Josh Newbury
MP for Cannock Chase · Labour · United Kingdom
“As a young woman of colour in politics, Shanika faced condescension and sexism that no one should, particularly given that she was outstanding in all the roles she held.”
“I hope that sharing her story can shine a light on the experience of thousands of others. Brain tumours remain the biggest cancer killer of children and adults under 40, yet fewer than 13% of adults diagnosed with a high-grade tumour will survive beyond five years, and the condition accounts for just 3.2% of national cancer research fundi…”
“Like many colleagues who have spoken, I pay tribute to Sir David Amess. Today, I make a speech that I never thought I would have to make, to pay tribute to a good friend, Councillor Shanika Mahendran, who passed away on 1 July at the age of just 28.”
“Researchers are developing new approaches, from immunotherapies to personalised medicine, but many promising breakthroughs have yet to reach the bedside and we need to do more to support that. In Shanika’s memory, we can back earlier diagnosis and more research to ensure that every patient has access to the best possible care.”
“Like many in Cannock Chase, I am glad that this reorganisation, which no one asked for and no one voted for, is finally nearing its conclusion.”
“Across the world, 1,000 people are diagnosed with the disease every single day, and for them this debate is about far more than statistics; it is about whether future patients hear the words, “We found it early,” rather than, “If only we had got it sooner.” Cancer is a race against time, and every missed diagnosis gives the disease a head…”
The complete record
Every one of 600 lines we hold for Josh Newbury, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 7 of 12.
“It cannot be a postcode lottery. I have heard from many care leavers that they want to move out of their home authority—they may have done so when they were a young child—but they often remain reliant on the original local authority in which they were taken into care for support. Those local authorities are often far less likely to offer support to someone living far outside their area. There was also a recent announcement on care leavers and student loans. It would be great if the Minister could provide more information around that, because my understanding is that care leavers already have independent student status and can therefore already get maximum loans in all but a small number of cases. I have been asked to seek a bit more clarity on that so we can see who that announcement will benefit and whether there is any data on that.”
“Stress and workforce pressures will always be there for social workers as it is an incredibly demanding job, but anything we can do to foster a culture that values and uplifts social work, and that means that people have some of the trickier tasks taken away—for example, so they do not have to fill out as much paperwork—would help. Finally, I will touch on care leavers and the need for a universal support offer. We have repeatedly heard heartbreaking stories of care leavers aged 18, or even 16, moving out of their local authority and often losing support. That is why a national care offer would be a catch-all across the country. Staying Close provisions are really welcome, but they need to be fully rolled out so that we can smoothly transition young adults to independence with emotional and practical support intact.”
“A national workforce strategy is critical. We need to offer meaningful career progression and improved pay in many areas—pay disparities even between neighbouring local authorities can be huge. I have heard about the difference between Birmingham and Worcestershire, for example, and many social workers being sucked out of the counties that ring the west midlands conurbation into those urban authorities because they can pay much better. They therefore often have better staff teams, whereas those in the surrounding shires are struggling. Many newly qualified social workers do not have the mentorship and support from more experienced colleagues, so they are leaving not long into their career, which is tragic.”
“Clearly, local authorities are not going to be able to provide the full gambit of support that might be needed, but for issues such as attachment disorder, which is very common among children in care, it would be wonderful to see more of that support available within local authorities, so that we do not have to use the ASGSF or go out to private providers or charities to access that support. I will touch on the recruitment and retention of social workers, as my hon. Friend the Member for Dulwich and West Norwood did. We hear continually from social workers about how there is immense instability in the workforce, and that is undermining everything that they are trying to do, from early intervention to post-adoption support and preparing care leavers. We know that this is a challenge for almost every local authority in the country.”
