Business of the House

Josh Babarinde Excerpts

Thursday 4th December 2025 Commons Chamber

[Sir Alan Campbell]

I join my hon. Friend in celebrating the incredible work of teaching assistants, and I congratulate the young people on their campaign in support of those who do work that is vital to our education system. The reality is that teaching assistants play a significant role in our children’s education and life chances. I will give some thought to how the campaign can continue, and I thank my hon. Friend for raising it on the Floor of the House. My advice to the children themselves is, “Work with your fantastic MP and see how this campaign can progress.”

[Josh Babarinde (Eastbourne) (LD)]

Many people on repeat prescriptions rely on NHS 111’s emergency prescription service to get the meds they need if they have unexpectedly run out. However, I have learned through my own experience that if somebody is in a moving vehicle, NHS 111 will not proceed to have a conversation with them until they are stationary. Many residents on long public transport journeys, for example, are therefore delayed in getting the medication they need. To address this issue, will the Leader of the House help me to arrange a meeting with the relevant Health Minister?

[Sir Alan Campbell]

The hon. Gentleman makes an important point on a matter I was unaware of. As someone who seeks a repeat prescription, I will ensure that I do not do it when I am travelling. That is a new one to me, and I will seek a meeting with a Health Minister so that we can explore it.

Government Announcements

Josh Babarinde Excerpts

Monday 2nd June 2025 Commons Chamber

[Lucy Powell]

I think I was responding to suggestions that they were briefed, and to some articles and so on that were read out. As I say, these matters should be coming to the House first; that is why we are having the statement today, shortly. It was always our intention to do the full statement today and to lay and publish the full report in this House first. I regret it if members of the media were given advance sight of it before Members of this House.

[Josh Babarinde (Eastbourne) (LD)]

The people of Eastbourne deserve to have Government announcements scrutinised on their behalf by their MP in this Chamber before release to the media. To compensate for the Government’s shortcomings on this front, will the Government commit to announcing statements in this House first? Will the Minister also commit to inviting local journalists from the Eastbourne Herald, Eastbourne News, Eastbourne Reporter and Bourne Free to Government press conferences of particular interest to Eastbourne, so that they can hold the Government doubly to account on our town’s behalf?

[Lucy Powell]

It is vital that MPs, whether they are from Eastbourne or from elsewhere, are able to question and scrutinise Ministers on major Government announcements. That is exactly what we seek to do; although this Session is not even yet a year long, we have already given almost double the number of oral statements that the previous Government gave in their last year in office. I am also very conscious that where announcements have a particular interest for a part of the country, we should make sure that local MPs are told about them in advance.