Oral Answers to Questions

Amy Callaghan Excerpts

Tuesday 5th March 2024 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call the SNP spokesperson.

[Amy Callaghan (East Dunbartonshire) (SNP)]

I have asked the Secretary of State a number of times how she intends to recruit and retain social care staff, particularly with the visa changes coming into effect next Monday, stopping those from overseas coming to fill skills gaps from bringing their spouse or dependants with them. I ask again: how does the Secretary of State intend to improve the recruitment and retention of staff in the social care sector while her colleagues effectively work to undermine her?

[Helen Whately]

We are grateful to international workers coming to support us in social care and improving supply, but we have to get the balance right between international recruitment and our domestic workforce. In England, we are reforming social care careers to make social care work a career for our homegrown workforce, and I encourage her to make sure the SNP does the same in Scotland.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Speaker]

I call the SNP spokesperson.

[Amy Callaghan (East Dunbartonshire) (SNP)]

Later this month I will be 10 years cancer free, having survived melanoma first as a teenager and again in my early 20s. Can the Secretary of State look me in the eye and guarantee that she is doing all she can to prevent others from getting the same diagnosis ?