Fuel Costs: Rural Households and Communities

Debate between Jim Shannon and Angela Crawley

Wednesday 29th March 2023 Westminster Hall

[Angela Crawley]

The hon. Lady is absolutely right. Although I welcome the fact that the Government recognised that there is a need, the response has been too slow. In reality, people, especially pensioners, had no more money on which to draw to pay up front. That has had a knock-on effect on many households, in particular many of mine in rural Clydesdale.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I commend the hon. Lady for bringing this subject forward. I agree with her, but it is not just about fuel; it is also about rural isolation. Does she agree that rural social isolation in the farming community is compounded by the rise in fuel costs? Going to young farmers’ club events, or something similar, does not boil down to finding time; it is about whether people have the resources to go. We need not only look at rural households and their fuel costs, but offer greater support to the farming community than it currently receives.

[Angela Crawley]

I thank the hon. Member, as always, for his intervention. He makes an important point. I am truly blessed to be the representative for Lanark and Hamilton East, which is home to a very wide and diverse community, including Clydesdale, the Clyde valley, which has a large population of farms. That community has been adversely affected by these costs.

With all due respect to the Government, there is little that can be done in retrospect to ease the impact this issue has had on livelihoods. Issuing alternative fuel payments months after households have already put fuel orders on credit cards or taken money out of savings to cover the costs does not make sense. It is all well and good for households that have wriggle room or back-up savings, but many do not, as we all know. Rural households are often occupied by pensioners reliant on their pension as their only source of income. They may not have the means to stretch their budget any further.

There are still households that are eligible for the alternative fuel payment but have not yet received it. The picture is even bleaker for those who are not connected to the gas grid and rely on electricity to heat their homes. They are not eligible for the alternative fuel payments, despite the latest fuel poverty statistics indicating that households using electricity as a main source of fuel for heating have the highest likelihood of experiencing fuel poverty.

Unaccompanied Minors Seeking Asylum

Debate between Jim Shannon and Angela Crawley

Tuesday 10th January 2023 Westminster Hall

[Angela Crawley (Lanark and Hamilton East) (SNP)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered unaccompanied minors seeking asylum.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Gary, and I am grateful for the opportunity to lead today’s debate on an urgent and sadly all too familiar issue. Last month, 30 miles out at sea, at 3 am, in freezing conditions, four migrants died after a small boat capsized in the English channel. That is not a new story, sadly—it happens too often—but one of the dead was just a teenager. That news never gets any easier to hear or digest.

In that same tragedy, eight children were among those who were successfully rescued by the coastguard. The Mirror reported that one 12-year-old survivor was escaping Afghanistan after his whole family had been killed by the Taliban. None of us can imagine the horrors that drive people to get on boats or take perilous journeys to cross the channel, yet those horrors are experienced by innocent children every day.

Unaccompanied asylum-seeking children arrive alone, afraid, and have no idea where to start. Unfortunately, this Government are fixated on criminalising and discrediting desperate people who have come to the UK to seek a new life. Vulnerable children and young people are having their rights and protections stripped, and that is the wrong approach. Our duty must be to give them a warm welcome, a fresh start and the protection and hope that they so desperately need when they arrive to seek refuge in the UK.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I commend the hon. Lady for bringing forward this debate. It is an absolutely super subject, but a very worrying one as well. Does she agree that all young people, no matter their backgrounds, deserve a healthy, stable upbringing that gives them the same chance to succeed in later life? Most of these minors will be helpless. Does the hon. Lady feel like we could do better to fulfil our duty of care by not only providing food and clothing, but ensuring that they have a chance of a future life with an education and a stable home?

[Angela Crawley]

I absolutely agree. I thank the hon. Member for that intervention, as always. He is correct. We have a duty not only as a country and a nation, but as humans, to acknowledge that these children are not the criminal gangs or the ones facilitating the process of getting to the UK. They are simply the innocent bystanders of a process that they themselves may not have chosen.

