Sarah Green MP: speeches 2024

Speeches

• 9 Dec 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T5. What steps are under way to recruit and retain more educational psychologists so that children, including in Chesham and Amersham, do not have to wait as long as they currently are for the assessment they need?

• 9 Dec 2024 · SEN Provision: Funding · Hansard source

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  6. What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to ensure that SEN provision is adequately funded.

• 9 Dec 2024 · SEN Provision: Funding · Hansard source

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  A recent National Audit Office report makes it clear that, without reform, the SEN system is financially unsustainable. The Minister will know that, since 2020, local authorities such as Buckinghamshire council have been able to exclude their dedicated school grant deficits from their main revenue budgets. That statutory override means that local authorities do not breach their duty to set a balanced budget, but it is due to end in March 2026, and there is currently no identified solution. Can the Minister share more on what urgent conversations she is having with colleagues to ensure that local authorities get the certainty they need?

• 5 Dec 2024 · Cumberlege Review: Pelvic Mesh · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Stringer. I thank the hon. Member for Harlow (Chris Vince) for securing today’s debate. We are here because four years after being published, the Cumberlege review has not been implemented and there is still no redress scheme. I will turn in more detail to the progress made on those recommendations, but first I pay tribute to the many individuals who have campaigned so hard for so long to be heard, for their experiences to be taken seriously, to receive some sort of justice, and to know that the same harm will not be done to others. Some of them are in the Public Gallery today and I thank them for their tireless campaigning. I also pay tribute to the right hon. Member for Godalming and Ash (Jeremy Hunt), when he was Health and Social Care Secretary, and to the former Member for Maidenhead, when she was Prime Minister, for commissioning the review in the first place in February 2018. Baroness Cumberlege has never stopped giving voice to those she encountered during the two years she led that review. She has gone to great lengths to keep this issue on the agenda. She is due to retire shortly and we will miss her. I would like to say how grateful I am, as I know others will be, not just for her advocacy on this issue but for her encouragement and support of hon. Members in this place to do the same. If I may be so bold, Baroness Cumberlege has played her part. It is now up to us in this place to hold this new Government to account and to ensure that her recommendations are implemented in full. Let us not forget that the Cumberlege review was called “First Do No Harm”, because at its centre are people who suffered avoidable harm—harm done to them by our health system. I was first introduced to this issue by my constituent Carol. I have shared her story before and remain in awe of her dignity and desire to help others despite having experienced the most devastating medical trauma. She needed her MP to help her get a visa for the United States for urgent medical treatment during the pandemic because of the travel restrictions that hon. Members will remember. She had undergone a hysteropexy and a rectopexy using surgical mesh. Instead of resolving Carol’s pelvic organ prolapse, the procedures left her with a serious autoimmune disease, struggling to walk and unable to continue her normal daily life. She had to take long-term sick leave from her job as a doctor and could not remember a day without pain. When she contacted me for help with her visa, she was seriously unwell and had been told that she urgently needed her mesh removed or her prognosis was not good. We managed to get her the visa she needed. She is now mesh-free following a successful removal, and she is the first person in England to have undergone successful rectal mesh removal. She is still suffering, but is no longer in the same danger that she was. She is clear that she was able to look outside the NHS and the UK only because her medical training and personal resources enabled her to find Dr Veronikis, who treated her successfully. I should say at this point that there needs to be more awareness of rectopexy mesh, which affects men, women and children. Carol and others like her were given hope when the Cumberlege review was initiated, and again when it was published in July 2020 with its nine recommendations. I am sorry that to say that not enough progress has been made on those recommendations since. The reality is that only two of the nine recommendations have been implemented in full. The first was an apology, which was given as soon as the report was published. The second was to establish the office of the Patient Safety Commissioner. Beyond that, things have stalled. Recommendations 3 and 4 called for an independent redress agency, and for redress schemes to be established for all three interventions. After originally rejecting those two recommendations, the Health Minister at the time asked the Patient Safety Commissioner in late 2022 to look at the options for providing redress for those who had been harmed by mesh and valproate. The commissioner’s report—the Hughes report—was published in February. I was present at its launch, and it really felt like a milestone; it felt as though progress had been made. Surely the Department would not commission that work if it had no intention of following through on a redress scheme. That was in February this year. By the summer, when the election was called, the previous Government were still saying that they would respond to the report, so they never gave a formal response. To date, there has been no official response from the new Government to the Hughes report. In the words of the Patient Safety Commissioner: “it is now urgent for the government to give those families some clarity. Many of them live with pressing financial hardship, as well as physical pain and disability…we must not compound the physical and mental harms experienced by these families by setting and raising false expectations if there is no intention to deliver on redress.”

