Sojan Joseph MP: speeches 2024

Speeches

• 10 Dec 2024 · Cleve Hill Solar Park · Hansard source

  More

  My neighbouring constituency of Ashford has a big solar farm planned for it. I have recently listened to experts who have highlighted the risk of fire and toxic fumes from large batteries. Some of these farms are planned for rural areas that fire engines may not be able to access. These are genuine concerns. Does the hon. Lady agree that local concerns need to be addressed before planning permission is approved?

• 2 Dec 2024 · Children and Bereavement · Hansard source

  More

  I worked as a mental health nurse in the NHS for many years and saw many people struggle with their mental health due to traumatic experiences, including family bereavements that happened many years ago, and they were never able to deal with it. Does the hon. Member agree that not addressing traumatic episodes at a younger age can lead to long-term damage to people’s mental health later in life?

• 18 Nov 2024 · Indefinite Leave to Remain: Healthcare Workers · Hansard source

  More

  It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Sir Edward. I congratulate my hon. Friend and constituency neighbour the Member for Folkestone and Hythe (Tony Vaughan) on his excellent speech introducing this important debate. Members will know that before being elected to represent my home constituency of Ashford in July, I had spent the previous 22 years working in the national health service. As someone who also made the journey to work in the NHS from a foreign country, I will draw on my knowledge and set out in my short contribution why I support the e-petition and would back reducing from five years to two the time a foreign healthcare worker has to wait before qualifying for indefinite leave to remain. I would make the point that since I came to the UK in 2001, the rules have changed and people who have the same aspirations as I did now risk finding themselves excluded. As we all know, the NHS is reliant on overseas workers. In the NHS workforce survey in June of this year, just under 30% of NHS staff in England reported having a non-British nationality. However, without proper incentives to both recruit and retain those workers, the employment deficit is likely to worsen. For example, in the years to June 2022 and June 2023, more nurses from the European Union and the European economic area left the NHS than joined. The picture is similar for healthcare workers from the rest of the world. In the year to June 2022, 4,702 healthcare workers left the UK, and for 2023 it was 6,610. In the year to June 2024, 7,957 workers left the UK. The cost of recruiting and training an overseas nurse is anywhere between £50,000 and £70,000, while for a doctor it can be roughly £250,000—only for them to be tempted away by other countries with more attractive recruitment and retention policies, such as Australia and Canada. As the cost of living crisis has worsened over the past decade and a half across the country, especially in the south-east, where my Ashford constituency sits, stagnating wages and rising costs have not been a good incentive to keep staff in the NHS workforce. This issue is also impacting patient care. Losing experienced staff is a big loss for the NHS. It takes 12 to 18 months for managers and matrons to train a newly joined staff member, so losing them in two to three years’ time is a big loss for the hospitals. Given those factors, we must rethink our retention strategy as a whole. Keeping in the United Kingdom skilled workers, especially those who have been the subject of large Government investment, is a vital step towards keeping our NHS alive and making it fit for the future. Therefore, granting healthcare workers indefinite leave to remain after two years rather than five is a necessary measure to solve the retention crisis identified by Lord Darzi in his recent independent report into our NHS. By making a special case for healthcare workers and allowing them to make this country their permanent home after two years, we would show the importance of their roles in the NHS and our gratitude, as a nation, for their decision to come to the UK to train, learn and work in our healthcare sector.

• 13 Nov 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

  More

  The Leader of the Opposition took time at her party’s conference to say that “a little bit of adversity” in life is good for people’s mental health. That approach clearly did not work for the 2 million people stuck on mental health waiting lists because of the last Tory Government. Will the Prime Minister commit to tackling mental health waiting lists in the NHS?

• 5 Nov 2024 · Crown Court Backlog · Hansard source

  More

  It is important that victims of crime have the swift access to justice that they deserve, so I welcome the extra funding from this Government that will lead to more than 106,000 sitting days in Crown courts this financial year. That includes nearly 3,000 in the Crown courts in Kent. Does the Minister agree that dealing with the court backlog left by the Conservatives is essential to make sure that offenders are quickly brought to justice and faith is restored in the criminal justice system?

