Josh Fenton-Glynn
MP for Calder Valley · Labour · United Kingdom
“The public must have confidence that where there is clear misconduct, action will be taken by medical regulators. However, freedom of information requests that I submitted to the General Medical Council found that only 6% of doctors accused of rape were suspended or erased from the register.”
“I represent a constituency at the frontline of the climate and nature emergency. Flood risks are part of our daily life. Moors for the Future has demonstrated that restoring peatland can slow waterflow on hills; water passing over restored peat goes 670 times slower than it does over degraded peat.”
“I am currently taking part in the excellent National Farmers’ Union food and farming fellowship. On a recent visit to a vegetable farm, I was told that the numbers of seasonal worker visas are announced far too late in the farming cycle for farmers to be able to plan in advance.”
“I have been contacted about this issue by 14 constituents and have raised their cases. Only three of them have been resolved; the unresolved ones include bereavement cases, which we were told would be prioritised. I went to the drop-in for MPs, but I sat there for 40 minutes and then left because nothing had happened.”
“I thank the Minister for her statement and for her ongoing commitment to flood defences—both the natural flood management in which organisations such as Slow the Flow in my constituency specialise, and the more traditional types that have just been signed off for the town of Hebden Bridge.”
“I echo what was said by my colleague from the Health and Social Care Committee, the hon. Member for Oxford West and Abingdon (Layla Moran). Baroness Amos pointed to workforce challenges and their impact on care and safety, and she noted that 67% of midwives reported burnout.”
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“The public must have confidence that where there is clear misconduct, action will be taken by medical regulators. However, freedom of information requests that I submitted to the General Medical Council found that only 6% of doctors accused of rape were suspended or erased from the register. My FOI request to the Nursing and Midwifery Council found that about a quarter of those accused of rape or sexual misconduct were suspended or erased from the register. Does the Minister agree that the priority for regulators must be patient safety and not protecting their registrants?”
“I am currently taking part in the excellent National Farmers’ Union food and farming fellowship. On a recent visit to a vegetable farm, I was told that the numbers of seasonal worker visas are announced far too late in the farming cycle for farmers to be able to plan in advance. If we are to have domestic agriculture, we are going to need some seasonal workers. Will the Government look at working with the industry so that we can plan in advance and actually run our farms and agriculture sector properly?”
“I represent a constituency at the frontline of the climate and nature emergency. Flood risks are part of our daily life. Moors for the Future has demonstrated that restoring peatland can slow waterflow on hills; water passing over restored peat goes 670 times slower than it does over degraded peat. Moors for the Future is working on projects with the Highways Agency to stop roads flooding. That is a win-win initiative that helps nature and infrastructure. Will the Government continue to support healthy peatland across the country?”
“I have been contacted about this issue by 14 constituents and have raised their cases. Only three of them have been resolved; the unresolved ones include bereavement cases, which we were told would be prioritised. I went to the drop-in for MPs, but I sat there for 40 minutes and then left because nothing had happened. It beggars belief that this company has ridden roughshod over people who have been public servants for years. Can the Minister say what will it take for us to take the contract off Capita?”
“What practical steps will the Government take to encourage people to take up that offer, and to ensure that they understand what changes have been made?”
“I thank the Minister for her statement and for her ongoing commitment to flood defences—both the natural flood management in which organisations such as Slow the Flow in my constituency specialise, and the more traditional types that have just been signed off for the town of Hebden Bridge. More than half the homes in Calder Valley are in council tax bands A and B, and many of their residents live with the risk of flooding. In my community, the memory of the devastating Boxing Day floods in 2015, followed by those in February 2020, still loom large in people’s minds, and cause a great deal of anxiety. The lowering of the flooding element of their household insurance to just £25 will make a real difference to families with modest incomes.”
“Will the Minister reassure me that we remain committed to repealing in this Parliament the presumption of contact in family courts, to bring full justice to the 67 children murdered at the hands of abusive ex-partners with whom contact should never have been granted?”
“I echo what was said by my colleague from the Health and Social Care Committee, the hon. Member for Oxford West and Abingdon (Layla Moran). Baroness Amos pointed to workforce challenges and their impact on care and safety, and she noted that 67% of midwives reported burnout. Meanwhile, a General Medical Council survey found that 63% of obstetrics and gynaecology trainees had a high or very high workload. That is higher than the 42% average. The workforce plan has to address those problems—but will it?”
