That this House has considered matters to be raised before the forthcoming Adjournment.
This is the first pre-recess Adjournment debate to take place without Sir David Amess. It will not be as good a debate because he is not here. [Hon. Members: “Hear, hear.”] His performances at these debates were always remarkable: a lesson for every Back-Bencher, and an ideal opportunity to raise matters far beyond his own constituency and across the world and to raise every item of his casework with Ministers prior to our going on recess. We mourn his loss and, on behalf of the Backbench Business Committee, we have asked the Leader of the House if the pre-recess Adjournment debate in the summer can be retitled the Sir David Amess debate.
I start with some issues local to my constituency. The first is that we have had a number of planning applications to build new homes on station car parks. At Canons Park station, the Mayor of London applied for planning permission to build high-density, multi-storey blocks on the station car park, vastly reducing the amount of car parking space available for commuters. I am pleased to say that Harrow’s planning committee turned down the application, and the planning inspector, after the appeal by the Mayor, rejected it comprehensively. It is the most comprehensive rejection of a planning application I have ever read. That is good news for my constituents.
On Stanmore station, I have raised in many pre-recess Adjournment debates—my hon. Friend the Minister is smiling already—the issue of the required lift. The Mayor of London has applied for planning permission to build all over the station car park, which accommodates 3,500 cars. I am pleased to say that the Harrow Council planning officers proposed that the council’s planning committee reject the application, and the committee unanimously turned the application down—but now, of course, the Mayor of London, who is the applicant, has called it in, so that he can determine whether it should be allowed to go ahead. I have asked Ministers to keep a watchful eye on this matter and, if the Mayor is marking his own homework, to call it in and hold a proper independent planning inquiry before anything else happens. That is important.
I also raised at business questions the epidemic of thefts of catalytic converters from cars in my constituency. Over the summer, I was given information about many of the thefts, and took action with the local police to try to combat this epidemic. Sadly, as I mentioned, recently we have had gangs of thugs with baseball bats turning up at people’s offices and homes, in broad daylight and late at night, threatening residents. If residents come out to examine what is going on, the thugs say to them, “Do you want to try it? I’ve got my baseball bat and I’ll sort you out.”
The thefts of catalytic converters across the country are seriously concerning. Does my hon. Friend agree that the Home Office and the Crown Prosecution Service need to treat this as organised crime by gangs, and that it should be dealt with by the Serious and Organised Crime Agency? Only then will we deal with it, because these catalytic converters are stolen from Melton, or from his patch, one day and are in Poland the next.
I thank my hon. Friend for her intervention. Clearly, we need action. The problem is that the catalytic converters can be removed in two minutes, so by the time the police arrive, it is too late and the thieves are gone. The Government need to take action to ensure that precious metals that are taken from catalytic converters cannot be sold for cash. That is one of the first measures that must be undertaken. There must also be prompt action by the police to prevent these thugs from continuing to commit crimes.
I turn to points about immigration casework. My constituency is the most multi-ethnic in the country; there is someone from every country in the world, every language under the sun is spoken, and every religion on God’s earth is practised in my constituency. There are two points I am concerned about. One is that the Afghan refugee settlement scheme still is not published. I am dealing with 656 constituents with relatives who think or hope that they and their family will qualify under the scheme, but still no scheme is available. That is causing angst and anxiety among many of my constituents.
In my casework, I see a huge increase in the number of biometric residence permits being sent to the wrong address after lengthy delays by Government. It is an outrage. I understand that Home Office officials are working from home and that they have backlogs in their work, but when they get basic addresses wrong, particularly after they have been emailed to them, it is doubly bad, and that may encourage criminal gangs to get hold of those cards.
My constituency office has also experienced a huge increase in benefits casework. I do not know about other colleagues, but when the pandemic first struck, my office dealt with roughly 250 cases a month that required my intervention. Last summer, we peaked at 1,300 such cases in July; there were a further 1,300 in August, and cases are still running at 856 a month. I am therefore glad that the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority is doing the right thing and increasing the money in our budget for staffing; I welcome that decision.
Like the hon. Member, I have a very diverse constituency, and I deal with a heavy immigration caseload. Does he share my disappointment about the fact that delays in those cases are getting worse and worse? How does he feel about the Afghan scheme, which we still do not have, so many months down the road? It is also being narrowed down. How is that acceptable?
I agree that it is not acceptable. I think most hon. Members across the House will be sympathetic to people fleeing Afghanistan. We rightly made promises and commitments, but unfortunately the resettlement scheme is still not available. As I said, that is causing a lot of angst and anxiety.
