Commons Chamber

Wednesday 24th June 2026

(began 1 week, 3 days ago)

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Kemi Badenoch Portrait Rt Hon Kemi Badenoch MP (North West Essex, Conservative)
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Mr. speaker, once again, I have to ask if it's all so fantastic, why is he resigning? And I think it why is he resigning? And I think it is very generous of the Prime Minister to stick by his Ministers because they didn't stick by him. He can say what he likes, but the people of Aberdeen gave their verdict. They gave their verdict on

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conservative. Yeah. But to be fair, Mr. Speaker, to

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But to be fair, Mr. Speaker, to be fair. To be fair, they're not all traitors and deserters. Some of his Cabinet have been loyal, loyal his Cabinet have been loyal, loyal and incompetent. Hands up if you think the Education Secretary is think the Education Secretary is doing a good job, even she doesn't think she's doing a good job, Mr. Speaker, even she doesn't think Speaker, even she doesn't think she's doing a good job. Just others. Oh, someone did, someone did. Just for those.

For those who raised their hands. The two people who raised their hands. Yesterday, a poll found that 0% of teachers think the Education Secretary is doing a good job. 0%. She taxed private schools to pay for more

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teachers. But the number of teachers has gone down. Yeah.

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Yeah. It turns out appointing a spiteful class warrior as education

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secretary was a disaster. Yeah.

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Yeah. Does the Prime Minister agree? Does the Prime Minister agree that

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Does the Prime Minister agree that he has been let down by her incompetence? Prime Minister.
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Lisa Nandy Portrait Rt Hon Lisa Nandy MP, The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Wigan, Labour)
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Yesterday, the government published a green paper. Watch this space to set a new strategic direction for set a new strategic direction for media policy in the UK. The way we consume broadcast media is changing and television is undergoing a profound transformation. Having moved away from a system of traditional channels to a far more traditional channels to a far more fragmented system where people access TV on demand and on video sharing platforms, young people in sharing platforms, young people in particular, are far more likely to access media on their phones and tablets through streaming services and platforms.

And we believe as a government, that we are not equipping that generation adequately with access to high quality media. There are three key areas where we intend to act. The first is around digital prominence, where we're exploring legislative options to require social media platforms and connected TV interfaces to make public service media content particularly trusted news, highly visible and easy to discover. This is not about promoting government narratives or only the BBC, but it is about ensuring the brilliant journalism from many of our news publishers, both local and national and broadcasters, can get in front of the public for that reason.

We are also opening the conversation about how we define public service broadcasting in the modern age. Secondly, the transition to internet TV is where we're outlining plans for a managed shift away from terrestrial broadcasting to internet delivered IPTV. We know this is an essential switchover, both in terms of access and cost, but we want to make sure that this transition is managed responsibly and that nobody is left behind. We are therefore consulting on two dates for the switchover 2034 when current licences expire, or 2044 with any date contingent on a full and watertight transition plan.

Finally, we are protecting major sporting events. This will add on demand and streaming rights for major sporting events like the World Cup and the Olympics, to the listed events regime, protecting free universal fan access as viewing habits shift online. Taken together, these proposals set out a vision for future TV and media policy where everyone can access world leading public service broadcasting content, including children's and news programming, away from the mis and disinformation that's defined too many of our online lives. This government will ensure that no matter where you access your TV, you're given access to high quality programming that informs, educates and entertains.

And this paper is the next stage of our ambition.
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Nigel Huddleston Portrait Nigel Huddleston MP (Droitwich and Evesham, Conservative)
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Well, thank you for granting this urgent question, Mr. Speaker, and I agree with much of what the Secretary of State just said. And there's much to be applauded in the media strategy. And the overall intent is noble to ensure everyone has access to trustworthy news and to counter misinformation. The challenge and the potential danger is how do we do that? But in terms of positive elements of the strategy she mentioned, I also welcome the government's intention to add on demand rights to the free to air listed sports regime.

But there are many other controversial aspects. And as you mentioned, the plans to close down digital terrestrial transmission by 2034 or 2044, which is a major concern, especially those living in remote or rural areas. The strategy also covers interventions to support media literacy and promoting the questioning of the accuracy of news. But by putting such an onus of responsibility on media companies themselves, this may reduce the responsibility on schools or indeed on parents. And I'd like her thoughts on that. We then come to the thorny issue of prominence.

The government is proposing interventions to make trustworthy news providers easily discoverable in order to counter misinformation, and this includes national and local news publishers and broadcasters. But who decides what a trustworthy news provider is and what trusted content is? Is it an approved list? Is it an algorithm? Is it a human being? We need to be careful about descending into some kind of Orwellian society. Freedom of speech and freedom of the press is vitally important to our free society.

And the concern of some of the press is that in order to qualify for prominence, a newspaper may need to sign up to a state backed regulator. Can the Minister rule that out? The proposals in the Green Paper to support our public service broadcasters such as the BBC, ITV and channel four is well intended, especially in an age where there is undeniably so much misinformation online. But a requirement for third party platforms and social media entities to make such broadcasters content prominent is problematic, for the obvious reason that their content is not always to be trusted or unbiased either.

So who decides whether it is? Many people question the BBC's coverage of politics in general, of trans rights of Israel and so on. The BBC doctored a video of President Trump. It fails to call Hamas a terrorist organisation. It has pushed highly questionable content through BBC Arabic, and it reprimanded a newsreader for saying pregnant women rather than pregnant people. Now, there may be plenty of people who like the idea of legislation to push woke or leftie content online. I'm not one of them and there are many people who agree with me.

So can the Secretary of State provide more details on how trusted content will be defined, and who will ultimately be the arbiter? And finally, can she confirm how extensively she has engaged with industry to come up with these proposals?
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Lisa Nandy Portrait Rt Hon Lisa Nandy MP, The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Wigan, Labour)
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Secretary of State. >> Can I thank him for that? He asked a series of questions. I'll do my best to to answer them all as as swiftly as I can. Firstly, he talks rightly about the importance of getting the transition right and choosing the date. Well, 2034 or 2044. He talks about the particular challenges in remote and rural areas which this government recognises. There are also, as he knows and we've discussed before, particular issues for older people, for people with disabilities and others.

And we're working with industry to put together a plan that is watertight, to help people to make that transition, to ensure that nobody is left behind. That is precisely why we're asking these questions now, to make sure that we're ready and that we don't leave people behind. On media literacy. I think he's right to say that the onus can't just be on media companies alone. There is a responsibility on all of us, including schools, including those of us in public life, to make sure that we're equipping our young people with the skills that they need to be able to navigate a completely transformed media landscape from the one that we had in this country.

When I was when he and I were growing up. And I do want to reassure him that this is not about pushing all of the responsibility onto media companies and letting everybody else off the hook. We've all got to work together in order to achieve that. And it's not just about young people either, actually. There's, you know, serious challenges with people from every generation seeing information online that just simply is, is, you know, is, is false when it comes to who defines trustworthy news.

I think this really is one of the most challenging aspects of the, the consultation that we're, we've put out who, who decides what is trustworthy news, how we decide what is trustworthy news. He'll know, of course, that the definition of public service broadcasting is set out in law. But trustworthy news is a separate matter. And this is precisely why we've asked the question. I would gently push back on some of the the sort of narrative that he advanced about the BBC. It is still the most trustworthy source of news, not just in this country, but across the world.

And on Monday I was on Newsround explaining this. And the, the, the social media ban that we're introducing to that generation of children who will be most affected by it. And it strikes me that there is no other country in the world that has quality programming like that through their public service broadcaster. And so I think we should be careful about not trashing the BBC. Whilst, you know, he and I have shared serious frustrations about some of the specific issues that he suggested, and we should always demand the highest quality content.

I still believe and firmly believe that the BBC is one of the best broadcasters in the world.
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Lisa Nandy Portrait Rt Hon Lisa Nandy MP, The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Wigan, Labour)
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Yeah. Can I thank her for that? She asked a number of questions. I'll try and address them. First of I'll try and address them. First of all, in the in the Green Paper we have deliberately broadened out access to good quality, trusted news and content to include potentially print media as well. It's not lost on me that after the during the Southport riots that people were seeking out the Liverpool Echo and other local news outlets to try and find real information, as opposed to the myths and disinformation that they were seeing online.

And she'll know that alongside this, one of the things that this government has done is published the first ever local media strategy to try and support that industry, to be able to continue to provide high quality news. I would also she mentioned algorithms. I think one of the reasons that we are particularly keen to make sure that there is prominence of quality, trusted and high quality content online and on platforms such as YouTube is because at the moment the algorithms decide what children in particular see.

I do want to commend you for the work that they've done on YouTube kids, but we need to see more of this because at the moment, we're putting up with a situation where the older generation tends to be watching traditional television on television sets, and they can easily find good quality content and trusted news. The younger generation tends to be on devices online and can't, and that is not acceptable. spokesperson.

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Mr. speaker, the Green Paper rightly recognises the severe financial challenges facing our public service broadcasters, which have been vividly exposed by recent devastating cuts at the BBC. The Lib Dems have long proposed that the BBC World Service should be the BBC World Service should be fully funded directly from FCDO budgets, protecting its vital global footprint, while freeing up £221 million a year to be £221 million a year to be reinvested at home. So will the Secretary of State take on board our proposals, and what urgent conversations she had with the conversations she had with the Foreign Office colleagues to make this a reality.

Mr. speaker, turning to online spaces, the proposal to highlight trusted news sources on social media is welcome. But unfortunately, this is just a sticking plaster over the fundamental issue that big social
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Lisa Nandy Portrait Rt Hon Lisa Nandy MP, The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Wigan, Labour)
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Secretary of State and I work very closely together on it. We have to make sure that we both take action make sure that we both take action to deal with the scourge of mis and disinformation online, which she disinformation online, which she rightly talks about, but also make sure that we give people access to trusted news, news that they can trusted news, news that they can genuinely trust and, and much more readily available. And so the two things should be seen together.

I apologise, my hon. Friend also asked me about Ofcom. She'll know that we recently appointed a new chair of Ofcom. We believe that Ofcom must do more in order to act decisively and quickly in this space. And when it comes to the BBC World Service, she'll know that we have already stepped in as a government with the support of the FCDO, in order to ensure that it continues to be funded. But colleagues across the whole House will have seen recently the funding cuts that were announced at the BBC.

She rightly says that one of the pressures on broadcasters like the BBC is the fact that they're currently trying to broadcast through two distinct channels, and so it is important that the government grips this issue, and she'll know that the charter review is running in parallel to this process. We wanted to look at it all in the round, but it is our intention, through that charter review to make sure that the BBC is adequately funded, that it goes on not just to survive, but to thrive until well into the latter part of this century.

