Shockat Adam MP: speeches

Speeches

• 24 Jun 2025 · War Memorials · Hansard source

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  I agree: that local link with the community connects the past and the future. As we remember, we must also reflect. It is painful to acknowledge that the stories that we tell through our war memorials have been incomplete for far too long. Animals that were sacrificed in the war efforts were rightly honoured with a national memorial in Hyde park in 2004, yet black and Asian soldiers who fought, bled and died for Britain have only recently begun to receive dedicated recognition. That is a shame that we as a nation must not shy away from. More than 1.3 million soldiers from British India, including 400,000 Muslims and 100,000 Sikhs, served with dignity and honour in world war one. More than 53,000 lost their lives, and at least 2.5 million Muslim soldiers and labourers from across the globe supported the allied war effort. In fact, more than 9,000 soldiers from Palestine fought for Britain in world war two, and yet their stories remain largely erased from our national consciousness. As recently as 2021, a report from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission concluded that hundreds of thousands of predominantly black and Asian service personnel were not formally commemorated like their white comrades—a legacy underpinned by systemic racism at the time. Who we remember and how we remember them matters, especially in these times of amplified fault lines. War memorials are not just stones and bronzes, but teaching tools. They are historical touchstones that allow young people to understand the past and the diverse sacrifices that were made in building this country and defending its freedoms. Excluding the contribution of black and Asian soldiers distorts our understanding of our shared history. I am proud that in my city of Leicester, we now have a statue commemorating Sikh soldiers. It was unveiled in 2022, making it a long-overdue tribute to a community that made up more than 20% of the British Indian Army during world war one. I also welcome the plans to erect a national Muslim war memorial at the National Memorial Arboretum. That monument will finally give permanent recognition to the service and sacrifices of Muslim soldiers who fought for this country. There is still much more to do. War memorials must do more than help us remember. They must tell the truth fully and fairly, and help us understand that British history was not built by one group alone but by people from every corner of the world. Memorials are and must always be more than stone and metal; they are symbols of our history and, when reflected accurately, our unity.

• 12 Jun 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  As a person of Gujarati heritage and an MP who represents a large number of Gujarati constituents, I, too, would like to express my shock, horror and sympathies over the devastating news coming out of India. Like the rest of the House, I pray and hope beyond hope for some good news. Recently, I have spoken to many nurseries in my constituency who have served close-knit, hard-working communities for generations, including Shanklin day nursery, Nursery Rhymes and Saffron pre-school. They all tell me that they are struggling and one is to close imminently, due to a combination of rent increases from the council, increases in employer’s national insurance, the low rate provided by the Government for free childcare places and their no longer being able to charge for additional services. Will the Leader of the House kindly commit to scheduling a debate on how we can improve funding for our vital nurseries?

• 21 May 2025 · Good Friday Agreement: Lessons Learned · Hansard source

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  I recently visited the west bank and the Occupied Palestinian Territories with the hon. Member for St Ives (Andrew George). There we saw a systematic process of one community being taken over by another, with the Israeli Government building walls and fences to protect the settler community. The Secretary of State is of course aware of the great results Mo Mowlam achieved in securing peace in Northern Ireland following a process of engagement with both sides—a process that resulted in walls and fences being broken down, and a mutual respect and a common peace being achieved. Will the Government commit to using the lessons of Mo Mowlam and the Northern Ireland peace process to help secure a lasting peace in the middle east?

