Peter Dowd
MP for Bootle · Labour · United Kingdom
“The petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urge the Government to introduce urgent reforms, known as “Tim’s Law”, to strengthen the response to drink, drug and dangerous driving, including the immediate suspension of driving licences for those suspected of serious driving offences, the introduction of rapid evidential roa…”
“The petition states: The petition of residents of the United Kingdom, Declares that current laws and procedures relating to drink driving, drug driving, and dangerous driving are failing to protect the public, as delays between arrest and prosecution allow suspected high-risk drivers, including repeat offenders, to remain on the roads, co…”
“The NHS will carry out screening and evaluation of newborn babies for spinal muscular atrophy, or SMA, which causes spinal cord deterioration. It is a devastating genetic condition. The evaluation will start in October in England, but not in Northern Ireland or anywhere else. Does my hon.”
“Improving its rail links and connectivity is important, and it has an impact on regional growth. Grid capacity and decarbonisation have to be developed in the context of an appropriate planning framework. Liverpool port deals with bulk timber, bulk liquids, bulk cargo and general cargo and with 720,000 passengers a year.”
“It is a delight to see you in the Chair, Ms Jardine. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Truro and Falmouth (Jayne Kirkham) on bringing this debate to this Chamber. I will talk about the port of Liverpool, which is actually mostly in my constituency of Bootle, and set out its importance.”
“I am really pleased that the Railways Bill has a target of 75% rail freight growth by 2050. That will enable us to unlock other markets, and of course it will provide public and private investment in connectivity; it is important that the two work closely together. Local communities have to be part of the development of the programme.”
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Every one of 600 lines we hold for Peter Dowd, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 7 of 12.
“I ask colleagues to move out as quickly and as silently as possible. I will call Philip Hollobone to move the motion and then the Minister to respond. There will not be an opportunity for the Member in charge to wind up, as is the convention for 30-minute debates.”
“I have listened carefully to what the Lord Chancellor has said, and I thank him for his measured, comprehensive and frank approach. The primary question to be asked is whether he genuinely believes that the families of the bereaved and those affected will be satisfied with what he has said.”
“I completely accept that that should be evidence-based and that we should learn from the evidence, but that does not detract from the fact that I do not want to tell people in any other constituency, or any Member in this room, what their local traffic-calming plans should or should not be—this should not be by diktat. Whatever assessment the right hon. Gentleman is suggesting, it cannot be a way for the centre here to tell local authorities what to do—where they can or cannot put speed humps or how far apart those should or should not be. That should be a matter for local determination.”
“Speed humps, bumps and tables—there are variations on themes—do help to control speed on roads. The evidence is there for that. They do reduce accidents, help to regulate traffic and ensure the safety of pedestrians. They are also relatively easy to construct. We know that speed humps are highly effective and important for avoiding road accidents. If the Government, of whatever party, want more significant research into the issue, I welcome that. Neither I nor anyone else has anything whatever to fear from a full, unambiguous, substantive review of these proposals.”
“I welcome that challenge, as I always did as a member of the local authority, but this also has to be part of the wider traffic issue. For example, I understand that no pavement parking is permitted in London, but it is rife in my constituency. It is dangerous: people park on pavements all the time, blocking them, and obstructing elderly people and women and men with prams and wheelchairs. That is also an issue, and it is part of the whole question of traffic calming. There are issues with people parking on cycle lanes, for goodness’ sake, and blocking them—they do not care about anybody but themselves. That is not acceptable either. In my view, the issue is all about trying to get people to understand that speed kills, whether in a pedestrian area, on a motorway, on an A road or on a B road. It is important that people understand that.”
“Gentleman talked about the cost of it, but the cost on the human side is absolutely dreadful. The figures from a Statista report show costs of £3.5 billion a year. Where is that factored into this? That has to be taken into account as well. On the issue of subsidiarity, Parliament is here to set out a framework for how we operate at local government level, for example. I do not think it is for us to tell local government and local councils what they should be doing. I accept that the right hon. Gentleman is not necessarily saying that. However, it is worth pointing out that we give them the responsibility to do this, and it is also the responsibility of the electors in those areas to hold them to account and challenge them.”
