Jobs and Employment: Staffordshire

Adam Jogee Excerpts

Monday 26th October 2026 Commons Chamber

[Adam Jogee (Newcastle-under-Lyme) (Lab)]

Madam Deputy Speaker, you know that I will take any opportunity, whatever time of day it is, to champion my community and our county, as will my colleagues. That is why many of us from Staffordshire are here at this late hour.

The House has heard me talk before about the wonderful people who live, learn and work in Newcastle-under-Lyme. They work hard, pay their way and bring their skills and smarts to whatever they do, and they were wise enough to vote for me—for which I am very grateful. Over the centuries, people in Newcastle-under-Lyme and across Staffordshire made things. They built things, discovered things, and they showed a nation how things can and should be done. That is why my Staffordshire colleagues and I are here tonight. We are determined to ensure that our people, particularly our young people, are able to access the jobs and opportunities that they deserve.

I am pleased to see the Government Whip, my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham Northfield (Laurence Turner), in his place. He will be hearing lots from us about our concerns with the at-times botched and unwanted roll-out of local government reform in many parts of Staffordshire. I look forward to having that conversation with him.

Newcastle-under-Lyme is synonymous with workers and working. We are rooted in our industrial heartlands. Our coalfields community and our coalminers were driven by diligence and determination. Mining in our United Kingdom was not just about coal, though. It was about camaraderie, courage and power. It was about families and communities, bound together by shared experiences, overcoming hardships and supporting one another through thick and thin.

The worst legacy of Thatcherism was tearing industry apart, destroying communities and our industrial heartlands and not doing anything to replace them. There was no focus on upskilling, no focus on investment and no willingness to ensure that those same people and their families—who they screwed over—were not left and forgotten. It says a lot that some in politics today who pretend to care about working-class people describe themselves as Thatcherites. They are telling us who they are, and we should listen to them.

Our people back home made things work. In fact, they powered our country. Without that power, we would not have been able to emerge as a global leader in manufacturing and as one of the biggest economies in the world. As important as it is to look back at our industrial heritage with pride, today we must redouble our efforts to ensure that people in Staffordshire do not fall behind in the race for the jobs of the future.

[Dr Allison Gardner (Stoke-on-Trent South) (Lab)]

I represent the neighbouring constituency, and of course I have to mention ceramics. Since 2018, employment in traditional ceramics has fallen by 37% in Staffordshire. Advanced and traditional ceramics companies need skilled workers, but local employers are struggling to attract new talent. Stoke-on-Trent college has proposed a national ceramics and advanced materials technical college, which would create a national centre for technical education offering apprenticeships, industry placements and workforce development in traditional and advanced ceramics. Will my hon. Friend join me in recognising the value of the proposal in boosting local ceramics employment by providing the specialist skills required and creating clear pathways from education to high-value careers?

[Adam Jogee]

I am grateful to my constituency neighbour. She makes an excellent point, which she knows that I agree with. I will come to ceramics. She is correct to raise those points.

We hear far too many stories about our young people being lazy and unwilling to put in the graft to get on in life.

[Sarah Edwards (Tamworth) (Lab)]

I thank my hon. Friend for making such an important speech on the incredible things that happen in Staffordshire. It is really important to our young people that the youth hubs that have been announced—one of them is in Tamworth—have a base and a home. That, though, is where Staffordshire county council has really failed in recent years when it could be leading the way. Does my hon. Friend think that Councillor Murray, the leader of Staffordshire county council, is asleep at the wheel and has possibly gone AWOL on this one? Does he agree that we really need to invest in young people?

[Adam Jogee]

As ever, my hon. Friend puts it as well as anyone else could, particularly when it comes to the sorry state of affairs at county hall. In Newcastle-under-Lyme, we are lucky to have a youth hub, too, but as she says, it is of great importance to ensure that the county council steps up and helps us to deliver those services for our people. I look forward to working with her to hold the county and whoever its leadership is to account in the period ahead.

[Leigh Ingham (Stafford) (Lab)]

Will my hon. Friend give way?

[Adam Jogee]

I will give way to another neighbour.

[Leigh Ingham]

On the point about Staffordshire county council, I recently held a roundtable to talk about youth services in Stafford—by the way, Staffordshire was the third worst hit part of the country for youth service cuts—and youth service providers told me that Staffordshire county council categorically is not engaging with the Department for Work and Pensions on youth hubs. We are fortunate enough to have one in Stafford, and I am pleased that we also have them in Newcastle-under-Lyme and in Tamworth. Does my hon. Friend agree that if Staffordshire county council does not get its act together and start participating in conversations with services that can wrap around our young people, we will fall behind?

[Adam Jogee]

My hon. Friend, who represents the town where my mother was born and raised, makes an excellent point. I could not put it better myself, so I will not attempt to do so. Many of the young people that she and my hon. Friend the Member for Tamworth mentioned want to contribute to the communities they live in, and many live with the ambition of having and seeking a meaningful career, but, after being failed for so long by the generations of political leaders that went before us, many of our young people just feel forgotten. Tonight, Staffordshire’s MPs tell them that they have not been.

Young people across Newcastle-under-Lyme are facing some of the most profound challenges in the country when it comes to entering the world of work. In my constituency, there are 57 suitable vacancies per 1,000 residents aged 18 to 24, which is 47% below the national average. Those statistics make for sobering reading. We do not just need the vacancies. We need to make sure that our young people have the skills that employers are looking for.

