Amanda Hack
MP for North West Leicestershire · Labour · United Kingdom
“I thank the Secretary of State for his statement confirming the outcome for Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. With three very different options on the table, it is inevitable, as we have heard, that there will be opposing views on the outcome.”
“One of the things that has always struck me about this law is how we can change accountability. Just a couple of weeks ago, Donna Ockenden’s report about the Nottingham maternity scandal set out the fact that public officials did not come forward to tell the truth about those tragic incidents. Does my hon.”
“The hon. Member is giving an impassioned speech. I share his sadness about the loss of Jay, whom he mentioned in his opening remarks. In my constituency we did a defib dash, where I encouraged constituents to understand where their nearest community defibrillator was. The average return journey was 12 minutes by foot.”
“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Dr Murrison. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Lichfield (Dave Robertson) for opening the debate, which has been a useful opportunity for us to talk about ceramics. I am also a member of the GMB.”
“When we talk about concern about ceramics, we need to ensure that we also put that in the context of industries that ceramics directly supports, one of them being construction.”
“North West Leicestershire has a proud industrial heritage. Manufacturing remains the largest sector of employment locally and we are home to major ceramics employers such as Ibstock Brick. Brick is a key part of the sector. I have three Ibstock Brick sites and have been greatly pleased to meet with people from them on several occasions.”
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“It was not until my friend’s funeral in July that I reflected that while those suicides were more than three decades apart, the similarities between the two men who made that decision were stark. They were both men in their early 50s, successful and running their own businesses. They were amazing family men who were well respected in their work and in their social circles. Yet they still both made that ultimate decision to take their own lives, leaving those left behind to unpack their grief and sorrow with the overriding question: “Why?” In the face of such loss, we often search for answers—something to help us make sense of the silence and the unanswered questions. While no single explanation can ever truly account for an individual’s decision, patterns begin to emerge when we look more closely at the broader picture.”
“I thank the Backbench Business Committee for granting this debate and my hon. Friend the Member for Doncaster East and the Isle of Axholme (Lee Pitcher) for securing it and for making his opening remarks in such an amazing way. We heard the devastating numbers and the personal experience of the impact that suicide has had on our communities and on ourselves. These people were important to us and, I hope, by discussing this difficult subject not only can we offer comfort and support, but provide the hope that we can put in place improvements to prevent someone else from taking their own life. I want to speak about two friends: my childhood friend who lost her dad to suicide when we were just in our teens; and one who made the decision to take his own life just a couple of months ago.”
“Let us imagine it is a Sunday and the only defib nearby is locked inside a closed shop: with so many sports clubs active on Sundays, and with exercise known to exacerbate underlying cardiac conditions, it is vital that these defibs are 24/7, yet too many remain tucked away. It is no surprise that Resuscitation Council UK estimates that the survival rate for out-of-hospital cardiac arrests in North West Leicestershire is just 1.6%. But small changes can make a huge impact.”
“I also encourage everyone to complete free training online, and, if possible, attend an in-person course. In my constituency, almost 50% of postcodes are not within easy reach of a defibrillator. On average, my constituents have a five-minute run, not including the time it takes to locate and unlock the defib. The stark reality of how far a new local business, CoalWorks, was from the nearest defib inspired it to take action. It successfully fundraised to install one at its gym on the business park. With its efforts, it was able to purchase an additional unit, and thanks to the partnership with Hinckley and Rugby building society, a second defib will soon be available in the centre of Coalville, benefiting the wider community. The cabinet outside the building has already been installed. Having publicly accessible defibs is so vital.”
“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Stringer. I thank the hon. Member for Bishop Auckland (Sam Rushworth) for bringing forward this important debate. I declare my membership of the all-party parliamentary group for defibrillators. As has already been said, every minute that someone is in cardiac arrest without receiving CPR and defibrillation, their chance of survival decreases by 10%. I recently hosted CPR and defib training in my constituency, with an outstanding East Midlands Ambulance volunteer trainer, supported by Resuscitation Council UK. It was made clear that every single moment counts when starting CPR. If it needs to be performed, get help. Every minute can feel like a long time when carrying out chest compressions, but it is vital to continue until professional help and a defib become available.”
