Rachael Maskell MP: speeches 2025

Speeches

• 20 Mar 2025 · Conflict in Gaza · Hansard source

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  May I correct my right hon. Friend when he uses the words “both sides”, since neither the Israeli Government nor Hamas represent the interests of the Palestinian people? We need to recognise that they do not have the voice necessary to bring them the protection that they need. However, I want to raise the definition of genocide. Many times, my right hon. Friend has rightly said from the Dispatch Box that it is for the courts to determine whether or not a genocide has been committed. Can he say what efforts he has made to ask the courts to make such a ruling?

• 19 Mar 2025 · Down’s Syndrome · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to see you in the chair, Mr Turner. I congratulate the right hon. Member for Beverley and Holderness (Graham Stuart) on securing this debate. The Down Syndrome Act is simple, but brilliant—but it is powerless without the guidance to accompany it. That is why this debate is timely. I also call it timely because the elements of the Act determine the very structure that can support a child through to adulthood, from birth through to work. The Act depends on three main pillars, the first of which is healthcare. At this time, we are putting in place a 10-year NHS plan, putting together the NHS of the future, and looking at how we can keep ourselves well; we are putting in early intervention measures and ensuring that we have the workforce needed in the future. If this guidance is to have effect, we need the workforce and the structures to support individuals and their families. Now is the time to look at that and to put in the additional screening and support that a person with Down syndrome needs to optimise their health and keep well throughout their life. The second pillar is that we are having a massive review of the education system at the moment. We are looking at curriculum change, recognising that the broadening of the curriculum will be much more inclusive. As we review SEND and the whole education system, it is timely to bring in this guidance. It cannot just be guidance around Down syndrome looking in; it must be looking out at other Departments. Again, the time is now. Look at the data: the figure of 80% of children with Down syndrome attending primary school drops to between 25% and 37% in secondary school. That deficit in itself indicates that we need significant change in our education system. We need a schools system that is nurturing, therapeutic and integrated, so that no child feels on the outside of the education they are rightly entitled to. The third pillar is the place of work. We need to ensure that there are more opportunities for people with Down syndrome to engage in the labour market. Just yesterday, the Government published their plan “Pathways to Work”, which I see as a plan in two halves. The first half will enable more people to access the labour market, to follow the career of their dreams, and to have their skills and talents recognised. We need to ensure that everybody with Down syndrome has that opportunity where it can be afforded—if not in a formal workplace, by volunteering in the community or being able to have the most life-enhancing opportunities available to them. When I talk about the second half of the plan, I have deep concern for people with Down syndrome, looking at the proposed thresholds for personal independence payment in which people will have to score at least four points to meet the threshold to access vital funding to keep them independent —the key word in personal independence payments. We need to ensure that we feed into that debate. When we get this right, it will be for the benefit of the whole of society. In York, I think of those people who work in West Offices, where the café is run by United Response and provides real work opportunities, and of the Once Seen theatre company, where I see such talent on display. We must get this guidance—

• 18 Mar 2025 · Welfare Reform · Hansard source

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  As a physio, I know that optimising somebody’s function and independence, whether they are in work or not, saves the system so much money, because it prevents dependency. However, I find that incongruous with the cuts of £5 billion and the changes to the eligibility criteria. Will the Secretary of State ensure that before the measures are brought to the House, disabled people are consulted and involved in the decision making? We must ensure that people maintain their independence, psychological safety and dignity, and that they are not pushed further into poverty.

• 17 Mar 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  As a human rights city, York believes that disabled people should be at the heart of all decision making. How have disabled people formed the Minister’s views in making these changes? Have they been at the heart of the decision making?

• 13 Mar 2025 · NHS England Update · Hansard source

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  We must remember that NHS England came out of the Tory Government’s reforms that were intended to privatise the NHS. I want to thank NHS England staff for their work. I am sorry about the way in which they have heard this announcement, because it is their jobs that are being put at risk. We have to ensure, however, that we are not replicating NHS England across the ICBs of our country, and that ICBs are also reformed to transform the NHS through the three shifts that will be placed on them with the publication of the 10-year plan. How will my right hon. Friend ensure that we have the machinery to hold the system to account, but also to put those reforms in place?

• 6 Mar 2025 · Geothermal Energy · Hansard source

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  I am grateful for the work that the hon. Member has done in this area. York has rich sources of deep geothermal. The York Central site could heat 30,000 homes in my constituency, yet the local authority and other bodies do not have the confidence to bring those projects on board. Does he agree that the Government could provide tools and support to enable such projects to come to fruition, as well as just improve basic understanding?

• 6 Mar 2025 · Geothermal Energy · Hansard source

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  I am really grateful for all that the Minister is doing in this area. However, some of this work is quite time-sensitive; for instance, we have a major development in York, the first phase of which goes into planning in September. We very much want to work with Government to see what we can deliver in York Central. Would the Minister be prepared to work with us to see whether we can get this model working on some of those micro sites?

