Nick Smith
MP for Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney · Labour · United Kingdom
“This summer, wildfires raged across south Wales and other parts of the UK. On one day alone, our emergency services received 1,000 telephone calls. Our South Wales fire and rescue service worked tirelessly alongside firefighters from across the UK.”
“The House of Commons Administration provides a variety of training for Members and their staff to help them respond to domestic and sexual abuse casework, which includes a day-long training course on dealing with cases of domestic abuse, human resources sessions on domestic abuse awareness and an e-learning module on safeguarding.”
“I thank my hon. Friend for raising this important topic, and it is great that she has good local services. I have already outlined the training and guidance we currently have on offer. The Commission is keen to ensure that Members are well supported in this area and is open to suggestions to develop the training offer.”
“Although it is a civil matter, where a jury trial cannot apply, yesterday we found out that Virgin Media has been fined a record £28 million for ripping off its customers, yet the chief executive appears to be getting off scot-free.”
“Many of us remain frustrated by delays to Royal Mail postal deliveries. My constituent Anthony Barnes was removed from a treatment waiting list on three occasions because hospital communications did not arrive in time.”
“I welcome the Government’s ongoing commitment to supporting our veterans and delivering fairness for them. Can we please have a statement from the Veterans Minister on reducing processing times for war pension scheme claims? My constituent Denzil Hancock, an 88-year-old nuclear test veteran, continues to await a decision.”
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“Although it is a civil matter, where a jury trial cannot apply, yesterday we found out that Virgin Media has been fined a record £28 million for ripping off its customers, yet the chief executive appears to be getting off scot-free. I think that the shareholders should be considering his future and the possibility of bonuses being returned. Does the Solicitor General agree that constituents will be asking who is accountable for such predatory corporate behaviour?”
“Many of us remain frustrated by delays to Royal Mail postal deliveries. My constituent Anthony Barnes was removed from a treatment waiting list on three occasions because hospital communications did not arrive in time. I have encouraged local healthcare providers to use Royal Mail’s NHS-specific barcode, which prioritises delivery for health board correspondence. Can I ask the Leader of the House for a ministerial update on Royal Mail’s performance, including uptake of the NHS-specific barcode? That will be important to many of our constituents across the UK.”
“There is awful news from Venezuela this morning after an earthquake there. Has the Minister had the opportunity to speak to her Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office ministerial counterpart about support for that country at this difficult time?”
“I, too, hope that digital ID will help improve the delivery of public services outcomes. Can the Minister please say what steps the Government are taking to work with the Welsh Government on this important policy development?”
“I thank the Minister for his statement on this terrible conflict. Will he tell us more about the impact of this tragedy on countries that neighbour Sudan? How can we help them?”
“I welcome the Government’s ongoing commitment to supporting our veterans and delivering fairness for them. Can we please have a statement from the Veterans Minister on reducing processing times for war pension scheme claims? My constituent Denzil Hancock, an 88-year-old nuclear test veteran, continues to await a decision.”
“My constituency has many steel fabrication businesses, some of which I visited recently. Will the Minister please outline how he listened to such businesses and their concerns before this announcement?”
“I am pleased to report that good progress has been made on reducing the number of cleaning products we use that are not certified as cruelty-free. My hon. Friend has rightly pushed us on this matter. In total, we use around 40 cleaning products. Since early 2025, we have reduced the number of products used that are not certified as cruelty-free from nine to three. For the remaining three products, the cleaning contractor is in the process of identifying suitable replacements that meet the required standard.”
“The cleaning contractor will continue to work on identifying suitable alternatives from its suppliers, and I would be pleased to put it in touch with the body that my hon. Friend suggests can provide good advice.”
“It is good to give my hon. Friend the Member for Battersea (Marsha De Cordova) a break. The Commission has considered the proposed changes to the education outreach model. The changes are designed to save money—over half a million pounds every year— and to ensure that we reach more students across the UK and increase the opportunities that Members have to meet children and young people. Although more than 30 Members have signed an early-day motion on the topic, in 2025-26 no events were held in nearly a third of our constituencies. Under the proposals, the current model will be replaced by a digital model of outreach to increase opportunities for Members to speak to students. The proposed new service will help to reach schools in every constituency. A final decision on the proposals will be made following the consultation proposal.”
