Laura Kyrke-Smith
MP for Aylesbury · Labour · United Kingdom
“The latest heatwaves have been really unsettling; kids have been unable to learn in schools, and care homes have been unable to keep residents cool. One of the GP practices in my constituency had to shut its waiting area because the temperatures were dangerously high.”
“T2. This month I was delighted to award my community champion award to Afzaal Hussain. After his best friend was stabbed and died in 2021, he set up In This Together Bucks, which has now removed more than 1,500 knives from the streets while also addressing underlying causes of knife crime through mentoring, mediation and support for famil…”
“We have seen three years of unimaginable suffering in Sudan, with 19 million people extremely hungry, millions of children out of school, and thousands of women and girls who have been raped.”
“The threats we face from hostile states are unprecedented in my lifetime, and geography is deceptive; we do not share a border with Russia or Iran, but our critical infrastructure is well within their reach, from hospital networks to transport networks and our banking systems.”
“Every time I have been to Buckinghamshire College Group in Aylesbury I have met fantastic staff who bring decades of professional experience to their roles and have a deep commitment to the young people.”
“One of my constituents has written to me about Natalie Abu Dayyeh, a young Christian girl from Birzeit in the west bank who was seized at gunpoint by Israeli forces earlier this month. Her family do not know where she is being held—they do not even know whether she is alive and being treated well.”
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“Many of the most distressing experiences arise from not just one evening, but fireworks being set off repeatedly over several days or late into the night. Clearer enforcement and better public awareness around permitted use would help ensure that more responsible behaviour becomes the norm. Thirdly, there is more we can do to improve predictability and consideration for others, particularly people who live near farms, stables and animal sanctuaries. Stronger guidance on, or encouragement of, advanced notification of firework use would allow animal owners and vulnerable residents to take simple steps to prevent harm to them. That is already happening in some areas, but it could be promoted much more widely, including in Aylesbury and the villages, and would go a long way to help.”
“I was up all night. Not responsible or appropriate”. I ask the Minister to look at three points that have been raised with me. First, as we have heard from others, there is a strong case for reviewing the maximum permitted noise level for consumer fireworks. At present it stands at 120 dB, but that is far louder than is necessary to enjoy the visual celebration. Campaigners and petitioners have called for a reduction to 90 dB; since low-noise fireworks are already widely available, that would not stop celebrations, but it would significantly reduce the harm to animals and the distress to people. Of course, we would need to make sure that that limit was enforceable online as well as in shops. Secondly, I ask that we look again at how the existing limits on times and days are enforced and whether further clarity might be needed.”
“The questions seems to be how to strike the right balance between safety and welfare on the one hand and celebration on the other. The Government have done some good work to build on; restricting the sale of fireworks to licensed traders and for certain occasions, alongside the public safety campaigns that we have seen, is a good start. I welcome the Government’s ongoing engagement with consumer groups, businesses and charities to keep gathering the evidence that we need—but for many of my constituents, the evidence already feels clear and they want more action. One constituent, Patricia Walker, wrote to me describing the distress that her household experienced on new year’s eve. She said, “Fireworks from 4 pm til 3 am, some sounding like missiles, nobody using fireworks wisely there. My dog shook for hours and was sick.”
“During the bonfire night and Diwali period, Petlog, the UK’s lost and found microchip database, recorded an 81% surge in missing dog reports compared with the prior two weeks, showing the devastating impact that fireworks can have on animals and on the households that own them. At the same time, I acknowledge that for many families across the country—and for me—fireworks are a source of joy and celebration that mark new year, Diwali, bonfire night, Chinese new year and many other special occasions. In no way would I want to discourage those important moments where our communities come together and celebrate. We do not have enough of those. However, I recognise that the majority of people in Aylesbury and across the country want to celebrate and enjoy those moments responsibly, and I am glad that they do.”
“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Jardine, and to contribute to this important debate. I enjoyed my close-up view of the hon. Member for Keighley and Ilkley (Robbie Moore) introducing it, but I am glad to be back on the right side of the Chamber. More than 740 constituents across Aylesbury and the villages have signed petitions raising these concerns, and I am grateful to them for doing so. That shows clearly how important this issue is to people, and to their pets, farm animals and other livestock, as we have discussed. I also pay tribute to charities such as the RSPCA and Dogs Trust, which have worked tirelessly to highlight the impact that fireworks can have. In their survey, 45% of surveyed dog owners report that their dog has been negatively affected by fireworks.”
