Simon Opher MP: speeches

Speeches

• 19 Jan 2026 · Business Rates: Retail, Hospitality and Leisure · Hansard source

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  I am a bit surprised by the mock rage coming from the Opposition, given that, over the past decade and a half, thousands of pubs have closed. I thank the Minister on behalf of Stroud publicans for agreeing to review the system so that we can get a really practical solution for pubs. Can I confirm that all business rates, including those on the high streets, will be reviewed, so that we can have a proper level playing field with the out-of-town institutions?

• 12 Jan 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  In Stroud, we have 4,000 council houses; we need at least double that. Will the Minister look again at the constraints that councils are under and see whether the Government can enable them to build more council houses?

• 6 Jan 2026 · Therapeutic Play and Children’s Healthcare · Hansard source

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  I will be very brief. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Leyton and Wanstead (Mr Bailey) for securing this fascinating debate. All play is therapeutic, and I emphasise that the Government have put £18 million into new playgrounds. My constituent Tom Williams is a proponent of adventure play, which is incredibly good for kids. It reduces anxiety, it burns more calories than sport and, crucially, it provides a digital detox and improves community cohesion. As a GP, I always had a big box of toys in my room. To examine a child, I had to play with the child; otherwise, they would scream their head off. Therapeutic play must be part of GP training in every way. The thing about therapeutic play is that it reduces the trauma, as we have heard; it actually results in fewer cancellations and, as my hon. Friend said, reduced need for anaesthetics and shorter procedure times because the child is enjoying themselves playing. I thank my hon. Friend for bringing this subject forward for debate—I will say no more.

• 10 Dec 2025 · Resident Doctors: Industrial Action · Hansard source

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  On international medical graduates, I commend the Secretary of State. It is something we have discussed in the past, and bringing forward emergency legislation is absolutely crucial here, so I thank him for that. I also want to mention trainers in the NHS. I can reassure the Conservatives that we will make this happen. I have been a GP trainer for 25 years. We will work to make this happen; that is what we do in the NHS. I have many resident doctor friends who do not like this action. Can we urge those doctors to talk to their fellows and try to call off this strike? It is not generally well supported among resident doctors, and it is something that we can change.

• 9 Dec 2025 · Creative Education · Hansard source

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  I know that my hon. Friend is incredibly supportive of the developments in Reading. I commend him on that. Because I am a scientist, I thought I could provide some reasoning on why the creative arts can help. They help on three different fronts. Biologically, they can influence physiological symptoms of anxiety—they reduce anxiety. Psychologically, they can improve self-expression, confidence and, probably most important, self-esteem. That is because often when we do a creative thing, we feel that it came out a little bit better than we anticipated. It is the same for children. There is good, strong evidence that the creative arts build self-esteem in children, and in social terms, they build connections and a sense of belonging. I want the Minister to join me in a campaign to make teaching children how to play musical instruments available in every primary school. I shall talk a little bit more about music. In Stroud, schools such as Bussage primary school are leading the way by making sure that every key stage 2 child has exposure to musical education. Last week, we had a roundtable in the House of Lords with a group called Rocksteady, which takes rock music into local schools. I was really impressed by what I heard. Not only were the effects of the group’s work really impressive, but there was a measurable reduction in pupil absence rates. It had an effect on the whole school, and made everyone feel better. In Gloucester, we have the Music Works, where quite deprived children can learn how to DJ, to play the drums or guitar, or to sing. That has been transformative for many children. There are other examples, such as the fantastic Big Noise in Scotland. Some big organisations, including the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, the English National Opera and the Royal Opera House have big programmes that reach into schools. There is some evidence that they can teach the teachers, which is one of the problems I will explore.

• 9 Dec 2025 · Creative Education · Hansard source

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  That is very true, and it comes back to the capabilities and confidence of the teachers, particularly in smaller schools. My children all went to smaller schools and they were lucky to have an inspirational music leader, but not every school has one. We can go further; we could have a world-class curriculum, but it cannot be world-class if we sideline the arts. All schools need the resources, staffing and flexibility to deliver meaningful creative education. I believe that the curriculum review provides that flexibility. To finish off, I have requests of the Minister. I would like the Government to consider funding free music lessons for all less well-off children, and teacher training in the arts for all teachers. I would like them to expand the arts in the curriculum and offer all children in primary schools musical instrument teaching by the end of this Parliament. For the sake of our young people’s wellbeing and our future creative industries, we must restore creativity to its rightful place in our schools.

