Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Barry Sheerman and Caroline Nokes

Monday 21st January 2019 Commons Chamber

[Caroline Nokes]

Picking up on the final part of my right hon. Friend’s question, last summer we launched the employer toolkit to enable employers best to communicate to their employees the settled status scheme. She is right to point out the concerns that many may have about the event of no deal. I would like to reassure her that across Government we are working incredibly hard to avoid a no-deal outcome. However, the Department for Exiting the European Union was very clear about the protections afforded to EU citizens in the event of no deal, and we believe that our offer to them is generous. Deal or no deal, the scheme will open publicly at the end of March, and it is crucial that as many citizens as possible apply.

[Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op)]

The Minister knows that this is an increasingly complex area. I have had many letters from constituents concerned that they will be impacted by the immigration health surcharge. Who is going to have to pay this, and is it going to be increased along the lines foreshadowed in the press?

[Caroline Nokes]

The hon. Gentleman will know that we did increase the immigration health surcharge. That was an important manifesto commitment that the Conservative party made to make sure that those who are using NHS services are also contributing to the NHS. The settled status scheme has deliberately been designed to be simple, not complicated. It is really important that EU citizens only have to prove their identity, prove their residence, and confirm that they do not have criminality. In the second phase of private beta testing, it has been very plain that the vast majority of people going through the scheme—in the region of 80% or so, I believe—have been able to confirm their residence of five years without any reference to additional information other than their records with Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs or their DWP records.

Windrush

Debate between Barry Sheerman and Caroline Nokes

Tuesday 4th September 2018 Commons Chamber

[Caroline Nokes]

When we first became aware of the scale of the Windrush problem, I chaired a ministerial meeting across Government, and the Minister from the Department for Work and Pensions was one of the most proactive Ministers there and determined to make sure that the DWP regarded somebody as eligible if they had an appointment with the Windrush taskforce. That important work continues at an official level. The hon. Lady has raised an individual case. She will have heard me say earlier that the consultation on the compensation scheme closes on 11 October, and we will bring forward a scheme as soon as possible after that, but we are also working with third sector organisations to make sure that advice and support is available for people.

[Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op)]

The Minister is a fortunate woman—my right hon. Friend the Member for Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford (Yvette Cooper) and her excellent Select Committee have done all the work for her. She should get on with implementing their recommendations; it will make her life a lot easier. Those affected in my community in Huddersfield, mainly from Grenada and other parts of the Caribbean, are mostly elderly. This is an all-party, all-Government muck-up, and we are not talking about many people, so let us be generous with the compensation and in giving free access to new passports and citizenship rights. That is what they deserve.

[Caroline Nokes]

I point out to the hon. Gentleman that we have been generous in granting citizenship rights and have been determined, as I said a few moments ago, to find reasons to grant, not reasons to refuse. As I have said, the public consultation on the compensation scheme closes on 11 October, but I urge him to encourage all his constituents who may have been affected to take part in that consultation so that their voices can be heard.

Immigration: Pausing the Hostile Environment

Debate between Barry Sheerman and Caroline Nokes

Thursday 12th July 2018 Commons Chamber

[Caroline Nokes]

The Government are setting up a compensation scheme and it is absolutely right that we consult on that before so doing. Martin Forde’s call for evidence received a great deal of information—in excess of 600 pieces of evidence. As I have already said, the DWP is the lead Department for making sure that those who were entitled to benefits and may have been denied them have them not only reinstated immediately but backdated.

[Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op)]

The Minister might not know that we have a substantial Caribbean community in Huddersfield, mainly from Grenada and Jamaica—indeed, some of my Opposition colleagues have links to the community. Two people from that community came to see me in the House of Commons yesterday. They are very concerned, and not only about the insecurity that many of the older generation feel. A lot of fly-by-night lawyers and so-called experts are able to charge a lot of money to intercede, because many of these people are frightened of coming to their Member of Parliament in case information goes back and they are picked out and picked on. Will the Minister assure my constituents and the people up and down the country who are worried about this issue that the best place to go to sort it out is to their Member of Parliament?

[Caroline Nokes]

The hon. Gentleman is always a forceful advocate for his own constituents. Throughout the Windrush crisis, I have seen Members of Parliament from all parties interceding and acting with great speed and compassion. It is essential that we convey a message of reassurance, which is what I sought to do when I attended a drop-in surgery with members of the Caribbean community in Southampton. Individual Members of Parliament are very well placed to do that, but it is absolutely the case that individuals can contact the taskforce without any need to approach immigration lawyers or advisers. I strongly recommend that they do that rather than approach a lawyer.

Backbench business

Debate between Barry Sheerman and Caroline Nokes

Thursday 14th February 2013 Westminster Hall

[Caroline Nokes]

My hon. Friend raises an important point. It is thought—I emphasise “thought”—that about 11% of sufferers are male, but interestingly, they are among the fastest-increasing groups.

The figures that I have given do not take into account the families of those who suffer, meaning that the social footprint of eating disorders is breathtaking. Be assured—to refer back to my hon. Friend’s point—that sufferers are by no means all teenage girls. That is one of several myths about eating disorders that need to be exposed.

[Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op)]

A constituent of mine, Cherie Hinchliffe, wrote to me saying how pleased she was that the hon. Lady was holding this debate. She wanted to say that eating disorders destroy families, and that GPs do not know enough about them. Doctors, dentists, local hospitals and schools do not know enough about them; the media know about them but report them in a terrible way. Does the hon. Lady agree?