• 19 May 2025 · Mental Health Bill [Lords] · Hansard source

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  It has been humbling to be part of this debate and to hear powerful contributions from hon. Members who have so much knowledge, in particular the hon. Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Dr Spencer) and the hon. Members for Dorking and Horley (Chris Coghlan) and for St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire (Ian Sollom), who made emotive speeches. I welcome the Bill and the Government’s recognition that the current legislation is no longer fit for purpose. With over 54,000 people detained under the existing Mental Health Act, this is an opportunity to modernise a system that often fails to provide care fairly and effectively. We have heard brutal testimony of that today. Although I support the direction of the Bill, one area that needs greater attention is the impact on young people. We are seeing a clear and worrying rise in mental health issues among children and teenagers, yet the Bill does not fully guarantee them the same rights and safeguards as adults. There is still no statutory test for decision-making capacity for under-16s. Without it, many young people could miss out on key rights such as choosing a responsible nominated person or accessing the protection around informal admission. Current guidelines say that children should be placed on adult wards only in exceptional cases, but that is still happening far too often. In 2022-23, nearly 200 children were admitted to an adult psychiatric ward. These environments are not designed for them. Children who are placed there can lose access to education, peer support and age-appropriate care. This must change. It is not only adult wards that are of concern to me but the fact that many children are sent to live far away from their homes and support structures, even to other towns. We must have statutory provision to stop this happening. Turning to racial inequality, the data continues to tell a stark story. Black people are nearly four times as likely to be detained under the Mental Health Act and seven times more likely to be placed under a community treatment order. Those orders were meant to reduce hospital readmission, but they often do not achieve that aim. Instead, they feel indefinite, coercive and difficult to challenge, and many say that they erode the trust between families and healthcare providers. That is why I support either abolishing CTOs altogether or ensuring that they are subject to regular independent reviews with clear criteria. I also support the call to have a person in every trust who is responsible for race equity—someone with authority and visibility to ensure that training, policy and data are used effectively to address local disparities. We need national accountability too. That is why an annual report by the Secretary of State, broken down by protected characteristics, is vital. If we are serious about reducing inequality, we must measure, understand and act on it. Finally, on autism and learning disabilities, I support the decision to remove the ability to detain people without a co-occurring mental health condition. However, there are real concerns that, without proper support in the community, people may end up being misdiagnosed just to fit the criteria for detention, or may be left without appropriate care altogether. We need a clear, costed plan for supporting integrated care boards and local authorities to deliver the care people need in the community. That means targets, proper funding and safeguards to prevent delays and poor outcomes. We cannot afford a system where a lack of planning results in another decade of delays for this vulnerable group. The Bill is an important step forward, but it is not enough on its own. If we want meaningful change, we need investment, accountability and a stronger focus on the rights of the people who depend on mental health services every day. We are all responsible for ensuring that this legislation does more than just change the law. It must change lives.

• 15 May 2025 · Youth Services · Hansard source

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  The simple truth is that the money we invest in our youth services and young people today will save hundreds of millions of pounds tomorrow. More than that, it will save lives, futures and entire communities. Across Leicester South, we are proud to have incredible grassroots youth organisations changing lives. Pedestrian allows children with special educational needs and disabilities to express themselves and build confidence through youth music sessions; it even helps them to feature in exhibitions. Shubaan youth project is a beacon in the Highfields area of the city, offering a safe space, a sense of connection, and even a football club. The Eyres Monsell club for young people stands tall, mentoring, supporting and empowering the next generation. Those examples are all too rare. Too many young people have nowhere to go and no one to turn to. As the hon. Member for Leeds North West (Katie White) said, today we learn of the alarming statistic, published by UNICEF, that the UK ranks 21st out of 36 in the happiness and wellbeing league for children. That is simply unacceptable for one of the richest nations in the world. In the past 15 years, local authority spending on youth services in England has been slashed by £1.2 billion in real terms. That is a 73% cut. As provision shrinks, violence rises. In areas where youth clubs have closed, people aged 10 to 17 are 14% more likely to commit a crime. Why? Because if we do not offer them real role models, as we used to in youth clubs, they will find toxic ones on social media. When there is no safe space, isolation takes root, mental health declines, physical health follows, and hope disappears. Youth work is a lifeline. Government-funded research shows that young people who access youth work are not just happier but healthier. Investment in it is smart economics, because for every £1 invested in youth work, the social return is anywhere between £3.20 and £6.40. Youth work saves us more than £500 million a year in costs from knife crime, antisocial behaviour and criminal justice. This is not spending; it is saving. But this robust sector is under threat. Funding is short term, insecure and skewed towards buildings, rather than people, but buildings alone do not change lives. Youth workers do, yet more than 4,500 youth workers have left the sector in the last decade. A third of those who remain are on zero-hours or temporary contracts, earning an average of just £21,000 a year—far below the UK average. There are several actions we can take. First, we could have a national youth strategy with long-term, measurable plans to protect and strengthen youth services. Secondly, we could have a dedicated youth Minister in Cabinet to ensure that youth is not an afterthought but a priority across all Government agendas. Thirdly, we could have a long-term youth workforce strategy to recruit, retain and properly pay the skilled professionals our young people rely on. Finally, we should have ringfenced, sustainable revenue funding—not just capital investment—for open-access youth services in every postcode.

