Claire Young
MP for Thornbury and Yate · Liberal Democrat · United Kingdom
“The Government rightly want to speed up housing delivery, but indiscriminate housing built by big developers with no regard for the environment or the people living nearby is not the answer.”
“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Desmond. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Wells and Mendip Hills (Tessa Munt) for securing this debate.”
“More than that, the council recognises the importance of homes for social rent and has been punching above its weight in their provision. With around 0.6% of the population of England outside London, it delivered 1.6% of total new social rent completions last year.”
“The danger is that pockets of land will be considered in isolation and be judged only to contribute to purpose C. Indeed, the 2022 West of England combined authority report, in the local plan evidence, showed that the primary reason for just about all the land in the local green belt is purpose C.”
“Families in rural communities may spend the next six weeks finding out that the Government’s “kids go free” scheme is not designed for them. In Thornbury and Yate, the Government are funding First Bus, but not the rural local bus companies, so the combined authority has had to foot the bill.”
“Fewer than half of the children in my constituency have seen an NHS dentist in the last two years, exacerbating health inequalities. The supervised toothbrushing programme is being evaluated for its effectiveness, but I hear uptake is low.”
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“The Minister has admitted that not all schools will be fully funded, but blames that on the choices that schools have made about their staff. Does she accept that schools cannot fully control the profile of their staff, and that in some cases—I make this point in a letter to the Minister—schools choose to pay people in higher bands because of the increasingly high needs that they are expected to support? Will she meet me to discuss how she will protect schools with particularly high staffing budgets from having to make excessive cuts?”
“Businesses in Thornbury and Yate are crying out for change on business rates, from the Play Shed, which has seen its relief cut from 75% to 40%, to the company told it would have to wait at least a year to get a revaluation after it subdivided some units. Will the Leader of the House ensure that the Government bring to this House a statement setting out how they will review business rates?”
“Pregnant women are entitled to free NHS dental care, yet this right is rendered meaningless when no NHS appointments are available.” Another constituent wrote to me: a cancer patient who needed major dental treatment ahead of intense radiotherapy. Bristol dental hospital advised them they would need lifelong follow-up care, but during covid that treatment was stopped and they were discharged back to their NHS dentist. Soon after—surprise, surprise—the practice ceased to provide NHS dentistry and they could not find another, so they were forced to pay for their essential treatment.”
“The area covered by the NHS Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire integrated care board is the worst of all worlds, with fewer dentists, adjusted for population size, and lower dental activity delivery rates alongside higher numbers of A&E visits with dental problems. I want to highlight two cases that show the impact that is having on vulnerable people. One constituent wrote: “Despite contacting more than a dozen dental practices in and around South Gloucestershire and Bristol, I have been told by every single surgery that no NHS appointments are available. However, I have been offered private appointments if I am willing to pay…The situation is even more distressing as my wife is currently pregnant and requires urgent dental care, which is crucial for her health and that of our unborn child.”
“I thank the hon. Member for Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes (Melanie Onn) for introducing this debate. Thornbury and Yate is a dental desert. According to a recent newspaper report, not a single dentist in Thornbury and Yate is taking on new NHS patients for the third year in a row, leaving people having to travel long distances for care, or forced to pay for private treatment. I am sure, as a fellow south-west MP, the Minister will be as concerned as I am to hear that in September 2024 the NHS dental activity delivery rate was lowest in the south-west, at 61.6%, compared to the highest in London, at 94.7%. Not surprisingly, in the south-west, around one in every 460 people had to be taken to A&E with a dental problem in 2023-24. That was substantially higher than in London, where the figure was only one in every 860 people.”
“I do. We also need solutions for people like my constituent in the meantime; they have already had to pay £1,400 for treatment and they face another £2,000-worth of work to be able to eat normally. That is a stiff fee when you are reliant on personal independence payment and your spouse’s pension. My constituent feels that they have nowhere to turn. To sum up, patients like my constituents deserve access to an NHS dentist. We need an emergency scheme to guarantee access to free NHS dental check-ups for those already eligible: children; new mothers; those who, like my constituent’s wife, are pregnant; and those on low incomes. We need a dental rescue package that brings dentists back into the NHS from the private sector by fixing the dental contract and using flexible commissioning to meet patients’ needs in the meantime.”