“Alex Foster, a 17-year-old from Aylesbury, has shared his experiences of social media with me. He says that “thankfully I was one of the very few who had my phone checked”— by his parents—but “my friends told stories of watching beheadings, terrorist material, explicit photos of them being shared”. Does the Minister agree that we must go further to protect and educate young people when it comes to online harms?”
“My hon. Friend is making an excellent speech. It is vital that gambling companies come off football shirts, and I am so pleased that that is happening. I have a constituent, Chloe Long, who tragically lost her brother Ollie to gambling-related suicide. He was a big football fan, and she has spoken so powerfully about how ubiquitous the problem is, as my hon. Friend has said. She worries about young people growing up exposed to so much gambling advertising as a result of watching sport. My concern is that just asking clubs to look at this on a voluntary basis will not be enough. Does my hon. Friend agree that we may need to look at tougher action and clamp down on this link between gambling companies and sport on more than just a voluntary basis?”
“I welcome the new maternal care bundle and its ambition to drive consistently high standards of care for every pregnant and new mum. It is great that maternal mental health is one of the five elements prioritised; I am grateful to the Secretary of State for his focus on that. The challenge now is to drive forward its implementation. Can he say more about how he intends to do that, and in particular how he will ensure that NHS staff are trained and confident enough to better screen and support women who are struggling with their mental health?”
“In the light of the appalling antisemitic terror attack at Bondi Beach, the faith communities in Aylesbury are scared. I welcome the Government’s funding to protect places of worship, but it does not extend to my local Jewish community, who do not have their own synagogue. What further measures will the Minister consider to ensure that all faith communities, even those without their own premises, are well protected?”
“I hugely welcome these changes, which have been met with real relief by the farmers in my constituency, and I am grateful to the farmers who fed in their perspectives to me over the last year and allowed me to pass them on to the Treasury. Can the Minister reassure me and my local farmers that he will continue to listen and engage with our farming communities in this way, recognising the inherent value of farming, but also the great contribution it makes to the economy and our food security?”
“I welcome the additional funding and the sanctions that the Minister has updated us on. There is currently a rapid escalation of violence in the Kordofan region, with a repeat of the tactics seen in El Fasher, including siege and sexual violence. What will the Minister do to protect civilians and prevent future atrocities in the Kordofan region?”
“One constituent told me that they are fearful of their data being put at risk, particularly through the creation of a honeypot for hackers and foreign adversaries. My constituents rightly want to know that only essential information would be shared in each transaction; that data would be encrypted and securely stored; and that the system will be able to keep pace with the many evolving cyber-threats out there.”
“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Edward. As we rightly modernise the way people interact with public services, introducing a new digital credential offers real opportunity. I can envisage it making everyday tasks much more convenient, whether that is proving your age, opening a bank account or completing right-to-work checks, and I can see it doing so in a more tailored and personalised way. I can also see there being quicker remedies if things go wrong, with the possibility of current credentials being lost or stolen. If we had a digital credential, it could be revoked and reissued more quickly. I would, however, like to raise two concerns that have come through quite strongly from my constituents. The first is about the security of data that people will be required to share.”
“Estonia’s model is very interesting; users still have a lot of control over their data, and they can see what it is being used for and who has accessed it. As we look at our options, I hope that we will learn from what works in other countries and ensure that we put the same protections in place so that people can remain in control of their personal data as best they can. I know that we have a long way to go with the consultation, but I really welcome the fact that it is happening. I encourage my constituents to feed in their concerns, and it is really important that this policy lands in the right place. I welcome the Minister’s feedback on the points that I have raised about data privacy and security, as well as digital inclusion.”