• 5 Dec 2024 · Cumberlege Review: Pelvic Mesh · Hansard source

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  I could not agree more. This is where I must pick up Carol’s story again. She tried to pursue her claim against her original surgeons through the courts, and she hit on an unexpected problem. She approached multiple legal firms who would not take her case because one or both of the surgeons were advising them on other cases and, as such, it would have been a conflict of interest. Indeed, the same surgeon who caused Carol life-changing injuries acted as an expert witness in an unrelated surgical mesh negligence case. The judge in that case said: “he had cherry-picked those parts of the evidence which were supportive of the Defendant’s case and did not comment on those parts which were consistent to the Claimant’s. That is not the correct approach to be taken by an independent expert, whose duty is to the court. His evidence lacked balance and was unpersuasive.” On this occasion, the judge called it out, but that is not the only instance of the medical profession closing ranks—it is not a unique occurrence. Such clear bias and conflicts of interest are a huge barrier to justice for mesh victims around the country. The point of recommendation 3 in the Cumberlege review was to establish a non-adversarial avenue for redress after someone has been harmed in a healthcare setting. Both the Hughes report and, more recently, the Darzi report found that the current clinical negligence system is difficult for patients to navigate and prevents the healthcare system from learning from its mistakes. It is also eye-wateringly expensive for the taxpayer. If it is the dead hand of the Treasury blocking a redress scheme, Ministers would do well to reflect on that. As the Patient Safety Commissioner points out, the clinical negligence system is behind only nuclear disarmament and pensions on the list of liabilities on the Government’s balance sheet. I must ask the Minister when the Department will respond to the options outlined in the Hughes report, and when families can expect to see redress schemes up and running. Recommendation 5 relates to the establishment of mesh centres around the country, and while such centres have been established, they get mixed reports from patients. My question on the mesh centres is about their outcomes. How is the Department ensuring a consistent service across them all, and how are outcomes being measured? With so many people reporting dissatisfaction with the centres, it is not enough that they exist; they need to be working well for the patients they are there to serve. Recommendation 6 relates to the MHRA, and it is clear that we still need the yellow card reporting system to improve. I would also welcome the Minister’s thoughts on progress against recommendation 7, which is about creating a central patient-identifiable database. To my understanding, it is still a work in progress. The previous Government’s decision not to take forward the eighth recommendation, which is for a mandatory register, is disappointing. The recommendation called for “Transparency of payments made to clinicians” and “mandatory reporting for pharmaceutical and medical device industries of payments made to teaching hospitals, research institutions and individual clinicians.” I fail to understand why more progress has not been made on that. I know that campaigners have written to the Department asking it to consider a sunset Act that speaks to that recommendation, and I urge the Minister to chase a response to them.

• 24 Oct 2024 · Special Educational Needs and Disabilities · Hansard source

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  Other Members have asked about educational psychologists. There is a real shortage right now. Are the Government considering enabling other professionals to undertake some of the assessments to help unblock the waiting lists?

• 23 Oct 2024 · Water Companies: Regulation and Financial Stability · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Pritchard. I begin by thanking my hon. Friend the Member for Westmorland and Lonsdale (Tim Farron) for securing this debate on something I know matters to a great many of my own constituents in Chesham and Amersham. The appalling examples of sewage-filled floodwater blighting lives in my constituency are part of a much bigger picture: a water industry that is not held to account by a regulatory system that is not fit for purpose. I therefore welcome today’s announcement of the independent water commission. As a report published last year by Surfers Against Sewage states, part of the problem is the “severe budget cuts” that regulators have experienced, which have meant that even reported pollution events go uninvestigated and unpunished. Indeed, in 2022, the Environment Agency instructed its staff to ignore reports of low-impact pollution events as it did not have sufficient resources to investigate them. To the extent that that is the case, we get the environment we pay for—but that is only part of the problem. A report published by the previous Government in May this year makes clear that regulators must avoid drifting into unnecessary risk aversion. Internal culture should challenge excessive risk aversion, not promote it. One former employee of the Environment Agency described to me how some of those the agency regulates see it as a toothless tiger. I suggest to the Minister that fixing the regulatory framework is not the only area worth looking at. There is also a need to make sure we are not creating more problems with our sewage system in the future. At present, our water companies are not statutory consultees on planning applications. Instead of asking whether the existing sewage infrastructure can support new developments, the right to connect means that water companies are required to make it work after the fact. That is surely nonsensical and something the Government can address as part of the work they are currently doing on the national planning policy framework. I will close by thanking the many campaigners in Chesham and Amersham, including the River Chess Association, the Chiltern Society, Misbourne River Action and others, that have worked tirelessly on this issue. I pay particular tribute to local parish councillors who have found themselves at the forefront of these issues, becoming citizen scientists and experts in a way they never expected. I have been so impressed by their diligence and their dedication to doing their best to help their residents. However, they are volunteers committed to their environment and their communities; they should not be responsible for holding the water industry to account. That is what our regulators are for.

