Wera Hobhouse MP: speeches

Speeches

• 10 Dec 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Q6. In Bath, parents of children with special educational needs, which are often very complex, are crying out for special school places. Funding to build a brand new special school at the Culverhay site in Bath was secured, but the Government have frozen the funding for almost 18 months without any explanation, leaving many families in the lurch. How much longer do families and children with special educational needs have to wait for this vital new school?

• 9 Dec 2025 · Hospitality Sector and SMEs · Hansard source

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  May I give the Minister another example in which the numbers simply do not stack up? Mr B’s independent bookshop in Bath will see its business rates bill rise by more than 70% after factoring in changes to rateable value. The changes were packaged as a move away from short-term fixes, yet vital discounts have been scrapped and replaced with less-generous support and an unclear transitional relief system. How can he justify such a stark increase in business rates? It is a challenge for Bath’s cherished bookshops—we have three—which we want to support.

• 9 Dec 2025 · Hospitality Sector and SMEs · Hansard source

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  20. What steps she is taking through the tax system to help reduce costs for small and medium-sized businesses.

• 9 Dec 2025 · Railways Bill · Hansard source

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  Surely improving our railways should include the ambition of making our public transport cleaner and greener. In Bath, dirty diesel trains are still running through the city. Surely one of our first steps should be an ambitious electrification plan, reversing or addressing the years of failure of the previous Conservative Government.

• 4 Dec 2025 · EU Youth Experience Scheme · Hansard source

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  In October, more than 200 UK and EU cultural and creative organisations issued a joint statement calling for the UK to rejoin Creative Europe and take part in its proposed successor, AgoraEU, giving lots of young people access to grants and cultural exchanges. What assessment have the Government made of rejoining Creative Europe?

• 4 Dec 2025 · Acquired Brain Injury Action Plan · Hansard source

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  I could not agree more with my hon. Friend. I congratulate her branch of Headway on its wonderful work and the award it is about to receive. What would we do without local charities leading the way and, often, guiding us? In Bath, North East Fife and other constituencies across the country, Headway provides day services throughout the week, online groups and bespoke one-to-one outreach rehabilitation support. That vital support makes a real difference to the lives of sufferers of acquired brain injuries, but I am sure many hon. Members will echo the fact that local Headway charities are under severe financial strain. Seven have closed in the last three years and others are struggling to meet rising demand with shrinking resources. This debate is a crucial opportunity to ensure that the ABI action plan tackles these challenges. The 2024 report of the Lancet commission on dementia prevention, intervention and care estimates that almost half of dementia cases worldwide could be prevented or delayed if we act on 14 modifiable risk factors. Among them is traumatic brain injury, which alone is estimated to contribute to around 3% of global dementia cases. As we have mentioned, some high-contact sports, such as rugby and boxing, carry a higher risk of traumatic brain injury, but we must not forget that regular physical activity is one of the most powerful tools we have to protect brain health. Exercise improves memory, supports thinking skills and lowers the risk of dementia through its wider benefits to cardiovascular and metabolic health. Addressing the full range of modifiable risks such as high blood pressure, smoking, physical inactivity and obesity, alongside reducing exposure to head injury, means we could lower dementia risk for an estimated 27 million people worldwide. Our task now is not to pit exercise against safety, but to balance the risks of head injury with the overwhelming health benefits of sport. Protecting athletes of all ages from avoidable head injury must sit at the heart of that effort. I echo the call from Alzheimer’s Research UK for dedicated funding from national Government, sport governing bodies and research councils to advance research into the complex relationship between sport, traumatic brain injury and dementia prevention. I hope that the Government listen.