I turn to two local issues that I am sure are seen across the country. There has been a huge spike in concerns about planning matters, as well as concerns about fly-tipping and potholes, which are appearing once again in Harrow. Those potholes need to be fixed, because they cause damage and all sorts of unnecessary and unacceptable problems on the roads. We have also seen a large spike in casework about illegal houses in multiple occupation—not registered ones—which, when they spring up, give rise to a lot of noise, nuisance and antisocial behaviour. I am sure that I am not alone in experiencing that.
I turn to important international events. Sir David Amess was a great supporter of the Iranian opposition, the Maryam Rajavi and the National Council of Resistance of Iran, which represent a democratic alternative to the current regime. In Iran, there are huge demonstrations against the Government, which are not well publicised. In many cases, people are being severely oppressed with terrible consequences across the piece. It is time that Ministers in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office took action. We know that discussions with Iran are ongoing over the so-called nuclear deal—I think they may not be going anywhere—but we must be clear with Iran about its attempts to foster terrorism and further incursions around the world; that is vital. The appeals of the terrorists who tried to bomb the 2018 NCRI will come up shortly in Brussels, and I hope that FCDO Ministers will have a lot to say when those appeals are dismissed. I was at the conference, and I would not be here now had the terrorists succeeded. Many others from across the political spectrum are in the same situation.
My right hon. and gallant Friend is absolutely right. It was almost the first piece of legislation passed in the House when the two of us were elected in 2010, and it still goes on; some 11 years later, we have not supplied full compensation.
As hon. Members will know, one of my great passions is combating homelessness and rough sleeping. At this time of year, we must think of those who are forced to sleep rough. I played a major part in the Kerslake commission on homelessness and rough sleeping during covid-19, and I supported the Government on the Everyone In project, and on every other aspect of enabling people to be taken off the streets and into appropriately secure accommodation, yet Housing First has still not been rolled out across the country. It would build the network of support that rough sleepers need to rebuild their life. I hope that in the new year, we will see a big step forward on that.
I wholeheartedly agree with the hon. Gentleman’s points about Everyone In, but over the last 10 years, pre-pandemic, rough sleeping doubled under Conservative Governments. Everyone In showed that there was political will to get everybody off the streets. Why can we not have that outside a pandemic as well?
Under Everyone In, the Government took 37,000 people off the streets. At the time, the rough sleeping accounts were of the order of 8,500. That demonstrates the problem of data on people who are sleeping rough and on people who have been assisted. We also know that 300,000 people across the country are sofa surfing at any one time; they are tomorrow’s rough sleepers.
At the same time, debts for private rents are increasing. The Government are slowly but surely allowing the courts to decide that evictions can take place, which will mean that more people will become homeless and will potentially be on the streets. Action is required. My solution is to build between 90,000 and 100,000 new social homes every year that people can actually afford to live in, as opposed to overpriced accommodation that they cannot afford. That is one of the things that has to take place.
The challenge before the Government—the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities have agreed; everyone seems to agree—is to abolish the Vagrancy Act 1824. There is an opportunity to do precisely that in the House of Lords. The Government need to accept the amendments to the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill—if I have got that in the right order—proposed by my good friend Lord Best, which would remove that Act from the statute book. I hope that we will see action on that.
I will turn to the important all-party parliamentary groups that I am involved in. I had the opportunity to visit Azerbaijan during the short November recess. I met the President and my MP counterparts in Baku. I also visited the newly liberated lands, and joined the celebrations of the Azerbaijani people on their recovering Karabakh from Armenia. I look forward to the redevelopment of that region enabling everyone, across the piece, to live in peace and harmony. It is the British company Chapman Taylor that is involved in the restoration of Susha, one of the biggest centres, which was destroyed by the Armenians during their occupation. I had the pleasure this week of joining the ambassador of Azerbaijan when he presented his credentials, virtually, to Her Majesty the Queen.
Even with the spectre of omicron hanging over us, this time of year is very special. For the first time in two years, I have been able to join communities across my constituency as they switch on their Christmas lights. These community events are deeply heartwarming, and it is wonderful to see local families enjoying the lights. I wish all my constituents who celebrate it a very merry Christmas.
Like colleagues across the House, I find it particularly enjoyable visiting people and places across my constituency, and I remain immensely proud to represent Manchester, Gorton.