“I welcome the Minister’s statement, and particularly the decision to remove products where there is no domestic production. That will make a real difference to specialist manufacturers in Calder Valley, but they are understandably worried about what the tariffs will mean for their businesses. Will the Minister clarify whether galvanised wire products, which I have written to the Secretary of State about, are covered by the exemption? Companies in my constituency such as Siddall & Hilton, which makes specialist fencing, cannot get UK-produced supply and therefore get inputs from the EU, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.”
“In her remarks this morning, Donna Ockenden noted that maternal deaths are at a 20-year high, and total clinical negligence costs are greater than the money spent on maternity services. That should give us pause for thought. It is a national emergency, one that is causing unimaginable pain. The failure of the regulation is stark, so will my right hon. Friend confirm that we will tackle the culture of defensiveness across medical regulators that has caused such harm?”
“It is true that the Government do not recognise parental alienation and the syndrome, but courts too often do. In fact, a report released just yesterday by the campaign group Right to Equality that analysed language used in family court judgments found that over 70% of those judgments used victim-blaming language. Does my hon. Friend agree that we need to open up the Judicial College to some scrutiny if those are the kinds of judges that it is producing?”
“Will the Minister please tell me how the Government will ensure that they are not excluded from services and are welcomed into public spaces, as everyone should be?”
“I try to start from a position of empathy on this topic. I have no idea what it is to experience the pain of being born in a body that does not accord with one’s gender, and I do not know what it is to have the very real fear of assault that women live with, so I recognise the need for understanding and balance. However, I do not think that there is sufficient balance in this guidance. Given its focus on “proportionality”, businesses and organisations are forced to make judgment calls in a highly sensitive area. There is a real risk that the guidance will create a situation in which trans people, who already face high levels of discrimination, are subject to a urinary leash controlling where they can go.”
“My hon. Friend is making some powerful points. I hear again and again from parents that while different commissioning bodies argue about who is responsible, children fall through the cracks. Does she agree that we must urge the Secretary of State to go further and ensure that these children do not fall through the cracks?”
“The cost of the Lansley redundancies was about half that, but one in five of those staff ended up being re-employed by the same organisation. The Select Committee heard before the recess that some areas of the NHS are under-managed, and I do not want clinicians to take on those roles. Overall, I support the Bill, but we should be clear that a reorganisation of the centre at this scale is not simple. It has to be properly planned, co-ordinated and communicated. I welcome the new Secretary of State, but I hope that the Bill can make the changes we need.”
“Some concerns about the Bill came up in a recent sitting of the Health and Social Care Committee. I am curious as to how, in practice, the merger will be able to concurrently reduce headcount from NHSE, DHSC and ICBs by 50% without causing unintended consequences. I am concerned about that and want to see more detail on it, particularly given the scale of the changes that we are trying to make in the NHS. A report published in 2012 by the Institute for Government entitled “Never Again?”, which looked at the Lansley reforms, warned against making redundancies that are quickly undone as organisations recognise that essential roles have been lost and end up rehiring the same staff. The cost of redundancies under the Bill is estimated at about £1 billion.”
“We have seen an overall reduction in NHS waiting lists of more than half a million since July 2024. I welcome the new Secretary of State to his place. He has a famed eye for detail, which this job demands, and I hope that his background in local government means that he will take seriously the need to get to grips with social care. Clearly, there is a real problem that needs fixing. Over the past decade, the centre of health policy has increased: staffing across DHSC, NHS England and local commissioning bodies has doubled since 2013, from 20,000 to 40,000. The Lansley reforms were one of the most high-handed acts of sabotage that a Government have ever committed on the health service. They were meant to reduce bureaucracy, improve efficiency and save money, and they achieved none of those things.”
“This Bill has to be set in the proper context of the mess that we are clearing up from the previous Government. The Darzi report laid bare the crisis in the NHS. We must learn from that Government’s disastrous reorganisation, because we cannot afford to make those mistakes. I approach the Bill as a critical supporter of the changes that we have made and that we seek to make. I have not always given my right hon. Friend the Member for Ilford North (Wes Streeting) the easiest time, but I pay tribute to his leadership, both on this Bill and in the NHS more generally. Waiting lists are down, treatment is up and we are seeing a real shift to the priorities that we need—from sickness to prevention, from analogue to digital, and from hospital to community.”