[Josh Newbury (Cannock Chase) (Lab)]

My hon. Friend is, as always, making a fantastic speech and banging the drum for our great county. Does he agree that if we are serious about creating and filling the jobs he is talking about in Staffordshire, we have to give our colleges the capacity to train the workforce that we need? I welcome the recent investment in South Staffordshire college, including Cannock college, but will he join me in calling for further investment in our training facilities in Staffordshire, so that local young people can access skilled jobs in construction, engineering and all those growing industries?

[Adam Jogee]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend. I will be sure to raise that with the Secretary of State for Education at the next opportunity.

As I said, we do not just need the vacancies; we need to make sure that our young people have the skills that employers are looking for. A shortage of quality jobs, or the lack of skills required for the jobs that are available, means that so many of our talented young people feel forced to leave the community they call home to seek and find meaningful work elsewhere. Communities like Newcastle-under-Lyme lose out not just on economic growth, but on the dynamism and skill that bright local people bring to the jobs market. Those who choose to stay in their community face the entrenched inequalities typical of our industrial heartlands. Communities such as Silverdale, Knutton and Cross Heath have higher levels of health inequality and lower levels of life expectancy. So many interconnected factors are at play in communities when it comes to the challenge of ensuring that local people get the jobs they need.

In the summer, I welcomed my hon. Friend the Minister to meet the North Staffordshire citizens advice bureau in Newcastle town centre. He had the opportunity to hear all manner of things from the people he met, but particularly from young people who were struggling to deal with their money and to navigate entering the job market. Yes, we need our businesses to employ people, but if people cannot get to work, what is the point? That is the situation facing many traders and their employers in Newcastle-under-Lyme thanks to the sheer incompetence of Staffordshire county council.

[Leigh Ingham]

I held a roundtable—a different one—in Penkside, in Stafford town centre, to talk about the issues people face in getting to and from work, and buses came up as the major issue. The first bus is after 9 o’clock, and the last bus gets home before 3 pm. For someone trying to do a course at college, those times just do not work. Does my hon. Friend agree that it is important that Staffordshire county council uses the money it has been given by this Government to support young people in our areas in getting into work?

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[Adam Jogee]

That is a good point well made by my hon. Friend. She is correct. Like her, I have many rural communities that would absolutely benefit from a sensible approach to transport from Staffordshire county council. In that fight, as in many others, she has my full agreement.

My town has been brought to a standstill by road closures on different neighbouring roads at the same time and by delayed works that just do not seem to get finished, and there has been little leadership or communication from those in charge at county hall. I have written directly to the leader of Staffordshire county council and have heard absolutely nothing back. When I have received responses, most of them are nonsense. In fact, I have 22 letters in response to my raising issues that local people have brought to me as their Member of Parliament, and they all essentially say the same thing:

“This has been added to the County Councillor’s Divisional Highway Programme or the DHP”.

Then we hear nothing more.

[Sarah Edwards]

My hon. Friend has a whole bundle of letters. We regularly write to the county council, and I find that responses are sometimes received four to five months later. Is he having the same issue, not just in relation to roadworks, but in relation to young people and their special educational needs and disabilities situations? That is failure from the county council.

[Adam Jogee]

My hon. Friend makes a good point, and it is not a party point. I suspect that the right hon. Members for Staffordshire Moorlands (Dame Karen Bradley) and for Stone, Great Wyrley and Penkridge (Sir Gavin Williamson), and the hon. Member for Kingswinford and South Staffordshire (Mike Wood) would agree with other Staffordshire MPs on the point she has made: the county council is missing in action and is failing to deliver the services that our people deserve—and that they pay for. We are not asking for favours. We are asking for things to be done properly and in a timely way. If the county council cannot fix our roads in a sensible and ordered way, without impacting businesses and stopping people getting to work, school and the hospital, it should get out the way and let others do so.

We know the challenges before us, but what do we do about them? There are examples of best practice within organisations such as the King’s Trust, which for half a century has given young people across the kingdom and the Commonwealth the confidence and skills they need to succeed and thrive.

[Dave Robertson (Lichfield) (Lab)]

I am not quite a constituency neighbour, but it is always great to see a fellow Staffordshire MP in this place. Will my hon. Friend join me in thanking organisations such as AKG, which operates in my constituency? It is a private company, but it provides services to those who have been out of work for a long time through the restart scheme and the connect to work scheme, both funded by the Government, which are very much designed to provide people with the employment support they need so they can get back into work—doing the real work, not just trying to solve this problem by soundbite. Will he join me in thanking AKG for helping people find those opportunities?

[Adam Jogee]

It is all in good time when it comes to being neighbours—we will happily expand our boundaries to reach Lichfield. My hon. Friend knows my constituency well—he comes to see us often enough—so he is an honorary Newcastle-under-Lymer. I agree very much with his point about what we need to do to get our people the skills they need to get into work.

Last year, I saw the excellent work of the King’s Trust up close at Stoke-on-Trent college in the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent Central (Gareth Snell). More than 400 programmes have been run there by the King’s Trust over the last three decades, benefiting young people from Newcastle-under-Lyme and right across north Staffordshire and the county.