“I welcome last week’s written statement confirming that the cases of many of the Triples—the Afghan commandos who served shoulder to shoulder with UK special forces—will be reviewed. What guarantees can the Minister offer that those individuals will be protected, wherever they are, and that their evidence will be heard by the public inquiry relating to Afghanistan?”
“One of my constituents waited more than eight hours in a mental health crisis for 111 to get back to them, in which time their mental health deteriorated. Previously, they accessed a dedicated local support line, which gave them prompt access to professional support. Does the hon. Member agree that prompt access to support in a crisis is vital to reducing the need for the greater degrees of intervention covered by this Bill?”
“The Transport Secretary recently refused to commit to keeping the £3 cap on bus fares outside London beyond the end of this year, leaving many in rural areas worried about how much more they will end up having to pay to get to work. Residents across my constituency have already seen vital routes scrapped or scaled back, holding back economic growth. Can the Transport Secretary explain what support will be made available to not only keep rural fares down but restore lost services?”
“Flooding is an increasing concern across the country. Only last month, I met agencies involved in tackling flooding on the railway at Old Sodbury, which impacts on the surrounding farmland and caused homes in Yate to be flooded during Storm Bert—yet the Government have made no funding commitment for flood protection beyond next April. Will the Leader of the House ask the Flooding Minister to bring to the House plans for longer-term flood protection funding?”
“In many ways, the school’s intake is comparable to a school the staff visited in London, yet that school gets much higher per pupil funding simply because of the local authority it is in. That shows in the services that the London school is able to provide, from having specialist art and music teachers to having two teachers per class. Our children in Thornbury and Yate deserve more than what the funding currently provides. The disparity is undermining the work that our local schools do and leaving them worse off. We need a fairer national funding formula that supports disadvantaged and rural schools, not just those in more affluent and urban areas, and recognises the wide variation within local authority boundaries.”
“Even within my constituency there is huge variation in the demographics of school intakes. I recently wrote to the Minister about the case of one primary school in my constituency that I visited. It provides a good example of the pressures caused by the unfairness in the existing funding system. Staff at the school told me that it has developed a reputation for being particularly supportive of children with SEND, and thus has an unusually high proportion of children who require extra support. On top of that, it is being asked to support increasingly high levels of medical needs, which its already overstretched staff are not trained to meet. It also has a high number of children with English as a second language, and a third of its pupils qualify for pupil premium funding.”
“It is an honour to serve under your chairship, Ms Butler. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Tewkesbury (Cameron Thomas) for securing the debate. Investing in education is investing in our future, so we need to get it right. The national funding formula creates huge discrepancies in how children are supported in different authorities. My local authority, South Gloucestershire, has long been at or near the bottom of the funding league table, and that lack of investment is having a real impact on children. Thornbury and Yate is largely rural, but most of the rest of South Gloucestershire is urban. Generally, with all sorts of Government funding, when taken as a whole, it has suffered through not being rural enough for rural support but not having the concentrations of deprivation seen in some urban areas.”
“Earlier this year, I had a meeting with the Minister and South Gloucestershire’s council leadership in the hope that this Government would take a more sensible approach, but the focus seems to be on providing spaces in mainstream settings. We support that as a goal, with extra funding for early intervention to make it possible, while recognising that there are children who need support now and did not get that early intervention. We also need funding for them. I ask the Minister to think again about what works now, because otherwise another generation of our children will miss out. Without a solution to the ending of the safety valve agreement, the whole system could collapse, leading to longer waits, reduced provision and more children out of school.”
“South Gloucestershire is one of the authorities with a safety valve agreement, which is intended to help councils to manage large deficits in their high needs budgets. It was signed pre-covid, with targets that are unachievable thanks to the impact of the pandemic. Next year, when the agreement ends, the council faces a cliff edge in funding. It, and other councils in that position, face impossible choices between balancing budgets and supporting vulnerable children. Furthermore, in the case of South Gloucestershire, the previous Conservative Government failed to provide the requested £30 million of funding to provide an additional 200 special school placements locally. As well as being better for the children, that would have reduced costs.”