“I welcome the clarity and determination to deliver on HS2. Rail investment is infrastructure investment, which drives growth, but may I urge the Secretary of State to look at driving growth between towns as well as between cities, for example by bringing lines such as the Calder Valley line into the 21st century?”
“I am really glad to see that DEFRA has committed to taking a role, and I am proud to support these regulations in the hope that it continues to do so.”
“It is an honour to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Harris. I am always pleased to take part in a Delegated Legislation Committee, but I am particularly pleased to speak in this one, given that it reminds us that it is imperative that we build the infrastructure we need for net zero, and ensure that it is backed up with appropriate support and mitigations for the environmental impact it may have. On a similar note, when it comes to onshore wind, I have concerns about how we best understand, avoid and mitigate the impact of building wind turbines. We should ensure that regulation that rightly protects peatlands from housing is extended to energy projects like those. These regulations are a good example of that awareness. We must understand the impact of renewable energy on nature and act accordingly.”
“My hon. Friend is giving a powerful speech. She is absolutely right that the Government are committed to helping with the rewilding and restoration of our peatland. It is probably worth noting that that is done by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and the hon. Member for Keighley and Ilkley (Robbie Moore) was a DEFRA Minister for years, so it is somewhat of a surprise that he is a new convert to the environment.”
“Friend the Minister for Nature, put it starkly: “Our peatlands are this country’s Amazon Rainforest and in desperate need of restoration and protection”. She is absolutely right—more so, in fact, because peatland stores 30 times more carbon per hectare than the rainforest. Let us be clear: we would join in the international opprobrium if the Brazilian Government were to fell trees in the Amazon to install solar panels in the hope of securing carbon credits. We should apply the same seriousness to the protection of one of our most carbon-rich landscapes.”
“On the other hand, if DESNZ signs off projects like this, it will damage those peatlands without the same scrutiny as other developments, so we have to take a step back and assess whether it is truly the right course of action. Our Government’s revised national planning policy framework argues against developments that involve peat extraction, but that is contradicted if we continue to develop these projects. Although it is not okay for someone to dig up a bit of peat to put on their garden, it is okay to displace 8,000 cubic metres of peat to build a wind turbine. Calderdale energy park represents a risk to a moor where in places the peat is more than 2 metres deep, according to Natural England’s peat map. As a fell runner, I can attest to that, because I have fallen into some of those peat bogs. My hon.”
“As I have said in multiple representations to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, the fundamental problem that we face is, unsurprisingly, one of joined-up Government. Too frequently under the last Government, the environment and climate change were treated as an afterthought and not as central to the business of Government. Just last month, the Environmental Audit Committee highlighted the lack of joined-up thinking between DEFRA and DESNZ, and the proposal that we are discussing is a clear example. On the one hand, DEFRA has committed £85 million to restoring and managing peatlands, preserving our environment and offsetting our carbon emissions.”
“Disturbing peat by building wind farms risks releasing that stored carbon, likely cancelling the carbon saved through wind farms, particularly bearing in mind that these wind turbines have just a 25-year lifespan. Research by the University of Aberdeen, referred to earlier by the hon. Member for Keighley and Ilkley, suggests that developers should avoid building wind farms on peatland altogether. In response, the Scottish Government have tightened their policy in that area. In England, those considerations are not applied consistently, but that needs to be reformed and brought into line.”
“Its beauty and the curlews, however, are not in and of themselves a reason to block the development of any renewable energy project. I subscribe to the view that we face a climate and nature emergency. Climate change is real and man-made. Our energy use makes it vital to ramp up the building of green energy infrastructure for the future as quickly as possible. For that reason, there would have to be clear and compelling evidence for me to question the development of a wind farm or any other renewable energy project. We must follow the science, however. The more we learn about peat and its role in absorbing carbon, the clearer it is that building on peat will do more harm than good. Peatland covers just 3% of the world’s land surface but stores around 30% of its soil carbon.”
“It is an honour to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Alec. I wish hon. Members a happy World Curlew Day--tan, small, slender, often up to its knees in muck and at the risk of extinction in West Yorkshire--I also congratulate the hon. Member for Keighley and Ilkley (Robbie Moore) on securing the debate. This debate, much like my constituency, comes under the shadow of plans to build England’s largest wind farm on protected peatland on Walshaw moor. I believe it is a uniquely beautiful landscape, resplendent with curlews, lapwings and other moorland birds. As a fell runner, I love that environment, which is one of the most special places on earth. From Top Withens to the open moorland, I am proud to have one of the most beautiful constituencies.”
