Peter Dowd
MP for Bootle · Labour · United Kingdom
“I thank my hon. Friend for securing this debate. There are 4,154 people still on the road who have 12-plus points on their licence but who are not disqualified, on the grounds that it would cause disproportionate suffering to a third party. But what about the disproportionate suffering to families? Does my hon.”
House of Commons28 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I thank the Minister for setting out in a clear and unambiguous fashion the nature and content of the Bill’s 104 clauses and three schedules. I know that the Under-Secretary of State for Transport, my hon. Friend the Member for Wakefield and Rothwell (Simon Lightwood), will be equally clear when he winds up.”
House of Commons15 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“There is a history of toll roads in this country; many of them have been on Merseyside, including the two tunnels under the Mersey and the two bridges across the Mersey. What is wrong with that? What is wrong with legislation that will allow the Office of Rail and Road to be the independent regulator?”
House of Commons15 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I cannot quite see what the Conservatives find wrong with that. My hon. Friend the Member for Thurrock (Jen Craft), who is no longer in her place, referred to a ferry crossing. There has been a ferry across the River Mersey since 1150—a long time. King Stephen was the monarch at the time; the period was called the anarchy.”
House of Commons15 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I hope that when and if schemes are developed—whatever the nature of the scheme, be it toll or otherwise—the agencies that have a part to play in them will act with integrity, honesty and passion. If they do not, hon. Members across the House will ensure that they do.”
House of Commons15 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“My hon. Friend the Member for Macclesfield (Tim Roca) referred to Winston Churchill. I often like to refer to Shakespeare, because I think that goes a little above that. Shakespeare said: “no legacy is so rich as honesty.” Does my hon. Friend agree that this debate from the Opposition is dishonest?”
House of Commons14 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
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“I am unsure whether the Minister has considered the issue in relation to the victims charter. The victim’s family could be in court. Is there the potential, as part of the victims charter, to consult the family—”
House of Commons16 January 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Yes—to consult the victim or the victim’s family on that issue? The victim or their family could be sat there, and the person could be brought in and be challenging, difficult and so on. As part of victims’ rights, would the Minister consider giving consideration to the consultation of the victim or their family in those situations?”
House of Commons16 January 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Yes, I think it is important that families be consulted throughout the process and beyond it. The judge has discretion, but the victim should have the right to be consulted. What the judge does is a completely different matter, but the families or the victim should be consulted if appropriate.”
House of Commons16 January 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“This is an incredibly complex, difficult, challenging and sensitive subject. A question arises, though, and I will put it to the Minister. There are many definitions of grooming. There are international definitions —legal definitions in other countries—of what grooming is. So while I accept the point the Minister makes about trying to keep it flexible, we have the capacity to easily —if not easily, then as clearly as we can—determine what exploitation or grooming actually is. The work has been done and we have to build upon it. Does the Minister not agree that it is not beyond the wit of this Parliament to try to determine or define what we consider grooming to be? I say that with all of the sensitivity that I can bring.”
House of Commons16 January 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I hear the point that the Minister makes about the ability to vocalise. I gently challenge her on that one, however, because people who have been abused and exploited for many years, from childhood through, also find it incredibly difficult to vocalise. There is no question about that whatever. That is not to dismiss anything she says, but it is to recognise that vocalisation does not start at 18, 20 or 21; it might never, ever appear, given the nature of the exploitation and abuse that has happened to that particular person. I ask her just to think on that particular issue, not necessarily to respond now, but to put it into the mix.”
House of Commons16 January 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“On that particular point about possession of a SIM farm, the Bill says that a person charged with an offence under the clause must provide “good reason”. It goes on to state what the good reasons are, for example providing broadcasting services. However, I would have assumed that a broadcasting service would be already licensed; similarly, if a body is operating a genuine public transport service, it is probably a local authority. Could the Minister explain that “good reason” a bit more? It seems a bit woolly or wide to me. Somebody who is clever enough to run a SIM farm would be clever enough to find a way around that somehow. I want to support the Government in advancing their proposal, but is it possible to tighten it up a bit more?”
House of Commons11 January 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Once we have let this issue out of the bag, so to speak, we have to very carefully consider the implications further down the line in terms of institutional abuse, because that is what it amounts to.”
House of Commons11 January 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“My hon. Friends the Member for Birmingham, Yardley and the shadow Minister have made excellent points. Once we go into this, we start to find that there are areas we need to think out a bit more clearly. We may have to come back to this in due course, potentially in future legislation. My hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Yardley prompted me to think about the headteacher who committed suicide following an Ofsted inspection. The coroner’s court directly attributed that—partly, at the very least—to the institutional impact that that organisation had on her. Does my hon. Friend the shadow Minister agree that these are very important matters that we have to think through?”
House of Commons11 January 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“In advance of the Budget, what discussions has the Minister had with the Treasury regarding crucial funding for the development and uptake of human-specific technologies, as opposed to using 3 million animals for experimentation and research in the UK?”
House of Commons10 January 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“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.”
House of Commons13 December 2023Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“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.”
House of Commons6 December 2023Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“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.”
House of Commons5 December 2023Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“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.”
House of Commons5 December 2023Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“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.”
House of Commons5 December 2023Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“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.”
House of Commons5 December 2023Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“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.”
House of Commons5 December 2023Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“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.”
House of Commons5 December 2023Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“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.”
House of Commons5 December 2023Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“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.”
House of Commons5 December 2023Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“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.”
House of Commons5 December 2023Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“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.”
House of Commons5 December 2023Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“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.”
House of Commons29 November 2023Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“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.”
House of Commons27 November 2023Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“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.”
House of Commons27 November 2023Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“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.”
House of Commons27 November 2023Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“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.”
House of Commons27 November 2023Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“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.”
House of Commons27 November 2023Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“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.”
House of Commons27 November 2023Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“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.”
House of Commons27 November 2023Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“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.”
House of Commons27 November 2023Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“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.”
House of Commons26 October 2023Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“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.”
House of Commons26 October 2023Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“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.”
House of Commons26 October 2023Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“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.”
House of Commons26 October 2023Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“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.”
House of Commons26 October 2023Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“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.”
House of Commons26 October 2023Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“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.”
House of Commons26 October 2023Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“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.”
House of Commons26 October 2023Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“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.”
House of Commons26 October 2023Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“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.”
House of Commons26 October 2023Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Both are keen to do more to support their staff and to bridge the significant gaps in understanding around more complex menopause experiences.”
House of Commons26 October 2023Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“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.”
House of Commons26 October 2023Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“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.”
House of Commons26 October 2023Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“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.”
House of Commons26 October 2023Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“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.”
House of Commons26 October 2023Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“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.”
House of Commons26 October 2023Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“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.”
House of Commons26 October 2023Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“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?”
House of Commons26 October 2023Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“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.”
House of Commons26 October 2023Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“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.”
House of Commons26 October 2023Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