Michael Payne MP: speeches 2025

Speeches

• 11 Dec 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T5. I recently visited Boutique Flowers on Carlton Hill in Gedling, which is a brilliant local business owned by Sally and Tina. They told me that they are losing thousands of pounds as a result of fraudulent chargebacks, and many small businesses are facing the same issue across the country. Will the Minister work with small businesses, banks, and payment providers to reform the chargeback system and put an end to this growing fraud scandal that is hitting small businesses across the country?

• 30 Oct 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  I recently had the pleasure of visiting Arnold u3a, which is brilliantly chaired by Hazel Ward and provides excellent activities for more than 500 members. Will the Leader of the House join me in congratulating all the u3a groups across Gedling, and will he make time for a debate on tackling social isolation and loneliness through lifelong learning?

• 30 Oct 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T3. Luxfer Gas Cylinders in my constituency employs more than 200 people and is a key supplier to hydrogen allocation round 1 projects. It wants to expand to become the UK’s only manufacturer of high pressure hydrogen cylinders for hydrogen tube trailers and hydrogen vehicle fuel systems, which are currently imported. Will the Minister meet me and other MPs who have significant hydrogen and fuel cell manufacturers in their constituencies to discuss how existing Government support for hydrogen can best drive UK growth and jobs?

• 13 Oct 2025 · Baby Loss · Hansard source

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  My apologies, Madam Deputy Speaker. In thanking my hon. Friend the Member for Sherwood Forest (Michelle Welsh) for her leadership today, I want to say that her dad would have been so incredibly proud to sit in the Gallery today to see his little girl in this Chamber using the privilege of her platform to fight for those who have been failed and suffered the most unimaginable loss. I also pay tribute to the families who have campaigned for years for change and justice. We owe them far more than sympathy. We owe them justice, and we owe them truth.

• 13 Oct 2025 · Baby Loss · Hansard source

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  I rise, in Baby Loss Awareness Week, to pay tribute to the far too many families in Gedling and Nottinghamshire who have suffered the devastating loss of their babies in circumstances that were entirely avoidable. They placed their trust in a system that should have protected them, and that system failed them. The Ockenden review of maternity services in Nottingham is now supporting 2,500 families who have been affected by neonatal deaths, injuries, stillbirths and maternity deaths. Many of them were failed by the NMC, failed by the GMC, failed by the CQC and failed by our NHS. Regulation must be overhauled, and accountability must improve. The mothers and fathers who have come forward in Gedling and Nottinghamshire have shown extraordinary dignity, courage and perseverance in the face of heartbreak that most of us can barely begin to comprehend. Yet even in the face of unspeakable loss, each and every family I have met in Gedling and Nottinghamshire who have lost a child or suffered harm during birth have reminded me that light always shines brightest in the darkest places. In the depths of their grief, their pursuit of truth and change honours their children’s memory and stands as a beacon of tremendous humanity and hope. I want to take a moment to pay a special tribute to the incredible charities, volunteers and support organisations who walk alongside bereaved families day in, day out. They bring comfort where it is needed most, and we all owe them a tremendous debt of gratitude. In speaking of courage and compassion, I also want to take a moment to thank my friend and neighbour, the Member of Parliament for Sherwood Forest, Michelle Welsh. Long before she entered this place, Michelle walked side by side with Nottinghamshire families through years of anguish and struggle, standing shoulder to shoulder with them when few others would. Just 37 days ago, she suffered her own loss with the passing of her beloved dad, who taught her to fight always against injustice, wherever she found it. Just days after losing her dad, she was back in Parliament, meeting bereaved maternity families. In thanking Michelle for her leadership today—

• 11 Sept 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  I welcome my right hon. Friend the Leader of the House to his place. I recently had the privilege of visiting Lambley reed pond. Will my right hon. Friend join me in thanking and paying tribute to Bonnie Bramwell and all those on the Lambley reed pond committee, who have worked tirelessly to protect and enhance one of the most beautiful hidden gems in my constituency?

• 4 Sept 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Will my right hon. Friend join me in thanking Tina Simpson and her team at the Loco Centre in Netherfield, as well as Nathan Kenney and Mapperley All Stars, for their brilliant work this summer in delivering the holiday activities and food programme in Gedling? Will she also welcome its very much-needed extension for three years by this Labour Government?