“Member for securing this important debate, because many Members across the House appreciate the need for a green energy revolution and agree that we have to move at speed to respond to the scale of the climate crisis. I recognise the urgency to meet net zero, but we have to get it right. We have to accept that green energy that comes at the cost of our environment is not in fact green, and we must be clear that projects that will dig up peat are wrong, even if that is for homes or wind turbines. I urge Ministers to make clear our position on this and how we are looking at that, so we can come to a position that does not undermine what we are trying to do overall in our climate aims.”
“I think my position is fairly clear from what I am saying, but my point—this is the very clear thing—is not about a development in Calderdale, but about the principle of trying to tackle climate change and looking at that in the round with regard to developments on peat and whether any developments on peat make sense. I am more interested in the broad principle. I was never going to look for an outcome and find evidence to support it. I followed the evidence where it led me, and it led me to the concerns that I have expressed to Ministers fairly constantly, to the point where I have made clear my view that building on protected peat is counterproductive to our climate change aims. In all seriousness, I thank the hon.”
“I welcome this strategy, having worked on maternity and medical misogyny on the Health and Social Care Committee. I will bring up the thorny issue of sexual health. In a recent sitting of the Committee, we heard that a third of sexual health doctors are set to retire in the next three years and that there are only 14 training places. The key to ensuring that we are looking after women’s sexual health is to have a pathway for new doctors. Will the Minister look at that issue and at what we can do to resolve the training blockages?”
“I commend our ongoing refusal to be drawn into this conflict. May I ask the Prime Minister what steps we are taking to ensure that UK bases are not used for offensive operations, and furthermore that they will not be used for any ill-advised US blockade of the strait of Hormuz, which would be economically ruinous?”
“I thank the Minister for going further in making these transcripts available. Will she let us know what the next steps in that process will be? How quickly will we see real movement to allow people to have access to their sentencing remarks?”
“T2. Manufacturers have been grappling with energy costs long before the current Iran conflict, hitting Calder Valley firms. Siddall & Hilton, which makes fences, is seeing costs four times higher than European competitors, and finishing company H&C Whitehead has seen its energy bills double to £22,000 a month. Will the Minister meet me to discuss how we can support smaller firms and ensure that Government support schemes help energy-intensive firms?”
“May I commend our current position of not being drawn further into the US and Israeli operation in Iran? Can the Secretary of State confirm that we will continue to avoid any escalation, and will act only in ways that are in defence of British personnel and interests?”
“As a recovering councillor, I remember that my council used to commission a lot of these services through the WomenCentre in Calderdale, which was very good at preventing homelessness and other shocks. I often find—this might come back to the Home Office question—that a lot of post-separation problems happen because of post-separation economic abuse. Perhaps, in the longer term, we need to look at that from a legislative angle, so that post-separation abuse is better recognised in law, and then set up services to better prevent it.”
“I welcome this announcement. It will make young people’s lives and futures better. Calder Valley is famous for its world-class specialist manufacturing, but in the UK, one third of manufacturers are over 60. Can my right hon. Friend please confirm that this policy announcement will help us bring in the new generation of skills that we need for our economy?”
“When this Government took office, the number of registered patients per GP in Calder Valley was much higher than the national average, with one GP surgery in Brighouse having 600 additional patients per GP. Given the new GP contracts and the new Carr-Hill formula, will the Minister confirm that the funding will help practices in my constituency to recruit the GPs they need, so that people can see a doctor when they need one?”
“In the rural parts of my constituency, one in 20 houses relies on heating oil. One of my constituents told me that his bill had gone up by 270%, while other constituents have had their deliveries cancelled. I welcome the £53 million of investment. I know it will be targeted through local authorities, but can the Minister give my constituents an indication of when that money will filter through to their bank accounts?”
“Last October I sent a number of freedom of information requests to the Nursing and Midwifery Council on sexual harassment and misconduct cases. However, I have still not received a reply. For these bodies to be trusted, they must be accountable. Will the Leader of the House please advise me on what more I can do to get proper accountability under the Freedom of Information Act?”
“In talking about the right to family life, the hon. Lady is talking not about the rights of the children, but about the rights of the abusers. If we start from the idea that an abuser has the right to contact their children, we end up with bad decisions. That is why, in the past 30 years, 67 children have died when contact should not have been granted. That is the change that we are making, those are the lives that we are saving and that is why it is important to do this today.”
