Tom Collins
MP for Worcester · Labour · United Kingdom
“That is good, but if there is diminishing consideration of cases in which people do not disclose that they were victims of modern slavery straight away, or in which the victims had carried out criminal activity, that goes against the very basic, fundamental, “modern slavery 101” principles of how to tackle modern slavery.”
“I echo the comment by the right hon. Member for Staffordshire Moorlands (Dame Karen Bradley) that disclosure does not automatically mean a referral under the national referral mechanism. We should be fixing those operational problems.”
“I have been campaigning on modern slavery for over 20 years. Back when I started, most modern slavery in the UK was sexual exploitation, and let me be clear that it was of girls. I put myself in the shoes of a parent whose child was in another country, suffering unimaginable abuse and exploitation.”
“We must tackle modern slavery head-on. We must strengthen our systems, which are failing at an operational level in their design, decision making and implementation, and we must bring in good governance. For that reason, I really welcome the further discussions with the Government following today to improve this Bill.”
“This Government have set out to change culture across the DWP in order to make it far more focused on people, not faceless processes. However, in my constituency of Worcester, people are finding that when DWP services have made mistakes, the reaction continues to be delay, denial and sometimes outright refusal to fix errors.”
“In particular, I note that the Secretary of State has responsibility for the operation of the digital waste tracking system, but it is not clear how that will be administered in practice or to whom the fee will be paid.”
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“The question changed when the world woke up to renewables and we, an island nation with exceptional wind resource, favourable geology and a skilled energy sector, realised that we could become a clean energy superpower. The prize is lower bills, increased security and the re-industrialisation of our economy, with all the jobs, innovation, trade and growth that come with it. To win that prize, our electricity system will need to double in capacity, accommodate dispersed, wild and unpredictable generation, and support varying demands that will become more mission-critical for our economy and everyday lives.”
“I beg to move, That this House has considered energy resilience. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Efford. I submitted this motion before the power failures at Heathrow and the Iberian peninsula, before the latest run of cyber-attacks, and before international conditions led us to increase our spending on defence. A more volatile and uncertain future is changing the question that we expect our energy system to answer but, as an engineer who spent years working on low-carbon energy technology, I know that the question changed before that. The question changed when offshore wind became our cheapest source of electricity and when the payback period for photovoltaics dropped below just a handful of years.”
“Yes, diverse energy sources will be critical for future system resilience. The Minister has clearly shown that the operational constraints for a robust electricity grid are known and in hand. The challenges of a future electricity system go far beyond those we face today. Three quarters of a century ago, when our energy systems were built in the shadow of world wars, resilience was front and centre, but the guiding star was efficiency, ensuring that energy taken from the ground was transferred with minimal loss. The defining challenge of tomorrow is to take energy that appears in places and at times determined by the weather, and deliver it in places and at times determined by the people who depend on it.”
“Policy has been asking whether the answer in various sectors is electrification or hydrogen, but the design answer is resounding and simple: it is both. These two energy vectors are complementary, with hydrogen power stations able to provide our grid with headroom, responsive generation and inertia, and hydrogen storage able to provide our national asset of inter-day and inter-week energy storage. Our future electricity system needs hydrogen, and at a vast scale. The truth of the matter is that hydrogen will be as cheap and abundant as we design it to be.”
“There is a fuel that is carbon-free and 100% interoperable with electricity, and capable of being manufactured from electricity and cleanly converted back into it again at will: hydrogen. The Government, and others, have spotted the unique potential of hydrogen to fuel a clean and secure future for British industry. I would argue that they could go further, enabling industrial renewal in and around national clusters, but also in our towns and suburbs. As we seek to secure a material supply chain, the UK could deploy our immense wind resource and become a circular economy material recovery superpower of Europe. Over recent years, however, the debate has become paralysed by an either/or question. Electrification and hydrogen have been presented in some sectors as mutually exclusive. Hydrogen has been presented as scarce and expensive.”
“Those fuels intrinsically store energy indefinitely and carry vast amounts of energy through simple infrastructure, such as pipes and tanks. Our gas system currently carries three times as much energy each year, and up to four times as much in a day as our total electricity system. It shares its energy storage capability with the electricity system through gas power stations, our core electricity resilience assets. We have found our dependency on gas to be a weakness, but only because we depend on it for our system’s strength. So, we face a crux. How might we win the energy resilience prize, benefiting from the clean versatility of electricity and the stabilising, security-critical storage capability of fuel? There is one answer that the UK has itself pioneered.”
