Cabinet Office

Lee Pitcher Excerpts

Monday 17th November 2025 Written Corrections

The following extract is from the debate on the Nolan Principles on 12 November 2025.

[Lee Pitcher (Doncaster East and the Isle of Axholme) (Lab)]

I thank the Minister for giving way; it is much appreciated. Just briefly, those standards are very much welcomed, particularly in my constituency. Does he agree that they must be applied at parish and town council level too? We want expectations aligned across all public services.

[Chris Ward]

My hon. Friend raises a very good point, although I should remind him that I think parish councils are about to be abolished in the local government reorganisation so we might have to look at that, but I take his point, which is a fair one.

[Official Report, 12 November 2025; Vol. 775, c. 286.]

Written correction submitted by the Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office, the hon. Member for Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven (Chris Ward):

Nolan Principles

Lee Pitcher Excerpts

Wednesday 12th November 2025 Commons Chamber

[Chris Ward]

I thank the hon. Lady for her intervention. I agree. That is why we need to get the measures in the Bill right, and why I hope that she and other colleagues will work with us in Committee and as the Bill progresses.

I respect the hon. Member for Aberdeenshire North and Moray East a lot, but I simply do not accept the general depiction he gave of the Government and the lack of progress made. I remind him that we have delivered on a manifesto commitment to establish the Ethics and Integrity Commission, which will promote the seven principles and report annually on improving standards. We have closed ACOBA—the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments—and reformed the outdated business appointments system. The ministerial severance system has also been reformed to save the taxpayer money and to end the scandal we saw under the previous Government, where Ministers got large amounts of public money after either being removed from their position or returning very quickly. And just this week my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government announced strong new powers to improve standards and accountability across local government.

[Lee Pitcher (Doncaster East and the Isle of Axholme) (Lab)]

I thank the Minister for giving way; it is much appreciated. Just briefly, those standards are very much welcomed, particularly in my constituency. Does he agree that they must be applied at parish and town council level too? We want expectations aligned across all public services.

[Chris Ward]

My hon. Friend raises a very good point, although I should remind him that I think parish councils are about to be abolished in the local government reorganisation so we might have to look at that, but I take his point, which is a fair one.

The hon. Member for Aberdeenshire North and Moray East mentioned a number of recent cases where, to put it politely, he suggests the Nolan principles may not have been abided by. I will, of course, not comment on the specifics of all of those, or indeed those where the Scottish Government may not have always abided by the principles, but I will say that the Prime Minister has made clear how seriously he takes Ministers abiding by the code. It is why he invited the independent ethics adviser—the independent adviser on ministerial standards —to address Cabinet on the first day after the election and why he has stuck ever since to a very powerful role for that position, which I think we can agree is a step forward.

The final thing I want to say is that I have heard the hon. Member for Aberdeenshire North and Moray East say before that he believes that

“our leaders…cannot be trusted to do the right thing unless they are legally required to do so.”—[Official Report, 3 September 2025; Vol. 772, c. 123WH.]

After recent years, and perhaps even recent weeks, I understand his scepticism, but I do not accept his fatalism. I believe that the vast majority of our public servants and our leaders are trustworthy. I believe that every day they seek to show leadership with honesty, integrity, accountability, selflessness, objectivity and openness. But where public servants fail to meet those standards, there must be clear and effective accountability.

Oral Answers to Questions

Lee Pitcher Excerpts

Wednesday 5th March 2025 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

We put a record amount into farming in the Budget—£5 billion. We have set out our road map for farming, which has been welcomed by the National Farmers Union. As the right hon. Lady knows, the vast majority of farms will not be affected by the provisions that we are putting in place.

[Lee Pitcher (Doncaster East and the Isle of Axholme) (Lab)]

For months, my constituents in Doncaster East and the Isle of Axholme have been telling me how fed up they are with not being able to get an appointment because of the 8 am scramble. The last thing they need when they are ill is to have to pick up the phone and wait, and fight again to be first. It is great news that the Government’s new GP contract will start to resolve that, but can the Prime Minister reassure my constituents who cannot use technology that they will still be able to book an appointment?

[The Prime Minister]

Last week, for the first time in four years, the British Medical Association agreed the GP contract with the Government, worth an extra £889 million. Patients will be able to request appointments online from October, but I absolutely reassure my hon. Friend and others that that will free up the phones for those who need them most, and help end the 8 am scramble.

Oral Answers to Questions

Lee Pitcher Excerpts

Wednesday 18th December 2024 Commons Chamber

[Bridget Phillipson]

The Government will of course always keep such issues under review, and I will ensure that the Minister in the relevant Department speaks with the right hon. Lady on this topic.

[Lee Pitcher (Doncaster East and the Isle of Axholme) (Lab)]

T6. Merry Christmas. I recently attended a Royal National Institute of Blind People event highlighting the challenges faced by blind and visually impaired people navigating past parked cars, forcing them to walk into the road. My inspirational wife is one of those people, who takes her life into her own hands every time she walks into the road. What will the Government do to help make our streets safer and more navigable in future?

Oral Answers to Questions

Lee Pitcher Excerpts

Wednesday 13th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Bridget Phillipson]

The right hon. Lady will appreciate that I will not comment on ongoing cases. However, I can be clear that the Equality Act 2010 sets out that providers, for example, have the right to restrict access to service on the basis of biological sex. This Government are proud of our achievements in legislating for the Equality Act. We will ensure providers can continue to support single-sex exemptions, and it is important that providers have clarity in this area. I would be happy to work with her to ensure that is the case.

[Lee Pitcher (Doncaster East and the Isle of Axholme) (Lab)]

T4. Will the Minister have discussions with the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government on how pavement design and layout can be improved to enhance navigability for blind and visually impaired people?

[The Minister for Social Security and Disability (Sir Stephen Timms)]

That is good example of the kind of discussion we need among Ministers responsible for disability across Government. Department for Transport guidance on inclusive mobility and on tactile paving surfaces advises how design and layout can inform visually impaired people, including about hazards and directions. I am happy to pursue the subject further with my hon. Friend.

Infected Blood Compensation Scheme

Lee Pitcher Excerpts

Monday 2nd September 2024 Commons Chamber

[Nick Thomas-Symonds]

The thoughts of the whole House will be with the right hon. Gentleman’s constituent, and I know from my own service in this House in previous Parliaments that he has raised this issue on a number of occasions before. I would say to him, and indeed to this House, that there is no dispute that decades have passed when people should have achieved justice and did not. We had this scandal of infected blood and infected blood products in the 1970s and 1980s, but it was compounded by the failure since to recognise what had gone wrong and to try to make recompense for it; there is no doubt about that. The undertaking I give him is that the Government will push this forward as quickly as we possibly can, and I hope finally we will get to where he wants, which is the position where compensation has finally been paid to those who so richly deserve it.

[Lee Pitcher (Doncaster East and the Isle of Axholme) (Lab)]

What progress been made in establishing the Infected Blood Compensation Authority?

[Nick Thomas-Symonds]

Now that the regulations have been laid, as I indicated, it is operationalised, and I know Sir Robert Francis will now be moving as swiftly as he can to be in a position to deliver that final compensation to the infected down the core route and to start those payments by the end of the year.