Earlier this month, I joined a number of local institutions and authorities and the Department for Work and Pensions in supporting the north Staffordshire jobs fair, held in our town centre and open to people across the north part of our county and, I suspect, everyone else. It was great to see so many people energised and enthused, demonstrating that there is no lack of ambition or work ethic in our part of the world.

Our education institutions help keep us on the right path in ensuring that our people get the job opportunities they need and deserve. Our county is home to two universities: Keele University in my constituency and the University of Staffordshire in my hon. Friend’s constituency. Those two institutions bring young people to our area, and many from our area stay there.

I must declare an interest—I probably should have done it when I responded to my hon. Friend the Member for Stafford (Leigh Ingham)—as the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Education. In doing so, I pay tribute to Newcastle college and the Newcastle and Stafford Colleges Group. Our local college’s successful bid to become an advanced manufacturing technical excellence college is so important to ensuring that our industrial heritage is respected and that talented young people from across Staffordshire are at the heart of Britain’s industrial future. I would like to extend my very best thanks—I know you will agree with me, Madam Deputy Speaker—to Craig Hodgson, the principal of Newcastle college. He has served in that role for three decades and some. Service of that length just does not happen very often these days, and certainly not in this place.

[Tim Roca (Macclesfield) (Lab)]

Speak for yourself!

[Adam Jogee]

I will see my hon. Friend in 30 years—I will be sitting here and he will be sitting there.

Earlier this year, Craig announced that he was retiring after one heck of a stint. We will always be grateful to Craig for his commitment to our community, our young people, our county and our collective future.

We must look to our industrial heartlands to make the most of what we already have, ensuring that real growth, as my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister would say, is felt in all postcodes in Staffordshire and that growth is translated into well-paid, meaningful career opportunities for local people. The growth potential that comes from investing in British industry and the skills required is massive in communities across our county, and there is no better place, as my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent South (Dr Gardner) noted, than our ceramics industry. It provides the building blocks of and for our United Kingdom, and without it we could not manufacture steel, glass, cement, bricks and many other important things.

I am grateful to Staffordshire chambers of commerce for its work helping deliver fully funded business start-up training for budding entrepreneurs across the county. By the end of this year, approximately 300 people will have completed that programme in 2026. Later this week, the chambers and I will welcome Baroness Foster and the board of Intertrade UK to Staffordshire, and to Newcastle-under-Lyme in particular, to meet Staffordshire’s businesses and employers to see what more we can do to increase trade between Northern Ireland and our fair county. Like the chambers, my colleagues and I from Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent want to see the establishment of a mayoral strategic authority for our area at the earliest opportunity. It will set us firmly on the path to helping unlock investment and the creation of well-paid local jobs and employment opportunities. I want to let the Minister address some of these points so will skip some of my speech, but I want to raise a couple of further issues.

There is a geopolitical need for us to get this right. Our international competitors—we know who they are—are investing in education, training and equipping the workforce of the future with the skills needed for that future, and we must do the same. It is vital that British manufacturing is at the heart of our trade agenda and that we redouble our efforts to buy British, as my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent Central would say, every step of the way, and all of that will help job creation in Staffordshire.

I ask the Minister to touch on a few specific areas. Staffordshire is home to many rural communities. I am proud to represent a number of them in Madeley, Audley, Betley and Wrinehill and would be grateful if the Minister could set out, as my hon. Friend the Member for Stafford did, what we are doing to ensure that rural communities do not fall behind. Will the Minister also encourage his colleagues in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to get on with giving us a mayoral authority and to prioritise that over local government reorganisation, and what is being done in Government to make sure that all relevant Departments are talking to each other? For those who live in a rural area and do not drive and who need a bus—there is some consistency of thought here, because I promise I had not shown my speech to my constituency neighbours—a chance would have been a fine thing over the last decade. So some clarity and inter-Government working would be helpful too.

How are we ensuring that Government understand what employers are looking for and ensuring that what they are looking for is reflected in our skills and training? I welcome the billions of pounds of investment in the youth guarantee and the growth skills levy, as well as new youth hubs from, as we have heard, Tamworth to Stafford to Newcastle-under-Lyme, but we need more of that.

[Gareth Snell (Stoke-on-Trent Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

It is not just about the young people; it is also about the adult reskilling opportunities. The Chancellor’s announcement of the union learning fund was incredibly welcome, but with an ageing workforce in Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent, and with technological advances often outpacing the skills of the people already in work, we must make sure we keep those people who are in jobs trained to the level that means that they can carry on working. If the Minister could respond to that, I would be very grateful.

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[Adam Jogee]

We are seeing tonight the consistency of view right across Staffordshire, from colleagues up and down, north and south, east and west, who are determined to make sure that all of our people have the skills they need, however old they are, to be competitive in the jobs market, to help fuel growth in our communities and ultimately to demonstrate to the rest of the world what they are capable of.

This is Budget week—as you know, Madam Deputy Speaker; you will be in the Chair on Wednesday—and I urge the Minister to send our right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer a copy of Hansard tomorrow, so he can read this speech and all the interventions and ensure that the fight for Staffordshire’s people and their ability to access the jobs and opportunities they deserve runs through his speech on Wednesday because our people deserve nothing less.

