Rebecca Smith MP: speeches 2024

Speeches

• 19 Dec 2024 · Rural England Prosperity Fund · Hansard source

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  2. What recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of extending the rural England prosperity fund.

• 19 Dec 2024 · Rural England Prosperity Fund · Hansard source

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  I thank the Minister for that answer. Farmers in my constituency of South West Devon have highlighted the role that the rural England prosperity fund could play in the economic growth of our community. Given the publication of the English devolution White Paper this week, what conversations has the Minister had with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government about how funding, such as the rural England prosperity fund, can ensure that devolution is a success for the countryside?

• 18 Dec 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Q3. My constituents Caroline and Savannah are just two of thousands across Devon, Cornwall and beyond who are living with postural tachycardia syndrome and have been unable to access adequate treatment since the retirement of the only consultant available to work with them in July. What actions can the Prime Minister take to help me secure the treatment that my constituents need, and will he agree to meet me and them to discuss the treatment of POTS in more detail?

• 17 Dec 2024 · Old Oak Common Station · Hansard source

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  The rail Minister has expressed the view that enabling those of us from the south-west to connect to the midlands and Birmingham would be one mitigation, but does the hon. Member agree that that is not a good enough result for the overground services? Frankly, we need connections into London, because we can already get to the midlands and the services that HS2 would be offering.

• 17 Dec 2024 · Old Oak Common Station · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship this morning, Mr Efford. This is the second debate in a week that we have had on railway lines. I will not repeat everything that I said in last week’s debate, which was just about Devon, but we touched on Old Oak Common last week and I am keen to do so again today. It is worth reminding anybody who is listening or reading the Hansard report that it was the coalition Government of the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives who first published the White Paper for HS2 in 2010. There has been quite a lot of Conservative Government-bashing in this debate so far, but let us be realistic that it was a coalition decision. However, I will remain friends with my Liberal Democrat colleagues, with whom I work across Devon, and speak about the topic before us. I will repeat one thing I said last week, because it is important: Devon and the wider south-west are not just holiday destinations. As the hon. Member for Honiton and Sidmouth (Richard Foord) says, we have a thriving local economy. We are keen to make sure that it grows. Anything that hinders rail travel in and out of the south-west will have a problematic impact. It is also worth noting that in the past few years we have celebrated achieving a three-hour train trip between Plymouth and London. I benefit from that when I get the 6.55 am train on a Monday, and no doubt many businesspeople and others travelling to London benefit in the same way. It is incredibly disappointing that that much sought-after shorter journey time will be put to one side over the next few years. My constituency of South West Devon is in exactly the same position as the constituencies of other hon. Members who have spoken. I can see no material benefits at the moment, except perhaps easier access to the Elizabeth line and, I suppose, Heathrow airport, for those of us fortunate enough to go on holiday from time to time. The point to which I want to draw the most attention has already been covered, but is worth mentioning again: the £30 million mitigation, which the Government seem so proud of, to reassure people and compensate those who will be disrupted by the works at Old Oak Common. As has already been made clear, that will essentially pay for depot changes and electrification closer to London, so I struggle to see how it will compensate my constituents and others who live in the south-west. Last week, not knowing the breakdown, I gave the Minister some suggestions for what that money could be spent on to make a material impact, including wi-fi. Finalising the business case for the Tavistock-Plymouth line, which would create a great horseshoe around the far reach of Devon, would need £1.5 million, which is not that much out of £30 million. Perhaps some of those things would be adequate compensation. CrossCountry currently refuses to stop at Ivybridge in my constituency, because it claims that the platforms are not long enough. I am not convinced that that is actually the problem, but would it not be great to use the money to extend the platforms at Ivybridge? Can the Minister commit this morning to reassessing the £30 million mitigation pot so that the south-west—and Wales, which other hon. Members have mentioned—see some benefits? I am also very concerned about the communications. The rail Minister in the other place came back to us very quickly after a meeting about communications, but the works will have an impact on a variety of weekends and days. I am struggling to get my head around that; no doubt other Members are, too. We need a commitment to making sure that the changes are explicitly communicated to residents and tourists alike. My final thought is about a subject that has come up in the Transport Committee, of which I am a member. Great Western Railway is a big user of delay repay. Ultimately, delay repay is at the cost of the taxpayer. I do not want to be completely negative, but there will be inevitable delays on top of the lengthened train trips as a result of construction work. Who will pay for the inevitable increased delay repay claims? I assume it will be the good people of the south-west and the rest of the country. It is worth looking at the issue in the round and acknowledging that there is not just inconvenience, but huge cost.