I recently visited Circus House in Longsight as it celebrated its 10th anniversary and heard about the fantastic work that it has done over the past decade. I was given a crash course in circus tricks, and I recommend that hon. Members try their hand at spinning plates or juggling—it is not too dissimilar to our day-to-day job.
Visiting schools is always a particular highlight of my work. Ahead of COP26, I joined Year 6 at St Margaret’s Primary School to discuss climate action. The pupils were full of insightful questions and ideas. They gave me hope that the future of our planet was in good hands.
Black and Asian community groups, such as the Caribbean and African Health Network and Longsight’s Bangladeshi Women’s Group, continue to make an incredible contribution to life in Manchester, Gorton. It was a pleasure to meet them and to learn more about the outreach work that they have undertaken to engage their communities in the vaccination drive.
This year marks the end of an era in the city of Manchester, as Sir Richard Leese departs as leader of our council after 25 long and dedicated years. Richard’s contribution to our city has been immense, and I have been proud to work with him over the past two decades. He leaves big shoes to fill, but I have no doubt that his successor, Bev Craig, will be a force to be reckoned with. I also know that Manchester is immensely proud to have its first woman and first LGBTQ+ city leader.
It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton (Afzal Khan), whose predecessor was of course a friend of many of us on both sides of the House. It is also a pleasure to follow my hon. Friend the Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman). I support his suggestion that the next set of Adjournment debates, in the summer, should take place in memory of our great friend Sir David Amess, who, although he was not my geographical parliamentary neighbour, was my parliamentary neighbour at 1 Parliament Street for nearly a decade.
I am grateful for the opportunity to raise a matter of great importance to us in the royal town of Sutton Coldfield, which has caused the deepest possible sadness. My young constituent Louis Watkiss, aged 12, tragically died at the Snow Dome on the indoor ski slope in Tamworth on 24 September this year. Louis’s brave parents, Natalie and Chris, are here with us in the Gallery to hear what I am going to say. They are bravely working tirelessly to promote the wearing of helmets to ensure that no other family suffers as they are suffering today.
On 24 September, Louis attended a friend’s birthday party to go tobogganing. A terrible collision occurred on the slope. The full extent of Louis’s injuries was not apparent until his dad Chris arrived at the scene. He saw Louis still receiving treatment from the paramedics, but he was pronounced dead shortly afterwards. Both parents had 20 minutes to lie with Louis at the bottom of the indoor ski slope. I am not going to rehearse the details; the torment of those last moments will live with Louis’s parents, and other relations, for the rest of their lives.
The coroner’s post-mortem report states that Louis suffered a head injury with fractures involving the base of his skull which caused his death instantly. Although such deaths from tobogganing and sledging activities are rare in the United Kingdom, research has shown that children are more vulnerable to brain injury and even death from collisions. That is because their skulls are still developing and strengthening, and are not fully protective of the brain within until they reach the age of 17 or 18. Research referenced in Louis’s report from the coroner states that the most prevalent method for reducing traumatic brain injuries is the use of a helmet. Helmets have been shown to reduce the risk of head, neck or face injuries in skiers, particularly those under the age of 13, as well as the severity of injuries.
My right hon. Friend raises an important point. My understanding is that it does, which shows the House and, in particular, those in my constituency who are now campaigning for this move, how quickly such a measure could be introduced.
As we gather for Christmas, I am deeply conscious of this tragedy, and of the suffering of a lovely family, of a wider school and music community and of Louis’s friends and relatives, who will be remembering his life and mourning his loss at this terrible time. I know that the House and the Minister will want to send Louis’s parents, Chris and Natalie, George and Louis’s grandparents our deepest sympathies. They have every right to expect and believe that this House can be relied upon to look seriously and speedily at a safety measure that the family so bravely and so compellingly want to secure, which will stop other families from facing the grief and misery that they are suffering at this awful time for them.
I am grateful for the opportunity to speak today, and for all the opportunities I have been given to speak by all the Chairs this year. The hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) and I have a running competition to see who will get in first, and he would be here today but for his being in Westminster Hall at the moment, leading on another debate. I also wish to thank the Leader of the House for seeking to answer my endless list of questions in the most charming of ways and always making sure to follow up after business questions. Most importantly, let me say a huge thank you to all the House staff, from those in the Libraries to those in the kitchens, from Committee Clerks to Doorkeepers: you are the glue that keeps this place together, and we would not be able to carry out our duties without every one of you.
This has been a big year, and when I reflected on how I wanted to approach my speech today one person immediately came to my mind, Sir David Amess, whom the hon. Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman) mentioned in his speech. Sir David was a seasoned professional when it came to these debates. He loved to recognise all the good people, organisations and charities in Southend West, and I know colleagues from across the House will still be feeling his absence. I hope we can emulate his enthusiasm and dedication to our constituencies today.