• 15 May 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Last week, I had the privilege of visiting Ash Field academy, a truly remarkable place in my constituency. It is more than a school; it is a sanctuary for more than 150 extraordinary children, many of whom unfortunately have life-limiting conditions, and physical and mental challenges. Despite that, I was struck by their boundless joy, courage and unbreakable spirit. However, during my visit, I heard the school community’s deep concerns about proposed cuts to post-16 transport funding—changes that would have a devastating impact on the children, their families and the school. Will the Leader of the House join me in celebrating the incredible work of Ash Field academy and its staff—particularly Mrs Martin and Mrs Chamberlain —and will she affirm that access to education, especially for our most vulnerable young people, must never be hindered by a lack of transport?

• 15 May 2025 · Coroner Services: West Midlands · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is being very generous with his time. I would like to echo that fact: Leicester’s coroner services are doing an excellent job. One reason is that the community and any burial committee, especially in the Muslim Burial Council of Leicester, have created a real relationship, thereby overriding any misunderstandings and improving proficiency.

• 13 May 2025 · Churches and Religious Buildings: Communities · Hansard source

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  It is a real pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Jeremy. I thank the hon. Member for Battersea (Marsha De Cordova) and the right hon. Member for Salisbury (John Glen) for leading the debate. Let me be clear: we do not own these buildings. We are simply their caretakers and custodians for a future generation. Our job is not to profit from them, but to protect them—ideally without charging them 20% for the privilege. These places, whether they are cathedrals, churches, mosques or gurdwaras, are much more than bricks and mortar; they are history books made out of stone and community centres made out of marble. Let us take, for example, Leicester cathedral: a 12th-century gem so ancient that it gets a shout-out in the Domesday Book. It gives our town a sense of awe and is a much-needed break from the concrete jungle around it. It is also home to King Richard III, who spent 500 years lying low in a car park before getting the royal treatment. Some even say it was his reburial that triggered the greatest miracle in modern sporting history—Leicester City winning the premier league. Was that a coincidence, or was it divine intervention? Those buildings do not just have beautiful backstories. As many hon. Members have mentioned, they are where the lonely find company and the hungry are fed. Just last week, I visited the Geeta Bhavan mandir in the Clarendon Park area of my city, and the commitment to sustainability and the environment was much more progressive than in half the tech start-ups in Shoreditch. Another example is the local gurdwara, the Guru Amar Das, which serves hundreds of meals daily with no questions asked. In fact, the only question asked is, “Do you want some more?”, to which the answer is always, “Yes”. This unity and service crosses boundaries—I am a Muslim, and I volunteer for a Sikh charity, the Midland Langar Seva Society, which operates out of a church and serves people of all faiths and no faith. That is what community looks like and what Britain looks like—it is not an island of strangers. I say to the Minister that we cannot put a price on such things, so let us not be the generation that taxes them; let us be the generation that funds them for future generations. Beauty, service and spiritual refuge deserve relief and not receipts.

• 7 May 2025 · Personal Independence Payment: Disabled People · Hansard source

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  Does the right hon. Member agree that PIP is not an income, and that those councils that count it as income should be called out? Leicester city council counts PIP as income. The number of people applying for PIP is therefore reducing, and they are not getting council tax support. People like my constituent Jason will be £900 worse off.

• 24 Apr 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  If the Leader of the House will indulge me, I would like to quote somebody who I suspect has read more books than I have: Albert Einstein. He said, “The only thing that you absolutely have to know, is the location of the library.” Libraries are more than just a place of knowledge—they are the lifeblood of local communities, bringing people of all backgrounds together. However, in Leicester, the Labour mayor is looking to slash library services in some of the most economically deprived areas of my great city, and I know the same will be happening in other constituencies up and down the country. Cutting our library services disproportionately affects the most vulnerable in our society, so will the Leader of the House schedule a debate in which we can praise our public libraries and the work of our wonderful librarians across the country, and urge the Government to give more support to local authorities to protect those crucial services?