“I will make progress. People are right to be cautious about handing over their personal data, and they are right to expect a firm commitment that Government will do everything in their power to protect them. Can the Minister provide some reassurance on that point? Secondly, I have heard from people who believe that introducing digital credentials is the right step, but who are concerned that their elderly relatives, people with disabilities or people without smartphone access, for whatever reason, will not be able to participate. Can the Minister also provide some reassurance that no one, regardless of whether they own a smartphone or have internet access, will be left behind in this scheme? I know that other countries have rolled out digital credentials very successfully.”
“In Aylesbury, the average waiting time for a driving test at the local test centre is now 19 weeks. One constituent told me about the substantial financial toll, which can run into the thousands of pounds and places an unreasonable burden on families—that is not to mention the stress. I welcome the Government’s action, including deploying more driving examiners and reducing the ability of bots to book test slots, but driving instructors tell me that the problem is not solved yet. Will the Leader of the House advise me on what more I can do to ensure that we get new drivers on to the roads?”
“On the point about the effects going beyond the person experiencing problem gambling, I was contacted by my constituent Chloe Long, who tragically and heartbreakingly lost her brother to gambling-related suicide last year. In his case, the challenge was not the regulated gambling industry, as we have been discussing; he was doing all the right things in terms of self-excluding and signing up to GamStop, but was still able to access the black market sites. We have to think more creatively about how we can solve that problem. Does my hon. Friend agree that there must be much more awareness out there of just how severe the risks of gambling addiction can be and of the devastating effect it can have, not just on the people we lose through it, but on their families, children and friends for decades to come?”
“The number of qualified GPs in Buckinghamshire has risen by 8% in the last year thanks to this Government’s determination to recruit and retain more GPs. It is a great start, but I still hear from too many people in Aylesbury who cannot get through to their GP surgery or cannot get a quick enough appointment when they do. My constituent Jane, whose husband had suffered a stroke, was advised that he needed a GP appointment the next day, but it took a month to get one. I know my right hon. Friend is determined to keep improving access to primary care for people in Aylesbury and across the country, so can he set out his next steps?”
“I thank the Prime Minister for his updates on the G20 and, in particular, for his commitment to the Global Fund, which we should be really proud of. I was also very pleased to see Sudan referenced in the joint declaration of the G20 leaders—as the Prime Minister has said, it is the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, but we are also hearing appalling accounts of war crimes. What more will the Prime Minister now do with global partners to secure a ceasefire, protect civilians and hold the warring parties to account for their crimes?”
“T9. There is great news for train travellers in Aylesbury this week, as the Government have announced that contactless pay-as-you-go ticketing will be rolled out at Aylesbury station from 14 December. Will the Minister join me in encouraging Aylesbury residents to give it a try, and can he assure me that they will get the best-value ticket when they do?”
“Buckinghamshire council has received more than £3 million in Government funding through the warm homes local grant to help residents with heating and energy efficiency this winter through things like upgrading insulation or installing smart heating controls. Will the Minister join me in encouraging eligible households in Aylesbury and the villages to apply, and can he say what impact he thinks this will have on reducing fuel poverty?”
“I thank the Foreign Secretary for her work, and for the update on Sudan and Gaza. I was really glad to hear her talk about the west bank, because while we hope that a fragile peace is taking hold in Gaza, the opposite is true on the west bank. Last month, the UN recorded 260 attacks by settlers on Palestinians, including olive farmers. That is the highest rate of settler violence we have seen since the UN started collecting records in 2006. The Foreign Secretary rightly said that the Israeli Government’s response has been completely insufficient, but what more will she do to press them to rein in these deadly, illegal attacks?”
“I take great pride in our country’s track record of offering sanctuary to people fleeing conflict and persecution, and I know Afghans, Syrians, Ukrainians and many others who are now settled here and making great contributions to our economy and society in our hospitals, schools and businesses. I therefore welcome the Home Secretary’s commitment to getting the proposed safe and legal routes working urgently. Will she ensure that the right incentives and support are in place so that people arriving in this way can integrate successfully?”
“Today marks the start of Transgender Awareness Week. I express my solidarity with and respect for the trans community in Aylesbury. When I met a local LGBTQ+ group recently, we discussed the urgent need to end the harmful practice of conversion therapy. Labour committed to doing so in our manifesto, so will the Leader of the House update me on when that matter will be given parliamentary time?”