• 9 Dec 2025 · Creative Education · Hansard source

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  I beg to move, That this House has considered creative education in schools. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Stuart. I welcome the Government’s curriculum and assessment review, which recognises the need for a broad and balanced curriculum and recommends the removal of the English baccalaureate, allowing greater space for arts subjects. At present, far too many children do not have access to these opportunities. Research from the Arts and Minds Campaign reveals that participation in arts subjects at GCSE has fallen by 42% since 2010, even though 90% of young people want to study a creative subject. The decline is sharpest in the most disadvantaged communities. School leaders in socially deprived areas are almost 50% more likely to report being unable to find specialist arts teachers, and one in four schools does not have the funding to run creative GCSEs at all.

• 9 Dec 2025 · Creative Education · Hansard source

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  It is interesting that creativity is particularly important for children with special educational needs. Indeed, there is some evidence that including creativity can actually make them attend school on a more regular basis. I have visited loads of schools in Stroud over the last 18 months, and one common theme has been the rise in mental health problems in young people, who are under countless assessments and the pressure of living in a 24/7 social media world. I do feel that this is pushing a lot of children to the brink, and that creativity may be a way of repairing that. One in five young children has a probable mental health condition, and this figure is rising every year. As a GP, I have been using art to treat mental health in children and adults for about 26 years, quite often with really spectacular results. The lack of art subjects has contributed to this pandemic of mental health problems. The Southbank Centre just across the river is doing a project as we speak around introducing creativity to children who are on the child and adolescent mental health services waiting lists. It will be quite exciting to see whether that can make them better as well.

• 9 Dec 2025 · Creative Education · Hansard source

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  I totally agree. In fact, there is evidence that creativity outside is even more effective for people than inside. This is clearly about access to natural spaces. I am chair of the all-party parliamentary group on creative health. There is really strong evidence that creativity reduces mental health problems in children.

• 9 Dec 2025 · Creative Education · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend has made exactly the point I was coming to about the role of music hubs. There are 43 music hubs in the UK, delivering something like half a million lessons and interventions up and down the country. Their reach is incredible, taking in about 90% of schools, although there is an issue in that they sometimes charge for their lessons, which I shall come back to. I welcome the upcoming launch of a new national centre for arts and music education, to support the delivery of high-quality arts education in schools and ensure that high-quality arts education is open to all. I would welcome further information from the Minister on the plans for that establishment. Creativity in education does not just mean musical or visual arts. Recently, I met Tash Alexander, the inspirational director of Head Held High, which ran a comedy and performance workshop for teenage students in London schools; I also met one of the graduates, Ro. What really struck me about the programme is the way it uses creative expression to build confidence, especially among children who do not always thrive in more traditional learning environments. One aspect of creativity and the arts is that they often really suit people who do not get on very well at school. They are made to feel a failure, whereas actually they can make fantastic artworks or music. We must give them that opportunity. That is the real power of a creative education—it reaches young people differently and gives them a space to discover who they are. Despite Tash’s excellent work over the last 12 years, funding is a challenge all the time. I urge the Department for Education to meet her and discuss how we can continue to fund that programme. One of the main barriers to creativity in education is that teachers are not qualified or do not have experience of teaching the creative arts. The less creativity there is at a school, the less likely the teachers are capable of teaching it. One third of school leaders cannot find specialist teachers, for example, so big national organisations may have a role to play in taking them under their wing, showing them how to teach and giving them the confidence to teach. That is one big problem. Another problem is cost. Half of all parents cannot afford extracurricular arts activities. As a result, children’s creative futures are increasingly dictated by family income, not by talent or passion. It is already mandatory that looked-after children are provided with free musical instruments. Should that be extended to those on free school meals? Could we use the pupil premium for music lessons? Libraries can lend instruments easily and musical hubs provide the organisational ability to spread teaching through a school. Groups such as the Ed Sheeran Foundation and the Nicola Benedetti Foundation are supporting music education, and we could perhaps use them more, particularly with less advantaged children. Creativity should never be a postcode lottery. It should not be a luxury for families who can afford instruments, lessons, dance shoes or even theatre trips. If we are serious about tackling inequality, we must rebuild creative opportunities into the heart of every child’s school experience.