“The system must be resilient against market-induced price instability and commercial failures, both for our security and for those markets to function healthily. That all misses the single largest and most novel component of our future energy system: clean, long-duration energy storage at scale—storage, not just for seconds through inertia, not just for minutes through demand-side response, and not just for a day or night through in-building storage, but intraweek and longer to ride through long stagnant weather events or other major disruptions. Today, our energy resilience is assured by the incredible flexibility and capacity of fuels: oil in transport and off-grid heat, and methane gas for heat in buildings and industry.”
“Either our grid must not depend on signals such as dynamic pricing to keep working, or those signals must be multiple-fault tolerant. With distributed generators playing a larger role in future, avoiding cascade failures requires them to support graceful degradation instead of disconnecting in the face of uncertainty. This dynamic, digitally enabled future can introduce other risks, not only for resilience but for social equity. It must not penalise those who cannot afford battery storage, and each internal system boundary and each new pricing location threatens overall value. Alongside markets, our systems must incorporate core features that function primarily in the public interest.”
“In the future, we expect markets to play a bigger part in our electricity system, working in shorter timeframes and in a more distributed way. When we think about resilience, the design of our economic and commercial energy system and the digital systems that enact it will be absolutely critical. The commercial energy system will be as critical as the physical one. Whereas markets may be good for some resilience attributes such as flexibility and diversity, they are often bad for others, such as redundancy, continuity and headroom. Also, our new digital communications channels offer potential single points of failure for our system. This is a fundamental question of national security. In the light of a string of cyber-attacks, it is crucial that when our digital world fails, our heating, lights, sanitation and vehicles must not.”
“I agree that with the correct technology, those systems can provide local resilience. The fundamental change to the core role of the energy system has been from efficiency to storage. How we achieve that future system is already well debated. We start with energy efficiency and insulation, then we move on to shifting the time of demands, and we can enhance that with intraday storage in some buildings. The way we actively control and manage the response to demands and our storage is the big question for the future electricity system. Currently, moment-by-moment control is achieved technically using the A/C power itself as a signal. Control over longer time bases is co-ordinated and partially directed through markets.”
“Now it is time to do it again, and to secure a new era of economic renewal, growth and security. With ordinary people as our guiding star, through ambition, pragmatism and practical collaboration, we can deliver an energy that, for the next 75 years, through night and day, come rain or shine, dependably keeps every single person in our fantastic nation empowered.”
“Our industrial community has the knowledge and evidence we need, and the risks from here can be managed. This is a moment for leadership and, fortunately, this Government have the will and the opportunity to deliver it. As corporate players scramble to shape this debate to create future opportunities, investors are seeking a clear statement of ambition and for the Government to get hands on, set goals and pick winners. Recognising that there will be more than one winner in a diverse and resilient future, we can show ambition now for electrification and a powerful UK hydrogen economy. In the end, a resilient energy system is about putting people first and making power, warmth and movement dependable, affordable and accessible to all. Seventy-five years ago, the UK built energy systems with world-leading reliability and resilience.”
“Industry’s voice is clear: there is an urgent need for decision making. We must deliver our ambition not by iterative cycles of consultation, but rapidly through partnership. We need to short-circuit policy silos, get all the stakeholders in a room and thrash it out. We must be open to answers that back multiple technologies. Our problem is not that we need a silver bullet, but that we had one that was literally too good to be true. Moving on from fossil dependency means diversification. Historically, we have always relied on multiple energy vectors in homes to provide energy resilience. That is still an option now. It means moving away from questions of either/or to answers of both/and. Those decisions are not easy, but they can be made. The end point is not crystal clear, but it is sufficiently in focus.”
“We can deploy hydrogen production wherever it is most helpful: offshore, onshore, or at critical nodes in the transmission system. Pipe infrastructure is relatively low cost, high capacity and, being underground, intrinsically secure. The size of our supply of green hydrogen is our choice. If we choose constrained supply, we choose constrained growth. If we choose ambition and abundance, that will also be worked out in our economy. It is time to move on from old ways of thinking. There is virtually no risk of stranded assets; investment in both electrical capacity and hydrogen production is zero regret. The call to action for both sectors is simple: go big. That is, and must remain, the message of the Government. Now is the time to convert this ambition into concrete goals in the technical domain.”
