Family Businesses

Debate between Laurence Turner and Mark Ferguson

Wednesday 26th February 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mark Ferguson]

I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Rugby (John Slinger) for his question. I am afraid I do not remember that, because I am far more youthful than I look but, as with the corn laws, I have read about it in the history books and have no doubt my hon. Friend is correct.

I am also aware from the history books that the Conservative party has often been very worried about the humble pint and what might happen to it. As a proud pint drinker, perhaps sometimes to the detriment of my health and my finances, I can say that the great British pint is going absolutely nowhere, not from the small businesses in Gateshead Central and Whickham and not from anywhere else.

[Laurence Turner (Birmingham Northfield) (Lab)]

My hon. Friend is making a characteristically powerful case. Do the history books not show that Labour has always been the party of the pints? Harold Wilson expressed enthusiastic support for preserving the pint measure. Labour is the party of the pints, while the Conservatives do not serve anything more than small bitter.

[Mark Ferguson]

I defer to my hon. Friend; he is a learned historian and I dare say knows far more about the history of the pint then I will ever muster. I have probably drunk more than him, but he has probably read about more of them than I have.

The title of this motion is “Family Businesses”. My hon. Friend the Member for Vale of Glamorgan (Kanishka Narayan) has already assiduously made the point to the shadow Chancellor that 96% of family businesses will not be affected by some of the measures mentioned in this motion, but I wish to discuss some of the family businesses in my constituency, a couple of which I have spoken to recently.

Meldrum, for example, is a successful construction business that recently conducted a transfer into employee ownership—a show of confidence in our economy. Savour bakery was set up from scratch under this Government. It was a shell during the general election when I went to visit it. An orthodox Haredi family in Gateshead—generations of the same Gateshead family—have invested hundreds of thousands of pounds of their own money into setting up what some might find slightly unlikely. I admit that when I first heard of it I was not sure that it would be a success. It is a kosher Parisian patisserie in the heart of Bensham in Gateshead, and it has been a tremendous success. There are queues around the block most days and if anyone makes the mistake of going in at 2 o’clock in the afternoon, as I did last week, they will be greeted by a coffee machine and an empty patisserie counter. The idea that someone cannot set up a successful small business under this Government is absolutely for the birds. I have seen it with my own eyes in my own community—people doing something incredibly challenging in a community that is not often supported more widely in Gateshead. I am incredibly proud of them and incredibly proud of other small businesses like them.

I am not astonished that we are discussing this interesting pick-and-mix motion, which might as well be called “Things the Conservative party does not like that the Labour party has done”, because that is the nature of Opposition day debates. I am enjoying this opportunity to talk about the family businesses in Gateshead and about my passion—our passion on the Labour Benches—for the humble British pint.

Children’s Social Care: North-east England

Debate between Laurence Turner and Mark Ferguson

Wednesday 5th February 2025 Commons Chamber

[Laurence Turner (Birmingham Northfield) (Lab)]

I refer the House to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. My hon. Friend and I previously both advocated for and represented workers in children’s social care for Unison and the GMB respectively. Does he agree that driving up pay and terms and conditions for those workers is just as important in children’s social services as it is in adult social services?

[Mark Ferguson]

I absolutely agree, and I commend my hon. Friend for the huge amount of work that he has put into the Employment Rights Bill and several other important pieces of forthcoming legislation, which will have a huge impact on the lives not only of those working in children’s services but of the children they seek to serve. We are fortunate to have him and his experience in this place.

I want to use the remainder of my time in this debate to highlight some of the successes that Gateshead council has had recently. The council’s multi-agency approach is thriving. Despite every effort of consecutive Conservative Governments to tear down Sure Start, Gateshead’s Labour councillors went to great lengths to protect children’s centres throughout austerity. In fact, they have now almost doubled the number of operating family hubs. These decisions meant the council was able to build a locality-based family hub scheme at pace, ensuring that Gateshead families were not left short.

Labour Members know the evidence is clear that children who grew up with access to a Sure Start centre had higher GCSE outcomes than those who did not. This kind of early intervention leads to better outcomes at every developmental stage. Family hubs deliver everything from neonatal classes, childcare, and speech and language support, right through to employment support and welfare advice. Barnardo’s rightly describes them as the “nerve centre” of our communities.

Our mayor, Kim McGuinness, and the North East combined authority are building on this great work. Kim’s newly established child poverty reduction unit is the first of its kind and provides an extra layer to this key community-based early intervention. In just months, her funded programmes, such as welfare at the school gates, have been rolled out across Gateshead to plug the gaps. Her “Launchpad for Literacy” and reading fluency programmes are already breaking down barriers in communities such as mine.

At every level, Labour is following the evidence: early intervention is best; late intervention is harmful. By design, late intervention requires the family and the child in question to reach crisis point before they can access meaningful support. I know this Government are serious about supporting children’s services to address the chasm of inequalities faced by children in the north-east, so I welcome their investment, including the £1.29 million of prevention funding.

I also welcome the raft of measures in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, including a child-centred social care system that delivers the best start in life; £44 million for kinship and foster care; and £90 million to expand placement sufficiency in local authority-owned residential children’s homes, to help our most vulnerable children and young people. Strengthening Ofsted’s powers to allow it to act quickly against unregistered provision, greater regulation of placements and ensuring that care comes before profit will also benefit our children.

Gateshead’s success has partly been built on its commitment to a happy, supported and directly employed social work team. I welcome the Government’s new standards to limit local authorities’ use of agency workers in children’s social care by giving the Secretary of State the power to make new regulations.

There is so much good work taking place in local authorities such as Gateshead. However, questions remain about the time-limited funding in place for family hubs. I conclude by asking the Minister to outline the Government’s plans to fund early intervention-driven children’s services, which are so vital in communities such as mine.

Winter Fuel Payment

Debate between Laurence Turner and Mark Ferguson

Tuesday 10th September 2024 Commons Chamber

[Laurence Turner]

In my constituency, there are approximately 2,600 pensioner households that do not receive pension credit—that is one of the legacies of the previous Government—but are entitled to it.

The Conservatives suggest that they would have rejected the pay review body recommendations, forgetting that one of the first acts of the Margaret Thatcher Government in 1979 was to accept the recommendations of the Clegg commission on pay comparability. If only the Conservative party had more courage today.

The winter fuel allowance exists because of a Labour Government: a Government who increased the value of those payments fivefold in 13 years, compared with an increase of zero under 14 years of the previous Government—a real-terms cut of 33%.

[Mark Ferguson (Gateshead Central and Whickham) (Lab)]

It is fascinating to hear the recent converts to the fight against poverty on the Opposition Benches, particularly the right hon. Member for North West Durham—sorry, Basildon and Billericay (Mr Holden)—yet they seem far quieter about the fact that the average food shop went up by £1,000 in the last Parliament, the average energy bill went up £400—[Interruption.] Listen and you might learn something. The average mortgage went up £2,880 because of your lot. [Interruption.] Apologies, Madam Deputy Speaker.