Local Museums

Emma Lewell Excerpts

Thursday 5th March 2026 Westminster Hall

[Several hon. Members rose—]

[Emma Lewell (in the Chair)]

With a time limit of four minutes on Back-Bench speeches, I call Dr Kieran Mullan.

Oral Answers to Questions

Emma Lewell Excerpts

Thursday 15th January 2026 Commons Chamber

[Anna Dixon (Shipley) (Lab)]

6. What assessment the Church of England has made of the potential impact of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill on end-of-life ministry.

[Emma Lewell (South Shields) (Lab)]

10. What assessment the Church of England has made of the potential impact of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill on end-of-life ministry.

[Marsha De Cordova]

The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill is still being debated in the other place. What it will look like is yet to be decided. The Church anticipates that there will be considerable impact on the end-of-life ministry, pastoral support and bereavement counselling offered by its chaplains and clergy.

[Marsha De Cordova]

The Church supports the need for an institutional and individual opt-out, as many hospices have highlighted their concerns about the Bill’s impact on their operations if there continues to be no option to opt out. It is crucial that hospices can offer their vital services without being compelled to offer assisted dying if they hold a conscientious objection.

[Emma Lewell]

Where assisted dying is being legalised with opt-outs for faith-based hospices, it is now being challenged in the courts. Opt-outs and faith-based conscientious objections are unworkable and will be subject to constant legal wrangling. That is just one of the very many serious concerns associated with assisted dying. Does my hon. Friend agree that the assisted dying Bill is dangerous and the other place is right to give it thorough scrutiny?

[Marsha De Cordova]

It is right that all legislation is scrutinised, and the assisted dying Bill is no different. I commend the bishops in the other place for their diligent work on the Bill right now. My hon. Friend will probably not be surprised to learn that she and I share the same view on the Bill. In my view, we need to focus on end-of-life palliative care; we should be giving people assistance to live.

Gambling Harms: Children and Young People

Emma Lewell Excerpts

Thursday 15th January 2026 Westminster Hall

[Several hon. Members rose—]

[Emma Lewell (in the Chair)]

There will now be a five-minute limit on Back-Bench speeches.

Oral Answers to Questions

Emma Lewell Excerpts

Thursday 3rd July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Marsha De Cordova]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The diocese of Jerusalem has informed us that the hospital continues to provide critical medical services—but only just. Food, fuel and medical supplies are critically low due to Israel preventing aid from getting into Gaza. The Church Commissioners repeat the diocese’s urgent calls for a renewed ceasefire, and the establishment of safe and sustained humanitarian corridors. I urge the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office to pressure Israel to allow in fuel and vital medical supplies.

[Emma Lewell (South Shields) (Lab)]

11. What steps the Church of England is taking to help to tackle poverty.

[Marsha De Cordova]

Churches and all our faith communities make a powerful difference in the lives of all our constituents every single day, and Church of England parishes provide more than 31,000 social action projects in church schools and educate millions of children each day. Parish initiatives include food banks, credit unions, warm spaces, school clubs and other forms of family support.

[Emma Lewell]

For too long, charities, faith groups and churches such as my own, St Bede’s, have been supporting people struggling to get by. Does my hon. Friend agree that our child poverty taskforce needs to seriously consider scrapping the awful two-child benefit cap, because relying on charity to lift children out of poverty is simply unsustainable?

[Marsha De Cordova]

My hon. Friend makes an important point. Everyone has a responsibility to tackle child poverty, and we should all commend and thank the Church for the role it has played in this space. I know that the Bishop of Derby hosted Baroness Sherlock, the child poverty unit and colleagues for a roundtable, where many issues were discussed.

Oral Answers to Questions

Emma Lewell Excerpts

Thursday 28th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Anna Dixon (Shipley) (Lab)]

5. What steps the Church is taking to support people that are housebound due to a disability.

[Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck (South Shields) (Lab)]

7. What steps the Church is taking to support people that are housebound due to a disability.

[Marsha De Cordova]

I welcome the timely questions from my hon. Friends as we are in the middle of Disability History Month. The Church has started a project to support local parishes to adapt their buildings to make our churches more accessible. It includes standardising signage to make accessibility obvious, training for church leaders and staff, and a grant scheme for adaptations. The Church also continues to develop worship and educational resources, which are available nationally to people who are housebound and their carers.

[Marsha De Cordova]

I pay tribute to my hon. Friend for chairing the archbishops’ commission. Along with the pastoral visits made by clergy, resources are made available nationally for disabled people or those who are housebound. They include Sunday services broadcast online on YouTube, each week from a different parish, which have thousands of unique viewers each week and for which British Sign Language interpretation is available. There is the DailyHope telephone line and the Everyday Faith app, with readings and reflections, which is used by 3 million individuals and has been downloaded over 14 million times. There is also the Daily Prayer app, with morning and evening prayer, which has reached over 2.75 million unique listeners since 2021.