“We understand my hon. Friend’s concerns about these proposals, but the new model is designed to increase engagement with schools across the UK. Given the high number of constituencies that receive no outreach visits at all, the key benefit here is that the proposals would remove geography as a barrier so that schools everywhere can access these sessions. Furthermore, the proposed model will sit alongside other UK-wide programmes that continue to provide in-person opportunities, including our UK Parliament Week; teacher training activity delivered around the country; the travel subsidy scheme, which supports visits to Parliament; and the “Learn with the Lords” programme. With those programmes taken together, Parliament will continue to have a strong and visible presence beyond Westminster.”
“The scoping work focused on large-scale and ambitious digital education outreach work across the UK. Case studies included in the research were the Royal Ballet and the North East Museums’ “Hadrian’s Wall Live” focus day, which both attracted very high levels of interest.”
“Wales is not going to the world cup, but I will definitely be supporting both Scotland and England in the weeks ahead—good wishes to everybody. I welcome the Government’s programme to help young people into education, employment or training. In Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney we have two new hubs to boost their opportunities. May we please have an update on what progress has been made with the new jobs guarantee scheme to foster the talent of even more young people?”
“My constituents continue to face delays in accessing driving tests post covid. The Government’s important consultation covers tackling bot activity, bulk and speculative bookings, and improving access to genuine test slots. A driving instructor in Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney has expressed his concerns about potential booking restrictions for driving instructors and issues around examiner recruitment. Will a Transport Minister please update the House and confirm that those issues will be considered in the round?”
“I welcome this week’s trade agreement with the gulf countries, and I give particular thanks to the Ministers and diplomats who worked hard to deliver it. Given Iran’s belligerence towards its neighbours, however, can the Minister outline what measures we are taking to support gulf states under threat from Iran, and to help de-escalate the situation there?”
“Constituents involved in my local Rotary club have contacted me about the global polio eradication programme. I am reliably advised that Ministers want to concentrate resources for the best impact. Can the Minister reassure my constituents that the UK remains determined to protect the important gains made in polio eradication for the future?”
“I thank the Chancellor for her statement. I agree that the best economic policy today is diplomatic policy. Given the situation in Iran, will she tell us more about her plans for putting economic pressure on the leadership there to de-escalate this dreadful situation?”
“I declare an interest as the chair of the all-party parliamentary group on parkrun. As the Minister knows, parkrun is a global phenomenon, and it has just celebrated its 21st birthday this year. Currently, over 1,300 parkrun events take place across the UK every Saturday morning, including two in my constituency of Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney. Given its benefits in terms of health and wellbeing—many of my constituents are NHS couch to 5K graduates—will the Minister please outline what discussions she has had with parkrun to support that excellent initiative?”
“I am delighted to give the Second Church Estates Commissioner, my hon. Friend the Member for Battersea (Marsha De Cordova), a short rest this morning. The possibility of the House of Lords being temporarily based in the neighbouring QEII centre during restoration and renewal is being considered. The R and R programme has worked closely with the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government—the freehold owner of the centre—and with wider Government to understand the implications of using the QEII centre during in the programme. Direct engagement with the events sector has, to date, been restricted because of commercial sensitivities, but available information suggests that conference centres across Westminster and the wider London area have sufficient spare capacity to accommodate displaced events.”
“My hon. Friend is right to emphasise the QEII centre’s value to the UK events sector. However, I am advised that the evidence indicates that any displaced events could be accommodated by other conference centres in London, given the available spare capacity. Events, visitor spending and associated economic activity would be expected to transfer to alternative venues and their supply chains, rather than being lost to international competitors. Given his expertise, may I suggest a meeting with R and R officials who have looked deeper into this, so that they can hear his concerns in more detail and share their analysis of the matter?”
“The next step is for parliamentary debates on the subject, in which Members of both Houses can consider the Client Board’s recommendations and decide how to make progress.”
“The Church Commissioner gets another rest. In February, the Restoration and Renewal Client Board reported costed proposals for the programme and a recommended way forward. The key recommendations are a phase 1 works package and the preparation of temporary accommodation, including a long-term resilience Commons Chamber, and reducing the number of delivery options from four to two, with a decision on a preferred option required by 2030. Also, the R and R team has engaged with Members of both Houses in party group meetings, Committees and briefings, and has had stands in Portcullis House and the Royal Gallery; the team has had almost 400 interactions with fellow parliamentarians.”
“I, too, read the waterside options. The issue is that there is a preferred option, which is that the Commons moves to the northern estate and the House of Lords moves to the QEII centre. That has been proposed for safety and value-for-money reasons.”
