Water Safety Education

Claire Hughes Excerpts

Thursday 19th June 2025 Commons Chamber

[Claire Hughes (Bangor Aberconwy) (Lab)]

I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Southampton Itchen (Darren Paffey) for securing this important debate. It is a timely debate, particularly with the hot weather we are seeing and the number of people who will be going into the water this weekend. I am proud to represent the beautiful constituency of Bangor Aberconwy. It is coastal, scenic, and home to some of the most stunning beaches, lakes, rivers and waterfalls. These areas are rightly cherished by residents and visitors alike, but sadly people in my constituency know all too well the pain and devastation that is caused when something goes wrong.

I do not think there will be a single person across my whole constituency whose life has not been touched at some point by a tragedy involving drowning. Those accidents and fatalities are obviously devastating, not just for the individuals, families and communities affected, but for the emergency services and organisations—including the coastguard, RNLI and mountain rescue teams—that are tasked with responding. So much of that painstaking work of search and rescue is carried out by volunteers who give up their time for free, and I want to put on record my thanks to them as well as my deepest condolences to everyone who has been affected by these incidents. This is not just physical work; it is emotional work, never more so than when the incidents involve young people and children.

One specific issue that has been brought to my attention is that of destinations being promoted on social media platforms, such as TikTok and Instagram. The emergency services are responding to big spikes in visitors coming to our area to see these secluded lakes, amazing beaches and tucked-away viewpoints, which are being promoted as hidden gems—but people are unaware of the dangers. I understand that the Education Minister responding today is not necessarily involved directly in online safety, but it would be wonderful if the Government could address that issue.

Perhaps the Minister could discuss with colleagues how social media platforms could be encouraged to act. Other Members have talked about the potential for social media campaigns, which can be influential, especially when we are talking to young people. I would like the social media platforms to be more aware of their responsibilities in highlighting water safety education and the dangers, and perhaps to work with content creators.

We definitely want people to come and visit north Wales and to enjoy our beaches, lakes and rivers. I am in no way blaming anyone who ever calls for help—I have two teenage children, and they will be out enjoying the water this weekend, as will many others; I just want to make sure we have a cross-societal and cross-governmental approach to water safety education. If the Minister could raise that with colleagues within Government, I would be grateful, because we should all be paying attention to this issue online, as well as in the real world.

Social Mobility: Careers Education

Claire Hughes Excerpts

Thursday 19th June 2025 Westminster Hall

[Claire Hughes (Bangor Aberconwy) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Lewell. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Wrexham (Andrew Ranger) for securing this important debate. I associate myself with many of the comments made by other hon. Members.

Given the time limit, I will focus my remarks on the creative industries. The creative industries will be highlighted in the Government’s industrial strategy, which will be coming forward soon, and they have huge potential—particularly for my constituents in north Wales. We have a brand-new creative industries hub, which has been launched by Grŵp Llandrillo Menai, and new film studios on Ynys Môn. The new series of “Game of Thrones” is being filmed nearby. There are huge opportunities, but many children and young people do not know that those opportunities exist, as my hon. Friend the Member for Isle of Wight West (Mr Quigley) just said. If they do not know that these jobs exist, they will never be inspired to go for them.

Let me put this in context. I grew up in north Wales, but as an adult I went behind the scenes of Granada Studios in Manchester, and saw for the first time the variety of jobs there, such as storytellers or set designers—a huge number of jobs that I had never thought existed. I went behind the scenes of ITN News and saw the same thing. There was a group of children from Manchester there. I thought, “That’s fantastic,” but there are so many children growing up in rural areas, far away from cities, as my hon. Friend the Member for Wrexham said; if they do not have parents, peers or people around them working in these kinds of jobs, they will not know they exist. My hon. Friend made some good points about that.

I completely agree with my hon. Friend that we need far more ambition. I went to meet advisers at Llandudno jobcentre recently. They were talking about the youth guarantee, which we already have in Wales—that is fantastic—but they were saying that too many 16-year-olds arrive with no idea of what they want to do after they leave school, because they are leaving those decisions too late. We need to start talking to children and young people far earlier and inspiring them about the jobs of the future. Whether in the creative industries, advanced manufacturing or cyber-security, children and young people need to know that jobs and opportunities exist. That should be a shared ambition for us all in this place. We must do whatever we can to drive that agenda forward.