“Thirdly, as other colleagues have, I will touch on the adoption and special guardianship support fund. Again, I declare an interest in that as a family we are actively accessing this fund for my daughter. I welcome the Department’s acknowledgment that stability and transparency are critical. As has been said in debates in this Chamber and on the Floor of the House, any support that we can provide through the fund will pay for itself many times over. But we also need to look at the capacity in local authorities to provide support. As a family we have sometimes found that finding a therapist—often a former social worker who has particular expertise in different areas—can be a challenge.”
“I will briefly pick up on the point about priority school admission for kinship carers. I have personal experience of the benefit that having priority admission as an adoptive parent gave us. Unlike most adopted children, whose parents are applying for a school nearby, many children who are going into kinship care are moving further away from home, and I have seen cases where they struggle to get a school place. I appreciate that in its response the Department said that there is limited evidence around that. However, we know that there is limited evidence around a lot of the challenges that are facing kinship carers, because we are only recently waking up to their importance, value and support needs. I hope the Department will do everything it can to gather that evidence and look to see if this is something we can do.”
“Staffordshire county council does fantastic work; it has been to many local fairs—when we had a Pride in Cannock Chase it came there with its fostering van, and proactively spoke to people. But obviously it can only do so much, and many of the staff are volunteering their own time to be able to do that. We also need to look at some of the practical barriers, particularly around things like people in social housing, as was highlighted by the Committee. We clearly do not have a lack of altruistic people in this country who want to put themselves forward to foster, adopt or both. But the dropping numbers suggest that there are many barriers in place that we need to knock down. Fostering and adoption are not luxuries; they are absolute lifelines. Children need stable and loving homes, so we need accessible routes for families to come forward.”
“We know the cost of that, which is not only the financial cost—with, as the Chair of the Committee said, hugely increasing numbers of private children’s homes opening—but the social cost to children: many of them feel that there is nowhere for them to go and they are not wanted by anybody. We know that a foster placement, in particular, can offer so much healing and restore a young person’s sense of self and their confidence in the whole system. When my partner and I applied, we got a lot of our initial information from charities, before we even inquired about an information evening at our local authority. Particularly with ongoing funding challenges, councils are quite limited in what they can do.”
“Friend the Member for Dulwich and West Norwood outlined some statistics around that, which are really concerning, particularly as somebody who has been through this process. Those like me have seen the difficulties that are faced throughout the process, but also how it is at the end of the tunnel, as it were. It is worrying that so many people do not reach that point, and we need to drill down into what is putting off so many people. Recruitment of foster carers and adopters cannot be limited to local campaigns. We need a national drive on this, and to make it a national mission. We need central Government to commit resources and efforts to this issue. We are seeing a worrying downward trend in the number of foster carers and adopters.”
“I echo the thanks to the Select Committee for all its work, and for the long list of fantastic recommendations, which show it has its finger on the pulse of what is being raised and requested in the whole children’s social care sector. I speak not just as a Member of Parliament with a keen interest in children’s social care but as somebody who is personally invested in this topic as an adoptive parent and a former foster carer. The Committee’s report made very clear what many of us see in our constituencies and from our families and friendship circles: a widening gap between those who are willing to adopt and foster and those who are able to complete the process. My hon.”
“It is a real pleasure to speak in this debate. As this is the first debate in which I have spoken with the Minister in his place, I warmly welcome him to his new role. I know that he brings an immense amount of professional and personal experience to this role. It is always wonderful to see somebody on the Front Bench who can bring that experience to bear, and who understands where many of us are coming from in what we say. I am honoured to follow excellent speeches from the Chair of the Education Committee, my hon. Friend the Member for Dulwich and West Norwood (Helen Hayes), and from my other hon. Friends.”
“Earlier this month a 12-year-old girl was hit by a car while crossing a dangerous crossroads on the A5 in Bridgtown. Despite being thrown to the other side of the road, she miraculously escaped with minor injuries, but the incident has reignited long-standing concerns from residents—including her parents, Andrew and Becky—about pedestrian safety at the crossing. Will the Leader of the House join me in urging National Highways to review this crossing, and may we have a debate on improving pedestrian safety on major roads in order to prevent further tragedies?”