“I thoroughly agree with my hon. Friend. I am so glad that Members have identified how critical it is that we have a diversity of energy sources, that we have energy storage, that these are distributed around our system, and that we invest ambitiously now to bring them into reality. Our energy system has always been multi-vector, and it must be in the future, too. By embracing this reality, we have an opportunity to design and choose how our electricity and gas systems are coupled: upstream through underground gas storage and power stations; mid-system with smaller distributed generators, including fuel cells; downstream in areas on constrained legs of the network; or perhaps even in homes through smart hybrid heating systems.”
“We are also undertaking a historic and ambitious programme of local government reorganisation and devolution of power from Westminster to our regions. We have already seen programmes tested and proven that provide a model that we can deploy through local government. The Human Trafficking Foundation has worked with nine local authorities that have appointed a designated modern slavery co-ordinator. Those co-ordinators have deployed training in local authorities, improved partnership working, increased the quality and quantity of referrals to support, and delivered prevention strategies. The work of these modern slavery co-ordinators has been remarkable.”
“The action being taken is a good start, and I recognise the impressive impact that the Minister and our new Government have already had through our investment in hiring an additional 200 modern slavery case workers, but that is smashing the iceberg only above the surface. To solve the problem, we need a response that matches the scale of the hidden challenge. Modern slavery is a complex crime that cuts across all aspects of Government and society, and our response must match it, cutting across the whole of Government. I put it to this House that we may already have a golden opportunity. This Government have already committed to a fresh approach to governing—one of collaboration, partnership and agility.”
“International conflicts and climate pressures are making people vulnerable and providing the perfect conditions for traffickers. That is visible in the English channel, but that is just the tip of the iceberg; what is hidden are the tens of thousands of victims living in the fear and despair of slavery right here in our towns, cities and rural areas. We are taking firm and decisive action to protect our borders, break criminal gangs and clear the backlog of immigration cases. I recognise the point that the right hon. Member for Staffordshire Moorlands (Dame Karen Bradley) made about the distinction between people smuggling and human trafficking, but the sectors overlap.”
“Similarly, we must ensure that the requirement for businesses to audit their supply chains has teeth. The Modern Slavery Act required large businesses to publish details of the actions that they were taking to identify and tackle exploitation in their supply chains; we now need checks, and penalties for failure to effectively keep supply chains free from slavery. Like survivors of stalking, domestic abuse and sexual abuse, survivors of modern slavery need access to independent advocacy. We must embed that in our national response, together with long-term holistic support. That is crucial both for survivors’ recovery and to reduce vulnerability to further harm or re-exploitation. We cannot treat this problem as business as usual. The world is becoming increasingly unstable and unpredictable.”
“If we ensure clearly defined and resourced roles, and are empowered to work across multiple organisations and departments, we can ensure that these complex crimes, which intersect multiple agencies, can be detected. We can ensure that victims become survivors, and that perpetrators are convicted. We need to work across Government to deliver that. To eliminate slavery, we must no longer tolerate exploitation of any kind. This Government have taken great steps in improving workers’ rights, and that must continue. We must be responsive and fast, keeping up with the highest international standards in law and human rights. The Council of Europe’s convention on action against trafficking in human beings provides a framework that could be adopted broadly.”
“Furthermore, victims of modern slavery are often forced to break the law or are camouflaged among legitimate yet exploited workers who are themselves insecure, transient and unrepresented. We are combating highly organised and effective international criminal networks—they are agile, opportunistic and embedded in our communities. Our system is vulnerable. It has been too easy for children to disappear. Siloed public services are too ineffective in recognising and responding to potential cases. Our systems are divided, and the traffickers have conquered, yet there is hope. Once local authorities are trained in what to look for, they begin to identify victims and, working with partners, can disrupt this crime.”
