Oral Answers to Questions

Cat Smith Excerpts

Wednesday 7th February 2024 Commons Chamber

[Kemi Badenoch]

Female-led businesses often face particular challenges, and in the Department for Business and Trade we work with the British Business Bank to ensure that those businesses continue to have access to finance. We have the Investing in Women code and a taskforce for women-led entrepreneurs. We hope that all these actions together will help improve the lives of women in business.

[Cat Smith (Lancaster and Fleetwood) (Lab)]

T6. Will the Minister make a statement about today’s report by the Patient Safety Commissioner addressing redress for victims of sodium valproate and mesh?

[Maria Caulfield]

The hon. Lady will know that the Government commissioned that report from the Patient Safety Commissioner to look at options for redress, specifically for those affected by sodium valproate, but also for those affected by mesh. The report has been published only today, so we will look at the details closely before reporting back to the House.

Oral Answers to Questions

Cat Smith Excerpts

Wednesday 13th December 2023 Commons Chamber

[David Johnston]

As the hon. Lady knows, we are committed to publishing the first ever strategy for kinship carers before the end of the year. She will not have long to wait.

[Cat Smith (Lancaster and Fleetwood) (Lab)]

2. What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to tackle inequality for disabled people.

[Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck (South Shields) (Lab)]

9. What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to tackle inequality for disabled people.

[Cat Smith]

The neuro drop-in centre in Lancaster provides a unique support network for those affected by neurological conditions, but my constituent, who travels there by bus from Bowerham to Torrisholme, is a wheelchair user, and if there is already is a wheelchair user on the bus, he cannot board. Does the Minister think that that is fair?

[Mims Davies]

That does not sound terribly fair at all. I am very interested in what the hon. Lady shares with the House. Of course, we have a Transport Minister answering questions today, so I am very happy for us to look at that issue for her. If she writes to me, I will see that the matter is looked at.

--- Later in debate ---

[Cat Smith (Lancaster and Fleetwood) (Lab)]

Q4. A rogue company has walked away from 13,000 tonnes of hazardous waste in Lancaster, and it has now been on fire for 10 days. There are plumes of smoke covering our city. Lancaster City Council has been left to pick up the tab, and to date it has spent £262,000. Without Government support and intervention this fire will burn for several months, so will the Prime Minister provide my local council with swift Government support?

[The Prime Minister]

I thank the hon. Member for raising this incredibly important question. I know she has been working alongside my hon. Friend the Member for Morecambe and Lunesdale (David Morris) on this. I also thank the emergency services in her constituency. My understanding is that Lancaster City Council, the Environment Agency, the UK Health Security Agency and the emergency services are working together to ensure that the health risks and environmental consequences are minimised, but I will ensure that the relevant Minister understands the absolute urgency of the issue the hon. Lady has raised and make sure that she meets them as soon as possible.

Israel and Gaza

Cat Smith Excerpts

Monday 16th October 2023 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

We absolutely do not want to see regional escalation. One of the ways that we can help to ensure that that does not happen—my right hon. and learned Friend specifically mentioned Lebanon—is the deployment of our surveillance assets, which went into the region last week, with further to follow by the end of this week. One of the things that they can do is track and interdict armed shipments that might be going to Hezbollah, for example. That is something that none of us will want to see, which is why we have deployed those assets. Partners are grateful for our intervention, because no one wants to see an escalation of this conflict.

[Cat Smith (Lancaster and Fleetwood) (Lab)]

Some of the most vulnerable citizens in the event of war are people with disabilities, so what representations have the Government made for the protection particularly of people with disabilities in northern Gaza who are unable to move?

[The Prime Minister]

In all our conversations we will continue to call on Israel to take every precaution to avoid harming civilians, and we will do everything that we can to bring humanitarian support to the region.

Oral Answers to Questions

Cat Smith Excerpts

Wednesday 12th July 2023 Commons Chamber

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

I know my hon. Friend is passionate in championing this issue. Almost 850,000 households have been helped to purchase a home since 2010. In 2021, the number of people getting on to the property ladder for the first time was at a 20-year high, thanks to initiatives such as First Homes and the Help to Buy scheme. Of course, that stands in contrast to the Labour party, which oversaw the lowest level of house building since the 1920s.