“One resident contacted me after a fundraiser at the Kings Arms in Coleorton, expressing frustration that VAT is charged on lifesaving equipment purchased with charitable donations. I ask the Minister to consider that in her response. There is so much more to say: I feel deeply passionate about the urgent need for more defibs, greater knowledge about CPR and defib use, better awareness of heart health and a wider screening programme to detect risk—in young people in particular. That was it: around three minutes. Had resuscitation not been started while I was speaking, the chances of surviving a cardiac arrest would have dropped by 30%.”
“Of course, I agree; heart health is really important, but access is key, too. We can all do our own bit. We can check if the defib nearest to us is registered and encourage a community audit. If it is not registered, someone in an emergency might not know it is there. Every school in North West Leicestershire has received a defib from the Department for Education, but it appears that only 28% have registered theirs—not even half. I will be writing to every school in my constituency to urge them to get their devices out of the box and on to the register. We can also petition our local stores, supermarkets, schools and GP practices to mount their defibs on the outside of their buildings, where they are always accessible, and we can fundraise to secure new defibs in the most impactful locations.”
“Its science, technology, engineering and mathematics-focused education programme is inspiring a new generation and encouraging school-aged children to pursue careers in aerospace, aviation and motorsport. In that way the legacy of the Photographic Reconnaissance Unit is not just preserved, but made a living and dynamic memory continuing to serve the nation into a new century and inspiring a generation. I am sure that the opportunity for the public to see a Spitfire as James would have piloted it will bring to everyone’s attention just how brave the pilots were. It is fantastic to see so many MPs today honouring their constituents. I look forward to working closely with the Spitfire project and I look forward to the monument. May we honour and remember the contribution that the people in the PRU made to our nation during world war two.”
“This is the second time I have had the opportunity to share my constituent’s story. I will say his name and tell his story again as he deserves to be remembered. We have written to our local paper to find out more about James. Sadly, we have drawn a blank, so I call on the Minister, alongside my hon. Friend the Member for Carlisle, to do what he can to open up the data so we can find out more about those brave men and women. I am pleased the Spitfire project has gained parliamentary support for a monument. I want to pay tribute to its hard work and the work that it has put into the campaign. Beyond the memorial, the Spitfire project is also looking to the future.”
“Flying in essentially a gutted plane with no more than a camera deep into enemy territory, unarmed and unprotected, pilots gathered vital intelligence to help the allies win the war. Those planes were literally designed to carry as much fuel as possible at the expense of protecting the pilots—such bravery; such a sacrifice. I want to pay particular tribute to one of my own constituents, Coalville’s James Hares, who was among the brave few to serve in that extraordinary unit. Despite flying in a role that carried a death rate of one in two—one of the highest in the entire war—he survived the war but tragically passed away on the journey home having suffered a cardiac arrest after an allergic reaction. He was buried at sea off the coast of Sri Lanka, never making it home to his family.”
“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Vaz. It is also a privilege to have the opportunity to speak in this important debate, which I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Carlisle (Ms Minns) for bringing forward. As another granddaughter of a world war two veteran, I am ashamed to say that before meeting David Robertson from the Spitfire project, I had not known about the bravery, skill and determination of those pilots and the contribution that they made. I did not know about the Photographic Reconnaissance Unit, and I am sure I am not alone. After the war, the PRU’s stories were buried and long forgotten, as most reconnaissance units were, but it has a unique story.”
“At a panel discussion earlier this year, I joined a group of leading women in the hospitality sector, who repeatedly highlighted that the lack of female representation in leadership roles and ownership is a persistent barrier to progress in the sector. What steps is the Minister taking to support women in the hospitality industry into leadership and ownership roles?”
“Q I want to put on the record that I have an airport in my constituency, so many relevant companies are based there. You are a global company in a global marketplace. The airlines I have spoken to want to source SAF from UK markets. How attractive is that to your organisation as a global business—responding to your customers’ wanting you to deliver locally? How much does that play a part in that investment? Ruben van Grinsven: I am going to answer in a slightly similar way. My role is very much investigating and developing supply assets. I am really looking at building SAF plans. I am not very familiar with how customers demand locally produced fuel. In general, customers look for affordability and, therefore, at price and eligibility legislation. At this point, those are the more driving factors for people to buy certain fuels.”