• 11 Dec 2024 · Rail Services: Devon · Hansard source

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  It is a privilege to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Pritchard, and I am delighted to follow my colleagues from across Devon; I know that some others will be speaking shortly. Hon. Members who listened to my maiden speech will have noticed that I have committed to fighting for railway and transport in the south-west, so when I saw that there would be a debate today, I thought, “Well, I’ve got to come along and make sure I play my part.” Sadly, there will be no mentions of Kylie Minogue’s “The Loco-Motion” today, but if hon. Members want to read my maiden speech, they are welcome to. What is clear in all things to do with the railway in the south-west, and particularly in Devon, is that we are looking for parity with the rest of the country. That has been alluded to particularly in the context of HS2. I know that HS2 has historically had cross-party support, but right from the beginning, I thought, “Hang on a minute, what about the south-west? Journey times that are a few minutes shorter on an already easy transport route from London to the midlands, versus what we get in the south-west?” I have never completely followed the argument, but we are where we are today. It is important to acknowledge what the previous Government did in terms of taking responsibility for the south-west. We must not forget that £165 million was invested in the south-west rail resilience programme, and that got us almost to where we are today. We just need the final piece of the jigsaw to ensure that the line that takes us down into the south-west is secure. We must give credit where credit is due. It is important to remember that, as I talked about in my maiden speech, the south-west is not just a tourist attraction. People live there and there is an enormous opportunity for even further growth. We are an incredibly vibrant economy: the blue and green economies are growing, and we are keen to grow, but without an adequate rail service into the south-west, that is massively hindered. Like Exeter, my constituency of South West Devon has a joint local plan that is already being delivered, but infrastructure is key, and I will touch briefly on that towards the end of my speech. My main question for the Minister is: what difference will public ownership of the railway make for the south-west? That is the big question overarching everything else. I want to touch briefly on Old Oak Common, the Tavistock railway and Ivybridge, which is in my constituency. I want to touch on Old Oak Common because the recent helpful letter from the Rail Minister talks about a pot of £30 million for capital investments to mitigate the impact of disruption, which begs the question: what will it be spent on? It would be interesting to hear some detail. I think we can all make pitches for what that should cover: wi-fi has been touched on; and I will mention the Plymouth to Tavistock line—a nice project that would cost a fraction of the £30 million. We also have some challenges with platform lengths that prevent certain trains from stopping in my constituency. At the moment, the benefits outlined in that letter, which says that we will be able to get connections to the north and the midlands, do not pass the “So what?” test, because we can already get to the midlands and the north from the south-west directly without having to go across to London in a triangle. Although it will help some connectivity, it does not stack up for constituents in Devon to know that they could go to London to get to Birmingham, when they could go straight to Birmingham from Plymouth or Exeter. I acknowledge that the easier access to Heathrow may be helpful, but again, it is of limited value. That leads me to rebuilding Britain’s railway. The rail Minister provided a helpful answer that said that the Department is “reviewing individual former RYR projects, including the Tavistock to Plymouth line.” The ask has now been scaled back: they are asking for just 1% of the RYR budget, which is the seed money to finalise the business plan so that we can get to a point where we are shovel-ready for 2028. The hon. Member for Exeter (Steve Race) has already highlighted the appetite that we can see from the Okehampton line. It is also worth saying that it makes us more resilient, because we can ultimately create a circle that will go from Exeter all the way round to Plymouth and back, and that does not require Dawlish. In the next 10 or 15 years, that will be part of building rail resilience. The project is just looking for 1%, which is less than £1.5 million and could be part of that £30 million capital—I do not know whether it counts as capital or revenue, but the question is when the decision can be expected and when the Department will feed back on whether that line is one of those that will be considered. That point links up, again, to the joint local plan. We have a metro rail plan for Plymouth that includes a station at Plympton in my constituency, which would be part of that circle that goes round to Ivybridge and up. I wanted to mention Ivybridge, which is also in my constituency. At the moment, only 16 Great Western trains stop there a day. There are 29 CrossCountry services that go through the station but do not stop, and at the moment CrossCountry is refusing to do that. In light of the nationalisation plans, I would be interested to know what measures the Department might be able to take to put pressure on CrossCountry, so that 16 becomes 45 weekday services that my constituents could use to access the wider area.

• 11 Dec 2024 · Rail Services: Devon · Hansard source

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  I welcome what the Minister is saying. On a point of interest, it would perhaps be worth looking at the numbers on a Thursday. In line with most of the country, Thursday is the new Friday, and I am sure that most of my colleagues in the room will testify to the challenge of getting a train out of London on a Thursday, because everybody wants to go back to Reading. With all due respect, it might be worth looking at the numbers on a Thursday, to help us with our case for more capacity in the south-west.