• 4 Sept 2025 · Early Education and Childcare · Hansard source

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  Our amazing schools play a central role in giving every child the best possible start in life. Will the Minister join me in congratulating Mrs Toner and her entire team at the Good Shepherd Catholic primary academy on their recent and incredibly well-deserved outstanding Ofsted report?

• 3 Sept 2025 · Hospitality Sector · Hansard source

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  The hospitality businesses across Gedling are more than just places to eat and drink; they are the backbone of our community and the beating heart of our high streets. From Carlton to Arnold, Mapperley to Netherfield and Burton Joyce to Bestwood Village, those businesses make Gedling a great place to live, work and socialise. To every café owner, chef, pub landlord and staff member, and to all our small businesses, I say thank you. Their hard work keeps our towns and villages alive and our local economy moving. Just last week, I was proud to welcome the then Chief Secretary to the Treasury, my right hon. Friend the Member for Bristol North West (Darren Jones), to Gedling to meet some of our fantastic small businesses—many of them in hospitality. At Mapperley Top, we held a roundtable in La Zenia, a tapas restaurant that opened a year ago—I send huge congratulations to Lucy and her brilliant team on their first year of business. My right hon. Friend also heard directly from Copper, Steve’s Bar, Deli-icious and Coosh bakery. In Arnold, we met the passionate teams at Cleo’s deli, Taste First, the Empress, Chambers butchers and Paradise café. I thank my right hon. Friend for visiting and listening to Gedling’s fantastic small businesses, and congratulate him on his new role as Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister. May I also take this opportunity to congratulate the Woodlark Inn in Lambley, and its landlady, Emma, on recently being named one of the best 500 pubs in England by The Telegraph ? Over the summer, I had the brilliant opportunity to enjoy a pint at the Abdication in Daybrook, the Four Bells Inn in Woodborough, the Waggon and Horses in Redhill—my local—and the Bread and Bitter at Mapperley Top, among the many other brilliant pubs in Gedling. I will always fight the corner of Gedling’s many amazing small businesses. That is why, last year, I launched my own annual small business awards to celebrate small businesses throughout Gedling. With so many amazing businesses across Carlton, Netherfield, Burton Joyce and beyond in the wider Gedling area, our door is always open to Government Ministers who wish to come and listen and support our local small business community.

• 3 Sept 2025 · Hospitality Sector · Hansard source

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  I congratulate the Golden Smog on its initiative. I look forward to having a pint there with my hon. Friend next time I am in his constituency. Gedling has nearly 3,000 businesses, 98% of which are small or micro. Retail and hospitality alone support over a quarter of the jobs in my constituency. Those are not just numbers; they represent livelihoods, families and futures. That is why I welcome the Labour Government stepping in where the last Conservative Government left a cliff edge. Instead of pulling the rug out from under small businesses, we are providing a lifeline: a 40% business rate relief, targeted where it is needed most. Labour does not turn its back on small businesses; we back them. More than 10,000 pubs and bars shut under the Conservatives. By contrast, this Labour Government are acting: permanent business rate cuts from 2026; high-street rental auctions; and a ban on unfair rent clauses—real measures to make our high streets revive and thrive. The Conservative motion mentions “catastrophic choices”, but Conservative Members should take a long, hard look in the mirror. On their watch, inflation peaked at 11.1% in October 2022, and food inflation hit 19% by March 2023. [ Interruption. ] I can hear chuntering on the Opposition Benches, but those inflation levels did not just hit household budgets; they scarred small businesses in Gedling and across the country.

• 3 Sept 2025 · Hospitality Sector · Hansard source

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  With the greatest respect to the hon. Gentleman, the businesses did a grand job of telling the Minister their views directly. I do not think that they need any lectures from him on how to run their businesses. While café, pubs and shops fought to stay open, the Conservatives were too busy fighting among themselves to help small businesses. This Labour Government are turning the page. Through our plan for small and medium-sized businesses, Gedling employers are getting the support that they need to recover, grow and thrive, and we are already seeing the results. The Opposition talk about job losses, but the facts is that employment has risen by more than 625,000, and economic inactivity has fallen by 338,000. That is not rhetoric; it is progress under this Labour Government. The previous Conservative Government wrecked the economy, left inflation spiralling and turned their back on the high street. In Gedling, the damage is clear for my constituents to see: vacant units on the high street; council cuts that have left our town centres less clean; and, yes, crumbling pavements and roads in and around our high streets. In just over a year, under this Prime Minister and the Under-Secretary of State for Business and Trade, the hon. Member for Harrow West (Gareth Thomas), Labour is turning things around. It is backing small businesses, especially in hospitality; getting people back into work; delivering a new deal for working people; and, yes—although the Conservatives do not like the facts—growing the economy faster than any other G7 nation. That is what we get with a Labour Government, and by gosh, after 14 years of Conservative neglect, it cannot come fast enough for my constituents, and for businesses in Gedling.