“Consumers are supportive, engaged and willing to pay a bit more to support the transition to net zero, but the industry and Government need to take action to manage it cost-effectively.”
“They expect us to set out the plan, communicate it and take action at the airport where we can. In that sense, all the evidence shows that consumers support us taking action. As the answer to an earlier question alluded to, the net zero transition will have some costs to consumers. The challenge is how we keep those costs as low as possible while reaching the goal of net zero. I think the balance of the mandate and the revenue certainty mechanism is well designed to achieve that. We think that domestic production in the long term so we are not reliant on imports—we have discussed the energy security angle—is a good way of helping to manage price certainty in future.”
“Q We talk an awful lot about the customers and what they might see on the price of their ticket, whether that is for freight or for going on holiday to Spain or wherever, but are your customers demanding that you be more environmentally friendly? As an airport, how far do you need your customers to support the transition to SAF? Matt Gorman: It is a great question. All the evidence from our polling of customers, as well as what we read in regular polls and consumer surveys, shows that people are broadly concerned about climate change and environmental issues generally. In terms of aviation, they see that there is a role for customers, but they are clear that the industry needs to set out a plan and take action. They understand that airports do not necessarily fly planes, but that we clearly have a responsibility.”
“That means the technologies themselves are not commercially mature yet, so even with a revenue certainty mechanism in place, there is still a level of technology risk that some investors are not willing to tolerate at this point in time. We need further support to help the first-of-a-kind projects get through FID, even with the revenue certainty mechanism in place. That can include deploying things like first-loss guarantees, or other forms of Government involvement, such as being the first lender through something like the NWF taking a slightly more risk-on approach to the financing of these first-of-a-kind projects. That way we can prove that the technologies are commercially viable, and then help scale the sector.”
“Q Obviously, when you are looking at green investment, there is a huge element of risk in new technologies. Are there other levers of Government that would de-risk them from an infrastructure point of view, or are there other things that we could do on top of the Bill to de-risk it? Josh Garton: Yes, I think there are. As I said, the revenue certainty mechanism seeks to address price risk primarily. The mandate deals with volume, and it provides that volume certainty in the market. When we think of the second and third-generation fuels that we need to develop to meet the aviation decarbonisation targets, these are somewhat novel technologies—in fact, they are novel technologies—and there is no market for the fuel at the moment.”
“Q On the potential economic benefits of the Bill, you mentioned the other layer of infrastructure that we need to put in place. How do we ensure that we have individuals with the skills and smaller organisations with the financial capacity to ensure that we maximise the economic benefits from trying to be the market leader? Professor Maslin : That is a huge, huge question.”
“Sorry. Professor Maslin : No, no, I think it’s great. Forgetting schools, I think we need reinvigorate engineering in universities—and I say that not coming from an engineering background. The reason is that, at UCL, we have a huge faculty of engineering and some real areas of expertise, but we need to build those up. We need the chemical engineers who can train the next generation to go into SAFs. We need to energise that. At the moment, the problem is that the university sector is creaking and underfunded, and top universities are doing things on a shoestring. It seems slightly ridiculous that I am going out to the middle east to get funding to support research into SAFs, but we are having to be entrepreneurial and sell our talent around the world.”
“They are almost oven-ready to host the technology, inward development and jobs. Our analysis, which was a minimum compared with those of everybody else in the room, is that this would create 15,000 jobs in the next few years and £5 billion in GVA. Those jobs are in many of our run-down coastal communities and industrial heartlands, so this is a win-win on many levels—in terms of decarbonisation, carbon capture, production and the regeneration of parts of our nation that have been left behind for far too long.”
“Q In terms of SAF’s growth potential, I would be interested to hear more about how smaller organisations can get involved and how we can ensure that lots of businesses benefit from this huge step forward for our economy. A lot of SAF production will be in coastal areas, but my constituency, which has an airport, is inland. How can that growth potential reach all parts of the UK? Mike Kane: Indeed, and Amanda, you are a great champion of East Midlands airport in your constituency—I have Manchester airport in mine, and I see from day to day the benefits that growth brings in terms of jobs, skills and inward investment. You make exactly the right point. Good strategy is turning what you have into what you need to get what you want. We have industrial heartlands dotted right across our nation, including in our coastal communities.”
