Dr Rupa Huq
MP for Ealing Central and Acton · Labour · United Kingdom
“In the years since we have seen the influence of traditional broadcasters disrupted by online news and the two things are intertwined. Ofcom must pull its socks up.”
House of Commons29 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“On Talk radio last year, Mike Graham stated of dinghies that we should “destroy them, set fire to them, flamethrow them, do whatever you want with them.” There is no published Ofcom action. It has twice upheld complaints against that anchor, but there are no published financial penalties or statutory sanctions.”
House of Commons29 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“In fact, as its remit has expanded, Ofcom’s published investigations have shrunk; there are fewer and fewer, and long delays. In 2019 there were 142 editorial cases, but by 2025 there were just 36, and decisions in recent years have been glacially slow.”
House of Commons29 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“It often says, “People didn’t complain in the official form, so we are not doing anything about it.” It has defended at all costs channels that style themselves as disruptors but are actually echo chambers lazily putting out the same old content.”
House of Commons29 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“It is a genuine pleasure to follow three excellent speeches, with which mine will overlap to some extent. Ofcom’s role is vast. It has grown exponentially since it was set up in 2003, and it now has in its clutches online harms and the whole minefield of regulating social media, but my focus today will be on broadcasting.”
House of Commons29 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Section 2 of the Ofcom broadcasting code spells out the duty to protect the public from “harmful and/or offensive material”, section 3.2 explicitly forbids “hate speech”, and section 3.3 stipulates: “Material which contains abusive or derogatory treatment of individuals, groups, religions or communities, must not be included in” broadcast…”
House of Commons29 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
The complete record
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“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Efford. I am here today because three separate constituents have come to my Friday surgery and opened my eyes to how the existing framework in this country is ethically, practically, morally and scientifically bankrupt. I pay tribute to the valiant protesters at Camp Beagle who, for 18 months, have been outside the gates of Marshall Bio Resources in Cambridgeshire—it is happening not too far from here. I was sent some secretly obtained footage of just a couple of minutes, not highlights culled from several hours, and it was concerning and upsetting to see the barbaric conditions that the beagles are kept in, as my hon. Friend the Member for Canterbury (Rosie Duffield) said. Beagles are good-natured animals who will not bite back, as my hon.”
House of Commons16 January 2023Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“For Iranians, it is the only independent media source out there. It is unbelievable. The decision is putting hundreds of jobs at risk, and the service is due to have the plug pulled this April, despite having 18 million regular users. This happens as Iran shuts down the internet and imprisons journalists on spurious charges of terrorism, such as the two brave women who broke the Mahsa Amini story. Iran wants to curtail information flow, and we cannot allow that to happen. Rosa Parks and Emmeline Pankhurst—these women’s names are inscribed in our history, and the struggles they fought led to action. Let Mahsa Amini’s death be the start of a different, new Iranian revolution towards freedom, justice and democracy. It is time for “Zan, Zendegi, Azadi”—woman, life, freedom.”
House of Commons12 January 2023Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“We saw Magnitsky-style sanctions come into action quickly after the invasion of Ukraine. The same thing should be happening with Iran. The Met police and the National Crime Agency could between them set up a unit to identify who these people are and seize their assets. Fourthly, we must stop supplying anti-riot equipment directly or indirectly to the Iranian regime. It is a matter of shame that there is solid evidence that tear gas made in the UK has been used against protesters despite sanctions. That is shocking. Fifthly—my right hon. Friend the Member for Leeds Central (Hilary Benn), who was a long-time Ealing councillor, is no longer in his place, but he talked about the media—we must stop the closure of the BBC Persian radio service at this critical moment when it is needed more than ever.”
House of Commons12 January 2023Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“We should be looking into this notion of Members of this House acting as political sponsors—we have all had emails, and I am unsure how it works, and I would like to hear from the Minister about the exact mechanics—of those facing execution and imprisonment for exercising their right to peaceful protest following bogus trials. Secondly, we should designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation. They have done it in the US, France, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and those are all allies of ours. Thirdly, there is something we can do even before banning the IRGC, which would be to extend sanctions beyond named IRGC regime officials to their close family members. It is an open secret that many of the regime’s family members and oligarchs live, have property and assets and/or operate businesses in the UK.”