[The Minister for Employment (Andrew Western)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle-under-Lyme (Adam Jogee) on securing this important debate and his tireless advocacy for the people of Newcastle-under-Lyme and the wider Staffordshire area. He has consistently championed the importance of creating opportunities for local people and ensuring that growth brings tangible benefits to local communities.

As my hon. Friend said, I was pleased to visit his constituency with him earlier this year to see at first hand the work being undertaken by local partners, including Jobcentre Plus and, as he reflected, Citizens Advice, to support people into employment, education and training. We heard directly from residents and young people about the opportunities and challenges they face and the work he has done to support them. They were indeed, as he so humbly set out, very wise to send him to this place, and if nothing else, that is reflected by his ability to create such a crowd for an Adjournment debate at 10 pm on a Monday night—on a one-line Whip no less. That is truly titanic.

[Adam Jogee]

I am very conscious that we want to hear from the Minister but, as he acknowledges the number of Staffordshire MPs, we hunt as a pack so it is no surprise we are all here together at 10 pm on a Monday on a one-line Whip.

[Andrew Western]

Indeed, and it is for that reason that I am treading very carefully with the words I use. I hear my hon. Friend’s message loud and clear: do not mess with Staffordshire.

My visit underlined the importance of ensuring that everyone can access the support and opportunities they need to achieve their potential, but too often in the past this has not happened and whole communities have been left behind. As my hon. Friend said, people should not be forced to leave the places that they are from just to have the chance to get on in life. That is why the Prime Minister has set out our ambition to deliver growth in every postcode in Staffordshire and beyond.

Growth is not an abstract economic concept; it is about whether people can find good work, whether businesses can access the skills they need and whether communities, such as those across Staffordshire, can realise their full potential. Staffordshire has significant strengths to build on, with a skilled workforce and strong businesses across advanced manufacturing, including ceramics and logistics, construction and energy.

Timms Review: Interim Report

Adam Jogee Excerpts

Thursday 9th July 2026 Commons Chamber

[Sir Stephen Timms]

The focus of the review is very tightly on PIP itself. However, as I touched on earlier, I do think that the Department will want to, and will, learn lessons from the success of this approach to date, which I hope will be fully borne out in the final report that we submit to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State in the autumn. I think that will be a mechanism for changing the culture in the Department and the way that it and, I hope, the wider Government work.

[Adam Jogee (Newcastle-under-Lyme) (Lab)]

I thank the Minister for his statement, his experience and his compassion, and thank the steering group for their work. Walking by on the other side, as others did, is not an option here. We have to get a grip of this broken system, driven by a real focus on ensuring that those with chronic conditions and disabled people in Newcastle-under-Lyme and across the country get the dignity, respect and support that they deserve. As the Minister knows, because I have told him many times, many of my constituents have very loud views on and real experience of this broken system, so will he come to Newcastle-under-Lyme to meet those constituents and hear their views? He will get a very warm Staffordshire welcome if he does so.

[Sir Stephen Timms]

I am very grateful to my hon. Friend for his invitation. If he would like to drop me a line, I will see how my diary is looking in the next couple of months.

Budget Resolutions

Adam Jogee Excerpts

Thursday 27th November 2025 Commons Chamber

[Adam Jogee (Newcastle-under-Lyme) (Lab)]

I am grateful for the opportunity to speak in this debate. Many of the measures announced yesterday will make a real difference to the lives of the people I represent back home in Newcastle-under-Lyme. To whom much is given, much is expected. The Labour party received a mandate and the trust of the people last year, so we must get on with the job of getting our country back on track, and this Budget helps us do that.

Communities like mine in the industrial heartlands believe that hard work should always pay off, that people should contribute their fair share, that nobody should walk by on the other side, as Holy Scripture tells us, and that everyone in our United Kingdom should be able to live with dignity and opportunity and to get by and get on. Nobody in a country like ours, rich in people, ambition and potential, should ever be forced to choose between heating and eating. Nobody should be left living on social security when they can and should, if able, be at work, benefiting from the dignity and power that work provides.

I am grateful for the announcement on the BCSSS. That change is something that I have campaigned hard for, alongside colleagues such as my hon. Friend the Member for Easington (Grahame Morris), and my Staffordshire colleagues and neighbours, my hon. Friends the Members for Stoke-on-Trent North (David Williams), for Cannock Chase (Josh Newbury), for Burton and Uttoxeter (Jacob Collier) and for Lichfield (Dave Robertson)—and yes, my hon. Friend the Member for Dunfermline and Dollar (Graeme Downie), and many others. Men and women from Newcastle-under-Lyme who worked down the pits in our coal industry, fuelled our economy and kept the lights on, will now finally get the justice that they deserve. They will get the money that they are owed, and it cannot come fast enough.

In our United Kingdom, no child should grow up in poverty. That is why I welcome the decision to tackle real injustice and inequality, and lift 1,770 children out of poverty in Newcastle-under-Lyme. I am glad that two local schools back home—the Meadows school and Langdale primary school—have already received funding for breakfast clubs. I look forward to more local schools benefiting, so that no child goes to school hungry.

Newcastle-under-Lyme is home to many wonderful family farms and the farmers and families who live on them—people who tend to our land, feed us and keep our country going. I have raised their concerns, which I share, about the proposed changes to APR for farmers. I welcome the sensible concession in the Budget that will allow for a clearer and smoother transfer of reliefs between married couples and civil partners, but I urge colleagues on the Front Bench to consider the threshold. Going for the baddies who land bank is the right thing to do, because those who should pay must be made to pay, but we must not allow an unintended impact on small family farms.