Far too often, children have been incorrectly declared as adults. An immigration officer will make an age judgment based on demeanour or appearance. If they are judged to be an adult, they are not sent for an age assessment. Rather, they are given a date of birth and sent to live in shared rooms with adults. In 2021, a specialist programme run by the Refugee Council worked with 233 young people over 12 months. The Home Office had initially determined them to be “certainly” adults, when in fact, only 14 of them were adults. That means that 219 of those children were denied the rights and protections of a child, and were exposed to further exploitation, trafficking and violence as a result of that determination. Those 219 children were counting on us to take care of them.

The Home Office refuses to document how often that happens, how many children are judged incorrectly to be adults or what happens to them. There is no process to track such a decision. If there is any dubiety in that decision, there is no pathway to ensure that those individuals are protected and safeguarded until a definitive determination can be made. It is fair to say that even the determinations that are made are questionable at times. I therefore ask the Minister to be more transparent about frontline decision making. Will he commit to publishing statistics on age-disputed children who are initially treated as adults? Will he outline a pathway for those individuals to ensure that they are protected and safeguarded within the system, as they should be?

The Nationality and Borders Act 2022 gives the Home Office powers to conduct medical age assessments. However, the British Association of Social Workers has stated that there is no known scientific method that can precisely determine age. Pushing scientific methods upon age-disputed young people is incredibly insensitive. It ignores the trauma they have been through and the atrocities they have seen.

Those who are wrongly declared as adults will not be able to avoid deportation to Rwanda under this Government’s cruel plans. That is a terrifying prospect for children and young people. I am disappointed in the UK Government. A place that was supposed to be their second chance and a place of safety is only adding to their stress and anxiety. I therefore ask the Minister: when will the report from the Age Estimation Science Advisory Committee on specific scientific methods for age assessment be made available? Will learning from the national age assessment board pilots be shared, given their frontline role in rectifying the Home Office’s mistakes? We need to ensure that these processes are transparent and that we can scrutinise them appropriately.

Unaccompanied asylum-seeking children are being abandoned by the Home Office and placed in hotels that are desperately unfit for anyone to live in, but particularly children, who are forced to live alongside adults, further exposing them to potential harms. The Home Office has set out its intentions to speed up the process by which unaccompanied children are transferred from temporary hotels to long-term care, but it is simply not enough. Again, that process is not transparent. It only normalises the use of hotels that are unfit accommodation for anyone, but particularly for children who should be nowhere near them.

Every Child Protected Against Trafficking says that housing children in hotels is unlawful, dangerous and contrary to the UK’s child welfare legislation. In October last year, more than 220 unaccompanied children went missing from hotels. Had those children been in the care of authorities, they would have been protected. I ask the Minister again, what is the pathway and how do we ensure that no child who is placed in any form of accommodation can go missing without someone being directly accountable and responsible?

Unaccompanied children are alone, scared and vulnerable. Many have left behind their families not knowing how they are; they deserve to have their families join them in safety. The Home Office’s position on altering family reunification rights for children is nothing short of ridiculous. This Government believe that allowing children and young people to sponsor their families would incentivise parents to send their children on dangerous journeys to the UK. Whether that is the case or not, I do not believe it is a decision any parent would make outside of the most desperate of circumstances.

Turning briefly to the point on family reunification, the Home Office’s minimum income requirement means that UK citizens and settled persons currently have to earn £18,600 before they can sponsor a spouse or partner to join them—more, if children are involved. That means that a substantial percentage of the population who do not earn that sum cannot live with their family and have to leave the country. Many thousands of families have been split apart since its introduction almost a decade ago, and many more have been affected by the rules that will also apply to European economic area family members.

Rather than reduce the level of income, or abandon the policy altogether as I have argued for repeatedly, reports have emerged over Christmas that the Home Office is thinking of increasing it further, splitting more families apart. The fact is that many families in the UK right now may struggle to meet those requirements in the current circumstances. To place that requirement arbitrarily on families only serves to ensure that further families will not receive reunification. It is not a reason to keep families apart. That they make those perilous journeys only highlights the grave circumstances that children flee from.