• 11 Dec 2024 · Rail Services: Devon · Hansard source

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  I absolutely welcome the hon. Member’s comments about the success of the Exeter-Okehampton line; the figures speak for themselves. Does he agree that the success of that line highlights why the cost of keeping the Tavistock-Plymouth line going, as set out in its business case, is a really small ask—only 1% of the cost of the rebuilding railways project nationally—and that our little bit of that previous scheme would be very welcome in our region, particularly in Devon?

• 10 Dec 2024 · Court Cases: Backlog · Hansard source

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  13. What assessment she has made of the potential impact of the backlog of court cases on victims of crime.

• 10 Dec 2024 · Court Cases: Backlog · Hansard source

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  Recently, Truro Crown court, which serves my constituency of South West Devon, has been forced to shut one day a week due to recent budget cuts and the judicial sitting day reductions. Some cases have already been postponed until late 2025, including lengthy cases that involve victims of violence, and it is prompting those victims to consider withdrawing their cases. Given the maxim justice delayed is justice denied, what additional steps are being taken to support victims to continue with their cases across Devon and Cornwall?

• 5 Dec 2024 · Government’s Five Missions · Hansard source

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  How will the Prime Minister’s five mission boards learn from the clear lack of join-up between the Treasury and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs over the family farm tax and the family business tax to ensure that they do not become five mission silos?

• 5 Dec 2024 · Government’s Five Missions · Hansard source

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  1. What progress the mission delivery boards have made.

• 3 Dec 2024 · National Insurance Contributions · Hansard source

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  A major housing association serving not only Plympton, Plymstock and Ivybridge in my constituency but the rest of Plymouth and other parts of Devon and Cornwall will have to shoulder three quarters of a million pounds in increased national insurance contributions. That is money that could have been spent on new homes for some of the most vulnerable in my constituency. How will the Minister reassure my constituents patiently waiting for much-needed social housing when they realise that they will have to wait longer because of the Chancellor’s decisions?

• 3 Dec 2024 · National Insurance Contributions · Hansard source

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  3. What assessment she has made of the potential impact of the proposed increase in employer national insurance contributions on public sector organisations.

• 3 Dec 2024 · Family Farming in Devon · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to speak in this debate, which my neighbour, my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Torridge and Tavistock (Sir Geoffrey Cox), introduced . Some farms that were once in his constituency are now in mine, so he may well recognise some of the stories that I will tell. He has done me a favour—I am making a speech tomorrow as well, so I will focus on a couple of key issues today. I will take the opportunity to speak directly about Devon while the Minister is in the Chamber, because tomorrow there will be a lot of voices in the farming debate. My constituency of South West Devon has three types of rural landscape. We have land-based lowlands, coastal lowlands, and uplands, which are less favoured and include protected landscapes up on Dartmoor. Each presents its own challenges and opportunities, and requires special ways of farming, which is one of the values of family farming: a legacy is passed down from generation to generation, so that each one can share the stories, and keep those farms going. What I find most exciting about the constituency is that each of those farms now has farmers who are my generation, in their 40s or 50s, and whose parents are still alive in their 80s, so we have those long-term family farms, which are eager to keep doing their bit to keep Devon looking like Devon. It is worth saying that without our farmers, Devon would stop looking like Devon, because we need that rural landscape to complement the cities we have as well. All those different farms are all family farms, and have overlapping challenges. It is worth briefly touching on those shared challenges. Our farms are generally smaller than they are in the rest of the south-west, let alone the rest of the country. The average farm in Devon is 16% smaller than south-west farms, which in turn are 34% smaller than farms across the country. That means that there are tighter profit margins. When we shout about agricultural property relief and capital grants programmes, it is because those farms are already tightly run. We are not the wealthy south-east; we are the south-west, and in particular, we are Devon. Farms are also more likely to be owned than tenanted, which is unusual compared with the rest of the country. Turning to agricultural property relief, I want to briefly mention that for many ageing parents, whose children are often already involved in the farm if they have not taken over already, it has been a given that those farms would be passed down. There is a generation of people nearing middle age who expected to farm into the long term, but who are now rightly worried about what that will look like, both for them and for their children. I want to talk specifically about the uplands that are now part of my constituency, but which once formed part of the constituency of my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Torridge and Tavistock. I have spent a lot of time at Greenwell farm, where a fantastic farmer, Mat Cole, is passionate about upland farming and farming on Dartmoor, and recognises what an opportunity he has. He has some key questions about land that is designated as moorland permanent grassland pasture, which currently falls through the funding gap. While it is better for the environment and for the soil not to disturb it, farmers often only get more funding if they do something to that land. However, Dartmoor, as has been referenced in the Fursdon review, is different. Mat is keen to see if a role can be found for heritage grassland, and whether we could look at a classification for that. The environmental land management moorland SFI offer is a real challenge on livestock numbers. Under higher-level stewardship, farmers could have 0.3 livestock units per hectare; under SFI, that drops to 0.16 per hectare. To decrease livestock numbers unlocks those SFI options, but stocking rates do not represent the land stock on Dartmoor if we lower them, and it does not enable us to do what we need to do to protect that landscape. Where has DEFRA got to on moorland stocking rates? Dartmoor farmers are calling for flexibility on those stocking rates to reflect the findings of the Dartmoor review. To conclude, I will make just a couple more points. The key issue for upland farms arises from the fact that DEFRA has promised a working group on uplands, specifically to look at this issue in future. What progress has been made on establishing that working group? Finally, particularly regarding the coastal and lowland parts of my constituency, lots of other organisations feed into what farms are doing with DEFRA. Those organisations, including the Westcountry Rivers Trust and South Devon National Landscape, all receive money from DEFRA through other funding pots, which are all under threat. I believe that the plea of the farmers I have met in recent weeks is about the need for joined-up thinking. When we reduce one pot, for South Devon National Landscape, for example, that has an impact on farmers who might be struggling with their SFI funding. Farmers are keen to ensure that they can produce, protect the environment, feed the nation, create and sustain good jobs, and generate economic growth, but they cannot do any of that unless they are allowed to get on with the job that they are keen to do.