[Graeme Downie]

I thank my hon. Friend for raising the issue of family farms; I have a number of them in my constituency. Does he agree that it is important to strike a balance in his part of the country, as well as in the devolved Administrations, and to put the tax burden in the correct place, while protecting small family farms?

[Adam Jogee]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend, who gives voice to the fact that we are one United Kingdom, and the same approach must be taken in Scotland as in the centre of our collective universe, Newcastle-under-Lyme. It is important to note that the challenges facing our farming industry did not start last July—we all know that—but this Government now have the chance to give our farmers the support that, I am afraid, the previous Conservative Government failed to.

It is easy to be gloomy about the state of the world, but there is always hope. This weekend marks the first anniversary since the cowboy operators at Walley’s quarry landfill site were closed down; 147 days into my time as our MP, we finally secured justice for the people in my community who were forced to live with the disgusting and disgraceful situation at Walley’s. That is a sign that things can only get better, and I pay tribute to all the campaigners who worked so hard with me over my first 147 days as MP.

With this Budget, we are fixing the roof—and while the sun may not be shining, it certainly is not raining outside. We will see more children eating properly and not going to school hungry; more parents able to work without worrying about childcare; and more former miners finally getting justice and the money that they are rightfully owed. We will see prescription charges and rail fares frozen; more pensioners able to afford to heat their homes and buy Christmas presents for their grandchildren; and the disgusting rape clause gone. We will see more people able to afford their energy bills, which will be cut by £150, and more young people will be supported into life-changing education and employment opportunities. We will see support for farmers, but there is much more to do on that. I hope that the Minister has heard that, for the third time this speech.

There is more support for universities and colleges, such as Keele University and Newcastle College in my constituency. They will receive the support that they need to continue providing a world-class British education. We will see more doctors, nurses and NHS staff getting the credit and support that they richly deserve. I declare an interest, as my wife is a nurse—an excellent one, as are all her colleagues.

The Budget will not change the country overnight. It will not solve every issue immediately, but it sets us on a path to a fairer, better and more inclusive United Kingdom. I will always shout loudly when we show the difference that a Labour Government can make. I will speak truth to power when we need to do things better, and I will always ensure that the people of Newcastle-under-Lyme are heard loudly and proudly in this place. We have much to do, so let’s get on with it.

Young People not in Education, Employment or Training

Adam Jogee Excerpts

Wednesday 26th November 2025 Westminster Hall

[Adam Jogee (Newcastle-under-Lyme) (Lab)]

Thank you, Mr Dowd, for calling me to speak—and for saving the best until last. I am also grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Amber Valley (Linsey Farnsworth) for securing this important debate. Ensuring that young people in Newcastle-under-Lyme who are not in education, employment or training receive the right support is vital, not only to the lives of those young people themselves but to their families and our whole community.

When faced with the fact that over one in 10 young people are missing out on education and employment opportunities, we must stop blaming individuals or young people as a group and start considering why they are being set up to fail. I say that because I do not believe that 12.7% of all young people in our United Kingdom do not want to work or contribute, or to live without the ambition of having a career that fulfils them. The vast majority of young people, certainly in Newcastle-under-Lyme, want all those things.

I welcome the Milburn inquiry, which should give us the insights that we need to help get our young people into education, training and work. I pay tribute to Keele University and Newcastle College for all the work they do to support our young people. To return the compliment, I also pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent Central (Gareth Snell), my constituency neighbour, for all his work on this issue. I pay tribute to YMCA North Staffordshire, based in his constituency; its jobcentre and work coaches, co-located on campus, support young people in both my constituency and Stoke-on-Trent Central. I also acknowledge the role of my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent North (David Williams), who worked at YMCA North Staffordshire for many years.

[Leigh Ingham (Stafford) (Lab)]

I thank my hon. Friend and constituency neighbour for giving way on that point. He is absolutely right to speak about the importance of skills. I point to the Newcastle and Stafford Colleges Group, because our constituencies share a college. Does he agree with me that colleges such as NSCG, which are already delivering the courses that our labour market needs, must sit at the heart of the Government’s plan to reduce youth inactivity?

[Adam Jogee]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend and constituency neighbour for her intervention. She is absolutely correct to talk about the importance of not just our local college but of colleges generally in ensuring that we get this matter right for our young people up and down the country.

For young people affected by the issues we are discussing this afternoon, this debate is about hope, dignity and fulfilling their potential. For too long, far too many young people have been left behind. Now, this Labour Government have begun to respond with bold and targeted initiatives. But we must go further, especially in former industrial heartlands such as Newcastle-under-Lyme and the rest of Staffordshire, to ensure that no young person is written off.

I think my hon. Friend the Minister has promised to come and visit us in Staffordshire and I look forward to him doing so before too long. Today, however, I urge him to build on the progress already made by listening to communities such as mine, investing in tailored local support and using the Milburn review as a catalyst for real and meaningful change. By doing so, we will help to transform the lives of millions of young people up and down our United Kingdom, and build a better, more prosperous and inclusive country.

Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill

Adam Jogee Excerpts

Committee of the whole House & 3rd reading
Wednesday 9th July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Graeme Downie]

I very much thank the Minister for his intervention, which I think will provide extensive reassurance to those with Parkinson’s and other conditions. I will keep a watching brief on this measure as it progresses, and I am aware that Parkinson’s UK has today received its own legal advice, which indicates that the application of the measure might not be quite as clear as the Minister intends.

My other concern is about the perhaps undue burden that the measure places on the guidance, as well as the perhaps unfair position in which it puts an assessor, which could lead to an inconsistent application of the guidance.

[Adam Jogee (Newcastle-under-Lyme) (Lab)]

My hon. Friend will know, as do many Members, that my father-in-law died from Parkinson’s two and a half weeks ago, so this is a personal issue for both me and my family, and for many constituents who have written to me in recent weeks regarding their concerns about the lack of clarity. I add my support to my hon. Friend’s calls for clarity. Although I am grateful for the Minister’s intervention, we must ensure that we get this right, and get it right soon.

[Graeme Downie]

I know that the thoughts of Members across the House are with my hon. Friend and his family. I know what a challenging time it has been, and the fact that he has been able to carry on his duties extensively, representing his constituents, is to his credit and something that his family will be incredibly proud of.

As I said, the Minister has been generous with his time, and I do not believe for a moment that his intention is to restrict access to the severe conditions criteria for those with Parkinson’s. Those words from the Dispatch Box are incredibly helpful, but I ask him to ensure that he keeps a close eye on the situation.

PIP Changes: Impact on Carer’s Allowance

Adam Jogee Excerpts

Thursday 27th March 2025 Commons Chamber

[Sir Stephen Timms]

My hon. Friend is right to highlight the challenge of high levels of child poverty. I certainly can give him the reassurance that he seeks. I think the employment impact will be very positive on future child poverty, but the work of the child poverty taskforce will be as well. And, yes, that will be fully scored once the policy has been announced.

[Adam Jogee (Newcastle-under-Lyme) (Lab)]

I am grateful to the Government for focusing on getting people back into work because it gives them pride, power and ownership, but, as ever, it is not what you do, but how you do it. I say to the Minister that, rather than allay my concerns, the impact assessment has actually given me several more. I ask him to find time to meet me so that we can go through two things: the concerns that my constituents in Newcastle-under-Lyme have, and those that I have, too.

[Sir Stephen Timms]

I will gladly meet my hon. Friend and look forward to the meeting.

Child Maintenance Service

Adam Jogee Excerpts

Wednesday 26th February 2025 Commons Chamber

[Andrew Western]

I absolutely understand the point that the hon. Gentleman is making. With specific reference to named caseworkers, initially for victims of domestic abuse, I will have something further to say that I think he and all hon. Members will welcome, but I take his more general point.

If I may make some progress, turning to direct pay and domestic violence, financial abuse and so on, the proposals also sought views on collection fees and explored how victims and survivors of domestic abuse can be better supported. That is so important given the issues raised by the hon. Member for St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire and the case he cited of his constituent. Overall, work is ongoing to establish the steps needed to really improve the service, taking account of the views of parents. Those will be set out in the response to the consultation. I appreciate that he would like that to be as soon as possible; I will take that away.

To drill down on the issue of domestic abuse, the scale of violence against women and girls in our country is intolerable, and the Government will treat it as the national emergency that it is. Our manifesto included the mission to halve violence against women and girls in a decade—we were right to do so—and I and all Ministers are focused on making that a reality. If I may, I will therefore say a little about the support that should be available. If the hon. Member wants to share specific details of the case that he referenced with me, I will take that away. The support that should be available is extensive and runs contrary to what clearly happened in the case that he outlined.

We have overseen progress in providing support, with the continued roll-out of an operational team to deliver targeted support to parents subjected to the most challenging and complex domestic abuse. The team provide a tailored and discrete service to customers, which is incredibly important, giving regular progress updates. They can and do assign a named caseworker to prevent customers having to re-tell their story at each interaction. As the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) was saying, that can be incredibly stressful for parents using the service. Caseworkers are trained to identify and refer appropriate cases within the collect and pay service to that team. More generally, the CMS consulted on a diverse range of stakeholders to review its domestic abuse training for all frontline CMS staff to ensure that caseworkers understand, recognise and respond appropriately to customers who are experiencing domestic abuse or who are survivors of domestic abuse.

[Adam Jogee (Newcastle-under-Lyme) (Lab)]

I am very grateful to the Minister for giving way and I congratulate the hon. Member for St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire (Ian Sollom) on securing the debate. Like him, I have had a number of people come to me with stories of being ignored, let down or left behind by this agency. The sooner the failures of the agency are dealt with, the better for people not just in my constituency but up and down the United Kingdom. With that in mind, will the Minister find time to meet me to talk about the specific examples faced by my constituents? He touched on the point that this is an equality and safety issue. That is very much the situation in my patch for the people who come to my surgery. I would therefore be grateful, in the spirit he has approached the debate so far, if he could find time to meet me to discuss those points.

[Andrew Western]

I should have known that my hon. Friend would be in his place. He is keen on an Adjournment debate—we all know that. This is where I out myself as an imposter, because I am not the Minister with direct responsibility for the CMS, but I am very happy to put him in touch with the Department’s Minister in the House of Lords, who I am sure would be happy to have a conversation with him.