• 15 May 2025 · Gavi and the Global Fund · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Jardine. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Milton Keynes Central (Emily Darlington) for securing this crucial debate. I am proud to be the co-chair of the APPG on HIV, AIDS and sexual health, a role the Minister held and carried out with distinction for more than six years. Through the APPG, we are fighting to keep the Global Fund at the top of the agenda in the Foreign Office and the Government. At a reception in this place a few weeks ago, I was inspired by the fact that we were joined by so many people who have spent so much of their time fighting for the Global Fund and the critical work it does. I was particularly delighted that we were joined by the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Hornsey and Friern Barnet (Catherine West). That was a demonstration of the UK’s commitment to this cause. We were also joined by deputy high commissioner Dineo Mathlako from the South African high commission, which likewise demonstrated South Africa’s resolve. As was said earlier, since its inception in 2002, the Global Fund has helped to save 65 million lives around the world, and if we are to continue to save lives from treatable diseases, the Global Fund must be replenished with critically needed funds this year. The Global Fund represents a coalition of the willing, and that coalition needs us all to play our part. Constant action is required, or we can and will fall back in our battle against HIV and AIDS. I agreed to become the co-chair of the APPG, alongside a brilliant team of cross-party parliamentarians, some of whom are present, because this fight matters and we must win it. AIDS is no longer an unrelenting reality that we have to endure, but a consequence of our collective failure to share the necessary knowledge, protection and medication with everyone who needs it. I am delighted with the leadership shown by the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary in co-hosting the replenishment this year. As Nelson Mandela said, “AIDS is no longer just a disease; it is a human rights issue.” Let us heed Mandela’s words and do all we can to secure a successful replenishment of the Global Fund this year.

• 7 Apr 2025 · East Midlands: Local Authorities and Economic Growth · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for making that powerful argument on behalf of her Derby North constituents. Having a Conservative-run county council is something we have in common, and in less than a month’s time, the residents of our respective constituencies will have a chance to turn the page on that failure and elect Labour councils that will turn a corner. Potholes on roads impact our economy, because if a trader’s vehicle hits a pothole and needs to be in the repair shop for a week, that is a week in which that trader is not doing business. Their business suffers, their family suffer, and our national economy suffers too. One of my constituents, a new mother, was crossing the road with her newborn daughter in a pram when that pram snagged on a pothole, causing the mother to trip over, and her newborn baby almost ended up in the middle of a busy road. She wrote to me that people slammed on their brakes and jumped out of their cars to check whether her baby had been badly hurt. The mother and the baby had to spend the afternoon at the hospital that day, when they should have been shopping and meeting friends on the local high street. Even without the use of a car, potholes are hurting growth and, at times, physically hurting our constituents. If a parent hits a pothole in their own vehicle and suffers hundreds of pounds of damage, that is money that is not being spent in our local shops or on our local high streets. Despite record investment by this Labour Government in fixing potholes—£1.6 billion—the Conservatives on Nottinghamshire county council cannot get a grip, and not just on potholes. The county council is also failing to issue education, health and care plans on time, with nearly 1,000 requests for an EHC plan issued late between January and October. Compared with the previous year, 6% fewer annual reviews of EHC plans were conducted. The impact of Conservative-led Nottinghamshire county council failing to deliver on special educational needs and disabilities services, and in many ways going backwards, is that some children are not getting the education they need. That is forcing some parents in my constituency and across the east midlands to stay at home to school their children, rather than going to work. That hurts their livelihoods, it hurts their opportunity to contribute to the economy, and as a result it hurts growth, too. In contrast, Labour-run Gedling borough council is investing in our high streets by maintaining its popular two hours’ free parking policy across all high street car parks. Labour-run Gedling created the beautiful 365-acre Gedling country park, a boost to the local economy. Gedling Labour saved and refurbished the cherished Bonington theatre, and is investing in CCTV across communities to keep people safe. The Arnold market place is an example of how to do regeneration well, led by Gedling Labour. I was proud to be part of it on Gedling borough council, and it is things like that that will boost our economy. Beyond the high street, Gedling borough council has shown that investing in our parks and green spaces, our theatres and our leisure centres and keeping our cultural centres open invites local people into the area, which supports local businesses and growth. That is why I am so proud of the hard work being done by our Labour candidates in Gedling: Sarah O’Connor and Henry Wheeler in Arnold North, John Clarke and Liz Clunie in Arnold South, Jim Creamer and Errol Henry in Carlton West, Cate Carmichael in Carlton East and Dean Wilson in Calverton. The contrast could not be clearer. Under the Nottinghamshire Conservatives, we can have yet more failure and poorly managed services, strangling our local economy and failing to fix our broken roads. Under Gedling Labour, we can have pride restored to our communities by hard-working councillors, growing the economy, bringing back community policing, supporting our high streets and fixing the potholes. That is the choice on offer next month at the local elections, and that is the choice that residents in Gedling can make.