The Nationality and Borders Act 2022 brought in a ham-fisted policy with deferential treatment for refugees seeking family reunion based on the way they entered the UK. Those who arrived outside of one of the ever-dwindling safe and legal routes need to meet higher tests and additional requirements before being able to reunite with their family members. Organisations such as Families Together are calling for this discriminatory policy to be scrapped.

I close my contribution by apologising to the unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, who come to this country seeking safe harbour—because it is simply not the case. I apologise to the thousands of children who have come here and potentially been lost in a system with no traceability, because this Government refuse to acknowledge that they are in fact children. I am sorry that I could not cover more in this debate, but their voices and stories should not be ignored just because of where they came from. The fact is that they are children, and they should be treated as such. The harm and neglect that they are facing after seeking refuge in the UK can only be blamed on this Government, and the heartless Home Office polices that they exhibit.

I do not wish to hammer home the point any more than I already have, but it is simply unimaginable to me that we have, just recently, 219 children who we cannot account for, and many more who we have incorrectly administered as adults. What will the Minister do to correct that? It simply cannot continue.

Paid Miscarriage Leave

Debate between Jim Shannon and Angela Crawley

Thursday 17th March 2022 Commons Chamber

[Angela Crawley (Lanark and Hamilton East) (SNP)]

I beg to move,

That this House calls on the Government to introduce paid miscarriage leave; notes that in the UK, two weeks parental bereavement leave and pay is in place after stillbirth, however there is no such support for anyone who has experienced a miscarriage before 24 weeks of pregnancy; believes that miscarriage is an extremely traumatic experience and that more support should be provided to families that experience such a loss; understands that the New Zealand Parliament unanimously approved legislation to give people who experience a miscarriage paid leave, no matter what stage a loss of pregnancy occurs; and further believes that the Government should follow suit and provide paid leave for people that experience miscarriage and allow families to grieve for their profound loss.

I am extremely grateful to the Backbench Business Committee for granting this important debate in the Chamber. I am also grateful to the Members in attendance today, to those who spoke passionately in last week’s Westminster Hall debate and to colleagues from across the House who backed my private Member’s Bill, many of whom have supported this issue for some time. Many thanks also go to the fantastic organisations that advocate for greater support for those who experience the trauma of miscarriage, including the Miscarriage Association, Mumsnet, Sands, the Ectopic Pregnancy Trust and many more. I also put on record my appreciation for the 40,000 people who have signed the petition calling for paid miscarriage leave and for those from all over the UK who have contacted their MPs to ask them to back the campaign.

This is an important issue that has cross-party support. I am only sorry that the debate falls on a Thursday when the Chamber is less populated than usual, but, given that many Members support the motion, I hope that we will see more progress from the Minister today.

One thing that has struck me throughout the campaign is the brave men and women who have told their story of loss to try to help others, and who have campaigned every day so that others do not have to suffer in silence, as they did. I wish to share one such story today. A constituent of mine said that

“it is not just the physical pain of that moment—it is the emotional pain that lingers.”

Those are the words of my constituent from Carluke, who bravely shared her experiences with me last week. When she miscarried, she was the only woman working in her office—all her colleagues were men—and felt totally powerless to talk about her experience. Not only did she not feel comfortable seeking time off work, but she simply did not feel able to tell anyone in her workplace about what had happened to her. She spoke to me not only of the physical loss of the miscarriage, but of the mental impact of that loss. She said:

“You need time to recover from the physical element of what you have experienced. It can take its toll on the body. But I found the mental effects to be much worse. When you get the news that you’re pregnant, it is such a joyous time. You share it with friends and family, and you prepare yourself for the imminent arrival. So when you never held your baby, you still feel that it has been taken away from you. It is a loss and something that I mourned. Before I returned home from hospital, I made sure that my husband got rid of all the baby items that we had bought—clothes, toys, everything. I felt totally unsupported. I took a sick day on the Friday when it took place and was back at work on Monday as if nothing had happened. I don’t understand why there is just nothing in place to support women in these times of trauma.”