“Fortunately, I was not alone, and 10 years ago this place once again passed legislation to end slavery in our nation. It recognised our duty to eliminate slavery from our supply chains, and it introduced a key revelation to policing: that someone presenting as a perpetrator might in reality be a victim. The world has continued to change, however: our protections have weakened and the challenge has grown. It is estimated that there are 122,000 victims of modern slavery in the UK, yet fewer than 20,000 were referred to the national referral mechanism last year. Detecting modern slavery is hard. It is a crime in which the victim is intrinsically hidden—often as invisible and elusive as the perpetrator. The policing challenge is unique.”
“As a child I was taught that 200 years ago we abolished the transatlantic slave trade. As a young adult, I learned that that had not marked the end, and that modern slavery was a booming global industry. Then, as I became a young father, I learned through the excellent work of Hope for Justice that there were slaves right here in the UK—hidden even within my own city. And I learned that many of those slaves were children, not unlike my own. I felt a hint of the desperation that I would feel if one of my children had been trafficked into slavery—how I would pray that there would be someone to rescue them, someone who would not rest until slaves had been found and released. I realised that, for somebody else’s child, I had to be that someone.”
“There are people in our country who are utterly hidden, isolated, fearful and hopeless, but they are not alone. Today I urge all in this House to recommit with me; we will not rest, but will instead forge on, and will do what it takes, and what the evidence has taught us to do, in order to find slavery out, prosecute the perpetrators, break the networks, and march on until every person is seen and slavery is finished.”
“I welcome the Minister’s commitment in the recently published action plan to rolling out these panels. Local authorities already have duties to disrupt modern slavery. With a clear cross-cutting partnership approach, facilitated by clear, dedicated local leadership, we could start to build real immunity into our communities. We have embraced the mission to deliver a decade of national renewal. A decade of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 has allowed us to begin the abolition of modern slavery. We have the tools, but we must not rest. Rather, we should recommit ourselves to the most ambitious goal of ending slavery in our nation and our supply chains. We can see what needs to be done. We have begun; now we must deliver the collaboration, commitment and resources to do it.”
“Our modern slavery response must saturate our work at both national and local level. Alongside that collective duty, dedicated roles with cross-organisational links and clear ownership are key. A national strategy that factors in local partnership responses would be transformative. An example of this can be seen in the devolved decision-making pilots, in which multi-agency teams, led by a local authority, made national referral mechanism decisions for children. This approach was over four times faster than the Home Office at making decisions, and it encouraged information sharing across agencies and local partnership working to keep children safe. The success of devolved decision-making panels demonstrates the effectiveness of co-ordinated local efforts under a national framework.”
“I thank the right hon. Lady for that clarification. In 2023, there were 218 local authorities that made referrals using the national referral mechanism for adults. The nine authorities with a designated modern slavery co-ordinator position accounted for 18% of those referrals. That figure rose to 20% in 2024. They trained thousands of local authority staff and partners and increased confidence rates in reporting modern slavery from around 45% to close to 99%. Critically, these measures led to prosecutions. We can learn from that, and devolution is a ripe opportunity to deploy the lessons. It is clear to me that the Government can no longer delegate responsibility for modern slavery to a single Department; we need to build both passive and active immunity into every area.”
“Local people in Worcester are digging deep and trying to crowdfund money to support the charity in the meantime, but I would be very grateful if the Minister would meet with me to discuss ways in which we can secure the future of the DAWN project in Worcester.”
“We are now in a world where it is industrially available and increasingly violent, and it is silently fuelling sexual violence and exploitation. I want us to move rapidly to implement regulation and enforcement that is fierce, fast and forceful to make our country safe. I will also raise a local issue in my constituency of Worcester, which is very urgent and important. The DAWN project supports survivors of domestic violence in Worcestershire. I have heard at first hand the stories of survivors who have found their lives transformed by the service. It is saving lives and restoring futures, but it is at risk, as funding streams are drying up.”
“It is equally alarming to recognise the error bands in those statistics; they are huge, with the upper limits being five and 10 times the lower limit values for the two stats that I opened with. We simply do not know enough about these conditions. We have a deficit in research, knowledge and clinical solutions, and we need to do more. Those issues are the lived experiences of women, but they are the responsibility of us all. I will talk about an issue that sits primarily with men. I have listened to the stories of men in my constituency of Worcester talking about the impact that pornography has had on their mental health, on their relationships and, by extension, on the women in their lives. Pornography is wildly addictive, harmful to men and hazardous to women.”