And she'll also know that we recently announced that through that process, we will put the BBC on a permanent charter so that it exists for all of us forever.
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None Portrait Ministerial statement: Publication of Report from the Independent Maternity and Neonatal Review of Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust
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With your permission, Madam Deputy Speaker, I will make a statement on the independent review
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James Murray Portrait Rt Hon James Murray MP, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Ealing North, Labour )
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of maternity services at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS trust. University Hospitals NHS trust. Madam Deputy Speaker Donna Ockenden's review is the largest ever into a maternity service in ever into a maternity service in the history of the NHS. The nature and sheer scale of the failings it and sheer scale of the failings it exposes are horrific. It uncovers dangerously and tragically dangerously and tragically deficient care at almost every turn. Its findings and conclusions are chilling. The report covers 13 years, including accounts from 838 members of staff, and, crucially, it captures the experiences of 2536 affected families.

I met a small number of those affected families last week. I felt numb after hearing the depth of their pain. I felt even more numb when I considered how many families not in the room went through such a trauma. Two and the forgotten children who survived but live with the consequences of failings in maternity care every day. And I felt devastated that so many women and babies, as well as their fathers and other family members, had suffered injury, death and lasting trauma whilst under the care of the NHS.

Now, having met the families and having seen the report, I feel appalled by the neglect, incompetence, racism, discrimination, contempt and harassment that so many suffered and I feel heartbroken to know that at so many times when they tried to raise the alarm about their care, they were ignored, sneered at, disbelieved, blamed and lied to. The question, Madam Deputy Speaker, is how on earth could this have happened? There is no single answer. But Donna Ockenden shines a light on what was going on.

First and foremost, women were not listened to, staff shortages and a lack of training in Nottingham were amongst the worst Donna Ockenden says she has ever come across bullying by doctors and senior midwives was rife, which meant staff who tried to speak up were intimidated and ridiculed. There was a culture of cover up at the highest levels of the trust, and there were ineffective and inadequate responses from regulators. And perhaps most damning of all, Madam Deputy Speaker. For years, the trust ignored evidence of clinical and cultural flaws from both internal and external reviews that it had itself ordered.

When I met Donna Ockenden last week, she told me that those inquiries were diligent and of good quality, that they were effectively swept under the carpet by the board. That refusal to act is unforgivable. Madam Deputy Speaker Donna Ockenden and her team deserve huge credit for their forensic and compassionate approach to this review, as does my hon. Friend, the Member for Sherwood Forest. Herself a harmed mother, as well as members in neighbouring constituencies who have walked side by side with their constituents through years of anguish and struggle.

But the driving force behind this review. Madam Deputy Speaker, has been the affected families themselves. They have demonstrated more patience, more courage and more tenacity than one might imagine is possible from those dealing with broken hearts that will never mend. And whilst each of their experiences is unique, one feature is common. At the very moment that they were at their most vulnerable, they placed themselves and the lives of their unborn babies in the hands of the NHS and the NHS failed them catastrophically.

To all of those who had suffered so appallingly, I say today, on behalf of the NHS, I am sorry. I am sorry not just for the failures or the heartless and undignified treatment, but also because your cries of concern went unheard for too long. And so the government will act. We will act by taking immediate steps, including to expand Martha's rule to all maternity and neonatal settings, so that parents can demand a second opinion if they feel their concerns are being ignored.

Now, I know that some people may want me to accept all the recommendations in the review today, but too many recommendations in the past have been accepted and then sat on a shelf gathering dust, and we have seen more deaths and more suffering. I do not want to let the families I met in Nottingham, or bereaved parents anywhere else in the country down. I want to use the National Maternity and Neonatal Task Force, which I chair, to create a comprehensive action plan to be published by the end of this year, which will address all of the national level recommendations from this review and others.

And I am confident that work will be welcomed by all those midwives, obstetricians, paediatricians and other healthcare workers who strive every day to make sure that babies are born safely and that women receive outstanding levels of care. No, Madam Deputy Speaker, it is clear that in case after case, families felt that regulators including the General Medical Council, the Nursing and Midwifery Council and the Care Quality Commission were more concerned with protecting clinicians than providing accountability. That is damning and that is wrong.

As one grieving mother told me, they put the fox in charge of the hen house. Clinicians and trust leaders must know that their behaviour will be properly scrutinised and that their actions will have consequences. We must meet the test of the Nottingham victim, who told me last week that accountability drives action. We are making changes to the CQC, one of which is to extend the cut off period to initiate proceedings from three years to five, so there is more time for families to bring cases, and I will be calling in the chair and the chief executive of the GMC to hear directly their account of the failures at Nuh.

And let me be clear, if their response falls short, things at the GMC will change. From speaking to families in Nottingham, I know that there is a real and understandable anger that some leaders and clinicians at the centre of this review were able to avoid giving evidence. And so today I am making a commitment that when passed, we will use the Hillsborough Laws duty of candour to ensure that witnesses in upcoming reviews of maternity service failures, including those in Leeds and Sussex, can be forced to provide evidence.

This change will make sure no one is able to refuse to co-operate in the search for accountability and justice ever again. Madam Deputy Speaker, there is so much in the stories of the families in Nottingham that is shocking and heartbreaking, but the way the bodies of their loved ones were handled by hospital mortuary services revealed a level of disrespect and a lack of humanity. That, I'll be honest, left me utterly aghast. The details are disturbing, but they need to be heard to understand the gravity of what families were confronted with deceased babies referred to as a specimen or a sample.

A baby placed into a mortuary space already occupied by an unknown and unrelated adult. A baby disposed of as clinical waste against the express wishes of their parents, and a baby kept in a domestic fridge in a bereavement room. The emotional and psychological effect of these dehumanising failures was to layer the most profound disrespect on the most unbearable distress. There is also evidence that the trust actively decided not to report failings in mortuary care to families. As hon.

Members will know, there is an active police investigation and arrests have been made, which limits what I can say. But as a start, I have asked NHS England to write, to trust, to make sure these appalling experiences are not happening elsewhere in the NHS. And I can confirm today that the Human Tissue Authority will require all mortuaries to review internal records going back ten years to ensure all incidents have been logged and reported. I have instructed them to report the findings directly to me by October the 16th.

Madam Deputy Speaker, when I met the Nottingham families last week, they also raised for me the issue around what are known as secondary victims in maternity settings. Fathers, partners and others are actively encouraged to be present to support mothers through labour and delivery. However, the law does not allow them to bring their own claims for the psychiatric illness suffered as a direct result of witnessing their partner or baby suffer, injury or die. And so I have asked David Locke KC to work with my officials to consider this important issue as part of his wider work on clinical negligence.

Madam Deputy Speaker Donna Ockenden acknowledges that Nuh has not waited for her findings to be published to start making improvements. I will be speaking to the chief executive next week to interrogate the trust's response and to make sure there is a proper plan in place for implementing the recommendations speedily and effectively. But there is a long road ahead before Nuh fully addresses all the issues that has faced, and before it can possibly regain the full trust and confidence of the communities it serves.

Madam Deputy Speaker, I want to close where I began with the families. Nothing can make up for what they have gone through, but this report is a tribute to their resilience and tenacity, and I say directly to them, you have had to drive this for so long, but you are no longer driving this alone. We are with you and we will not stop until you have the accountability and the justice you deserve. I commend this statement to the House.
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Stuart Andrew Portrait Rt Hon Stuart Andrew MP (Daventry, Conservative)
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Shadow Secretary of State. Secretary of State for advance sight of his statement and to Donna Ockenden and her team for the care Ockenden and her team for the care and compassion with which they conducted this review. We had a meeting with her yesterday, and I have to say, it was probably one of the most difficult meetings I've ever had. I also want to pay tribute to the hon. Member for Sherwood Forest. I can see how deeply personal this is and how painful this is, and I admire her and all of her colleagues from the region.

On what must be a very difficult moment. Let me say from the outset that I want to be constructive in opposition when it comes to this issue. We need to work together. We have got to see improvements, and I begin with the women, babies, fathers, partners and families who whose lives sit behind its findings. To them, we owe a profound apology for failing them when a family should feel

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safest, most supported and most able to trust the care around And. The two. That trust.

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That trust. Was broken. Women were not listened to. Families were not believed. Warning signs were missed. believed. Warning signs were missed. Some suffered the deepest loss. Others left physically unsafe. Others left physically unsafe. Others psychologically. No statement can repair that pain, but statement can repair that pain, but it can mark the point at which testimony becomes responsibility, and responsibility becomes action. The painful truth is not only that the. The failings occurred. It is that the themes are familiar.

Women not heard. Families dismissed. Poor communication. Missed. Deterioration. Weak governance and people unable to speak up. Maternity and neonatal safety has challenged governments of both parties. But it would be wrong to let that history soften the urgency. Women and families are tired of telling their story, hearing promises and seeing the same themes return. So the question is whether the system will move because of this review. And so I put three tests to the Secretary of State. The first is the listening test.

Women and families were not consistently listened to. Their concerns were too often dismissed or not acted upon. That is not a soft issue. It is a safety issue. So how will the government embed listening as a clinical discipline? How will trusts measure whether women feel heard? Will complaints and near-misses be treated as information for improvement? The second is the culture test. The review describes bullying hierarchy and poor physiological psychological safety, affecting staff's decision and willingness to escalate.

And I pay tribute to those who were brave enough to do so in maternity and neonatal care. Minutes matter. If staff cannot, cannot challenge, then safety is weakened. Staff cannot provide the care they want. If they are exhausted and supported, or where hierarchy matters more than candour. So I ask, how will boards be held accountable for that ward culture? The third is the delivery test. Harm rarely followed one error. It usually followed a chain. Poor communication. Weak risk risk.

Weak risk assessment. Delayed escalation. Staff pressure, inadequate governance and missed learning. The response cannot be a single announcement. It must be accompanied by a delivery plan. So will the Secretary of State publish a national implementation plan with named accountability, delivery dates and regular updates to this House? That plan must address workforce so staff have the support and information they need to fulfil their roles to the ability they the ability they wish to do so. It must design services for today and the future and not assumptions from the past.

Women are having children. Older pregnancies are more complex. More women enter pregnancy with pre-existing conditions, previous loss, fertility treatment, mental health needs or circumstances shaping care. That means the need for practical, personalised care, informed choice and women treated as a whole. The review also requires us to confront inequalities. Safety of a patient must not depend on confidence, class, ethnicity, language or ability to fight through the system. And the issue around our mortuaries is really shocking.

The horror of the stories we've heard must never happen again. So could he tell us if he's working with colleagues in the Department of Justice to see what more needs to be done to overhaul? Finally, we must recognise the psychological harm caused through silence, poor communication, lack of bereavement support, the battle for honesty and knowing that our mortuaries need to have the highest standards. Compassion after harm is not a courtesy, it is a duty. Madam Deputy Speaker. Trust is rebuilt when women feel the difference in the room.

When words change decisions, staff speak without fear. Risk is escalated in time and boards are judged by results. Where the government acts to improve safety, accountability, staffing and family voice, it will have our support so that we can see this through together. And where it does not, it will face our scrutiny. This review began with families who had to fight to be heard. The task now is to make sure no family has to fight so hard again.
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James Murray Portrait Rt Hon James Murray MP, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Ealing North, Labour )
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Thank you. >> I thank my hon. Friend for her questions and let me put on record again how much I have appreciated again how much I have appreciated her advocacy, her support, her sharing of her own experience, and her standing up for so many hundreds of families in the area where she represents. Her contribution is invaluable to this most important work that we are doing as a government. And I think that when she spoke, she talked about families driving this report, the families being those who have made sure this report happens.

