Dave Robertson
MP for Lichfield · Labour · United Kingdom
“As I am sure the Minister knows, I have been a trade unionist since I started my teaching career some years ago. I have been involved in a number of industrial actions over that time, as a teacher and member of a trade union and as a trade union staffer.”
“I very much appreciate that intervention, and I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on getting published in a very important journal. I am not in any way saying that the Secretary of State should not have any regard— [ Interruption. ] Now that he has made a joke, I want to say that I think he looks like a trombonist, rather than a trumpeter.”
“It is always a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Ms Lewell. I will speak briefly on new clauses 79 and 80. I really like the intent of these new clauses, and the idea of Government working better and more together, public health being more of an agenda, and trying to get people working together in that framework.”
“I really appreciate and value that—I think this is a good debate for us to have—but if the Minister for investment has managed to secure an investor to save a large business that is essential to the economy of an area, do I want them to be held up by having to demonstrate that the investment will ensure public health? I am not sure I do.”
“To quote the Precision Health Technologies Accelerator at the University of Birmingham, very close to my Lichfield constituency, its leadership has been supportive of the removal of tariffs from pharmaceuticals, saying that the introduction of the tariffs could lead to “supply chains collapsing and patients suffering.” That is an enormous…”
“I thank the Secretary of State for giving way, and I apologise to my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent Central (Gareth Snell) for not quite being able to get here for the kick-off. The Secretary of State talks about the importance of the ceramics industry, both in economic and heritage terms.”
The complete record
Every one of 477 lines we hold for Dave Robertson, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 9 of 10.
“It is a pleasure to take part in a debate with you in the Chair, Mr Dowd. Diolch yn fawr to my hon. Friend the Member for Monmouthshire (Catherine Fookes) for securing this debate. There has been a lot of talk today about the issue of sewage dumping and the important Water (Special Measures) Bill, which I fully support. However, I am here to talk about Bown Pond in Fradley, a village in my constituency. On 11 December last year it had a serious pollution incident involving not sewage, but some form of hydrocarbon—probably an oil, but we are yet to see the result.”
“I commend the work of the Defence Committee. The report is important, particularly given the news that has come from Ukraine in the past few years, and the way that conflict has developed. One thing that comes out clearly is the need to be on the cutting edge of all this. The UN declared 2025 to be the international year of quantum science and technology. Do the developments that my hon. Friend is talking about lend additional credence to the importance of that statement, and of bringing those cutting-edge developments to our defence capabilities?”
“That is five different NHS organisations for five different geographies, all with different funding formulas, different grant processes, different reporting mechanisms, different key performance indicators and different timescales. That is all for grants that add up to nothing more than an administrative nightmare. Simplifying and standardising that process will ensure that St Giles can spend less time securing grants from the NHS and more time on caring for the community in my constituency and further afield. I ask the Minister to look very closely at that point, because there is a real opportunity to secure significant benefit for hospices across the country.”
“Having said that, Government support is essential to making sure that hospices across the country can continue to do everything they do for all our communities, so I welcome the £100 million of additional funding that the Government announced just before Christmas. However, we must find ways to ensure that all hospices remain sustainable in the long term. St Giles receives just 18% of its funding from the NHS, which is less than £1 in every £5 when the national average is £1 in every £3. Levelling that playing field cannot come fast enough. In addition, St Giles has to deal with five different integrated care boards.”
“The hospice supported Sean and his children following the loss of their mother and wife, Felicity, at just 38 years old. I am not sure I would be strong enough to turn that tragedy into something as positive as Sean has, but he has all my support. The generous donors to St Giles do so much to care for people they have never met with their donations. In a recent meeting with Elinor Eustace, the CEO of the hospice, she mentioned how much she values all that they do, but said that she does not want to have a fully funded model, because of the value that fundraising brings to the entire community around the hospice.”
“I thank the hon. Member for Wimbledon (Mr Kohler) for securing this debate. Like many Members here, I am here to talk about my local hospice. Just over the constituency border in Whittington, St Giles hospice has been doing its vital work for more than 40 years. However, 2024 was a challenging year for the hospice, with rising costs, plus the impact of the cost of living crisis making fundraising more difficult, leading it to make some impossibly hard decisions last summer. St Giles had to close one of its wings and make a number of redundancies among its clinical staff. That was due not to reduced need across Lichfield, Burntwood, the surrounding villages and further afield, but only to the financial situation that the hospice faced. I commend my constituent Sean Collins, who is leading St Giles’s urgent funding appeal.”