House of Commons12 January 2023Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Instead, Iran has hijacked a peaceful global religion with its twisted Shi’a sectarian anti-western worldview, and it calls itself “Islamic Republic”. What can and should we do to support the Iranian people fighting for freedom? One Iranian-born woman who came to my advice surgery the other day was asking, “Why is my adopted country staying silent and harbouring criminals?” We have not exactly stayed silent, but we could do better. This House should express its solidarity with the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement. There are five relatively easy steps that we could take immediately. First, the Prime Minister must condemn the executions. We are talking about the death penalty here. We need to stop the executions.”
House of Commons12 January 2023Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“While it was reassuring to see our Foreign Secretary summon Iran’s most senior diplomat after the regime executed two more protesters only this weekend, after what the UN labelled as “unfair trials based on forced confessions”, widespread international condemnation, including from the EU and numerous nation states must be matched with concrete action. We have heard a lot of suggestions today. Why should women have men dictate what they do or do not wear, putting them in fear of violent reprisals? Iran is a signatory of international treaties and conventions that grant citizens, including women and children, basic rights and freedoms. Given the age of the protesters, these treaties should ensure those rights. The authorities have an obligation to respect freedom of expression and belief.”
House of Commons12 January 2023Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“They accused him of being a spy. He was 69 at the time and he experienced two months of solitary confinement and eventually went into a diabetic coma as they wouldn’t give him his meds. He nearly died.” Others describe how minority populations, such as the Iranians Kurds and others from Balochistan, are even further at the sharp end of this brutal tyranny. The Iranian regime does all it can to suppress protest and quell news of it spreading by cutting the internet and spreading a campaign of disinformation on state and social media.”
House of Commons12 January 2023Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“A lady in Ealing told me: “My own cousin was abducted, blindfolded with her hands and feet tied, thrown in a van and taken to an unknown location, all for chanting ‘freedom’. She’s 25 and was beaten so severely, then thrown off from the van, and she was so distorted she had no idea where she was. It took my family 24 hours to find her. We were however extremely lucky that she was not raped or killed…My cousins have to burn things such as paper or clothing to be able to breathe as it cancels the gases the regime releases in order to deter the protesters.” Another constituent—she is ex-Montpelier Primary, like me, although she is a lot younger than me, as everyone seems to be nowadays—highlights how this repression is not new. She said: “My father was also taken and put in the notorious Evin prison…nine years ago.”
House of Commons12 January 2023Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“This debate has sparked great interest among my constituents, and they have furnished me with shocking detail of what is unfolding back home to add to the statistics, were they not shocking enough. Four months after the killing of Mahsa Amini, it is estimated that 516 protesters have been killed in anti-Government protests in Iran. Many more have been maimed and tortured. The Human Rights Activists News Agency has said that the dead include 70 children, and approximately 70% of the population of Iran are under the age of 30. The number arrested is now at 19,200—it is going up by the minute—and that includes 687 students, and there are scary stories of how food in student canteens has been poisoned.”
House of Commons12 January 2023Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“We can contrast those, for me, innocent days with the shame that our diaspora community felt this time round for supporting Iran, and by extension the Iranian regime. When the current team chose not to sing the national anthem in support of the ongoing protests—all 11 of them were in silence as the music played in that flashy stadium in Qatar—it was a massive statement, taking huge courage. It was truly sickening to see just this week the 26-year-old Iranian footballer Amir Nasr-Azadani sentenced to 16 years in prison for taking part in nationwide protests. The offence is sinisterly termed “partaking in enmity against God”, even though the laughably named morality police have been disbanded. We have heard the roll call of other names today.”
House of Commons12 January 2023Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“According to 2021 census figures, of all UK local authorities, Ealing has the fourth highest number of people born in Iran and the fourth highest—there is a pattern here—number of Iranian passport holders. I remember an influx of new classmates arriving from Tehran when I was at Montpelier Primary School in 1978, in anticipation of the Iranian revolution of 1979, following unrest. That revolution brought Ayatollah Khomeini and his evil brand of clerical rule to power. Because I was just six at the time, I was not really following the politics of it, but I do remember that England did not qualify for the World cup that year and “Blue Peter” suggested supporting Scotland. In our class, however, Iran was the top choice.”
House of Commons12 January 2023Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Although the protesters are often just teenagers, the movement cuts across gender, generation and class. And the regime’s response? Violent crackdown—more bloody suppression, killing, sham trials and barbaric public executions, of which there have been four since December and there were two just this weekend. More than 100 are at imminent risk of execution. In addition, there is routine censorship, monitoring and poverty, to the point that lack of water is a concern—predictably, the country’s gas and oil profits do not reach the people. Recent mobilisations have reverberated, with solidarity protests across continents. My constituency has amassed the fourth highest number of signatures to the two petitions that launched this debate.”