• 9 Dec 2025 · Support for NHS Patients · Hansard source

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  19. What fiscal steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to support patients in the NHS.

• 9 Dec 2025 · Support for NHS Patients · Hansard source

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  I thank the Chancellor for investing in our community care. In Stroud, the two beating hearts of our community—GP surgeries and our village pubs—reduce social isolation. Today, the publicans are meeting at Stroud Brewery to discuss the impacts of business rates. May I invite the Minister to discuss how we can help our pub landlords—perhaps over a pint?

• 2 Dec 2025 · Domestic Energy Efficiency (Call for Evidence) · Hansard source

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  I beg to move, That leave be given to bring in a Bill to require the Secretary of State to issue a call for evidence relating to the promotion and funding of the installation of domestic energy efficiency measures; to require the Secretary of State to publish a response to the evidence received; and for connected purposes. We are now firmly within the year’s heating season. As the UK braces against the cold and the media continue to be flooded with stories of people unable to pay their bills living in some of the leakiest homes in Europe, the case for domestic energy efficiency is as strong as ever. The current understanding is that insulation subsidy, and the organisation and technical details around this work, have become confusing, chaotic and in some cases costly. We need a clearer understanding of what mechanisms of subsidy and which technical solutions deliver best value for money. The average household is facing an annual fuel bill of over £1,700, and around 2 million households are in arrears. Surging energy prices have plunged many deeper into fuel poverty, widening the average fuel poverty gap nearly twofold since 2020. The estimated number of households living in fuel poverty now stands at 6.1 million. I welcome the Chancellor’s commitment to tackle this crisis at the Budget. Thanks to the Government, households will see an average reduction of £150 in their energy bills from April next year. We have also expanded the warm home discount, which means that in total 6 million households will receive £150 off their energy bills this winter. But if we are to protect ourselves from rising energy costs due to Putin’s terrible illegal war in Ukraine, we must reduce our exposure to high energy use. If we do not address winter peak demand through energy efficiency measures, we can expect electricity requirements to more than double. As a GP, I know that energy efficiency is key to improving health outcomes. Cold homes double the risk that adults will develop new mental health conditions and put one in four children at risk of multiple mental health symptoms. Physical health problems caused by cold homes are common. Mould caused by cold, damp homes can cause allergic-type reactions and the development of or worsening of asthma, respiratory infections, coughs, wheezing and shortness of breath. Cold also raises blood pressure and increases cardiac failure. The Building Research Establishment has found that poor homes that expose residents to excess cold could be costing the NHS £857 million a year in treatment bills. I would like to mention the Severn Wye Energy Agency in my Stroud constituency, which works with us in the NHS to provide help for patients whose housing is causing ill health. I particularly commend its warmth on prescription scheme as a national exemplar of the NHS and energy efficiency working in tandem. I also commend SGS Berkeley Green university technical college—a fine institution that trains its students in implementing modern energy efficiency measures. The Government are committed to creating 400,000 extra clean energy jobs by 2030, and I know that we will see many of its students taking up those posts. Our current framework of encouraging domestic energy efficiency through subsidies is unsustainable. Dependency on subsidies can lead to disaster striking, as we saw in the solar industry 10 years ago. We must therefore look at ways to diversify our package of support for energy efficiency to prevent such disastrous impacts on the supply chain, which impact on the strength of the workforce that will be needed in future. Schemes under successive Governments have tended to use up-front payments to deliver energy efficiency measures. Those capital grant schemes are subject to the Treasury’s five-year spending reviews and short-term political intervention, creating boom and bust cycles that undermine confidence among both investors and consumers. Our recent experience of installation has been poor. A report by the National Audit Office found that 98% of homes with external wall insulation installed under Government schemes have major issues requiring remediation, and 6% of those homes present immediate health risks. It is therefore critical that we look again at our incentives for energy efficiency. Everyone deserves to live in a home that is warm and safe without having to go through a remediation process for a botched installation. The Sustainable Energy Association has developed a proposal for an energy efficiency incentive that can unlock greater investment by rewarding in-use performance of energy efficiency measures over several years through a revenue-based mechanism. The proposal would lower fuel bills across the country, keeping money in people’s pockets. In-use performance can be measured through technologies such as smart meter-enabled thermal efficiency ratings. Measuring performance is likely to drive up the quality of measures, as the financiers of those measures will have a strong financial interest in ensuring quality of product and installation. The SEA’s modelling has found that fast-yielding technologies such as cavity and loft insulation and double glazing will require a seven-year subsidy framework, while slow-yielding technologies such as solid wall insulation will require a 25-year subsidy framework. Investors have been crying out for long-term policy certainty. The long-term nature of this subsidy framework provides investors with the confidence to invest, opening up a whole host of green financing options for retrofit schemes. Other ideas that have been discussed include green loans that pay for the up-front cost of insulation. As energy needs decrease, the loan can be paid off to the benefit of householders. Some have proposed a national insulation bank, while others back schemes that link stamp duty reductions to the amount spent on home insulation, so that the benefits of installation are not lost if we move, encouraging low-carbon energy efficiency upgrades. A call for evidence would certainly invite other innovative proposals to be brought the table. Although I hope the Bill will be unnecessary, what it proposes is a no-brainer that would provide solutions to problems that unite us as a House: soaring energy bills, energy security and the health of the UK population. I invite the Minister for Energy Consumers—the Under-Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, my hon. Friend the Member for Inverclyde and Renfrewshire West (Martin McCluskey)—to back my campaign and issue a call for evidence. Question put and agreed to. Ordered, That Maya Ellis, Irene Campbell, Paula Barker, Andy McDonald, Cat Eccles, Christine Jardine, Paul Davies, Fleur Anderson, Amanda Hack, Luke Myer, Steve Darling and Dr Simon Opher present the Bill. Dr Simon Opher accordingly presented the Bill. Bill read the First time; to be read a Second time on Friday 16 January 2026, and to be printed (Bill 340).