And she's absolutely right. And when I met some of those families last week in Nottingham, the feeling I left with, as well as feeling numb at the depth and the breadth of the pain, was also a sense of almost exhaustion at having fought for so long to be listened to and to get this into the open. I think our responsibility as a government and as MPs is to say that now it is out in the open. Now all of this is for all of us to see.

We all bear a responsibility to help them carry this forward, and that is a responsibility I take with the utmost seriousness. My hon. Friend asked about a plan to change our maternity services in Nottingham and across the country. There will be specific local recommendations in Nottingham, and I'm meeting the chief executive of the trust next week to pick that up directly with him. But there are more recommendations in this report which will have national implications, along with the recommendations from the National Review currently underway.

And it is crucial that all of those recommendations are formed into a plan of action. And that's where the task force that I chair, is so crucial in making sure these are not recommendations that get accepted and sit on a shelf gathering dust, but they form a plan of action, which we can stand behind as a government. Finally, my hon. Friend mentioned the importance of action, accountability, and change. And I repeat what I said earlier in my statement that one of the phrases that stuck with me so powerfully from my meeting with Nottingham families last week was when one person said, accountability drives action.

Without that accountability, you cannot have a guarantee of action. And that's why that accountability that the families seek is something we must seek as a government to deliver that change.
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Helen Morgan Portrait Helen Morgan MP (North Shropshire, Liberal Democrat)
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Liberal Democrat spokesperson Helen Morgan. start by acknowledging. >> The hon. Lady for. >> Sherwood Forest Donna Ockenden

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Sherwood Forest Donna Ockenden and the Secretary of State for the statement, for their hard work and the Secretary of State for the the Secretary of State for the actions that he has proposed so far, which I think are the first tangible actions we've heard in this place. I must also, though, acknowledge the incredible courage and resilience of the Nottingham families who have been instrumental in bringing about this review, because no one can imagine the pain that they've gone through.

Madam Deputy Speaker, I am distressed and I am angry to be stood here once again speaking about babies who should not have lost their lives, and mothers who should have not lost their lives and trauma that families should not have experienced. Review after review has led to 748 recommendations since 2015, but birth, injury and mortality rates have continued to rise. These reviews all reveal similar issues unsafe staffing levels, lessons not learned, issues not escalated, insufficient training and women's concerns ignored.

Four years ago, after the Shrewsbury Review, we found that over 200 babies had died unnecessarily in Shropshire. And yet things have got worse. Donna Ockenden's Nottingham report reveals new and extremely distressing revelations about serious failures to protect the dignity of the deceased after in after death care. Something which must be addressed through proper regulation. Liberal Democrats have put forward a maternity rescue package which would guarantee 1 to 1 midwifery care and introduce a national maternity commissioner to oversee vital improvements, and it would be nonsensical for the government not to take a strategy forward.

Will the Secretary of State pledge to implement every single one of the Nottingham report's essential actions, and work with us to deliver the essential investment we need to make Britain a safe place to have a baby and end this shocking cycle of failure. Because anger isn't enough. Mothers, doctors and midwives are sick of seeing review after review and being met with the same failures repeated over and over again. This must be the moment we say enough.
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Michael Payne Portrait Michael Payne MP (Gedling, Labour)
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Michael Payne thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. Today's publication Deputy Speaker. Today's publication of Donna Ockenden's report into maternity services in Nottinghamshire is a difficult and deeply emotional moment for deeply emotional moment for families across our county and city. I want to place on record my thanks to Donna Ockenden and her outstanding team for the care, compassion and thoroughness with which they have exposed these devastating families. Let me also place on record my thanks to my hon. Friend, the Member of Parliament for Sherwood Forest.

She is a fearless and formidable campaigner for justice and has walked this journey with the families every step of the way, and I know just how proud her son Billy would be watching her from home today. My thoughts are first and foremost with the families whose lives have been changed forever by the loss of babies and mothers harmed, who should have received safe care. Behind every page of this report are families who have endured unimaginable grief and who have spent years fighting simply to have their voices heard.

I pay tribute to their courage, dignity and determination in the face of heartbreak. They refused to be silenced. They fought not only for answers about their loved ones, but to ensure that other families would not suffer the same pain. Can my right hon. Friend confirm that he he will consider all options available to deliver justice and accountability for those families who have waited far too long for answers? And will he assure me and the whole House, that the lessons identified in this report will be fully implemented and embedded throughout maternity services in Nottinghamshire and around the United Kingdom, so that no family has to endure what far too many families have already endured.
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Nadia Whittome Portrait Nadia Whittome MP (Nottingham East, Labour)
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Nadia Whittome thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. Firstly, I want to Deputy Speaker. Firstly, I want to thank the families who were bereaved and harmed by Nottingham University Hospitals Trust, some of the most courageous and selfless people I've had the privilege of knowing, including my hon. Friend the Member for Sherwood Forest. They have for years relentlessly pursued the truth, justice, accountability and real change, often at great personal cost, not only for their own families, but to prevent future families enduring similar trauma and cruelty.

I also want to express my sincere gratitude to Donna Ockenden for her service to Nottinghamshire. I'm so thankful that it was her who led this review. The scale and magnitude of the systemic failures uncovered by this review are truly harrowing. Mothers and babies were harmed and even died through the most shocking negligence and indifference. Families were lied to, disbelieved, blamed and gaslit. Mistakes were covered up and regulators failed to do their jobs. One of my constituents included in the review summed up well where we go from here.

When she told the Secretary of State, we need immediate action and we need long term accountability. So on immediate actions, will the Secretary of State set out a timeline of when he expects to be able to implement the recommendations in full and on accountability? Is he open to a statutory inquiry, provided it does not delay criminal proceedings?
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Jeremy Hunt Portrait Rt Hon Sir Jeremy Hunt MP (Godalming and Ash, Conservative)
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So, Jeremy Hunt. >> It is a matter. >> Of. >> Profound shame on all of us in this House that in a society that this House that in a society that we call compassionate, a baby's body could be disposed of as clinical waste. And I want to add my thanks and salute the courage of the families, including the hon. Member for Sherwood Forest, but also Jack and Sarah Hawkins in particular. But all the families who've shown such courage in coming forward with these utterly appalling stories.

I commissioned a number of maternity reviews, and I'm afraid I have to say that I feel today a terrible sense of deja vu. And I worry that a lot of the recommendations and a lot of the things that the government will, I suspect, end up doing amount to central direction and central control. When we know that that usually doesn't work in the NHS. And I was very encouraged that the Secretary of State and his thoughtful comments used the word accountability, because I think the core problem here is a lack of clinical accountability.

So so will he consider in terms of his solutions, a complete overhaul so that every mother, the moment she knows she's pregnant, is given a small team, including doctors and midwives, and told, this is the team, this is the person who is responsible for the safe birth of your child. So she always knows who to go to because that is where things are falling between the seams at the moment. And I think doing something like that, making sure people always know who to go to, who's responsible is the only way that we are actually going to stop this happening time after time.
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Robert Jenrick Portrait Rt Hon Robert Jenrick MP (Newark, Reform UK)
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Robert Jenrick can I put on record my admiration for the 2500 families across our county of Nottinghamshire, who came and gave evidence to Donna Ockenden and shared was undoubtedly the most personal stories that one could ever imagine sharing. As a parent, I'll never forget a family coming to see me at my surgery who said that they'd been told that their time was up when they were sitting together with their baby and were asked to leave. They went to the cafe and then they sat on the floor on the kerb in the car park and cried together.

They said it was like being shooed out of a restaurant by a rude waiter. Not literally the most heartbreaking moment in your life. I was very disturbed to read for the first time the revelations about the mortuary service at Nottingham, which is frankly astonishing, and it seems as if the right steps are being taken. But I think we all hope that those responsible for this feel the full force of the law nationally. I hope every hospital trust reading this report now treats it as the emergency situation that it truly is.

It is absolutely astonishing that the NHS is spending almost as much on negligence claims as on maternity services themselves. And of course, the money is nothing compared to the misery and pain that's been inflicted on families with respect to our own hospitals in Nottingham, to the extent that improvements have been driven, it seems to be through ensuring that there is now regular and good quality training, which was sadly very absent for a long time. Can the Secretary of State assure me that that mandatory State assure me that that mandatory and regular training is being ensured in all maternity hospitals ensured in all maternity hospitals now across the country?
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Emma Reynolds Portrait Rt Hon Emma Reynolds MP, The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Wycombe, Labour)
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Adam Thompson thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. Can I first thank the Secretary of State for his statement today and extend my thoughts to everyone who has been a part of the Ockenden review. I'd also like to thank my hon. Friend the Member for Sherwood Forest for her unending efforts in campaigning for the families that we represent and our constituents who have been through so much. And, of course, Donna Ockenden for her work, for her amazing support, and for her constant engagement with us as the local affected members of Parliament and our constituents.

Madam Deputy Speaker, in the last two years, I have met so many families who have been harmed in ways I cannot understand or comprehend. I have heard of and seen horrors that I can barely believe. In addition to those babies and those mothers who lost lives, it's important that we also highlight the children like our our mate Ryan, who recently turned 18 but who will never be independent because of his acquired brain injury. Can the Secretary of State please reassure the House that he will be doing everything in his power to support children with acquired brain injuries, such as by recognising their conditions in EHCPs, he.



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I thank my hon. Friend for his question and I was. I was question and I was. I was personally inspired by meeting Ryan's mum, Sarah. When I visited Nottingham last week. She told me about Ryan and she showed such incredible strength and courage in incredible strength and courage in advocating for the forgotten children in Nottingham. I can reassure my hon. Friend and the reassure my hon. Friend and the whole house that I will be doing everything in my power to support children with acquired brain injuries, and we're working on an acquired brain injury plan at the moment.

I'm also working with the Department for Education and NHS England on ambitious reforms to the

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Send system, including on the future direction of EHCPs. Thank you.

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Thank you. Mr. Speaker. Could I draw the Secretary of State's attention to the Sir Jonathan Michael inquiry the Sir Jonathan Michael inquiry and report which followed on from the David Fuller case at Pembroke Hospital in Tunbridge Wells, my constituency, and this dealt with constituency, and this dealt with sexual impropriety with cadavers. So there are there's cross over here. Now, the phase two of that report came out in July of last year, 2025, and it spoke to the lack of regulation in after death care of bodies.

So mortuaries and other organisations, hospitals that look after cadavers. There are a ready set of recommendations there. Can I ask the Secretary of State? I don't know whether he's aware of the report or not, but is the government planning on implementing the the recommendations from Sir Jonathan Michael's report? Because

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it seems to speak to a lot of the issues that happened here as well. Yeah.

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Well, I thank the hon. Gentleman for drawing my attention to that report. And we'll certainly make sure that any reports with relevant recommendations are considered as part of the work of the task force, part of the work of the task force, because one of the changes, the the breaks to the cycle that I want to make sure we achieve is that we make sure we achieve is that we don't have so many different reports with hundreds of recommendations, which then don't become a plan of action.