“I echo the Prime Minister’s comments on Sarah Everard and the situation in the middle east. From the sound mixing desks made by Calrec in Hebden Bridge which brought the world its winter Olympics coverage, to the valves made by Blackhall Engineering in Brighouse which bring water to New York city, Calder Valley’s specialist manufacturing is recognised the world over, and it brings good jobs and sustainable work. However, with one third of engineers over 60, the last Government left our manufacturing workforce facing an existential crisis. Will the Prime Minister please work with me to ensure that the new growth and skills levy will support good-quality manufacturing jobs in Calder Valley and across the country?”
“No one should shed a tear for the Iranian leadership; this was a brutal and oppressive regime. However, there are other brutal and repressive regimes in the world. A brutal and oppressive regime is never, in and of itself, a reason to attack a country. Can the Prime Minister please assure me that any involvement of British troops or assets in this conflict will be purely defensive?”
“I am excited to hear that the hon. Member thinks work should pay. Can she tell us why, under the last Government, we went from one in three children in poverty having a parent in work to two in three children in poverty having a parent in work?”
“Plans for a disabled access lift at Todmorden station were first announced in 2019, yet six years later we are still waiting, with no lifts, no date and no accountability. When I knocked on doors at the weekend, a disabled constituent said she can get in a lift to travel only in one direction, because the promised upgrade has not come. I urge the Secretary of State to intervene, and to help me and local councillors finally to get this project delivered, so that stations in Calder Valley work for all my constituents.”
“This Tuesday would have been my brother Alex’s 54th birthday, but sadly we lost him to cancer last year. That is why I am really proud that this plan will revolutionise treatment, care and research into cancer, as well as focusing on rare cancers, such as the one that killed my brother. Although I pay tribute to the doctors and nurses who were responsible for looking after my brother, I think it is fair to say that sometimes people with cancer get treatment but not care. One of the most exciting things about this plan is the section on getting cancer treatment to fit around people’s lives, because Alex spent too long waiting for letters and being his own advocate—a professional patient. Will the Minister please explain what more we are going to do to ensure we not only treat the symptoms but care for the patient?”
“Friends on the Front Bench will know that I am likely to be very annoying about the further things we have to do, but I welcome the Government’s support for free breakfast clubs, expanding childcare, family hubs and getting more young people into work. I look forward to reviewing how those programmes bring children out of deprivation. Today, I could not be prouder that I will walk through the Division Lobby to give millions of children a fairer start.”
“Even if a child does not have a parent in work, I do not believe that the sins of the parents are visited on the children. I do not believe that children have control over where they are born. We hear about choices; should children choose to be born to a different family? The two-child benefit cap is social and economic vandalism that we will reverse when this Bill becomes law. The removal of that cap will lift 450,000 children out of poverty, with 2 million children set to benefit overall. Think about what that means—the lives changed and the futures opened up. If nothing else moves Members, think about the savings to the public purse from fewer children growing up facing the barriers that poverty causes, which follow them into adulthood. There is more to do. My hon.”
“It was a bold way to face the electorate in 2010, but it was not matched at all by the Conservatives’ record in power of abject failure. The two-child limit pushed hundreds of thousands more children into poverty. This Bill is shot through with the needs created by the last Government’s 14 years of failure. UNICEF found that between 2013 and 2023, the UK saw the largest increase in relative poverty out of the 37 high-income countries that it measured—an increase of a third. That is a larger increase than across the EU. We have heard a lot from Members across the House about people in work. When I was working at the Child Poverty Action Group, we had a killer stat. We used to say, “One third of children in poverty have a parent in work.” By the time that lot left government, two thirds of children in poverty had a parent in work.”
“In 2023, my old employer, the Child Poverty Action Group, estimated that the cost of child poverty was £39 billion a year, and that investing to solve the issue “would bring similarly large gains to the economy”. The lifting of this cap alone will ultimately save £3.2 billion a year. This is the first piece of legislation passed on child poverty since the Child Poverty Act 2010. I remember working on the passage of that Act, and how the now Lord Cameron committing to halving and then ending child poverty. Indeed, he accepted the evidence-based view that relative poverty is appropriate for measuring child poverty, because children with less money are less able to take part in the society to which their friends belong, and are less able to achieve in the same way.”