• 5 Nov 2024 · Crown Court Backlog · Hansard source

  More

  1. What steps her Department is taking to reduce the backlog of Crown court cases.

• 5 Nov 2024 · Income Tax (Charge) · Hansard source

  More

  I welcome the opportunity to speak in this debate on the first Labour Budget for nearly 15 years. I must disclose that I worked in the NHS for the past 22 years as a mental health nurse. As a result of the Budget, the NHS will receive the largest rise in day-to-day spending outside the pandemic since the last Labour Government. The additional £22.6 billion over two years will play a major role in cutting waiting times from their current unacceptably high levels. We all know that money on its own will not be enough to create an NHS fit for the future, so I agree with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care that it is important that the increased investment outlined in the Budget comes with the necessary reform of the NHS. On that point, I was pleased to see that there will be more than £2 billion spent on healthcare technology and digital investment to run essential services and drive improvements in NHS productivity. I believe that will have widespread support from my former colleagues working in the NHS. If we ensure that all trusts have access to electronic patient records, that will not only be much better for the patient, but will increase staff productivity, freeing up more time to treat patients. When I paid a visit to the William Harvey hospital in the Ashford constituency in August, 19 patients were being treated in corridors. That is deeply concerning, as during the summer there is supposedly less demand on the A&E department. This money will be well received in hospitals such as the William Harvey. I was pleased by the recent confirmation from the Health and Social Care Secretary that there will be more details on the new hospital programme in the new year. I would like to make a strong case for the William Harvey and the other hospitals in the East Kent hospitals university NHS foundation trust. In 2019, when Boris Johnson was Prime Minister, he promised that east Kent would get a new hospital. Proposals were drawn up for either a new hospital in Canterbury or upgraded facilities at the William Harvey hospital and the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother hospital in Margate. Despite what Boris Johnson said, last year the Conservative Government broke that promise. At the time, it was reported that at least £210 million would have to be spent over the next five years on essential improvements to hospitals in east Kent just to maintain safe services. As we look to deliver an NHS fit for the future, I say to my right hon. Friend the Minister that money spent patching up ageing buildings would be better invested in improving standards for patients in east Kent. I therefore hope that the proposals and promises from the previous Government can be reconsidered. The choice made by the Chancellor to invest in the country’s future and fix the broken public services left by the Tories is a clear rejection of that party’s failed policies, so I welcome the Budget.

• 31 Oct 2024 · High Street Businesses · Hansard source

  More

  Small and independent shops are the lifeblood of our high streets, and they make the communities in my Ashford constituency special. Far too many high street businesses have been feeling the squeeze over recent years, which has led to empty units being an all too familiar sight. I welcome the measures announced in yesterday’s Budget, particularly the reform of business rates. Will my hon. Friend update the House on what the Government are doing to empower local communities to acquire empty units?

• 31 Oct 2024 · High Street Businesses · Hansard source

  More

  3. What recent discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on supporting high street businesses.

• 28 Oct 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

  More

  T5. I recently met local businesses in my constituency to discuss what can be done to attract more people to visit our high streets. Will the Minister set out what action the Government are taking to help regenerate local high streets, and will he meet me to discuss this issue further?

• 24 Oct 2024 · Temporary Accommodation · Hansard source

  More

  Does the hon. Gentleman agree that the decision by the last Conservative Government to freeze local housing allowance for temporary accommodation claimants at 2011 rates is causing increasing pressure on local authorities, such as mine in Ashford?

• 10 Oct 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

  More

  The deployment of Operation Brock to queue freight lorries heading to Dover on the M20 caused huge disruption and inconvenience for residents and businesses throughout my Ashford constituency. Ahead of the introduction of the new EU entry/exit system, will the Government work with the French Government, local authorities, the port of Dover, and Eurotunnel to minimise delays and ensure that Operation Brock is used only as a measure of last resort?

