Liz Kendall MP: speeches 2025

Speeches

• 10 Sept 2025 · Online Safety Act 2023: Effectiveness · Hansard source

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  In the few days that I have been in post, a number of MPs and other organisations have already raised this issue with me. I will always be driven by evidence. I want to protect people’s rights to privacy, but I want to make sure that nothing is done that will put people at risk. If the hon. Member has evidence and wants to send that to me, I am more than happy to look at it, because I want to take the action required.

• 10 Sept 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  I want to ensure that people, businesses and creatives throughout the country can benefit from the huge opportunities that technological developments in AI promise, and that people are protected, too. It is early days in this job, and I am listening carefully to all those involved, but wherever action is required, I will take it.

• 10 Sept 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  I am delighted to join the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. This is a crucial area for our country, providing opportunities for jobs and work, and to improve our public services. As Secretary of State, I am getting to work straight away. As I said on Monday, I have strengthened the law to add further protections from dangerous self-harm material online. Social media companies now have to take action to not just remove that material but prevent it from coming up in the first place, so that the internet can live up to its real potential as a place of opportunity where everyone can learn, connect and be creative, free from fear.

• 10 Sept 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  Because this Government believe that science, technology and innovation are how this country will seize the opportunities of the future. Unlike Opposition Members, we are determined to deliver that change for people in every part of the country, no matter where they live, because our people are our best asset. We want to grow the economy, transform our public services, and sort out the mess left by Opposition Members.

• 10 Sept 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend will know that the UK is a world leader in research and innovation. Over the spending review period, we are delivering £86 billion for research and development—a record amount. UKRI invests more than £300 million a year in transport innovation, and sustainability is a key focus. Projects include work to develop new aviation fuel production technologies that could reduce emissions by up to 80%. There is more that we can do. I know he is passionate about this issue, and either I or my Ministers will be very happy to meet him to talk more about what we can do.

• 10 Sept 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  We cannot ensure that everybody in this country benefits from being online and from developments unless everybody is joined up to fast broadband. We have put £1.8 billion over the spending review period into making connectivity work. I am working closely with Building Digital UK; if my hon. Friend has concerns about his constituents, he should come and meet me and Building Digital UK to get them online, because that is how they will seize the opportunities of the future.

• 10 Sept 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  I believe that using tech and AI to modernise our public services enables the people who work in the public sector to spend more time on the things they want to spend time on—serving the users of public services—and less time on red tape and bureaucracy, much of which was put in place by the hon. Lady’s Government.

• 10 Sept 2025 · Digital Exclusion: Na h-Eileanan an Iar · Hansard source

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  If the hon. Gentleman sends us the details, we will make that issue a top priority. As we build the country of the future through jobs, growth and transforming public services, we cannot deliver for everybody in every part of the country unless they have the broadband coverage they need. Three of the seven new contracts that BDUK has signed this year are in Scotland, with funding of—I believe—£287 million. We want value for money, and the hon. Gentleman wants to deliver for his constituents. Together, we will make it happen.

• 10 Sept 2025 · Digital Exclusion: Na h-Eileanan an Iar · Hansard source

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  Thank you, Mr Speaker. I hope the House will bear with me, as I fear I may be losing my voice. Some people may be happy about that, but I will attempt to get through as best I can. This Government are determined to ensure that everyone has access to the skills, support and confidence they need to take part in a modern digital society, wherever they live and whatever their circumstances. This is a hugely important issue in my hon. Friend’s constituency, which I believe has one of the lowest levels—if not the lowest level—of broadband coverage in the country. Building Digital UK recently signed a £157 million contract to deliver broadband across the Western Isles, including in my hon. Friend’s constituency. He is determined to make sure this happens as an urgent priority, as am I.

• 10 Sept 2025 · Digital Exclusion: Na h-Eileanan an Iar · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for his passion about this issue. He should come in and talk to Ministers, officials and Building Digital UK to set out what he thinks needs to happen, because we are only going to get this right if we work with people on the ground. The Western Isles contract will provide cover for 65,000 new premises across the area, including 8,000 in my hon. Friend’s constituency. We have to do this—we have to push further and faster—and I am sure my hon. Friend will make it happen on the ground.