• 2 Dec 2024 · Leasehold Reform · Hansard source

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  I welcome the Government’s commitment to continue our work to address issues with the current leasehold system. However, where we are building new towns, such as Sherford in my constituency, residents, like others in new builds, face council tax and service charges, with no likelihood of that changing. What plans does the Minister have to address the impact of service charges in new towns as part of leasehold reform?

• 28 Nov 2024 · National Youth Strategy: Youth Sector Organisations · Hansard source

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  Young Devon provides essential services for young people across Devon, including supported accommodation and mental health provision. When I met Young Devon staff on Friday, they told me the increased employers’ national insurance contributions will cost the charity at least £90,000 just to stand still—that means 100 fewer young people counselled and eight fewer beds offered. What conversations has the right hon. Lady had with the Chancellor to ensure that charities such as Young Devon do not have to reduce their valuable services as a result of the Budget?

• 26 Nov 2024 · COP29 · Hansard source

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  Last Thursday, the Prime Minister implied that the new wind energy project in Hull would result in lower energy bills for my constituents, but he refused to say by when. When can my constituents and others across the country expect to see the £300 reduction in their bills that the Labour party promised?

• 21 Nov 2024 · G20 and COP29 Summits · Hansard source

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  Given the Prime Minister’s optimism on his return from COP29, can he tell the House how the deals that he signed there will uphold his promise to cut energy bills by £300 for constituents such as mine, and when can they expect to see that promise become a reality?

• 20 Nov 2024 · Defence Programmes Developments · Hansard source

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  While it is deeply disappointing to hear the decisions around Devonport’s surface fleet today, in particular as the MP for a proud home to the Royal Marines and 42 Commando, it does provide, as has been alluded to by some colleagues on the Labour Benches, an opportunity to raise again the need for a Devonport deal, and in particular Plymouth and Devonport’s role in refitting the Royal Navy’s submarines going forward. As a member of that south-west posse, it is great that the Secretary of State has already offered a meeting. However, what we are specifically looking for is cross-ministerial commitment. We are getting plenty of meetings, but we want to know that the Ministers are joined up and having conversations cross-departmentally, and that the Devonport deal might be able to offer Plymouth and the wider south-west a future as we see these armed forces changes.

• 14 Nov 2024 · Water Sector Commission · Hansard source

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  In 2013, the previous Government introduced a rebate of £50 per household on the water bills of customers in the far south-west. With 3% of the country’s population paying to keep a third of our bathing beaches clean on lower-than-average salaries, will the Secretary of State please reconsider the decision to scrap that rebate for constituents such as mine, which was quietly announced just before the recess?