“I absolutely agree. It is a particular problem for small rural schools, which often have small class sizes because the schools are small overall. We need action on funding for special educational needs and disabilities, as too many children are being left without the support they need. For years, schools in South Gloucestershire have had to ask the Government to allow them to take money from the schools block to supplement the high needs block. That reduces the funding available for early intervention which, as we know, is so important for better outcomes. It also makes the funding situation worse as more children need higher-cost interventions at a later stage. The high needs block must be protected and expanded to reflect the growing demand and rising complexity in children’s needs.”
“This is not a distant crisis; it is happening now and it threatens us all. I call on the Government to act with urgency and vision, stop subsidising environmental destruction, implement rigorous supply chain standards and work with global partners to safeguard forests around the world. The world cannot afford half-measures. We need real action to stop deforestation now.”
“The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has said that protecting and restoring forests is essential to limiting warming to 1.5°, and organisations from the World Wildlife Fund to the Tree Council have warned us that delay is no longer an option. Forests do not recognise borders, and neither does climate change. To protect nature, we must act globally, act boldly and act now. According to the UN, we lose approximately 10 million hectares of forest a year—an area roughly the size of Portugal. As a result of the previous Conservative Government’s policies, the World Wildlife Fund and Global Forest Watch rank the UK in the bottom third of G7 nations for its overall progress on halting imported deforestation. The COP29 declaration reaffirmed the global goal of ending deforestation by 2030.”
“The Woodland Trust has said that, here in England, we have some of the lowest woodland cover in Europe at just 10%, far behind the European average of 38%. In my constituency, where the Liberal Democrats lead on the climate and nature emergency, the council is part of a partnership that has won a bid for the western forest to become a new national forest. It will serve more than 2.5 million people, and the aim is to plant 2,500 hectares of new woodland in the first five years, with an aspiration to plant 20 million trees by 2050. Last year, the Liberal Democrats committed to doubling woodland cover by 2050, and I hope that aspiration will make a contribution to our policy. The hon. Member for Kilmarnock and Loudoun (Lillian Jones) made the good point that the types of planting are important.”
“That case illustrates why we need to look at whole-life-cycle emissions, not simply consumption emissions, as the hon. Member for Hexham (Joe Morris) pointed out. Under the previous Conservative Government, the UK continued to subsidise biomass energy production, particularly at the Drax power station. It burns the equivalent of 27 million trees a year and, although it is classed as renewable under current definitions, that is both inefficient and ecologically damaging. The Lib Dems oppose the continued classification of biomass as renewable energy and would like the Government to change that so that we can focus on genuine renewables such as wind and solar. We should not forget the problems on our own doorstep, and I thank the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) for giving us a Northern Ireland perspective on this.”
“The Liberal Democrats would support the introduction of a business, human rights and environment Act to require companies to take adequate measures and conduct due diligence to prevent and manage the impacts of activities on people and the environment, both in the UK and around the world. Will the Minister go further and introduce a general duty of care for the environment and human rights to require companies, financial institutions and public sector agencies to exercise due diligence in avoiding specified products, such as commodities produced with deforestation, in their operations and supply chains, and to report on their actions? The right hon. Member for Herne Bay and Sandwich (Sir Roger Gale) raised the issue of Drax. I had a robust conversation with proponents of biomass energy production at one of the many drop-ins in Parliament.”
“Members, including the hon. Members for Leeds Central and Headingley (Alex Sobel) and South East Cornwall (Anna Gelderd), set out clearly the damaging impacts of deforestation, including soil acidification, vast carbon emissions and the damage to people who depend on those forests, including some of the poorest in the world. The new Labour Government have pledged stronger regulations to prevent UK businesses from fuelling illegal deforestation through their supply chains but, as the hon. Member for Rotherham (Sarah Champion) set out, every day of delay allows more trees, and the species that rely on them, to be destroyed. Will the Minister tell us when the Government will put forward the regulations?”