House of Commons12 January 2023Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“It is a pleasure to follow the Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, the hon. Member for Rutland and Melton (Alicia Kearns), who speaks with such passion and authority on this very unpleasant subject. The wave of popular uprisings that have erupted across Iran have woken the world up to its top-down totalitarian regime at its most inhumane. At the start of last autumn, Mahsa Amini was not a household name, but in the aftermath of her supposed death in custody for mis-wearing a hijab, the 22-year-old has become the rallying cause behind a surge of popular protest. Protesters are often young, and they are often women who publicly remove their enforced headscarves and set them alight, chant for freedom, and cut their hair in defiance of a brutal theocratic regime. Men, too, have taken to the streets.”
House of Commons12 January 2023Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Could the Minister shed light on the technicality of us as Members of Parliament sponsoring people on death row in Iran? I am confused about the technicalities—maybe some guidance could be issued to us. I am also happy to write to him on the tear gas point.”
House of Commons12 January 2023Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“T9. First we saw footage of the Prime Minister admitting to activists that he had diverted money away from urban Labour-voting areas. Then we saw the ex-Culture Secretary, the right hon. Member for Mid Bedfordshire (Ms Dorries), saying that the decision to defund the English National Opera was “politically motivated” and a “stunt”. To avoid accusations that levelling up is based merely on Tory targets and is anti-London, can the Minister tell us which funding formulas were changed, with what justification, and on whose authority?”
House of Commons9 January 2023Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I am sure that like me, Mr Speaker, you long for the days of cool Britannia under a Labour Government. Touring musicians and performers are now hamstrung with restrictions and red tape because of the Government’s botched Brexit deal. We need a Christmas miracle, don’t we? When will the Government accept that this as a problem, and what are they doing about it?”
House of Commons20 December 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“November’s Holodomor Memorial Day to remember Stalin’s enforced starvation of millions of Ukrainians with the intended purpose of wiping out their entire culture and society particularly resonated in this 90th year, given what Putin is doing at the moment in that country. Every March, the Armenian diaspora solemnly commemorates the systematic extermination of more than 1 million of their forebears over an eight-year period, and there is also trouble in that region now in Nagorno-Karabakh. Our closest ally, the US, recognises both of these as genocide. Given the painful reverberations today, why can’t we?”
House of Commons13 December 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The Royal British Legion has issued 20% more basic support grants in the last year. Help for Heroes reports that requests for help are up by 28%, confirmed by what Ealing Ex-Servicemen’s Club tells me, which also covers mental health issues. Why is the MOD not allocating specific funding for veterans’ cost of living and associated issues this year? When will it match Labour’s promise to increase veterans’ mental health support by £55 million, to protect those who protected us?”
House of Commons12 December 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I just want to broaden the debate from ATMs to bank hubs. These were promised as a panacea for towns where the last bank has gone, such as Acton. It is not just about rural communities. Acton was one of 10 places that were promised a bank hub last December, but nothing has happened. There is a lack of will, and they are under-resourced and voluntary. Perhaps there is an argument for more regulation to make them happen, because The Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail were saying in the autumn that none of these—zero—has happened, but I understand that since then two of them have. In the meantime, Acton is a cash desert. In 2018 we lost our post office, never to be replaced. What advice does the Minister have for me? How can he compel that bank hub to open?”
House of Commons7 December 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“In a case that is sadly all too typical, a GP in Ealing, who has seen their patient list go up from 3,000 to 9,000 in the last decade, had plans approved for expansion, but NHS estates now will not cough up. What are the Government doing to support doctors in inadequate premises who cannot increase their patient lists to expand and modernise in the current climate?”
House of Commons6 December 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“With the axe looming over the English National Opera and the Donmar Warehouse—both national attractions that have helped the tourism the Minister has described to be a multibillion-pound industry for so many years—and local newbies such as the Ealing Project venue and ActOne cinema facing a tough environment with the post-covid footfall downturn and looming bills, could the Government, now that they are in reset mode, reconsider the impact of Arts Council cuts on London so that we can get tourism flowing through our capital again, from centre to suburb?”