• 25 Nov 2025 · English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill · Hansard source

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  I thank the Minister, who is not in her place, for taking the time to meet me to discuss my amendments 107 and 108, which concern the community right to buy. This Bill is one of the most exciting and empowering pieces of legislation to come from this Government. For the first time, communities will be given a genuine first opportunity to buy and own the places that matter most to them. Instead of seeing valued community assets sold off to the highest bidder, residents will be able to step in, organise and take ownership for themselves. That is truly transformative. In Stroud, community ownership is essential for maintaining services and the environment for rural villages and towns. Community-owned village shops, such as those in Horsley and Coaley—and, indeed, my favourite shop in the world, which is in my village of Uley and is run by fabulous volunteers—keep the villages alive and provide access for older people and those without transport. Village pubs are dying off. There are campaigns in my area to keep the Rose & Crown in Nympsfield open and, in fact, people have succeeded in making a community pub at the Red Lion in Arlingham. There are also community rooms such as the Trinity Rooms in Stroud, which the community is fundraising to buy, hopefully by Christmas. That is all very exciting. Land in Stroud aptly named the Heavens is being purchased by the community, as is Rodborough fields. This Bill will finally give legal backing to those campaigns, but I believe that we can make one important improvement. As drafted, the Bill refers to “economic or social interests” when defining assets of community value, but it leaves out environmental interests. That means that wildlife-rich spaces cannot be protected, even when they provide major community benefits, including access to nature and improvements to wellbeing. My amendments simply would extend the community right to buy to include assets that further the environmental wellbeing of local communities, granting them the ability to buy and, importantly, safeguard nature-rich areas if they come up for sale. I am a GP, and I use social prescribing extensively. Walking in nature is a proven way of getting better without using pills, so I very much urge the Minister to listen to what we are saying. My hon. Friend the Member for Worthing West (Dr Cooper) quite rightly said that this is about public health. I know some Members are concerned that these powers could block the house building that we all want so much. That is why my amendments provide a safeguard in restricting the eligibility to land that has not been allocated for development in the local plan. This Bill represents the biggest transfer of power out of Westminster for a century. It will give communities the right to shape, to buy and to rebuild. In Stroud, we are ready to embrace that opportunity, but we must ensure that the law properly recognises environmental value alongside social and economic wellbeing. That is why I urge the Government to support my amendments to ensure that the Bill delivers the fullest possible benefits for communities up and down the country.