“As I grow older, I find myself becoming more and more intensely aware of the injustices that confront women and girls every day in the UK. I will cover a few points, beginning with health. It is alarming to note that the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence recognises that up to nine out of 10 women suffer from period pain—three out of 10 of them severely—and that up to three in eight adolescent girls and women face heavy periods, with one in 20 women in their 30s and 40s taking the difficult step to consult their GP each year because of heavy periods or menstrual problems. Those issues are very common, but we should not accept them as normal—I really welcome the comments of my hon. Friend the Member for Luton North (Sarah Owen) on them.”
“Working in industry, I have personally experienced the power of partnership between Government and industry when the Government set clear, powerful goals, and then collaborate with industry on delivering them. That has, in my experience, really fuelled innovation and is key to delivering the growth that we desire. Does the Minister agree that a partnership with industry, in which the Government set goals and we work together to deliver them, is key to delivering a successful industrial strategy?”
“Friend agree that it is important that we provide not just practical but emotional support that is integrated not just around an individual but also the family, to provide for the severe depths of need for this complex condition?”
“I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing this important debate. Type 1 diabetes is incredibly demanding to live with. It is a game of numbers, and as such it can be greatly helped by technology, which is developing rapidly. I wish to put on the record how important it is that the Government ensure universal access to such transformative technology for all who are insulin dependent with diabetes. Even if someone’s iPhone can be their pancreas, type 1 diabetes is unique in its constant psychological demands. It invades people’s lives socially as well as practically, with the result that type 1 diabetes combined with disordered eating is a perfect storm. Does my hon.”
“I can speak from personal experience about the power of hybrid closed loop systems and the safety they present from day one, compared with the conventional treatment using injections. I encourage the Minister to explore every way possible—using collective peer forums or any other vehicles that can be imagined—to accelerate the deployment of hybrid closed loop technology as fast as we possibly can.”
“The three options for delivery works seem to represent various degrees of compromise between shortened timescales, the associated reduced overall costs, and the continued presence and functioning of Parliament within the Palace of Westminster. It is wise to seek ways to negate the need for such a compromise. What possibilities for decantation into Westminster Hall might yet be explored? Would the Minister meet me and members of the project team to discuss those possibilities?”
“I welcome the Minister’s statement, which has practical steps to support people with their bills, and a long-term plan, delivered at speed, to transition to a resilient, sustainable, clean energy system that takes advantage of the incredible advances in renewables in recent years. Offshore wind is providing really low-cost power, underpinned by UK-led innovation in technologies such as hydrogen. The Minister has laid out ambitious plans for supporting households in upgrading their homes, and has made excellent early progress on those upgrades. Will she continue working in partnership with UK innovators and manufacturers to make it not just possible but easy for homeowners to keep their homes warm with dependable, clean and affordable energy?”
“We can see a creative, industrial and innovative renaissance in the UK, and I believe that apprentices will be in the thick of it, delivering the true power of a thriving economy: skills and passionate people. As such, I urge the Secretary of State and our Ministers in the Department for Education to continue this work at pace, and I would like to express the appetite and ambition that is present in Worcester to play our part in delivering the technical and vocational skills of tomorrow through apprenticeships. The people of Worcester are ready to back the Secretary of State’s mission and work in partnership with the Government to break down the barriers to opportunity and see our country—and every single person who makes it—thrive.”
“They want us to keep going; I have been asked whether we could look at industry-specific flexibility around English and maths for 16 to 18-year-olds, with requirements integrated into standards. I have also been asked about further reviews of apprenticeship standards and funding bands in a wider range of areas, such as hospitality and customer service, and they would like us to keep building on our partnership with the sector, providing clarity about future levy changes and level 7 so that they can plan more effectively. I am pleased that this Government are making changes that provide the agility and freedom to act quickly and responsively. Innovations in our economy will be founded on innovations in our ecosystem of education and skills.”
“Apprentices embody some of the most valuable skills needed in the workplace, such as social competencies that fuel teamwork, empathy, excellent communication, shared purpose, critical thinking and problem-solving skills built on perseverance, experimentation and pragmatism and a can-do attitude backed by hard skills honed in the real world. I have had numerous meetings with our local colleges in Worcester, and they are champing at the bit to deliver the technical and vocational skills needed for the big transformations that our country faces in digital, clean energy and public services. They welcome our changes to reduce bureaucracy and lift demotivating and burdensome requirements for English and maths GCSEs, as well as the changes that we are beginning to make regarding shorter placements and funding bands.”
