Dr Simon Opher

IN THEIR OWN WORDS

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491 held · 468 searchable for Dr Simon Opher. The searchable lines are below in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 3 of 10.

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1. “The lack of art subjects has contributed to this pandemic of mental health problems. The Southbank Centre just across the river is doing a project as we speak around introducing creativity to children who are on the child and adolescent mental health services waiting lists. It will be quite exciting to see whether that can make them better as well.”

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2. “It is interesting that creativity is particularly important for children with special educational needs. Indeed, there is some evidence that including creativity can actually make them attend school on a more regular basis. I have visited loads of schools in Stroud over the last 18 months, and one common theme has been the rise in mental health problems in young people, who are under countless assessments and the pressure of living in a 24/7 social media world. I do feel that this is pushing a lot of children to the brink, and that creativity may be a way of repairing that. One in five young children has a probable mental health condition, and this figure is rising every year. As a GP, I have been using art to treat mental health in children and adults for about 26 years, quite often with really spectacular results.”

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3. “That has been transformative for many children. There are other examples, such as the fantastic Big Noise in Scotland. Some big organisations, including the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, the English National Opera and the Royal Opera House have big programmes that reach into schools. There is some evidence that they can teach the teachers, which is one of the problems I will explore.”

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4. “I want the Minister to join me in a campaign to make teaching children how to play musical instruments available in every primary school. I shall talk a little bit more about music. In Stroud, schools such as Bussage primary school are leading the way by making sure that every key stage 2 child has exposure to musical education. Last week, we had a roundtable in the House of Lords with a group called Rocksteady, which takes rock music into local schools. I was really impressed by what I heard. Not only were the effects of the group’s work really impressive, but there was a measurable reduction in pupil absence rates. It had an effect on the whole school, and made everyone feel better. In Gloucester, we have the Music Works, where quite deprived children can learn how to DJ, to play the drums or guitar, or to sing.”

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5. “I know that my hon. Friend is incredibly supportive of the developments in Reading. I commend him on that. Because I am a scientist, I thought I could provide some reasoning on why the creative arts can help. They help on three different fronts. Biologically, they can influence physiological symptoms of anxiety—they reduce anxiety. Psychologically, they can improve self-expression, confidence and, probably most important, self-esteem. That is because often when we do a creative thing, we feel that it came out a little bit better than we anticipated. It is the same for children. There is good, strong evidence that the creative arts build self-esteem in children, and in social terms, they build connections and a sense of belonging.”

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6. “If we are serious about tackling inequality, we must rebuild creative opportunities into the heart of every child’s school experience.”

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7. “As a result, children’s creative futures are increasingly dictated by family income, not by talent or passion. It is already mandatory that looked-after children are provided with free musical instruments. Should that be extended to those on free school meals? Could we use the pupil premium for music lessons? Libraries can lend instruments easily and musical hubs provide the organisational ability to spread teaching through a school. Groups such as the Ed Sheeran Foundation and the Nicola Benedetti Foundation are supporting music education, and we could perhaps use them more, particularly with less advantaged children. Creativity should never be a postcode lottery. It should not be a luxury for families who can afford instruments, lessons, dance shoes or even theatre trips.”

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8. “Despite Tash’s excellent work over the last 12 years, funding is a challenge all the time. I urge the Department for Education to meet her and discuss how we can continue to fund that programme. One of the main barriers to creativity in education is that teachers are not qualified or do not have experience of teaching the creative arts. The less creativity there is at a school, the less likely the teachers are capable of teaching it. One third of school leaders cannot find specialist teachers, for example, so big national organisations may have a role to play in taking them under their wing, showing them how to teach and giving them the confidence to teach. That is one big problem. Another problem is cost. Half of all parents cannot afford extracurricular arts activities.”

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9. “Recently, I met Tash Alexander, the inspirational director of Head Held High, which ran a comedy and performance workshop for teenage students in London schools; I also met one of the graduates, Ro. What really struck me about the programme is the way it uses creative expression to build confidence, especially among children who do not always thrive in more traditional learning environments. One aspect of creativity and the arts is that they often really suit people who do not get on very well at school. They are made to feel a failure, whereas actually they can make fantastic artworks or music. We must give them that opportunity. That is the real power of a creative education—it reaches young people differently and gives them a space to discover who they are.”