And that is a cycle we're seeking to break with the work of the task force by producing that plan of action by

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the end of the year. Josh Fenton-Glynn thank you, Madam Deputy. Speaker. Donna.

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Donna. Ockenden noted that maternal deaths are at a 20 year high and total clinical negligence costs are total clinical negligence costs are greater than the money spent on maternity services. This should give us pause for thought. It's a national emergency and the causing unimaginable pain. But the failure unimaginable pain. But the failure of the regulation is stark. Will my right hon. Friend confirm that we will tackle the culture of defensiveness across medical regulators that has caused such harm?
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Victoria Atkins Portrait Rt Hon Victoria Atkins MP (Louth and Horncastle, Conservative)
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I thank my hon. Friend for his question, and he's absolutely right question, and he's absolutely right to point to a failure of regulators, which I think is drawn out very strongly by Donna Ockenden's report. And I think for me, what is completely unacceptable is that they have sought to protect their own in their response to what has happened in Nottingham. That is something we must change, because it is only through having that effective regulation that we can have that true accountability, and it is only through true accountability that we can get action and change.



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Alison Bennett thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I want to thank Donna Ockenden and the hon. Member Donna Ockenden and the hon. Member for Sherwood Forest and the Nottingham families for all the work they've done in bringing this report today about what went on across Nottinghamshire. It is truly across Nottinghamshire. It is truly shocking, but at the same time as they were doing that, there were also supporting Sussex families to also supporting Sussex families to get their own justice. They were supporting Sussex families when those families were repeatedly begging the right hon.

Member for Ilford North to appoint Donna Ockenden to review what happened in Sussex. So I want to thank them for their support for other families right across the country. When the Secretary of State was appointed to his role, I shared with him a letter I'd written along with Sussex and Leeds MPs asking for the duty of candour to be written into the terms of reference of the Leeds and Sussex reports. And it is so welcome and I'm so grateful that he's announced today that the Hillsborough law will apply once it's enacted, but it is not yet enacted and it was delayed in the last session of Parliament.

So does the Secretary of State know when it will be enacted. And if he's not clear on that, will he be able to commit to push at Cabinet to make sure the Hillsborough law becomes law as soon as possible?

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Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I thank the hon. Lady for her question and for her welcoming her question and for her welcoming of our decision about applying the duty of candour to future maternity reviews and inquiries, including reviews and inquiries, including those in Sussex and Leeds that she mentioned as well. We've always mentioned as well. We've always been very clear that the bill, the Public Accountability Bill, the Hillsborough law, is an important priority for this government. As soon as that is in law, we will then make sure the duty of candour is applied.

But our commitment today is to ensure that no future inquiries can have a situation where NHS staff, current or past, can refuse to take part in what the leader of the the lead investigator wants to see happen.
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Emma Reynolds Portrait Rt Hon Emma Reynolds MP, The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Wycombe, Labour)
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Ben Coleman Mr. speaker, the >> Ben Coleman Mr. speaker, the Ockenden report is shocking and its findings are, quite frankly, repellent. It's also shocking how repellent. It's also shocking how many of the findings that it sets out were acquired from Birmingham Edgbaston just said were featured Edgbaston just said were featured also in a report on black maternal health, which the Health and Social Care Committee, which I sit on, published last September as my hon. Friend sets out, women were not listened to.

There was no accountability, weak leadership, toxic culture, racial inequality, understaffing, poor data gathering. All these things are in both reports and my hon. Friend also my friend here pointed out the fact that things have been getting worse over the last 20 years. It used to be the case that 2.34.7 women who were black died in childbirth or around childbirth as white women. Now it's only 2.3. While we can welcome that, the sad fact is it's not because it's got better for black women. It's got it's got worse for everybody else all across the country.

And this, the Ockenden report is what its findings and what's happened is the culmination

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of the problems that Building for years, and I also like to recognise my constituent like to recognise my constituent Luis Thompson here, who is suffered terribly giving birth from the NHS, wouldn't listen to her the care she wouldn't listen to her the care she needed, and she's now running a powerful campaign for a maternity commission, improved maternal care and I hope she's going to be and I hope she's going to be meeting my hon. Friend the Member for Sherwood Forest. So the comprehensive action plan from National Maternity and Neonatal National Maternity and Neonatal Task Force that the Secretary of State promises is welcome, but action plans have been there in the past.

They haven't delivered the change promised. So given that record, will the government commit to publishing measurable targets and firm deadlines within the action plan and to report progress to Parliament at fixed intervals? Because we need to know, women across the country need to know what will really be different this time.
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Tim Farron Portrait Tim Farron MP (Westmorland and Lonsdale, Liberal Democrat)
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Helen Maguire. Member for Sherwood Forest, nor the Nottingham and Nottingham families who are involved in the development of this report. But today I'm angry and upset for all the families concerned because this report reinforces what we already know that the maternity crisis must end and it must end now. Babies should have lived and mothers deserved better. The same systemic issues have come up again and again. Unsafe staffing, lack of training, unchanging culture and failure to listen to women.

And yet, at the same time, there's increasing maternity negligence payouts of 2.5 billion. I say that again, 2.5 billion. So following the report today. Bearing this in mind, the 2.5 billion of negligence payments. Will the Minister commit to reinstalling the service development funding to support complex births and bereavement, after cutting it from 95 million to

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2 million? Thank you. I thank the hon. Lady for

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I thank the hon. Lady for expressing how she feels angry and upset, which I think is a feeling which is shared by all of us in the which is shared by all of us in the House today at what Donna Ockenden's report has exposed and Ockenden's report has exposed and the the lifelong suffering of those families, which is reported in in families, which is reported in in what has been published today. The details of the action plan will be published by the end of the year, because what we want to make sure is that recommendations aren't simply accepted and they're not implemented.

The recommendations must go into the task force, and the task force must produce that clear action plan, which we can then implement, and people can see us doing so, because that is the way to break the cycle of recommendations that don't get implemented and to make that progress towards the the justice, accountability and change that I understand from families is so

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important to them. Rebecca Long-Bailey thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. The whole House is appalled by the neglect,

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the neglect, Contempt, and sheer trauma these families face. I commend their strength and the strength of. The.

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The. Hon. Member for Sherwood Forest. But these themes are chillingly all But these themes are chillingly all too familiar. Now the Secretary will be aware that NHS England has also taken enforcement action also taken enforcement action against the Northern Care Alliance in recent weeks over multiple safety concerns. Indeed, staff and myself raised serious safety concerns relating to the gynaecology department directly with the trust as far back as last year demanding urgent action, but very little happened.

So will he meet with me to discuss these issues and outline what action he will take now to ensure that patient safety, adequate resourcing and safe staffing levels are

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urgently addressed at the trust. Well, I thank my hon. Friend for raising the important issues that raising the important issues that she referred to in her remarks, and I'm happy to make sure that myself or a member of my ministerial team or a member of my ministerial team with me will meet with her to discuss them in further detail.

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Thank you very much, Madam Deputy Speaker, and I welcome the Secretary of State, Secretary of Secretary of State, Secretary of State's statement today a very difficult and painful statement, but nothing compared to what those families have been through. Just with regards to the shocking mortuary details he shared with us about babies bodies being mistreated, I'm sorry to say that that story will be directly relevant to two constituents I am representing, and I would appreciate a meeting with him, however brief, to discuss their cases with him ahead of his department's publication of their decision on the final report of the Fuller inquiry.

Phase two, the final recommendation. So I'd really appreciate that. He will also know that leads families at the start of their maternity journey, because Donna Ockenden is conducting an inquiry into maternity services, and they will welcome and I welcome his commitment to ensure the duty of candour will apply in that inquiry. But can he confirm for them and for me, that all of the lessons that Donna Ockenden and he has learned from this inquiry will be applied to the leads, one so that they get the answers that they

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deserve? Well, I thank my hon. Friend for his his comments. And he spoke about his constituents whose experience he felt might be experience he felt might be relevant to some of the findings around mortuary services and their failings. I'd be very happy to make failings. I'd be very happy to make sure a meeting with either myself or a member of my ministerial team can happen, because I think, as I can happen, because I think, as I said earlier, the details of what happened in mortuaries, it does leave me trying to struggle for words because of quite how dehumanising, disrespectful, abhorrent it is.

And so I'd be very happy to make sure that his constituents points are picked up as part of that. He spoke about learning the lessons from the review in Nottingham and applying that to Leeds and Sussex. We are, of course, fortunate that Donna Ockenden will be leading the reviews in Leeds and Sussex, having just completed the review in Nottingham, so she can. She'll be in a strong position to ensure that she goes into that with the learnings she has made from the current review.

One of those learnings, which I'm very conscious of, is, as I said, how unacceptable it is that senior leaders refuse to take part, for which I can see no justification whatever. And I'm very pleased that through the duty of candour that we've spoken about

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today, that will no longer be possible in future. Jonathan Davies thank you very

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Jonathan Davies thank you very much, Madam Deputy Speaker. Nottingham University Hospitals NHS trust is one of the trusts which trust is one of the trusts which serves my constituents, and for people who have been patients there, who have had babies that have come to harm, some of whom I have met, Donna Ockenden's report is very difficult reading indeed, but I do difficult reading indeed, but I do just want to say in respect of the staff, there are many, often junior and low paid staff on the front line at that trust who are providing kind, compassionate, person centred care, who will be feeling very raw today.

We do value what you do. We've heard a lot about the appalling practices in the mortuary. They're subject to a criminal investigation, but I do just want to reflect on the experience of one of the several constituents I've met who have been affected by what we're discussing today. She came to see me as part of Donna Ockenden's inquiry, and sadly, she had engaged with the with the trust on a number of occasions because she felt she was experiencing complications with her pregnancy. She was told to lie down and drink a fizzy drink, have an early night and despite repeated calls, she was repeatedly fobbed
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Emma Reynolds Portrait Rt Hon Emma Reynolds MP, The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Wycombe, Labour)
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off and sadly, her baby died behind. That is a culture of a failure to That is a culture of a failure to engage a very poor culture at the trust so poor that FOH was written trust so poor that FOH was written in patients medical notes and on whiteboards. F off home. How could whiteboards. F off home. How could leaders not be more curious about the practices that were going on on their watch, and where were the regulators? It is absolutely staggering.

We are making some very positive changes in the NHS, but I do just want to push the Secretary of State briefly, if I may, on changes that we're making to the mechanisms which allow people to feed back on their care. We are winding down the office for the National Guardian and Healthwatch, and we are removing NHS England, which has a regulatory function, and we know regulators have failed. In the case of this trust. What cassettes can he take to assure me that the mechanisms for people to feed back on their care, so that they will be heard and actioned, will be in place so that we can prevent this kind of scandal happening again?

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OK. I thank my hon. Friend for his comments and for telling us about comments and for telling us about what happened to his constituents. He asks about some of the wider changes that we're making in the NHS modernisation Bill, which is to NHS modernisation Bill, which is to bring the patient experience across the NHS into the heart of the new organisation, which will arise from organisation, which will arise from NHS England being merged into the Department of Health and Social Care.