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I commend the hon. Lady for bringing this matter forward. I have always supported her in her objective of trying to achieve this. I was there to support her when she had a debate in Westminster Hall. I am ever mindful of the fact that my mother had a number of miscarriages. She was back at work, as the hon. Lady mentioned, within days. My sister had them as well and was back at work very quickly. I had a staff member who had two miscarriages and she was also back at work very quickly. Does the hon. Lady not agree that the fathers of these wee lives also have a right to mourn, and that any paid miscarriage leave must also recognise the daddy and allow him to know that society does not expect him to carry on as if his whole world has not been completely shaken as well?

[Angela Crawley]

Absolutely. I thank the hon. Member for his point—a point that I was about to make myself.

The fact is that, for too many parents, the loss of a pregnancy is seen as a woman’s issue. It is seen as something that affects only the mother. Sadly, too often, it is the fathers and the partners who lose out on that recognition of their loss and the ability to take leave. The loss of a pregnancy at any stage can be truly devastating, and, sadly, for some families, this experience may happen to them more than once, compounding the trauma of their loss. Without that recognition, the hopes and dreams that they had for their little life are gone—that is it. There are no legal rights, no forms of bereavement leave or pay, and, quite simply, no recognition that their little life existed.

One in four pregnancies ends in miscarriage and the experience of my constituent is not unique; it is shared by thousands of people every year. In a recent survey on miscarriage in the workplace, Mumsnet reported that there had been an increase in the number of women who labelled their experiences as poor or very poor—21%, up from 17% in 2019. Thousands of respondents cited a lack of support from their employer and a fifth of women said that they would have liked to take time off work following their miscarriage, but that they did not feel able to ask. These are incredibly difficult conversations to have with employers, and, just as my constituent highlighted, many women are simply not comfortable to do so or to share these experiences, and we are hearing the same experiences repeated time and again.

The Minister was right to say last week in the debate that good employers will take the appropriate action and treat the situation sensitively, giving staff the appropriate leave when required. However, the legislation that I propose is not only for employers; it is for the families up and down the country who cannot disclose a miscarriage, who feel pressured into going back to work too soon, and who feel shamed into silence. The Mumsnet survey showed that a resounding 96% of respondents supported the introduction of three days’ paid leave following a miscarriage. I repeat that number: 96% of survey respondents who had recently had a miscarriage said they would support the motion in the House today for paid miscarriage leave. One respondent said:

“I felt pressure to be back and didn’t allow myself any grieving time. It didn’t do me any good.”

Another added:

“You are replaceable at work. Your health and well-being for life should be a priority and workplaces need to change their attitudes and sickness policies, not make us burn the candle at both ends to fit into their policies. It’s pregnancy related anyway and shouldn’t be counted within sickness policy.”

While the updated ACAS guidance recommends that employers should consider offering time off, there is no legal right to paid leave and no statutory requirement for employers to allow it. We are seeing more and more employers implement policies, and that is welcome. Many workplaces have introduced a dedicated policy of miscarriage leave, one of the many ways employers can give meaningful support to their staff at that difficult time. However, leaving the provision at the discretion of employers is driving inequality across the board. Too many workers are left without the support they deserve because paid leave is not statutory.

Comprehensive policies of paid miscarriage leave have been introduced in nations such as New Zealand and Australia, and just last month the Northern Ireland Assembly legislated to introduce paid miscarriage leave, making it the first place in Europe to do so. The Scottish Government have pledged to provide three days’ paid leave following miscarriage, but the right to extend that provision to the private sector is reserved to this place.

While I recognise that three days’ paid leave, or even two weeks, may not be enough, it is a meaningful recognition of the loss and the grief. We should aim to support our workforce adequately and adopt recognised international best practice. A UK-wide policy of paid miscarriage leave would ensure that parents receive the support they deserve in this tragic time, and that no one falls through the cracks of the existing system.

The Government’s much-awaited employment Bill still appears to be some way from Parliament. Ahead of that Bill, the Taylor review of modern working practices has highlighted the changing demographics of the workplace and the need for a comprehensive employment law. There are more women in work now than ever before, and women’s participation in the workplace has been growing quicker than men’s over the past two decades.