“That was because there were so many people who were sick to death of their residential areas being used as rat runs. They wanted us, the council, to do something about it, so we started that process. However, this is also part of the wider issue of, for want of a better phrase, speed awareness. Speed bumps, humps and tables are one way that we can start changing the culture of people speeding. Only in the last few days, one of my local schools, St Oswald’s Church of England Primary School, asked me to be a judge of posters made by children in reception to cut speed; I would like to announce the winner, but I do not think the school has announced it yet. The point is that people do recognise the need to cut speed. The figures are there. Starkly, there are 1,700 deaths and 29,000 serious injuries a year on our roads. The right hon.”
“It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Mr Robertson. Where to begin on this particular issue? I am glad that the right hon. Member for Chingford and Woodford Green (Sir Iain Duncan Smith) brought it before us, because while in some regard it is a very simple area to deal with, it is also a very complex area. I start from the principle of subsidiarity—namely, that the people best able to make the decision at, for example, a local government level, are the best people to make the decision at a local level: a determination by them of the needs of their community. I completely accept that should be in full consultation, as the right hon. Gentleman mentioned. I was chair of a highways committee when we started to introduce speed humps, bumps and tables over 25 years ago.”
“That is my personal perspective. It is a perspective as a Member of Parliament, as a councillor and former chair of highways, and as a resident. I want to take this in the round. I welcome the debate introduced by the right hon. Member for Chingford and Woodford Green; I just hope that we deal with it in the spirit in which it is intended and, as he said, that we do not politicise it. When we start to politicise things like road humps, speed humps or pelican crossings, there lies—excuse the pun—the road to perdition.”
“As I said, I do not disagree with that. I am all for it being evidence-based. There are road bumps outside my house. They do not particularly bother me, I have to say, but that is my view. I do not think they particularly bother my neighbour either. They were introduced before I moved into the house over 25 years ago, in the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Sefton Central (Bill Esterson). It was called the village entry scheme, because people in the village got sick to death of people speeding through at 60 or 70 mph. The price that we as residents pay for that, to some extent, is road humps outside our houses. If that is the way we want to dress this up, that is the consequence. The alternative consequence is people speeding through, which is more dangerous and more disruptive than the speed humps.”
“I exhort people: if we have a full, clear, unambiguous, independent examination of this matter, once we get the results and the evidence, in my view, it is for the local communities to have their say as part of the consultation process about when particular traffic-calming measures come into place, and whether they be 20 mph speed limits, 10 mph speed limits or whatever they might be.”
“There is a difference between a political matter and a party political matter. I felt that a bit of party politicking was coming into the debate with talk about the Welsh Government, or this council or the other. I accept that it is a political decision; almost every decision we make is political, but when we make them, we have to balance them in the round. Without repeating myself, I completely acknowledge what the right hon. Member for Chingford and Woodford Green said. But when we get the evidence—and we have been here many times in this place—we do not like it, so we try to ignore it. We ignore facts and we do not like experts.”
“On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. I would appreciate any advice you can give me on a matter of great interest and concern to my constituents. It relates to the attitude of National Highways officials in the north-west office. A freedom of information request revealed several emails that, in my view, show a worrying lack of candour and transparency in National Highways’ dealings with me in relation to the replacement of a footbridge on a major road in my constituency. In particular, I have been accused of “whipping up a frenzy” among my constituents in relation to that important safety matter—I am doing my job, not whipping up a frenzy. Any advice from you would be welcome.”
“The Joseph Rowntree Foundation calls the plans “fundamentally inadequate” to deal with the 4 million people in this country who are in destitution. What we need—what we are all calling for, including my communities in Bootle—is a general election as soon as possible to get that shower out.”