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10. “My hon. Friend has made exactly the point I was coming to about the role of music hubs. There are 43 music hubs in the UK, delivering something like half a million lessons and interventions up and down the country. Their reach is incredible, taking in about 90% of schools, although there is an issue in that they sometimes charge for their lessons, which I shall come back to. I welcome the upcoming launch of a new national centre for arts and music education, to support the delivery of high-quality arts education in schools and ensure that high-quality arts education is open to all. I would welcome further information from the Minister on the plans for that establishment. Creativity in education does not just mean musical or visual arts.”

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11. “I would like them to expand the arts in the curriculum and offer all children in primary schools musical instrument teaching by the end of this Parliament. For the sake of our young people’s wellbeing and our future creative industries, we must restore creativity to its rightful place in our schools.”

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12. “That is very true, and it comes back to the capabilities and confidence of the teachers, particularly in smaller schools. My children all went to smaller schools and they were lucky to have an inspirational music leader, but not every school has one. We can go further; we could have a world-class curriculum, but it cannot be world-class if we sideline the arts. All schools need the resources, staffing and flexibility to deliver meaningful creative education. I believe that the curriculum review provides that flexibility. To finish off, I have requests of the Minister. I would like the Government to consider funding free music lessons for all less well-off children, and teacher training in the arts for all teachers.”

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13. “I thank the Chancellor for investing in our community care. In Stroud, the two beating hearts of our community—GP surgeries and our village pubs—reduce social isolation. Today, the publicans are meeting at Stroud Brewery to discuss the impacts of business rates. May I invite the Minister to discuss how we can help our pub landlords—perhaps over a pint?”

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14. “I invite the Minister for Energy Consumers—the Under-Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, my hon. Friend the Member for Inverclyde and Renfrewshire West (Martin McCluskey)—to back my campaign and issue a call for evidence. Question put and agreed to. Ordered, That Maya Ellis, Irene Campbell, Paula Barker, Andy McDonald, Cat Eccles, Christine Jardine, Paul Davies, Fleur Anderson, Amanda Hack, Luke Myer, Steve Darling and Dr Simon Opher present the Bill. Dr Simon Opher accordingly presented the Bill. Bill read the First time; to be read a Second time on Friday 16 January 2026, and to be printed (Bill 340).”

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15. “Other ideas that have been discussed include green loans that pay for the up-front cost of insulation. As energy needs decrease, the loan can be paid off to the benefit of householders. Some have proposed a national insulation bank, while others back schemes that link stamp duty reductions to the amount spent on home insulation, so that the benefits of installation are not lost if we move, encouraging low-carbon energy efficiency upgrades. A call for evidence would certainly invite other innovative proposals to be brought the table. Although I hope the Bill will be unnecessary, what it proposes is a no-brainer that would provide solutions to problems that unite us as a House: soaring energy bills, energy security and the health of the UK population.”

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16. “In-use performance can be measured through technologies such as smart meter-enabled thermal efficiency ratings. Measuring performance is likely to drive up the quality of measures, as the financiers of those measures will have a strong financial interest in ensuring quality of product and installation. The SEA’s modelling has found that fast-yielding technologies such as cavity and loft insulation and double glazing will require a seven-year subsidy framework, while slow-yielding technologies such as solid wall insulation will require a 25-year subsidy framework. Investors have been crying out for long-term policy certainty. The long-term nature of this subsidy framework provides investors with the confidence to invest, opening up a whole host of green financing options for retrofit schemes.”

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17. “A report by the National Audit Office found that 98% of homes with external wall insulation installed under Government schemes have major issues requiring remediation, and 6% of those homes present immediate health risks. It is therefore critical that we look again at our incentives for energy efficiency. Everyone deserves to live in a home that is warm and safe without having to go through a remediation process for a botched installation. The Sustainable Energy Association has developed a proposal for an energy efficiency incentive that can unlock greater investment by rewarding in-use performance of energy efficiency measures over several years through a revenue-based mechanism. The proposal would lower fuel bills across the country, keeping money in people’s pockets.”