“Q11. In Aylesbury, I have been running a programme called “Your Voice, Your Future” to help young people engage with politics and shape the issues that matter to them. They have sent in ideas for the school curriculum review, advocated for better mental health support and shared their fears about smartphones and social media. Will the Deputy Prime Minister join me in recognising the contributions and ideas of young people, and what more will he do to ensure that they can meaningfully engage in national policy?”
“What is happening in El Fasher is nothing short of catastrophic. My former colleagues at the International Rescue Committee report that although more than 250,000 people live there, fewer than 5,000 have been able to flee and make it to nearby Tawila, which suggests that many may be dead, or trapped in the city or along the route. Can the Minister say more about what the Government are able to do to get these civilians out?”
“T7. At my meet and greet session last week, my constituent Mick also raised that point about the importance of our young people having more opportunities to work and study abroad, including in Europe. I was so pleased by the Government’s announcement of a youth mobility scheme with the EU, but could I ask the Minister for an update on those plans and how they will benefit my constituents in Aylesbury?”
“That is the kind of country that we want to be, and improved perinatal mental health care is such an important part of it. I commend this Bill to the House. Question put and agreed to. Ordered, That Laura Kyrke-Smith, Paulette Hamilton, Sojan Joseph, Dr Danny Chambers, Liz Twist, Sarah Hall, Maya Ellis, Jen Craft, Michelle Welsh, Anna Sabine, Lee Pitcher, Dr Simon Opher present the Bill. Laura Kyrke-Smith accordingly presented the Bill. Bill read the First time; to be read a Second time on Friday 31 October, and to be printed (Bill 316).”
“I know resources are tight across the NHS, and I know there are particularly acute challenges in many of our mental health and maternity services, including the national shortage of midwives, but I also know how transformative the relatively modest measures in this Bill could be for the women at the heart of the Bill and for our society. I believe that it could have made a difference for Sophie, and it could still make a difference for the many women who are struggling with their mental health now or who will do in future. Ultimately, this Bill is about more than mental health care for women; it is about the kind of country that we want to be. When parents are mentally well, they thrive, their children thrive and our communities become places not of fear and insecurity, but of hope and opportunity.”
“NHS England and integrated care boards would be responsible for ensuring that local maternity systems introduce the single standardised assessment process, but then also, crucially, capture data through the maternity services dataset, allowing outcomes to be tracked. There must also be improved oversight of these services from the Care Quality Commission as part of its maternity inspections. I hope my Bill’s aims are clear, and I hope that the Government and colleagues in this House will look upon them favourably.”
“I have seen in my own constituency of Aylesbury how helpful that can be for women, and I urge NHS Talking Therapies services to consider women in the perinatal period a priority group for support. There are also fantastic voluntary services in communities across the country, such as PANDAS and many of those under the umbrella of the Hearts and Minds Partnership, yet many women are not made aware of them through their routine antenatal care, and they should be. Fourthly, and finally, this Bill calls for clear accountability to ensure effective delivery of perinatal mental health assessments.”
“Thirdly, this Bill sets out the need for clear referral pathways. Although midwives, GPs and others involved in routine maternity care should be equipped and able to identify mental health risks, they should not also be delivering specialist care when it is needed, so clear referral pathways into specialist mental health services are vital. The Maternal Mental Health Alliance recommends that a specialist perinatal mental health midwife be embedded in every maternity service to ensure that risks are identified and referrals made effectively. The appropriate support will be different for every woman, but one important option is the NHS Talking Therapies programme, to which I know the Government are committed.”
“GPs, midwives, obstetricians, health visitors and community mental health practitioners all need the knowledge and confidence to ask the right questions, to do so compassionately and to recognise when something is not right. This Bill calls for a national training standard that will be endorsed by NICE and the royal colleges, and delivered across NHS trusts and integrated care boards. It should include regular clinical supervision, so that staff are supported to ask questions and make decisions safely. Importantly, the training must equip professionals to recognise and respond to the specific needs of women from diverse backgrounds—understanding cultural differences in how mental health is expressed and experienced, and addressing the stigma and barriers that prevent some women from seeking help.”
