Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Julie Minns and Keir Starmer

Wednesday 30th April 2025 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I thank the hon. Member for raising this important issue with us. We will always stand up for those who served our country, and I pay tribute to Pauline for her service. I will ensure that she gets the appropriate meeting that she wants and needs to discuss her specific case.

[Ms Julie Minns (Carlisle) (Lab)]

This week, thanks to this Labour Government, hundreds of free breakfast clubs have opened across our country. Will the Prime Minister join me in sending good wishes to the staff and pupils at Castle Carrock, Yewdale, Longtown, Inglewood, Brook Street, Blackford, Hallbankgate and Bishop Harvey Goodwin schools in my constituency, which are among the first to benefit from this important scheme? Will he confirm that this is just the start of Labour’s plan for change to deliver for working parents?

[The Prime Minister]

Let me pay tribute to all the staff in her constituency working in the breakfast clubs, which of course deliver free breakfasts and 30 minutes of free childcare, saving working parents £450 a year. We have opened the first 750 across the country, and there will be many more to come. We of course also are saving parents £50 a year by making school uniforms cheaper—something the Leader of the Opposition ordered all her troops to vote against.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Julie Minns and Keir Starmer

Wednesday 12th February 2025 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I thank the hon. Member for raising this issue and the particular case of her constituents. I also know that this is deeply personal to her and, if I may, I extend my deepest sympathies to her and her family for their loss. We have taken immediate action on social care. We have already delivered £3.7 billion of additional investment. We are working on the first ever fair pay agreement for the sector and, of course, we are boosting carer’s allowance. I invite her and everybody to work with the House on the longer-term reform that we need.

[Ms Julie Minns (Carlisle) (Lab)]

Q9. James Rennie is an outstanding specialist school in the heart of my constituency. Having converted every spare corner into classrooms and exceeded its published admissions numbers, and already having 43 applications known for this September, it is bursting at the seams and cannot expand any further. What is clearly needed is a new specialist school for north Cumbria. What assurances can the Prime Minister give my constituents that his Government will put children before ideology and allow local authorities to tackle the shortage in special educational needs and disabilities provision?

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my hon. Friend for raising this vital issue. It is not the first time it has come up. We are supporting mainstream schools to increase SEND expertise while also establishing dedicated SEN units, because we need to make sure that special schools can also cater for those with the most complex needs. We are working on this. It has come up time and again, but we are taking those vital initial steps.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Julie Minns and Keir Starmer

Wednesday 11th December 2024 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Those who were elected in the general election on 4 July. They are sitting here on the Government Benches.

[Ms Julie Minns (Carlisle) (Lab)]

Q10.   In centuries past, the three rivers that converge in the centre of Carlisle made the city highly defendable against invading armies. However, in 1985, 2005 and 2015 those same rivers overpowered the city, leaving thousands devastated by flooding. What assurances can the Prime Minister give my constituents that the flood defences that the Conservatives promised but failed to deliver will be completed under this Government?

[The Prime Minister]

May I start by wishing my hon. Friend a happy birthday? She raises a really important matter for her constituents, who have faced appalling flooding too many times. The last Government left our defences in a state of absolute disrepair. We are investing £2.4 million this year, and the Environment Agency is currently studying options to improve protection in Carlisle. I will make sure that she gets a meeting to discuss the specific options.