• 22 Oct 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  Will the Minister update the House on the grim situation in Sudan? In particular, what pressure is being put on regional actors to stop fuelling the crisis, and what is the UK doing to help the 16 million children who, according to an estimate from Save the Children, face severe food shortages right now?

• 8 Oct 2024 · Chalk Streams: Sewage Discharge · Hansard source

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  The Minister is making the point, rightly, about individual projects that water companies such as Affinity Water have invested in. What is missing is a strategy across the country for all chalk streams. That is why I am calling on her, in her position as a Minister, to give chalk streams the designation and special status they need so that this is not treated in a piecemeal way.

• 8 Oct 2024 · Chalk Streams: Sewage Discharge · Hansard source

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  Given that one has to go through quite an onerous process to get the SSSI status and that we recognise that chalk streams are rare, does my hon. Friend agree that a recognised special status and designation for chalk streams is needed, so that they can get the protections they actually need?

• 12 Sept 2024 · Sir David Amess Adjournment Debate · Hansard source

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  It is a real privilege to contribute to my first Sir David Amess Adjournment debate. I did not have the privilege of knowing him, but may I acknowledge and pay tribute to his colleagues for keeping his memory very much alive? We have had some brilliant maiden speeches this afternoon, and I know that there are more to come. I congratulate the hon. Member for Mid Derbyshire (Jonathan Davies) on his confident speech; my hon. Friend the Member for Henley and Thame (Freddie van Mierlo), whom I welcome to the Liberal Democrat Benches; and the hon. Members for Exmouth and Exeter East (David Reed) and for Bolton West (Phil Brickell), who delivered confident and assured speeches. I also want to acknowledge the very moving and raw contribution from the hon. Member for Bexleyheath and Crayford (Daniel Francis) and the very personal speech by the hon. Member for Reading West and Mid Berkshire (Olivia Bailey). I wish the hon. Member for Southampton Test (Satvir Kaur) an early happy birthday. Her pride in her city shines through, as does that of the hon. Member for Doncaster Central (Sally Jameson). I echo the tribute that the hon. Member paid to Baroness Winterton, who was in the Chair when I gave my maiden speech. Over the summer recess, I spent a lot of time in the smaller communities in my constituency, including Knotty Green, Winchmore Hill, Chenies, Coleshill, Seer Green and Jordans. There were some common themes that I would like to raise before the House adjourns. As Members might imagine, some of the issues are particularly local to the area. In Coleshill, there is real frustration at the continuing lack of broadband in the village. In Coleshill and Winchmore Hill, I was told about the lack of reliable bus services. Recent bus timetable changes have made it harder for pupils to get back to school this term. A solution was found for the boys at a local boys’ school, but the same cannot be said for the girls, who no longer have a viable way to get to one of the local girls’ schools on public transport from the villages affected by the timetable change. I am mystified as to why boys and girls have been treated differently by the council. It will not surprise the House that in all the villages that I went to, residents shared their horror at the state of our rivers. Many of them volunteer on the River Chess and the River Misbourne, which are rare chalk streams, and they can see the devastating impact of pollution and sewage. A number of younger constituents came to share their concern for the environment and for making sure we all do our bit to save the planet. I pay tribute to one young constituent, Stella Jackson, for presenting her petition to me: she deserves particular praise for her efforts in gathering signatures for the petition that she ran in her village to encourage us all to reduce, refuse, recycle and reuse. While I am talking about our young people, I have to say that I was encouraged to see that last week’s Westminster Hall debate on services for special educational needs and disabilities was so well attended; indeed, I was unable to voice the experiences of my constituents, because Westminster Hall was so full. There is a crisis in SEND provision. In our local area, Buckinghamshire council states that demand for SEND services has increased by 50% in the past three years alone, and that this is unsustainable. The heartbreaking conversations that I had with families over the summer support that assessment. It is also hard to hear the stories of people of all ages who have been waiting for healthcare appointments and treatments. We know the NHS is under great pressure. We know, too, that healthcare workers are working tirelessly in difficult circumstances. I hope that we can look back on today’s Darzi report as the point at which the NHS started to turn a corner. I wish to finish by mentioning the pensioners from my constituency who came to see me this summer worried about the cuts to the winter fuel allowance. The matter came up in every village that I visited. Since the summer recess, almost 100 other constituents have written to me with similar concerns. This Government cannot be held accountable for the mess they inherited, but stripping support from the poorest pensioners just when energy bills are set to rise again cannot be the answer. One constituent with Parkinson’s told me that cutting back on their heating will almost certainly exacerbate their symptoms. Taking away this vital support is, quite simply, the wrong thing to do.