And the reason why that is happening is so that patient experience drives the decisions which are being taken about how NHS care is delivered. So the patient experience is right at the heart of what we do as a department and as NHS. But I think that when we talk about maternity and neonatal services and the failures there, the level of failure is truly devastating. As this report today has set out, it demands a specific response, which is why the work of the task force will start and report back by the end of the year.

And as he points to, this is not just a case of individual cases going wrong or individual members of staff taking the wrong decision. It's also something which is endemic of showing the incuriosity of leaders in maternity services for what is going on and what is going wrong in their services. It is a failure of regulators, it is systemic, and that's why the response to it needs to step up

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accordingly. Amanda Martin thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I'd like to pay tribute to those families, tribute to those families, whistleblowers and campaigners who simply kept going. And for Donna Ockenden's report and her approach Ockenden's report and her approach Madam Deputy Speaker today is damning, and my heart goes out to all of those families having to relive their awful experience as relive their awful experience as they see in black and white, that they and their loved ones suffering was not only horrific and harrowing, but was absolutely unavoidable.

Had but was absolutely unavoidable. Had those in leadership taken responsibility, accountability, and had they just listened? As my brave and hon. Friend from Sherwood Forest said, this is a national disgrace that must not be repeated. I welcome Martha's rule giving patients the right to be independent. Second opinion and the Secretary of State's comments using the Hillsborough Hillsborough Law to ensure that those who avoid scrutiny are compelled to give evidence and are held accountable in the future. However, can he confirm two things? Firstly, that he is working across government to ensure swift implementation with clear and transparent timelines of this law? So these families, who have already waited far too long, can finally see justice? And secondly, what will happen to those who shockingly avoided giving evidence and avoided accountability

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in this review? Well, I thank my hon. Friend for

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Well, I thank my hon. Friend for her question. And she is right to again underscore quite how shocking it is that people in senior it is that people in senior leadership positions refuse to take part in Donna Ockenden's review. I part in Donna Ockenden's review. I cannot understand how they could have made that decision and think that's acceptable. And that is exactly why the law needs to change. exactly why the law needs to change. It shows why the Hillsborough law is so important, why it's such an important thing to get on the statute books, and why it is an important decision for us to take now that we will apply that duty of candour to future reviews into the failures of maternity services so that we can never again have a situation where NHS staff, current or past, can decide not to take part in that search for justice and accountability, which is so crucial for us to deliver.



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Daniel Francis thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. And can I pay tribute to my hon. Friend for tribute to my hon. Friend for Sherwood Forest for all her work in this area, and my heart goes out to those families in Nottinghamshire those families in Nottinghamshire and again pay tribute to their work. Now, I can't imagine what it's like to see your child or lose your child in those circumstances. But I child in those circumstances. But I do know what it's like to see your own child suffer a brain injury at birth, and I work very closely with other families who have children who have cerebral palsy or hemiplegia, because of the circumstances that they've been through.

Like my own family's been through. Now, the reasons why those issues happen often are because of negligence, but they're often because of other circumstances. In our circumstance, because our children were born at 31 weeks as twins and other families, it's because that woman is black, that woman is disabled, and that is what has caused those issues and that sorry and that negligence. So will my hon. Friend the Secretary of State take forward the Ockenden review and the review that will come forward from Baroness Amos, and look at those issues of how we will ensure that those mothers that have a greater risk of these issues

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happening to them, that we bring those recommendations forward and work to ensure those disparities are overcome. Yeah.

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Yeah, yeah. I thank my hon. Friend for

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I thank my hon. Friend for sharing her. The incidence of brain injury in his own family, and for injury in his own family, and for reminding us how some of the issues we're discussing today touch the lives of so many people in this lives of so many people in this House, as well as across the country. I think it means that we all have a responsibility to act on the basis of the recommendations of of the review today. And what I can assure him is that the recommendations today, along with, as he mentioned, the recommendations from Baroness
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Daniel Zeichner Portrait Daniel Zeichner MP (Cambridge, Labour)
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Amos's report, will go into the task force to produce a comprehensive action plan. And a key element of that, to his direct key element of that, to his direct point, is around making sure that those at greater risk of harm, greater risk of being ignored, greater risk of being ignored, greater risk of being discriminated against or lied to or not given the care that they need. That inequality will be addressed by the work of the task force to.

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Laurence Turner. Thank you, Madam Speaker. I was born in Nottingham City Hospital and I think while the Ockenden reports was necessarily bounded by the last 13 years, it is important to record in these proceedings that women and children were avoidably harmed and avoidably died in those settings many years before, and the pain is not diminished by the passing of time. As has been said in this debate. Oh, and if I may, as I've listened, I've had at the forefront of my mind those friends and people I grew up with who many years later found themselves close to death under circumstances that could have been avoided.

Now, as he said in his compassionate and thoughtful remarks, the circumstances described in Nottingham will feel all too familiar to families well beyond that city. And he will know that Samuel and West Birmingham Trust is one of the areas that is subject to particular attention. As part of the national investigation. So what assurance can he give people in cities like Birmingham that this time, after these reports, after these recommendations, things will change and NHS senior management will be held to account for.
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Emma Reynolds Portrait Rt Hon Emma Reynolds MP, The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Wycombe, Labour)
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I thank my hon. Friend for his question, and although the report that we're discussing today talks about what has happened in about what has happened in Nottingham over the past 13 years, he's absolutely right. This is not just in Nottingham and this is not just in Nottingham and this is not just over the past 13 years when I've been speaking to people, even today about this report, so many people have shared their own stories from many, many years ago in all different parts of the country, which I think reminds us that although the focus of this report is what has happened to the families in Nottingham, this is an issue which affects families right across the country, and that is why it is, to quote his words, all too familiar to so many people when they hear what has happened.

And that is why it's so important that we develop our plan, which will have a nationwide impact. To finally take this challenge head on and make sure we deliver the maternity and neonatal services

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that women across this country need and deserve. Yes. And that concludes the health

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And that concludes the health statement. I'll give the Frontbenches a few moments to swap To To start To start the To start the next To start the next statement.

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Secretary of State Emma Reynolds. Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. With permission, I would like to make a statement on the government's Farming Roadmap, which my hon. Friend the Farming Minister my hon. Friend the Farming Minister and I have published today. This 25 year Farming Roadmap is the first year Farming Roadmap is the first ever long term plan for farming in this country, giving farmers the this country, giving farmers the clarity and confidence that they need to make investment decisions.

This is a plan that backs farming, one that strengthens profitability and food security and sets out a clear direction of travel for a thriving future for farming. The government is also laying a detailed response to Baroness Battersea independent Farming Profitability Review Farmers feed our nation. They produce over 65% of our food. They manage 70% of our land and they support an agri food sector worth £153 billion every year. I know many hon. Members from all sides of the House will have seen firsthand farmers dedication to feeding our nation and protecting our natural environment, and the farming sector has a long tradition of adapting to change over generations.

It has survived war, disease, trade shocks and
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Alistair Carmichael Portrait Rt Hon Alistair Carmichael MP (Orkney and Shetland, Liberal Democrat)
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extreme weather. But for too long, farmers and conservative governments. But for too long, farmers have been asked to navigate profound change without a clear sense of government's plan for the future. The pressures of fast future. The pressures of fast moving technological change, geopolitical instability, volatile global markets and climate change are real. I have met farmers across England and they are not asking for England and they are not asking for protection from change. They're asking for the tools, the stability and the genuine partnership with

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government that allows them to adapt, grow and thrive. Yeah, yeah. The government. Madam Deputy

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The government. Madam Deputy Speaker, has heard that message. The Farming Roadmap sets out our plan for farming up to 2050, and plan for farming up to 2050, and also reflects immediate government action to support our farmers, to feed the nation. Madam Deputy feed the nation. Madam Deputy Speaker, I would like to offer my huge thanks to Baroness Batters for her Farming Profitability Review, which was published in December. We have benefited hugely from her incredible experience and expertise as a farmer, but also as the former president of the NFU.

Her analysis was extremely clear and her recommendations have shaped our roadmap. Madam Deputy Speaker, the Farming Roadmap answers the farming industry's calls for clarity over the long term. It brings together the most important policies and commitments under one coherent plan, because we understand that farmers have long planning timescales. For example, a farmer planting an orchard today will not see its full yield for a decade. This is why the roadmap is so crucial. It will allow farmers and land managers to invest in their businesses with confidence.

The roadmap is organised around three outcomes we need to deliver, together with the farming sector. First, profitable and productive farm businesses. Food production is the primary purpose of farming and a matter of national security. This roadmap backs our farmers to grow, invest and compete, delivering year on year productivity growth, government support to invest in innovative approaches. Fairer supply chains that do not leave farmers carrying disproportionate risk. Better market access so British Food can reach more customers at home and abroad.

Smarter regulation that reduces the burden on farmers. More collaborative models, such as cooperatives that help lower costs, spread risk and support stronger returns, and most of all, the stability and certainty that investors and farm businesses need to invest with confidence. To that end, I can confirm today that we will launch a dedicated task and finish group to unlock private finance into sustainable farming, and the new Farming and Food Partnership Board has started work on the first sector growth plans for horticulture and poultry, with more sectors to follow.

Let me turn to our second outcome a sustainable farming sector. Healthy soils, clean water and thriving ecosystems are the foundations of strong food production. We will support the shift to lower input, lower emission farming not by directing every decision on farm, but by ensuring the right incentives, advice and regulation are in place. Our environmental land management schemes, backed by £11.8 billion over this Parliament, are already delivering sustainable and profitability, profitable farming
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Emma Reynolds Portrait Rt Hon Emma Reynolds MP, The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Wycombe, Labour)
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now and for the future. This is the biggest Budget for nature friendly farming in our history. I can farming in our history. I can confirm that next week we will reopen the sustainable farming incentive for small farms and those incentive for small farms and those without existing agreements, and the total Budget for this year will the total Budget for this year will be £240 million, with £60 million ring fenced for those eligible in window one. We will continue to window one.

We will continue to refine our schemes in partnership with the sector. This roadmap gives equal importance to food security, profitable farming and a healthy natural environment because they are all critical to protect our national security. So thirdly and finally, Madam Deputy Speaker, we need a resilient farming sector ready for whatever comes next. We live in a volatile world. The pressure on fertiliser and fuel prices underlines why we need farming systems that are less exposed to global shocks. At the same time, climate change is reshaping growing conditions and technology is moving fast.

This roadmap sets out how we will strengthen the climate resilience, ensuring farmers are able to adapt and tackle the impacts of droughts and flooding. And today I can confirm we're investing an additional £53 million for the Farming Innovation Programme to help farmers harness new technology that can improve productivity, reduce reliance on inputs and increase long term resilience. This brings the total investment in innovation funding to £123 million, which, along with the £50 million in equipment funding, puts British t agricultural advancements.

