Vicky Foxcroft
MP for Lewisham North · Labour · United Kingdom
“The commission gathered evidence from academics, youth workers, educators and, most importantly, young people themselves. It showed how many different factors influence a young person’s life.”
“Young people are our future. They are the future politicians, technicians, writers, sportspeople, physiotherapists or whatever they want to be. The laws, policies and funding that we put forward must help in building their future.”
“Strong mentors and trusted adults can deliver a change in attitude and get someone on the path towards a better future. Access to sport, youth activities and culture, improves a whole variety of outcomes. However, Government must go further with their ambitions.”
“I declare an interest: I have not smoked for more than a decade, and I vape. Does the Minister agree that we have to be careful that the language we use does not discourage people from changing from smoking to vaping? Vaping has been shown to be successful in getting many people to stop smoking. The health benefits are there.”
“Q10. Housing is one of the biggest issues in my constituency. Lewisham council is working hard to improve things, and is bringing its housing stock back in house.”
“I completely agree with everything the right hon. Gentleman has articulated so well. At the time, some saw this as a controversial topic for a private Member’s Bill—I am sure there have been more controversial topics since. [ Laughter.”
The complete record
Every one of 600 lines we hold for Vicky Foxcroft, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 3 of 12.
“May I say that the Government could have started by reinstating the Minister for Disabled People role to Minister of State level?”
“The situation is exacerbated by the fact that our current social security system puts disabled people through multiple upsetting and dehumanising assessments. They are denied their legal entitlements far too often, unless they have the strength and support to go through the appeals process. The Government’s White Paper, published last year, caused a huge amount of concern by proposing to scrap the work capability assessment, leaving disabled people reliant on the flawed personal independence payment assessment. The disability action plan does nothing to improve the assessment process. Without addressing those fundamental problems, the actions outlined in the plan feel like little more than tinkering around the edges. Disabled people need proper action that deals with all the societal barriers that make their lives challenging.”
“The Royal National Institute of Blind People noted in its initial analysis of the plan that “it’s disappointing there’s no mention of any…support measures to address the rising cost of living.” Scope, the disability equality charity, has calculated that, on average, disabled households face extra costs of £975 per month to have the same standard of living as non-disabled households. Energy bills, for example, remain high, which makes day-to-day living very expensive for those who rely on specialist medical equipment or need to heat their homes more than the average household. The Government have made two disability cost of living payments of £150, but many disabled people have told me those barely touched the sides, with many losing their warm home discount at the same time.”
“It is about time. I do not think any Member would argue that those are not important issues that the Government can and should look at, but there is one glaringly obvious issue that the action plan fails to address. The top concern for disabled people now is the cost of living crisis—not my assumption but what disabled people are telling me and what charities are finding on the ground. A survey carried out by Sense found that 85% of people with complex disabilities are worried about the rising cost of living.”
“They struggled to access food, personal protective equipment and social care, and many were shielding. The question we must ask is why a national strategy for disabled people was not published until 28 July 2021, in the summer recess, with no chance for parliamentary scrutiny. I am grateful to have the opportunity to respond to the Minister today. The disability action plan contains some positives. It attempts to address some of the well-known barriers that disabled people continue to face, through measures such as tackling guide dog refusals, raising the profile of assistive technology and increasing support for disabled people to take part in politics. There is also a commitment to British Sign Language interpretation at all No. 10 press conferences, which many will remember that I have argued for on numerous occasions.”
“I thank the Minister for advance sight of her statement. The Government have had consultation after consultation, and they have published different strategies, but it sadly remains the case that we have had nothing that actually delivers a better life for disabled people. The Conservative party’s 2019 manifesto promised to deliver “a National Strategy for Disabled People before the end of 2020.” It claimed this would be an ambitious strategy to support disabled people in all aspects and phases of their life. What have we actually seen? The Government finally launched their disability survey in January 2021, and it closed in April 2021, at the start of the pandemic. Disabled people were disproportionately affected by covid, accounting for six in 10 deaths.”
“That cannot be right. The Government must do far more to help these people. I conclude by once again congratulating the hon. Member for Tewkesbury on his dedication in bringing forward this important Bill. It is a step in the right direction, and we fully support its aims.”