“Turning to public services, what is that £20 billion of cuts going to look like? It will be dreadful. The Resolution Foundation says that the pain now being proposed is “implausible” in its scale. The Institute for Fiscal Studies broke down those cuts in more detail and found that if some Departments continue to be protected, that means 3.4% cuts across the board for others. That £20 billion of cuts means more bankrupt councils, longer waiting lists in the courts and fewer police—in short, a continued decline in the quality of our lives, and more pressure on the social fabric that my hon. Friend the Member for West Ham (Ms Brown) spoke about. It all adds up to the greatest fall in disposable incomes since 1955.”
“That almost exactly matches the £20 billion that was spent on the national insurance proposals announced last week, and of course there will be more cuts in local government, right across the piece. It has been 13 years of blight, with tax cuts paid for by denuding public services and implemented by a deluded Government, and a weaker safety net. It is the same old Conservatives in action. What about national borrowing? The Tories would have us believe that they borrow less and pay back more, but I will quickly fact-check that claim. The only fact we need to know is that the Tories make it up as they go along: the reality is that they borrow more and pay back less. That is fairly well documented—one or two Conservative MPs may want to ask their researchers to check that with the Library.”
“First, on tax, the Chancellor tried to buy off the electorate with headline-grabbing changes to national insurance, but those policies only thinly conceal the true picture of what is happening under this Government. The frozen tax thresholds mean that those who make their living from work will pay tens of billions of pounds more while taxes on the wealthy remain largely flat—that is a political choice; it is as simple as that. Over the pandemic, the top 10% accrued £50,000 each in additional wealth, according to the Resolution Foundation. The list goes on. In reality, the changes to national insurance that were announced last week will be paid for by cuts in services. The Institute for Fiscal Studies has shown that the statement bakes in a real-terms cut, to the tune of £22 billion by 2028, to departmental budgets.”
“They are tired of NHS waiting lists of nearly 8 million people waiting for healthcare, including 14,000 people in my constituency and constituents of every Member in this Chamber. Almost 200 schools are at the point of collapse because the Government decided to halt the Building Schools for the Future programme. The number of bus services has been halved since 2011, leaving more people isolated and unable to access services. And it goes on: the housing market is in a parlous state; mortgage defaults are going through the roof, if people have one; and many landlords are out of control and using no-fault evictions. In huge swathes of the country, it is almost impossible for people to get a mortgage, let alone pay it. I will concentrate on two elements.”
“Of course, the Chancellor could not even bring himself to mention “a brighter future”—the slogan that adorned his party conference just a few weeks ago. The statement shows that the Conservatives have not learned a single lesson from their 13 years in power. They have not hit one of their fiscal rules in 13 years. Once again, we see the old approach, which the public now roundly reject: attacks on our public sector, which is always refused the resources that it needs; and, as we have heard this afternoon, the scapegoating of social security claimants—particularly disabled people—through cuts to the social security system, to pay for the Government’s economic chaos. We can see from the polls that the public are tired of the same old Tory approach put forward in the autumn statement.”
“The autumn statement was an act of neglect. The facts from the Office for Budget Responsibility speak for themselves: real growth is down, debt interest is up, inflation is slowing but high, and productivity is in its boots. After 13 years of blundering, every indicator is pointing in the wrong direction. The Conservative party has spent months making lofty pronouncements about long-term decisions, but the Chancellor’s statement looked no further than the next election. By now, this House and the British public are used to the wide gap between their claims and fiscal reality. Does anyone remember the “long-term economic plan” from 2014? What happened to that? What about “strong and stable” in 2017? Where has that gone, and where are northern powerhouse and HS2? It is strange that we did not hear any of those phrases in the statement.”
“From listening to some Conservative Members, one might think we were in some sort of economic Shangri-La. The only positive element about the autumn statement is that it was not the previous Chancellor’s statement, so I congratulate the Chancellor—perhaps this could be passed on—on not being the previous Chancellor. In substance, the change of staff in Downing Street means that the country is not quite as far up the creek without a paddle as we may have been under the last Administration, but that is of small comfort to the millions of people who are still paying more for less, so I am sure the Chancellor will understand if I do not give him a high five. He is like a dentist telling the patient that they need only four teeth taken out without anaesthetic rather than five, and dressing that up as good news.”