“As part of the ongoing review into parental leave, which I am so proud of, I urge the Minister to consider the arguments and evidence of campaigners such as the Dad Shift, Pregnant Then Screwed and thousands of families up and down this country. Paternity and maternity pay should not push families into poverty, but provide proper time for parents to be parents.”
“In a constituency such as mine, that could mean being stuck at home without the support of family, friends or a partner. Those early weeks can be isolating, and that is before we add in the exhaustion and recovery from major surgery. That is the value of paternity leave to new mums. On pay, so many young people are putting off starting a family because of the sheer cost of parenthood. When I speak to people my age, many women feel that they must return to work even before their nine months of maternity pay comes to an end. On the cost for employers, if we frame this in the context of staff morale, the conversation shifts to being about the cost of the system as it is now. What is it doing to fathers’ mental health and productivity at work when they are not able to take time off with their children?”
“It is a pleasure to speak with you in the Chair, Mrs Hobhouse. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Burton and Uttoxeter (Jacob Collier) for introducing this petition so thoughtfully, and I thank Grace Carter and the more than 100,000 signatories. For too many families, including in my constituency, our parental leave system simply does not work. In many households, especially in rural or more deprived areas, where wages are lower and transport costs are often higher, taking one’s full entitlement of parental leave is unaffordable. It is little wonder that one in three dads take no leave at all when their baby arrives, and we know the consequences of that. Around two in five births are by caesarean section, a procedure requiring considerable recovery time.”
“I recently met a constituent whose husband died while serving in the police force and who now finds herself in a difficult position. Under the 1987 police pension scheme, surviving partners do not receive lifelong survivor benefits, whereas under the 2015 scheme, they do. She feels, understandably, that this creates an inconsistency for families who have already given so much to public service. Could we have a debate on police pensions to discuss whether more can be done to ensure the system treats all police families with consistency and compassion?”
“In my patch, for example, 10 years ago, under a Labour and Co-operative council, Chase Community Solar partnered with Cannock Chase district council to install solar panels on 314 council-owned bungalows, cutting the bills of tenants by between one third and a half. Five years later, after becoming a Labour and Co-operative councillor, I was proud to be one of the cabinet members who signed off on an investment that enabled a further collaboration with Chase Community Solar, that time alongside the charity Beat the Cold, to install batteries to make even more clean energy and cut bills even further.”
“The number of employee-owned businesses has trebled in five years, and the number of community-owned pubs has grown by 51% in the same period, bucking wider high street trends. Why does that matter? Because co-operatives are more resilient, more likely to pay the minimum wage and simply more inclusive. In my constituency of Cannock Chase and across the country, we see that in community energy groups, credit unions, housing co-ops and the pub that stays open because the community refused to let it call last orders for the final time. Co-ops root wealth locally and give people genuine power over the things that shape their lives.”
“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Turner. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton (Jim McMahon) on securing this important debate and his impassioned opening speech. I can think of no greater or better-informed champion of our co-operative sector. Although he is a huge loss to the Front Bench, he is our gain in this debate. I associate myself with the remarks about the incredible work of the Co-operative party, of which I have been a proud member since the age of 18, and Co-operatives UK. The co-operative and mutuals sector is one of the UK’s quiet success stories, with an economic contribution seven times greater than its share of the business population. It is not a sector that is standing still.”
“As new councils are created, assets could be shared. Many of those assets are central to the identity of our communities, such as libraries, community centres and green spaces. Rather than lose them to speculative buyers or closure, the Government’s commitment to a true community right to buy, so brilliantly championed by my hon. Friend the Member for Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton, could make sure they stay in the hands of the community. In conclusion, if we want to supercharge growth in the co-op sector, we must match its potential with political will. If we do that, we will grow not just a sector but an economy in which power is shared in Cannock Chase and every corner of the UK.”