“I question why the DWP did not look this issue at the time of the change. While the issues do differ—that legislation related to benefit payments, while this Bill relates to workplace pensions—it is important to have consistency, so that those with a terminal illness have clarity on their entitlements. With that in mind, I hope the Minister can offer some reassurance that the definition of a terminal illness will be consistent across the DWP and its various agencies if this Bill makes it on to the statute book. The Conservative cost of living crisis continues to hit families hard. This Government’s reckless decisions crushed the economy, sent mortgage rates soaring and sent energy bills through the roof. Receiving a terminal diagnosis is incredibly difficult at any time, but too many people are spending the time they have left in poverty.”
“Research carried out by that charity in 2022 painted a harrowing picture: 90,000 people die in poverty in the UK every year, one in four people who die while of working age are in poverty at the end of their life, and one in six UK adults would be wholly reliant on benefits if they became terminally ill. The cost of living crisis has worsened since those figures were published, so I fear that the situation is more severe now. As I say, the DWP’s definition of a terminal illness for the purposes of social security rules is now set at “less than 12 months to live”, having been increased from six months by the Social Security (Special Rules for End of Life) Act 2022. We supported that legislation as it was the right thing to do, it and should provide some small reassurance to those in the most difficult circumstances.”
“Those with a terminal illness should have the dignity of spending the time they have left in comfort; their stress should not be further compounded by financial worries. Therefore, we wholeheartedly agree with the aims of the Bill. It will, of course, only benefit a relatively small number of people: it relates only to those who have a defined benefit pension that is being assessed by the Pension Protection Fund or the Financial Assistance Scheme. However, it is a step in the right direction, and I hope we can build on it to improve things for all those living with a terminal illness, because at the moment, the reality is truly shocking. I pay tribute to the Marie Curie charity for all the work it has done to highlight the financial struggles of the terminally ill.”
“I congratulate the hon. Member for Tewkesbury (Mr Robertson) on bringing the Pensions (Special Rules for End of Life) Bill before the House today for its Second Reading. The Bill seeks to expand the eligibility criteria for receiving terminal illness payments from the Pension Protection Fund and the Financial Assistance Scheme to all those with less than 12 months to live, an increase from the existing six months. That will bring eligibility in line with the Department for Work and Pensions’ own definition of terminal illness for the purposes of social security payments. The shock and distress caused by a terminal diagnosis for the individual and their loved ones cannot be overstated.”
“With the right investment and a full-time MP in its corner, Great Yarmouth could power Great Britain through the quadrupling of offshore wind, energy bills coming down, thousands of new green industrial jobs and apprenticeships with quality training locally. That is just one of the ways in which Labour will give our coastal communities their future back. With that, I look forward to hearing from the Minister, who I am absolutely certain is an expert on this issue.”
“To thrive, communities need good jobs and affordable homes. More than a quarter of a million people in rural England are on a housing waiting list, yet the Government are on course to miss their targets on new rural affordable homes. Labour will work with local councils to ensure that their voice has traction in delivering what is needed for rural and coastal communities. I want to finish with some comments from conversations that I had with Keir Cozens, Labour’s candidate in Great Yarmouth, who is leading a campaign to prioritise good-quality, year-round, local jobs in the industries of tomorrow. With it having an unemployment rate of more than 6%, 14 years of an absent MP and Tory Government failure have squandered Great Yarmouth’s potential.”
“Earlier this month, the Government published a statement on their levelling-up missions, which outlined their “objectives to reduce geographical disparities”. It is perhaps surprising, then, that none of those 12 missions is targeted specifically at rural or coastal areas. The levelling-up White Paper at least acknowledges the specific problems faced by rural and coastal areas. However, there has so far been little evidence of any meaningful action to reverse the growing disconnect between urban areas and their rural and coastal counterparts. A future Labour Government will breathe life back into our rural and coastal communities and break down the barriers to opportunity that they face. We will address the challenges, disconnection and disparities that we have heard about today through improved cross-Government working.”
“As shadow Minister for disabled people, I find it particularly noteworthy that economic inactivity due to long-term sickness is highest in coastal communities. The shadow Work and Pensions team is keen to investigate that further and work with colleagues in the Health team to tackle it. Rural communities face issues including poor transport links, a lack of digital infrastructure and challenges around social activities and related isolation. I am sure that I need not remind anyone who represents a rural constituency that the delay to the Government’s plan to roll out gigabit-speed broadband to every home in Britain by 2025 felt like a kick in the teeth to those struggling with their current speeds. People who live in areas that are both rural and coastal are hit by a double whammy of inequality.”
