Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Jeff Smith

Tuesday 23rd January 2024 Commons Chamber

[Jeff Smith]

If only the reality was that rosy. The entire sector is calling out for reform of the Mental Health Act 1983. With our mental health services in crisis, why did the Government scrap the long-awaited and overdue mental health Bill, which could have started to alleviate pressures on trusts by reducing the numbers of people detained inappropriately and making services more fit for purpose? Is it not true that we need a Labour Government to take action on this issue?

[Mr Speaker]

It is going to be a long year.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Jeff Smith

Tuesday 28th November 2023 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Minister.

[Jeff Smith (Manchester, Withington) (Lab)]

An estimated 6.3 million households are in fuel poverty across the UK. Ofgem has announced that energy debt has reached £2.6 billion. With millions of people facing another difficult winter, the Government promised to consult on a social tariff to help the most vulnerable. Can the Secretary of State provide an update on that consultation?

[Claire Coutinho]

People mean many different things by a social tariff, but fundamentally it is about providing people with support to help with their bills. Just in the autumn statement, we have increased the national living wage, which is worth £1,800 to people; increased benefits by 6.7%, which is worth £470; and cut national insurance contributions, which is worth £450. Those are all on top of the £900 cost of living support we already have in place.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Jeff Smith

Thursday 15th June 2023 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Minister.

[Jeff Smith (Manchester, Withington) (Lab)]

It has now been three months since the £60 million swimming pool support fund was announced, and still nobody has received any money. As the Minister has said, £23 million is revenue funding, which according to the Local Government Association works out at only £25,000 per pool, and that will not arrive until September. The rest is capital, which will be allocated by a yet to be determined bidding process and will not happen until December. Why is it taking so long to get even this level of support out when our swimming pools are at risk of closure?

UK Concussion Guidelines for Grassroots Sport

Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Jeff Smith

Tuesday 2nd May 2023 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Minister.

[Jeff Smith (Manchester, Withington) (Lab)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Rhondda (Sir Chris Bryant), who raised many important issues. We want everyone to safely enjoy the benefits of participating in grassroots sport. We agree on the pressing need to address concussion and brain injuries, so we welcome the guidance and the implementation of the action plan on concussion. However, we want to ensure that it is as robust as possible, so I have further questions for the Minister. Is he confident that the guidance makes the risks of sustaining a concussion clear enough? As my hon. Friend asked, why is the guidance limited to what happens once someone is concussed, rather than giving better advice on how to prevent concussions in the first place?

How does the Minister plan to monitor the adoption of the new guidelines and their impact? In the light of the possible gaps and points of contention in the guidance, and with new research and evidence emerging, what is the capacity to amend the guidance on an ongoing basis? Is the Minister aware of the ongoing inquiry into concussion by the Parliament of Australia—a nation that knows a thing or two about sport? Will he look at the outcomes of that inquiry?

Finally, guidance on dealing with a concussion can be effective only if the services that it signposts to can be accessed. Given the crisis in the NHS overseen by this Government, is the Minister confident that the current care and rehabilitation provision for people with a concussion is adequate? I do not think that he quite answered my hon. Friend’s question. Let us get this right and keep grassroots sport safe.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Jeff Smith

Thursday 9th March 2023 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Minister.

[Jeff Smith (Manchester, Withington) (Lab)]

Following the Lionesses’ stunning success in the Euros, it is important that we capitalise on the momentum behind women’s football, so we welcome the Government’s commitment to equal access to school sport for boys and girls—we have been calling for that for a long time. How are the Government going to make sure that schools have the facilities to be able to deliver that and how are they going to measure it?

[Stuart Andrew]

As I said a moment ago, I am delighted that we made the announcement yesterday of over £600 million—it is a significant investment—to ensure that the provision of PE and sport in school is available and that there is equal access for boys and girls. We are also working on a kitemark, so that we will ensure that the quality of the provision is—

Easter Recess: Government Update

Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Jeff Smith

Tuesday 19th April 2022 Commons Chamber

[Jeff Smith (Manchester, Withington) (Lab)]

rose—

[Mr Speaker]

Surely it is not a new Member for the SNP? I call Jeff Smith.

[Jeff Smith]

It is so busy I could not find a space, Mr Speaker.

The event in question happened on 19 June 2020. Two days later, on 21 June, my constituent Steven’s partner died of cancer at home. In the weeks before that, she was in hospital. Steven said:

“When she needed me most, I was told I could not visit her because of the no visitors rule. In the texts I received from her, it was obvious that she needed somebody to just talk to and hold her hand.”

Steven obeyed the rules and, like so many people, he thinks the Prime Minister should stand down. The defence from Conservative Back Benchers seems to be that he cannot resign because we have a crisis in Ukraine. Does the Prime Minister think he is the only person on the Conservative Benches who is capable of leading the country through a crisis?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Jeff Smith

Thursday 24th March 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. We only have seven minutes, and we are on topical questions. We need to be short and punchy, just to get some more Members in.

[Jeff Smith (Manchester, Withington) (Lab)]

Perhaps I ought first to declare an interest as a Manchester City fan who plans to attend the FA cup semi-final against Liverpool, but is it not wrong to hold that match between two north-west teams at Wembley on a weekend when there are no trains running from the north-west to London? What influence will the Government use to get the FA to sort this problem out, ideally by moving the semi-final to another venue? Is this not just further evidence that we need the voice of fans in football decision making, and that the fan-led review needs to be urgently implemented in full?

Covid Vaccine Passports

Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Jeff Smith

Wednesday 8th September 2021 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Let us hear from the former voice of the DJs of the north—Jeff Smith.

[Jeff Smith (Manchester, Withington) (Lab)]

Thank you, Mr Speaker. As somebody who worked in nightclubs for 25-plus years, let me tell the Minister that this is a recipe for chaos on the doors of nightclubs. As my hon. Friend the Member for Feltham and Heston (Seema Malhotra) said—and as I said to the Minister the other day—the Night Time Industries Association has said that this will cripple the industry. This industry has been massively hard hit and it relies on walk-up trade; this is going make it impossible for nightclubs to run.

Let me ask the Minister two questions. First, how does he define a nightclub, as opposed to a late bar with a DJ playing music? Secondly, there is no rationale for this—as the hon. Member for Lincoln (Karl MᶜCartney) said, nightclubs have been open for weeks—so why close them now? Why require vaccine passport for nightclubs, as opposed to other crowded indoor venues, such as the Chamber and the voting Lobby of the House of Commons?

[Nadhim Zahawi]

That is an important question. As I said earlier, part of the trials gave us the confidence that we can do this and do it well. These passports have already been implemented for international travel and other countries in Europe have them for nightclubs. We think this is the right thing to do to help us transition the virus from pandemic to endemic status. We will be coming forward with the details for parliamentary scrutiny in due course.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Jeff Smith

Thursday 28th January 2021 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

You should see the railway station at Coppull.

[Jeff Smith [V]]

The Committee on Climate Change has reported that aviation accounted for 8% of UK emissions in 2019, before the pandemic stopped flights. I am pleased that the Government have finally indicated that they will bring forward a support package for aviation this autumn, but will this be conditional on action to tackle emissions in the climate crisis?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Jeff Smith

Wednesday 11th November 2020 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I think Allan Dorans has been cut off in his prime, so I call Jeff Smith.

[Jeff Smith]

What is the Minister’s understanding of the application of the furlough scheme in Scotland and the other nations of the UK, given that Scotland is operating under a different tier system and different lockdown restrictions?