“I am pleased that this new Government have embraced the values of purposeful, mission-led goal setting alongside agility, partnership and a willingness to act and learn fast. Just like our regulatory environment, our education ecosystem, which delivers skills and qualifications, needs to become more agile and responsive, and this Bill is an early step in that transformation and in reviving the symbiosis of academia and industry in our nations. Anyone who works in engineering knows that there is no employee quite like an apprentice.”
“I am pleased to see that we have some young people observing us today. Before coming to this place, I worked in research and development, leading a team of talented young engineers who were creating and realising new technologies to tackle the climate crisis. Some of those team members were apprentices, and some had been apprentices earlier in their careers. We faced many challenges, not least from a regulatory environment that struggled to move quickly in innovation and in finding relevant qualifications for new and emerging fields. Some of those challenges are inherent in doing something for the first time, but they were also the result of a UK engineering and industrial sector that had been neglected and, in some places, allowed to stagnate by political leaders who simply did not get it.”
“There is no doubt that this Government’s introduction of free breakfast clubs will be transformative for many families. Worcester has always been a pioneering city, and as a city that trains teachers, we are a hub for education, so I am particularly pleased at today’s announcement that no fewer than three of our local schools—Oasis, Red Hill and Riversides—have been selected as early adopters of breakfast clubs. Will the Secretary of State elaborate on how this pilot contributes to ending poverty and ensuring that every child has the opportunity to thrive, achieve and succeed?”
“I welcome the Minister’s engagement on this topic. To have meaningful and serious discussions with other major economies is vital for our success. Does the Minister agree that those discussions are key to not only securing our economic aims, but tackling the climate and nature crisis and achieving our wider international objectives?”
“I welcome the revision of Drax’s role in our energy system, reducing biomass and ensuring that where it is used it displaces gas, not excess wind and solar. However, we also need to find new low-carbon forms of dispatchable power, backed up by long-term energy storage at scale. Hydrogen is a strong candidate for that. By moving fast, the UK can reduce costs and regain our early-mover advantage. Will the Minister work with industry at pace to ensure the opportunities around hydrogen are known, explored and exploited?”
“I am encouraged by the collaborative approach that the Minister is describing. Business and the third sector have demonstrated the power of an approach that involves just beginning and focusing on the person—the end user—and then iterating rapidly. That responsive, agile approach is really effective. Does she agree that the Government need to adopt that approach more and more as we try to address these big challenges?”
“We will tackle this issue most effectively when we put our influence, power and resources in their hands, so let us put young people at the centre of what we do as we tackle and end the problem of knife crime.”
“My first takeaway from that conversation was how keen young people are to collaborate on this issue as we start to tackle it. My second takeaway was how important it is that we do not work from assumptions, but really try to understand, from the perspective of young people, what is driving this problem—that we listen to, involve and empower young people. That is all the more important when we realise just how fuelled this issue is by fear, apathy and disenfranchisement. Young people care deeply about this issue. They are ready to engage, and they deserve a voice. On behalf of the young people in Worcester, I want to echo their call and their offer: let us act urgently at all levels of policing, disrupting and preventing knife crime, but let us, as we do that, put young people at the very heart of that response.”
“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir John. I recently met the young people representing our county in the Worcestershire Youth Cabinet, and they shared with us their priorities, the highest of which, to my shock, was crime and safety. They are very concerned by the issue, and knife crime was at the top of their list of concerns. They suggested actions, and we discussed all the things my hon. Friend the Member for West Bromwich (Sarah Coombes) raised: visible policing, prioritising the restriction of access to knives, and early intervention and education, including restoring youth centres and youth services. However, their key ask was that we do the work to understand the root causes and motivations behind knife crime among young people.”
“Alongside offshore wind and underpinned by storage using green hydrogen, solar photovoltaic is a key technology for the UK to decarbonise its electricity and all the sectors and use cases that we electrify. While the use of land for solar generation is rightly contended, we have a vast and perfectly designed, yet barely tapped, resource on our rooftops.”