“In social care, where quality, continuity and local accountability are critical, co-op models offer a way to put care workers and care users at the heart of the system. In some areas of the special educational needs and disabilities sector, we see eye-watering profiteering at the expense of family and council budgets alike. A co-operative approach could provide transparency, trust and better outcomes by aligning support with the needs of families, not investors. In housing, as we have heard, many people live in communities that are defined by shared interests and challenges, so giving tenants a real say through co-op principles could help to improve housing standards, tenant engagement and community cohesion. Finally, looking ahead, local government reorganisation presents us with both a risk and an opportunity.”
“Secondly, we need to shake up legislation and regulations so that co-ops are unleashed to start up, scale up and diversify. That is not asking for special treatment; all it would do is bring us into line with international best practice. That is particularly important for new and innovative co-operative models in emerging sectors. Thirdly and finally, let us offer tailored support, at a regional level, on the nitty-gritty of start-up, conversion, governance and, of course, procurement laws, so that co-ops can compete for public contracts on the scale at which they operate. However, we must also think more broadly. There are sectors crying out for a co-operative approach, and the Government clearly have a role to play in supporting that.”
“Ask an everyday passer-by what co-ops contribute to our communities, and they might answer something along the lines of: “Somewhere to buy a meal deal.” It is an irony that highlights the sector’s need for Government support in making the UK economy one in which mutuals, co-ops and community-owned businesses can thrive and play a more prominent role in national life. I will set out three brief priorities for the Government. First, let us unlock finance by opening up the British Business Bank’s programmes to co-ops and making sure that transitional help is available so that small and medium-sized enterprises can mutualise. Reaching our manifesto commitment cannot just be about new co-ops being created; if we support the mutualisation of existing businesses, we can safeguard them and put them in the hands of the very people they serve.”
“It is no coincidence that they do not have much of the abject unfairness in their food supply chains that we see in Britain. I hope that is being considered by the Treasury and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, as I believe it could unlock a huge amount of growth in rural communities that have been overlooked for far too long. I am proud of this Government’s commitment to doubling our co-operative sector because, as my hon. Friend the Member for Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton said so powerfully, it is clear that co-ops have long been undervalued and underappreciated as part of our economy. They cradle immense potential not just to transform our businesses but to draw together our communities at a time when many have never felt further apart.”
“Those clubs embody co-op principles, offering social support, fostering local connections and supporting grassroots initiatives. They are living examples of how member-driven organisations can enrich community life. As a member of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, I have seen how co-ops can empower small producers to speak with a louder voice, and to secure value and recognition for their labour. Probably the best known is Arla, owned by more than 3,000 dairy farmers and supplying a quarter of the nation’s milk, but there are many more. However, I still look longingly at many of our European neighbours and even the USA, which my hon. Friend the Member for Peterborough (Andrew Pakes) mentioned, where co-ops are far more present in the agricultural economy.”
“My hon. Friend has given us a prime example of how thinking about problems differently and more collaboratively is rooted at the heart of co-operatives. The roll-out of EVs to people who do not have a driveway and perhaps do not have ready access to charging infrastructure is one of the many challenges that the Government are facing in the move towards net zero. It is a prime example of how we can use co-operative principles to tackle a problem in a different way that helps the community to benefit. Similarly, I want to make sure that our local working men’s clubs are given their due, such as those in Cannock, Rugeley, Hednesford, Chadsmoor and my home village of Norton Canes, where they remain vital community hubs.”
“Earlier this year, a constituent came to speak to me about shortages of the one hormone replacement therapy drug that was working for her after years of misdiagnoses and ineffective treatment. She told me that GPs have very low awareness of menopause and often recommend alternatives that cause adverse reactions, leaving her and many other women paying for private advice and treatment and taking time off work. Will the Minister update the House on what the Department is doing to address HRT shortages and to improve training for GPs so that millions of women get the support that they need?”