• 10 Oct 2024 · Mental Health Support · Hansard source

  More

  I beg to move, That this House has considered improving support for mental health. It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Mr Dowd, and I am pleased to have secured this important debate. As today is World Mental Health Day, it is particularly appropriate that we have the opportunity to raise awareness of mental health issues and the mental health system in this country. It is important to reflect on how far we have come in this country in removing the stigma around mental health, and I hope this Parliament will play its part in continuing that progress. However, if we are to do so, we must be honest about the many challenges we still face. I also want to declare a personal interest: before being elected in July, I spent 22 years working in the NHS, primarily in mental health. One of my main motivations in standing for Parliament was to play my part in building an NHS fit for the future. Improving support for mental health will be an integral part of that. With that in mind, I want to put on record my thanks to my former NHS colleagues working in the mental health system. They do an incredible job in incredibly difficult circumstances. It is important to say at the outset of this debate that any criticisms of the current system are not directed at the workforce. Without their hard work and dedication, the problems faced by those in need of mental health services would be far worse. I know from my own experience that in recent years, their work has often been made more difficult by policies imposed at a national level by the last Government. Even when it was clear that those policies were having a detrimental impact, Ministers were unwilling to make concessions. Although the mental health workforce has expanded in recent years, it has only reached the same number of staff as it had when the last Labour Government were in office in 2010. More needs to be done regarding the recruitment and retention of staff, as underlined by the high number of vacancies. NHS data shows that in September last year, there were 28,600 vacancies, amounting to 19% of the total workforce and causing an increased reliance on agency staff. In the year to September 2023, there was a 19% turnover in the overall workforce. Those figures from the King’s Fund highlight the extent of the recruitment and retention crisis. From my work as a manager in mental health services, I know that experienced staff play a vital role, and a vast amount of time has to be spent recruiting new experienced staff when they move on to different posts. That has meant that often the most challenging environments have been run by staff with the least experience. That obviously has a negative impact on patient care and can lead to an increased incidence of aggression and abuse of staff. It is therefore not a surprise to see staff shortages having a negative impact on staff morale. The King’s Fund has shown that in in-patient services, staff regularly work extra hours or additional shifts and often find themselves in environments and with patients they are unfamiliar with. Similarly, staff in community services say they are worn out and find their work frustrating and stressful. For 14 years, we have had a string of Prime Ministers and Ministers speaking about achieving parity of esteem between physical and mental health in the NHS. While I do not doubt the intentions behind achieving that goal, after 14 years of Conservative Government we do not have that parity. Indeed, as Lord Darzi made clear in his excellent report: “There is a fundamental problem in the distribution of resources between mental health and physical health. Mental health accounts for more than 20 per cent of the disease burden, but less than 10 per cent of NHS expenditure.” Although there has been increased investment in mental health services at a higher rate than the overall NHS budget, there is still a large gap between resources and demand. It is little wonder that all the talk of parity has seemed little more than warm words. I genuinely hope that under this Government things will finally change. I should point out that when we talk about waiting lists, those waiting in the mental health system are never included. Will my hon. Friend the Minister say something about that and explain how the Government plan to put parity of esteem into practice? Can he also say whether the Government will continue to increase investment in mental health services at a higher rate than the overall NHS budget during this Parliament? Lord Darzi’s recent report states that around 3.6 million people are in contact with mental health services, and in April this year around 1 million people were waiting for mental health services. As he makes clear, it has become all too normal to have to wait a long time to access mental health services. The NHS’s own data shows that in April this year, 10% of people who had been