“I beg to move, That this House has considered the matter of the menopause. I thank the Backbench Business Committee for granting my hon. Friend the Member for Swansea East (Carolyn Harris) this important and timely debate in October, which is World Menopause Awareness Month. Regrettably, she is unable to attend or open the debate, so she has asked me, as a member and the treasurer of the all-party parliamentary group on menopause, to open the debate in her place. I am pleased and privileged to do so. I hope to do justice to her work, and that of the APPG and its supporters in this vital area affecting the lives of millions of women.”
“It found—it is important to get this into context—that 96% of menopausal women’s quality of life suffered as a result of their symptoms and almost 50% took over a year to realise that they might be peri or menopausal.”
“The hon. Member is absolutely spot on. That is why the APPG is working across so many areas to develop people’s understanding of menopause—not just women but, importantly, men as well. The days of whispering the word “menopause” and keeping the changes in women’s bodies a secret and just getting on with it, so to speak, are thankfully beginning to be a thing of the past. The “Manifesto for Menopause” was launched last week at a celebratory breakfast in Parliament to mark World Menopause Day. Alongside the publication of the group’s “Manifesto for Menopause”, the reception featured new findings from a recent survey by Menopause Mandate of over 2,000 women.”
“That is a valid point and I shall be touching on it later. According to the survey, only 12% of menopausal women were diagnosed by healthcare professionals, with a huge 60% discovering through their own research that they might be menopausal, and only 20% having had a positive GP experience. Among working women, 64% said that the menopause had a negative impact on them, but only 29% of their employers had a menopause policy.”
“We know that, in a 10-minute consultation, prescribers do not have the capacity to go searching for alternative treatments if a patient’s usual product is out of stock, and we have seen a supply shortage for many of these products. A national formulary would resolve this issue, as all eligible products would be easily accessible on surgery systems, thus eliminating the postcode lottery and regional variations that women are currently experiencing.”
“We know that this would save the NHS money in the long run. Many healthcare providers are now starting to include menopause in their standard packages, having identified the fact that patients are being sent for appointments in secondary care for an array of symptoms that have not been correctly diagnosed as menopause. By including menopause treatment as standard, they are reducing the cost to the NHS of these unnecessary appointments. The second recommendation of the APPG’s manifesto is a national formulary for hormone replacement therapy. Although HRT is not the answer for all women, millions across the country rely on this treatment to manage their symptoms.”
“What they do not include for women, at present, are any questions about, advice on or reference to the menopause, which is at best a surprise and at worst quite shocking. There is strong evidence showing that many women are accessing primary care and being treated for individual symptoms because neither they nor their clinicians are recognising the root cause of those symptoms—a point raised earlier by my hon. Friend the Member for Blaenau Gwent (Nick Smith). By raising awareness among medical professionals, who can, in turn, help to educate women at their 40-plus health checks, we can reduce the number of extra visits that women make to surgeries and prevent further misdiagnosis and inaccurate prescribing. We can also dramatically increase the number of women who get prompt and correct diagnoses and access to treatment pathways.”
“I cannot stress enough how important it is to the 13 million women in the UK who are currently perimenopausal or menopausal, and to all around them who are indirectly affected—the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) raised that point—to know that those in power will support them. The first recommendation in the manifesto is for health checks. Every time that is mentioned in conversation, people are genuinely surprised that it does not already happen. Many will remember receiving, on turning 40—along with the cards, gifts and good wishes—an invitation to a 40-plus NHS health check. Those “MOTs” monitor our weight and blood pressure, and are used to assess the risk of developing conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and strokes.”
“The fact that those influential women, grassroots campaigners and clinical experts were brought together in Parliament showed the world that Westminster was listening; but listening alone is not enough while women continue to suffer. Listening will not help them get a diagnosis or access to treatment, or find the support they need. That requires action, and on World Menopause Day the APPG, which is chaired by my hon. Friend the Member for Swansea East, launched the menopause manifesto. Based on evidence that the group gathered by speaking to those affected by the menopause and experts in the field, the manifesto sets out seven recommendations, which we are urging all parties to adopt in their own manifestos ahead of the next general election.”