“Earlier this school year, the Friary school, a secondary school in my constituency, held a school-wide referendum, which included parents and the wider community, on lowering the voting age to 16. I am proud to say that this will be the topic for the Litchfield schools speaking competition, thanks to the sponsorship of Arthur Price and the Rotary Club of St Chad. Will the Leader of the House join me in commending the organiser of that referendum, head girl Emma Mackenzie, and agree that it is high time that we followed Emma’s lead and had a debate on the topic in this place?”
“I could make some points about Progress 8, but that is not why I am intervening. Just yesterday, my local news website reported that Dr Brown, the award-winning founding headteacher of the award-winning Maple Hayes Hall school for dyslexia in Lichfield, used his 90th birthday message to say that the obsessive focus on synthetic phonics is holding back pupils. That is not me saying that; it comes from the award-winning headteacher of an award-winning school.”
“A parent came over at the end of the event with a couple of bags of things to put on their kids, which helped them out with costs. They were reduced to tears. They had been feeling pressure; they had been looking ahead to the cost and did not know how they would meet it. Being able to get that stuff at no cost released that pressure valve. I hope that story stays with me for a very long time. Those are the stories we need to focus on—stories of the real-world impact in our constituencies.”
“That is not acting in the great traditions of this place. I could talk for over an hour on this matter, but I have a minute left, so I will touch on school uniform. Around three years ago, alongside business, schools and the community, I set up Lichfield Back to School Bank, a uniform recycling scheme. Last year, we supported more than 120 families, and around 4% of the city’s school pupils picked up a uniform from us. We prevented six tonnes of carbon emissions through that alone. That, however, is not the real reason why I am so proud of that. Many parents I speak to talk about the weight lifted off their shoulders when they are able to access a school uniform, because the costs are so high and such a concern.”
“I reconfirm to any Members on the Opposition Benches who are thinking of supporting the amendment that if they do, they are voting to block the Bill; they are declining to give it a Second Reading. In blocking the Bill, they are blocking the single child identifier and the register of children not in school, which are steps that the Government are taking to protect vulnerable children. We have heard from some Members that they want to call for an inquiry in certain places. They can still do that if the Bill passes Second Reading, as I hope it will. There is nothing in the Bill to stop such inquiries, or to prevent people from continuing to campaign for them. By voting against the Bill—to support the amendment is to vote against the Bill—they are voting against measures to protect children to make a political point.”
“I am still quite a new Member, but over the last months, we have been privileged to see the best of the House; its support for the fight in Ukraine and the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill spring to mind. Even in this afternoon’s debate, the speeches from the hon. Member for Dorking and Horley (Chris Coghlan) and the right hon. Member for Skipton and Ripon (Sir Julian Smith) were excellent contributions that show the House in an exceptional light. Unfortunately, this evening, I may yet see the disappointing spectacle of Members choosing to vote against measures to protect children, solely so that they can make a political statement. That is a significant concern.”
“It will also help us to meet our obligations on the climate crisis, which will have a material impact on the lives of our children, our children’s children and all generations to come. On that basis, it is an absolute pleasure to say that I fully support the Bill. I look forward to helping it through its further stages through Parliament.”
“This week, in large parts of my constituency a large number of farmers have again found their fields replaced by some type of aquatic environment because of flooding. Yet again, King’s Bromley has almost been cut off. Climate change is real. Climate change is here. It is having an economic impact and a social impact—a real-world impact. We need to take steps to achieve our goals. Allowing the Crown Estate to partner with Great British Energy in the way the Bill proposes, allowing it to drive down the carbon cost of our energy and help us to move to that just transition, will not only cut energy bills everywhere in the country—Lichfield, Burntwood, the villages and everywhere—but drive up investment and bring economic growth everywhere across the UK.”