• 7 Apr 2025 · East Midlands: Local Authorities and Economic Growth · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Member for sharing his view with me, but I must say that it is not a view we share in the east midlands. We have a partnership approach with our Labour Mayor of the East Midlands, Claire Ward, working with brilliant local Labour councils. I would have a slight degree of sympathy for him if he had not been coming here for the last 14 years and voting for cuts to local councils in the east midlands, taking 60p out of every £1 of their budgets. Ultimately, where we have good, soundly managed local authorities, with boundaries that local people understand and prefer, such as in my borough of Gedling, do we really want local authority staff to be focused on a multi-year reorganisation process, or do we want them to be getting on with the job and growing their local economies? The Government have rightly pointed out that certainty is essential to economic growth, so may I be so bold as to suggest that certainty in local government—whether it is a planner knowing that they have a job in the future or a local authority knowing that it will exist in two years’ time—is also essential? My constituents have told me loud and clear that they do not want to see a change to their local council. It is important to me that my constituents’ voices are heard and listened to in this Chamber, including in this debate. I share their pride in having a well-run local council in Gedling borough council, with low council tax, low levels of debt and decent, delivered public services, and I will argue for that to the hilt. It would be remiss of me to speak in this debate without highlighting some local examples of how things can go terribly wrong, and how they affect my constituents. Conservative-controlled Nottinghamshire county council might be the worst council in the country for road repairs. Over 25% of Nottinghamshire’s minor roads required repairs last year, yet Nottinghamshire county council only got around to repairing 2.3% of them. Out of every 10 potholes, Conservatives in Nottinghamshire managed to fix less than one. If we need drivers for any future moon landing, the residents of Nottinghamshire may well volunteer to be first; with the number of craters that we have to dodge on our local roads just to get about our daily lives, everyone in Nottinghamshire is an expert in dodging potholes. Navigating the pothole-ridden roads of Nottinghamshire has gone beyond a joke. It is a daily misery for the people of Gedling, who I serve, but it also impacts our economy.

• 7 Apr 2025 · East Midlands: Local Authorities and Economic Growth · Hansard source

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  Thank you for the opportunity to speak in this evening’s debate, Madam Deputy Speaker. I thank my hon. Friend the Minister for being here to respond to the debate. As my constituency neighbour, I know he is as passionate about Nottingham, Nottinghamshire and the east midlands as I am. I refer hon. Members to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests regarding my unpaid membership of two local authorities. Ahead of important local elections across the east midlands, I am grateful to have this opportunity to lay out the importance of councils to our economy. Growth is this Government’s No. 1 priority. It will pay for our local services, our social security, from state pensions to universal credit, and our national defence. The Government are right to focus on growth. Under the last Government, we suffered a lost decade. Growth, income and opportunity were flat, and the east midlands suffered as a result. The gap between where we should have been on growth and where we are represents billions of pounds that could have been spent on essential public services. The east midlands has been at the forefront of that decline, as a result of Conservative mismanagement. Our economy in the east midlands used to be strong, but deindustrialisation, a lack of investment and regional disparities in public spending have left us lagging behind other parts of the United Kingdom. The midlands was the industrial heartland of this nation. We have so much potential. We are the region that is most connected to the entire UK, with a distinctive mix of engineering, manufacturing, construction and sciences, but we now struggle to find the jobs, transport and opportunity that we had before. A lot of that comes from lack of investment, including a lack of investment in our local councils. The east midlands receives the lowest level of spending per person across the United Kingdom. We receive the lowest level of capital spending and total spending. The facts speak for themselves: over the past 14 years, the east midlands was levelled down by the Conservative party. That inequity leaves our local government, our public services and our infrastructure investment billions of pounds short.

