Vikki Slade MP: speeches 2025

Speeches

• 20 Nov 2025 · Reoffending: Rehabilitation in Prisons · Hansard source

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  Around half of prisoners are neurodivergent and the population of young prisoners with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is around 10 times higher than in the population at large. With such specialist targeted support needed for those prisoners, we have heard that they have been let down by the system and that they cannot access the right support at the right time, regardless of the new system that is in place. Does the hon. Member agree that the delay in producing an update to the neurodiversity action plan is unacceptable and that it really must be published straightaway?

• 18 Nov 2025 · Warm Home Discount: Fuel Poverty · Hansard source

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  Many thousands of my residents live in park homes, in places such as Regency Heights and Stoborough Green, and have no ability to choose their energy supplier and limited access to a lot of schemes. What is the Minister’s Department doing to make sure that they have access to the warm homes initiatives? Further, as their properties are often considered chattels, they cannot access some of the other programmes.

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

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Lewell. Imagine being told that you have a progressive, incurable condition and then waiting over a year just to see a specialist. That is the reality for so many people with Parkinson’s and the number of people with Parkinson’s is set to double by 2050. When my constituent Carol was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2009, she was only 46 years old. Consultants told her then that they hoped a cure might come within a decade, but 16 years later there is nothing. At this point, I must declare an interest. My daughter Molly is a PhD researcher with a brilliant team at the University of Southampton that is working to understand Parkinson’s, so that better treatments and cures can be found. As a member of the all-party parliamentary group on Parkinson’s, I know that great work is also happening elsewhere, particularly through the Brain Bank at Imperial College London. However, research alone is not enough; people living with Parkinson’s need care now. Just before the general election last year, the current Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, then in his shadow role, admitted in the “Parky Politics in the Pub” podcast that there were not enough neurologists and committed to fix it. He said: “We campaigned hard on workforce to get the last Government to commit to doubling the number of medical places so we can train up staff—especially in neurology, where we have shortages.” He said he would deliver that workforce plan, yet today waiting times are unacceptably long—not just for initial appointments, but for ongoing care.

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

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  I am so pleased that my hon. Friend has made that intervention, because I am just coming on to tell people about my constituent in Wimborne. He said that he, his brother and his nephew have all been diagnosed with Parkinson’s. When he was first diagnosed, he saw a Parkinson’s nurse every six months and then saw one annually. However, because there is now just one specialist Parkinson’s nurse covering my constituency, he has seen nobody for two years. Karen, who is also from Wimborne, emailed me and said that she had an appointment with a neurologist and then one with a nurse, but now faces a 14-month wait for her next appointment. Across England, as we have heard, only half of patients meet the 18-week target, even though we know that early support—physiotherapy, speech therapy and clear information—keeps people healthy for longer. If the Government are serious about transforming the NHS, they cannot allow people with progressive conditions who need a multidisciplinary approach to be forgotten. The NHS workforce plan is due in the spring. What assurance can the Minister give that neurology and Parkinson’s care in particular will feature strongly? It is great that the Government have expanded medical places, but what assessment has been made of how that will translate to neurology services? Given the training time required to generate such expertise, what is being done to bring consultants here from abroad to tackle the crisis now? In my constituency, 333 people are living with Parkinson’s. On average, each one will be admitted to hospital at least once a year, two-thirds of them in an emergency, which will mean spending a week, unplanned, in an acute bed. That is simply not acceptable and we need to do better now.

• 17 Nov 2025 · Illegal Waste: Organised Crime · Hansard source

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  I am sure that we were all shocked to see the images from the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Bicester and Woodstock (Calum Miller). Rural police forces are the worst-funded in the country, with Dorset rock bottom. That is made much worse by the amount of additional visitors. We welcome them, but 25 million day-visitors and many millions of staying holidaymakers make it really hard for the police to work on this kind of countryside crime. How is the Department working with colleagues in the Home Office to ensure that rurality is properly considered? Will she work with the Home Office on including tackling organised waste crime as a strategic priority for the National Crime Agency?

• 11 Nov 2025 · Courts System: Funding · Hansard source

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  I was fortunate to visit Poole magistrates court last week; indeed, it is interesting to hear mention of the state of buildings, because they were appalling. I was most concerned when the district judge and court manager explained to me that there is no shortage of magistrates or court space and that the shortage is one of legal advisers in the system. They explained that the funding for one extra legal adviser would allow them to progress 500 cases a year, but they simply cannot retain them. What is the Minister doing to review that role and make sure that we can get those smaller cases through quickly?

• 11 Nov 2025 · Courts System: Funding · Hansard source

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  15. What steps his Department is taking to provide adequate funding for the courts system.