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18. “Our current framework of encouraging domestic energy efficiency through subsidies is unsustainable. Dependency on subsidies can lead to disaster striking, as we saw in the solar industry 10 years ago. We must therefore look at ways to diversify our package of support for energy efficiency to prevent such disastrous impacts on the supply chain, which impact on the strength of the workforce that will be needed in future. Schemes under successive Governments have tended to use up-front payments to deliver energy efficiency measures. Those capital grant schemes are subject to the Treasury’s five-year spending reviews and short-term political intervention, creating boom and bust cycles that undermine confidence among both investors and consumers. Our recent experience of installation has been poor.”

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19. “The Building Research Establishment has found that poor homes that expose residents to excess cold could be costing the NHS £857 million a year in treatment bills. I would like to mention the Severn Wye Energy Agency in my Stroud constituency, which works with us in the NHS to provide help for patients whose housing is causing ill health. I particularly commend its warmth on prescription scheme as a national exemplar of the NHS and energy efficiency working in tandem. I also commend SGS Berkeley Green university technical college—a fine institution that trains its students in implementing modern energy efficiency measures. The Government are committed to creating 400,000 extra clean energy jobs by 2030, and I know that we will see many of its students taking up those posts.”

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20. “But if we are to protect ourselves from rising energy costs due to Putin’s terrible illegal war in Ukraine, we must reduce our exposure to high energy use. If we do not address winter peak demand through energy efficiency measures, we can expect electricity requirements to more than double. As a GP, I know that energy efficiency is key to improving health outcomes. Cold homes double the risk that adults will develop new mental health conditions and put one in four children at risk of multiple mental health symptoms. Physical health problems caused by cold homes are common. Mould caused by cold, damp homes can cause allergic-type reactions and the development of or worsening of asthma, respiratory infections, coughs, wheezing and shortness of breath. Cold also raises blood pressure and increases cardiac failure.”

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21. “We need a clearer understanding of what mechanisms of subsidy and which technical solutions deliver best value for money. The average household is facing an annual fuel bill of over £1,700, and around 2 million households are in arrears. Surging energy prices have plunged many deeper into fuel poverty, widening the average fuel poverty gap nearly twofold since 2020. The estimated number of households living in fuel poverty now stands at 6.1 million. I welcome the Chancellor’s commitment to tackle this crisis at the Budget. Thanks to the Government, households will see an average reduction of £150 in their energy bills from April next year. We have also expanded the warm home discount, which means that in total 6 million households will receive £150 off their energy bills this winter.”

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22. “I beg to move, That leave be given to bring in a Bill to require the Secretary of State to issue a call for evidence relating to the promotion and funding of the installation of domestic energy efficiency measures; to require the Secretary of State to publish a response to the evidence received; and for connected purposes. We are now firmly within the year’s heating season. As the UK braces against the cold and the media continue to be flooded with stories of people unable to pay their bills living in some of the leakiest homes in Europe, the case for domestic energy efficiency is as strong as ever. The current understanding is that insulation subsidy, and the organisation and technical details around this work, have become confusing, chaotic and in some cases costly.”

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23. “Friend the Member for Worthing West (Dr Cooper) quite rightly said that this is about public health. I know some Members are concerned that these powers could block the house building that we all want so much. That is why my amendments provide a safeguard in restricting the eligibility to land that has not been allocated for development in the local plan. This Bill represents the biggest transfer of power out of Westminster for a century. It will give communities the right to shape, to buy and to rebuild. In Stroud, we are ready to embrace that opportunity, but we must ensure that the law properly recognises environmental value alongside social and economic wellbeing. That is why I urge the Government to support my amendments to ensure that the Bill delivers the fullest possible benefits for communities up and down the country.”

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24. “As drafted, the Bill refers to “economic or social interests” when defining assets of community value, but it leaves out environmental interests. That means that wildlife-rich spaces cannot be protected, even when they provide major community benefits, including access to nature and improvements to wellbeing. My amendments simply would extend the community right to buy to include assets that further the environmental wellbeing of local communities, granting them the ability to buy and, importantly, safeguard nature-rich areas if they come up for sale. I am a GP, and I use social prescribing extensively. Walking in nature is a proven way of getting better without using pills, so I very much urge the Minister to listen to what we are saying. My hon.”