“That is another point that I will touch on later, but the hon. Gentleman is spot on. Anyone who happened to be in Westminster Hall on Wednesday last week will be able to testify to the work that the APPG has done. More than 100 Members and others gathered for a photograph to mark and celebrate World Menopause Day. My hon. Friend the Member for Swansea East said she was not sure that visitors to Westminster Hall were ready to see so many women parliamentarians and others doing impromptu exercise squats. However, she also said that, if it was a good enough location for Henry VIII to play real tennis, it was certainly good enough for a group of menopausal women to highlight the benefits of exercise to their physical health and mental wellbeing.”
“Both are keen to do more to support their staff and to bridge the significant gaps in understanding around more complex menopause experiences.”
“In the sixth recommendation, we are calling for better funding for research into the potential links between menopause and other health conditions, as well as the varying experiences of women from different backgrounds and ethnicities—that is very important. We know from the evidence that the APPG has received that those with conditions such as autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder can struggle more with their menopausal symptoms, and that those who have been treated for cancer often experience early menopause. So it is vital that much more is done to better understand the different journeys that women from different backgrounds are experiencing. In the past week, my hon. Friend told me that she had been lucky enough to visit two universities, one in London and the other in her own home city of Swansea.”
“The manifesto’s fifth requirement is about the licensing of testosterone for women. It has always struck me as odd that when women reach menopausal age, which is different for everyone, they become deficient in three hormones—oestrogen, progesterone and testosterone—yet only the first two are available to women when they are prescribed hormone replacement therapy on the NHS. As my hon. Friend the Member for Swansea East has noted previously, if a woman wants the third hormone, they have to pay for a private prescription. The all-party group is calling for an evaluation of female-specific testosterone treatments, with a view to their being licensed by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.”
“There are great examples of companies embracing the issue, and there are some excellent tools available to help, such as the British Standards Institute’s menstruation, menstrual health and menopause in the workplace standard. With research showing that one in 10 women are leaving the workforce and thousands more are reducing their hours or avoiding promotion, it is vital that more is done to address the impact of menopause on women’s economic participation. The APPG is not asking for women to be given special treatment; we are asking merely for an understanding that working arrangements and environments may need to be flexible. This willingness to incorporate flexibility will benefit businesses, boost the economy and give women the confidence to progress in their career.”
“If clinicians were better informed, they would be more confident in discussing menopause with patients at their health checks and in prescribing appropriate treatment, which would greatly benefit patients who visit their GP to seek support. Moving away from healthcare, I am proud to say that, earlier this year, Labour committed to the fourth recommendation: mandating that all companies with more than 250 employees introduce menopause action plans to support those experiencing symptoms. That goes some way to addressing the points raised by hon. Members. Alongside this, the APPG would like to see the provision of specific guidance for small and medium-sized enterprises and the introduction of tax incentives to encourage companies to integrate menopause in their occupational health plans.”
“I agree with the hon. Gentleman. It is crucial that women are able to go to any surgery and, although there may be marginal differences in treatment or access to treatment, the substance is that they should ultimately get more or less the same access and the same treatment, depending on their needs. The third recommendation also relates to prescribers. The manifesto calls for the inclusion of menopause as an indicator within the GP quality and outcomes framework. This change would help to balance the deficit in knowledge and understanding among GPs by incentivising improvement in diagnosis levels and treatment provision within primary care.”
“I know that every Member of this House would want it. We need a commitment to show the 51% of the population who will directly experience menopause that they matter—that they really matter.”
“We need to look at existing provision, evaluate where increased secondary care is needed and assess other ways in which women could seek help. That might, for example, include access to specialist nurses in primary care and pharmacists, to ease the demand on GPs. That is another simple recommendation that would be easy to achieve, while having a significant impact on the care and support that women are able to access. Nothing in the all-party group’s manifesto is difficult to achieve; no big contracts or big budgets are needed to make the changes that will significantly improve women’s experiences. The only thing that is needed is a commitment to prioritise this area of women’s health. We need a commitment to improve support, diagnosis and access to treatment for all those who need it. Who would not want that?”
