (Johanna Baxter); she may be small, but incredibly mighty things will come from her standing up for her constituency. I offer my deepest sympathies to my hon. Friend the Member for Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr (Steve Witherden), and say to him, “Your mum would be so proud, and you moved many people in this Chamber today.” I also welcome my new colleagues from Kent, my hon. Friends the Members for Folkestone and Hythe (Tony Vaughan) and for Dartford (Jim Dickson), to their seats in Parliament. They spoke with passion about their constituencies and I look forward to working with each and every one of the Members who have made their maiden speeches today, and Members across the Chamber. I begin by thanking the residents of my Gravesham constituency for putting their faith in me. I will work to the very best of my abilities to raise their concerns and issues in this House. I also pay tribute to the Member for Gravesham who served before me, Adam Holloway. Adam served the residents of Gravesham for 19 years and he and his office provided much support, advice and guidance to a range of constituents over those many years. I will seek to enhance and build on that work by holding surgeries and having an office in the borough to fulfil my promise of being an accessible MP. We may have disagreed on much, as hon. Members would expect, but, as a former soldier, Adam served his country, and his dedication in this House to those who serve is something I wholeheartedly support and will continue to champion. Gravesham is a great place, encompassing the towns of Northfleet and Gravesend, which are bound by the River Thames to the north, 20 miles that way. They are surrounded by the beautiful rural villages of Meopham, Higham, Istead Rise, Shorne, Cobham, Sole Street, Luddesdown, Culverstone, Harvel and Vigo. We have a blend of manufacturing and industry close to the river, such as refined metals and paper making, and farming and agriculture. We are proud to have not only one of Europe’s largest—if not the largest—gurdwaras, but two gurdwaras in Gravesham, and I commend and pay tribute to the incredible voluntary work they did before, during and after the covid pandemic. For many communities during covid, we saw a coming together, whether in churches, mosques, temples or other voluntary organisations. We saw the very best of people, and I am proud to represent a diverse constituency of many faiths and cultures. I recall the recent celebrations of the Windrush generation, whose relatives docked across the river—they cannot get there at the moment because the Tilbury ferry is down, but we are working on that. They have enhanced our borough and they chose Gravesend and Gravesham for their home. One such legendary woman was Sister Ursula Sullivan, also known as Sully, who is known for having birthed and cared for most of the population in my constituency, including my husband. Gravesham has a rich history dating back to before the Roman settlers. I pay tribute to the Gravesend Historical Society—100 years old today—and to Christoph Bull, Victor Smith, Sandra Soder and many others for documenting our proud history, as has been done since the Domesday Book. One of Gravesend’s claims to fame is that it is the final resting place of the native American princess Pocahontas, or Rebecca Rolfe, as she was known later in life. A fictionalised story of her early life was immortalised in a famous Disney animated movie, in which Pocahontas was not only a Disney princess, but a strong female leader. That is a part of Gravesham, and as the first woman MP for Gravesham, I can draw on her for inspiration. However, I can assure the House that, while I admire the strong female role models that Disney provides, such as Mulan, Merida from “Brave” or even Elsa, I am no Disney princess. Certainly nobody in this Chamber would want to hear me sing—so, Madam Deputy Speaker, I will just let it go. There is so much to admire about Gravesham, but there is also much to admire about Labour’s plan for education and opportunity, so I will turn back to the subject of the debate. I welcome the Secretary of State and Ministers to their positions. Having campaigned alongside many of them, I know their passion for all our young people and children. As well as being a scientist working on neglected tropical diseases under the supervision of regius professor Michael Ferguson at the University of Dundee—particularly African sleeping sickness, or trypanosomiasis, which is transmitted by the tsetse fly—and having worked more recently on malaria with Jean Langhorne at the Francis Crick Institute in London, supported by a brilliant Daphne Jackson fellowship, which returns its fellows to science after a break, I am also a qualified secondary school science teacher. I know full well that lessons should instil the excitement and inspiration needed for young people to choose to pursue a scientific career—one that our nation’s growth depends on —so I welcome the proposed modernisation of the curriculum, and especially the curriculum for life. So many of our young people in Gravesham tell me that they do not feel that the current school curriculum prepares them for life’s many challenges. Although my children attend a great state school, the stress and pressure of the system, and the constant testing even at primary school, is leaving less time for play, creativity and socialisation. At times, our education system seems focused on evidencing for Ofsted’s needs rather than on the education and wellbeing of children—especially those with special educational needs. Academic achievement is important, but we must ensure that our young people are included in an education system that leaves them well-rounded and ready for life with practical skills. A fully equipped, statutory, universal and open-access youth work system will be vital to achieve that aim. I thank the residents of Gravesham, my wonderful campaign team, and my family, who are with me today—and have behaved incredibly well! [Interruption.] I would not be here without their love and support.

• 18 Jul 2024 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  I welcome the Leader of the House to her new position. Worryingly, last week there was an attack at the Gurdwara Nanak Darbar in my constituency of Gravesham. Thankfully, nobody was seriously hurt, but I would like to place on record my thanks to the gurdwara first responders and all the emergency services for that. Although the facts of the case are still unclear, the attack caused understandable anxiety in the local Sikh community. Would the Leader of the House consider scheduling a debate on the importance of protecting worshippers in their sacred spaces so that they may practise their faith without fear?