And to further the future of farming, we will invest in the skills and people the sector needs, supporting training and new entrants so that farmers hard earned knowledge is passed down to the next generation tenant farmers. Farmers manage around a third of England's farmland, and tenancies play a key role in supporting new entrants. We want a vibrant tenanted sector and this roadmap commits to making schemes, policies and tenancy agreements work for tenants. Upland farmers are also vital to our food production, land management and indeed our rural communities.

They often operate in challenging physical and economic conditions. The roadmap sets out how we intend to improve access to schemes and support for upland farmers, and we have asked Doctor Hilary Cottam to identify opportunities for upland communities to flourish. Madam Deputy Speaker, this roadmap was not written in Whitehall and handed down my team in DEFRA and I have visited many farms across the country. Many more farmers have
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Chris Hinchliff Portrait Chris Hinchliff MP (North East Hertfordshire, Labour)
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travelled to speak to us at regional events and we have listened. The roadmap reflects our listened. The roadmap reflects our extensive engagement with farmers, growers, land managers and the wider food sector. And as I wider food sector. And as I mentioned at the start of my speech, farmers have asked for a government that creates the conditions for that creates the conditions for farmers to succeed, not to direct every decision. The roadmap sets out clear roles for the government, out clear roles for the government, farmers, supply chain actors and the wider sector to make this vision a reality where new approaches are untested or deliver a wider public good, we will put government investment behind them in skills, in data, in innovation, in technology and infrastructure.

This roadmap has been developed in partnership with industry, and we want to continue to work in partnership as we implement it. This government is proud to work with British farmers as we grow the future of farming together, we are building a more profitable, productive, sustainable and resilient farming sector and I am confident that there is a bright future ahead. I commend this statement to the House.

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The Shadow Secretary of State. Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, and I thank the Secretary of State and I thank the Secretary of State for advance sight of her statement, and I repeat my sincere thanks to and I repeat my sincere thanks to Baroness Batters for her thorough report. Now, the Secretary of State presents a document for farming for presents a document for farming for the next 25 years, when this the next 25 years, when this government won't last even 25 days, instead of using their 14 years in opposition to create this document, they have dithered and delayed for the last two years.

But they did not dither and delay in making life harder for rural businesses. One of the first acts of this government, of which they're also proud, was to target family farms and family businesses with their death tax. As Labour MPs and DEFRA Ministers voted repeatedly for the family farm and family business taxes. DEFRA Ministers shut down without notice farming payments including SFI. The record of this government, sadly, is rising food prices and record numbers of farms closing. They broke the trust of farmers and they have only themselves to blame.

Yet she stands here today wanting to be thanked by rural communities for producing a document which could be shelved quietly by whoever comes next, just as they seem to have shelved the ten year plan for the NHS and for all the talk of the new SFI scheme, you mark my words
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Emma Reynolds Portrait Rt Hon Emma Reynolds MP, The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Wycombe, Labour)
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of the new SFI scheme and budgets. The fact is that they have cut the The fact is that they have cut the farming Budget by £100 million. But in another leap from reality, the in another leap from reality, the government's negotiations with the EU get barely a mention in this document. Despite the enormous document. Despite the enormous consequences this will have for farming businesses. Crop life UK has estimated that this EU reset has estimated that this EU reset could drain £810 million from UK farms and sacrifice almost 9000 jobs from our rural constituencies.

The Food and Drink Federation states that the wholesale handover of our food laws to the EU will lead to at least 400 regulations needing to be changed. So how will the government ensure that UK farmers can compete against heavily subsidised EU farmers, including, of course, our tenant and upland farmers? This matters because food security is critical in this increasingly volatile world. What reassurance can she provide that the next Cabinet will prioritise farming and food production? Now we conservatives view DEFRA as a vital economic department, so we agree with their efforts to recalculate farming and food producers contributions to the economy.

And by the way, I note that reform call themselves the farmers friend. And yet there is not a single reform MP in the chamber now. Had the Secretary of State attended cereals at diddly squat, she would have seen for herself that the sector is already driving innovation. The government is therefore playing catch up with them, but we hope that the intention to work with the business department to deliver reductions in compliance costs and to focus on innovation and technology will actually happen.

The plan to bring Defra farming services into one integrated service are much needed and reflects conservative calls for quangos and the department to be overhauled. Now there are many questions still left unanswered in this report, and I hope that the Secretary of State tries to answer them rather than deflect, because that has been noticed. The plan
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Sarah Bool Portrait Sarah Bool MP (South Northamptonshire, Conservative)
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looks to double the funding for Environment Agency inspections. Why is this government focusing on is this government focusing on bureaucracy rather than helping farmers survive? What does she say farmers survive? What does she say to the tenant farmer of a well-run dairy herd, who has been told by the Environment Agency that they the Environment Agency that they must invest up to three quarters of £1 million in order to guard £1 million in order to guard against a risk that there may be a pollution event in 50 years time.

As that tenant farmer said to me, there won't be a farm there in 50 years time as they simply cannot afford that payment. There is also no mention of closing the flag loophole on food packaging to help our constituents to buy genuinely British food and to back British farmers. Why not? The report says there will be no cut to food production, but also says there will be a reduction of 9% of land available to produce food. So how can the Secretary of State guarantee our food production will be protected when key tools such as gene editing to develop drought resistant crops are at risk in their negotiations with the EU, and in her final act in this department? Will she please advise the right Will she please advise the right hon.

Member for Makerfield that the first thing he must do is to axe the family farm and family business taxes completely. Otherwise, sadly, this will be a road map to nowhere this will be a road map to nowhere for struggling farmers and food producers.
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Emma Reynolds Portrait Rt Hon Emma Reynolds MP, The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Wycombe, Labour)
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Oh my gosh. Well, how do I follow that? Well, firstly, can I just say that the Shadow Secretary of State is not in charge of reshuffles on this side of the House. That's the first thing to say. And I just let me just outline where I do agree with her, which is that Defra is a really important economic department of government. And that is the thing that I've been focussed on since the 5th of September, when I was appointed to this role.

I also want to agree with her. I don't agree with her on everything. That reform doesn't seem to care about agricultural farming, because they don't even bother turning up to such an important statement. So there are some things we agree on, but that is probably where it ends. Let me say she accuses us of dithering and delaying for for two years she did that. Her government dithered and delayed. For 14 years. We didn't see any action such as this road map. During the whole time that they were in office, they sold farmers down the river on their Australian and New Zealand trade deals.

They couldn't be bothered to spend their own farming Budget on the farmers that needed it. So I will take no lectures from the right hon. Lady. The SFI scheme will reopen next week and I'm proud that we have taken forward the. The recommendations from the Baroness Battersea review on reforms to SFI, including making it simpler and more cost effective and introducing a minimum Hectarage requirement. We on this side of the House are serious about engaging with the farming sector and commissioning someone with such a great deal of expertise like Baroness batters never done under the previous government, to give us advice about how to make the sector more profitable, she asks about the deal.

Well, I say this to her. We are working very closely with the NFU and other farming stakeholders because what that deal is all about is bringing down the barriers put up by the previous government at the border that make it so much harder to both export raw ingredients and and food and import too. I thank her for what she said. This is one thing that we do agree on about what both Baroness batters,
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Markus Campbell-Savours Portrait Markus Campbell-Savours MP (Penrith and Solway, Labour)
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but also what I have been saying about making sure that the farming sector is more accurately measured. sector is more accurately measured. I think, you know, we need to really reassess that. We don't just really reassess that. We don't just assess what's done on farm, but looking at look at it from from farm to fork. And the vital role, farm to fork. And the vital role, therefore, of the farming sector in our economy. She asks about the our economy. She asks about the Environment Agency.

I will make no apologies for increasing the funding of the Environment Agency so harshly cut under their government, and I will make no apologies about having a plan in this document and more broadly, about how we work with farmers to make sure that agricultural pollution is a problem that we tackle together. So again, she asks about gene editing and the SPS deal. Those are negotiations that are ongoing. But I will say this we want to ensure that our farmers are able to use the best technology, and we have a lead in agricultural technology in our country, and we want to make sure that that is harnessed by our sector, which is why there is such a big emphasis in the roadmap on the importance of innovation and why we are dedicating government funding to innovation, and also farmers sharing best practice so that they can become more profitable over

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time. Thank you. Toby Perkins very much, Madam Deputy Speaker and I firstly echo the Secretary of State's thanks to Baroness Bastos for this excellent report. And also she's right to observe that reform MPs didn't bother to turn up for this debate. She might also know no green MPs bothered to turn up. They used to be interested in the environment, but those days are sadly long but those days are sadly long behind us. But turning to the sustainable farming incentive, can she tell us any more about how she's going to make sure that the new iteration of going of this going forward not only gets spent, gets to where it's needed, but is also available for a wide range of farmers and isn't all snaffled up by the major farm, a major farm producing companies, but is actually there for those family farms that we speak so much about.
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Emma Reynolds Portrait Rt Hon Emma Reynolds MP, The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Wycombe, Labour)
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Yeah. >> Well, I thank him for his question. And that is precisely why in window one, window one is open. Next, it will be open next week to Next, it will be open next week to small farms and those farms without an existing agreement. And it's why also that we have capped the agreement level per year to £100,000, because we want smaller

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farms to benefit from SFI. Liberal Democrat spokesperson Tim Farron. Thank you. Madam Deputy.

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Madam Deputy. Speaker, if I could, first of all, thank the Secretary of State for early sight of this statement, and I echo her thanks to Baroness and I echo her thanks to Baroness Battersea and her fantastic work on this issue, and also to welcome the relatively new farming Minister to relatively new farming Minister to his place. We welcome the production of a long term vision for farming, and look forward to for farming, and look forward to engaging with Ministers on the details.

The roadmap rightly states that food production, and I quote, should remain the primary purpose of funding. But then it continues to leave England as the outlier. Now the only country in Europe with a farm payment system that does not actively support farmers to produce food. The consequences are as inevitable as they are inexcusable. The loss of farm businesses and the loss of food security. It is dangerous time. I would ask the Secretary of State to think again. The roadmap also rightly observes the unfairness in the system and the unfairness to farmers is a block to increasing output.

Dairy farmers, especially right now, are being forced into ruin and despair because of unfair and sudden changes to farm gate prices. But there is no plan to strengthen or unify the grocery code. Adjudicator and the supply side adjudicator to, frankly, weak, under-resourced refugees, refugees, referees with too few powers to protect our farmers from the abuse of market power from supermarkets and processors, will she act and if so, when? To give us a strong referee to protect our farmers? The reopening of SFI is welcome, as is the update on the upland review.

But still the government insists on a first come, first served application process, which always disadvantages our poorest farmers. And on the uplands, the continued failure to provide support for common land is leaving our most precious landscapes, which may make up 25% of the landmass of my constituents in the lakes and Dales, at the risk of wildfires and biodiversity collapse. While our
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Geoffrey Clifton-Brown Portrait Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP (North Cotswolds, Conservative)
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upland farmers sink into greater poverty. Isn't the roadmap warm words, but cold comfort for the words, but cold comfort for the uplands? The review fails to put into practice the recommendations any serious way of the review and any serious way of the review and farm tenancy. Sorry, I will come to conclusion. Doesn't she see that if tenants do not have protected long tenants do not have protected long term tenancies of at least eight years, they will have no chance of meeting the long term environmental goals? And will she protect tenants from being evicted from their land in order to meet those goals? Very.