“The hon. Gentleman makes a good point and sets out an excellent idea. I am sure that the Minister, as part of the expansion or integration of the manifesto, can take it on board. As I was saying, my hon. Friend was delighted that Swansea University announced last Friday that it would be introducing menopause into the curriculum for all of its medical students, as well as launching a menopause clinic for staff and students. I truly hope that it will be the first of many universities to do this. Future policy in this area, and an improved women’s health strategy, will be possible only if more funding is dedicated to this vital research. The seventh and final part of the manifesto calls for a review of the demand for specialist menopause care.”
“I also thank the Minister for referring to the four-point plan for the workplace that is in progress, to the QOF review and to training in menopause. We have covered a wide-ranging area. The seven recommendations or asks in the manifesto are out there for all to see. No doubt, we will return to this matter time and again. I hope that in the next 12 to 18 months we can make even more progress than we have in the past couple of years. Question put and agreed to. Resolved , That this House has considered the matter of the menopause.”
“I am intrigued about that and will speak to him about it in due course. The hon. Member for Bath (Wera Hobhouse) referred among other things to the review of the prescription regime, which is really needed. As ever, the interventions by the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) were spot-on, clear and precise. I am pleased to have his party’s support on this matter. My hon. Friend the Member for Blaenau Gwent (Nick Smith), who intervened a couple of times—once on me—was focused on the key element of clinical awareness. I thank the shadow Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Erith and Thamesmead (Abena Oppong-Asare), for her response, particularly in relation to Labour’s workplace charter. I am pleased about the reaffirmation of that.”
“I thank all hon. Members who took part in the debate. I also thank my hon. Friend the Member for Swansea East (Carolyn Harris), who regrettably cannot be here. I hope that I have been able to do justice to the points she raised with me. I thank the hon. Member for Walsall North (Eddie Hughes) for relating his personal experiences and reinforcing the need to provide the support that women so rightly deserve. I also thank my hon. Friend the Member for Bradford South (Judith Cummins), who has done sterling work in relation to the Better Bones campaign and the inextricable links between osteoporosis and menopause. My hon. Friend the Member for Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney (Gerald Jones) is, as ever, working in his constituency. He referred to his menopause workshop. I am really interested in the word bingo.”
“My hon. Friend is doing a fantastic job in this policy area. Given only half of NHS trusts have a fracture liaison service, does she agree that it is vital that that 50% figure grows week in, week out, to ensure that everyone gets get that service?”
“I was going to remind hon. Members to bob if they wanted to speak, but you have all bobbed, so thank you. I want to bring the Front Benchers in from 10.28 am.”
“Order. This is an intervention on the hon. Member for East Lothian (Kenny MacAskill), not on the Minister, and you will have to keep the intervention short as well.”
“Order. I am sorry—you will have to sit down, please. An intervention is made to ask a question of a Member; it should not be a small speech. It has to be very short, because the debate is only for half an hour. An intervention is not an alternative method of making a speech—it has to be a question.”
“On that point about evidence, so many medical records were destroyed. How is it possible to have an absolute evidential base for the reports, when the evidence seems to have been destroyed?”
“The mother of one of my constituents was given Primodos in August 1972, two years after the standing joint committee for propriety in medicine said that it should have been withdrawn. Warnings were there for years. Why did that happen? Does my hon. Friend agree that my constituent, and his mother and father, who are up in the Gallery today, require justice to be done, and to be seen to be done by way of redress?”
“The Public Authorities (Accountability) Bill—the Hillsborough law—would require public authorities to admit responsibility following adverse and mass casualty incidents. 97 people died as a result of Hillsborough, and a scandalous cover-up went on for decades. Would the hon. Gentleman agree with me, my constituents in the Gallery and other constituents in the Gallery, that it is time to end the cover-up and to establish how many people have died prematurely as a result of Primodos?”