“That will grow our economy, which will be felt across the entire country, tackling real pockets of deprivation, particularly around the coast. That will in itself be beneficial, unlocking economic growth and driving wealth creation right across the UK. It will also drive investment everywhere. The simple fact is that we now have another large investor operating in the UK, meaning that other investors will be able to seek other opportunities. If any are listening, please have a chat with me; there are some sites I would like to talk to them about, particularly Burntwood town centre. Alongside that point, there is another really important issue. There has perhaps not been enough focus on the real value of the Bill in helping us to reach our net zero goals.”
“A wonderful strength of the Crown Estate is that it supports so much agriculture across the country—that most traditional and important of industries which provides us with the food we eat. It is a real strength of our country that so much of the land in the Crown Estate is leased out to farmers who can go off and do their thing and run their business. The Bill seeks to update the Crown Estate. No legislation relating to the Crown Estate has been passed since 1961—24 years before there was a Dave Robertson. By updating the Crown Estate, we make it ready for the 21st century. As of about a week ago, we are now in the second quarter of the 21st century, a fact I am struggling to compute. Making changes to allow the Crown Estate to invest in the industries of the future will bring jobs and investment into the UK.”
“It is a pleasure to take part in this debate alongside so many of my coastal colleagues. It puts me in slightly odd company, because Lichfield, Burntwood and the villages are quite a long way from the edge. We are quite a long way from the coast, but it is important to have some representation from the middle of England. When we look at the desired outcomes of the Bill and what it will mean for constituents across England, Wales and Scotland in coastal and non-coastal communities, it is about growth and jobs. Very few of those jobs in floating offshore wind are likely to be along the River Trent, but this is about building a country that works for everybody across the country for the future. In my constituency, I am fortunate to have an agricultural Crown Estate holding.”
“I hear my hon. Friend’s point about early intervention and making sure that we diagnose MSK conditions as soon as possible. A member of my extended family suffers from pregnancy-related osteoporosis, which needs to be picked up as soon as possible so that appropriate treatment can be put in place and mothers supported through it. A new charity has been set up specifically for pregnancy-associated osteoporosis, and it is pushing for the #MeasureThatMum campaign to make sure that midwives are trained to pick up the condition at that point, as early as is physically possible. Does my hon. Friend support that?”
“I draw the House’s attention to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests, which lists me as a member of Lichfield city council and Lichfield district council. I want to touch on the future of parish and town councils, as the White Paper talks in two places about stronger engagement between the new authorities and parish councils. Can the Minister go further by saying how that will work, particularly given their importance in places like Staffordshire? Staffordshire has almost 1 million people, is 3% of the length of England, and has real centres of community and a lot of population centres that are not currently reflected in their district councils but are very much reflected in their town councils in places like Burntwood.”
“Today I spoke to a proud postie, who said that he feels the company is a national disgrace—that shows how far it has fallen under the current ownership. Can the Minister assure me that the new ownership will not be allowed to sink to the depths that the current ownership did under the guidance of the previous Conservative Government?”
“My hon. Friend the Member for Bracknell (Peter Swallow) is right to raise the issue of complaints, which I am sure all Members from across the House receive from constituents let down by failures to meet the universal service obligation. From speaking to posties, as I did today, it is clear that posties right across the country, just like my hon. Friend the Member for Corby and East Northamptonshire (Lee Barron), are proud of what they do. They are proud of the job that they do, proud of being part of the community, and proud of the identity that working for that iconic brand gives them. It is clear that they are not the ones who are letting the public down; that is down to the current board of the company, which is running the organisation into the ground.”
“The hon. Gentleman talks about the perils of acting too slowly, but given that a Liberal Democrat was in charge of the water industry when it was privatised, does he not think that we might all be paying the price for the error of acting too quickly in that instance?”
“Residents of Watery Lane in Lichfield know fine well that these powers already exist. There was significant local objection to a 750-home development right on the edge of the city. It went through every single possible stage of objection from the local authority and local residents, and it was still just signed off by a Minister in Whitehall. These powers have existed for a long time, so will the hon. Gentleman ensure that he does not make the point that some type of new power is being brought in?”
“T2. Many of my constituents work at HMP Swinfen Hall in Staffordshire, although the boundary changes took it out of my constituency recently. Many of the prison officers I speak to there are concerned about retention at the start of their careers, getting into more experienced roles and ensuring that such experience is retained. Can the Minister reassure me about the steps being taken to encourage retention of experienced members of staff?”