“Some of which I knew and some from overseas…to raise enough money for me to at least explore other options that I cannot be given through the NHS. Options that might just give me a second chance. But me and others in this fight should be given a fair chance to win this battle because the chances right now are heartbreaking.” This Bill will give hope to Isaac and others in his position. As we have heard, we are not talking about a minority. In the UK, 47% of cancer diagnoses and 55% of all cancer deaths are from rare and less common cancers. A system that leaves nearly half of cancer patients behind is not a fair system—not for Isaac, not for the father-in-law of my hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh South West, and not for many others we have heard about today. I will support the Bill today, and I thank my hon.”
“The campaign is now at an incredible £193,000, just shy of its £200,000 goal to pay for Isaac’s treatment. His fundraising not only helps him access life-altering treatment, but raises vital awareness about the urgent need for more brain tumour research, which receives around just 1% of national cancer research funding. Isaac’s voice matters much more than mine in this debate, and I would like to share something he has written with the House: “The disease I’m fighting, that gives every single person diagnosed such a poor prognosis, only allows for a little hope. Living a life day to day almost waiting for the bad news. I’m one of the lucky ones. One of the lucky ones who was able to see a community of over 15,000 people come together.”
“As we have heard, around 180,000 people are diagnosed with a rare or less common cancer every year. Last year, one of those was my constituent Isaac Wilton, and his story will be the basis of my speech. I had the pleasure of meeting Isaac last year. He was diagnosed with a grade 4 glioblastoma brain tumour at just 21—he had a seizure during a workout at the gym. His sister Harriet set up a fundraiser to pay for immunotherapy, and within the first six days they raised £144,000. Isaac and his family have organised various events to support the cause, including charity football matches and community events. Last October, family and friends joined Isaac to walk from Leicester City football club to Coalville clock tower, covering 13 miles—an extraordinary feat.”
“I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh South West (Dr Arthur) for his tireless work on the Bill. If anyone gets the opportunity to listen to the podcast he did a few weeks ago, it is well worth listening to—really insightful. He offers the opportunity to address the deep inequalities faced by people diagnosed with rare and less common cancers. In fact, this is the second debate on rare cancers that I have attended this week. The hon. Member for Esher and Walton (Monica Harding) mentioned the previous debate; I had the pleasure of sitting alongside my hon. Friend the Member for Truro and Falmouth (Jayne Kirkham) in that debate on myeloma—a rare blood cancer that affects just a few thousand people a year in the UK. However, there is a concern of the link between the condition and people flying helicopters in the military.”
“A few weeks ago, I was invited to bowl at Ibstock bowls club at a joint fundraising event with Sands United FC Ashby. That team welcomes men from across my constituency who have been bereaved by pregnancy loss and child loss to play football and to chat if they need to. Will the Leader of the House join me in congratulating those two local clubs on coming together to raise money for Sands, the national baby loss charity, and will she consider a debate in Government time to discuss the impact of baby loss and support for families who experience it?”
“I thank the Minister for his statement. As a former Leicestershire county councillor, and as a health scrutineer before, during and after the pandemic, it was clear to me that local knowledge from our public health teams and NHS services played an important role; however, they know that they could have gone further and done so much more. Will he reassure me and my constituents that insights from local resilience forums and local experts will feed into planning and preparation for any future pandemic?”
“I thank the Secretary of State for her statement, and for the significant investment in transport across the UK. The confirmation of funding for the A511 corridor in the east midlands is extremely welcome. For far too long, communities such as mine have been overlooked by the previous Government for infrastructure investment where we have had lots of housing growth. This funding marks a turning point, accelerating opportunity and connecting our community. Can the Secretary of State assure me that every part of my constituency will see and feel the full economic benefits of this vital investment?”