“This debate has made it clear that people living in rural and coastal communities face a unique set of challenges. Economic inactivity, which Members are keen to tackle, is highest in those areas. This debate has primarily focused on employment, but that is only one part of the picture. Almost 14 years of Tory austerity, coupled with the pandemic and the cost of living crisis, have left many of these communities broken. Coastal communities face higher levels of deprivation, inward migration of older people and outward migration of young people, as highlighted by the hon. Member for Ynys Môn—see, I went for a second go. They also have higher levels of physical isolation and poor quality housing, and they often have a seasonal economy.”
“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dr Huq. I congratulate the hon. Member for Ynys Môn (Virginia Crosbie) on securing this debate. For fear of pronouncing her constituency wrongly, after she spoke to me earlier about it, I will perhaps not try to do so again. I was interested to hear the hon. Lady outline her concerns about employment in her area and in similar rural and coastal constituencies. She has campaigned for a long time to bring more jobs and investment to the area. She made really good points about the need for more cross-departmental working, which I feel very passionate about. The hon. Member for Waveney (Peter Aldous) rightly outlined where this debate should lie and pointed out the challenges that arise when this issue is not prioritised.”
“Labour’s plan for a new deal for working people, for affordable energy, for safe and dry homes and to get people better jobs and better pay is the long-term plan that we are focused on delivering, but today we need to hear the Government’s plans. As my hon. Friend the Member for Wansbeck (Ian Lavery) said, the people who rely on this fund are desperate. They are pleading—begging—for food and we must give certainty on the future of the fund.”
“Local authorities, such as my own in the London Borough of Lewisham, are being left in limbo as they try to plan for their 2024-2025 budgets, which may lead to interruptions to service provision and job losses. In an ideal world, we would not consider the future of the household support fund in isolation. When the fund was announced, my hon. Friend the Member for Stalybridge and Hyde (Jonathan Reynolds), who at the time was our shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, said: “Temporary and inadequate sticking plasters are no substitute for a proper social security system that offers security to families in hard times.” That remains true. However, for now, it is for the Government to say whether or not the fund will continue for next year.”
“Both boroughs are using the household support fund to pay for free school meal vouchers during the holidays—many Members mentioned this issue—but the home borough bases support on a pupil’s school address, while the other bases it on their home address. This frustrating situation means my constituent is missing out on support that both boroughs are, in theory, happy to provide. It is worth noting that, while local authorities are best placed to spend the money how they see fit, the variation in how one qualifies for support can lead to problems. This debate has made it clear that the Government must carefully consider the future of the household support fund.”
“As shadow Minister for disabled people, it concerns me that the future of the household support fund is in doubt while we are still in the grip of a cost of living crisis. My hon. Friend the Member for Tamworth (Sarah Edwards) spoke for the first time in Westminster Hall—I have to say, I could not tell—and outlined the cost of living pressures her local constituents face: higher energy bills and the extra costs that disabled households face. My hon. Friend the Member for Worsley and Eccles South (Barbara Keeley) highlighted devastating cases of people fleeing domestic abuse and the way in which the household support fund has supported them. I would like to highlight an issue I have come across in my constituency casework. My office is trying to assist a young person who lives in one borough and attends a school in another.”
“As we have heard, since its announcement in September 2021, the household support fund has provided much-needed short-term support to many vulnerable households. However, as we head towards the Chancellor’s spring Budget, its future remains uncertain. All hon. Members have outlined why the fund is so needed at the moment. The right hon. Member for Newcastle upon Tyne East (Mr Brown) and my hon. Friends the Members for Bolton South East (Yasmin Qureshi) and for York Central (Rachael Maskell) mentioned the financial challenges that local authorities are under and the vital support that the fund provides. My hon. Friend the Member for Salford and Eccles (Rebecca Long Bailey) outlined research on why it is such a vital lifeline.”