• 5 Nov 2025 · Curriculum and Assessment Review · Hansard source

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  I welcome the broadening of the curriculum, which will allow more children to find joy in learning, particularly children with special educational needs, who really need the benefit of creative skills. As a vice-chair of the all-party parliamentary group for performing arts education and training, and as the mother of a musical theatre undergraduate, I am concerned about the cuts announced just last month to teacher training bursaries in the creative arts. Will the Secretary of State confirm that they will be reversed, so that we have enough creative teachers?

• 4 Nov 2025 · Supporting High Streets · Hansard source

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  I hope that the shadow Minister will explain something to me. I totally agree that business rates need reform, but I am deeply concerned about the hole in local government finance that it will cause. My local council, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, has calculated that it retains £66 million from business rates. Can he please tell me where that will come from?

• 4 Nov 2025 · HMRC Customer Service · Hansard source

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  My constituent Hollie from Wimborne applied for a self-assessment refund of just £300 in April. When she chased it in June, she was told it had gone to a specialist tax team, with no reason and no time frame given. She complained in August, but it is now November, and she has heard nothing. While she may be owed only £300, this is happening around the country. Can the Minister tell me whether he thinks seven months is a reasonable time within which to receive a basic refund, and what the Department is doing to speed things up?

• 3 Nov 2025 · Video Games: Consumer Law · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Mundell. I thank the 236 constituents from my constituency for signing this petition and, in particular, Haydn Shaw for spending quite a lot of time with me last month to explain the impact that this situation has on him and other gamers. I have to admit that it is not my specialist subject. Video games are a vital part of modern British culture. Many parents think that their sons and daughters are locked away in their bedrooms playing alone, but for me, it turned out that my son Isaac was having great fun with people all around the world. Every time I heard a noise, it was him jumping off the sofa as he experienced the immersive video games he was playing. He was maintaining friendships after he went off to university, proving that video games can bring people together even when they are a long distance apart. The artists, coders and designers who create such life-like images and develop such intricate stories for us to enjoy through our phones, computers and games consoles bring joy to millions and allow many of us to experience places, times through history—I recommend Colchester, as the original Roman capital of Britain, in “Age of Empires”—and alternative realities. My local college is now offering e-sports as a technical course, and Bournemouth University offers a degree in games design, which provides routes into other specialist fields that can unlock cutting-edge technology for the military. Virtual reality is providing new ways for medics to learn, and in Bournemouth children have been taught road safety skills through gaming headsets, thanks to the creativity and imagination of those in the sector. When a game shuts down, it can feel like losing a favourite book or film forever. When a business is gobbled up, like a scene out of “Pac-Man”—that probably gives away a little about my early gaming experience—the purchaser’s rights should be maintained. A purchaser should expect transparency and fairness when making their purchase: clear, accessible information about whether a game requires online connectivity, relies on servers or is time-limited. As Alex told me, it is important that buyers know what the end of life looks like, or even whether there is going to be an end of life. The law already requires that such material information should not be hidden or omitted, but in reality, according to players like Haydn, it is very difficult to find this information, and many are led to feel misled or short-changed. The UK already has strong consumer protections, which require that products, including digital products, are as described, that products are of satisfactory quality and that sellers must not omit material information. However, those protections are not well understood or well enforced, and they need to be kept under constant review as technology evolves so that consumers can exercise their rights. We all understand that the ongoing support for titles that are no longer popular or have been superseded will eventually need to end, but to stop those that have been purchased being playable feels like the pages of a book that was once bought but is now out of print going blank after a period of time—sort of like writing in invisible ink—or the sound of a song that is no longer sold in record shops going silent. There is an additional concern in relation to the creativity behind games—the creativity of the designers and coders for whom those games are their CV. Although control over the intellectual property has moved from designer to owner, creatives are concerned that content disappearing means not only that their work is being lost, but that it never existed in the first place. Another issue to which my constituents have alerted me is the action of console operators in disabling their devices when counterfeit games are used, often innocently. Let us imagine that someone buys a second-hand game from a specialist retailer, charity shop or online marketplace only to find out that it is not genuine. They might expect the game to be disabled when they play it, and they would be within their rights to take that up with the seller, but the console companies are locking down the whole console so that it cannot be used for anything else. Unless they get permission from that console company, their games console, which might have cost them £500, is completely unplayable. As we move to digital systems for music, games, literature, film and photos, it must be time to consider the risks to intellectual property in other sectors. The best way forward is not heavy-handed regulation but constructive dialogue between Government, players and developers to strengthen clarity for consumers, encourage responsible preservation and respect intellectual property. The goal needs to be a balance of protecting consumers and creators while sustaining an industry that contributes so much. My constituent Philip said that he has an old gaming PC running Windows 7, which is now unsupported but still functioning. He asks what would happen if that issue was to extend to other types of software. As has just been mentioned, what would happen if future software companies decided to end support for something we use on a wider scale, whether in our companies or homes, or even in Government? I ask the Minister not only to provide clarity for Members and our constituents, but to think about the issues of consumer protection, intellectual property, obsolescence and the classic David and Goliath battle so beautifully captured in the video game “DvG: Conquering Giants”. The individual must be buying something that they are buying.