“I thank the Secretary of State for her statement. At a recent joint meeting of the Work and Pensions Committee and the Education Committee, Sure Start was named by the panel as the previous Labour Government’s most positive policy for children. The policy had a very proud legacy, yet the Conservative party closed 50% of our centres in Leicestershire. Does the Secretary of State agree that building the foundations and investing in families, as happens at our family hub in North West Leicestershire, will ensure long-term benefits like those achieved by Sure Start? Will she say how Best Start family hubs will work alongside pre-schools and primary schools to aid the delicate transition into school?”
“My constituency is the home of Canine Partners, the organisation that provides canine companions for individuals with disabilities. I just wanted to reflect on the positive effect those dogs have on the people who care for them.”
“I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh North and Leith (Tracy Gilbert) for bringing forward this important change. Does my hon. Friend the Member for Aylesbury (Laura Kyrke-Smith) agree that we need to continue to have the conversation about what democracy means to people, and that creating consistency in the voting system aids that conversation?”
“Clause 38 provides the opportunity to review and assess the challenges to local services, and to make sure that our ambition reaches all parts of communities, including villages.”
“One disabled passenger told me that they can catch a bus to work from Monday to Saturday but cannot be available to work on a Sunday owing to the lack of a Sunday service. Public transport rarely facilitates straightforward journeys to colleges, workplaces or local amenities. People also said that they needed increased frequency, reliability and coverage, especially in our villages but also in new housing areas. A villager in Belton told me that buses can be unreliable. That has put them off using the service, particularly because, the last time they risked it, they ended up stranded and had to get a taxi home. That happens even in our larger conurbations, where just two weeks ago a resident told me they had to wait for more than an hour for the next bus because the one they had planned to catch simply did not turn up.”
“As transport is so important, one of the first things I did after I was elected was undertake a local transport survey, and 72% of respondents said that the reason they do not use buses is their frequency and the lack of service and choice. I am sure that the challenge is felt in other constituencies, but local people in my constituency said that buses are infrequent, unreliable, poorly timed and often do not connect towns and villages effectively. That was most commonly felt in Moira, Diseworth, Heather, Ibstock, Ravenstone, Castle Donington, Kegworth and Breedon. People also said that services stop too early, with no evening or Sunday options, impacting leisure and work.”
“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dame Siobhain. I want to speak in support of clause 38. As a representative of a rural constituency, public transport is one of the things mentioned most frequently when I speak to local people on the doorstep or at events. Car and van ownership in North West Leicestershire is higher than the national average, partly due to the lack of public transport options, including bus and rail. In the light of the support given to expand local services and our ambition in government, Leicestershire has had an additional £8 million and we are starting to see a change, with bus services no longer being reviewed, reconsidered and cut, but being reviewed with a view to expansion. Bus services are important. People talk about services that have been withdrawn; they feel the loss of service.”
“I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Redditch (Chris Bloore) on securing this important debate. My hon. Friend the Member for Nuneaton (Jodie Gosling) is talking about cuts. As a parent of a child with multiple allergies, I used to get support from Leicestershire county council for nutritional services, but that has all gone. It was one of the first areas that local authorities cut. Does my hon. Friend agree that that reduction in support has made life for parents of children with allergies so much harder than it needs to be?”
“We cannot afford to keep asking our communities to do more with less. That is why I welcome the Bill’s ambition. Finally, we have committed the resources that are needed to protect socially necessary services in my community and many others.”
“What bus providers and councils see as cutting costs, we see as cutting lifelines to education, jobs and healthcare—cutting connections with our communities. Members can imagine my constituents’ frustration when they heard a few weeks ago that notice had been served on a route between Ashby and Loughborough. The local authority has found an alternative to protect the service, but the timings are such that students now have to catch their bus even earlier to get to college. Bus services are not just about transport; they are about opportunity, inclusion and dignity. When a young person in Measham cannot reach their college in Loughborough, or an elderly resident of Ibstock cannot get to their medical appointment, that is not an inconvenience but an erosion of their independence.”
“That is a socially critical service. A few years ago, the service between Coalville in my constituency and Hinckley in the neighbouring constituency was withdrawn at short notice in the middle of an academic term. North west Leicestershire and Hinckley both have further education colleges, and that essential link between the two was withdrawn in the middle of people’s courses. If the local authority had responded to campaigners then, it would have realised that the bus route between those two urban parts of Leicestershire was a socially necessary service. In big cities, cutting one service leaves a dent, but in rural areas such as mine, it leaves a crater—and craters have been appearing all over my constituency. Bus services were cut by 62% under the previous Government.”