• 10 Sept 2025 · New Technologies in the Workplace · Hansard source

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  New technology in the workplace can help companies become more productive and efficient. In making workplaces more accessible so that people can get work and stay in work, it is also good for people. We are supporting companies in a number of ways, especially through our industrial strategy, and we have seen great examples of UK firms adopting tech—artificial intelligence, in particular—ahead of their international peers. We want to do all we can to support companies in this area, and I am determined to take action on that.

• 10 Sept 2025 · New Technologies in the Workplace · Hansard source

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  The hon. Gentleman raises a really important point. My own constituency is dominated by small businesses, and one issue that they always raise is that we are great at start-ups in this country but we need to do more to help those companies to scale up. I am new in the job and open to ideas, so if the hon. Gentleman and the businesses in his constituency would like to say what they think they need to help them go from start-up to scale-up, I would be more than happy to listen to them.

• 10 Sept 2025 · New Technologies in the Workplace · Hansard source

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  I have a feeling that will be one of the gentler questions that my hon. Friend asks me over the coming months. I am a passionate public service reformer and I believe there is huge potential for technology and AI to deliver better outcomes for the people who use services and better value for taxpayers’ money. I will definitely provide her with more detail on the questions that she asked, but let me give a fantastic example from my previous role. In our jobcentres in Wales, there were big queues for work coaches who were helping people do their CVs. They used AI, and it was better for the people who used the service and freed up the work coaches to spend time with the people who most needed help. That is a small example; we have to do more, and I will absolutely commit to setting out our further plans.

• 1 Sept 2025 · Children in Poverty · Hansard source

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  It is a shameful legacy from the Conservatives that more than a third of children in my hon. Friend’s constituency are living in poverty according to the Child Poverty Action Group, and we are determined to tackle that. We will be lifting more than 100,000 children out of poverty by providing free school meals to all children whose families are on universal credit, benefiting more than 7,300 children in Leigh and Atherton. We will also be helping to feed them during the summer holidays by extending the holiday activities and food programme, alongside our fair repayment rate in universal credit and our crisis and resilience fund. We are helping struggling families. There is much more we will do in our child poverty strategy this autumn, but we can and we are making a difference.

• 1 Sept 2025 · Children in Poverty · Hansard source

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  We will absolutely do that. The child poverty taskforce, which includes Ministers from across Government, had a specific session on children with disabilities and special educational needs, including with families and the charities that fight so hard to deliver improvements. I am not a patient person, but I ask my hon. Friend to wait until the child poverty strategy is published in the autumn, because we believe that every child—no matter where they are born or their ability or what their parents did—must be given an equal start in life.

• 1 Sept 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  We want to give people like Charlie the chances and choices in life that he deserves. Our Connect to Work programme will do everything from helping people access health treatment to providing work placements and building their confidence through training, skills—whatever meets their individual needs. That is the key to this: an end to a one-size-fits-all tick-box approach, and tailored support for him. We are also working closely with employers so that they remove the barriers to work and can employ people with all the skills and talent that people like Charlie have.

• 1 Sept 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  Let me start by congratulating all the pupils who have received their exam results over the last few weeks. Having good qualifications is essential in today’s economy, and it is brilliant to see so many young people doing so well. However, the number of young people not in education, employment or training is one of the biggest challenges facing the country, and young people are much more likely to be NEETs if they lack basic skills. That is why I am so proud of the action that the Government are taking to increase the number of youth apprenticeships, overhaul foundation apprenticeships and, above all, introduce a youth guarantee so that every young person is earning or learning.

• 1 Sept 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  In the spending review we announced this first ever multi-year settlement for local support, replacing the household support fund. The crisis and resilience fund will provide £1 billion every single year, and will give families emergency help if, for example, their white goods break down or they need food urgently. However, we want to start shifting it increasingly towards tackling the root causes of poverty, helping people to become more financially resilient through the provision of debt advice. We recently held a meeting with more than 600 stakeholders to discuss how we could achieve that shift, because we want to prevent people from falling into poverty and to give them the tools that they need to emerge from poverty themselves.

