Business of the House

Lee Barron Excerpts

Thursday 17th July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Lucy Powell]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for raising that issue on behalf of the Afghan refugees in his constituency. He is absolutely right that the UK made a commitment—the right commitment—to honour our moral obligation that we owe to those Afghans who stood with us through all those years of conflict and terror. He will be aware that, to date, around 36,000 Afghans have resettled in the UK under Government schemes—a significant number. We have to keep the schemes under constant review and assess the risks to those in countries such as Afghanistan. That is why we have taken the decisions we have to close some of the schemes recently, but I will ensure he gets a response from a Minister.

[Lee Barron (Corby and East Northamptonshire) (Lab)]

On Monday, I hosted the second Corby and East Northamptonshire special educational needs roundtable, and on Tuesday we had SENDS 4 Dad in Parliament. Parents and professionals keep telling me how important early years support and intervention is for children with special educational needs. With the Government rightly rolling out Best Start family hubs across the country, including one in Corby and one in East Northamptonshire, will the Leader of the House back those calls to make sure the hubs give real early intervention and support for families with special educational needs?

[Lucy Powell]

I think special educational needs is the issue that has been raised most with me in the year of business questions I have answered. I thank my hon. Friend for raising it today. He is absolutely right that early intervention, early diagnosis and early support are absolutely critical, and that is what the Best Start family hubs are all about. At the moment, the special educational needs system is adversarial, and it takes far too long for people to get the kind of support that they need. In the end, that does not give us good outcomes; it costs more, and it means we have to take more serious interventions later on. My hon. Friend is absolutely right to raise this matter today.