House of Commons1 December 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Although I congratulate the LFB on having the courage to have Nazir Afzal in to do his work and to find these distressing and troubling conclusions—in the Minister’s words—what is to say other forces and institutions are not afflicted by or riddled with the same unacceptable behaviour? As the hon. Member for Twickenham (Munira Wilson) said, examples have been found in the Met police that are way more than just the odd bad apple. What advice does the Minister have for employees elsewhere, who are forced to suffer in silence and hide in the shadows in their workplaces, so that this never happens again anywhere?”
House of Commons28 November 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The hon. Gentleman is making an excellent and timely speech, and I praise his stewardship in leading parliamentarians on the Council of Europe. His mention of Turkey reminded me that there are elections in that country next year. Does he agree that the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe also does sterling democracy-extending work in the Balkans and more widely in election monitoring? He mentioned Bosnia—he and I were observing the elections in Sarajevo last month—but such work extends to America, where I was election observing. The organisation also had border scrutineers in Ukraine during the lead-up to war. Does he further agree that its work has been vital?”
House of Commons16 November 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Q8. Does the Deputy Prime Minister’s comeback, on which I congratulate him, and the new direction of tomorrow, signal that the ban on no-fault evictions from the Conservative manifesto is back on after there was zilch from the previous Prime Minister? If so, will he get it on the statute book, using emergency powers if necessary, so that no family gets left, on a whim, out in the cold this winter?”
House of Commons16 November 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“T8. When 172 men, women and children who were asylum applicants in Acton were bussed suddenly to Ashford in Kent, 80 miles away from their schools, NHS networks and faith communities, it made the TV news. It happened because the private provider of hotel accommodation wanted it back. Will the Home Secretary look into that case, because there is a human cost to uprooting families at the drop of a hat, as well as the waste of taxpayer money in shifting people from hotel to hotel when they could be contributing and paying in if they were processed faster?”
House of Commons14 November 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“A respected woman pharmacist in my constituency, with a lifetime of NHS experience, went solo with her own practice in the hope and expectation of an NHS licence, which she has been denied. Will the Secretary of State look into the opaque decision-making process? Our increasing population otherwise means increasing demand, and my constituent cannot survive on private alone.”
House of Commons1 November 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“It will take some time to get used to, and there will be new stamps and coins in time. May she rest in eternal peace. God save the King.”
House of Commons10 September 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Kieron Gavan, mayor of Ealing in 2002, when the Queen came to Gunnersbury Park for the golden jubilee, said: “I asked if she was ever tempted to take the head off while knighting with her sword someone she didn’t like. She replied that it’d be totally inappropriate. But she might nick the neck a tiny bit if they’re particularly irritating.” He told me that she was charming, witty, smiley and utterly delightful company. Kieron said: “I’m a republican but became a huge fan, if she had stood for election I’d have voted for her.” We will never see her like again. She trained as a mechanic in the war, had children from the 40s to 60s who kept the line going, presided over United Nations and Commonwealth summits and was genuinely beloved. The words “end of the era” cannot sum up 70 years, but as the Elizabethan era ends, another begins.”
House of Commons10 September 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Many classmates who pulled a sickie got rumbled when the teacher saw them on the evening news, but she could not get too cross. This year, I actually requested that my sixth-former son be let off lessons for the Queen’s garden party. The teacher allowed it, making his absence part of their lesson on constitutional monarchy—which, of course, the Queen personified superlatively. Her seemingly limitless work ethic and workload continued until two days before her death—but the signs were there, with her non-attendance at the last garden party and at the Queen’s Speech, both delegated to the now King. Even sceptics who came into her orbit became converts.”
House of Commons10 September 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The Queen was a constant comforting presence, from her early days, as Princess Elizabeth, telling evacuated wartime kids not to worry, right up—by that time, she had mastered Zoom—to her covid reassurance, giving the same message to a worried nation. Her remarkable reign spanned 15 Prime Ministers, from Churchill when she was just 25 years old to her 15th this week, when she was obviously the older and wiser one, with the current PM half her age. She was Head of State to 15 other nations. She oversaw the transition from empire to Commonwealth. However, for locals my age, it will always be 1985 that we remember, when the Queen opened Ealing Broadway shopping centre. It felt that half the school had bunked off for it—except square old me.”