“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Hosie. I congratulate my right hon. Friend the Member for East Ham (Sir Stephen Timms) on securing the debate, and I thank him for his invaluable work as Chair of the Work and Pensions Committee. This debate is hugely important, as we can see from the number of Members present. I am frequently grateful for the rigour with which the Committee conducts its inquiries and for the superb job that it does of holding the Department to account. The question that all Members are asking today—I started writing down individual Members, but it was literally all of them—is “Will the household support fund still be there?” That is a question to which I hope the Minister can respond today.”
“I congratulate the right hon. and learned Member for North East Hertfordshire (Sir Oliver Heald) on putting forward such articulate arguments. I hope he will not mistake my brevity for not being absolutely serious, but I am certain that he wants to hear from the Minister, as do the families in the Gallery. As such, I will leave my remarks there—I am happy to share the notes that I had prepared if the right hon. and learned Member would like them. Labour will support the Bill.”
“I also want to add my voice to calls for an update on when the major conditions strategy will be published. I end as others have, by paying tribute to the organisations that support people with MSK conditions—many are here today and without them many people would be struggling even more than they already are. I reiterate what my right hon. Friend the Member for Hayes and Harlington said. Government must engage with those affected by these conditions. After all, these people are the experts by experience.”
“I think we will all agree that there is not much sign of progress. Secondly, the much-criticised Disability Confident scheme is also in need of urgent reform. Recent analysis by Disability@Work shows that even employers who have achieved level 3—the highest level—are no more likely to employ disabled people than those who have not signed up to the scheme. It also shows that disabled people working for Disability Confident employers do not report better experiences than those working for employers who are not members of the scheme. The Minister’s predecessor admitted to the Work and Pensions Committee in the summer that it was time for a root-and-branch review of Disability Confident, so I am interested to know what progress has been made.”
“It is simply more pilots, and more exploring what to do, from a Government who have been in power for over 13 years. Furthermore, will the Government be open and transparent, and publish the details of those pilots? I have asked for this information in many written parliamentary questions, and sadly they are not forthcoming. I would like to touch on two initiatives, the first of which is Access to Work. The Minister already knows some of my thoughts on this, but I will reiterate them. Her predecessor, the hon. Member for Corby (Tom Pursglove), when asked numerous times, continued to assure me that the Department for Work and Pensions has increased the number of staff working to clear the Access to Work backlog, but it does not appear to be going down. In November 2022, the backlog was 25,281, but a year later, it was 24,339.”
“First, I would like to place on record my concern about the fact that the Department has made no estimate of the number of people awaiting treatment. That prompts the question of whether it really has a grip on the extent of the problem. In her response, the Minister outlined the package of measures set out in the spring Budget and the autumn statement to tackle the leading health-related causes of economic inactivity, including MSK conditions. Those measures include introducing employment advisers into MSK services, developing and scaling up MSK community hubs, and making the best use of digital health technologies, alongside various pilots and commitments to exploring new ways of providing timely support and improving occupational health problems. That is not ambitious.”
“There was a really strong campaign for those workers, and it really made a difference for them. Over 20 million people in the UK, or almost a third of the population, have an MSK condition. However, with NHS waiting lists at a near-record high, people are waiting months for trauma treatment or orthopaedic treatment. As many people have already said, according to Versus Arthritis, over 1 million people are waiting for such treatment, many of them having to put their life on hold while they wait. In 2021 alone, arthritis and other MSK conditions resulted in the loss of 23.3 million working days. Last month, I asked the Minister several written questions on what steps her Department is taking to help people with MSK conditions to re-enter the workforce.”
“Along with mental health conditions, musculoskeletal conditions—or MSK conditions, as I will refer to them, to make sure that I do not pronounce “musculoskeletal” incorrectly—are one of the main reasons for long-term sickness. They affect one in five of the people defined as being economically inactive. As my right hon. Friend the Member for Hayes and Harlington said so eloquently and respectfully, we need proper resourcing of the HSE. That is really important in terms of cross-departmental working. Also, the HSE is a very powerful example of employers, trade unions and others working together. He cited the example of baggage handling workers. I was personally involved with such work myself before I was an MP, when I was working for Unite the union.”