in contact with mental health services and were waiting for their second contact in adult community mental health services had been waiting for at least 116 weeks. All the evidence indicates that today we have a mental health system that is overstretched and under-resourced. In fact, there has never been so much demand for mental health support, with one in four people experiencing a diagnosable mental illness each year. Figures from the British Medical Association indicate that last year there were a record 5 million referrals to mental health services in England. That is up by 33% on the number of referrals in 2019. The increase in the prevalence of depression over the last decade is a good example of how our mental health as a nation has got significantly worse. In 2012, the prevalence of depression was 5.8%. By 2022 that had more than doubled to 13.2%. In my own constituency of Ashford the figure was even higher, at 17%. Given the increased prevalence of mental health issues, I was pleased that in the first King’s Speech of this Labour Government we saw mention of legislation to modernise the Mental Health Act 1983. The proposed legislation has been welcomed across the sector. It is an important opportunity to improve care and strengthen safeguards for people who are admitted to mental health hospitals. I hope the new Bill will address the fact that someone who is black or living in a deprived area is almost four times as likely to be sectioned under the Act. Will my hon. Friend the Minister tell me when we can expect to see the Government’s legislation introduced in Parliament? As Lord Darzi identified in his report, the lack of capital investment in places where people are sectioned means that a lot of those places are unsuitable, outdated and unsafe. From my own experience, I know that nurses, managers and matrons spend a lot of time trying to get capital works done in an NHS trust. People living with a long-term physical condition are 50% more likely to suffer from mental ill health, while those with Parkinson’s disease are twice as likely to be at risk of suicide. That underlines the importance of a wholesale change so that support can be accessed at an early stage. Too often, people can access support only after they have ended up in crisis. NHS figures show that in July there were just over 40,000 new urgent, very urgent or emergency referrals to crisis care teams. At that point, the treatment that patients receive is not only more intensive for them, but more costly for the NHS. The difficulty of accessing mental health services explains why increased numbers of people who require support end up being admitted to accident and emergency departments. To illustrate that, I will use the example of my own integrated care board in Kent and Medway, which has recently launched several safe havens to provide support for anyone in a mental health crisis. They have helped to reduce the number of people who seek support by going to hospital emergency departments when they experience a mental health crisis. In my constituency, there is not yet a safe haven. That may explain why William Harvey hospital in Ashford has one of the highest rates of individuals presenting with primary mental health needs at an A&E. I welcome plans that are under way for a safe haven at the hospital in the near future. When patients end up in hospital, there are significant difficulties in getting them a bed. This is a challenge in Kent and Medway, but the picture is not dissimilar across the rest of England. The Royal College of Psychiatrists recommends a maximum occupancy rate of 85% of beds for mental health patients. However, between April and June, the average occupancy rate of the 444 mental health beds in Kent and Medway was 91.7%. Across England, the average occupancy rate was 89.9%. Then there is the issue of discharging patients. When they are clinically ready to leave hospital, there is often nowhere for them to go. That leaves them stuck in hospital, causing blockages in the system. In my own experience, nurses, doctors, managers, matrons and directors spend many working hours looking into moving people out of hospital, when they should be focusing on patient care. I believe that more appropriate housing must be built that is open for people leaving hospital. I urge the Department of Health and Social Care to work across Government to ensure that as the Government’s planning reforms are introduced, that point is taken into consideration. We have seen an increase in adults being treated in hospitals for their mental health, and the situation is the same for children and young people. A recent report from the Education Policy Institute shows that the number of young people admitted to hospital increased by one fifth between 2017 and 2023. As the report indicates, that suggests that more young people are reaching a crisis point and are experiencing multiple admissions. The evidence also indicates that a