“World Animal Protection notes that, as president of COP26, the UK introduced the Glasgow leaders’ declaration on forests and land use, but has made little progress in the years since. At COP29, leaders reaffirmed the goal to end deforestation by 2030. We were proud to support that pledge, but words must become action. A number of my constituents, including the children of Old Sodbury primary school, have contacted me to express their concern about deforestation. They highlighted the plight of orangutans and the damage being done by people who are destroying forests in order to grow palm trees for the palm oil used in soap, shampoo, chocolate and many other toiletries and food. I am sure that they will be pleased to have heard a number of hon. Members express concern about orangutans in this debate. A number of hon.”
“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Vickers. I thank the hon. Member for Brent West (Barry Gardiner) for securing this debate and for giving us such an educational introduction. It is notable that all Members have spoken not just with passion but with rare unanimity on this topic. Forests are not merely scenic landscapes; they are the lungs of our planet, absorbing more than 7.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide annually. They house more than 80% of our biodiversity and support the livelihoods of more than 1.6 billion people globally, including many of the world’s poorest communities, yet the World Wide Fund for Nature estimates that we are losing around 15 billion trees every year. That is a direct threat to our climate targets, our food security and our global stability.”
“The latter currently relies heavily on the mobile network for our emergency alert system, as well as being the primary way that most people stay up to date.”
“I thank the Minister for advance sight of his statement. Our thoughts are with all those affected by these power outages, which are a stark reminder of how key our energy security is to our national security. That is why it is vital that the Government learn from this latest incident by acting now to boost our home-grown energy by supporting community-owned projects and increasing supply chain capacity. Our constituents will be concerned to know about preparations in this country. What conversations has the Minister had across Government to ensure that the UK has robust plans in place in the event of similar situations occurring here? In particular, can he outline what contingency plans are in place to protect our transport network, our hospitals and urgent healthcare settings and our emergency communication capacity?”
“Through my work on the Select Committee, I have heard repeated concerns from industry leaders that existing workers in their 50s and 60s see no point in retraining because they believe they will see out their careers supporting old technologies. That has a knock-on impact on young entrants to the workforce, who have traditionally learnt their skills from more experienced workers. Will the Secretary of State outline what steps he is taking to incentivise retraining to support growth in the renewable energy sector?”
“Following the publication of the Severn estuary commission report on tidal power, will the Government produce a national policy statement to support tidal range energy, and will they publish a review of the available opportunities?”
“I would not be so blasé, as an Oxford United fan who lived through the Maxwell years, which included his bizarre proposal to merge the club with Reading FC and the entire first team being put up for sale after his death. We cannot rely on the benevolence of owners in what is a cutthroat business. If we are to make football in this country truly sustainable, it must be done from the ground up. I urge the Minister to think again about the scope of the regulator to ensure fairer funding throughout the pyramid.”
“The issues that keep non-league managers awake at night are more likely to be fundraising drives, or the difficulties of securing finance for ground upgrades. Making a ground safer at the next level up can be a real challenge when a club cannot secure funding. That has prevented at least one local club from taking up its rightful place. It would be fair to say that football has given me long periods of resilience-building interspersed with moments of sheer joy—an experience common to many supporters. The Bill has the potential to ensure that those emotions are tied to actions on, rather than off, the pitch. I am astonished that some people are trying to pretend that everything is currently fine.”
“For supporters, it can be an affordable way to watch football and feel a connection with their community, and many of them contribute to their clubs through volunteering. Players of all abilities have a chance to find a level at which they can play, with all the health and wellbeing benefits that football brings, as well as the opportunity to progress to the professional game for the most talented. The wider community benefits are community outreach programmes and fans using local services and shops. Sadly, although there is great wealth at the top of the game, in recent years the share of revenue making its way even to football league teams has decreased, never mind to grassroots teams such as those in my constituency. Grassroots teams are outside the scope of the proposed regulator, and I feel that is a missed opportunity.”
“I want to focus on the distribution of revenues through the pyramid. Thornbury and Yate is a largely rural constituency with no league clubs, but it does have a number of clubs with passionate supporters in steps four to seven—otherwise known as levels eight to 11 of the men’s football pyramid—as well as teams in levels five and 10 of the women’s pyramid. I have already had the pleasure of watching Tytherington Rocks and Yate Town. I congratulate Yate on clinching the southern league division one south title on Saturday. I wish them well in the premier division. Tyrone Mings played for Yate before he played in the premier league and for England, and he illustrates one reason why investment in the grassroots is so important. The benefits go far wider, though.”