Oral Answers to Questions

Claire Hughes Excerpts

Monday 28th April 2025 Commons Chamber

[Claire Hughes (Bangor Aberconwy) (Lab)]

Welsh universities, including Bangor University, face very real challenges as a direct result of policies introduced by the last UK Government. Will the Minister update us on conversations that her Department is having with the Welsh Government around higher education in Wales?

[Janet Daby]

My hon. Friend is aware that education is devolved and that the Welsh Government are responsible for education policies in Wales, including those covering universities, but I assure her that the Department for Education engages with the devolved Government at ministerial and official levels on a range of areas covering education and students.

Free School Meals (Automatic Registration of Eligible Children) Bill

Claire Hughes Excerpts

2nd reading
Friday 14th March 2025 Commons Chamber

[Shaun Davies (Telford) (Lab)]

I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Crawley (Peter Lamb) for bringing forward this private Member’s Bill on a process that, as a former council leader, I saw as a bureaucratic, red-tape nightmare. Children eligible for free school meals were not accessing them simply because a form was not filled in. Even though local authorities, schools and communities knew exactly who those children were, bureaucracy was getting in the way. I was pleased to hear the Minister say at the Dispatch Box that he is working with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology to look at ways in which data sharing and passported benefit checks could be used to ensure that more children get food.

However, this must be looked at in the round. I heard from a constituent this week who has just taken their child out of a breakfast club because the cost of the club has gone up by £15 a week. Sadly, that school is not one of the 750 early adopters of breakfast clubs, but it will benefit from that policy initiative as it is rolled out. It is an excellent initiative and we should be proud of it. We should call on the Government to go harder, faster, in implementing the policy.

Some 900,000 more children in working households were living in poverty in 2023 than in 2010. That means that 1,350 children entered poverty every single week for the first 13 years the Conservatives were in power. In my area, Telford, absolute poverty rose from 14.9% to 18.4% between 2014 and 2023, and we know that a huge number of families who are not included in the poverty figures were also struggling to make ends meet.

Ultimately, we need an economy that is growing and getting people into work so that the poverty trap can be removed. Like the shadow Minister, I declare an interest: my wife is a primary school teacher in Telford. She tells me about the direct contrast between the children she teaches now and the cohort that she taught when she started 20 years ago. Children are coming in with major social issues, and those social issues have to be addressed as a whole.

The Government also need to consider the huge regional inequality in deprivation. Child poverty in some parts of the country went down under the last Conservative Government, but in my region it soared. We need to engage with councils and, where applicable, with combined authorities and mayors to ensure a systematic approach.

[Claire Hughes (Bangor Aberconwy) (Lab)]

My hon. Friend mentions working with regions. May I add a point about nations? In Wales, all primary school children have been eligible for free school meals since September last year. Does my hon. Friend agree that in designing the roll-out of free school meals in England, the UK Government could learn from the experience in Wales?

[Shaun Davies]

I absolutely agree. My county borders Wales, so I know Wales very well indeed. The Westminster Government should absolutely learn from the Welsh Labour Government’s approach to child poverty, and to inequality more generally. We should congratulate and acknowledge the work of Welsh Labour in that space.

I welcome the previous Government’s household support fund and its extension by this Government. As a council leader and as chair of the Local Government Association, I worked with Conservative Ministers on the fund. The approach and ideals were absolutely right, but the one-year duration means that the money is not being used to the best possible extent. That goes back to the point about the importance of a cross-ministerial taskforce looking at the issue in the round.

We have heard a lot this week, from the Prime Minister downwards, about the need for delivery, about urgent action and about the ability to make a difference and demonstrate change. As a Labour Government, we cannot be in a position where, in four or five years’ time, we point to bureaucracy and red tape as the reason why we have not made a huge impact on the lives of the poorest children in our country.