• 3 Nov 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T10. Several of my veteran constituents have contacted me about very long delays in payments under the armed forces compensation scheme. Mr Butler, who lives near Wareham, has two separate claims—one for hearing loss and another for an arm injury—and has been waiting two years for an outcome. As we look forward to Remembrance Sunday and reflect on the sacrifices made, what steps is the Department taking to ensure that we pay our debts to those who have served us more recently?

• 30 Oct 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Many residents are writing to me to share their frustrations with long delays at the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency following medical disclosures, describing it as not fit for purpose. I am particularly concerned for young people such as Maisie from Shapwick and Alfie from Canford Heath, who cannot use the section 88 clause to keep driving as they are waiting for provisional licences, and those such as Joseph, who face disputes over who will pay for the medical reports needed. May we have a debate in Government time on modernising the DVLA so that we can keep people driving and give young people their independence?

• 30 Oct 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  I launched my “Pub of the Year” award at the Goods Yard in Broadstone last week. Fifty-four pubs and two breweries in Mid Dorset and North Poole support 1,600 jobs and underpin the vibrancy of our towns and villages, but two thirds of them have had to cut jobs or hours since the damaging jobs tax. Hospitality venues typically operate seven days a week, and sometimes more than 12 hours a day, so they need many part-time workers. Will the Government consult on a new lower rate of employer national insurance for workers earning £5,000 to £9,100, to support the employment of part-time workers and drive growth?

• 28 Oct 2025 · English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill (Twelfth sitting) · Hansard source

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  Gladly.

• 28 Oct 2025 · English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill (Twelfth sitting) · Hansard source

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  I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time. New clause 4 requests funding for local authority governance reorganisation in situations where the Government are dictating that local authorities should change their governance model from a committee system to a cabinet system. I am sure that Members are tired of hearing my colleagues and me talk about the problems of funding in local government. Funding is the fundamental challenge of local government, and I recognise that the Bill is trying to improve that by simplifying the system, but I put on record our absolute opposition to the requirement that all councils must be run on a leader and cabinet model. There is no evidence that local councils such as Sutton and Three Rivers are doing a bad job. There is no fundamental reason why they cannot carry on doing their job in the way that they are doing it, just as there is no requirement for our mayoral models to all be the same. We have already heard that the mayoralty of London is run differently from the Greater Manchester model, and that the upcoming strategic authorities will also be run differently. We are not creating a one-size-fits-all model, so why is there a need to control the committee system? It is seen to be fundamentally not working, but there is no evidence that that is the case. We are also interested to know whether the Minister has looked into the issue—I believe she agreed to do so last week—of legacy committee systems such as those in Sheffield and Bristol, where a referendum has taken place to specifically choose that model. How will the Bill affect the decision making of people who have actively chosen that model? The new clause relates to the situation where the Minister is going to prescribe the leader and cabinet model, yet those organisations do not have the funding to make the changes that they need to make for something that they have not selected to do and when they are not otherwise undergoing local government reorganisation. If local governments have no choice in how they administer themselves, and they are going to be required to amend to a new Government standard, it does not seem reasonable that they should shoulder the costs of a change that they have not asked for. Some councils might also have been left off the devolution priority programme— Sutton and Richmond are not going to be involved in that—so they will not be getting the £1 million funding for capacity building that the Government promised to every local authority going through that devolution. The new clause makes a very simple request: for those areas to be funded.

• 28 Oct 2025 · English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill (Twelfth sitting) · Hansard source

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  I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time. I will be brief. A large part of our discussion in Committee has focused on structures and the people who are going to be served but, as with the amendment 336, tabled by the hon. Member for Brighton Pavilion, the new clause focuses on the needs of councillors, who will fundamentally make or break strategic authorities in rising to the challenge of being a councillor. As we know, it can be a difficult job and, depending on where in the council they are asked to serve, can involve an awful lot of information and require new skills to be learned.

• 28 Oct 2025 · English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill (Twelfth sitting) · Hansard source

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  Unfortunately, the two Liberal Democrats who represent Cornwall—my hon. Friends the Members for North Cornwall and for St Ives (Andrew George)—are not on this Bill Committee, but they have put their names to the new clause, as has a Yorkshire Member, my hon. Friend the Member for Harrogate and Knaresborough.