“It would use validated tools such as the Whooley questions or the Edinburgh post-natal depression scale, adapted for pregnancy, and it would be rooted in NICE guidance, although that might need updating to ensure that better practice was embedded. Crucially, it would be delivered through trauma-informed conversations, not tick-box exercises. Staff would be trained to create a safe space for disclosure, recognising that women may have histories of trauma that affect their mental health during pregnancy, or may have no history of trauma or mental illness at all. Secondly, the Bill would improve training and supervision for all professionals involved in maternity care.”
“The Royal College of Midwives has just published a road map for perinatal mental healthcare, which sets out what this could look like and is well worth a read. Let me now turn to the detailed proposals in the Bill. It sets out a clear, practical framework for mental health assessments, and it has four core pillars. The first is to ensure that every pregnant woman has a structured, evidence-based and compassionate mental health assessment. While mental health check-ins must continue after the birth of a baby too, the evidence shows that outcomes are better when interventions happen sooner. That is why my Bill will focus on improving support in the antenatal period first. The assessment would form part of routine antenatal care; it would not be an extra.”
“We are rolling out best start family hubs, a transformative initiative that will give families a single route into support services, including mental health services. My Bill builds on those commitments, but it focuses the mental health support at the very start of motherhood, when women need it most. We are not starting from scratch in our understanding of good practice either. At a roundtable that I convened here in Parliament in September—bringing together NHS England, the Maternal Mental Health Alliance, the royal colleges, parents with lived experience and other experts—the message was united and clear: professionals want to help, but they need structure, time, and training to do it properly.”
“In the 10-year health plan, the Government have set out their determination and their plan to reorient our health system—away from treatment towards prevention, and away from hospitals towards the community. Ensuring that pregnant and new mums are mentally well is one of the ultimate acts of prevention, setting them and their children up for a healthy, productive future. On mental health specifically, including better support for suicidal people, the Government have also made their commitment very clear, and have matched it with action. In the last year an additional 6,700 mental health professionals have been recruited, and £120 million is being invested in dedicated mental health emergency departments, ensuring that those in crisis can get help quickly.”
“Some have established mental health services to which to refer women; some are almost afraid to ask the right questions, because they do not trust that a referral will kick in. The result is a postcode lottery, whereby a pregnant woman’s access to mental health support can depend on the NHS trust that she happens to fall under, but it is also a lottery that a woman is more likely to lose if she is black, Asian, young, or experiencing domestic violence, poverty or other forms of deprivation. As in so many areas of healthcare, pre-existing inequalities correlate with poorer outcomes. That is why this Bill matters: every woman, regardless of age, ethnicity, background or postcode, deserves the same standard of care and the same chance to be mentally well at that time in her life. We are not starting from scratch.”
“The guidance from NICE—the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence—specifies that questions about depression and anxiety should form part of a woman’s first contact with health professionals during pregnancy, including at the booking appointment, but in practice women’s experiences vary enormously. Some are asked a few hurried questions between blood pressure checks, while others are not asked at all. Women with a previous history of mental illness may be given more attention, but we know that pregnancy and early motherhood can often be the first times women experience mental illness, so that is not enough. Some GPs and midwives have the training and time to offer support; others are stretched far beyond capacity.”
“It can be anything from depression to anxiety to obsessive-compulsive disorder or post-traumatic stress disorder, and it can be completely debilitating for mums and their families. The consequences ripple out more widely, too: the London School of Economics and the Centre for Mental Health estimate that untreated perinatal mental illness costs the country more than £8 billion a year, largely through the long-term impact on the child’s health, education and future productivity. In theory, women are asked about their mental health early in pregnancy.”
“That was four years ago, and her death remains a huge sadness in my life and for her family, some of whom are in the Gallery today; but the shock of it still sits with me too. I did not know—and many of us do not—that suicide is the leading cause of death for a woman in that period from six weeks to a year after giving birth, a statistic recently reconfirmed by the latest report from Mothers and Babies: Reducing Risk through Audits and Confidential Enquiries across the UK, known as MBRRACE-UK. Although Sophie’s death is a particularly serious example, I also did not know of the scale and normality of mental illness at that time in a woman’s life. One in four women experience some sort of mental health difficulties during pregnancy or after giving birth.”