• 12 Nov 2024 · NHS Dentistry: South-west · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Vickers. I congratulate the hon. Member for Honiton and Sidmouth (Richard Foord) on securing this vital debate about NHS dentistry in the south-west. My constituents know the issues with access to NHS dentists only too well. Since 2020, the number of dentists in the county has fallen from 549 to 497. That means that each remaining dentist must see almost 300 additional patients a year. It is clear that we have a significant shortage of dentists in Devon. Only 34.7% of adults in the county have seen a dentist in the past year, compared with 55% 10 years ago. As we also heard from the hon. Member for Exeter (Steve Race), very few children are seeing dentists: 46.6% of children in Devon in the past year, compared with 61% in 2016. For those who live in or around Ivybridge in my constituency, there are currently only two dental practices within a 10-mile radius accepting new patients. That only gets worse for the more rural and coastal communities, and the statistics are not good for the communities within the Plymouth boundary. I am aware that an anomaly in Devon is that there is actually a waiting list for NHS dentists. At one recent meeting with local senior health officials, it was pointed out that Devon’s waiting list is unusual, perhaps even unique. We have 60,000 people on that list, believing they are entitled to an NHS dentist, when, as was discussed at the same meeting and I was led to believe on the day, the existing NHS contract was designed to serve only 55% of the adult population. The assumption was that others would access dental care privately. I am not making a judgment about whether that is right or wrong; I am just stating the fact that most people do not understand that. The dental system was set up to be more like that for opticians than GPs at the time. The issues we currently face in Devon have in many ways gone beyond those points’ being particularly relevant, but it is worth reflecting how important it is to be honest with people, as we make changes, to ensure they understand what the impact of those changes might be for them. Before I reach the main point I wish to make today, I will briefly mention two challenges we face in Devon: how we train dentists and how NHS contracts are awarded. Devon is fortunate to have an outstanding dental school at the University of Plymouth. When it opened, many believed it would provide the city and the region beyond with a ready supply of new dentists to help us tackle our dental shortage. The school, however, is so successful that it is incredibly difficult to secure a place to study there, which has an impact on local people’s being able to study at home and perhaps stay after graduation. Equally, I have been informed by an expert on dental training that the way we train dentists makes it very difficult for people to stay where they have studied. Currently, the system almost forces the non-local dentists—the ones that might be coming down from the midlands —to go back to where they came from, rather than staying in the south-west if they want to. I urge the Minister to look into what more can be done to ensure that students can more easily stay where they have studied; at the moment, even if a dental student falls in love with Devon, it is very difficult for them to stay and help us to solve our problems. Secondly, I am concerned about the lack of flexibility in the awarding of new NHS contracts at a time when we are in desperate need of more dentists. I was contacted about a year ago by a dentist seeking to open a practice in my constituency, who was told by the ICB that the window for applications had closed. That may have been the case but, given that we are in such dire need of dentists, perhaps an exception could have been made. That leads me, finally, to my main point. In the last 12 months, 876 people attended the emergency department at Derriford hospital for a dental reason. Of those, 18% were under the age of 20 and 82% were over 20. That is an average of 2.4 people per day having to resort to using the emergency department to access dental care. Of these patients, 77 were then admitted for treatment. That is why we need to see the stalled review into funding for Derriford hospital’s urgent and emergency care facility, because it is part of the bigger picture of how we provide dental care across the south-west. If we free up emergency, we have more capacity to look after the region more fully.

• 11 Nov 2024 · Rail Performance · Hansard source

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  It has recently been brought to my attention that in Great Western Railway, which serves my constituency in Devon, drivers do not have contracts that ensure a seven-day-a-week service—the contracts do not include Sundays, so trains are regularly cancelled. In fact, four trains were cancelled yesterday, so one lady had been forced to catch the first train today instead. What plans does the Secretary of State have to equalise driver contracts under Great British Railways, to ensure that routes such as Paddington to Devon are fully staffed seven days a week, so that she can fulfil her promise to passengers?

• 11 Nov 2024 · Winter Fuel Payment Eligibility: Impact · Hansard source

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  21. If she will make an assessment of the potential impact of changes to the eligibility criteria for the winter fuel payment on trends in the level of pensioner poverty.

• 11 Nov 2024 · Winter Fuel Payment Eligibility: Impact · Hansard source

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  Ninety-seven-year-old Joyce from my constituency was worried about losing her winter fuel payment, so she contacted my office. It sounds like the Minister has had a similar experience. Fortunately, my team was able to assist Joyce. We ran a full benefits check, and helped her to secure pension credit, and therefore her winter fuel payment entitlement. However, does the Minister think that it is right that the oldest and most vulnerable should have to resort to getting their MP to help them claim pension credit?