• 6 Mar 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Last year, York Rescue Boat spent 6,500 hours patrolling the rivers in York and trained 1,500 people on river safety. However, the rivers saw 25 people in, and this week we saw the latest tragedy. Will she have a discussion with colleagues in Cabinet about having a joint departmental working group to create a strategy around river safety, so that we can prevent these tragic events?

• 6 Mar 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  The York Central development site is pivotal in driving forward York and North Yorkshire’s economy, and at the heart of that site will be a Government hub. Will the Minister meet me to ensure that that hub is not separate from the rest of the site, but integrated in the economic vision that we have for York?

• 4 Mar 2025 · Gaza · Hansard source

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  Over recent days, we have seen the power of co-ordinated action when addressing a most challenging diplomatic, military and humanitarian crisis, yet in 17 months we have not seen a parallel in addressing the challenges over Gaza. What action is the Department taking to ensure that there is such a co-ordinated effort, and will the Foreign Secretary call such a summit?

• 3 Mar 2025 · Leasehold Costs · Hansard source

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  5. What steps she is taking to help tackle increases in leaseholders’ costs.

• 3 Mar 2025 · Leasehold Costs · Hansard source

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  I welcome this Labour Government getting a grip on the feudal racket that enslaves leaseholders to ever-rising management fees and ground rents, making it impossible to pay and impossible to move. Will the Minister provide transitional arrangements to cap those costs while ensuring that all new developments—even developments that are soon to enter the planning stage, such as the one at York Central—can make the transition to commonhold as soon as the law changes?

• 3 Mar 2025 · Church of England: Safeguarding · Hansard source

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  I am grateful to my hon. Friend for bringing forward this debate and for the way in which he is doing so. Does he agree that the technical nuances that caused the Church of England to go for option 3 rather than option 4 could be overcome by formulating a process of accountability around the safeguarding structures within the Church of England, to ensure that any provider of such services had a strong line of communication in order to hear what is needed in places such as York, where we have a cathedral, which I understand is where some of the challenges are coming from?

• 3 Mar 2025 · Church of England: Safeguarding · Hansard source

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  I am grateful to the Minister for what she is saying. Given that it has been cited that there could be a technical reason with the Charity Commission as to the roles of trustees within the structures of cathedrals, will she meet representatives of the Charity Commission to ensure that any impediment is worked through and that, if necessary, this place legislates to remove that impediment?

• 27 Feb 2025 · Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme · Hansard source

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  The capping of the listed places of worship grant scheme has left many churches in physical ruin, such as the Belfrey in York, which will lose £1.5 million, even though it has done everything that was expected of it. Clearly, we need to find a solution, and the suggestions from Government have been insufficient. Will my hon. Friend ensure that the Church Commissioners co-ordinate a meeting of all churches that are mid-project, to ensure that they can complete the works that they have undertaken?

• 27 Feb 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Unaccountable power carries significant risk, as we have seen in this place and across our public services, but when it is in the NHS it can lead to the death of patients. The complaints systems in the NHS are not functioning: they are defensive and they are not trying to solve the issues. Can we have a debate about NHS complaints to keep our constituents safe?

• 25 Feb 2025 · Conflict in Sudan · Hansard source

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  I thank the Foreign Secretary for all that he is doing. As in so many conflicts, the discourse about this brutal Sudanese war is being fuelled by external actors with economic and mineral interests in Sudan, and with interests in wider geopolitical agitation, such as Russia; Egypt, with its support for the Sudanese Armed Forces; and the UAE, with its support for the Rapid Support Forces. There is also the wider user of mercenaries. What further steps can the Foreign Secretary take to use our leverage, not least our trading leverage, to ensure that actors are not fuelling this horrendous war and humanitarian crisis?

• 25 Feb 2025 · Conflict in Sudan · Hansard source

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  11. What steps he is taking with his international counterparts to help de-escalate the conflict in Sudan.