[Cat Smith (Lancaster and Fleetwood) (Lab)]

Q4. With rising ticket prices, many of my constituents find they can get the best-value fare by going to the staffed ticket office at Lancaster station, which is perhaps why so many of them have signed my petition to save staffing at the station. Is the closure of ticket offices just yet another cost of living bombshell hitting my hard-working constituents?

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

It is important that the railways continue to reform after the record amount of money we gave them during covid. If the hon. Lady is concerned about her constituents getting anywhere on the railways, I gently say that she should condemn the totally unjustified strikes that close them down week after week.

Oral Answers to Questions

Cat Smith Excerpts

Wednesday 29th March 2023 Commons Chamber

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend campaigns with typical gusto. I think he knows that changing the boundaries at local authority level is subject to an independent process, but I will ensure that he gets a meeting with the Minister for Local Government so that he can further discuss the aspirations for Leigh.

[Cat Smith (Lancaster and Fleetwood) (Lab)]

Q2. Despite Royal Mail posting record profits, management are threatening to put it into administration. What conversations are the Government having with Royal Mail? What are they doing to protect the universal postal service?

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

It is an incredibly difficult time, and I thank the hon. Lady for her question. Obviously the pandemic has had a particular impact, but we are working very closely to make sure that we can continue the service. I will make sure that she gets a meeting with the relevant Minister to discuss her concerns further.

Oral Answers to Questions

Cat Smith Excerpts

Wednesday 25th January 2023 Commons Chamber

[Mims Davies]

I assure the hon. Lady that we will not be doing that. We monitor pension contributions and participation by gender, and publish data regularly through our workplace pension participation and savings trends publication. Key to this matter is our funding of returner programmes, which supports those who have taken time out of the labour market for caring responsibilities. Finally, pension sharing on divorce is an option that can help women if a marriage or civil partnership has broken down. As I have said, this is a focus for us all.

[Cat Smith (Lancaster and Fleetwood) (Lab)]

T1. If she will make a statement on her departmental responsibilities.

[The Minister for Women and Equalities (Kemi Badenoch)]

The Government will publish a draft Bill setting out our approach to banning conversion practices, which will go for pre-legislative scrutiny in this parliamentary Session. We are committed to protecting everyone at risk of those practices from harm and we are clear that the legislation must not affect the ability of parents, teachers or counsellors to have open, exploratory and even challenging conversations with young people.

[Cat Smith]

Has the Minister had sight of the Health and Social Care Committee’s report into the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review and, particularly on paragraph 53, what conversations might she be having with Treasury colleagues to support women seeking redress?

[Kemi Badenoch]

I thank the Health and Social Care Committee for its IMMDS follow-up report. Our sympathies remain with all those women affected by sodium valproate. Patient safety is our top priority and we are committed to improving how the system listens to people, which is why I have asked the Patient Safety Commissioner, Dr Henrietta Hughes, to look into redress schemes. I am not committing to any specific next steps today, but the Minister for Women will provide an update in due course.

Ministerial Appointments: Vetting and Managing Conflicts of Interest

Cat Smith Excerpts

Monday 23rd January 2023 Commons Chamber

[Jeremy Quin]

I am not certain what the question was, but I certainly disagree with the tone taken by the hon. Gentleman. I think that we have an incredibly valuable organisation in the shape of the BBC. I for one support it, and I think it is unfortunate to start making allegations about the BBC as a whole on the basis of something the facts of which are disputed.

[Cat Smith (Lancaster and Fleetwood) (Lab)]

Are any other Ministers currently in dispute with HMRC about their tax arrangements?

[Jeremy Quin]

It is a matter for individual Ministers to go through the proper process under the ministerial code, and that is what everyone does. It is a requirement under this Government, as it has been a requirement under all Governments. There is full disclosure in that process. The Minister needs to talk to his or her permanent secretary, and it is critical that no conflicts of interest or, indeed, perceived conflicts of interest are established.