House of Commons10 September 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I never met Her late Majesty the Queen but I have been in her garden. She was a unifying presence for all of us, and her loss after a remarkable, iconic 96-year life leaves a huge hole. Recent years have seen her starring with Paddington Bear and James Bond, demonstrating her sense of fun alongside her sense of duty. For me, memories of that remarkable reign start with the silver jubilee in 1977. I remember my five-year-old mind being blown by the fact that I was sitting eating cake in the middle of Pitshanger Lane, a busy thoroughfare in Ealing. It was transformed for my first-ever street party; I went to dozens more as MP for the Queen’s platinum jubilee.”
House of Commons10 September 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Order. There are actually quite a few more people standing than submitted to speak through the Speaker’s Office, so I am afraid I will have to impose a time limit of three and a half minutes with immediate effect. We will see how that goes—it might shrink further.”
House of Commons8 September 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“T3. It is not just beaches. In 2021, Ealing and Acton saw 34 raw sewage dumps—216 hours’ worth—including in the dear old River Brent. Did taking back control mean returning to being the dirty man of Europe? Is it any wonder that “Brexit opportunities” has vanished from the new ministerial responsibilities?”
House of Commons8 September 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Whoever decided to try to change the terms of the debate, does that not display a concerning disregard for scrutiny?”
House of Commons21 July 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Given the unseasonably warm weather, I am happy to give my blanket permission for everyone to remove their jackets. The convention is that you have to go through me, but you can all have it off, as it were.”
House of Commons21 July 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“More holiday suggestions than you can shake a stick at. Question put and agreed to. Resolved, That this House has considered the importance of agricultural and county shows to rural Britain.”
House of Commons21 July 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I, too, welcome the Minister to what I hope is a long and fruitful career. My question is about services, not goods. Our biggest export is the English language—it is the lingua franca of the world, isn’t it?—but the language schools that teach teenagers over the summer months are collapsing at quite a scary rate. Only seven out of 20 remain in Hastings, and there are three in Ealing, but before 2019 there were five. Will the Minister—whoever it is at any particular time—and their officials sit down with me and the trade bodies? They say that there has been an 80% drop in business, which is now going to Malta and Ireland. We can do better than this in global Britain. Can we sit down to talk about removing those things for this once lucrative—”
House of Commons21 July 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Then, following my contribution and those by others, he read out a largely pre-prepared statement conforming to the desired title that officials had pushed me to adopt, not to what I had addressed. I was accused of being too narrow and of not focusing on things that I had actually addressed, and the Minister said that the debate was a “missed opportunity”. Madam Deputy Speaker, is it orderly or normal for civil servants to try to move the goalposts of a Member’s chosen subject matter? If someone rolls their eyes at a Member, even before they have opened their mouth, does that not suggest discourtesy, even if Government Members do have other things on their mind—the results of the leadership contest were unfolding while the debate took place.”
House of Commons21 July 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker, may I seek your advice? In the run-up to my debate on English language schools in Westminster Hall this week, my office was contacted numerous times by Home Office officials wanting me to change the title of the debate to make it just about visas. I declined to do so, because my content was wider than that. I also had an email the day before the debate from the departmental Parliamentary Private Secretary, asking for my speech. I had not written it by then, but I did give a list of issues to be outlined. On the day itself, I was surprised that the body language of the Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department, the hon. Member for Torbay (Kevin Foster), who is usually a very pleasant and reasonable chap, made it clear that he did not want to be there.”
House of Commons21 July 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“T8. The President showed great leadership at COP26, which we all respect him for. Will he do the same again and cut back on a project that is polluting the lungs of both his and my constituents? Will he please revisit the issue of the biggest CO 2 emitter in the whole of Europe and think again about the new runway at Heathrow?”
House of Commons20 July 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I beg to move, That this House has considered the impact of the UK’s departure from the EU on language schools in the UK. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Nokes. It is that time of year again when in seaside towns or big cities, the traditional sight of be-rucksacked groups dressed in fashionable attire—often pastel colours—descending on the streets is common.”
House of Commons19 July 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“In Ealing, not that long ago, I would have had a choice of five different schools to visit and sample, but two of them—one had been there since 1980—have completely bitten the dust. A third exists on paper as an online operation, leaving only its Wimbledon branch; the Ealing branch has gone. For context, while West London College, which has an Ealing campus, offers some English language teaching, and some universities offer it too, the bulk of the provision locally and across the country comes from private businesses. That means they have sometimes been viewed with suspicion, although the British Council accreditation—the regulatory framework that they have to go through—is among the most stringent in the world. To attain trusted status is not cheap either; it weighs in at £20,000.”