Turning back to the hon. Member for St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire and the points he made about calculation reforms, a broad review of the child maintenance calculation is being conducted. It is examining the scope for change and improvements, while maintaining the simplicity of the calculation. It can be very frustrating for paying parents who are waiting to have income reassessed, and for receiving parents when they are aware that a paying parent has received a substantial income increase. The calculation at present generally looks at income from the previous tax year and it is only when somebody’s income has changed with a divergence of more than 25% in either direction that it triggers an in-year evaluation. We are looking at ways we can change that, while recognising that we need to encourage payment compliance and more sustainable arrangements in all that we do.

The hon. Gentleman will be pleased to hear that the £20 application fee he referred to was removed in 2024, getting rid of a financial barrier to parents wishing to access the CMS. Proposals to include more types of taxable income held by HMRC within the standard maintenance calculation are being considered, alongside the review of the child maintenance calculation.

Turning to enforcement—my hon. Friend the Member for Congleton (Mrs Russell) also raised this issue—I can understand that for some receiving parents there are frustrations with how quickly the CMS secures payment from non-compliant paying parents. We have seen significant improvements to speed up action when payments first break down and to target enforcement action more effectively. We are changing the process at present to make direct deductions something we can do more swiftly where issues emerge. We have a range of strong enforcement powers that can be used against those who consistently refuse to meet their obligations to provide financial support to their children, and in the past year to September 2024 the CMS has collected £16.8 million from paying parents with civil enforcement actions in process. Collections through civil enforcement have followed a general upwards trajectory in recent years. For comparison, the equivalent figure in 2021 was £10.3 million.

I would like to finish by talking about the improvements to customer experience and digital services that the Department has been introducing. Since 2020, as part of the DWP service modernisation programme, the Department has transformed the ways in which customers can interact with the CMS, providing customers with the choice to make contact with digital routes and reducing the time taken to action change of circumstances. We continue to develop our digital offer, evaluating through user research and customer feedback, but we are committed to retaining a non-digital telephony service to ensure that no customer is excluded.

As I said earlier, I recognise that the hon. Gentleman is rightly impatient, as are other Members, to see change and to see the details of our reform package following the conclusion of the recent consultation, but getting the right solution will take a little time. It is right that the changes that we make are properly considered and robust so that the CMS can continue to play not just an important role but an ever-more effective and increasingly important role in supporting children and tackling child poverty.

Question put and agreed to.

Oral Answers to Questions

Adam Jogee Excerpts

Monday 16th December 2024 Commons Chamber

[The Minister for Employment (Alison McGovern)]

We still have more than 800,000 vacancies in this economy, and businesses are crying out for staff. That is why, through our reform programme, we are determined that the DWP will serve business better. I look forward to working with Members across the House to make that happen.

[Adam Jogee (Newcastle-under-Lyme) (Lab)]

T9. On Friday, my constituents Andrew Price and Matthew Whitmore came to my surgery to share their anger and distress at their pensions being stolen by a so-called investment company. They are thousands of pounds out of pocket. Will the Pensions Minister say what protections are in place against this, and will she meet me to discuss how my constituents can get their money back?

International Investment Summit

Adam Jogee Excerpts

Thursday 17th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[The Minister for Industry (Sarah Jones)]

The hon. Member for Grantham and Bourne (Gareth Davies) was doing so well. [Laughter.] He was doing so well in the first half of his comments and then he returned to the same old tired lines that got the Conservatives defeated in the general election.

I am so pleased to be closing this debate today, which in a parliamentary context draws to a close a hugely positive and successful week for the United Kingdom. I thank all hon. Members who contributed to the debate. I am disappointed that only one Conservative MP managed to make it here to speak in the Chamber and that nobody from the SNP managed to come. I am surprised that they are not here to welcome the week we have had so far.

The Prime Minister made this Government’s guiding mission clear from day one: we will go for growth at every opportunity, and we are doing that in spades. A week ago today, we launched our landmark Employment Rights Bill to create more secure employment and a happier and more productive workforce. On Monday, we launched our industrial strategy Green Paper, something business has been crying out for, which lays strong foundations for 10 years of growth and investment in our most important sectors. Also on Monday, the Prime Minister hosted some of the world’s biggest investors to show them why, under this growth-driven Government, UK plc will be a blue-chip company that they should invest in. As was mentioned, Elton John was there to speak. I should tell the House that he took no fee—he took no fee. He wanted to come and celebrate with us the commitment of companies from across the world coming to the UK.

Before I talk a bit more about the investment summit, I want to pay tribute to the Members who spoke today, in particular those who made their maiden speeches. As someone who wells up quite often and quite easily, this was a difficult debate for me. There were many moments when we looked up at the Gallery and saw parents and other family members wiping tears from their eyes. It was lovely to see.

I loved the motto of my hon. Friend the Member for Ossett and Denby Dale (Jade Botterill). Working hard and talking straight is a great motto for this new Government.

My hon. Friend the Member for Congleton (Mrs Russell) gave us a wonderful tale of her constituency and its people, including a slightly odd story, I have a say, about Beartown. [Laughter.] But there we go; that’s Congleton!