“Last week, I visited our youth hub in Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney, and heard at first hand some fantastic success stories of young people being supported into work through this Labour Government’s prioritisation. Can we have a ministerial statement on the work of these hubs and how they will integrate with the new youth jobs grant to help even more young people into jobs?”
“I thank the Minister for his statement. I am glad to see that he is stepping in, and I am pleased to hear that National Savings & Investments will focus on reuniting bereaved families with their money, which it holds after things went badly wrong. How will he and the Government raise awareness with savers of the fact that they do not need to use claims management companies and that they can rely on NS&I putting things right?”
“The Government have delivered for mineworkers and their families on improving their pension schemes. Although members of both the mineworkers’ pension scheme and the British Coal staff superannuation scheme tell me that they are pleased after the release of reserved funds, there are many former miners in their 80s and 90s who could benefit further from future support. Can we please have a statement from the Minister for Industry on the next steps for both those schemes?”
“I welcome this development reset. I support the Government’s decision to invest in our country’s security now and our ambition to support development more in future. On Yemen, given the conflict and the overall fragility in the region, how do the Government ensure that UK aid spent there does not fall into the wrong hands?”
“May I say how proud I am that my birth certificate says, “Father’s occupation: labourer in the steelworks”? This strategy is a shot in the arm for steelmakers across the UK; it is in stark contrast to the failures of the last Tory Governments. But can the Secretary of State say more about the infrastructure projects and plans to refine the public procurement notice for steel? What will that mean in practice for jobs in our communities?”
“Bank closures have affected many communities. In Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney, we have a banking hub in Abertillery and will shortly have one in Ebbw Vale, so that residents have access to bank services on their high street. These are very popular, and it is great that the Government are committed to delivering 350 banking hubs. May we have a statement to find out how that is going, and to hear about lessons learned and whether access to hubs could be widened in the future?”
“That is great news. Our pensioners deserve the best support, and will be glad of the extra income. I will shortly be organising events in my constituency promoting pension credit take-up. Some of my pensioner constituents, however, have lost money to the Safe Hands funeral scheme when trying to prepare for the worst of times. Will the Minister please meet me to discuss their case?”
“The Restoration and Renewal Client Board has recently published a report providing costed proposals for the R&R programme and a recommended way forward. The key recommendation is to commence a phase 1 works package, including enabling works and the preparation of temporary accommodation, which includes a long-term resilience Chamber. It has reduced the number of delivery options from four to two, with a final decision on a preferred option required by 2030. The next step is for parliamentary debates to be held so that Members of both Houses can consider the client board’s recommendations and decide how to progress. The R&R team holds regular briefings, tours and detailed Q&A sessions, which the hon. Gentleman may find of interest.”
“I agree with the hon. Gentleman that we should make much faster progress on this project. However, he talks about Notre Dame, which has a much smaller footprint than our Palace of Westminster. The bulk of the construction costs relate to the replacement and upgrade of mechanical power, water and heating infrastructure, improvements to fire safety, and the controlled management of asbestos and repaired stonework. Not enough has been invested in our palace over the years, and much more needs to be done. This needs to be done at a good speed, but I accept his point. Let us try to take Members of both Houses with us.”
“Members and their teams should be supported to manage and address the increasing volume and complexity of work being placed on us all. Managing email inboxes is a huge task, as we all know. The Parliamentary Digital Service has been working with Members to understand how we can harness technology to help us filter, prioritise and manage our correspondence and casework. I know that the Parliamentary Digital Service is happy to further support the hon. Lady in that work.”
“The hon. Member is right to keep on raising this issue. The foundation of the guidance to Members on the use of AI is that there needs to be a human in the loop. The Parliamentary Digital Service is in ongoing discussions with Microsoft to shape the use of Copilot to meet Members’ needs. Our digital service must continue looking at the potential applications of AI to support all our work, so that either Copilot or another solution from elsewhere can be tested for all our benefit. If the hon. Member wishes, she can join our committee the next time we meet the PDS management team to look at how we can better support Members.”
“The Client Board’s recent report recommends a way forward for restoration and renewal. It contains phase 1 works, including seven years’ foundational works for the full programme. These preparatory works can begin once we have approval from both Houses. A final decision on the preferred delivery option is required from both Houses no later than 2030. The main R&R works could begin in 2032.”