“Back in May, St John the Baptist church in Slitting Mill near Rugeley held its final service. St John’s is a huge loss to the community—it was such a welcoming and unique church, having been housed in a semi-detached house with neighbours still living next door. Although the closure was sadly necessary to protect the other four churches in Rugeley and Brereton, Slitting Mill now has no church, as well as no bus route. Could my hon. Friend tell the House what the Church Commissioners are doing to ensure that rural communities are not left without any access at all to places of worship?”
“During recess, I became the first interviewee of my constituent Brendan Woodbridge, an inspiring disabled 19-year-old who aspires to be a freelance journalist in order to spotlight accessible places and services so that people like him do not feel trapped at home. Brendan and his mom Natalie told me that when leaving the nurturing school environment, there is often nothing for young people like him to go on to. Will the Leader of the House grant a debate on educational and job opportunities for disabled adults?”
“I commend the Government for their leadership in bringing this legislation forward, particularly, as my hon. Friend the Member for Chesterfield (Mr Perkins) said, in a packed legislative programme as we seek to get our country back on its feet. It demonstrates this Government’s commitment to and prioritising of the health and sustainability of our oceans beyond national jurisdiction, and I urge colleagues across the House to support it. Whether we live by the sea or in Cannock Chase in the heart of England, a healthy ocean is essential to a secure and sustainable future for us all. The oceans cannot wait, and nor should the United Kingdom.”
“We know from her recent appearance at the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee that she deeply regrets the collapse of those talks without an agreement, and I know that she is already redoubling efforts to find a way forward so that we can start to halt and reverse environmental catastrophes such as the great Pacific garbage patch. I urge the Government to do whatever they can alongside fellow members of the High Ambition Coalition to end plastic pollution and advance international action on this urgent issue. As we have heard, the Government have committed to protecting 30% of the ocean by 2030. The Bill makes good on that commitment on an international level, not just as an environmental ambition, but as a foundation for international co-operation, sustainable development and global food resilience.”
“I therefore very much welcome the emphasis on open access repositories and databases that is so prominent in the BBNJ agreement. The agreement also embeds vital safeguards like the “polluter pays” principle and the precautionary principle. I hope it will pave the way for international action that will finally turn the tide—pun absolutely intended—on the reckless destructive practices that nations across the world have perpetrated. I could not let the opportunity to speak on the high seas go by without mentioning the global plastics treaty, on which I hope we can find international agreement soon. I pay strong tribute to the Minister and the British delegation to the Geneva talks.”
“It will extend marine licensing requirements to British activities beyond our waters and mandate environmental outcome reports for potentially harmful activity. It will also ensure greater transparency in the collection and use of marine genetic resources, the biological material from marine organisms that holds immense promise for medicine, biotechnology and food innovation. It is often said that the world’s rainforests hold countless discoveries to come that could cure many illnesses and enable advancements that will enrich our human existence—as well as, I certainly hope, our stewardship of the natural world. However, although they are often overlooked, the same is very much true of our oceans. These scientific and ecological discoveries must benefit all nations and not simply be the preserve of the already wealthy.”
“They are home to rich marine ecosystems, and globally over 3 billion people rely on fish for at least 20% of their animal protein intake—for many coastal and island nations, that figure is much higher—yet the vast majority of these waters have long been unregulated and are vulnerable to a multitude of threats including overfishing, unrestricted oil drilling, pollution and deep sea mining, which directly threaten not just ocean health but global food security. I echo the comments made by my hon. Friend the Member for Brent West (Barry Gardiner) that, to ensure the agreement has real impact, the Government must rapidly push for new marine protected areas in international waters. The Bill will enable the UK to play an active role in addressing all those threats.”