“I beg to move, That leave be given to bring in a Bill to require the provision of mental health assessments in NHS antenatal care for the purpose of identifying those at risk of perinatal mental health problems and making referrals to appropriate support; and for connected purposes. We often assume that pregnancy, birth and the year after birth are a time of life to be happy, celebrating the arrival of a new baby and embarking on a new chapter in family life, and for some people that is how it pans out, but for many the reality is much tougher. I have spoken previously in the House about my brilliant friend Sophie, who took her own life after the birth of her third child, who was just 10 weeks old at the time.”
“I commend the Minister for her formidable personal leadership on this, and I am proud to sit on these Benches alongside other formidable campaigners, too. The Minister has reiterated that the inquiry must be trauma-informed, and I know from speaking to victims in my constituency just how vital it is that we are cognisant both of the initial trauma that they have experienced and also of the retraumatising effects of going through the process of seeking justice for themselves and others. Can the Minister set out more about how she will ensure that this trauma-informed approach is woven through the ongoing inquiry?”
“I welcome the work of the Committee and I commend my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham Erdington (Paulette Hamilton) for her personal leadership on this critical issue. Black women are twice as likely as white women to be hospitalised with mental illness during the perinatal period. Does my hon. Friend agree that this is a shocking statistic, and that as we look at the way forward to improve maternity outcomes, we must ensure that mental and physical health are given equal weighting?”
“At my Whitchurch meet and greet, residents raised serious concerns about dangerous and disruptive heavy goods vehicle traffic on Oving Road. One warned me that soon there will be a nasty accident, yet the route remains unrestricted for HGVs. Will the Leader of the House allow time for a debate on the impact of HGV traffic on our villages? Does he agree that local authorities such as Buckinghamshire council should make full use of their powers to restrict or prohibit HGVs where that is possible?”
“I am grateful to my hon. Friend for securing this debate. One of my Aylesbury constituents has become a full-time carer for her 25-year-old son, who is affected by PoTS; he developed it at university, had to drop out and now is unable to work. Does my hon. Friend agree that, given that we know that PoTS is most likely to develop in young adulthood, we need a particular focus on that age group as we think about increasing recognition, diagnosis and treatment of PoTS?”
“We know that humanitarian aid saves lives, rebuilds lives and plays a crucial stabilising role, so I thank the Prime Minister for his emphasis on getting aid into Gaza. It has been heartening to hear from the UN agencies that are now crossing the border for the first time since March, getting in vital supplies such as cooking gas and medicines. However, some non-governmental organisations, including British NGOs, are still struggling to get the permissions they need to operate, so what more will the Prime Minister do to ensure that these immediate humanitarian relief efforts become a sustained, scaled-up part of Gaza’s recovery, and that our British NGOs can also play their full part?”
“I share the Home Secretary’s condemnation of this terrorist attack. I was pleased to join my Jewish constituents in solidarity at an event to mark Sukkot this weekend. It was particularly touching that we were joined by people of all faiths, including Hindus and Muslims. They were there in solidarity, but also with anxieties of their own. One Hindu community representative said to me, “This incident makes us nervous that this could happen to us as well.” Does the Home Secretary agree that the Government’s protections must extend to people of all faiths? Can she say more about what she will do to ensure that people of all faiths can meet, celebrate and worship without fear?”
“T9. The formidable team at Aylesbury Women’s Aid report continued severe delays in the charging and prosecution of domestic abuse cases. We are in touch about one survivor who lives in constant fear of her abuser, who turns up at her house and taps on her windows at night, despite a warrant being out for his arrest. What steps has the Minister taken to ensure that survivors are not left living in fear while they wait for justice?”
“We have some fantastic specialist perinatal mental health services, but I have heard from so many women who cannot access them. Suicide risk needs to be assessed in all the routine maternity care a woman receives, and support given if necessary. The same is true of so many other parts of the NHS and other public services, where action can make the difference between life and death. The role of public health interventions in this—for example, social and emotional learning programmes in schools—is crucial, too. Conscious of time, I will end it there, but I hope that this World Suicide Prevention Day is a turning point in saving lives and tackling this immense challenge in our society.”