My hon. Friend the Member for Buckingham and Bletchley (Callum Anderson) gave a great speech, telling us about the importance of Bletchley Park and its influence not just in world war two but on the technical age we are in today, and talking about the advanced manufacturing in his constituency.

My hon. Friend the Member for Banbury (Sean Woodcock) was a Labour Student. I do not know how many members of the Cabinet were Labour Students —I was not—but it is quite a good stomping ground for future Cabinet members. He paid wonderful homage to the people and the place of Banbury.

Diolch to my hon. Friend the Member for Bangor Aberconwy (Claire Hughes) for an incredibly beautiful speech about her constituency, its proud industrial history, and the ingenuity and innovation that it still shows.

My hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth West (Jessica Toale) spoke without notes and made a really impressive speech. The passion with which she wants to reignite pride in her town and in our country was very well understood.

My hon. Friend the Member for Earley and Woodley (Yuan Yang), who has incredible experience, not least working at the Financial Times, talked about the life sciences in her constituency and how important they are. I look forward to meeting her next week to talk about that more.

My hon. Friend the Member for Vale of Glamorgan (Kanishka Narayan) also spoke without notes. He spoke lovely words about his predecessor, told a lovely story about the history and beauty of his constituency, and paid tribute to his constituents. Many of us have spent many happy days in Barry island—I certainly have.

At the investment summit, £63 billion of investment was announced, more than double what was raised at the Opposition’s summit last year. Iberdrola doubled its wind energy investment in the UK from £12 billion to £24 billion; there was £10.5 billion from Orsted and Greenvolt, and more than £200 million from SeAH Wind. There was £8 billion for carbon capture, which will create 4,000 jobs and support 50,000; £2 billion from Octopus Energy and £1.3 billion from Macquarie for solar projects; £6 billion of new money for data centres, on top of the £10 billion recently committed by Blackstone and £8 billion from Amazon; £1 billion for DP World’s London Gateway, and £200 million for a new freight ferry terminal at the Port of Immingham; more than £300 million for Holtec’s advanced engineering plant in South Yorkshire; £500 million from BMW Group for battery energy storage; more than £2 billion for rail and air projects from Network Rail and Manchester Airports Group respectively; and £400 million for life sciences and healthcare innovation. Moreover, our fantastic Imperial College London will put £150 million into a new R&D campus.

On top of these transformational investments, we have proved our credentials as a pro-business Government. Thanks to the Chancellor’s announcement that the UK Infrastructure Bank would be turned into the national wealth fund, we are catalysing tens of billions of pounds of private investment into the UK’s clean energy and growth industries, including green hydrogen, carbon capture and gigafactories. We are establishing an industrial strategy advisory council, led by Clare Barclay, to help deliver the pro-business environment on which our industrial strategy will depend. We are creating a British growth fund that will fuse pension investments and venture capital markets. We are expanding the Office for Investment to ensure that international investors receive the information and guidance they need to invest in Britain, and we are cutting red tape to remove redundant reporting requirements, while making it easier for companies to re-domicile themselves in the UK—and all this within 100 days of our taking office.

From more rights for a more productive workforce, to a pioneering industrial strategy for our sectors of the future, to scores of investments worth tens of billions of pounds, this Government are delivering change. The last Government’s scattergun approach to growth left our country starved of investment, economically divided and struggling to maintain our competitive edge in the global economy. Growth was anaemic; wage growth flatlined on their watch. Productivity was down; the gap between France, Germany and the United States doubled since 2008. We saw the lowest investment share as a percentage of GDP in the G7, and we ranked 27th out of 30 in the OECD last year. That is on top of the state of the public finances that the Conservatives left us, with public services starved of investment, millions of days of work lost to strike action, and rocketing debt.

However, in just 100 days this Government have already laid down the blueprint for 10 years of growth through our biggest and most innovative sectors; secured £63 billion in new investments that underline our potential as a world leader in renewable energy, life sciences, technology and clean growth; and brought forward a raft of reforms to create a happier, more secure and more productive workforce.

[Adam Jogee (Newcastle-under-Lyme) (Lab)]

The Minister is making a very interesting and important speech, and she has set out exactly what this Government are doing to benefit my constituents. Could she find some time to meet me so that we can discuss how together we can ensure that the people of Newcastle-under-Lyme and Staffordshire more widely can benefit from the investment secured at the summit this week?

[Sarah Jones]

I am always happy to meet and to talk about what more we can do in our next 100 days, and indeed—we hope—our next five to 10 years in government.

Some Conservative Members have questioned whether some of these investments were teed up under the last Government. They know perfectly well that business confidence can rapidly change investment decisions. All the announcements included are of new, firm commitments being made by companies to invest in the UK either when final investment decisions have been taken or when announcements have been accelerated or unlocked because of actions taken and support provided by this Government.

I am sure that Conservative Members will have seen the letter, published in The Times at the start of the week, from five of the world’s biggest banks, joined by private equity firms, insurers and tech giants, saying that it was

“time to invest in Britain”,

and that Britain’s “greater stability” had increased its attractiveness to investment, which was of course a reference to Labour’s decisions when we took office. They concluded:

“We are optimistic about the future of the economy, and believe it is time to invest in Britain.”

The fact that scores of investors attended our summit on Monday, with tens of billions of pounds being firmly committed to new projects, shows that under this Labour Government, business and investors have a great deal of confidence in our growth mission.