Business of the House
Charlie Dewhirst Excerpts(3 days, 6 hours ago)
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Lucy Powell
My hon. Friend is a passionate and long-standing campaigner around those issues, and she has raised them with me many times. I thank her for all the work she does raising the issues around suicide and suicide prevention. It is often an uncomfortable and difficult issue to talk about, and she leads from the front in making sure that people feel that they can do so. I certainly join her in encouraging Members to participate.
Charlie Dewhirst (Bridlington and The Wolds) (Con)
Charlie Dodds from Driffield in my constituency is just one year old and suffers from a rare mitochondrial condition. Will the Leader of the House join me in paying tribute to his parents, Harrison and Ellie, for the £35,000 they have raised for research into this condition? Will she commit Government time to a debate on NHS funding for rare conditions?
Lucy Powell
I certainly join the hon. Member in congratulating and thanking the parents of Charlie—Harrison and Ellie—for their phenomenal fundraising efforts. Rare diseases such as the one he describes are so difficult to tackle. That is why we need focus on them and extra funding and research, and I will ensure that he gets a full response.
Business of the House
Charlie Dewhirst Excerpts(4 months ago)
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Charlie Dewhirst (Bridlington and The Wolds) (Con)
At the London marathon last weekend, my constituent Angus Leckonby from Octon near Driffield broke not one but two world records: he became the youngest and fastest man with an intellectual disability to complete a marathon—and he raised £11,000 for the Special Olympics in doing so. Will the Leader of the House join me in congratulating Angus on his incredible achievement, and ensure a debate in Government time on the future of disability sport in the United Kingdom?
Lucy Powell
I am delighted to join the hon. Member in congratulating Angus on breaking two records—what a remarkable achievement—and on raising so much money for disability sports, and raising awareness, too. There was a reception in Parliament about this last week. The Government are committed to ensuring that sport is accessible to all, and that we have flourishing and fantastic disability and Paralympic sports in this country.