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Finally, this is a report. You've gone far too long, Secretary of State. Thank you, Madam Speaker. I will

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Thank you, Madam Speaker. I will I will hope to give him some brief answers, but I'm very happy to have a discussion with him after the a discussion with him after the debate because he has put forward a lot of different questions. Food lot of different questions. Food production is the primary role of farmers, but obviously in the roadmap, we also talk about the transition to more sustainable transition to more sustainable farming and regenerative farming. So I don't agree with his analysis.

Actually, the focus of the roadmap and some of our SFI actions on healthier soils will help ensure that farms are more productive and less reliant on expensive inputs, such as chemical fertilisers. And he talks about unfair charges. We are bringing the grocery code adjudicator under DEFRA, and we are looking at what more we can do to make things fairer for farmers, including in the roadmap, looking at bringing down barriers and helping cooperatives to establish more cooperatives to establish, because that does redress the power imbalance that he talked about on uplands.

Can I say to him, I absolutely agree with him about the importance of uplands to to the farming sector, but also to our our countryside. I know he has a very beautiful constituency. We've increased the payment rates for upland farmers for some SFI actions. And the roadmap talks about our plans to make it easier for upland farmers to access schemes. And I'm happy to have a longer conversation with him about that. We've commissioned, including including Commons. We've commissioned Hilary Cottam, as he knows, and I think he's been working with her to,
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Emma Reynolds Portrait Rt Hon Emma Reynolds MP, The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Wycombe, Labour)
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which is welcome on tenants. A third of land is tenanted. It's a really important sector. We want a really important sector. We want a vibrant sector. I appointed the country's first ever commissioner for the tenanted sector, Alan for the tenanted sector, Alan Laidlaw. We are we know that a lot of tenants are very anxious about of tenants are very anxious about the shift away from long term tenancies to shorter term tenancies. He's right to raise it. And we've also commissioned the Law Commission to look at agricultural tenancy law, and we're working with the sector to see what more we can

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do to ensure that there are longer and more secure tenancies. Daniel Zeichner thank. You, Madam Deputy Speaker. Can I

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You, Madam Deputy Speaker. Can I commend all the hard work that's gone into both the Roadmap and profitability review, civil servants, the ministerial team and of course, so many people across of course, so many people across the sector, including Baroness Batters. I wonder if the Secretary of State would agree with me that of State would agree with me that in the interests of food security, we really need to think hard about how we actually boost food production in this country, and production in this country, and that will, I think, need an embrace of new technologies.

And it also needs the ability to build new facilities, the poultry sector, the investment is there. But frankly, we need to explain to the public that new investment would only boost food production, would actually improve animal welfare, it

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would actually improve biosecurity and it would improve environmental outcomes. Well, can I take the opportunity

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Well, can I take the opportunity to thank him for all the work that he did as Prime Minister, and he did as Prime Minister, and indeed, some of his fingerprints are on this roadmap. So I want to thank him for that. He's right in thank him for that. He's right in what he says about food security and innovation, being really and innovation, being really central to that. So that's why I've announced extra funding, £53 million into the Farming Innovation programme today at the second meeting of the Farming and Food Partnership Board, we talked about the two sector growth plans that we're working on on horticulture and poultry.

He mentioned poultry. We had a really good discussion about what the barriers are to further investment in poultry, and planning is one of them. But there are others too, and I think that is an area, a sector where we can make really good progress to ensure we

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are boosting the production of poultry in our country. Carmichael. Thank you, Madam.

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Thank you, Madam. Deputy Speaker. I remind the House of my entry in the Register of Members Interests. Can I welcome of Members Interests. Can I welcome the publication of the Farming Roadmap? It may not have been rushed, but it is very welcome nonetheless. All we need now is a nonetheless. All we need now is a revised food strategy and our homework will be up to date. Can I ask about the implementation of the Battersea review? Is that still being pursued as a discrete piece of work, or is it subsumed into the farming roadmap? And in as far as that relates to the operation of the market, why is she not involving farmers unions from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland? The Secretary of State refers to Defra as a growth department.

Agriculture accounts for 0.6% of the UK GDP at the moment. So if we follow this roadmap and if she gives the leadership to the industry, what does she want that figure to be in the future?
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Jonathan Brash Portrait Mr Jonathan Brash MP (Hartlepool, Labour)
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Well, I thank him for marking my homework, and I look forward to having it marked in even more detail in a couple of weeks time. When I appear before his Select Committee. We do have a separate document where we've published our response thematically to the 57 recommendations of the Baroness Batters profitability review. We will work closely with the sector to take forward what we already are, because in December we accepted a number of recommendations initially, firstly, the Farming and Food partnership boards, secondly, the sector growth plans and thirdly, the trade missions.

I suspect that

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I'll be able to answer his questions in more detail while I come before him. Chris Hinchliff thank you, Madam.

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Chris Hinchliff thank you, Madam. Deputy Speaker. For many. Years. We have. Expected farmers to both steward our. Environment and at the same

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our. Environment and at the same time deliver food. At. Rock bottom prices. To make up for the failure. Of politics to secure an

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Of politics to secure an affordable cost of living across the rest of society. And that has made agricultural profitability increasingly difficult. And now, with the crisis posed by climate change to our national food security, we must pull every available lever to reverse this trend in the general election. In our manifesto, we committed to a target for half of all food purchased across the public sector to be locally produced or certified to a higher environmental standards. Can the Secretary of State provide

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target? Yes. I thank my hon. Friend for what

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I thank my hon. Friend for what he said. And farmers do face lots of different challenges. One of them is volatile global commodity prices. And some of the things that he mentioned on public procurement, he mentioned on public procurement, we are working to establish a baseline of where we are at the moment, because there's not an accurate baseline of what accurate baseline of what percentage of the public sector is giving contracts to our own farmers. And we're also looking at what more we can do to enable farming

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cooperatives to get access to those public contracts, to. Sarah Hall Madam Deputy Speaker.

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Sarah Hall Madam Deputy Speaker. Now the EU, UK, the SPS agreement is actually going to be incredibly vital in the terms of incredibly vital in the terms of that. We do need to understand it will have an impact on our trading deals with other nations, but also particularly about the implementation period. Now, given implementation period. Now, given that this is due to be implemented next year and time is ticking, please can we have a little bit please can we have a little bit more detail about this, or at least can the relevant Minister come in front of the Select Committee to explain further details?
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Emma Reynolds Portrait Rt Hon Emma Reynolds MP, The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Wycombe, Labour)
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OK. Thank him for his best wishes, which was a little bit different to the tone from the front bench. Can I just say, can I reassure him that we have a separate document? Responding to the Baroness batters review? Profitability is absolutely at the heart of the roadmap, and I I'm struggling to find the page, but there's a lovely there's a lovely diagram in here. There's a lovely diagram here on page 18. And by the way, maybe the pictures don't pick up his word search, but there's a lovely diagram of what we're trying to do here, which is to work towards a profitable, productive, sustainable and resilient farming sector.

But he's absolutely can I just say to him, I absolutely agree with him that we need a more profitable sector. And

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that's the focus of this document. Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. This roadmap is a very welcome step forward, which will give our forward, which will give our farmers certainty for the future. And I particularly welcome what the Secretary of State had to say on cooperatives, which I think could cooperatives, which I think could go a long way to redressing the power imbalance that we currently have in our food system. And I hope have in our food system. And I hope we can begin that work at pace.

One of the things we've heard consistently from farmers is feeling that the planning system made so much worse by the party opposite is stacked against them. Broiler chicken farmers, for example, are expected to lower stocking densities but can't get permission to expand their sheds. To compensate, farmers in water stressed areas are having to go through years of bureaucracy to build reservoirs. So would the Secretary of State agree that reforming the planning system will be key to freeing up trapped investment and getting us to that sustainable, prosperous future for British farming that this roadmap sets out? sets out?
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Jenny Riddell-Carpenter Portrait Jenny Riddell-Carpenter MP (Suffolk Coastal, Labour)
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Well, the short answer is yes, and I couldn't agree more, which is why I'm working very closely with the Secretary of State for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on planning reform to ensure that these planning barriers aren't holding back investment into the farming sector.

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Charlie Dewhirst thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. Now, the Secretary of State seemed to ignore my right hon. Friend the Member for my right hon. Friend the Member for Louth and Horncastle question about the use of land and increasing food production. So can I ask production. So can I ask specifically again, how are our farmers expected to increase food production if we are taking 9% of

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production if we are taking 9% of use? Yeah. Well, as we set out in our land

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Well, as we set out in our land use framework, the intention working with the sector is to make sure that we have more productive and profitable farms and multifunctional land use so that we maintain, at least, if not increase, food production levels alongside the land use changes we need to make to secure a sustainable

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farming transition. Jenny Riddell-Carpenter. Over the next 20 years, we're

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Over the next 20 years, we're set to see a 30% reduction in water availability for farms and producers across the country, many producers across the country, many of which will affect Suffolk Coastal. I was very glad to see in the roadmap that it talks about applying lessons from pilot schemes applying lessons from pilot schemes that manage water to help farmers manage these water challenges. Can I flag the Manage Managed Aquifer I flag the Manage Managed Aquifer Recharge Trial in Suffolk Coastal that has recharged irrigation to 200 zero cubic metres whilst complying with stringent conditions? I know the Minister for Water Flooding is keen to visit my constituency to learn more about this scheme.

I hope the Department will look at these examples as an opportunity that could help deliver water ambitions, as set out in this very welcomed Farming Roadmap.
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Lee Pitcher Portrait Lee Pitcher MP (Doncaster East and the Isle of Axholme, Labour)
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of farming. And that's when we get good policy and we can take our success forward for farmers. >> I couldn't agree more. We've got

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I couldn't agree more. We've got to have a look at the sector overall, the agri food sector, which is a huge part of our economy, employing 4.1 million people. And actually its GVA, its gross value add, is equivalent to the automotive sector. So I think he is right that there has been a tendency to underestimate the value of farming, and we've got to have a look at it in that wider agri food ecosystem and the GVA of the sector that it brings to the economy.



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Geoffrey Cox once upon a time, Madam Deputy Speaker, it wouldn't have been necessary for a Secretary of State for farming to come to of State for farming to come to this House and tell the House that the primary purpose of farming was the primary purpose of farming was food production. The report, the central recommendation, was to make central recommendation, was to make food security a national strategic priority. Does she not realise that unless her roadmap contains a unless her roadmap contains a commitment to make food security a national strategic priority, everything she says in that report will simply be trying to fill up the bath with the plug out.