“Businesses across my constituency, the wider west of England and south Wales were given a rather glum Easter present in the news that heavy goods vehicles will be banned from the M48 Severn bridge from the end of May. That will lead to expensive and environmentally damaging diversions, and one local haulier called it a “hammerblow”. National Highways estimates that the bridge will cost between £300 million and £600 million to fix. Will the Leader of the House ensure that the Department for Transport brings forward a clear plan of action as soon as possible?”
“My own local council is attempting to address the issue of fleecehold through its new local plan, which I commend. Would my hon. Friend urge the Government to bring forward the legislation quickly in order to strengthen the council’s position?”
“When I was leader of South Gloucestershire council, in partnership with Labour, we restored the right of local people to speak at planning committee site visits, giving people back their voice in the affected community. However, clause 46 of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill would enable the Secretary of State to bypass planning committees altogether. If the Minister truly wants to get Britain building, will he think again and give communities a real stake in local planning decisions?”
“When I met Great Western Railway earlier this week, we discussed how the half-hourly Bristol to Gloucester service is vital not only for capacity at Yate station, but to serve the new station due to open at Charfield in 2027. However, the current funding ends next year and an extension is vital to bridging the gap. Will the Leader of the House raise that with the Transport Secretary and ensure that a full impact assessment is carried out before the funding expires?”
“I have previously written to Ministers asking them to consider contributing to the funding of this centre as a pilot facility—a model that could be rolled out across other regions to help to inform provision in and provide training for our schools. I ask them to look again at the huge benefits this project could bring for children with complex needs and the potential it has to deliver access to PE for children who currently miss out.”
“It has had a massive impact on its users’ lives, whether that is the three-year-old laughing for the first time, the 16-year-old who had refused any form of sport at home and school but who rowed a kilometre on their rowing machine, the nine-year-old who held up his head on his own for 10 minutes for the first time, or the 57 children and young people who were able to walk for the first time, using the specialist equipment. Opening this permanent home for the charity’s activities will allow it to offer schemes not only in school holidays but year round, and would give the centre the scope to open up its facilities for other organisations to use, including schools. Gympanzees has already raised more than half of its £8 million target to fit out the facility.”
“I will conclude by highlighting the work done by the charity Gympanzees, which is currently fundraising to open in my constituency the UK’s first fully accessible exercise, play and social centre for disabled children and young people. I had the privilege of visiting its pop-up offerings before I was an MP, where I saw for myself the fantastic holiday activities it provides with an array of specialist equipment and dedicated staff.”
“The National Autistic Society stresses the importance of clear communication, structured environments and sensory friendly approaches, while Special Olympics Great Britain highlights that a key barrier for children with SEND is the lack of mainstream sports clubs that offer inclusive programmes, urging schools and communities to create partnerships with local clubs, offering pathways to competitive sports for SEND children and fostering an inclusive and welcoming environment. On that, I would like to highlight the work of Yate Acrogymnastics centre. Contrary to the hon. Member for Stafford, I do think this will require some funding for adaptive equipment and the specialist training for staff.”
“A report from Scope, a leading disability charity, found that children with SEND who feel excluded from physical activity are at higher risk of developing mental health challenges, which can further exacerbate absence. A study by the National Autistic Society found that students with autism, in particular, are more likely to be absent from school when PE lessons are not adapted to their needs, with absences increasing by up to 20% for those students. To tackle that, Scope calls for more accessible PE facilities and training for teachers on how to adapt physical activity for SEND students. It emphasises the importance of inclusive support, suggesting that schools offer a broader range of activities that cater to different abilities, from wheelchair sports to multi-sensory activities.”