“The Minister will already be aware of my thoughts about the Prime Minister’s decision to downgrade her role as the Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work. I assure her that I will do all I can to get her and her role repromoted to where they should be. It is so important that we do that. The number of people who are economically inactive because of long-term sickness has risen to over 2.5 million, which is an increase of more than 400,000 since the start of the pandemic, and the figure is now higher than ever. That has a huge impact on our economy, as well as on individuals’ health, wellbeing and ability to support themselves and their families. The increase in the number of people off work because of long-term sickness since the pandemic is costing the country an extra £15.7 billion a year.”
“It is a pleasure, Dame Caroline, to serve under your chairship, and I am grateful for the opportunity to respond to this debate on behalf of the shadow work and pensions team. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Wirral West (Margaret Greenwood) on securing this debate. She is absolutely right to say that the Government must have a cross-departmental strategy to address this issue, and must ensure that the Health and Safety Executive is properly funded to ensure that all of us are safe in the workplace. They do that alongside trade unions. Many important points have been made in the debate and I hope that the Minister will respond to them in detail. I apologise to my right hon. Friend the Member for Hayes and Harlington (John McDonnell), because I must make a little criticism of the Government and nudge them at this point.”
“I thank the Minister for giving way. She has pointed to a number of Government pilots and I know there are other pilots. In my contribution, I asked whether the Government would be transparent and publish data on those pilots. Does the Minister want to put on the record whether the Government would be willing to do that?”
“Many Members across the House have mentioned the ITV drama and it may interest them to know that the director of “Mr Bates vs The Post Office” is in the Gallery. He has been watching Prime Minister’s questions and this urgent question closely, hoping for some positive news. It is welcome that we have had some positive news, but he has a few questions for me to ask the Minister. He really wants to know: what are the timeframes for overturning the convictions? I know that we have heard some answers on that, but a bit more detail would be helpful. When will people finally receive the full compensation they deserve? When will those responsible finally be held to account?”
“It is a pleasure to welcome the new Minister to her post. After a week of no news, I was starting to worry that the Prime Minister was not going to appoint anyone. I think she is aware of the huge Access to Work backlog her predecessor failed to tackle. Over the last year, it has reduced by only 942, with a staggering 24,339 still waiting, so hardly a dent has been made. What will she do to speed this up and ensure that thousands of disabled people are not left waiting months to start work?”
“All we see from this Government are delays: delays processing Access to Work applications; delays publishing the disability action plan; and now delays in appointing the new Minister. When her new role was finally announced, it had been downgraded from Minister of State to Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State. What message does she think that sends to disabled people, and will she push to be made Minister of State like her predecessor?”
“Finally, while judges are perhaps better placed than most to understand their choices under the options exercise, will extra independent advice be needed? As the Government stated previously, this is a rather unique situation, and it is important that each person affected makes the right choice for them and their family. Is the Minister confident that existing advice services such as the Money and Pensions Service will be able to offer the necessary guidance? Will the Government make any further efforts to ensure that informed decisions are made? As I said, we welcome the regulations and their intended aim of providing a remedy for those who have faced discrimination. We want the situation to be resolved in a fair way as soon as possible, and I will be interested to hear the Minister’s response to the points we have raised.”
“The Opposition will not oppose the draft regulations, as we need this remedy to be put in place as quickly as possible, but I hope the Minister will address a couple of points. First, I note that when the regulations were debated in the other place back in June, the Minister in the Lords was unable to conclusively answer if they were the final regulations needed to implement the McCloud remedy. Six months on, can the Minister provide that clarification? Can he also shed light on the proposed timetable for implementing the remedy? Many judges and their families will eagerly await the chance to make their decision on it, so it is important that the scheme is launched without any further delay.”
“Thank you, Sir Edward. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship. I thank the Minister for his explanation of these very complex yet wholly necessary regulations. I think his ministerial counterpart in the other place, Lord Bellamy, said it best when he labelled them “44 pages of the densest technical complexity one could imagine.” —[ Official Report, House of Lords, 15 June 2023; Vol. 830, c. GC375.] These measures seek to provide a remedy in response to the McCloud judgment in 2018. In that ruling, the Court of Appeal found that the Government’s 2015 reforms to judicial pensions constituted unlawful direct age discrimination and indirect race and sex discrimination. Although it is worrying that the 2015 reforms overlooked those issues, I welcome the Government’s acceptance of the ruling.”
“T10. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder medications are essential to many people. In response to my written question last month, the Department outlined “disruptions to the supply”, which are expected to “resolve in early 2024”. How have the Government allowed that to happen? What plans does the Department have to prevent a similar situation from occurring in the future?”