It has been a very busy year in this House. The excitement and privilege of securing a private Member’s Bill has still not lost its novelty. I am incredibly honoured to have brought such an important piece of legislation, no matter how small or technical, to this Chamber. I am grateful to my colleagues who helped me secure its Second Reading, and am excited to usher it through the remaining stages of its passage next year. It is a similar feeling of excitement and privilege when we manage to secure a good outcome for our constituents. This year, that has been especially true in a particular case I had. I refer to a constituent who is a veteran of the armed forces and whose time in live action has left him with scars, physical and psychological. He and his family have become well-known to my office, and it was a shared delight when we were able to successfully liaise with the Ministry of Defence to resolve a pensions issue that had been rumbling on for more than a year. It was just one of a few issues that we continue to help him find a resolution to. It has been a journey that has opened my eyes to how difficult a return to civilian life can be. I must express my gratitude to the many people who helped along the way, including Veterans First Point, which works tirelessly to provide a wide range of services for veterans in Scotland, and the veterans champion at our local health board, who has helped so much with casework.
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We will commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day on 27 January in this place. We are still looking to build an education centre and museum adjacent to this mother of Parliaments. I look forward to that happening, and to further progress in the new year.
On Equitable Life, the Government have still failed to pay the total sum of £2.6 billion to the people who are owed that money due to the worst case of Government maladministration that there has ever been. I will continue to press them to pay that money—that debt of honour—because more than 1 million people have still received only 22% compensation. Given that we have compensated other schemes to the level of 80%, that seems grossly unfair to all those who have suffered loss.
There is a whole host of other matters that I would like to raise in this debate, but I know that time is pressing and that many other Members wish to participate. I end by wishing you, Madam Deputy Speaker, all the Speakers, all the staff and all the people who keep us safe a very happy Christmas, and, above all else, a happy, peaceful, prosperous and healthy new year.
Another era in this House ends, too, as the hon. Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman) has said, as we sadly will not hear from Sir David Amess in this debate, in which he always enjoyed participating. He remains sorely missed by colleagues across the House.
I want to take this opportunity once again to plead with the Government to support my campaign to secure the long-term future of the covid memorial wall. Each person who left a message to a loved one on the wall, including myself, wants an assurance that the covid memorial wall will be allowed to remain.
Finally, like other colleagues, I want to finish by thanking all my staff—Tom, Alice, Yasmine, Sam, Naeem, Anisa and Josephine—who continue to make my life easier. This pandemic has been so difficult for all of us over the last couple of years, and my staff—and those of other Members—have done a tremendous job as our workload has more than doubled. May I also say merry Christmas to you, Madam Deputy Speaker, to Mr Speaker and to all the team for the wonderful work that they too have been doing?
I hope that everyone enjoys a restful recess, and has a merry Christmas and a happy new year.
There is clearly a case here for mandating the use of helmets for snow sports activities in the United Kingdom. To my surprise, although the issue of cycling helmets for minors has been raised in the House—most recently, with great eloquence, by my hon. Friend the Member for Wellingborough (Mr Bone) when he introduced a private Member’s Bill last year—I believe this is the first time that this particular issue has been raised.
In recent years, some indoor snow sports venues have made it obligatory for participants to wear helmets, but it is entirely voluntary, and there is currently no guidance or legislation in place for operators. Looking abroad for guidance and relevant examples, we see that in New Jersey, in the United States, it has been compulsory since 2011 for minors under the age of 17 to wear a helmet if participating in such sports. In Europe the debate about the use of helmets is certainly active, and I submit that it is time for, at the least, a serious discussion in the United Kingdom. There is little doubt that a helmet would have saved Louis’s life. His death was not only tragic, but wholly avoidable.
It is clear that Louis was a remarkable young man, talented, bright and intellectually curious. He was in his second year at Plantsbrook School in my constituency, and among his many interests and skills was playing the saxophone, reaching grade 5. That included playing in a jazz ensemble at Symphony Hall in Birmingham.
I believe the House should consider whether or not we now take the significant step of changing the law to insist that in these and similar circumstances children’s heads should be protected by a protective helmet. If there are issues with either introducing legislation, or bringing forward an amendment to a Home Office measure or other relevant Bill to provide for this change, perhaps it may be possible to secure rather more rapidly a code of practice entered into by all operators of indoor snow sports and similar activities, which would mean that operators insist on such protective headgear when people are taking part in these activities.
