Contributions
252 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARD Electoral ResilienceAs a member of the all-party parliamentary group for fair elections, I very much welcome the independent review into foreign financial interference in our democracy. Does the…16 Dec 2025HANSARDOnline Safety Act 2023: RepealIt is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Pritchard. It was interesting to hear from my hon. Friend the Member for Sunderland Central (Lewis Atkinson) about the…15 Dec 2025HANSARDOnline Safety Act 2023: RepealMy hon. Friend has been talking about the dangers that children are exposed to. Does she believe that parents are equipped to talk to their children about these dangers? Is there…15 Dec 2025HANSARD Resident Doctors: Industrial ActionI am very concerned that flu has hit hard and hit early this year. Hospital bed occupancy for flu is more than 50% higher than it was this time last year and resident doctors are…10 Dec 2025HANSARDPublic Office (Accountability) Bill (Third sitting)I will speak specifically to clause 2 and the duty of candour and assistance to inquiries, but my remarks are relevant to the Bill as a whole. I want to let the Committee and…02 Dec 2025HANSARDPublic Office (Accountability) Bill (Second sitting)Q First, it is a matter of public record that my husband works for NHS England—for now. I ask these questions as a representative of constituents who have been harmed, including…27 Nov 2025HANSARDPublic Office (Accountability) Bill (Second sitting)Q My understanding is that some NHS organisations currently view being transparent as the legal risk. Do you think the Bill will change attitudes, in that it flips the legal risk…27 Nov 2025HANSARDPublic Office (Accountability) Bill (First sitting)Q So there is no easy way to show corporate collective actions, which are obviously the sum of a number of individual actions. Pete Weatherby: The Bill creates some individual…27 Nov 2025HANSARDPublic Office (Accountability) Bill (First sitting)Q I would just like a little more detail—thank you for your briefing—on the difficulty of proving intent and recklessness in a corporate body. For those of us who are not legally…27 Nov 2025HANSARDPublic Office (Accountability) Bill (First sitting)Q Professor Lewis, you spoke about the burden of proof lying with the prosecution. Have I understood correctly that if someone puts forward the defence of reasonable excuse—I…27 Nov 2025HANSARDPublic Office (Accountability) Bill (First sitting)Q Thank you. That is very helpful. Mr Guest, you talked about some of the guardrails against unmeritorious or vexatious prosecutions. One of the things that we have seen in…27 Nov 2025HANSARDPublic Office (Accountability) Bill (Second sitting)Q I will try to be quick, Mr Dowd. Families have told me that they have experienced during coroner’s inquests the following: information having to be dragged out of public bodies,…27 Nov 2025HANSARDPublic Office (Accountability) Bill (Second sitting)Q Do you think it is accurate that some organisations in the NHS still see being transparent, and admitting harm and problems, as the legal risk? Helen Vernon: They should not,…27 Nov 2025HANSARDPublic Office (Accountability) Bill (Second sitting)Q Do you think that the Bill will help to improve that situation? Judge Durran: It is disappointing that the duty of candour has to be written into law. I hope that the Bill is a…27 Nov 2025HANSARDPublic Office (Accountability) Bill (Second sitting)Q Constituents of mine—such as the parents of Ida Lock, a baby whose death due to failings in care was preventable—have described inquests to me where the behaviour of public…27 Nov 2025HANSARD Budget ResolutionsOn energy security and ensuring a diverse range of clean energy sources, does my hon. Friend welcome, as I do, the Government’s commitment to responding to the nuclear regulatory…26 Nov 2025HANSARD Budget ResolutionsWill the right hon. Member give way?26 Nov 2025HANSARD Budget ResolutionsI know that my hon. Friend is aware of the report from North Lancashire Citizens Advice about child poverty in our area. Its top recommendation to combat child poverty was to…26 Nov 2025HANSARD Budget ResolutionsOn that point, will my hon. Friend give way?26 Nov 2025HANSARD Budget ResolutionsCould the right hon. Gentleman remind us which Government led to that 11% inflation and which Government crashed the economy? Could he also speak to the estimated 1,970 children…26 Nov 2025