large number of young people are not getting the necessary mental health support. A survey for Young Minds revealed that at least 60% of children considered to have a diagnosable mental health condition had not had contact with the NHS. Research from the Maternal Mental Health Alliance published last week shows that more than 20% of women will face mental health challenges either during their pregnancy or in the perinatal period. It is clear from the research that many women struggle to access support, particularly those from racialised communities, young mothers and those experiencing domestic abuse or living in poverty. We know that intervening early to ensure that people are kept in good health is not only better for the individual but tends to be far less costly. However, until now, efforts to prevent mental ill health have been severely underfunded and they have not been given the priority they deserve. I hope we will see a marked change in approach under this Government. With that in mind, I ask my hon. Friend the Minister whether greater priority will now be given to community-based support for mental health services. I hope he will agree that the easier it is for people to access mental health services locally, whether in a traditional health setting or through more informal drop-in services, the quicker they will be able to get the treatment they need. Will my hon. Friend update us on the Government’s plans for Young Futures hubs for children and young people? These open-access drop-in hubs will be an important step in providing community-based mental health support for children and young people. Will he say something about the roll-out of those hubs? Our manifesto commitment to introduce a specialist mental health professional in every school will be important in helping to identify mental health conditions early on so that they can be prevented from developing into more serious conditions in later life. Will that include access to counselling? Research from the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy indicates that children whose mental health difficulties are initially too complex for lower intensity interventions but not complex enough to be referred to higher intensity interventions, such as child and adolescent mental health services, can easily miss out on the mental health support they need. They could instead be helped by forms of provision such as counselling. All the evidence shows that being active helps people’s mental health. Helping them back to work will also help to grow our economy. Lord Darzi’s report identified that, since the pandemic, the number of people who are economically inactive has increased by around 800,000, with people with mental health conditions accounting for most of the increase. I welcome the Government’s new initiative to work across Departments and create links between long-term unemployment and health. I also hope that they will look to reform the benefit system, ending the blame culture identified by the Secretary of State, so that we can treat people with mental health problems with dignity. I welcome the greater emphasis that Ministers have said will be put on prevention of illness, and I hope that my hon. Friend the Minister will be able to reassure me that the same emphasis will also apply to mental health. As the Mental Health Foundation has said, there is clear evidence that place and the circumstances in which people are born, grow, study, live and work have a powerful influence on their mental health. Therefore, there must be a fundamental reform of the way in which we deal with mental health. We should be addressing the complexity of interactions and relationships, and how they affect individuals, families and communities. Rather than starting from the point of treating mental health, we should put the emphasis on creating a society that prevents mental ill health in the first place. Beginning with central Government, I want to see a co-ordinated approach to developing effective policies to protect people’s mental health. With that in mind, the priority that this Government have already given to cutting pollution and building high-quality houses is welcome. I also welcome the proposed pre-watershed junk food ban and the steps that Ministers are taking to create a smokefree society. Going forward, I want to see greater cross-Government working to address the social determinants of our mental health. In the coming months, the Government are set to publish their 10-year plan for the NHS. As my hon. Friend the Minister and his colleagues work on that, I hope that they will consult with campaigners and organisations working in mental health, as well as representatives of the workforce. By doing that, the Government will be able to grasp the opportunity to transform the way we approach the issue of mental health, ensure that there is true parity of esteem and provide real, meaningful change in the mental health system.