• 3 Apr 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  In the words of the legendary rock band 10cc: “I don’t like cricket…I love it.” However, with reduced council budgets and annual park budgets falling by 14% over a decade, and with the pressure on urban playing fields meaning that we have lost 50% of playing fields to other developments, clubs in my constituency, including the South Asian and Caribbean cricket clubs, which go strategically from grassroots cricket to professional players, have now found themselves homeless. Will the Leader of the House schedule a debate to discuss the valuable contribution of grassroots sports and how they can be protected in the future by supporting things like “A Better Future for Parks and Green Spaces”?

• 18 Mar 2025 · Welfare Reform · Hansard source

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  I of course applaud the intention of getting people back to work, but my inbox—like those of everybody else here, I am certain—is full of emails from petrified disabled constituents. The recurring theme is the absolute disbelief that once again, welfare cuts are being imposed by none other than a Labour Government. What will the Secretary of State say to my constituent, Jason, who lives in our city? He has been told by Leicester city council that it will now consider his PIP payment as income and so has increased the council tax he has to pay. How does the Minister expect Jason to find that additional £900?

• 10 Mar 2025 · Schooling Costs · Hansard source

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  Parents whose children have special educational needs and disabilities do not wish to send their children to far-away schools, but they have to, because of a lack of local provision. If the children are over the age of 16, however, it is at the discretion of the local authority to decide whether to meet the cost of transporting them to school, even though education is effectively compulsory until the age of 18. Many local authorities, including in Leicester South, are now passing that cost entirely on to parents. Will the Minister commit to dealing with SEND transport costs in the Department’s work to reduce the cost of sending children to school?

• 23 Jan 2025 · Holocaust Memorial Day · Hansard source

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  I welcome that intervention. All the work being done is absolutely vital. We have seen genocide in Rwanda, where close to 1 million Tutsi were killed, and now, as we speak, in Sudan. If “never again” means anything, it means that the international community must take decisive action to pursue the perpetrators through the International Court of Justice. Instead, the far right is almost being indulged. Earlier this week, people who rioted on 6 January, who very much have far-right tendencies, were forgiven. Many of them were radicalised online. This year’s Holocaust Memorial Day theme is to take action “for a better future”. That is why I am delighted to hear from the Minister that education will remain a priority. If we do not learn the lessons of history, we will live them again. Inter-faith work is absolutely vital. That is why I am proud to have been part of a team that set up an inter-faith group so that religions can talk to each other, not point fingers, and build bridges, not burn them. We must also take action against and hold social media firms and publishers to account for far-right misinformation. I end with the words of Elie Wiesel: “We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”

• 22 Jan 2025 · Listed Places of Worship Scheme · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Western, and I congratulate the hon. Member for Bromsgrove (Bradley Thomas) on securing the debate. I come from a different angle as I was very much unaware of it, so I thank the Very Reverend Karen Rooms of Leicester cathedral for bringing it to my attention. Leicester cathedral is the cathedral where, when we found King Richard III in a carpark, we reinterred him, and many in our city believe that is what led to Leicester City winning the premiership the season after, so it is absolutely vital to us. Cathedrals are more than places of beauty, religion and art. I, as a Muslim, volunteer for a Sikh charity serving food in a Christian church for the whole community. Reflecting what has been said, churches and cathedrals are places of community cohesion. I also come from a culture in which we do not own places of worship; we are simply their custodians. We are custodians of our churches and cathedrals.

• 13 Jan 2025 · Sudan: US Determination of Genocide · Hansard source

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  As the horrendous nature of this conflict becomes apparent, I concur with many Members in this Chamber that it is a forgotten conflict. I thank the right hon. Member for Sutton Coldfield (Mr Mitchell) for bringing this urgent question to the House, especially when we read reports indicating a dramatic increase in gender-based violence, including over 2,000 cases of sexual violence reported in Darfur alone since the beginning of the conflict. As the penholder on Sudan at the United Nations Security Council, what steps is the UK taking to work with the International Criminal Court and the international community to ensure accountability for the perpetrators of that crime, and of genocide per se?