• 1 Sept 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  The Conservative party failed on welfare because it failed on work. The reason why we inherited such a dire situation with sickness and disability benefits is that the Conservatives failed to get people into work. We are turning that around, and it is about time the hon. Lady and Opposition Members put forward a proper plan of action that actually gets people into work. We believe in work; it is a pity the Conservative party does not.

• 1 Sept 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  I am not often called understated, but I thank the hon. Lady for her comments. Welfare reform is always difficult because it involves real people and real lives, and it is a complicated and personal issue. However, we are investing £3.8 billion in employment support to help sick and disabled people into work, we are introducing the first ever right to try work, and we are dealing fundamentally with the perverse incentive left by the Conservative party which encouraged people to define themselves as incapable of work. We are addressing that by raising the standard allowance of universal credit and halving the health top-up for new claims. There is much more that we need to do, and we will be publishing our strategy to deal with child poverty in the autumn, but I am proud to say that the last Labour Government lifted 600,000 children out of poverty, while the hon. Lady’s party plunged 900,000 children into poverty. We will take action, and, as I said earlier, the hon. Lady should watch this space.

• 1 Sept 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  We are already extending free school meals to all families on universal credit. We have extended the holiday activities and food programme, so that we feed poor kids not just during school but in the holidays, too. We have introduced a new fair repayment rate in universal credit. We have made the first ever multi-year settlement for the crisis and resilience fund to help struggling families. We are introducing and rolling out breakfast clubs. Our child poverty strategy will be published in the autumn. We are already taking action to tackle poverty and we will do more. I say to the hon. Lady that the Scottish Government need to look at how they are spending the biggest ever funding settlement, given in the spending review, including on employment support, because helping parents into good quality jobs is the long-term key to tackling poverty and inequality.

• 1 Sept 2025 · Poverty Reduction · Hansard source

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  The Labour party believes that everybody who can work must work. The hon. Gentleman should look at his own party’s record: progress on the disability employment gap and the lone parent employment rate stalled under its watch, and economic inactivity rose. We are the only country in the G7 whose employment rate has not got back to pre-pandemic levels. We are overhauling our employment system to help more people into work, and to get on in work. I am proud of our record; maybe he should look at his own.

• 1 Sept 2025 · Poverty Reduction · Hansard source

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  We are determined to drive down child poverty in the hon. Gentleman’s constituency and right across Scotland and the rest of the UK. Our child poverty strategy will look at every lever at our disposal to drive up family incomes, to drive down family costs and to give every child the best start in life. I discuss such issues regularly with the Chancellor and Ministers across Government, because we will leave no stone unturned to ensure that every child can fulfil their potential—they deserve it and our country needs it.

• 1 Sept 2025 · Poverty Reduction · Hansard source

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  Investing an additional £31 billion in the triple lock over this Parliament is delivering huge benefits to pensioners in Scotland, as are our measures to drive up the uptake of pension credit in order to help the very poorest pensioners; our measures to stabilise the economy; and our investment in the NHS, on which many pensioners rely. I am proud of the action that we are taking. Given that this Government have agreed and are giving Scotland its biggest ever funding settlement, the hon. Gentleman should ask some challenging questions of his Government, to ensure that they deliver for Scotland’s pensioners, too.

• 1 Sept 2025 · Poverty Reduction · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend raises a really important point. Throughout its work, the DWP is already looking at how to narrow the gaps between different parts of the country and different groups of people. We have set our jobcentres and employment systems new targets for reducing those gaps, and we are taking cross-Government action to tackle child poverty. We have achieved a lot. There is a lot more to do, but this Government, unlike Opposition Members, have made tackling poverty an absolute priority. Our child poverty strategy is coming out in the autumn, so I ask hon. Members to watch this space.