• 4 Dec 2025 · Acquired Brain Injury Action Plan · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Dame Siobhain. I congratulate the right hon. Member for South Holland and The Deepings (Sir John Hayes) on securing this important debate. Every 90 seconds, someone in the UK is admitted to hospital with an acquired brain injury. Participation in sport carries some of the highest risks. This is most evident in children, adolescents and young adults. The University of Bath was recently named sports university of the year, and we are all very proud in my constituency. It is a national leader in making sports such as rugby safer while preserving the hugely positive health and community benefits of participation. Rugby is at the forefront of developing ways to identify and manage brain injuries and, crucially, to prevent these injuries in the first place. It is about improving safety without losing what makes sports so valuable, exciting and enjoyable for players and communities. The University of Bath works directly with teams and governing bodies to research, trial and refine new safety protocols, ensuring that evidence rapidly translates into safer play at all levels. One such example is the Activate exercise programme, an evidence-based strategy to cut youth concussions by up to 60%, which has now been adopted internationally. The University of Bath is also partnering with schools, including Beechen Cliff school in my constituency, to use instrumented mouthguards to monitor head impacts and guide approaches to preventing injuries in young players. I pay special tribute to Headway Bath, which provides specialist relief, cognitive rehabilitation and support to adults who have suffered an acquired brain injury and their families and carers.

• 1 Dec 2025 · Office for Budget Responsibility Forecasts · Hansard source

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  While the detail of whether the Treasury was dealing with a fiscal black hole or a fiscal lack of headroom will be rather lost on most of my Bath constituents, does the Minister agree that the weeks of speculation leading up to the Budget were very damaging, particularly to businesses, and that his Department could have done more to avoid that?

• 1 Dec 2025 · Post-16 Vocational Qualifications · Hansard source

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  In Bath, our economy depends on highly skilled workers in engineering, the creative industries and the digital sector. Employers tell me time and again that the current apprenticeship system simply does not deliver the pipeline they need. Will the Government be serious about growth by replacing the broken apprenticeship system with a more flexible skills and training levy, as well as guaranteeing apprentices at least the national minimum wage?

• 25 Nov 2025 · Mental and Physical Health Services · Hansard source

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  My all-party parliamentary group on eating disorders recently published a report on preventing eating disorder-related death. The report highlighted that eating disorders are not accurately recorded on death certificates. I was promised an update from the Minister for Women’s Health and Mental Health over two months ago, but am yet to receive one. How much longer will I have to wait?

• 25 Nov 2025 · Immigration Reforms: Humanitarian Visa Routes · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Sir Edward. I congratulate the hon. Member for Rushcliffe (James Naish) on his strong advocacy on this topic. I welcome the Government’s confirmation last week that people with BNO visas will continue to qualify for permanent residence in the UK after five years. That is the right and fair thing to do for people with such unique attachments to this country. However, the Government’s new consultation has left many of my constituents in Bath concerned about their future, particularly our valuable Hong Kong community. As has already been said, BNOs are not economic migrants; many made an irreversible decision to come to the UK to flee political persecution and repression. For many, returning to Hong Kong is not an option. Changes to indefinite leave to remain requirements could put BNOs in an impossible position: unable to settle in the UK and unable to return to Hong Kong. One of my constituents is a self-funded PhD student on a BNO visa. He is concerned about the proposed income requirement for ILR. Since any part-time work during his studies could be under the taxable income threshold, it is likely that he will not meet the income requirement during that period. He feels that the UK Government are, in effect, encouraging him either to abandon his PhD in favour of entering the job market or to leave the UK after his PhD studies are complete. BNO families came to the UK seeking safety, stability and the shared values of freedom and democracy. Retrospective changes risk undermining the spirit of the BNO pathway altogether. The potential for a sudden increase to the B2 English language test is particularly concerning to some of my constituents. Thousands of BNOs are due to become eligible for settlement in 2026. They have been planning and preparing—as we have already heard—for the current B1 English requirement. A sudden mandatory increase to the B2 level, which requires near-fluent conversation and complex argument, is a significant step up from B1 and would be difficult to achieve, especially for many older applicants. For my constituents who have begun the process of settlement while contributing to society, it now feels like the Government are throwing additional barriers in their way. The Government must look at providing flexibility through a transitional period if they are to press ahead with any of these changes. At the very least, the major wave of applicants in April 2026 should be left unaffected by any of those new rules. I urge the Government to listen.