• 7 Apr 2025 · East Midlands: Local Authorities and Economic Growth · Hansard source

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  The hon. Gentleman is right to pay testament to the Chancellor and the Labour Mayor of the East Midlands, Claire Ward, for unlocking nearly £1 billion in growth and investment from the freeport at East Midlands airport. He knows Northern Ireland politics far better than I do, but I think my hon. Friend on the Treasury Bench will have been listening closely to his powerful argument on behalf of his constituents. I wish him well with his campaign. Under the previous Conservative Government, we heard a lot of talk about levelling up, but certain local areas were favoured over others, while the rest of us wondered when it would be our turn at the table. I welcome this Labour Government’s change to that approach: less selective, no longer pitting area against area, and with a genuine desire to grow every part of the United Kingdom. Our Labour mayor, Claire Ward, has started working with the Government to find areas to grow the local economy. In the past year, she secured £200 million of transport investment that will grow our economy by allowing people to get about our region more easily; she secured £160 million for the east midlands investment zone, to attract new investment and create jobs; and she secured the brownfield housing fund, which will build 1,400 new homes. However, she is held back by the previous Government’s piecemeal approach to devolution.

• 7 Apr 2025 · East Midlands: Local Authorities and Economic Growth · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is a good friend and a powerful advocate for his constituents. He is right that devolution in the east midlands needs to go further and faster, because areas such as Greater Manchester and the west midlands are much further ahead on their journey. Giving the East Midlands mayoral authority trailblazer status would see a turbocharged approach to skills, investment and growth in our area. Giving Mayor Claire Ward an integrated funding settlement across local growth, place, transport, skills, housing and more to work with local authorities such as mine in Gedling would really get our economy moving. That approach has been proven elsewhere. We should not need to wait any longer in the east midlands for power over our own future, but mayors and combined authorities are only one part of local government across the east midlands. Borough, county and unitary councils often do the overlooked, often-ignored hard yards that provide growth in our communities. The Government recognise that to grow the economy, they must work hand in hand with business, but they also have to work hand in hand with local government. Public services are essential for social and economic security. Vital services such as education, housing, healthcare and transport contribute to the economic productivity of the region, and local authorities provide the best investment in local areas. The Local Government Association found that councils in the east midlands contribute directly to 20% of local GDP through projects that promote business growth, job creation and regional investment. Local authorities are key enablers for the Government’s promises around transport, housing, skills and growth. The Government are rightly reforming the planning system to allow council planners to do their job, but every single one of the 1.5 million houses built under this Government will have been approved by a council planner. Local authority workers will be instrumental in the roll-out of free breakfast clubs across schools. We have seen the impact on growth and economic confidence if simple things such as our bin collections go wrong. Our local government workers keep our communities and this country ticking. They are all heroes. My plea to the Government is simple: do not ignore local government, local government finances or local government staff, and continue to invest in those areas.

• 25 Feb 2025 · Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill (Second sitting) · Hansard source

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  Q Throughout the previous witness sessions, there have been questions about concerns with respect to training for PSFA enforcement officers. I wondered whether you wanted to say anything more than you have already to the Committee about training for enforcement officers. Mark Cheeseman: I will come back to what I said about the counter-fraud profession. We are one of the only countries in the world with professional standards published. Those are used by the police, the Serious Fraud Office and HMRC. They use these types of powers successfully on a regular basis. We would have exactly the same standard of investigator—both by bringing them in and by training them up to those standards—who would use these powers if and when they are in place.