House of Commons19 July 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I keep saying what used to be because although in 2019, the sector’s last normal year of trading, there were 550,000 students, half of them under 18, contributing £1.4 billion into the UK economy, supporting 35,000 jobs and underpinning the wider £20 billion education market, it feels dangerously at risk of decline because of the end of freedom of movement and visa changes. After I spoke to the trade body English UK, and exchanged emails with the Association of British Travel Agents, the Tourism Alliance and the British Educational Travel Association—they have all been falling over themselves to brief me for this short debate—some startling figures emerged. The BETA says that between 2019 and 2022 the number of student groups coming from the EU dropped by 84%.”
House of Commons19 July 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Either side of the weekend I have had an insight into that subculture. I visited two English language schools in Ealing: Edwards Language School and West London English School. They tell me that the two weeks from now are set to be the busiest of the year for them. However, the story is mixed. At WLES, where I was yesterday, I saw multiple classes. It has outgrown the couple of rooms it takes in an office block on Uxbridge Road. Edwards Language School is in a large Victorian house on the same road—although the road is called something else at that point. It used to span two houses, but it is in one now. It has halved in size. The school was set up by lecturers from the University of West London, which is also in my constituency, 30 years ago. It then got swallowed up by a chain, and that chain’s operations in Brighton have not survived.”
House of Commons19 July 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“There are loads in Ealing as well, although a lot less than there used to be. Local householders—as the Minister will know as a local—also get leaflets through the door asking for a spare room or two, saying there are posts going as host families and promising pretty decent money. The reason for all that is English language teaching and English language schools. It is a phenomenon that peaks in the summer months. They offer an all-round experience, typically to teenagers, for a number of weeks. Students get the full immersion: an English breakfast with a typical English family, English lessons during the day, perhaps a spot of early evening work as a barista or pulling pints before dinner en famille and then a bit of sightseeing and cultural programme built in as well—maybe visiting London, Oxford and Southend.”
House of Commons19 July 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The hon. Lady, who is from the lovely city of Bath and is a polyglot herself, is completely right. When I was a kid in 1984, we did a trip to Le Touquet on a group passport of that nature. The teacher had it and everyone was waved through. I think the kid with slightly dodgy status ducked at the moment when we did the headcount—I am only revealing this now. The hon. Lady is right that we have to find a solution. The majority of European kids under 18 do not have passports, because they travel on ID cards. The Government have said that they will not budge, so that would be a sensible solution. I think Jim Shannon wanted to intervene next.”
House of Commons19 July 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I completely concur with the hon. Member. We have all heard about the backlog—perhaps the Minister will talk about it—of people waiting to get passports at this time of year when they want to go on holiday. The laborious, ponderous hoops that people have to jump through seem a bit too much, compared with what used to be a relatively simple thing when we had freedom of movement.”
House of Commons19 July 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“That is when these seasonal vacancies need to be filled. It has been done for fruit picking; it is something that the Minister could do here too.”
House of Commons19 July 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The Government already have bilateral deals with New Zealand, Australia, the USA, Japan, South Korea, Canada, and others; they could sign deals with EU countries—the big ones, such as France, Germany and Italy. It can be done; I can supply the Minister with the paperwork. I do not know if the Minister has seen in today’s Standard that our hospitality sector has loads of vacancies. Traditionally, part of the experience for oversees students was for the adult, non-minor students to spend about 10 hours a week pulling pints, as part of their immersion. These are valuable work and life skills. Limited work rights should be loosened up. People used to be able to do this as university students. Seventy-five per cent. of all English language teaching business in the UK is conducted in the summer bulge months of June to August.”
House of Commons19 July 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I am told that in Ealing there used to be established residents who could be relied on, but now that houses change hands for £2 million, the new generation of homeowners is a bit befuddled at why anyone would want kids in their face. There are also things like Airbnb which are less intrusive. What has Brexit got to do with it? I have a list of three main recommendations that I would like the Minister to take away. Enabling ID card travel is not happening, as we have heard. Ninety per cent. of under-18s in mainland Europe travel using only their ID. What about the idea mentioned by the hon. Member for Bath—the group travel option, with a group leader in charge of the rest? There is no risk that these people would abscond; they did not with the previous EU list of travellers option. We could try youth mobility schemes.”
House of Commons19 July 2022Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