• 25 Nov 2025 · Immigration Reforms: Humanitarian Visa Routes · Hansard source

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  Will the hon. Lady give way?

• 25 Nov 2025 · Immigration Reforms: Humanitarian Visa Routes · Hansard source

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  The hon. Member for South Northamptonshire (Sarah Bool) did not let me ask this question earlier, but is it not true that the safe and legal routes have been all but destroyed except for BNO and for Ukrainians? It is really important that the Government restore safe and legal routes to this country to make sure that everybody can actually benefit from our safety and our respect for human rights.

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

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  Will the Minister give way?

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

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  The Minister mentioned the hospitality sector earlier, and I briefly want to come back to that. Bath council and I are seeking the power for local authorities to introduce a modest visitor levy, alongside our proposed 5% cut in VAT for hospitality. Does she agree that a visitor levy on overnight stays would generate a new ringfenced revenue stream for the hospitality sector, which would be beneficial?

• 20 Nov 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  I speak today on behalf of one constituent, although there are many similar examples. My constituent, who does not want to be named in order to protect herself, is losing out quite substantially because the Child Maintenance Service is failing to enforce the regular payments that she is owed. The non-resident parent makes one partial payment after another and then simply defaults again. The CMS has the necessary powers to act, but is not using them effectively to stop that cycle. Might we have a debate in Government time on how the CMS can enforce the timely payment of child maintenance?

• 20 Nov 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T3. Yesterday, I met Volkswagen. It stressed that to meet our electric vehicle targets the Government must provide long-term support and certainty through to 2030 and beyond, with sensible incentives, a supportive tax framework and more robust infrastructure. What steps is the Department taking to ensure that consumers and manufacturers have confidence in the long-term value of EVs?

• 20 Nov 2025 · Maritime Sector: Decarbonisation · Hansard source

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  UK ports are clear that large-scale electrification is essential for maritime decarbonisation, but the required grid capacity is severely lacking. The Transport Committee has urged the Government to provide planning authorities with clear guidance to facilitate grid and substation upgrades. Will the Department prioritise enabling ports to build up their grid infrastructure before they fall behind international competition, so that we can continue to lead on maritime decarbonisation?

• 20 Nov 2025 · Maritime Sector: Decarbonisation · Hansard source

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  3. What steps her Department has taken to help support the decarbonisation of the maritime sector.

• 19 Nov 2025 · Myalgic Encephalomyelitis · Hansard source

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  I hear from so many constituents that, out of those suffering from any condition, people suffering from ME have the lowest quality of life. Is it not also the case that people simply do not understand what ME is?

• 12 Nov 2025 · Energy · Hansard source

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  Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

• 12 Nov 2025 · Energy · Hansard source

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  Is it not the truth that the reason energy bills are still so high is because we still produce a lot of electricity by burning gas? Burning gas, which is sold on the global market, keeps energy prices high. That is the main problem. We need to decouple electricity from gas prices, and particularly to get away from gas.

• 12 Nov 2025 · Energy · Hansard source

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  I am interested in hearing what he has to say about cutting bills. Does he not recognise that the cost of letting climate change go on unmitigated is a vast one for every household in this country?

• 12 Nov 2025 · Energy · Hansard source

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  Is it not the truth that once the projects have been built, the energy is free? There is no commodity concentration, because the wind and sunlight cost nothing; there is very little cost apart from the installation.

• 12 Nov 2025 · Drug Dealing on Social Media · Hansard source

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  Drug dealing is absolutely rampant on social media. The Minister might be aware of the campaign I lead, together with the University of Bath, against spice-spiked vapes in school and the terrible harm they are causing. We are increasingly frustrated that Ofcom does not use its power under the Online Safety Act to hold social media companies to account. Will the Minister meet me to discuss the problem with Ofcom, so that it ensures that young people in particular are kept safe online?