“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dame Siobhain. Before I came to this place, I sat on the highways and transport scrutiny committee at Leicestershire county council, so I have spent a lot of my professional life talking about buses. As is not out of the ordinary for someone living in a rural or semi-rural constituency, however, I have also spent a lot of my personal life talking about them, as cuts and broader threats to our services are often the subject of conversation around the dinner table. We all have residents such as those my hon. Friend the Member for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland spoke about in our previous sitting. For example, my constituent, Jacky, fought hard to reinstate the bus service in Whitwick in my constituency, and won, ensuring that people can get to the local doctor and pharmacy.”
“I thank my hon. Friend for bringing this really important debate to the House. In my community there is an area called Griffydam, and residents there have been trying for years and years to have something happen to their local community. One of the interesting things is the benchmarks—local knowledge goes over and above those. Not a lot of the accidents get reported nowadays. Does my hon. Friend agree that we need to look at local knowledge, which goes much further than reported accidents and incidents?”
“The shadow Minister raises an important point about competition and the customer being at the heart of bus services. Will he share with us why so many rural bus services have been cut, if the commercial operator is king and the focus is on customers? That is not the experience we feel in rural communities. We have had cut after cut.”
“The hon. Gentleman’s analogy ignores the passenger transport strategies that local government should already be undertaking, and the fact that local government already does a large piece of work to make sure that those strategies are relevant to the local economy. The Bill gives local government the opportunity to get the funding—that has not been mentioned—to start making bus services feel like what the local population and economy actually need.”
“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Roger. I want to challenge the suggestion that franchising is an obligation. It is not; it is a power that is given to authorities to use if they wish. However, in those communities that were so poorly served for the past 14 years under the previous Government, should we not inspire an ambition for better bus services?”
“I thank the Minister for her statement. The NHS is the No. 1 issue for my constituents, and I know that they will welcome the investment in the spending review. My constituency is a rural area, and one thing people often raise with me is ambulance waiting times, which I am pleased to report have improved in every category over the past year. Can the Minister explain how the spending review will ensure continued improvements in ambulance waiting times, supporting my constituents to get emergency care when they need it?”
“I know that the measures in this Bill, alongside the work announced to modernise airspace, will be welcomed by the sector. May I take this opportunity to invite the Minister to the 60th birthday party of East Midlands airport on 21 July?”
“As East Midlands airport’s thriving cargo facility extends to meet the demands of exporters from across the UK, cutting greenhouse gas emissions via sustainable aviation fuel will not only have significant benefits for net zero, but will put an estimated £5 billion a year back into our economy by 2050. It will also create additional jobs, securing a long-term sustainable future for the industry. It also puts forward a clear commitment to jobs at the airport, which will benefit my constituents and those of neighbouring MPs in the east midlands. I would welcome assurances from the Minister that North West Leicestershire will see the full strength of these training and work opportunities when they come about, because we have a lot to offer.”
“My airport also serves millions of passengers every year, with the likes of Jet2, easyJet and Tui operating out of it, supporting my constituents and those from those across the midlands to take a well-deserved holiday. Having met representatives of Jet2 recently, I know that there is huge support for the introduction of the revenue certainty mechanism, and it will be interesting to hear more about the transitional arrangements to ensure that airlines such as Jet2 have the fuel they need to decarbonise and meet the mandated mix over the short term, as well as to see the SAF industry develop for the future.”
“However, as East Midlands airport is in my constituency of North West Leicestershire, it will be no surprise to anyone here that that is the airport I automatically think about. The airport provides huge benefits to my local economy, as well as making an important contribution to the wider UK economy. As the second largest air freight terminal in the UK, East Midlands serves as the hub for DHL, UPS, FedEx and Royal Mail. This growth is backed by investment in the nearby east midlands rail hub, which transports our goods from port to port. In addition, the airport serves as a base for RVL, a specialist airline that provides support to the Environment Agency and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. The transition to sustainable aviation fuel is going to be key if those organisations are to grasp the nettle on net zero.”