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25. “Community-owned village shops, such as those in Horsley and Coaley—and, indeed, my favourite shop in the world, which is in my village of Uley and is run by fabulous volunteers—keep the villages alive and provide access for older people and those without transport. Village pubs are dying off. There are campaigns in my area to keep the Rose & Crown in Nympsfield open and, in fact, people have succeeded in making a community pub at the Red Lion in Arlingham. There are also community rooms such as the Trinity Rooms in Stroud, which the community is fundraising to buy, hopefully by Christmas. That is all very exciting. Land in Stroud aptly named the Heavens is being purchased by the community, as is Rodborough fields. This Bill will finally give legal backing to those campaigns, but I believe that we can make one important improvement.”

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26. “I thank the Minister, who is not in her place, for taking the time to meet me to discuss my amendments 107 and 108, which concern the community right to buy. This Bill is one of the most exciting and empowering pieces of legislation to come from this Government. For the first time, communities will be given a genuine first opportunity to buy and own the places that matter most to them. Instead of seeing valued community assets sold off to the highest bidder, residents will be able to step in, organise and take ownership for themselves. That is truly transformative. In Stroud, community ownership is essential for maintaining services and the environment for rural villages and towns.”

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27. “I believe that neighbourhood health centres will be fantastic at delivering this care. Parkinson’s specialist nurses are absolutely crucial, as are multidisciplinary teams with physios and occupational therapists. Social prescribing—signposting and getting the right benefits—is also incredibly important. Indeed, there is good evidence that dancing is really good for Parkinson’s disease—that is something a little innovative. We need timely diagnosis of patients with Parkinson’s disease, and a co-ordinated and comprehensive care plan; and most of all, we need to give them back their dignity.”

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28. “In Stroud, 295 people have Parkinson’s disease, yet we had 960 admissions for it. Although we have a good turnout for the debate today, I believe that Parkinson’s gets less attention than other degenerative diseases. That must change, because it is much more common. As a GP, I would say that diagnosis for the disease is difficult. It can present in a huge number of ways—40 different symptoms, often with rigidity. The tremor can be due to other things such as essential tremor. It can even present with constipation or depression, and indeed with dementia, where it is called Lewy body dementia, which is associated with Parkinson’s. A GP cannot make the diagnosis; they have to wait for the outpatient specialist to make it, which is why the wait is so criminal. We need comprehensive and co-ordinated care.”

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29. “Last week, I met “Loose Women” presenters in Parliament and heard about their “Facing It Together” programme. First, will the Minister support the “Facing It Together” programme? Secondly, will she support a plan we have hatched to get a poster about it in every GP surgery in this country?”

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30. “T4. In Stroud, a fantastic volunteer group—the Night Angels, started by Chrissie Lowery—patrols streets and trains to provide safety for young women. Will the Minister support this group and would she like to join us on a patrol, donning the trademark pink fluorescent jacket?”

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31. “I am proud that the Government have invested £250 million in putting solar panels on schools and hospitals. In Stroud, we have a programme whereby, through community energy funding, we will put solar panels on every school in the area. I was going to ask the Chancellor about Treasury rules that were blocking that, but I heard from her answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Congleton (Sarah Russell) that that may no longer be the case. Will she confirm that that block has been removed?”

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32. “That would be a fantastic community response to the problem: neighbourhood practices could take hold of the issue and start screening properly, reducing the burden of disease on our population. Training is also important. I am a standard sort of GP, and I did not know as much before preparing this speech as I do now. We need to educate GPs on the importance of detection. Lastly, although GLP-1 agonists are not authorised for treating fatty liver disease, we are certain that they are effective at reducing weight and would certainly reduce fatty liver disease. We must invest in weight-management services to wrap around that treatment. We have a great opportunity to prevent disease.”