• 25 Feb 2025 · Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill (Second sitting) · Hansard source

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  Q There has been some discussion today about the use of technology and AI. As Ministers, what are you doing to ensure that humans still take the final decisions on whether the powers should lead to enforcement? Andrew Western: As it relates to the DWP—I do not know whether you want to say anything about the PFSA powers later, Georgia—it is worth reflecting that the proposed eligibility verification power is in effect a data-push power. The banks will not make any decisions as to someone’s culpability, on what penalty they might receive, or on whether the overpayment flagged on the account is legitimate; all the banks will do is send back a marker against an account to suggest that someone is in breach of their eligibility requirements. For example, that might include someone who has more than £16,000 in their account, but is in receipt of universal credit. It is important to say that the flag is then passed to a human investigator to analyse the information and look at what the reasons may be, because there can be very legitimate reasons why someone has more than £16,000 in their account and is still entitled to benefits, such as someone who has received a compensation payment that is out of scope of what would be considered capital for benefit-eligibility reasons. In all the five principal measures on the DWP side of the Bill, a human is involved in the decision making: on eligibility verification, it is passed to an investigator; on information gathering, when we receive information, it is passed to an investigator to consider the next steps in a fraud investigation; on debt recovery, an individual—a person—would make a decision as to someone’s ability to repay a debt; and on penalties reform as proposed, a human will determine what actions will be taken against a person who received a penalty for fraud against a DWP grant scheme. That is entirely the way that it works with any other penalty that can already be applied. Finally, on the powers of search and seizure, as we would expect, a human judge will take a decision on whether to issue a warrant. At every stage, a human decision maker is baked in before any final decision on sanction or otherwise.

• 25 Feb 2025 · Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill (Second sitting) · Hansard source

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  Q Thank you for being with us, Mr Cheeseman. The National Audit Office put the amount of fraud and error outside the tax and benefits system at between £5 billion and £30 billion in 2023-24 alone. I wondered what your assessment, and the PSFA’s, is of the quantum of fraud against the public sector. Will you share a bit more about that with the Committee? Mark Cheeseman: Of course. When we estimate fraud, we estimate fraud and error, as the NAO has done. The NAO used the methodology that we have used previously. We have not repeated that yet, because it has gone ahead of us in the cycle. I have no reason to indicate that its estimate is incorrect, but that is its estimate, and Joshua was here earlier. We estimate fraud and error as a whole, rather than fraud separately, but what we have seen in the fraud data is that detected fraud in the public sector has risen over the past few years. We have published that. Some was due to covid, but some is in other spaces. Earlier witnesses indicated that the threat has risen and that there are some changes in the perception of fraud and of how people may approach it. My perspective is that the level of fraud and error in the system is high. There is waste there, and Parliament itself has challenged the Government on what more they can do to deal with it. The threat is rising, and therefore in my position, I think that the powers will help to take action on that. There is more to do to drive down waste and to reduce fraud in the system.

• 25 Feb 2025 · Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill (First sitting) · Hansard source

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  Q Thank you both for sharing your experience and expertise with us this morning. It is estimated that there was about £5.4 billion-worth of fraud and error in temporary covid-19 schemes that were not run by HMRC. You will know that this is an area of significant public interest. The Public Accounts Committee said: “It is very unlikely that most of the losses due to fraud and corruption” during the pandemic “will ever be recovered.” How far do you agree with that statement? Do you think the new powers for the Public Sector Fraud Authority change the prospects? Alex Rothwell: I absolutely do think they change those prospects. I was still in law enforcement when covid-19 was happening, and there was an extensive discussion about the police’s ability to support investigations. Frankly, policing had significant challenges with fraud, and still does, in terms of the volume of attacks against individuals and businesses, which made supporting the public sector almost an impossible ask, so I certainly welcome the ability to strengthen the public sector fraud response. On whether the money will be recovered, there are significant challenges, as I am sure you are aware. It is right to apply a cost-benefit approach as well; although there is a moral imperative, we increasingly look at things in a commercial sense and at whether there is financial value in recovering funds. Kristin Jones: It is very difficult to get money back from fraudsters, especially where it is organised, because the money disappears into different accounts in different names, and overseas through lots of corporate bodies, so it will be a big challenge. The important thing about this piece of legislation is whether we are future-proofing it so that, looking forward, we can learn from what has happened in the past and not repeat the mistakes.

• 25 Feb 2025 · Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill (First sitting) · Hansard source

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  I would like to declare an interest as a member of both Nottinghamshire county council and Gedling borough council, which are both responsible for administering benefits.