• 24 Feb 2025 · Draft Higher Education (Fee Limits and Fee Limit Condition) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2025 · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Ms Furniss. I speak as an MP with two universities in my constituency. Over the last few years, I have often talked with them about the new financial strains they have experienced. I have therefore followed this debate extremely closely. Many universities have had a very difficult few years. We need to acknowledge that and congratulate them on the way they have put measures in place to control those costs, but for many it has been at a cost to their courses, with many staff, including academics, being made redundant. That means narrowing the offer at a time when we want our higher education sector to excel, as it is a sector of which we can be immensely proud. I fully understand why the Government have gone down the path of raising tuition fees by 3.1% to a cap of £9,535, other adjustments aside. However, it would not be right to see this as a long-term solution, and I therefore seek an assurance from the Minister that we will not see further fee increases in this Parliament, and that we will instead look to address the quick succession of financial shocks to which the sector has been exposed. The student visa changes have had a profound impact on York’s universities, decreasing the number of overseas students. The universities are therefore having to reschedule their costs. I very much hope the Minister will move to enable students to come with their dependents to study in the UK and put into our local economies, which depend on those students and their families making a wider, positive contribution, as well as helping the universities with their finances. I also hope the Minister will ensure that we can continue to have the excellence that comes with the academic study and research base that I see in York’s universities. I know that universities are trying to plan for the long term. I disagree with what the shadow Minister says about universities overreaching, as the University of York and York St John University have placed themselves in the centre of our city, ensuring that they are part of our economic future. Investing in the technologies and jobs of the future is part of York’s inclusion agenda, which we need to facilitate. Universities are key anchor institutions in places like York, and they can help to address the inequality and huge regional divides we experience. But we also know that there have been wider pressures. The national insurance obligations have had a real impact on the sector, as has the rise in the national minimum wage. I urge the Government to feed back to the Treasury in particular that the national insurance rises could have been more nuanced so as to assist the sector, particularly given the plans to raise student fees. I welcome the rise in the national living wage, but that of course has had a cumulative impact on universities’ income and expenditure. As we all know, Brexit has had a real impact on universities. The loss of the Erasmus scheme has not been equalled by the Turing scheme, and there has been an impact on research relationships, academic work and the ability of students to come to the UK—the visa controls. It has also not been long since the covid shock and then the cost of living shock. That has all had a cumulative impact on the budgets of universities, which are trying very much to lead our communities and drive forward the economy of the future. Despite universities’ excellence in demanding more from their finances, restricting their ability to offset costs has meant that the Minister has had to let those costs fall on students. I have real concerns about that, not least after discussing the issue with students in York. I understand the need for more income for universities, but the impact on students is considerable. Having met student unions in York, I know that the cost of housing there is absolutely astronomical and having a real impact on students. It is the same with travel costs, which are significantly more than in other places outside London. As a result, students are having to work ever more hours in the local economy to offset the costs. They are being priced out of degrees; many who have started their studies in York have not been able to complete them as they are having to work more or less full time. Academic work is suffering as a result. I have a real concern that placing a greater financial burden on students particularly affects those from families with a lower socioeconomic background, and I note that page 27 of the relevant equality impact assessment says that the fee increase may deter students of lower socioeconomic status from coming to university and discusses the real cost of the increase on them. I trust that the Minister will look at how to support hardship resourcing through the Office for Students so that no student is turned away. All in all, the tuition fee model is broken when it comes to funding education; the money risks ending up in the wrong places. Now that we are in power, I urge the Government to take a bigger view of funding for higher education. Education should be seen as the most significant investment in our economy. It fuels our research and innovation, drives economic benefit and transforms people’s lives. We need to make sure that no one is excluded. I regret that the failures of the last Administration have brought us to the point of raising fees today. I trust that we can find better solutions for tackling the wider funding of higher education and its broader ecosystem, not least as universities produce the research and innovation to drive our whole economy forward. In closing, I ask the Minister whether he expects other rises in student fees during this Parliament. What steps are the Government taking to ensure that people of lower socioeconomic status are not impacted by this policy? I note the increase in the money that students will be able to access and what the Minister has said about the amount that students pay back. What future planning are he and his colleagues doing to ensure that there is a better account and better process for funding higher education in future?

• 24 Feb 2025 · Draft Higher Education (Fee Limits and Fee Limit Condition) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2025 · Hansard source

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  I am grateful for what the Minister says, but we know that the changes in visa requirements have had a major impact on higher education. I urge him to take that back to the Department and look at the changes again so that our universities can welcome students and their dependents into our country.

• 13 Feb 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  Access for disabled people was a condition of opening up planning for the York Central development. However, I hear that the condition will be bypassed, and that planning will go ahead without disabled access being put in place. That clearly impedes disabled people. Can we ensure that difficult engineering work is undertaken before planning permission is granted?

• 13 Feb 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  The Belfrey in York is losing around £1.4 million through the changes to the listed places of worship grant scheme. The National Railway Museum was promised money by the last Government—I appreciate that it was not necessarily real money—but that has been taken away. Both those projects are midway through development. Will the Leader of the House make representations to the Chancellor to say that when projects are under way but have been stripped down after development has started, money should be put in place to ensure that they can be completed?

• 13 Feb 2025 · Ukraine · Hansard source

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  We are all conscious of the three-year anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine, and our thoughts are with the people of Ukraine at this time. However, there can be no peace without justice. It is therefore welcome that countries are collaborating to try to bring about a de-escalation of the war. What are the Government doing to focus on the justice system, to ensure that war criminals are tried, and justice is brought to the Ukrainian people?

• 10 Feb 2025 · Community and Third Sector Organisations: Employment · Hansard source

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  I am grateful to my hon. Friend for securing this debate. Small organisations can often have the biggest impact. Chocolate and Co. in York is taking people out of the criminal justice system and people who have had a life of addiction and turning their lives around with employment. However, it costs money. Does my hon. Friend agree that we need to see a long-term cost-benefit analysis of what these organisations can bring, to ensure they get the funding they need to transform these people’s lives?

• 6 Feb 2025 · Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories · Hansard source

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  We know that the ceasefire is incredibly fragile, and that there have been breaches with impunity—in particular, we think about the people of Jenin at this time. Does the Minister recognise that the lack of recognition of Palestine now is denying people across Palestine the protection that they need?