Central to the Taylor review is the idea of putting employee health and wellbeing at the forefront of future employment legislation. That must include the provision of paid miscarriage leave. We must ensure that employment law protects and supports employees through such a serious life event. I do not believe the current legislation gives enough support to women and their partners through the experience of pregnancy loss in the workplace.

Indeed, I have asked the Minister when the employment Bill will be brought to the House and received no definitive answer. Families cannot wait for legislation that is not yet on the horizon. There is enough support across the House to bring forward a separate Bill on this issue, and I urge the Minister to introduce paid miscarriage leave.

Last Tuesday in the debate in Westminster Hall I raised the issue with the Minister once again. The response we heard was underwhelming. The Government continue to insist that sick pay or annual leave are acceptable provisions for those who experience miscarriage. They are not. Grief is not a holiday and it is not an illness. That response is offensive and unsustainable.

The Minister highlighted the Parental Bereavement (Leave and Pay) Act 2018 as evidence of action the Government have taken on this issue, but that Act does not make provision for those who experience a loss before 23 weeks and six days. Parents who experiences the loss of a pregnancy before 24 weeks have no statutory right to paid leave, and that is wrong.

As many hon. Members will know, I have been campaigning on this issue for some time. I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for North Ayrshire and Arran (Patricia Gibson), who first introduced the Parental Bereavement (Leave and Pay) Bill. When the Act came into effect, it secured two weeks’ leave for parents who experienced that loss after 24 weeks, but, as I said, there is nothing in place for parents before that time.

The Minister’s sympathy and understanding are welcome, but they are not enough. We must do more to ensure that all parents who experience the loss of a pregnancy are protected with such provision and to extend paid leave to those who experience a loss prior to 24 weeks. A specific statutory provision for paid miscarriage leave should not only cover the women experiencing the miscarriage, but their partners. It would also give a signal to those experiencing pregnancy loss that they have permission to grieve.

This is about more than changing policy; it is about changing workplace culture in the UK to account for real-life issues that affect the workforce. By legislating for this provision in employment law, we can help to tackle the stigma associated with miscarriage and facilitate a wider discussion on improved care.

I thank all the parents who have shared their stories of loss and grief with me in the pursuit of policy change. Pregnancy loss happens all too often, and sadly it ruins and destroys the joy that many expectant parents have. When pregnancy loss occurs, it is not only the loss of the pregnancy but of the hope and the dreams that expectant parents have, and it is an incredibly difficult time.

I urge the Minister to reconsider the Government’s stance and invite him to meet me once again to discuss how we can move this debate forward. It is unacceptable that parents should have to take sick leave or annual leave; they are not sick and they are not on holiday. For too long, parents have suffered without the support they need and deserve. We must recognise the grief and loss that parents who experience pregnancy loss before 24 weeks face. I urge the Government to give serious consideration to introducing paid miscarriage leave across the UK and to support my motion here today.

Paid Miscarriage Leave

Debate between Jim Shannon and Angela Crawley

Tuesday 8th March 2022 Westminster Hall

[Angela Crawley]

Absolutely. I thank the hon. Gentleman for that comment, which brings me neatly to my next point.

Ahead of the Government’s proposed employment Bill, the Taylor review has highlighted the changing demographics of the workplace. Many more women are in work than ever before. Women’s participation in the workplace has been growing quicker than men’s over the past 20 years.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I congratulate the hon. Lady on bringing this issue forward. One of my office staff has had multiple miscarriages. It has been a traumatic and difficult time for that lady, and I have seen the emotional and physical impact. Having to take holiday to try to get over the experience has added to that. Does the hon. Lady agree that the situation is unacceptable? We cannot legislate for compassion, but we can legislate for compassionate leave, which is what she is saying. That is why I support what she puts forward. I look forward very much to the Minister’s response.

[Angela Crawley]

I am sorry to hear about the experience of the hon. Gentleman’s member of staff. To experience miscarriage once is truly awful, but to experience it on multiple occasions can be truly devastating. It is not sufficient to say that an employee should take sick or holiday leave when they have a miscarriage. It is a grief, not an illness. That person should be allowed the time to grieve, and that should be recognised.