• 28 Oct 2025 · English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill (Twelfth sitting) · Hansard source

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  There is a village in my constituency called Shapwick, which, for some reason I cannot quite understand, did not take the opportunity to do a neighbourhood plan a couple of years ago, and now has lost that opportunity. It is surrounded by green fields. There are four or five sites within this small National Trust village where there are gaps, cottages either having fallen down or burnt down over the years. We could recreate a beautiful chocolate box village that would really boost our local tourism and enable local services such as the nursery and the pub to maintain themselves in the long term by having a slightly increased population. As Shapwick does not have a neighbourhood plan, however, it is reliant on Dorset council, which, through the Government’s desire to build 1.5 million new homes, is now expected to find 55,000 homes in the county of Dorset—not the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole element, just the Dorset council element. That will ruin small villages with 50 or 60 homes, as they now run the risk of having 300 or 400 homes that will change their nature forever. A neighbourhood plan would allow those villages to go, “Do you know what? We could probably get to 75 or 80 houses and still maintain everything that we love about our village.” That cannot happen now, because there is no capacity with such a small village to raise the funding required to produce a meaningful neighbourhood plan. New clause 43 simply says that if neighbourhood plan funding is not directly restored, local authorities should be able to provide professional planning support to councils for the purposes of developing their neighbourhood plans. My preference is for the Minister to commit to restoring the independent funding, so that our town and parish councils and communities do not have to go to the local authority, but failing that, our only option is to push this approach and say, “If we can’t have our money back directly, let’s do it through this method.”

• 28 Oct 2025 · English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill (Twelfth sitting) · Hansard source

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  New clause 5 is designed to ensure that local authorities are provided with the resources and support they need to deliver the content of the legislation, with specific regard to preventing any further delays in future local elections. New clause 43 is about the duty to provide professional planning support for neighbourhood plans in areas that do not yet have them or where they are due for re-establishment. We are desperately concerned about local elections being delayed. In fact, one of my colleagues asked about that in Prime Minister’s questions last week and did not get a direct answer. There remains a real concern that the whole process has the potential to create more delays. As we say, an election delayed is democracy denied, so it is hugely important.

• 28 Oct 2025 · English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill (Twelfth sitting) · Hansard source

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  I would like to thank all the Committee staff, yourself, Dame Siobhain, and all of the other Chairs, and all the Members on the Committee. I also thank the staff in our offices, who have had to work really hard and stay quite late into the evening to ensure that everything gets put into the Public Bill Office for the next stage. I pay tribute to all of them.

• 28 Oct 2025 · English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill (Twelfth sitting) · Hansard source

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  I will withdraw new clause 5 as I think the Minister has made a fair comment about the way in which elections will go. However, I cannot accept her point about the capacity of planning consultants for communities that do not have a neighbourhood plan, and there are many.

• 28 Oct 2025 · English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill (Twelfth sitting) · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention. I did a little research on the national minority status introduced by the former Liberal Democrat Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, back in 2014. This is fundamental. Cornwall has national minority status and it is critical that no Bill, including this one, should undermine that position. Other areas with strong regional identities and commonalities could potentially benefit from the new clause, which would allow for a degree of regional governance, across a number of mayoral regions, through the creation of regional assemblies. The clause includes protections: the Secretary of State would be required to assess the local appetite and need for a body, and Parliament would have to approve the creation of such an assembly. We hope that those will be effective in securing the support of the Minister. This new clause is hugely important in relation to the people living in these areas. It would introduce greater protections and rights for local populations in those areas, devolving more decision-making powers and granting more freedoms from decisions made in Westminster, which are less applicable to these distinct areas. It would advance on the Bill’s power for collaboration across areas by providing an assembly structure through which multiple councils and mayors—although I recognise that if it was Cornwall, it would be a single council, probably with no mayor—could work together at scale to drive coherent change for a given region. Clearly, the measure would need to be developed through the regulations listed in the new clause. The provision is embryonic, so that it allows for a lot of work and consultation to be done in the areas where it would apply. This is an opportunity to signal a direction of travel towards genuine devolution for places with special characteristics—I would argue that the Isle of Wight might have such special characteristics—or national minority status. We hope that the Minister will take the opportunity to embrace this change.

• 28 Oct 2025 · English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill (Twelfth sitting) · Hansard source

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  No, I am not going to withdraw the new clause. If the Minister reads it, she will see that I am not conflating the issues at all. I simply gave Cornwall as an example of where it might work. The new clause does not mention the word “Cornwall”. It allows for “a regional governance body in any part of England, where in the opinion of the Secretary of State there is demonstrable local support for such a body”, so it does not undermine the role of the strategic authority. Let me give the Minister another example. Whether Cornwall is or is not included is up to the people of Cornwall, but Wessex, we presume, will come forward in the next wave of devolution deals. Wessex may be a functional geography in terms of our connectivity, but the south-west of England is the place that most of us identify with far more.

• 28 Oct 2025 · English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill (Twelfth sitting) · Hansard source

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  I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.