“South Staffordshire college’s creative arts faculty is based at Lichfield college in my constituency. In January, it will open a new state-of-the-art recording studio and rehearsal space that will allow students to develop skills in both music performance and music production, ensuring that they are well prepared for careers in the creative arts for their entire future. Does the Secretary of State agree that such investments are essential for the UK to maintain its role as a global leader in the creative arts, and that the Government should support them wherever they can?”
“However, one of the things the petitioner raised is that, unfortunately, a lot of families who want to build those memories are unable to do so during the school holidays because of affordability. They therefore have to take the kids out of school during term time, because they believe it important to enable their kids to enjoy their childhoods. However, parents can be fined for that, which leads to their feeling criminalised and as though they have done something wrong, although I am sure that everybody would agree that taking kids on a break to help them to build childhood memories is really positive.”
“They want to spend time with their kids away from home to build memories but, for far too many people, doing so in the 13 weeks of the school holidays has become unaffordable because of the escalating cost. I spoke to the petitioners last Thursday, and they made it clear that they completely understand the importance of kids being in school. One of the first things they said to me was that they enjoy the fact that their kids come home from school, tell them what they did that day and are so full of life and the learning of the day. But the petitioners also understand the holistic benefits of kids spending time away from a formalised learning environment for some self-directed time and a change of scenery, even if that is just some different walls.”
“There is a reason that this petition has received so much support from so many people from right across the breadth of the United Kingdom: who can say anything to a parent who wants to spend more time with their kids? It is so fundamental and so positive, and I think everybody would support that, which is why this petition was started and why it has been so clearly supported. The debate is about those really positive things, but it boils down to an issue of affordability. Anybody who has looked into this will know of the significant increases in the price of holidays, whether domestic or foreign, whether travelling by air or by train. The price of holidays flies through the roof during school break periods, and that has a real impact on parents.”
“Later in life, I followed mam and dad into the family trade by becoming a teacher, where I saw at first hand the impact that absence can have on attainment and progress at school. Often through no fault of the child or the parents, kids were unable to be in school and they fell behind, which made life difficult for them. I am sure all Members in this Chamber would want to avoid a situation in which any kid is unnecessarily held back for any reason, particularly attendance. This issue is complex, and I have experience of both sides of it, as I am sure many Members have; I am sure that very soon we will hear a similar speech from my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent South (Dr Gardner), who is also a former teacher.”
“I beg to move, That this House has considered e-petition 658365 relating to holidays during school term time. It is a pleasure to address you, Sir Edward, in what is an important debate and my first attempt at presenting a debate on behalf of the Petitions Committee. I am chuffed to do so, because this subject is really positive. I am sure that everyone in this Chamber has fond childhood memories of family time away from home. When I look back, I have clear memories of spending a lot of time in north Wales with my family. I was fortunate that both my parents were teachers so, as soon as the school holidays came around, we were all available. I thank my parents very thoroughly for that.”
“That may not seem like a huge difference—it is only 3%—but those parents are contained in the other number, so it is probably closer to 6%, and various other points can be made about the data. The important point is that people from lower income backgrounds—people who are not as rich as their peers—feel more strongly that stretching out and moving around the school holidays would be positive. Part of that may be that it is easier to arrange childcare when they do not need to do six weeks back to back, and part of it may be due to things that are happening in Wales—processes, festivals and things that I am not aware of because it is a while since I have been there. The cost of holidays might be one of the driving factors that led to that slightly different opinion between the two income brackets.”
“That is sometimes not easy, but a person should face no detriment if they spend some time with their kids, go away or, as the hon. Member for Mid Dorset and North Poole (Vikki Slade) said, take some time for compassionate reasons. We also met Parentkind, which highlighted some really interesting data from Wales. It recently carried out a consultation about changes to the school year, and a majority of the parents it surveyed support a change so that the long holiday period in the summer is shortened a bit and some of those weeks are moved to other parts of the year. But although 56% of all parents support a more evenly spread school year, 59% of those on a lower income are in favour.”
