Shaun Davies MP: speeches

Speeches

• 9 Sept 2024 · Government Policy on Health · Hansard source

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  Fixing and getting our NHS back on its feet should be a national mission, and everybody should be able to play their part in that. Will the Secretary of State confirm whether any former Conservative Ministers have put themselves forward to try to fix the mess that the party now in opposition created over the last 14 years?

• 5 Sept 2024 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Can we have a debate in Government time on veterans affairs? Whether it is through access to health and housing, support for veterans’ children or veteran cards being used as an acceptable form of ID for voting, can we have a debate about how we can make this country the best place in the world for a veteran to live?

• 5 Sept 2024 · SEND Provision · Hansard source

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  I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on bringing this debate forward. As well as more money, better use of money is key. We have seen a huge reduction in the amount of money being spent in primary schools for speech and language therapy, which then costs the system far more in secondary school, as well as, of course, meaning worse outcomes for children across our country. Does he agree?

• 5 Sept 2024 · SEND Provision · Hansard source

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  The LGA and the CCN have assessed that the safety valve is worth about £3 billion. Had the Conservative party stayed in power, what would their solution have been to fill that black hole?

• 4 Sept 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Q13. I am a proud MP for a new town, but over the past 14 years, Telford has lost its A&E and has fewer police officers, GPs and teachers per head. We have also had 40% cuts to our local government budgets. Will my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister back places such as Telford, rather than overlook us as has been the case over the past 14 years?

• 3 Sept 2024 · Fly-tipping · Hansard source

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  Does my hon. Friend agree that we need a cross-Government approach to fly-tipping? We need the Home Office to recognise that it is often linked to organised crime, particularly in respect of the bigger fly-tips. There is a role for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and for the Ministry of Justice. Will my hon. Friend work with her counterparts across Government to focus on this work?

• 3 Sept 2024 · Fly-tipping · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for securing this important debate. Does she agree that when councils seek to investigate, prosecute and prevent fly-tipping, they should be able to recover the full cost, including when issuing fixed penalty notices to those who are guilty? After all, it is the polluter who should pay.

• 3 Sept 2024 · Ofsted · Hansard source

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  I congratulate the Minister on this rapid work. The Conservatives had 14 years, but Labour Ministers have done it in a matter of weeks. Can I have a commitment that Ofsted’s focus on attainment, SEND and attendance will be laser-focused? For the benefit of the House, there are only two more Conservatives Members in the Chamber for this statement on education standards than are standing for the Conservative party leadership.

• 3 Sept 2024 · Contracts for Difference · Hansard source

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  The Secretary of State will know from his recent visit to Telford that businesses right across the country, including in my constituency, want to partner with the Government on this agenda. Will this statement and future announcements mean that those private sector businesses, which want to put their skills and money into this agenda, and take risks on behalf of the Government and the country to make us a clean energy superpower, have the Secretary of State’s backing?

• 3 Sept 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  I welcome this Government’s plan to get Britain building again with a commitment to build 1.5 million homes across our country. There are also 1 million homes for which councils have given planning consent, and those with skin in the game need help and support to get those houses unlocked. What steps are the Government taking in that regard?

• 2 Sept 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  I know from my time as chair of the Local Government Association that all council leaders, regardless of political persuasion, need more money for local government, but that there is also a commitment from the sector to reforming the sector. Will the Minister confirm his willingness to work with council leaders, regardless of political persuasion, to reform the system, and also to take a look at population under-counting, which is costing my council millions of pounds each year?