• 17 Nov 2025 · Parkinson’s Disease · Hansard source

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  In Stroud, 295 people have Parkinson’s disease, yet we had 960 admissions for it. Although we have a good turnout for the debate today, I believe that Parkinson’s gets less attention than other degenerative diseases. That must change, because it is much more common. As a GP, I would say that diagnosis for the disease is difficult. It can present in a huge number of ways—40 different symptoms, often with rigidity. The tremor can be due to other things such as essential tremor. It can even present with constipation or depression, and indeed with dementia, where it is called Lewy body dementia, which is associated with Parkinson’s. A GP cannot make the diagnosis; they have to wait for the outpatient specialist to make it, which is why the wait is so criminal. We need comprehensive and co-ordinated care. I believe that neighbourhood health centres will be fantastic at delivering this care. Parkinson’s specialist nurses are absolutely crucial, as are multidisciplinary teams with physios and occupational therapists. Social prescribing—signposting and getting the right benefits—is also incredibly important. Indeed, there is good evidence that dancing is really good for Parkinson’s disease—that is something a little innovative. We need timely diagnosis of patients with Parkinson’s disease, and a co-ordinated and comprehensive care plan; and most of all, we need to give them back their dignity.

• 5 Nov 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T4. In Stroud, a fantastic volunteer group—the Night Angels, started by Chrissie Lowery—patrols streets and trains to provide safety for young women. Will the Minister support this group and would she like to join us on a patrol, donning the trademark pink fluorescent jacket?

• 5 Nov 2025 · Violence against Women and Girls · Hansard source

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  7. What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help tackle violence against women and girls.

• 5 Nov 2025 · Violence against Women and Girls · Hansard source

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  Last week, I met “Loose Women” presenters in Parliament and heard about their “Facing It Together” programme. First, will the Minister support the “Facing It Together” programme? Secondly, will she support a plan we have hatched to get a poster about it in every GP surgery in this country?

• 4 Nov 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T1. If she will make a statement on her departmental responsibilities.

• 4 Nov 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  I am proud that the Government have invested £250 million in putting solar panels on schools and hospitals. In Stroud, we have a programme whereby, through community energy funding, we will put solar panels on every school in the area. I was going to ask the Chancellor about Treasury rules that were blocking that, but I heard from her answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Congleton (Sarah Russell) that that may no longer be the case. Will she confirm that that block has been removed?