• 8 Jan 2025 · Playgrounds · Hansard source

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  It is an absolute pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Lewell-Buck, and I thank the hon. Member for Bournemouth East (Tom Hayes) for securing this debate on the important yet overlooked area of playgrounds. Many Members have articulated the advantages of playgrounds, including in relation to mental health, the fact that people live in a concrete jungle and physical activity. However, in an era in which screens dominate our children’s attention and social media replaces face-to-face interaction, playgrounds are more critical than ever. I will focus today on two overlooked benefits that they provide: tackling obesity and building community cohesion. First, let us consider the role of playgrounds in combating the epidemic of childhood obesity. The Government have laid out two vital objectives in their preventive agenda: halving the gap in healthy life expectancy, and creating the healthiest generation of children ever. Playgrounds directly contribute to the achievement of those goals through their activity. Healthy food is served in many such places, including fruit, vegetables and hot meals. For some children I know, those meals may be the only nutritious food that they receive daily. In communities where food insecurity is high, playgrounds are not just a place for fun; they are, without exaggeration, a lifeline. They ensure that children can play and thrive, fuelled by the nourishment they desperately need. Without these spaces, our fight against obesity and related diseases would become even harder. Secondly, and my constituency of Leicester South has borne this out, adventure playgrounds foster something more intangible, and that is community cohesion. Children from all walks of life unite while they are playing, breaking down race, class and culture. Playgrounds remind us of our shared humanity in a world that is increasingly divided by polarisation and conflict. As children play, they create bonds. As the hon. Member for Ealing Southall (Deirdre Costigan) mentioned, the United Nations convention on the rights of the child recognises that in article 31, which declares that play is a critical human right. Unfortunately, that right is under threat. The number of adventure playgrounds has fallen from 253 in 1980 to just 126 in 2021. Worse still, many of these playgrounds operate only for limited hours and lack resources, which means that children and the play workers do not create any meaningful bonds. Closer to home, I must raise the plight of two incredible adventure playgrounds in Leicester South: St Andrews and Highfields, where I played as a child. Both are on the verge of shutting down, despite being in areas where provision for young children is already scarce. In particular, Highfields has been a pillar of its community for over half a century, but it still lacks secure tenureship. The loss of those playgrounds would tear the fabric of the communities that they serve, so will the Minister please meet me to see whether we can save them?

• 6 Jan 2025 · Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse · Hansard source

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  Perpetrators of sexual crimes must face the full force of the law, regardless of their race, their religion or their nationality, but an overseas bad-faith actor is using truly horrific cases of group-based child rape to demonise a community and slander a Minister of the Crown—someone who has genuine experience of helping victims of abuse. This narrative is false, and it is dangerous. Many reports from 2015 to 2024 have concluded that the common denominator for sexual violence is not immigration, race or culture. The real point here is that if victims are being falsely told that perpetrators look a certain way or are part of a certain community, they will have a false sense of security when they are with people who do not fit that stereotype. The real issue here is that we need the discussion to be focused on victims, not political rhetoric, and we need evidence-based policies.

• 17 Dec 2024 · National Insurance Contributions (Secondary Class 1 Contributions) Bill · Hansard source

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  I refer the Committee to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests as an optometrist. I will speak to amendment 7, which stands in my name, which calls for GP surgeries, pharmacists, the often forgotten profession of optometrists and other health professionals to be excluded from the national insurance rise, along with charities with fewer than 50 employees. We have seen the over-strain and burden on our GP services being taken over fantastically by the Pharmacy First programme. However, the National Pharmacy Association has voted for action, which could include reducing opening hours, in response to the increased costs that will be caused by the national insurance hike. This hike is going to cost each pharmacy business an estimated £12,000, which is absolutely unattainable for many of the pharmacists I speak to. My constituency of Leicester South has the second-highest ratio of patients to GPs, with 3,260 patients to a single GP. This already overburdened service is going to be hit even further with this rise in national insurance, with the Royal College of General Practitioners warning in November that the national insurance hike risked GP practices making redundancies or even closures. Nearly 450 GP practices have already closed or merged since 2018, according to a survey by the GPs’ journal Pulse . This is simply an untenable state for the national health service and healthcare workers. Pharmacists, dentists and optometrists employ their professional staff. Many people I have spoken to are now going to have to remove employment and bring in locums. I would like to ask the Minister whether any impact assessment has been made on the loss of earnings for employed staff if locum staff are brought in. Primary care services are the bedrock of the NHS and many are already on a financial tightrope due to years of austerity. The national insurance hike will see many community GPs, pharmacists and optical health facilities reduce services or completely close down.