“That is why I speak in support of the Bill: legislation that gives the Government the ability to ratify that vital United Nations agreement and take part in the world’s first ocean COP next year. As the new chair of the all-party parliamentary group on UK food security, I want to emphasise how vital the Bill is in protecting the long-term health of our global food systems. The high seas—those vast areas of ocean beyond any single country’s jurisdiction—are essential to our food security.”
“Cannock Chase may be one of the most landlocked constituencies in the country, but that has not stopped my constituents from writing to me in support of the Bill, and rightly so. If anyone does come across a marine genetic resource in Staffordshire, I would be impressed and also slightly concerned, but the point is this: what happens in the world’s oceans matters just as much to the people of my constituency as it does to those living on the coast. As the wise Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, “The nation that destroys its soil destroys itself.” I would like to extend that to say that the world that destroys its oceans destroys itself. The UK has long positioned itself as a global leader on marine protection, and with the BBNJ agreement about to enter force—on 17 January—we must not give up our status on marine conservation.”
“I recently had the chance to visit my local magistrates court in Cannock, and I was told that a major barrier to ramping up the number of sitting days in both magistrates and Crown courts is the lack of legal advisers. I am told that many are leaving the Crown Prosecution Service because the pay is often better elsewhere, but that means having to cut back on sitting times. Will my right hon. Friend outline what steps the Ministry is taking to increase the number of legal advisers in our courts?”
“She stated that this Government would take urgent legislative action to address that, and that commitment is being put into effect in this Bill. In conclusion, the measures in the Bill are necessary after the last Government’s abject record of failure on criminal justice and prisons. They will ensure that all our constituents can have the assurance that the criminal justice system is once again effective, fit for purpose and on a solid footing for the future.”
“On making offenders feel restrictions on their life and liberty, I also welcome the proposed reforms to community sentences, so that rather than a one-size-fits-all approach that will not affect every offender, there will instead be a broad range of punishments that can be tailored to the nature of the offending and to what would act as a deterrent to each offender. Finally, I welcome the Bill’s introduction of a requirement that the Lord Chancellor is consulted on new sentencing guidelines. That was a firm commitment made by the previous Justice Secretary, when new guidelines—stating that judges should take facts including the defendant’s ethnicity into account—were put before us without her oversight.”
“In one of the first surgeries that I held as an MP last July, I spoke to a constituent who lived in constant fear of her manipulative, violent and abusive ex-partner, who she felt would kill her. She had a restraining order in place but she felt that it was no protection at all, because her ex-partner would repeatedly find out where she lived and knew exactly how to get around the order. I know that many hon. Members have heard such stories, where the victim feels that they are now the one being restricted to a geographical area. Under this Bill, it will be the offender who feels that sense of geographical restriction. It should always have been that way around.”
“It is right that the consequences that are proven to be more effective, such as community orders, are used, but with vital carve-outs for dangerous and prolific offenders, so that judges can ensure that victims, like those of vile domestic and sexual violence, are protected. On that point, this Government’s efforts to fix the mess that the last Government made of tagging will help us to protect victims through pragmatic changes, including a pilot of tagging before prisoners reach the gate for release. That will be coupled with the measures in the Bill of which I am proudest: restriction zones, which will be important for victims, often women, who have so much to fear from offenders—often ex-partners or family members.”
“The changes in the Bill will ensure that possession of a mobile phone, for example, or violent behaviour can add months to a sentence, and that there will be no limit to that, as additional time can be added consecutively. Far from being soft on criminals, the clear message is that if people cause disorder and intimidation in our prisons, they will spend longer behind bars. On rehabilitation, we have to be pragmatic and do what works. In my view, the primary purpose of our sentencing system is to punish offenders and make them repay society for their crimes, but I am also a pragmatist. If, as the Justice Secretary clearly outlined, the reoffending rate and the likelihood of offenders going on to commit more serious crimes is sky high, particularly for those serving short custodial sentences, then we have a duty to look at this again.”