• 25 Jul 2024 · Code of Conduct and Modernisation Committee · Hansard source

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  Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. It is a real privilege to make my maiden speech with you in the Chair, and a delight to follow the hon. Member for Spelthorne (Lincoln Jopp) and my hon. Friend the Member for Ipswich (Jack Abbott). I cannot promise that my speech will be as witty as theirs, but I do support a proper premier league team in Manchester United— [ Interruption. ] I have lost the House already. It is an honour to make my maiden speech in this House as the very proud MP for my home town. Telford is where I was born and raised, and where I am now bringing up my own family. I am Telford and proud. I begin by talking about those MPs I follow. My predecessor, Lucy Allan, worked on many notable causes. I particularly pay tribute to her tireless work in respect of the Post Office scandal, and to her constituency team, who have supported the residents of Telford over the past nine years. I would also like to mention and thank my friend and mentor, my immediate Labour predecessor David Wright, who served our town and this House with passion for 14 years. I also want to pay tribute to the first person to hold the job of MP for Telford, a great supporter and crucial adviser to me, who now sits in the other place, Lord Bruce Grocott. Lord Grocott led me on a tour of this House in 1997, when I was just 11 years old—right hon. and hon. Members may be forgiven for thinking that I look too old to have been 11 in 1997, but that is what 14 years in local government does to you. Telford is a new town in Shropshire, one that has grown significantly since its designation as a new town in 1963. A town with a proud history and strong local identity, we are home to the west midlands’ only world heritage site, the Ironbridge Gorge, the true birthplace of the industrial revolution. We have long-established communities such as Madeley, Oakengates and Dawley, which were recorded in the Domesday Book, and other proud communities too. I am of course a son of Telford, but also of Dawley, the birthplace of Captain Matthew Webb, who in 1875 become the first man to swim the English Channel. His monument in Dawley High Street says, “Nothing great is easy.” Telford is great, but over recent years we have certainly not had it easy. Despite the challenges it has faced, just like our own world champion boxer Liam Davies, Telford has continued to punch above its weight. We have delivered housing growth and economic growth. We have outstanding education, with outstanding primary schools, first-class secondary schools, and we are home to the Thomas Telford school and to state-of-the-art further and higher education facilities, with Telford College and Harper Adams University in the centre of Telford. We have a record number of green and protected spaces. In fact, if hon. Members would like to visit Telford, joining the 3.2 million people who do so each and every year, they will notice just how green we are. We are home to millions—and I mean millions—of trees. We are known as a forest city. In Telford we are also incredibly proud to be home to some of the biggest defence companies. Right now, Telford residents are working on tanks destined for Ukraine and distributing essential equipment, from uniform to morphine, that will be deployed across all parts of the world to our brave armed forces. Our relationship with the armed forces is deep and strong. We are home to over 8,000 veterans—my own family have served in all three services—and our council became one of the first authorities to be awarded a Ministry of Defence gold accreditation for our work on the military covenant. For the past eight and a half years, I have served as leader of Telford council, and we have done a lot over that time. We have regenerated our town centre, with the creation of Southwater. We have been a business-winning and business-supporting council: we are home to Besblock, which provides bricks to almost every house building company across the country, and to Aviramp, which provides airports across the world with boarding ramps; and we also provide wheelie bins to most households across the country. We have kept our council tax among the lowest of all councils in England. We have supported children with outstanding children services, delivered exceptional adult services, and been leaders within our sectors. As well as being a council leader, I have led Labour in local government. I have chaired the cross-party Local Government Association. Indeed, I am proud to be the first former chair of the LGA to sit in this House rather than in the one down the corridor. I welcome to the House hon. Members and Friends who have served as councillors and council leaders. In Telford, as in the rest of the country, poverty and child poverty are increasing. It is heartbreaking that almost one in four children are living in poverty. For me, that is not an academic issue; it is personal. I was in poverty as a child. I remember switching the lights off in our council house and laying on the floor as debt collectors banged on our door. I remember the embarrassment of queuing for a blue free school meal ticket as many of my friends got their paid yellow ones. That deep-down imposter syndrome remains and is very much with me today. For too long, towns such as Telford have had their contributions to housing and job growth banked, but the investment and support that is so desperately needed to break the cycle of poverty has not arrived. Despite our housing growth, we have not had the investment needed over the past 14 years—the closure of our A&E and the relocation of our consultant-led women and children’s unit being examples. I say to my constituents that I will never stop fighting to bring services back to Telford. I pay tribute to Telford Crisis Support, which works with the community and provided 238,624 meals last year—up by almost 21% on the year before. It also provides clothes, nappies and the very basics of life, offering a vital lifeline to families. Families come in many different shapes and sizes. From the age of 11, I lived with my nan, Betty, who is and was my guiding star. Although I lived with my nan from such a young age, my parents have always been there for me, too. I was lucky to have people like my great aunty Dil, who provided me with the financial support that meant I could be the first person in my family to go to university, where I read law and qualified as a solicitor. I am so lucky to have my own family now. I am a proud dad and stepfather to Evan, Millie and Owen—my wife Elise and I see no distinction in our family. Part of the role of councillor is to be a corporate parent. Those in state care should be considered part of all our families. In Telford, 423 young people are in our care, and we support 249 care leavers. When I was the chair of the LGA, I described the local government sector as the corporate uncles and aunties of those in care and those who have left care. What, then, is this House? What are Members of Parliament to those children in state care? Maybe we are the corporate great aunties and uncles with resources, influence and wisdom—just like my auntie. What more can we do to support our children in care? To children living in council homes, in temporary accommodation or in our care, who are picking up free school meals, food parcels and avoiding debt collectors, I say this: “If I can get here, so can you.” To provide a better future to all our children, we must reform our public sector. Yes, for some that is a dry subject, but it is the only way to fix our broken system. Reform is vital and prevention is key. The longer-term approach to investment—investing a pound now to save hundreds of pounds many times over—will be important. Investing in and focusing on the first 1,000 days of a child’s life can lead to better life outcomes and massive savings to the public purse. We must always ask ourselves how public services can best serve the public. The answer is so often with the users of those services and those who work in them. When those who have skin in the game are empowered and trusted, the results are always better. We know that so well in Telford, after the recent work of Holly, Scarlett and Joanne. For too many, our country does not work for them. Not only are they disconnected, but they feel a million miles away from this place. That allows others to exploit the void—to divide us. We—all of us—should work together, despite our political differences, to help connect this place to our citizens, so that democracy does not just survive, but thrives. I hope that I can work on that nationally in the coming months and years. I thank the people of Telford for trusting me with the incredible honour and privilege of representing my home town. I will stand up for Telford and for them. I know that we have a long road ahead of us, but I am committed to the challenge. After all, nothing great is easy.

• 23 Jul 2024 · Urgent and Emergency Care · Hansard source

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  For 14 years the community in Telford and I have worked hard to safeguard our A&E, but the last Conservative Government made Telford the largest town without a fully functioning A&E. Will the Health team meet me and other Shropshire MPs to discuss this discredited and disgraceful decision?

• 19 Jul 2024 · Covid-19 Inquiry · Hansard source

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  I welcome my right hon. Friend and near neighbour to his place. Like so many families, my family was affected by the death of a loved one during the pandemic, and a small heart on the national memorial wall reflects my auntie for time immemorial. Does my right hon. Friend agree that procurement during a state of emergency such as the pandemic is important, and that any fraud that occurs must be pursued ruthlessly?

• 18 Jul 2024 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  I thank all House staff for the fantastic induction that new Members have received. It has been first class. Talking about the best start, can we have a debate in Government time on giving all children the best start in life? Will the Leader of the House join me in congratulating Telford and Wrekin council on retaining its outstanding Ofsted rating for children’s services?