• 28 Oct 2025 · Obesity and Fatty Liver Disease · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Worthing West (Dr Cooper) for securing this very important debate. I also thank the British Liver Trust and the Foundation for Liver Research for providing me with a lot of data and information. As a GP, I have learned quite a lot from preparing this speech—we will come to that a little later. As my hon. Friend said, what we really need is the right type of reform. My Government are proposing three shifts in care. Probably the most important is from cure to prevention, and this issue fits in very well with that. It also fits into the other shifts that we want. We want to get out of hospitals and into the community, and a lot of work around fatty liver disease can be done in the community. We also need to use data properly to target people and to look at the digital ways in which we can identify high-risk people. Fatty liver disease affects 20% of the population. I do not want to repeat all the statistics that we have heard, but 12% of those people go on to develop very severe disease, and that is 90% preventable. That is a perfect example of our being able to prevent disease rather than just allowing it to happen. As GPs, we often do a liver function test—often if someone is on a statin or something similar—as a screening test, and we find that the alkaline phosphatase is slightly raised. We then do an ultrasound scan and, lo and behold, people who are overweight often have fatty liver disease. That is often as far as it goes in GP land, so we need to change that pathway. There is an obesity epidemic and two thirds of adults are overweight. As my hon. Friend the Member for Worthing West said, children also carry a great burden of obesity and overweightness—by year 6, 32% of children are obese. As my hon. Friend also said, there has been a massive increase. Most diseases are going down in frequency, but there has been a 400% increase in fatty liver disease. That leads first to fibrosis, then cirrhosis and even liver cancer. As she pointed out, detection is often at the acute stage when people are admitted to hospital with cirrhosis and sometimes hepatic failure. That is a sign of a poor medical system. We are failing those people. Where I come from in Stroud, we have the fourth-highest hospital admission rate for liver disease in the whole south-west, and Gloucestershire has the highest. We need to get on and start dealing with fatty liver disease. How do we do that? As we have heard, prevention is probably the single most important thing, so I urge the Government to grab that ethos of preventing disease and really go for it. We have a national food strategy—there is plenty in there, which I will not talk about now—and ultra-processed foods are obviously causing a lot of harm. There are also some exciting options in the 10-year plan in relation to supermarkets, such as how they need to keep their data and about starting to sell healthier foods, rather than foods that are high in fat, sugar and salt. The plan also refers to the reformulation of some products. I will point out two other things: first, free school meals reduce obesity in children; and secondly, as a Government, we are bringing in rules about advertising unhealthy food before the 9 o’clock watershed, which I welcome. We also need to halt brand advertising before that time, because when people see a sign saying “McDonald’s”, they do not think about salads, do they? That is also important. Screening needs to be data driven. In general practice, we know that a lot of people with a BMI of over 27, for example, should get near-patient testing for liver function, and those who have raised liver function should then have a fibroscan in their neighbourhood practice. That would be a fantastic community response to the problem: neighbourhood practices could take hold of the issue and start screening properly, reducing the burden of disease on our population. Training is also important. I am a standard sort of GP, and I did not know as much before preparing this speech as I do now. We need to educate GPs on the importance of detection. Lastly, although GLP-1 agonists are not authorised for treating fatty liver disease, we are certain that they are effective at reducing weight and would certainly reduce fatty liver disease. We must invest in weight-management services to wrap around that treatment. We have a great opportunity to prevent disease.

• 28 Oct 2025 · Obesity and Fatty Liver Disease · Hansard source

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  It is on 20 November, with Jonathan Pie, and it is on investigating men’s health.

• 27 Oct 2025 · Statutory Maternity and Paternity Pay · Hansard source

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  My son Jake and his partner Amber are about to have a child, and I am very proud, but he is taking out a loan so that he can have six weeks off work, because he believes it is important. In Spain, people get 17 weeks of fully paid leave, and in Denmark they get 24 weeks. What are we doing in this country? As a practising GP, I have seen the cost of our policy. There are higher rates of post-natal depression in women, and, as my hon. Friend the Member for Gloucester (Alex McIntyre) said, men have sleepless nights and higher rates of mental health issues. Much more importantly, the children suffer. Parental leave is a form of preventive healthcare. We need to build a parental leave system that recognises that caring is an investment in healthier families, happier children and a fairer society. Every parent, whatever their income, should have the chance to bond with their child without fear of financial hardship.

• 11 Sept 2025 · Non-surgical Aesthetic and Cosmetic Treatments · Hansard source

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  As well as botox, I would also like to talk about the dangers of fillers. A patient in my constituency, Alice Webb, lost her life due to a procedure called a Brazilian butt lift. We owe it to her, as a Government and as a Parliament, to prevent that happening again and to protect people in this country.

• 10 Sept 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Q12. Vaccinations were invented in Berkeley in my constituency 230 years ago and, as a GP, I have jabbed literally thousands of children and adults. Will the Prime Minister update the House about our new roll-out of chickenpox vaccinations, which will further protect our children? Will he also join me in condemning other political parties that give a platform to people who spread false rumours about vaccination?