“Parents raising children with additional needs may already face significant extra costs, whether because they have to buy things for the home, or software and other things to support their kids in school, or because they are simply fighting through a special educational needs and disabilities system that does not work and they face additional costs from having to raise things through tribunals. In preparing for this debate, I was supported by our excellent Petitions Committee staff to meet members of the National Autistic Society, who said that they valued the opportunity to contribute to it. They said that, because of the issues in the SEND system, they spend a lot of time talking to people about the importance of kids being in school and helping parents to get their kids into school as often as possible.”
“It is hard to follow that intervention, because how could anybody disagree with that? Spending time with a dying family member at the end of their life is so important not just for those who pass away but for those who remain, because those memories live with us forever. I am sure those parents were between a rock and a hard place, but made the only decision that any of us would have made, despite the difficulties that they now face. It is clear from stories such as that and others that I have heard over the past few weeks that there is a real problem. The petition mentions the equalities impact, and says: “This can be a particular issue for…children that have additional needs”.”
“Parentkind kindly talked me through a significant amount of information on how the school year is organised, the potential for changing it, and whether that might be able to drive some changes. The National Autistic Society recognised the issue, but emphasised how important it is to get kids into school. A lot of its work is on ensuring that kids are able to access education, but it recognised that there was maybe space for some work in the area. It suggested talking to market organisations and travel providers about whether we could change the affordability issue, which might then lead to a different situation for parents across the school holidays. The Centre for Young Lives was clear that the free market is not delivering for families. It is certainly not delivering for kids, and that is leading to some of the issues.”
“Every single organisation that I spoke to recognised that there was an issue here, and that there was real value in kids being able to access a field of learning or a different experience from being at school in a formalised learning environment. I cannot say that any of them were absolutely jumping on and saying, “This is definitely a solution to that.” Actually, all the organisations I spoke to suggested slightly different solutions. I spoke to the National Association of Head Teachers, which I thank for its helpful input. It suggested that returning some discretion to headteachers—as was certainly the case when I was in school and at the start of my teaching career—could be used to support parents, where appropriate. The headteacher would have the discretion to say no, should there be other issues with a child and their attendance.”
“I thank my hon. Friend for his contribution. He is somewhat skipping ahead to the later parts of my speech, but I like him, so I will let him off. The Government need to do something about this, and as I will touch on later, there are a lot of proposed solutions. A lot of parents—obviously, the 250,000 who signed the petition in just three months, before the general election brought it to an end—think that there needs to be some type of solution. The petition proposes giving parents the opportunity to have up to 10 school days—two weeks—away from school with their children, but a variety of different things have been suggested. My hon. Friend has suggested another, and I am sure the Minister is listening. As part of the preparation for this speech, I spoke to a range of organisations to take their views.”
“It is a real vipers’ nest, and I do not envy the Minister having to try to find his way through it. There are probably more solutions than we need on this issue, and finding the right one will be a real challenge for the Government. I am very eager to hear the Minister’s response because, as I am sure a lot of people would say, the system is not working at the minute. Hopefully, we can use the great power of the British state to look into this issue and find a better way forward for parents and pupils.”
“The hon. Gentleman has almost taken me to the conclusion I was coming to anyway, so I thank him for the appropriate segue. As ever, there are more solutions than problems for Government, but finding the right one is difficult. In the work and engagement I have done on this, it has really come through that there is a problem. There are lots of ideas about what we could do, and although it is unlikely that there is one instantaneous solution, there is potential around discretion, working with the market, and changing school days—although a significant caveat is that teachers are often parents too, and if they do not teach in the same local authority area in which they live, then moving the holidays around might cause them significant additional issues. There are also issues with teachers being able to afford holidays with their families.”
“I realise that I may have omitted to say how much of a pleasure it is to serve under your chairmanship at the start of the debate, Sir Edward. I am happy to correct the record in this instance. Although we have had only a small number of speakers, the depth of research that has been done, and the depth of understanding of the issue across the Chamber by Members from the vast majority of parties has shown that this is being looked at by individual Members, the Government and all political parties. It has been a very good debate, in that we have heard a lot of different viewpoints, and it was good to hear the Minister’s response. Question put and agreed to. Resolved, That this House has considered e-petition 658365 relating to holidays during school term time.”