• 2 Dec 2024 · Grenfell Tower Inquiry · Hansard source

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  I refer the House to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests as a leaseholder. I welcome this debate and, in particular, the Deputy Prime Minister’s considered, sympathetic and empathetic contribution. I agree with her wholeheartedly that the Grenfell disaster was caused by systematic failures across the board, including in the Government—or Governments—and in the private sector, where commercial gain was prioritised over people’s lives while a broken system allowed unfettered competition to bulldoze through what little regulation was in place. As the hon. Member for Vauxhall and Camberwell Green (Florence Eshalomi) said, we all remember where we were that evening. It was the month of Ramadan and we were coming home from evening prayers. My heart broke twice that evening. Once was when I saw the victims in front of me on my television screen and mobile phone. The second was knowing that those victims were going to have to wait an age for justice. Even I did not perceive that it was going to take this long. The 72 people who died on that terrible night, their relatives, the bereaved and the survivors, deserve justice, and it can happen with real change to the building safety system from top to bottom. That is why I welcome the Deputy Prime Minister’s commitment to putting into place all 58 of the recommendations, but it has to be done as soon as possible. Furthermore, we welcome the Deputy Prime Minister’s expediting the remediation of the unsafe cladding. This has simply taken too long. On 9 September, the Under-Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, the hon. Member for Bethnal Green and Stepney (Rushanara Ali), said in answer to a parliamentary question: “Speeding up the remediation of buildings is absolutely critical. Seven years on from Grenfell, action has been far too slow and the fire in Dagenham is a horrific reminder of the risk unsafe cladding still poses to far too many people.” For the 49 private tenants of Abbey House, an eight-storey block in Leicester South with dangerous cladding, that remediation cannot come too quickly. However, they are caught between a bureaucratic rock and a commercial hard place. The freehold of that block is owned by Leicester City Council, but in 2015 the mayor granted a 150-year lease to a private company to refurbish the block as private rented accommodation. As the block contains no individual leaseholders, it is not eligible for any Government funding for cladding remediation. This is clearly intolerable for the residents of that block. While the to-ing and fro-ing goes on about who should remediate the block, the residents are living in constant fear that their block is unsafe, and the lack of resolution just makes it worse. As the hon. Member for Kensington and Bayswater (Joe Powell) mentioned, if the Government are truly serious about making homes safe, ownership issues such as those at Abbey House cannot be allowed to get in the way of removing unsafe cladding and other materials. Does the Deputy Prime Minister agree that it is now essential that Government funds are made available across the board urgently, to make all our buildings safe? Once that is done, issues of who is responsible and how to reclaim the costs can be resolved.

• 2 Dec 2024 · Social Housing Supply · Hansard source

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  I am sure that the House agrees that affordable housing is important. However, my experience in Leicester South is that all too often it is provided in new developments, as homes for shared ownership or as similar housing products, which are out of reach for the poorest in my community. What my community really needs is more social rented houses. What is the Secretary of State doing to promote the construction of social rented homes, as opposed to other affordable housing products?