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33. “I will point out two other things: first, free school meals reduce obesity in children; and secondly, as a Government, we are bringing in rules about advertising unhealthy food before the 9 o’clock watershed, which I welcome. We also need to halt brand advertising before that time, because when people see a sign saying “McDonald’s”, they do not think about salads, do they? That is also important. Screening needs to be data driven. In general practice, we know that a lot of people with a BMI of over 27, for example, should get near-patient testing for liver function, and those who have raised liver function should then have a fibroscan in their neighbourhood practice.”

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34. “We need to get on and start dealing with fatty liver disease. How do we do that? As we have heard, prevention is probably the single most important thing, so I urge the Government to grab that ethos of preventing disease and really go for it. We have a national food strategy—there is plenty in there, which I will not talk about now—and ultra-processed foods are obviously causing a lot of harm. There are also some exciting options in the 10-year plan in relation to supermarkets, such as how they need to keep their data and about starting to sell healthier foods, rather than foods that are high in fat, sugar and salt. The plan also refers to the reformulation of some products.”

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35. “There is an obesity epidemic and two thirds of adults are overweight. As my hon. Friend the Member for Worthing West said, children also carry a great burden of obesity and overweightness—by year 6, 32% of children are obese. As my hon. Friend also said, there has been a massive increase. Most diseases are going down in frequency, but there has been a 400% increase in fatty liver disease. That leads first to fibrosis, then cirrhosis and even liver cancer. As she pointed out, detection is often at the acute stage when people are admitted to hospital with cirrhosis and sometimes hepatic failure. That is a sign of a poor medical system. We are failing those people. Where I come from in Stroud, we have the fourth-highest hospital admission rate for liver disease in the whole south-west, and Gloucestershire has the highest.”

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36. “We also need to use data properly to target people and to look at the digital ways in which we can identify high-risk people. Fatty liver disease affects 20% of the population. I do not want to repeat all the statistics that we have heard, but 12% of those people go on to develop very severe disease, and that is 90% preventable. That is a perfect example of our being able to prevent disease rather than just allowing it to happen. As GPs, we often do a liver function test—often if someone is on a statin or something similar—as a screening test, and we find that the alkaline phosphatase is slightly raised. We then do an ultrasound scan and, lo and behold, people who are overweight often have fatty liver disease. That is often as far as it goes in GP land, so we need to change that pathway.”

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37. “I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Worthing West (Dr Cooper) for securing this very important debate. I also thank the British Liver Trust and the Foundation for Liver Research for providing me with a lot of data and information. As a GP, I have learned quite a lot from preparing this speech—we will come to that a little later. As my hon. Friend said, what we really need is the right type of reform. My Government are proposing three shifts in care. Probably the most important is from cure to prevention, and this issue fits in very well with that. It also fits into the other shifts that we want. We want to get out of hospitals and into the community, and a lot of work around fatty liver disease can be done in the community.”

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38. “My son Jake and his partner Amber are about to have a child, and I am very proud, but he is taking out a loan so that he can have six weeks off work, because he believes it is important. In Spain, people get 17 weeks of fully paid leave, and in Denmark they get 24 weeks. What are we doing in this country? As a practising GP, I have seen the cost of our policy. There are higher rates of post-natal depression in women, and, as my hon. Friend the Member for Gloucester (Alex McIntyre) said, men have sleepless nights and higher rates of mental health issues. Much more importantly, the children suffer. Parental leave is a form of preventive healthcare. We need to build a parental leave system that recognises that caring is an investment in healthier families, happier children and a fairer society.”

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39. “As well as botox, I would also like to talk about the dangers of fillers. A patient in my constituency, Alice Webb, lost her life due to a procedure called a Brazilian butt lift. We owe it to her, as a Government and as a Parliament, to prevent that happening again and to protect people in this country.”

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40. “Q12. Vaccinations were invented in Berkeley in my constituency 230 years ago and, as a GP, I have jabbed literally thousands of children and adults. Will the Prime Minister update the House about our new roll-out of chickenpox vaccinations, which will further protect our children? Will he also join me in condemning other political parties that give a platform to people who spread false rumours about vaccination?”