“I think it is important for us to remember where we want to be when those next pages of the history of this place are written. What do we want it to say? I know that when I play my part in that, I want it to say that I was on the right side of history—on the side of our values, justice and democracy. That is why I support the Bill, so that we can provide support to Ukraine. More than that, I want to be part of sending a message—a G7 message, a NATO message, a European message—to Washington about the importance of supporting Ukraine, and part of sending a very strong message to Moscow, and its supporters in Tehran, Pyongyang and anywhere else that supports this illegal war in Ukraine, that it has to stop. But it can only stop with a Ukrainian victory. Slava Ukraini.”
“I am also proud of the support from people throughout my constituency, in Lichfield, Burntwood and the villages, who have thrown open their homes to welcome those who have been displaced from Ukraine. It is heartening to see how many people across the country have acted so quickly in saying, “These are our friends—these are people who are in need”, and making sure that there was a place for them to come and to be safe. Let us make no bones about it: the Ukrainians are defending our values. They are Europe’s eastern flank, and Europe’s bulwark against autocracy. The fight in which they are involved, the fierce fighting that is taking place, is not for some nebulous idea; it is not for drawing lines on a map; it is for something as fundamental as the values that we hold dear.”
“This debate, and the debates that we will have over the coming months and years, are the next step on that journey, the next page of that history, and as we move forward we must continue to remember our place in the story—a story of the importance of democracy and the importance of ordinary people standing up, having their say and ensuring that ideas such as democracy, justice and self-determination are never forgotten, and are always close to the forefront of what happens in this place, in this country and around the world. We should be proud of the history of this place in defending those ideals, as I am proud of this country’s support for Ukraine.”
“Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I sincerely hope to be last but not least. Let me begin by congratulating my hon. Friend the Member for Amber Valley (Linsey Farnsworth) on her first speech in the Chamber. I too, like many Members who are present today, am relatively new to the House, and I do not think I will ever forget the first time I walked into the Chamber with that real sense of awe that we have when we walk in here. We are faced with the history of this place which stretches back for centuries—the ideas that have been debated, discussed and decided in this room—but we are on the next page.”
“I thank my hon. Friend for securing this important debate. He may not know that I was a teacher for almost seven years in north Birmingham. I used to regularly see 11 and 12-year-old kids coming into school having had no breakfast, and with their lunch for the day being a bag of Haribo sweets and a one litre bottle of energy drink. Unsurprisingly, those kids had a disproportionate number of detentions and behavioural incidents, particularly in the afternoons, when they had a sugar crash. Does my hon. Friend agree that far too often the provision of healthy and nutritious food by breakfast clubs can be overlooked?”
“T5. I welcome the record allocation for agriculture in the Budget. However, the simple fact is that that agriculture budget is no good if it stays in the Whitehall coffers. Last year, there was a £300 million underspend in the agriculture budget, worth more than £1,400 on average for every single farm holding in the country. What steps is the Secretary of State taking to guarantee that every single penny of that budget gets to communities such as Lichfield, Burntwood and the villages?”
“Over the past 14 years, the Conservative party saw this issue become a growing crisis. Conservative Members have spoken much today about how we need a deterrent, but does the Minister agree that, for someone who is willing to get into a vessel of questionable seaworthiness to cross one of the busiest shipping lanes on the planet, a 3% chance of a trip to Kigali is not a deterrent? The only way of getting a handle on this is to go back to where the problem originates. Waiting for people to get to the channel is delaying the response and creating the crisis that the Conservatives oversaw.”
“There appears to be a lot of discussion about agricultural property relief on inheritance tax today. Could the Minister confirm what percentage of the farms that claimed more than £1 million of agricultural property relief in the past two years actually received any agricultural income in the past five years?”
“Since 2011, Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service has lost 437 full-time equivalent firefighters. More than that, the number of on-call and retained firefighters has dropped by more than 60% from 483 to just 189. That is a significant drop in the amount of fire cover, and the cuts have been 1.5 times deeper than in any comparable rural fire service. Does the Leader of the House agree that it is a pressing issue, and will she consider a debate on the adequacy of fire cover across the country?”
“High streets in Lichfield and Burntwood in my constituency were let down as, for 14 years, the Conservative party fiddled while our high street economies burned. Can the Chancellor assure me that regenerating high streets, as the physical manifestation of how well our economy is doing, is a priority for this Treasury?”