[Caroline Nokes]

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely bang on. Many parents of sufferers have commented to me that they feel their GPs do not understand enough, and nor do schools and colleges. I will cover all the points that he raised later.

The fastest increase in eating disorders has been among young men. As well as facing the mental health problems typically associated with female sufferers, they are coming under more pressure than ever before to conform to a stereotype of the body beautiful. Imagery in magazines and advertising plays a significant role.

Of particular concern is the prevalence of eating disorders among gay and bisexual men, who are twice as likely to be sufferers as heterosexual men. I understand that eating disorders in gay and bisexual men are even more linked to concerns about body image than in heterosexual male or female sufferers. Although males account for only 11% of the total of those with eating disorders, the percentage is increasing, and we should be conscious of that. In the 10 years up to 2011, the number of hospital admissions for men suffering from an eating disorder rose by 67%. Furthermore, there is evidence that undiagnosed disorders are even more commonplace among men than among women. The scale of the hidden problem could be immense.

It is not only the young who are afflicted, although there is certainly a trend towards eating disorders manifesting at an earlier age than ever before. I was particularly moved by my contact with a woman whose daughter started suffering from anorexia nervosa at 10 years old but was not diagnosed for years, as her GP and other medical practitioners thought that she was too young to have the condition. Eating disorders are also being diagnosed much later; some sufferers present in their 50s and 60s, and there is evidence that increasing numbers of sufferers manage their conditions not just over the average of seven years, but for decades. An increasing number of people in their 30s and 40s have lived with their eating disorder for more than 20 years.

“Eating disorder” is a term used to describe a wide variety of conditions, some well known and others far less so. Obviously, the best known and most recognisable is anorexia nervosa, in which a sufferer intentionally deprives themselves of food and has a body weight at least 15% below the recommended minimum. People with anorexia have an extremely distorted view of their own body and a fear of gaining weight. However, anorexia is but one condition among several. Eating disorders also include bulimia, which in many cases is harder to detect, as sufferers may maintain a normal-looking weight. However, it is achieved through bingeing, purging and fasting, and like anorexia it can cause long-term damage.

From my research for this debate and my conversations with many sufferers of eating disorders, I have learned of many other conditions: binge eating; compulsive overeating; food neophobia, an extreme fear of trying new food; and compulsive over-exercising. A year ago, I met a young man who ran up to 30 miles every day. There is also selective eating: sufferers eat only an extremely limited range of foods.

Bulimia is a disorder linked closely to low self-esteem, emotional problems and stress. The sufferer may think constantly about calories, dieting and ways of getting rid of food that they have eaten. It is actually more common than anorexia, but it is more hidden, because people with bulimia usually maintain an average or just-above-average weight. Bulimia can go unnoticed for a long time while sufferers feel incredibly ill and unhappy.

Those with bulimia become involved in a cycle of eating large amounts of food and making themselves sick, cutting down or starving for a few days, or trying to find other ways to make up for the food that they have eaten. It can cause them to become so hungry that they eat large amounts of food because their bodies crave nourishment. Some people do not vomit, but instead take laxatives, which are especially dangerous. Just because bulimia does not cause the extreme weight loss of anorexia does not mean that it is less serious. Sufferers need help and support, as the side effects and consequences can be serious. I appreciate that I have given a very rapid description of some eating disorders, for which I apologise, but I am sure that other Members will wish to discuss some of them in more detail.

I do not wish to generalise, and I apologise if my next remark causes any offence, but in many instances, due to the extreme control with which sufferers approach their food consumption, eating disorders are a type of addiction. However, unlike addictions to alcohol or narcotics, a fixation with how one controls one’s calorie intake must be faced and addressed every day of a sufferer or recovered sufferer’s life. They cannot simply remove food from their lives in the way that others might develop strategies to avoid alcohol, for instance. They must eat to live. For sufferers, by necessity, that battle will occur three times a day for the rest of their lives.

Eating disorders are not trivial conditions. Anorexia kills about 20% of sufferers, and 40% never recover. It is the single biggest killer of all mental illnesses. It has been dismissed for too long as a problem of teenage girls who just need to get a grip on their eating patterns. That is far from the truth. Eating disorders are serious, potentially fatal, mental illnesses, which, even long after a sufferer has recovered, can have long-term implications for their health. The impact on fertility is well known, but there are many other serious implications. Abnormal heart rhythms are commonplace, even in teenagers with eating disorders. In fact, heart damage is the most common cause of hospitalisation for those suffering from eating disorders, but the kidneys and liver are also badly affected, and reduction in bone density leading to osteoporosis can happen in sufferers, even before there has been any physical manifestation of a problem.

As chair of the all-party group on body image, I have been privileged to work with a number of leading charities supporting those suffering from eating disorders and their families. I pay particular tribute, during eating disorders awareness week, to Beat; many of its members are in the Public Gallery. I also pay tribute to Anorexia and Bulimia Care and the Succeed Foundation. I vividly recall hearing the moving stories of ABC members at a reception hosted by my hon. Friend the Member for Wells a few months ago. These charities all do fantastic work with sufferers and their families, and to ensure that the wider community—Members of Parliament, the medical profession, schools, colleges and universities—have a better understanding of the signs of eating disorders, and how to help those in the grip of such a disorder and those who may be at risk. They also work with the media to ensure that they understand the importance of the portrayal of responsible images on advertising and in editorials.