[Mrs Lewell-Buck]

Churches Together South Tyneside does amazing work through its Happy at Home hub, providing a range of services to the lonely and the isolated. Will my hon. Friend expand a little more on the Church’s wider pastoral duties towards those in the greatest need?

[Marsha De Cordova]

Again, I congratulate my hon. Friend on all the wonderful work taking place in her constituency. Churches together groups do a fantastic job in tackling the scourge of isolation and loneliness. There are other projects that started recently to support parishes with the physical accessibility of their buildings, including church halls and other facilities. Without the LPW grant scheme, the adaptation of some of our most historic churches would be harder to deliver at pace.

Oral Answers to Questions

Emma Lewell Excerpts

Thursday 11th January 2024 Commons Chamber

[Stuart Andrew]

I thank my hon. Friend for raising this important issue. It is vital that communities have access to the right facilities, in order to help us meet our target of having more than 3 million more people being active by 2030. Sport England has provided more than £20 million to support grassroots projects in the region. I would be happy to share a full list of the available funds that are open for him to have a look at. Let me also add my thanks to his constituents for the work they are doing in getting people more active.

[Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck (South Shields) (Lab)]

6. What steps her Department is taking to tackle loneliness.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Stuart Andrew)]

Since the tackling loneliness strategy launched in 2018, the Government and their partners have invested more than £80 million in tackling loneliness. The 2023 annual report included 60 new cross-government commitments, and updates on progress on things included in that report are due to be published in March.

[Mrs Lewell-Buck]

Severe cuts have left a £600 million gap in adult social care funding. More than 1 million lonely and isolated elderly people now rely on charities such as Re-engage, which I volunteer with, to plug that gap. I know that the Minister does care about this, but surely he must recognise that those cuts and their leading to that rise in desperate loneliness are because of this Government.

[Stuart Andrew]

First, let me pay tribute to the hon. Lady for the work she does with those charities. The partnership between Government and charities has made the UK one of the world’s leading countries on tackling loneliness. That is why in the Budget in 2023 we announced £100 million of support for charities and community organisations, recognising the challenges they face and paying tribute to them for the work they are doing in tackling this important issue.

Oral Answers to Questions

Emma Lewell Excerpts

Thursday 20th October 2022 Commons Chamber

[The Solicitor General]

I heard about my hon. Friend’s very productive meeting with the Chief Crown Prosecutor for Wales, and he rightly raises the excellent work that is being done by CPS Wales to address the magistrates court backlog. He is absolutely right that it is the first area to recover from the impact of covid, and I would be absolutely delighted to join him on a visit to Wales.

[Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck (South Shields) (Lab)]

7. What recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Crown Prosecution Service in ensuring access to justice for the victims of crime.

[The Attorney General (Michael Ellis)]

The CPS is committed to ensuring that victims of crime are properly able to access justice. Last year, the CPS commissioned independent research to better understand what victims want and need, and to identify areas for improvement. On 27 June, the CPS published its response to the research findings, setting out key areas of action to improve how it engages with victims, and this includes delivering a universal service offer for all victims of crime.

[Mrs Lewell-Buck]

I thank the Attorney General for that response, but this Government’s inability to prioritise victims is well documented. Today, the final report of the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse will be published. For these victims, their abuse is not historical; they live with it every single day, and they need justice. Will he commit to implement all the recommendations in full?

[The Attorney General]

This Government have repeatedly shown, and rightly so, our support for victims and prioritising the rights of victims. The CPS publishes yearly data—for example, on the victims’ right to review scheme. Nearly 78,000 decisions were made that were eligible for the scheme, under 2,000 decisions were challenged and 270 were found to be wrong—that is 0.35%—but I want to apologise for any decisions that were wrong. Even in that tiny number, it is human lives that are involved. We have focused greatly on the rights of victims, and we will continue to do so.

Oral Answers to Questions

Emma Lewell Excerpts

Thursday 7th July 2022 Commons Chamber

[Ms Dorries]

I thank my hon. Friend for the work that she did on the Committee that considered the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Bill—vital legislation to give all parts of the country great connectivity. I join her in thanking East Sussex County Council and parish councils across the country that have supported local communities to benefit from our £210 million gigabit broadband voucher scheme. She rightly highlights the incredible growth in superfast coverage across East Sussex, which has benefited from public subsidy through voucher funding and earlier superfast contracts.

[Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck (South Shields) (Lab)]

2. What recent assessment her Department has made of the impact of increases in the cost of living on charitable giving.

[Liz Twist (Blaydon) (Lab)]

10. What assessment her Department has made of the impact of increases in the cost of living on charitable giving.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (Nigel Huddleston)]

We understand that the pressures people are facing mean that some will not be able to give as much to charity as they have done in the past. However, while recent reports show a drop, average donations remain higher than pre covid, and total donations for the first quarter of 2022 look to be the highest since 2017, although this is due in large part to the incredible generosity of the British people in giving over £300 million towards the Ukrainian humanitarian appeal. I will continue to work closely with the sector on this important issue.

[Mrs Lewell-Buck]

I thank the Minister for that response, but he just does not get it, does he? Thanks to this Government’s cruel policies, food banks are now embedded in our welfare state. As the cost of living crisis intensifies, we are running out of food donations and people are going hungry. It is an abdication of the Government’s duty to leave charities to fill gaps left by the state, so when will whoever is left in the Government start doing their job?

[Nigel Huddleston]

I gently remind the hon. Lady that the Opposition do not have a monopoly on sympathy and understanding. We completely understand the pressures that people are facing with the cost of living and have taken action to support families. That is why the Government are providing over £15 billion in further support targeted particularly at those with the greatest need. That is in addition to over £22 billion announced previously. Government support on the cost of living now totals £37 billion this year.

BBC Funding

Emma Lewell Excerpts

Monday 17th January 2022 Commons Chamber

[Ms Dorries]

My instincts are let’s start the discussion. Let’s have a look at the—[Interruption.] That is what I am starting, Mr Speaker—unless, of course, Members of the House would just like us to decide and not have the debates and not have the discussion. That is where we are going: we are going to start that discussion—[Interruption.] The hon. Member for Manchester Central (Lucy Powell) is speaking from a sedentary position; perhaps she would like to confirm whether she supports the freeze to the licence fee? A yes or a no—a nod or a shake—would be great. No? There we go.

[Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck (South Shields) (Lab)]

Despite the fact that the removal of the free licence for the over-75s was a result of her own party’s actions, the Secretary of State’s tweet yesterday indicated that her attack on the BBC was due to the over-75s being threatened with prison sentences and bailiffs knocking on their doors. Yet less than two weeks ago, she told this House that

“no enforcement action has been taken against anyone over 75 years of age”.—[Official Report, 6 January 2022; Vol. 706, c. 131.]

I know that the Secretary of State would not make such claims without evidence. Will she please now share with the House what data she found to support yesterday’s comments?

[Ms Dorries]

The hon. Lady has drawn a direct link between two different parts of my tweet when there is no direct link; it is just one of many reasons why I want to look at how we fund a great British institution in the future.

Oral Answers to Questions

Emma Lewell Excerpts

Thursday 16th September 2021 Commons Chamber

[Matt Warman]

We all, I am sure, have Scout troops in our constituencies to which we would pay tribute, and the expansion is hugely welcome. I am afraid, as I said in my answer, that the detailed plans for the fund are subject to the 2021 spending review. I look forward to being able to talk more about those plans after the spending review.

[Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck (South Shields) (Lab)]

5. What progress the Government have made on supporting touring musicians to continue to work in Europe following the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.

[Wendy Chamberlain (North East Fife) (LD)]

12. What support her Department is providing to help touring musicians to work in Europe following the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.

[The Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office (Julia Lopez)]

Ministers, officials and diplomats have been speaking to EU member states to establish arrangements for touring musicians and other artists. I can confirm that at least 19 out of 27 member states allow some visa and permit-free touring. We are continuing to engage with the remaining member states to encourage them to align requirements more closely with our own.

[Mrs Lewell-Buck]

The reality is that there has been limited progress on this matter. South Shields is home to many independent musicians, who used to be able to showcase their talents right across Europe. The cost and bureaucracy involved now prohibits them from doing so. Carry on Touring has written to the Minister with a solution: a pan-European EU visa and work permit waiver. Will she please ask the new Secretary of State to use her first day to implement it?

[Julia Lopez]

I thank the hon. Lady for her question; I had a wonderful break up in the north-east and enjoyed her constituency over the summer. I will be happy to ask the Secretary of State to look at that proposal, but we put forward, as part of the EU negotiations, a very fair proposal to our EU member state counterparts, which, unfortunately, they rejected. I know that my former Cabinet Office colleague, the right hon. Member for Portsmouth North (Penny Mordaunt) did a lot of work in this area as well. There has been a lot of engagement at ministerial level with our counterparts and we intend to continue that work, because we know that this is an important issue and a frustration not just for some of the major touring artists but, more importantly, for some of the smaller groups who may not have the financial funds to be able to negotiate some of the complexities in this area.