“That is why generational reform of sentencing is needed to ensure that our legal system is fit for the future. That is the responsible thing to do, which is why it is so unedifying to see the party of Peel, Disraeli and David Gauke disgracing itself with the scaremongering and party political point scoring we have heard from the Conservatives, over a Bill that will clean up the mess that they created. Let me turn to the specifics of the Bill. The changes to early release will ensure that that release is genuinely earned. It is indisputable that over many years we have seen an erosion of discipline and order in many of our prisons, as evidenced by the amount of contraband that makes it into secure facilities and the number of assaults on prison officers.”
“I am grateful to have the opportunity to speak in favour of the Bill, because in so many ways it epitomises what the Government have had to do over the last 14 months. We inherited a prison system in crisis, having been fit to burst for years—something that evidently did not catch the attention of the then Ministers, given that in their 14 years they added only 500 places, one 40th of what they promised the people of this country they would deliver. Despite rapidly ramping up prison building as a national infrastructure priority to address the failed legacy of the Conservatives—whose reputation as the supposed party of law and order is, frankly, in tatters—this Government are being honest with the public that we will still face a shortfall in prison places of some 9,500 by 2028.”
“It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Dr Huq. I thank the hon. Member for South Cotswolds (Dr Savage) for her brilliant speech, and I thank the petitioners. Over the summer, like many hon. Members, I hosted a SEND coffee morning. From those 25 parents, I heard stories of not only love, resilience and determination, but a system they feel is all too often rigged against them. Again and again, I heard about services that do not speak to one another and processes that feel confusing and adversarial. The impact on parents’ mental health and relationships, and on children’s ability to learn and make friends, is real.”
“A child supported through the high needs block in Staffordshire receives less than £1,000, but in Camden a child gets more than £3,500. That discrepancy is not defensible. Secondly, we need true multi-agency working in practice—with a single front door for shared assessments, clear escalation routes and shared records—so that parents do not have to retell their story over and over.”
“In fairness to Staffordshire county council, it faces an increase in the number of EHCP applications from around 600 a year up to 2019 to over 2,000 now, but after such a wait, too many children are left with an EHCP drafted by someone who has never even met them. Another shocking reality is the profiteering that fills the void where state provision falls woefully short: the most expensive placement in my constituency is £166,000 for a single school year. Now, the last thing I would call for is to take the support away from that child—I hope that they are thriving in that setting—but it should shame us that ever more expensive private provision is the only way of meeting the spiralling need. I have three practical asks rooted in what families have told me. First, we need a fair funding model that is based on need, not postcode.”
“I could not agree more with my hon. Friend. I, too, have heard many examples of families who feel that they have had to work almost full time to manage their children’s EHCP processes, and even of some relationships that have broken down because of the strain—on top of the strains that already come with supporting a SEND child. Parents also constantly raised the issue of waiting times. One mum in Wimblebury told me that she started the process for her daughter in reception but did not get an EHCP until just before she started year 7—and even then only with intensive support from one of our fantastic local councillors, Julie Aston.”
“I will proceed with my speech in the interest of time. Thirdly, on transparent timings, we need to meet statutory deadlines, publish a dashboard of local waiting times and outcomes, and co-produce communications with parent-carer forums using clear, respectful and up-to-date language. I could say reams more on things such as off-rolling and intermediate support, but I will end with this request: let us rebuild a SEND system with people, not processes, at the heart of its provision and with good communication and joined-up services as the norm. We can do better than this—and for the future of the children and young people stuck in a failing system, we must.”
“On the Committee’s visit to the Port of Dover, we heard that many seizures of illegal meat include scales and tills—clear indications that the meat would be sold commercially. Most worryingly, as the right hon. Gentleman said, some of those imports are headed straight for farms, so the potential for a devastating outbreak of foot and mouth disease, African swine fever or many other diseases is huge. Does he agree that, regardless of any potential SPS agreement with the EU, we certainly cannot afford to scale back checks if we are serious about protecting British farming?”