• 11 Sept 2024 · Steel Industry · Hansard source

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  I welcome the Front Benchers to their places. They will know that the steel industry in Wales is just one of a number that have suffered in recent decades. Last year, the Industrial Communities Alliance said that tackling the effects of deindustrialisation in Wales has been hampered by competitive bidding, which forces local authorities in deprived areas to bid against each other, preventing partnership working and a more strategic approach. Will the Secretary of State confirm whether future rounds of the UK shared prosperity fund allocated to Wales will no longer be subject to competitive bidding?

• 24 Jul 2024 · Education and Opportunity · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is making an excellent speech. Does she agree that in many local authority areas, such as mine in Buckinghamshire, schools are already oversubscribed, so the places in the state sector simply do not exist for independent school parents who find they can no longer afford the fees?

• 23 Jul 2024 · Immigration and Home Affairs · Hansard source

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  I congratulate the hon. Member for Chelsea and Fulham (Ben Coleman) on his maiden speech. It is a great privilege to serve in this place, and I welcome him. I also congratulate the Government Front Benchers as they take on their ministerial responsibilities. I will focus on three bits of legislation mentioned in the King’s Speech that have generated interest among my constituents in Chesham and Amersham. The first is the water special measures Bill, because the Liberal Democrats have led the charge on calling for tougher penalties for water companies that dump sewage in our rivers and fail their customers. I am therefore keen to learn more about the Bill and the powers it will give to ban bonuses and introduce new fines. Residents and businesses in Chalfont St Peter spent the first half of this year struggling to cope with sewage-filled floodwaters. Some had the horrible experience of their bathroom and kitchen plug holes burping sewage into their home. Thames Water later admitted to me that the cause of at least some of this sewage being brought into homes was that the company’s tankers had released floodwater, which they had pumped out of another area, into the wrong location, overloading the drains. Thames Water’s response to this year’s various problems in different parts of my constituency has been disgraceful, so I look forward to hearing how the Government will ensure that Ofwat finally uses its teeth and starts holding the likes of Thames Water to account. The second Bill in the King’s Speech that I would like to touch on is the planning and infrastructure Bill. I represent a constituency where a significant amount of land is classified as green belt. My constituents are keen to get a definition of what “grey belt” means. Other than poor quality and ugly, there has been little detail about exactly what land would fall into that category. I also look forward to hearing what steps the Government will take to ensure that any new developments include the GP practices, other vital services and infrastructure to support them. The third announcement in the King’s Speech that I would like to talk about is the Government plan to end VAT exemption for independent schools. The issue has been raised with me by several parents who send their children to independent schools in order to receive additional support for special educational needs and disabilities. I welcome the confirmation I have received that pupils with an education, health and care plan will remain exempt from VAT. There are, however, children receiving support for SEND in the independent sector who do not have EHCPs. I hope that the Government can offer assurances that such children will be taken into account as they pursue this policy. I will end by mentioning healthcare. While I welcome the Government’s focus on reducing waiting times, I was disappointed not to see specific mention of improving access to GP appointments, because that is raised with me week in, week out. Just this weekend it was raised by residents in Gerrards Cross, where there is no GP practice. I hope that, with their significant mandate, the Government will give access to GP appointments the attention it desperately needs.