• 5 Feb 2025 · Police Grant Report · Hansard source

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  I associate myself with the remarks of my right hon. Friend the Minister on the tragic loss of Harvey Willgoose, and extend my deepest condolences to his family. I also thank Chief Constable Kate Meynell and all her police officers and staff at Nottinghamshire police for the important and heroic work they do for the communities I represent in Gedling. I would like to begin by paying tribute to a constituent, PC Chris Duffy, and his police dog, Reno. When attending an incident in March 2023, PC Duffy was struck on the back of the head by an attacker in an alleyway, leaving him with a seven-inch wound as he fell to the ground. Despite what had happened, he got himself back on his feet and 15 minutes later arrested his attacker. I was delighted, as his Member of Parliament and as a lifelong school friend, to see him recognised and nominated for a prestigious Pride of Gedling award last year. I pay tribute to PC Duffy and Reno for their heroic service. Thanks to this Labour Government, residents in Gedling will be the beneficiaries of a much-needed funding increase for Nottinghamshire police. I welcome the Government’s announcement of a total £7.2 million boost in funding for Nottinghamshire police—a 6.1% increase—meaning more police on our streets in communities across Gedling and more resources for our brave police officers to clamp down on crime and antisocial behaviour. The Government are working constructively and closely with our Labour police and crime commissioner, Gary Godden, who has been a tireless champion for Nottinghamshire police and our hard-working police officers across the county of Nottinghamshire. Himself an ex-copper, he understands first-hand the devastating impacts of crime and antisocial behaviour on communities like the ones I represent in Gedling. That is in stark contrast to the previous Conservative police and crime commissioner of Nottinghamshire, who spent more time defending her own speeding offences than tackling people offending by speeding on our roads. As we saw under the last Conservative Government, when the number of police officers is cut, it is always the hard-working, law-abiding-majority who pay the price. I have seen that first-hand in Arnold, Carlton and Netherfield town centres, where lawless thugs have tried getting away with mindless antisocial behaviour. My constituent John has been playing darts on a Wednesday evening in Arnold town centre for over 20 years. He recently told me about the gangs of young people smashing up bicycles outside a local supermarket at night. John said to me that it was getting worse “week by week” and that it was putting people off visiting the area in the town centre. In Carlton, my constituent Louise recently visited a local church to donate school uniforms. She was confronted with offensive graffiti daubed across the church walls, leading her children to ask her uncomfortable questions about what the vile vandalism meant—graffiti on the walls of one of our most beautiful churches. And last week I met Sarah, who is a governor at Warren primary academy, a fantastic school in a wonderful community. Sarah and the headteacher at Warren primary told me how parents are afraid to let their kids play in Muirfield park due to weekly incidents of vandalism of public property, including the burning of park equipment, people carrying knives and “off-road bikers ripping up the park, wearing full balaclavas”. Think about that: parents afraid of letting their children play in parks because of some lawless thugs and vandals. That is totally unacceptable and must change. Local councillors, the community and I have been raising these issues with the police and crime commissioner in Nottinghamshire, as well as the Government. I hope that the new uplift in funding from the Labour Government for our local police is put to good use to increase neighbourhood policing and ensure that this kind of antisocial behaviour is stamped out. On the Labour Benches, we believe that all crime should be prosecuted. We believe in the need to take tough action on criminals and those who are intent on attempting to intimidate the law-abiding majority. We believe in a zero-tolerance approach to the perpetrators of antisocial behaviour in places like Arnold, Netherfield, Carlton and Warren Hill; unlike the Conservatives, who effectively legalised shoplifting under the value of £200, slashed the number of police by 45,000 in their first four years in office and then expected us to thank them for promising the return of only 20,000. Police force numbers—to be clear to the shadow policing Minister—at the end of the last Conservative Government were still 2,000 lower than when Labour left office in 2010. At the same time, what did we see? We saw a rise in fraud, a rise in knife crime and the continued presence of antisocial behaviour. It is this Labour Government who will increase the number of neighbourhood bobbies on the beat by 13,000, introduce a named police officer for every community and invest in youth hubs across our country so that we can tackle the root causes of antisocial behaviour. I will never, ever apologise for a zero-tolerance approach to antisocial behaviour: it is what my constituents in Gedling expect, and I am delighted that this Labour Government are working with our police and crime commissioner, Nottinghamshire police, MPs and local councillors to stamp this out.