Oral Answers to Questions

Cat Smith Excerpts

Wednesday 16th November 2022 Commons Chamber

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

I totally agree that we need to strain every sinew to stop this appalling trade in misery. There is no silver bullet, although I think the agreement the Home Secretary made with her French opposite number will help, and we are embedding UK officials with their French counterparts for the first time. My right hon. Friend the Member for Gainsborough (Sir Edward Leigh) is right to say that the Bill of Rights can also help, not least in preventing interim orders from the Strasbourg Court from being recognised in UK courts. On ID cards, we already have e-visas for people coming to visit and live in the UK, and they act as digital evidence of a person’s immigration status. What is clear, however, is that we will have to do all these things in the teeth of opposition from Labour Front Benchers.

[Cat Smith (Lancaster and Fleetwood) (Lab)]

Q5. Our small rural schools in Wyre face particular difficulties. The headteacher at Scorton and Calder Vale St John Church of England Primary Schools told me that:“Budgets in schools like ours are stretched as we have to pay for lots of additional services which larger schools can provide in-house.”She has to hire the village hall for PE because the schools have no hall, and she has to hire taxis to bring in school meals because they have no kitchens. Given the school budget cuts, what does the Deputy Prime Minister advise this headteacher to cut from our local children?

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

We are very sympathetic to the challenges that all our schools face. More will be said about specific measures tomorrow, but the hon. Lady should stand assured that we are the top spenders as a percentage of GDP on primary and secondary education in the G7, and that standards, which matter to pupils and parents the most, have increased, with the proportion of schools rated good or outstanding up from 68% in 2010 to 87% today.

Tributes to Her Late Majesty the Queen

Cat Smith Excerpts

Saturday 10th September 2022 Commons Chamber

[Cat Smith (Lancaster and Fleetwood) (Lab)]

I rise on behalf of myself and my constituents to pay tribute to our longest serving monarch. Underpinned by her Christian faith, she gave a life of service, built on that firm foundation, and for that we give thanks and celebrate, in the words of the King, “a life well lived.”

The Queen owned the Duchy of Lancaster, so she always had a strong tie to my constituency. To us in Lancaster, she was known as the Duke of Lancaster, which can catch visitors out; if anyone is ever invited to sing our national anthem in Lancaster, they will find that the words are slightly different, as we sing, “God save the Duke” instead of the more traditional words. Because of that strong tie, the Queen visited many times. She visited Lancaster Priory in 1999 to mark the 600th anniversary of this important link between the Crown and the Duchy of Lancaster. She also personally approved the grant of a charter that constituted the University of Lancaster back in 1964. She made many visits to Lancaster castle. She visited it three times: in 1969, before I was born; in 1977, before I was born; and in May 2015, days after I was elected as the Member of Parliament. When the declaration was made and I was handed an envelope as a newly elected Member, I got an additional envelope saying, “In a few days’ time, you will be meeting the Queen. Do you have a hat?” I do not think they meant the Barrow A.F.C bobble hat. Utterly terrified, and before I had made my maiden speech, I found myself stood by platform 3 at Lancaster station as the royal train rolled in. Unusually for Lancaster, which is normally gloriously sunny all the time, the heavens opened and it poured with rain. At that point, I realised that hundreds and hundreds of my constituents were stood out in this pouring rain lining the streets to welcome Her Majesty, in the hope of perhaps catching a glimpse of her. That brought home to me the power that the Queen had to bring people from all walks of life and from all generations together. As a newly elected MP, that was an important lesson for me to realise.

The Queen also visited other parts of my constituency, from the rural farms to the renowned Rossall School in Fleetwood, which she visited in 1994 to mark its 150th anniversary. Following correspondence that I have received in the past 48 hours, it is clear that my constituents who had the good fortune of meeting her now have memories that will last a lifetime. So as the sun sets on this second Elizabethan age, we give thanks that our nation has had the good fortune to have the Queen serve us for 70 years. May she rest in peace and rise in glory. God save the King.

Ukraine

Cat Smith Excerpts

Tuesday 22nd February 2022 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Yes, I can certainly make that commitment, and I know that that has the support of the whole House.

[Cat Smith (Lancaster and Fleetwood) (Lab)]

The Prime Minister is right when he says that democracy is at stake, including our democracy. The Intelligence and Security Committee’s Russia report sets out the challenge clearly. Can I ask the Prime Minister specifically what he proposes to bring forward to ensure that Putin’s dirty money is not filling the pockets of UK political parties?

[The Prime Minister]

As the hon. Lady knows, you cannot give money to UK political parties if you are a foreign national.