Ruth Cadbury MP: speeches

Speeches

• 22 Jun 2026 · SEND Improvement Plans: Multi-academy Trusts · Hansard source

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  Special needs specialists in schools in my constituency have raised with me their concerns about the shortage of educational psychologists. A mum of a profoundly disabled child, who I met on Saturday, raised concerns about the shortage of occupational therapists. What are the Government doing to address the additional needs of that specific group of people?

• 15 Jun 2026 · Social Media Ban for Under-16s · Hansard source

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  In the large group of 16 to 18-year-olds from schools in my constituency that I discussed a potential ban with, there was no consensus about whether there should be a ban, but there was strong consensus that they needed good-quality information and education to prevent harm. Will the measures that the Minister mentioned use the best behaviour science knowledge that we have? Will the advice and—

• 18 Mar 2026 · Student Loans · Hansard source

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  The Minister is making an excellent and powerful speech on the motion. One aspect of the broken student loans system is the maternity penalty. When someone is on maternity leave, the interest on a student loan continues to accrue, despite income dropping below the repayment threshold. That means that graduates with student loans who take maternity leave face a longer repayment period and a greater total loan amount. Will the Minister take that concern back? Will the Government have a look at this perceived inequality?

• 17 Dec 2025 · UK-EU Common Understanding Negotiations · Hansard source

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  The UK’s return to involvement in Erasmus is hugely welcome not only for my constituents who are at university, but for those learning in schools and FE colleges and working in the sports and youth sectors. Could my right hon. Friend please outline what steps the Government will be taking particularly in relation to those based in sectors not previously involved, so that they can expect to and can plan for their involvement in Erasmus from 2027?

• 4 Sept 2025 · Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund · Hansard source

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  I congratulate the hon. Member for Mid Sussex (Alison Bennett) on securing this debate. I have seen the difference that the adoption and support grant has made locally. I visited the Purple Elephant Project, based in Whitton in my constituency, which supports over 100 children and families in Hounslow and Richmond, including many who have been adopted, are in kinship care or are currently looked-after children in foster care. It provides intense professional therapeutic support. The Purple Elephant team gave examples of the difference it has made, sometimes after a long period of therapeutic support, to benefit those children and families. I saw the safe and welcoming space it provides and understood the difference it makes. The children it has supported have all had a traumatic start to their life through neglect or abuse, and they have great difficulty building relationships and coping with school, siblings and any social situation. Due to the close correlation between neglect, abuse and adoption, Purple Elephant and other organisations are heavily dependent on the grant for their sustainability. When I met our kinship care group, I heard that many of them, and the children for whom they are now guardians, gain from the services that the fund supports. I know that my hon. Friend the Member for Lewisham East (Janet Daby) cares deeply about this issue and is personally committed, but I ask her to address the problems. Purple Elephant told me recently that it is not out of the woods yet. It is still being impacted significantly and having to fundraise to bridge the gap in funding and ensure that therapy sessions do not stop. Let us remember that it is not just the children and families who lose out because of the uncertainty and the cuts resulting from these decisions, but the therapists themselves, who have a living to make. Most of them are freelancers. They want to work with these damaged children and do not want their whole practice to be paid for privately by families who can afford it. There must be equality here. Purple Elephant has told me that families are anxious, stressed and disillusioned about the loss of support and worried about how they will cope if these services—