I could not speak about the armed forces without mentioning an event that saw an avalanche of casework for every one of us—the withdrawal from Afghanistan. I do not want to labour points that have been made so many times already in this Chamber over the past few months, but I must recognise the toll that has taken on us and our staff, but most of all on the constituents who have been desperately trying to help their families left behind. I think many of us are on the same page about how events played out. I would add “and how they continue to play out”, but the Government have become somewhat quiet on the matter. That has not gone unnoticed.
A constituent of mine has decided that he can no longer wait for the support promised by Ministers. He told me this week:
“I feel that the Government isn’t working on any Afghan cases at the moment and it doesn’t seem like it’ll be high on their agenda anytime soon.”
I raised this case with the Foreign Office and the Home Office in August and unfortunately did not hear back. I raised it again in the Chamber in September, and the Secretary of State for Defence promised to investigate it. Despite repeated chases, we have not heard back.
I do not want to spend too much time focusing on the lows, though; despite a difficult year, there is much to celebrate. This autumn, Glasgow hosted COP26, which I was lucky enough to attend. I can proudly attest to the inspiration that it sparked in my constituency, which lies a little outside the city centre. The children from St Charles’ Primary School decided that they wanted to encourage people to travel greener, so they sought to make Newton station more attractive. Not only did they create a beautiful growing space for plants, but they were out and about chatting with the community and undertaking random acts of kindness.
We have also seen a huge increase in volunteer litter pickers. I have mentioned before the Cleaning up Cambuslang campaign, which saw volunteers collect 26 bags of litter for 26 days in the run-up to COP26. Bonnie Blantyre and pals are another fantastic group working on everything from litter picks to creating and maintaining community gardens. SOC—Supporting Our Community—is another I have to pay due recognition to. The group in Hillhouse are active and well known, supporting people of all ages and pulling together lots of community events.
Blantyre Soccer Academy opened a community garden of its own, which is open to anyone in the community free of charge. It is a beautiful space for quiet reflection and has been put to good use by locals. The provision of these spaces cannot be taken for granted; they have become ever more essential to our mental wellbeing.
That brings me nicely to other groups working to better our mental health. I met the head of the local Samaritans branch this year. It was quite a heavy conversation, but it was invaluable. The work the volunteers there do is emotional and sensitive, but I know we are all grateful for their resilience. They provide not just the crisis line, but a whole host of prevention work, educational resources and funding. The Hamilton branch has had volunteers that have committed decades of their lives to the cause. I admire them greatly and wish them good luck for the future.
I also met the charity Place2Be, which takes a holistic “whole school” approach to mental health. It recognises that to help children, the whole system must be in a good headspace. I was grateful to hear that the charity is currently providing some counselling in schools in my constituency, and I encourage all colleagues to get in touch with it to find out more.
The Beacons, with hubs in both Blantyre and Cambuslang, is a commendable organisation. It helps people through their recovery from addiction and is staffed by volunteers. Crucially, it actively seeks volunteers with lived experience, who have a unique insight into addiction and how to help. It is an organisation that helps people rebuild their lives and take back control.
There are so many organisations I want to highlight that are real pillars of the community. I will start with the big name—the citizens advice bureau. Our local branch has taken many a phone call from my office and from constituents. The team there are fantastic, working away at helping people out of difficult situations. Food banks, too, have become a necessity across the UK. It is a sad reality that they should need to exist at all, but I am very grateful and thankful that they do, and I pay tribute to Rutherglen, Cambuslang and Hamilton food banks in my constituency for the work they do. They took the brunt of the universal credit uplift cut and did a sterling job.
My constituency has also seen an increase in new residents’ and tenants’ associations, which is excellent. I have liaised with quite a few and the community spirit is outstanding.
I have just a few more people to thank. First, I thank those at South Lanarkshire Council for their continued engagement on casework matters and for making themselves available. Next, I thank the community councils throughout my constituency that work so diligently for the communities they represent and achieve so much. Finally, I thank my staff, Lynne, Laura, Gillian, John and Kim, who have made it possible for me to support my constituents and represent them here, for their hard work. All MPs know that they could not carry out their role without the support of their hard-working staff.
I am not quite finished yet, as I have been lucky enough to land the final Adjournment debate of term after this debate, but I am very much looking forward to returning to business in the new year. I wish you, Madam Deputy Speaker, all the Speakers and all my colleagues a very good and well-deserved break, and a happy Christmas when it comes.