“I wholeheartedly agree with my hon. Friend. She is right to say that we must make progress, and we now have the costed proposals in front of us. The work is necessary. The home of our Parliament is not only an iconic building, but a UNESCO world heritage site. We currently spend £1.5 million a week on maintaining and repairing the Palace, and every year of delaying delivery has a considerable cost. We must move forward. I hope that the Leader of the House will let us know when we can discuss and debate this important matter.”
“Given my hon. Friend’s journey time from Cornwall, I can understand why she asks that question. The Commission recently endorsed recommendations from our participation team to improve the school visit booking process and the use of our travel subsidy. Schools from her area will have extra time to apply. We want to encourage greater participation from schools furthest away from Westminster by increasing capacity through our education service.”
“The new booking process, which will be launched in September, will ensure that regions are allocated visit opportunities to ensure that no region accesses more than its fair share. Consideration has been given to the circumstances of band C schools—those furthest from Westminster—which have a clear preference for summer-term access due to the long distances they must travel. The education team will weight band C visit opportunities to favour the summer term, so that the booking opportunities best meet those schools’ needs.”
“Before Christmas, I raised the poor standard of service by the Royal Mail in Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney. Despite our excellent posties, constituents still report delayed deliveries leading to missed appointments and worse. Ofcom should hold Royal Mail to account on the universal service obligation, yet I have received no response from Ofcom for almost two months. Can we please have a ministerial statement on the performance of Ofcom? All our constituents should receive the level of service that they have been promised.”
“May I say how great it was to see that the Foreign Secretary was in Chad this week in support of Sudanese refugees? I particularly support the remarks at the start of her statement, when she said: “I am determined that we do not look away.” Can she tell us more about UK efforts to get our humanitarian aid to the millions who need it?”
“Under the last Conservative Government we had soaring energy costs and the highest industrial energy bills in Europe. Now, under Labour, manufacturers, including those in Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney, have seen costly levies taken out. Will the Minister please outline what else the Government can do to bring energy bills down further for UK industry?”
“I am delighted that we have a trailblazer pilot in my constituency. In The Times at the weekend, Alan Milburn emphasised the importance of boosting young people’s life chances. Will the Secretary of State outline how data from the pilot will strengthen delivery to keep people healthy at work?”
“There has been a tendency to offshore much cyber-support, but we are producing excellent cyber-security talent at Ebbw Vale college to protect our digital infrastructure. Will the Minister please outline what is being done to develop our home-grown workforce and security resilience to help reduce the risks from cyber-attacks in future?”
“The New Palace Yard project will be completed this month, at an expected cost of £62 million, within the latest approved business case. The project included important security works and significant ground and heritage works.”
“There have been different estimates for the stages of the project, as the hon. Gentleman rightly points out. The costs have evolved since 2017. I will send him the recent Finance Committee report, which was published just before Christmas and goes into detail on this matter. Delays have occurred, particularly at peak times, and it has taken too long for vehicles to leave, but steps are being taken to speed up exit times.”
“The restoration and renewal programme has engaged extensively with Members of both Houses. In this Parliament, there have been 380 interactions with MPs and peers through briefings, tours and events. The number of interactions over the past three years, since January 2023, is about 980. The client board will shortly publish a report to help us all decide on the preferred way forward.”
“After ramping up engagement on the cost information, and once the House has provided direction on the R and R programme, if we do go to full decant, the Lords will likely go to the Queen Elizabeth II centre and MPs to the northern estate. There will be ongoing work on temporary accommodation, and the related impact on jobs is for us all to consider in future.”
“My hon. Friend always takes an interest in ceramics and parliamentary procurement. He will remember that approximately 85% of ceramic items purchased in our gift shops are either fully or partially made in the UK. More widely, Parliament endeavours to purchase British goods, in compliance with the procurement legislation. If he would like further information, I would be very happy to help him.”
“My hon. Friend is a doughty campaigner for ceramics and Stoke. The limited edition House of Commons Christmas mugs are a popular product in our gift shop. Those products are sourced as unfinished products from overseas and then hand-finished in the UK. This approach ensures that the product is commercially viable to purchase and that the retail team can sell it while maintaining high standards, but I would be happy to meet him again to discuss this further.”
“Constituents in the upper Rhymney valley face unacceptably high petrol prices. When I wrote to the Competition and Markets Authority about that, it referred to a forthcoming fuel finder scheme; however, that scheme has no confirmed launch date. I get that this is complicated, but will the Leader of the House please encourage Ministers to provide a statement on when that scheme will be delivered, in order to improve consumer information across the UK?”