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41. “In recent weeks, a number of my constituents in Stroud have been arrested. Many of them are over 70, and the whole situation seems to have become slightly ridiculous. Does the Minister agree that proscribing is using a sledgehammer to crack a nut?”

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42. “Just briefly, as my hon. Friend explains about the sporting, economic and social interests, does she believe that environmental interests should also be taken into account? That would allow communities to claim other different types of funds and also to protect the environment.”

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43. “With the removal of first past the post for mayoral and police and crime commissioner elections, is it not time that we gave local government the option of dropping first past the post, as Wales has done? Is it not also time for a national commission on electoral reform?”

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44. “Free school meals have an obvious relationship to obesity and tend to bring it down. I am also delighted that in the autumn we will look at school food standards, and hopefully reduce the amount of processed meat that seems to be in a lot of school foods. The other part of the 10-year plan that excites me is the mandatory health food sales with supermarkets. That has been evidenced to reduce obesity, so I am delighted about that. Let me move on quickly to physical exercise—I am keen for other Members to get the opportunity to talk—because 50% of children are not sufficiently active, and two-thirds cannot swim 25 metres.”

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45. “That is incredibly important, because young people are very sensitive to advertising. A recent report in The BMJ found more than 90 different sponsorship deals in football and six other sports with foods that are high in fat, salt and sugar. We need to look at that issue, because young people look up to sports stars and are very influenceable. They have to advertise healthy foods, because otherwise we will continue to have an obesity epidemic. In the 10-year plan I was delighted to see measures in the national planning policy framework about fast-food outlets near schools. We must stop those. They are cynically placed close to schools, and they are particularly prevalent in more deprived areas. A couple of other things that I am delighted about include free school meals for children from households in receipt of universal credit.”

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46. “We must ensure that pregnant women have really healthy diets, because that reduces obesity. When a baby is born, parents need to be aware that follow-on milks and “hungry baby” milks are basically just milk packed full of sugar. That will not do the child any good. If they are hungry, they need to change their diet and possibly go on to solids. Baby snacks often look healthy—they might have a nice, healthy carrot on them—but when we look at what is in them, they are packed full of sugar as well. Parents need to have a clear idea of what is healthy, so that they can choose the healthiest foods for their children. The Government are going to bring in a watershed for junk food advertising—it was going to be in October, but it is now promised for January 2026.”

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47. “I beg to move, That this House has considered children’s health. I thank the Backbench Business Committee for granting this incredibly important debate. This Government’s ambition is to raise the healthiest generation of children ever. There is so much about improving child health in the 10-year plan, “Fit for the Future”. I am genuinely quite excited about the 10-year plan—maybe I am sad, but that is the sort of thing that excites me. I have been a GP for 30 years, and I have a special interest in child health and child mental health. I will talk briefly about prevention, mental health and then paediatric services. First, obesity is a massive problem in young people. At the age of five, 10% of children are obese. By the age of 11, 22% are obese—and that does not count the children who are overweight. This starts in pregnancy.”

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48. “Let us increase that; let us try to get more children cycling and walking to school, as that will increase their fitness. Dental care is also in the 10-year plan. I am delighted to see that supervised brushing is already there, and also that fluoride varnish will be applied by people to prevent dental caries from occurring. I will give a quick shout-out on asthma prevention, which is key and all about air quality. I know some young people who, since the ultra low emission zone scheme was introduced, have stopped using their inhalers because pollution has gone down. That is something we must emphasise.”

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49. “I totally agree—indeed, my hon. Friend pre-empts some of my remarks. Another proposal in the 10-year plan involves the investment, through Sports England, of £250 million into such opportunities for children. The Starlight Children’s Foundation promotes play and exercise, and I am a particular fan of adventure playgrounds in urban areas, which allow children to cut loose, particularly after school, expend energy, and have fun in a safe setting. I am also working with colleagues on access to nature. It is incredibly important that every child has access to nature, so that they can explore nature and have that type of exercise. I also stress that 50% of children have active travel—bike or walking—to get themselves to school.”

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50. “Absolutely, and I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention. He is right: clean air is one way to address our five most preventable health risks, and we must do more on that.”

    House of Commons10 July 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗

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