Engagements — House of Commons, 2019-02-13
Topic: Social Welfare
Questions: On Friday, I visited Tiverton High School, a great local school rated good by Ofsted. However, Tiverton High School is facing many challenges: the buildings are old and stressed, and there is not enough capacity for all local children to attend Tiverton High School. Tiverton is a growing town and a great town, but poverty is higher than both the county and the English national average. The school buildings are located in a flood zone, so when the River Exe bursts its banks there is a significant risk to life. That means we really do need a new school. Fortunately, we have a site with planning permission and Devon County Council has completed a plan. Will my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister facilitate meetings between me and schools Ministers, so that we can together deliver a new school that Tiverton deserves?; I will be chairing a Delegated Legislation Committee while the tributes to David Natzler are paid, so I publicly wish him well on his retirement and thank him for all the support he gave me, particularly when I was Deputy Speaker. Thank you, David—good luck. Slaidburn health centre serves 1,100 people in the village and surrounding rural areas. It is well used and well loved by an ageing population with no bus service. The contract is up for renewal and people really do fear the salami-slicing of services, or even worse, the closure, so will the Prime Minister publicly give her support to health services such as Slaidburn today and say that either the reduction of services, or even worse, the closure, would be totally unacceptable?; I am sure that the Prime Minister welcomes the news that Instagram has pledged to crack down on images of suicide and self-harm. However, there are growing online communities that glamorise, encourage and normalise eating disorders, preying on vulnerable people who are going through extremely personal and private battles. Will she agree to meet me and other organisations and charities to discuss ways in which we can combat that?; Notwith- standing Brussels bar-room chatter, will the Prime Minister rule out a delay to Brexit beyond 29 March and a future customs union arrangement that would prevent us from doing those global trade deals that the Bank of England Governor says could spark a golden age for trade?;   Two weeks ago, I asked the Prime Minister to unblock the funding for Dawlish and give us the investment to improve that train line. Two weeks later, we still have no funding. I worry that Brexit is causing the Government to sit on announcements that need to be made on both rail funding and the long-term basing of the Royal Marines in Plymouth. Will she tell the Transport Secretary to get on with it and announce the funding for Dawlish this week without any further delay?; I know from the doorstep in Corby and east Northamptonshire that local people want to see more police officers out on the beat catching criminals and deterring crime. Will the Prime Minister join me in calling for the additional money she has rightly announced for policing to be invested in frontline presence?; What has the Prime Minister got against towns in north Wales? In the week following the loss of a £20 billion Hitachi contract in the region, the Government announced the moving of 380 Wrexham tax office jobs to Liverpool and Cardiff city centre. Is it her view that towns across the UK should not have public sector jobs?; Over the past four years, the number of people stopped and searched by the police has fallen by two thirds. At the same time, the number of stabbings has increased by a third. Does the Prime Minister agree that, carried out in the right way, stop-and-search is an effective part of the battle against knife crime?; I am sure you recall, Mr Speaker, the halcyon days when the Prime Minister was telling a rapturous Tory conference that she would put an end to rip-off energy companies once and for all. On Thursday Ofgem relaxed the energy price cap, and on Monday E.On announced a 10% price increase. Now we discover that the number of households in official fuel poverty has risen to more than 2.5 million. How does the Prime Minister think she is doing?; Since 2014, the number of children being excluded from schools has risen by 67%. In every school week, 4,253 children with special educational needs have been permanently excluded or excluded for a fixed period. That is a burning social injustice. Will my right hon. Friend update the House on the progress of the Timpson review of exclusions, and will she tell us whether the Government will make schools accountable for the outcomes of the pupils whom they exclude, as recommended by our Education Committee and as suggested by the Education Secretary?; Since 2013, 220 parliamentarians and 450 members of their staff have received mindfulness training in the House. Our cross-party mindfulness all-party parliamentary group has published a report, “Mindful Nation UK”, on the uses of mindfulness in education, health, prisons and the workplace, and it has been well received by the Government. After Brexit negotiations have been concluded—when the Prime Minister might need to de-stress—will she meet representatives of our cross-party group and senior scientists to discuss what more can be done through mindfulness to reduce human suffering and promote human flourishing?; Last weekend Millwall Lionesses from my constituency played and beat Lewes FC in the fourth round of the FA cup. In the women’s competition, the Lionesses received £2,000 in prize money; the winners in the same round of the men’s competition received £180,000. Is the Prime Minister willing to put pressure on the FA to equalise prize money for the men’s and women’s competition as Wimbledon did in 2007?
Heidi-Suzanne Allen (Conservative, Centre-right): It takes courage and leadership to admit difficult things, because that is how we start to recognise the need for change, so I would like to thank the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions for acknowledging that there has been a link between accessing universal credit and food bank usage. But it is not the case that there has been a link; there is a link. Will the Prime Minister please urgently review the five-week wait and the benefit freeze? Both must go, because the unpalatable truth is that our welfare safety net is no longer holding up those most vulnerable in society; it is tangling around their feet and dragging them under the water.