“T2. Many of my constituents have faced significant delays when applying for biometric residence permit cards because of technical errors. One constituent, whose application was approved in July 2020, did not receive their BRP until January 2023 because of printing issues. What actions are being taken to address the technical problems contributing to delays in processing BRP applications? I hope the Home Secretary can answer that question.”
“In his conference speech, the Secretary of State said there would be a revolution in employment support for people with health conditions and disabilities. Does this revolution include a backlog of 22,432 people waiting for an Access to Work decision, with an average delay of 48 days? Ministers need to get a grip of support for disabled people, rather than vilifying them. The Government’s lack of real action often prevents disabled people from working. Labour has a plan for delivery, so instead of endless reshuffles, why does the Minister not ask his boss to call a general election now?”
“Ministers should be taking every opportunity they can to co-produce policy with disabled people, who are the experts by experience, and to ensure that their needs are being met in every part of life.”
“In 2016, an investigation found that “grave or systemic violations” of disabled people’s rights had taken place because of welfare reforms in the UK since 2010. In 2017, at the first periodic review, the Conservative Government were judged to have taken insufficient action to implement earlier recommendations. The next review is ongoing, but the Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work, the hon. Member for Corby (Tom Pursglove), who was on the Front Bench earlier and I wish was now, caused further concern by refusing to attend an evidence session in August 2023. The Government must do better. Twenty-four per cent of the UK population identify as disabled, and we must stop letting them down. We must break down the barriers that exist in society.”
“After months of waiting, the proposals for the plan were published during the summer recess—again—and the consultation closed a month ago. Disappointingly, the plan does not contain a cohesive set of actions to bring about the changes disabled people so desperately need. Thirdly, we have the health and disability White Paper that sets out some plans to reform employment support and disability benefit. Its most significant proposal is the scrapping of the work capability assessments, which has left many people concerned that the system will rely solely on the flawed personal independence payment assessment. All this should be considered in the context of the United Nations convention on the rights of persons with disabilities, which seeks to ensure that disabled people’s rights are promoted and protected.”
“Ministers tell us that they have brought forth a number of measures to improve disabled people’s rights and tackle the barriers they continue to face, so let us have a look at some of them in turn. First, we come to the national disability strategy, which was announced in the 2019 Queen’s Speech. The strategy was much delayed before its eventual publication, in the summer recess of 2021. Although claiming to be bold, it introduced little new policy for disabled people and instead relied on other pieces of Government work. It was then held up by a lengthy court case brought by disabled people who disputed whether the consultation process had been lawful. Had the Government engaged in proper co-production, the court case would not have been necessary. Next came the disability action plan, which was quietly announced in December last year.”
“When Scope last calculated the price tag, in 2019, it stood at an average of £583 per month for households containing at least one disabled person. Over the past four years, that has risen to a shocking £975 per month, which equates to 63% of household income. That means that disabled households need to find almost £12,000 extra per year to achieve the same living standards as non-disabled households. The impact of the rising costs is exacerbated by the fact that disabled people also tend to have lower than average incomes. In its January 2023 report, the Resolution Foundation found that the gap in household income in respect of adults with a disability and adults without one was about 30% when including disability benefits, and 44% when excluding them.”
“On the anniversary of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, I have to say that it is disappointing that not much in the King’s Speech delivered for disabled people. After 13 years of Conservative-led Governments, disabled people feel that they are an afterthought and that their rights are not fully protected and promoted in this country. It is shocking that we are still having these conversations in 2023. Progress has gone backwards, not forwards. It is well documented that the pandemic and the cost of living crisis have had a disproportionate effect on disabled people. That comes on top of the fact that extra costs are already associated with having a disability. Earlier this year, disability equality charity Scope released updated research on the extra costs associated with having a disability—the so-called disability price tag.”
“At a vigil outside Parliament this morning, the names of some of the more than 2,000 children killed so far in Gaza were read out. Children in Gaza have begun writing their names on their hands so that they can be identified and buried with their families when they are killed. What action are the Government taking to prevent more children being harmed in Israel’s military action and to ensure a rapid end to this conflict?”
“I end by saying that the Act was an important first step, but as this debate has shown, there is still a lot more work to do.”