Sarah Coombes MP: speeches

Speeches

• 24 Apr 2025 · Public Service Reform · Hansard source

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  Labour was elected to get the NHS back on its feet, and that is exactly what we have been doing. At Sandwell and West Birmingham hospitals NHS trust in my area, the waiting list has fallen by 10% since the election, which means that patients are finally getting the treatment they need. One of the key things we have been doing is to look at things such as ambient AI to automate doctors’ notes and ensure that we have modern technology in the NHS. Will the Minister set out what we are doing to ensure that the NHS adopts all technology and reform to ensure that patients are being seen as quickly as possible?

• 13 Jan 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T3. With a rise in disinformation and intimidation at home and interference from abroad, it has never been more important to stand up for our British democracy. Will the Minister therefore give us an update on the defending democracy taskforce?

• 8 Jan 2025 · Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill · Hansard source

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  I welcome the measures that the Secretary of State has set out to drive up standards and protect children. It is just a shame that so much cynical politics has been played in relation to the Bill in recent days. One of the best parts of being a new MP has been visiting local schools, from Yew Tree primary to Tividale Hall, and seeing smiling faces excited about the future. However, it is a sad reality that children in my constituency and across the country have been let down—not by their hard-working teachers, but by a system in which public services have crumbled, rising special educational needs and disabilities have gone unmet, and children have slipped through the cracks. A central mission of this Labour Government is to break down barriers to opportunity. Every child deserves the best start in life, but we know that the playing field is not level, and we joined the Labour party to do something about it. In Sandwell, 37% of local children are eligible for free school meals, compared with 27% of children nationally. Education should be the springboard that breaks the link between the circumstances of a person’s birth and what they can achieve, but something is not working. In Sandwell, we do not recognise the rosy picture painted by the Conservative party—that everything is great in schools and all teachers love their jobs. The 18-year-olds who left sixth form in July 2024 have spent their whole school career under a Conservative Administration, and in that time, GCSE and A-level attainment has completely stagnated in my area of Sandwell. Anyone who looked at a graph of level 2 and level 3 attainment locally under the previous Labour Government would have seen a steady climb. Children did better and better in school, but over the period of the last Conservative Government, that progress has ground to a complete halt. We have been stuck in a situation where the proportion of children in Sandwell attaining two A-levels or equivalent is 10 percentage points below the national average. That is not because children in Sandwell are not as smart as children elsewhere; it is because the system has not been working. This Bill will put more qualified teachers in front of classes, create a cutting-edge national curriculum, and give all schools the flexibility to recruit and retain the expert teachers our children need. We want our children to go to school in the right headspace—with hungry minds, not hungry bellies. That is exactly what this Bill will do, with breakfast clubs that will improve concentration, behaviour and attendance and help family finances. I also want to touch on something that is at the heart of this Bill: the fact that it is the single biggest piece of child protection legislation in a generation. While some are playing politics, we are taking action, introducing a register of children not in school and a unique number for every child and implementing multi-agency child protection teams. In the past six months, the Labour Government have done more for children than the Conservatives did in 14 years. This Bill protects children—their childhoods and their futures—and breaks down barriers to opportunity. That is why I will be proud to vote for it today.

• 16 Oct 2024 · Carer’s Allowance · Hansard source

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  For millions of unpaid carers in West Brom and around the UK, life is hard enough. They are the backbone of our care system, yet they are woefully under-supported and under-recognised. Taking care of someone is the most generous act of human kindness, but the former Government repaid those acts of service with hostile interviews and demands for repayments and by fighting carers in the courts. I welcome this new Government’s independent review, which recognises the invaluable contribution that carers make. The review will investigate the over- payment of carer’s allowance: how it was allowed to happen in the first place and, more importantly, how we can make sure it never happens again. I know what it is like to witness the care that one person can show to another, whether that care is paid or unpaid. My grandmother—my nanny, as we called her—was looked after in the final years of her life in a care home. The team there provided tender care 24 hours a day, and they made life fun. My nanny was Irish, and even into her 90s, she was very partial to half a pint of Guinness, which the care home always provided. They always made St Patrick’s day good fun. That care did not stop when she finally passed away: when the cars went past the care home on the day of her funeral, all the staff were lined up with Irish flags to wave her goodbye. This Labour Government are going to give paid and unpaid carers the recognition, rights and pay that they deserve and create a sustainable national care service, and I am very proud to be part of that. In my borough of Sandwell as a whole, the percentage of people providing over 20 hours of unpaid care a week is well above the national average, and for many people in my constituency, caring for their loved one is more than a full-time job. Those who are able to go to work find themselves having to restrict their hours for fear that they will inadvertently overstep the earnings limit. During the election, I met a woman in West Bromwich who was in exactly that situation: she worked as a cleaner in addition to caring for a family member. She was really struggling to make ends meet, but felt trapped, for fear of the penalty she would incur if she went even a few pennies over the earnings limit. The motion tabled by the Liberal Democrats is right to condemn the previous Government for failing to address the scandal of repayments. Lots of carers were not even notified that they had exceeded the earnings threshold. For some, their allowance was stopped without warning, causing severe financial difficulties; others will spend years repaying, with the anxiety and stress that that brings. On top of all the other responsibilities that unpaid carers take on for their loved ones, they have been made to feel like criminals—can you imagine? As such, I support the Government’s intention to quickly get to the bottom of carer’s allowance overpayments and consider how we provide support for unpaid carers, many of whom have been pushed to breaking point just for looking after the people they love.

• 25 Jul 2024 · Propriety in Public Life · Hansard source

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  Just 49% of people in my constituency of West Bromwich voted in the recent election. That came as no surprise to me, because I had conversation after conversation with people who had lost trust in politicians because of the previous Government’s rule breaking and scandals. What steps are the new Labour Government taking to restore trust and ensure that politics can once again be a force for good?

• 25 Jul 2024 · Propriety in Public Life · Hansard source

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  15. What steps he is taking to help ensure high standards of propriety in public life.