“Only 14% of PE teachers feel fully confident in adapting activities for children with SEND, according to research by the Youth Sport Trust. There is a significant gap in teacher training for inclusive sport. Schools often lack access to the necessary adaptive equipment, making it difficult for SEND students to engage in physical activity on an equal footing with their peers. Provision is inconsistent, with some schools able to offer much more well-developed programmes for SEND students than others. One consequence of that, which may surprise some, is that it can lead to increased absence for SEND students. The Youth Sport Trust has highlighted that pupils with SEND are more likely to experience disengagement in physical education, which can lead to increased school absences.”
“I have been delighted to see the great strides made in women’s football in recent years and it was a joy to join a girls’ training session at Pucklechurch primary school recently. The 20-plus girls running around on a very small pitch showed that girls really do like football. However, I want to focus today on a different area of inequality: the participation in PE of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities. I am pleased that the hon. Lady raised this issue in her speech. Children with SEND are one and a half times more likely to be inactive compared to their peers without SEND. We know the benefits that physical activity can bring: improved mental and physical health, boosted self-esteem, and important social opportunities for SEND students. So, what are the barriers?”
“I congratulate the hon. Member for Stafford (Leigh Ingham) on securing the debate. I could easily spend my whole speech talking about the challenge of increasing girls’ participation in PE and sport in schools. Despite the progress made through initiatives such as the “This Girl Can” campaign, there is still a gender gap, with only 32% of girls aged five to 15 achieving the recommended 60 minutes of physical activity each day compared to 41% of boys, according to Sport England’s “Active Lives” survey in 2023. We have come a long way since my schooldays in the ’80s, when girls over eight were not allowed to play competitive mixed football and there were no girls’ teams I could join.”
“In the south-west last year, 77 police community support officers were taken off our streets; my local Avon and Somerset force accounted for 60 of them. It said that the change was a direct result of lack of funding. Will the Home Secretary agree to raise the matter with the Chancellor as a matter of urgency, so that we can put more money back into frontline policing?”
“I know that, under the current fees regime, council tax payers are paying significant amounts of money towards the planning determination process, rather than the cost falling on the applicants. I therefore welcome the provisions in the Bill to allow local planning authorities to set their own planning fees. However, I would highlight the fact that there is room to help local authorities reduce costs. For example, local newspapers, with their dwindling circulations, are costly and ineffective routes for publicising applications, yet clause 84 only tweaks what needs to be published in those newspapers. I urge the Government to consider other ways to raise awareness, such as councils consulting local groups.”
“Junctions 16 and 17 of the M5 in my constituency are good examples of where joint working could deliver the infrastructure improvements we desperately need, for which residents in villages such as Easter Compton are crying out. That could also unlock growth. On the subject of infrastructure, my constituency has great potential for national energy infrastructure, whether that is new small modular reactors at Oldbury or tidal lagoons. My hon. Friend the Member for Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire (Mr MacDonald) referred to the community benefit available from proposed transmission infrastructure, albeit he referred to its derisory levels. However, I would like to see this benefit extended to other energy infrastructure. As a former council leader, I understand the pressure on budgets.”
“I am therefore dismayed that this Government want to give the Secretary of State sweeping powers to enable planning decisions to bypass planning committees, and I urge them to look elsewhere to speed up delivery. It is vital that infrastructure is provided ahead of development, and I would like to highlight a potentially more fruitful avenue for a Government who say that they want to tackle “blockers”. Not only can organisations such as National Highways be slow to respond to planning consultations, on both individual applications and strategic plans, but when they do respond, the answer can be a simple no. Instead, we need all such bodies to see their role as one of working with local planning authorities to overcome the barriers and be enablers of growth.”
“I speak as a former unitary authority councillor for over 17 years. In that time, I spoke many times on behalf of the local community at planning committee meetings, so I understand the importance of including communities in decisions. Shutting them out of the process breeds resentment about new developments, and this is the chance to take advantage of local knowledge to make sure those developments are of good quality. I am proud that the council administration I led reversed the previous Conservative changes that gave one councillor the power to block applications heard by the planning committee, giving local people back their voice.”
“If the hon. Member would like his Government to support the future of local newspapers in that way, I hope they will look again at how they are supporting councils to fund local planning departments. To conclude, I urge the Government to think again, tackle the real barriers to delivery and put local communities at the heart of the planning process.”