• 10 Oct 2024 · Mental Health Support · Hansard source

  More

  I thank the Minister for his brief answer, and I thank the shadow Minister and the Liberal Democrat spokesperson for their responses to the debate. I also thank the other Members who took time out of their busy schedule to be here. I thank all the organisations that contacted me in advance of the debate. There are too many to mention them all, but they include the Education Policy Institute, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, the Royal College of Psychiatrists, the Royal College of Nurses, the Children and Young People’s Mental Health Coalition, the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, the Maternal Mental Health Alliance, YoungMinds, the King’s Fund and, finally, Flourish, which is based in my Ashford constituency. I hope that the Department of Health and Social Care will actively engage with these organisations from across the sector to draw on their knowledge and experience. Question put and agreed to. Resolved , That this House has considered improving support for mental health.

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

  More

  I recently paid a visit to the William Harvey Hospital in my constituency, and saw 19 patients being treated by staff in corridors. Will the Leader of the House find time for a debate on overcrowding in hospitals, and on what the Government are doing to fix the broken NHS that the Conservatives have left to the country?

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

  More

  Thank you, Mr Speaker, for this opportunity to make my maiden speech in the House as the first ever Labour Member of Parliament for Ashford. I am delighted to be called to speak in this important debate. I congratulate all new Members who have delivered their maiden speeches today. I am beyond grateful and deeply proud to have this opportunity to do so, and I am excited to represent a community such as Ashford, which is waiting upon change—not just any change, but change that speaks volumes. I was excited to commute to London after I was elected, but I was shocked at the expense of £93 for an hour-long train journey. That is the same as it would cost me to get my weekly groceries at a bargain shop in Ashford. Luckily, we have more and more bargain shops opening for business in Ashford. I intend to press for the implementation of policies that will maintain and restore our town’s natural beauty, as well as introducing more local businesses to help Ashford to thrive and bring back its prosperity. I take joy in representing such a diverse community as ours and, coming from Kerala, a southern state in India, I am proud to have been selected by the people of Ashford. Ashford has been a market town since the middle ages and is home to a hospital named after the renowned physician William Harvey. It is a major hospital for those within east Kent. Many rely on that establishment to deliver many forms of healthcare, but recently it has been overcrowded yet understaffed. Having worked in the NHS as a mental health nurse for the past 22 years, this is a subject I hold close to my heart, and it is certainly something I would like to look into. I would like to pay tribute to my predecessor, Damian Green, and the work he has done for Ashford over the past 27 years, as well as acknowledging his impressive record in the House, having been First Secretary of State, Minister for the Cabinet Office, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Minister of State for Policing and Criminal Justice and, finally, Minister of State for Immigration. I have great respect for the successes he had, such as working on a cross-party basis with local councillors to bring an excellent skills-focused college to Ashford, attracting more keen students to the heart of the town. He also supported work to convert the previously derelict Newtown Works into a film studio and he has helped to protect the Kent countryside, both of which I value dearly, as protecting the beauty of the constituency is vital. I would also like to acknowledge Damian Green’s efforts in campaigning to bring back services to the continent from Ashford International train station, which is a personal target of mine. I believe Ashford would benefit from restoring that international travel, as it previously heightened tourism and the number of businesses, both foreign and local, situated in the town. I am pleased that the King’s Speech highlighted the idea of a better relationship with Europe through the creation of a new policy, which will assist in bringing international travel back to Ashford. Ashford has great connectivity to London, thanks to the development of HS1. As a result, more people have chosen to move towards Ashford and make it their home. However, the infrastructure has simply not caught up. GP surgeries, dentists, housing, roads and schools need improvement, and I will campaign on these issues as the new Member of Parliament. As there have recently been boundary changes to my constituency, I would also like to pay tribute to my other predecessor, Damian Collins, who represented the parts of Folkestone and Hythe that are now within the new Ashford constituency—namely, Hawkinge and surrounding villages. I am glad to embrace the natural beauty and historic significance of these areas. RAF Hawkinge was important during the second world war and, as the closest operational airfield to France, it was used during the battle of Britain to defend against enemy aerial attacks. I could go on and on about the constituency’s unique and vibrant towns and villages. As the House can tell, I am very content and very proud to represent these areas. Our farmers play a valuable role both locally, in rural areas of the constituency, and in the wider economy. Importantly, they help to provide food security, stabilising the agricultural sector. However, they also face workforce shortages and are being hit hard by increasing energy costs. I am pleased that the King’s Speech contains a Bill to create the publicly owned Great British Energy, which will reduce energy bills in the long term. It is clear that our public services are in decline. The NHS faces many problems. Staff lack morale, and mental health services, in particular, are deteriorating. My career background is in the NHS and mental health, so this is close to home. I have seen children as young as nine years old self-harming, and I have seen many people, young and old, end their life while waiting for treatment. This is a serious issue, and it must be addressed. It is clear that, in recent years, the importance and value of our NHS has not been highlighted, so its maintenance has not been prioritised. We face an ever-growing yet ageing population, leading to hospital overcrowding and a heavy dependence on social care, which is itself hanging by a thread. Yet the hospitals are severely understaffed and hugely underfunded, to the point that we can no longer fulfil people’s demands or catch up with these growing issues. After hearing His Majesty’s Speech, I am reassured that a new Bill will be introduced to address mental health and learning difficulties, and that the Government have already taken the initial steps. This is a necessary step towards reaching a better NHS and a better future in which we can get people back to work, supporting economic growth. Finally, I thank the members and supporters of Ashford Labour party for their work to secure this historic victory in Ashford, as well as extending my thanks to my wife, Brita, and our three children. I am incredibly proud to be standing here on behalf of my constituents, and I look forward to working with those around me, from all parties, to make the change that our country desperately needs.