It's time, surely, for the government to commit to real and precise targets at a time when the generals are telling us we could be at war in ten years.
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Dan Tomlinson Portrait Dan Tomlinson MP, The Exchequer Secretary (Chipping Barnet, Labour)
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in a changing world and responsible in the national interest and the measures that are before the House today. Assist the government in that objective. Madam Deputy Speaker, the way that the current energy system works, households and energy system works, households and businesses pay more for their electricity. When the gas price is high, the electricity generator high, the electricity generator levy already recoups some of the excess returns made by renewable excess returns made by renewable generators. When high gas prices push electricity prices over, what is the current threshold, which is £82.61 per megawatt hour? Now, the government has decided to increase the rate of the levy from 45% to 55% from the 1st of July.

That will do two things. First, it will ensure that a large proportion of any exceptional revenues from high gas prices are passed back to the government, which provides a revenue stream so that money is available to support businesses and families. With the impacts of the conflict in the Middle East. Secondly, it will also, in the longer term, support the new Voluntary Contracts for difference scheme, which was announced in April, which was announced in April. By encouraging participation in the scheme. Madam Deputy Speaker, in March, the government announced a review of mileage rates for employees using their own vehicle for work and the self-employed who use the simplified expenses rates in recognition of the pressures facing drivers as a result of the effects of the Iran war.

My right hon. Friend the Chancellor announced in May the 1st uprating of mileage rates in 15 years, backdated to April, to provide immediate support to both groups. Mileage rates will increase for 2020 627 from 45 to £0.55 for the first 10,000 miles, and then £0.25 thereafter, with effect from the 6th of April. This will represent the largest ever increase to these mileage rates, benefiting around 2 million employees and 1 million self-employed individuals, saving over £120 a year. For a worker doing 6000 business miles.

I would like to say that it was a privilege to meet recently with care workers and the unison general Secretary, to hear directly about the difference that this uprating will make to those on the front line, the General Secretary said to myself and the Chancellor that this measure is good news for people providing essential public services, and it was a real honour to meet those who work day in, day out looking after people across the country, and I'm glad that this measure will have a positive, a positive impact on those who will do such vital work.

Looking ahead and beyond 2627 The government has already committed to a review of these rates and will set out further steps at the Budget. Madam Deputy Speaker, the third measure today, turning now to that, recognising the key role that the road haulage sector plays in transporting goods across the UK and their disproportionate exposure to fuel costs. The government is introducing a 12 month holiday from vehicle excise duty for the majority of heavy goods vehicles, which will save a typical HGV £600 on top of the savings from fuel duty.

Fuel costs make up a substantial proportion of HGV operating costs and this action will help prevent cost pressures from the Iran conflict spreading across the economy. The announcements on mileage rates and HGV Bedford were part of a wider package of measures announced in May, including on fuel duty, and in total, the decisions taken since the 2024 general election to freeze fuel duty will save motorists £0.11 per litre, or £120 for the average car, £250 for the average van and over £2,000 for the average HGV.

Compared to the plans that we inherited from the previous government. Madam Deputy Speaker, this government is taking action to support the economy at a time of global economic uncertainty following the Iran conflict. Our approach of targeting support at those groups who are hardest hit by the conflict will ensure that the measures we take are effective, while protecting the economy from the effects of reckless borrowing that took place under the previous government. This government's the hon. Gentleman says for Covid.

But he forgot to mention for Liz Truss, this government's record also shows that despite this instability, our plan is working. UK GDP growth in the past two years was the second fastest in the G7. Real household disposable income per person has grown by over 2% so far this parliament, compared with a fall of over 2% in the last parliament. Real wages have grown faster, have have have increased in every single month since this government took office with. With wages rising faster than inflation, the measures in this Bill will continue this track record and demonstrate that this government is committed to

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supporting working people. And the question is, as on was

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And the question is, as on was that an intervention or are we concluded? Well, there we are. Then. concluded? Well, there we are. Then. The question is as is as on the Order Paper, and I call the shadow Minister. Richard Fuller.

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Thank you. Thank you very much, Madam Deputy Speaker. And can I thank the Minister for his very thank the Minister for his very clear laying out of the measures before us today, but perhaps also say sometimes there isn't a place
16:20
Richard Fuller Portrait Richard Fuller MP (North Bedfordshire, Conservative)
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for partisanship, and perhaps that was a taste today, I think, for the Minister. I've got a series of Minister. I've got a series of questions, and as I didn't have the chance to brief him about them beforehand as I'd wanted to, it's beforehand as I'd wanted to, it's perfectly OK if he wants to get his ministerial team to reply in due course. I don't have all the answers straight away. Madam Deputy answers straight away. Madam Deputy Speaker, the first of the three measures is on the electricity generators levy, and I want to generators levy, and I want to probe three of the points in the written statement about this, which and I quote, that the 45% EGR rate will increase to 55%, number one, and will be extended past its scheduled conclusion in 2028, number two, and that this will support the government's objective of reducing the impact of gas prices on business and household.

Number three. So my first question would be, what is the Treasury's estimate of the amount that is anticipated to be raised from this measure? Is it a straight line assessment? Essentially 4555, which roughly means 600 million. And then within this is it the intention, the government that the EGL revenues, the revenues that come from the EGL will be treated in future as an established line item in the Budget, or will they be seen as a levy that will potentially go away in a short period of time? Second of all, one of the concerns about the levy is uncertainty and the effect that that may have on investments in the North, in in investment in general electricity generation.

So what feedback has the Minister had or has the industry provided to the government about this change? And does the Minister have a view about what the impact on industry investment will be? Because surely at this time we're looking to extend energy capacity in the UK at all levels that we can. And it would just interesting to know if he's had some, you know, from the government's point of view, if they feel that there is a chilling effect on investment from from these taxes.

And then thirdly, why has the Minister not announced an end date to this increase? It was supposed to be originally a temporary levy. And indeed, by not announcing an end date, that adds to the uncertainty in the sector. And it would be helpful if the Minister could say, because it is temporary. But how long is temporary, Minister? And based on that, I would be interested if the government would be consider a sunset clause with a review or some aspect that might provide some additional certainty to the sector.

Moving on to the mileage allowance increase from 45 to £0.55 per mile, we have no opposition to that change being made, I think. I think it would be worth while. The Minister could just say a few words about the mileage allowance post or after 10,000 miles, because the government's decided not to change that at this time. I'd be very interested to know what the thinking was in the government's about that, because there are some people in rural areas particularly, but people with certain types of jobs that may well hit that 10,000

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Mile limit. I'd just be interested in the government's view about that. And also, potentially, as the Minister outlined, this hasn't changed for a considerable period of time. Whether he would period of time. Whether he would consider annual indexation of this amount there. There are issues here about this, because this is not about this, because this is not just tied to the price of or fuel. It also includes issues to do with depreciation and identifying some depreciation and identifying some form of indexation, therefore may not be straightforward, but I'm just interested in government's views about that.

And finally, turning to the HGV Vehicle excise duty holiday, I think the Minister will recognise that this probably will have a limited impact, because it is just one year change. What sort of behavioural impact analysis did the government undertake prior to introducing this measure? Because the industry is a little bit sceptical about whether it will actually change behaviour in the near term. But Madam Deputy, I'm very grateful to the Minister for laying these issues out so clearly. And as I said, I'm very happy to receive written answers to my questions in due course if necessary.
16:24
Toby Perkins Portrait Mr Toby Perkins MP (Chesterfield, Labour)
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I just want to check, Mr. Perkins. It's the Ways and means resolutions debate. Do you wish to resolutions debate. Do you wish to contribute, Mr. Perkins? >> Thank you very much. So I don't intend to detain.

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intend to detain. The house long, but I. Welcome the motion to increase the electricity generator levy, the electricity generator levy, which, alongside the government's plans to encourage participation at a competitive price in long term fixed contracts for low carbon generators, will weaken the link between electricity and gas prices, with the overall effect of bringing down energy bills both for my constituents and consumers across the UK, as well as British businesses. I also welcome the long overdue increase to the approved mileage allowance for workers from 45 to £0.55 per mile.

It is very noticeable that through the 14 years that I was in Parliament under a conservative government, we saw that rate staying exactly the same, whilst within that time petrol had risen around 33%, diesel 44%. So those workers were every single year worse off than they had been the year before. And finally, the motion to temporarily reduce vehicle excise duties is welcome to right now, HGV vehicles pay around £1,700 on average per per vehicle. This motion will change that to £1 a year for for this year.

I visited Spectrum Freight in Chesterfield last month, where we discussed the challenges the industry is facing and they and other businesses within the industry will very much welcome this government's sensible approach to support the sector at this difficult time. Charlie Maynard thank you.
16:26
Charlie Maynard Portrait Charlie Maynard MP (Witney, Liberal Democrat)
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Madam Deputy Speaker. So the electricity generator levy is a windfall tax on UK electricity windfall tax on UK electricity generation from nuclear, renewable and biomass sources and raise £0.7 billion in the last financial year. The EGL is a revenue based tax, which currently applies at a rate of 45% on exceptional generation receipts, above a benchmark price of £77.94 per megawatt hour, with an allowance of £10 million per company. The energy profits levy, by contrast, applies to oil and gas production in the UK and the UK continental shelf and raised £2.9 billion in the last financial year.

We support the goals of seeking to fund an emergency revenue measures to fund cost of living support during the gas price shock, but we also note that the power wholesale prices are now around £90 per megawatt hour, compared to a spike of £135 per megawatt hour and a pre Iran conflict price of £80 per megawatt hour. So I'd like to ask a question, really of how much is this likely to raise given the move in prices. And it feels like the horse has already bolted.

Perhaps. So I'm interested to hear your thoughts on that. But we also recognise it's a nudge to accelerate the shift of legacy renewable generators off wholesale prices or volatile wholesale prices, and onto fixed contracts for difference, using a higher tax rate as leverage. And if legacy renewable generators, i.e. those on renewables obligation not already under CFDs, sign up to a wholesale contract for difference to exchange their volatile wholesale revenues for fixed strike price. And this is obviously good news in terms of consumers are insulated from future gas price spikes on that portion of generation, because the generator is no longer passing through the wholesale prices and the government, via the low carbon contracts company, captures any upside.

When wholesale prices rise. Coming to the second resolution to increase the mileage allowance. Again, this seems a logical step and one we are happy to support. I note that £0.45 rate has been frozen since 2011, so 15 years without adjustment over that period. Fuel costs, insurance, tyres and servicing have all risen materially. So while £0.55 is a meaningful correction, it is questionable whether it fully catches up with accumulated inflation. This will have a positive impact overall. This change, not least for people in professions like care work where you do a lot of driving between appointments.

I would refer again to the Lib Dem proposal to cut fuel duty by 10%, which, if the Chancellor took this on board, would combine with the increase in mileage allowance to make a significant difference in the pockets of people who have to drive often to work. I also note that the cost of this change has not been set out, only that it is subject to scrutiny by the OBR and will be set out at a future fiscal event. Personally, I don't think that is good enough.

I think the Treasury team should set out where any change in tax take, whether positive or negative, when it is proposed. Finally, the 12 month vehicle excise duty holiday for HGV is a sensible and welcome measure and we will not oppose it. Our hauliers are absolutely critical like Chris Hayter and Witney are really are the backbone of our economy and I understand the Minister knows them well, but we need to be honest about what this
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