• 19 Nov 2024 · Food Banks · Hansard source

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  May I say what an honour it is to speak under your stewardship, Ms Vaz? I congratulate the hon. Member for Aberdeenshire North and Moray East (Seamus Logan) on securing this vital debate. Echoing my fellow Members’ sentiments, the need for food banks is unacceptable, but those who donate to them and run them provide testimony of our country’s unity, compassion and kindness. I will mention a few in my constituency: Goldhill adventure playground, Wesley Hall pantry, which is very close to the house I grew up in—the queue goes past my house now, unfortunately—the Eyre Monsell club for young people, and a Sikh community charity called Midland Langar Seva Society, which does incredible work in a church serving all members of the community regardless of faith. Their work, however, should not be needed. We are the sixth-richest nation in the world, and we have millions using our food banks. The situation will only get worse, according to the Trussell Trust, with a record 9.3 million people, including one in five children, facing hunger and hardship. That is 4 million more than five years ago. I will briefly touch on a few points that we need to address. First, as mentioned by the hon. Member for Cheltenham (Max Wilkinson), we must remove the myth that those using food banks are somehow deserving of it. Having employment is not a reliable route out of hardship, as 58% of people facing hunger and hardship live in families in which at least one person is working. Secondly, food banks are used disproportionately by people with disabilities. Twenty-six per cent of the UK’s population suffers from some form of disability, whether mental health or physical disability, but 69% of those referred to the Trussell Trust’s food banks are disabled. Among the main reasons cited for that is a lack of information about entitlements; difficulties in claiming and sustaining benefits such as the personal independence payment; insufficient income from the benefits once people receive them; and further reductions due to sanctions cap deductions and debt. Thirdly, there is the impact on children. One of the quickest ways we can bring children out of poverty is to scrap the two-child benefit cap instantly. Finally, I have some anecdotal evidence about the increased use of food banks from those where I have volunteered. They are being used by individuals and students who are being brought in by agencies from abroad. We need to address rogue people who are bringing people in.

• 13 Nov 2024 · Facial Recognition: Police Use · Hansard source

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  It is a real pleasure to speak under your chairmanship, Dame Siobhain. I congratulate the right hon. Member for Maldon (Sir John Whittingdale) on securing this debate and agree with him wholeheartedly that this issue should be considered further in the main Chamber. It is said that technology is a very useful servant but can be a very dangerous master. Many colleagues have already made a robust case for the use of this technology and undeniably it can be very useful. However, I am extremely concerned and believe that we must proceed with caution. In Leicester, some people already want to use the technology, but we must ensure that there is watertight legislation before we proceed any further. Among my main concerns is the accuracy of the technology. We must ask whether it is fit for purpose. A spokesperson from StopWatch, a UK coalition of academics, lawyers and activists, has said that “there is very little evidence on the efficacy of LFR deployments”. In fact, in the first six months of this year, when this technology was deployed, StopWatch found that on average it stopped one person nearly every hour, or every 55 minutes, and that a person was arrested every two hours because of it. The data showed that, as the hon. Member for Clapham and Brixton Hill (Bell Ribeiro-Addy) said, over 80% of those arrests were unnecessary. The right hon. Member for Maldon said that the police have polite conversations with people, but polite conversations have a different meaning for different people. Secondly, there is equality and non-discrimination. We already know that a black person is four times more likely to be stopped by this technology, as we are now. The technology has been shown to exacerbate any racial profiling. In fact, it has been demonstrated that it disproportionately misidentifies women, people of colour and even disabled people. That is a real concern. Thirdly, as the majority of colleagues have already mentioned, the technology is an attack on our civil liberties. Earlier this year, the European Court of Human Rights ruled against Russia after claims that it had used LFR technology to locate and arrest a protester on the Moscow metro system. That is extremely frightening. Similarly, China has been accused of perfecting a version of facial technology that can single out and track Uyghurs—members of the repressed Muslim community in China. We must acknowledge these concerns and ensure that, like the EU, we have in place stringent legislation, like the EU’s Artificial Intelligence Act 2024, before this technology becomes widely used and turns into our master.

• 13 Nov 2024 · Facial Recognition: Police Use · Hansard source

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  Does the hon. Gentleman agree that this technology could further alienate minority communities —as happened with the Muslim community, which felt unfairly targeted by the Prevent strategy—and could cause further division and mistrust of the police?

• 11 Sept 2024 · Democracy in Bangladesh · Hansard source

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  Does the hon. Member agree about the positive contribution that the Bangladeshi community has made to our country, which has made it as it is today? I would like to take this opportunity to pay homage to the Bangladeshi community of Leicester South, who are hard-working, entrepreneurial and philanthropic. Their commitment to using the political system to improve their community has made my city as great as it is today. Does the hon. Member also agree that the riots we saw recently in Southport after the devastating attack and killing of three innocent people emphasise how important it is that we do not single out a community, because that can have devastating effects? Does she agree that both sides of the House should be much more responsible in the language they use to ensure that community cohesion ensues?