Oral Answers to Questions

Linsey Farnsworth Excerpts

Thursday 23rd April 2026 Commons Chamber

[Neil Duncan-Jordan (Poole) (Lab)]

2. What steps he is taking to improve transparency in public procurement.

[Linsey Farnsworth (Amber Valley) (Lab)]

3. What steps his Department is taking to modernise public procurement.

[Justin Madders (Ellesmere Port and Bromborough) (Lab)]

10. What steps he is taking to reform public procurement.

--- Later in debate ---

[Chris Ward]

The Government are, of course, concerned about the risks that my hon. Friend has mentioned. There are strong safeguards in the Procurement Act 2023 to preserve the integrity of the procurement process, but the elections Bill that this Government are introducing will tighten up the regulation of donations, including through a ban on crypto donations.

[Linsey Farnsworth]

Yesterday in this House, when I asked the Minister to include ceramics in the “back British business” procurement strategy, he said that the strategy only covers four sectors that are deemed vital to national security, while acknowledging that he would like to go further. Since then, a further 49 workers have been made redundant at Denby Pottery in my constituency. Ministers across Departments repeat the same message, but the sector cannot wait. More than 50,000 people are backing the #SaveDenby campaign by buying Denby pottery and signing a petition calling for the ceramics industry to be in the British industry supercharger scheme. Will the Minister commit today to matching that public support by including ceramics within the scope of the new public procurement changes before more jobs are lost?

[Chris Ward]

I thank my hon. Friend for raising this issue again. As I said in the House yesterday, Denby is an iconic British manufacturer, and I know the anxiety that the workforce will feel at the moment. Ceramics is not part of the original four sectors, but I do not want to stop with those four; we want to go further, and I am happy to meet my hon. Friend to discuss this issue and work with her on it. I should add that we have announced wider measures that will benefit the ceramics sector, including changes to how we calculate social value and the impact on local communities and jobs. However, I get her point, and I will happily meet her to discuss it.

Government Procurement Strategy

Linsey Farnsworth Excerpts

Wednesday 22nd April 2026 Commons Chamber

[Chris Ward]

I agree that more money from the procurement budget should be going to SMEs, and we are already taking steps to do that. We have announced powers so that contracts can be reserved in local communities and we have increased the amount of Government spending. As I have said, the spending targets across Whitehall mean that for the first time over £7 billion of Government money will now go to SMEs. I am working closely with the Federation of Small Businesses and lots of small businesses on that. I thank the FSB and others because the reforms announced today, which are aimed at supporting SMEs and voluntary sector organisations, have been designed in collaboration with them. They know that the system is not working, just as I know it is not working, and we need to get more money down to those businesses. So we have done a bit—we have done a lot of stuff—but there is a lot more do to, and the strategy is part of that.

[Linsey Farnsworth (Amber Valley) (Lab)]

As the Member for Amber Valley, I represent Denby Pottery, which sadly is in administration and I am desperately trying to save it. It is a joy in this House to use crockery made in the UK, and I welcome the Minister’s recent announcement on procurement, but I have written to ask him to go further by including ceramics—I look forward to receiving his response in due course. May I take this opportunity to repeat my request so that we do not lose a whole sector by degree?

[Chris Ward]

I appreciate how important Denby Pottery is to my hon. Friend’s constituency and how difficult it will be for workers there at the moment. I understand that Government officials have been working with Denby Pottery in recent weeks to ensure that support is in place as the administration process unfolds, and I hope that will support the workers affected as much as possible. I think she will have some support from Members on the Bench behind her on the broader point about the ceramics industry. In this package I have announced that we will look at the four sectors that are immediately critical to national security using the existing powers we have. That is not where I want to stop, but it is what I can do at the moment. I want to go further, and I am very happy to work with my hon. Friend and others to try to do so.

Oral Answers to Questions

Linsey Farnsworth Excerpts

Wednesday 17th December 2025 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Happy Christmas! I saw that the hon. Member was asking the public to suggest questions for today. I actually put in a bid—I filled it in—but I assume that he missed my question. I said he should ask about the 6,000 well-paid, high-skilled jobs that we have secured in his constituency to build Typhoons, thanks to an £8 billion deal with Turkey. I am disappointed that he did not want to talk about good, well-paid jobs in his constituency that have been secured by this Labour Government.

[Linsey Farnsworth (Amber Valley) (Lab)]

Q10. Just days before Christmas, heartbroken Derbyshire families and staff have learned that the Reform-led council is closing eight care homes, including Rowthorne in Amber Valley. That comes just days after we learned that the council’s cost-saving claims were entirely fabricated. Does the Prime Minister agree that when Reform talks about DOGE, it is actually talking about cutting vital public services such as care homes? Will he join me in urging Derbyshire county council to think again?

[The Prime Minister]

It is deeply concerning to hear about the closure of eight Derbyshire care homes by the Reform-led Derbyshire county council. It will be hugely concerning to residents and their families, while we are making £3.7 billion of extra funding available to councils to fund social care. Let me say to the hon. Member for Clacton (Nigel Farage), who is relaxing in the lounge, that Christmas is a time for forgiveness. It is never too late to apologise to former classmates.

Digital ID

Linsey Farnsworth Excerpts

Monday 8th December 2025 Westminster Hall

[Linsey Farnsworth (Amber Valley) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Edward. Hon. Members should note that, in the interests of time, I do not intend to take any interventions.

I have had hundreds of emails from constituents about digital ID. Some are entirely supportive, some are completely against it, but most lie somewhere in between. Many who fall in that category are hesitant because they are uncertain why digital ID is being introduced, what it will look like, when they will use it, how information will be stored and how their data will be protected. I know that colleagues and the Minister have been working hard on developing the framework for what the roll-out of digital ID will look like. However, my inbox reflects a broader point.

Since the announcement of digital ID in late September, there has been much misinformation and a lack of information, which has led to two things. First, people are left without a clear understanding of how digital ID will be used and why such modernisation is important. Secondly and more worryingly, some people have been left fearing the worst: that digital ID will be used for surveillance, tracking and authoritarian crackdown rather than the positive case, as the Government suggest, for enabling people to start work more quickly, for better control of our borders, and for people’s own convenience. My 18-year-old son shares my youthful looks, so he is glad of his digital proof of age because it lets him go to the pub now that he is at university without any issues. And my younger son would have welcomed digital ID this weekend when he was turned away from a cinema because he could not prove that he was over 15.

However, if the implementation of digital IDs is to be effective and well received, I ask the Minister to provide assurances to my constituents in Amber Valley that the concerns that have been raised today, particularly surrounding data protection and security, will be addressed. I welcome the fact that the Government’s announcement made it clear that there would be public consultation on digital ID, so please can the Minister today confirm when the consultation will be open and how people can take part, so that my constituents in Amber Valley can make their views heard on this incredibly important matter?

Oral Answers to Questions

Linsey Farnsworth Excerpts

Wednesday 12th November 2025 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I absolutely recognise the need to address the imbalance between electricity and gas prices. We are exploring options to create a fairer system, and I am happy for Ministers to keep the hon. Member updated on what we are looking at. It is thanks to those levies and Labour’s expansion of the warm homes discount that 6 million families will be getting £150 off their energy bills this winter. I know that he will welcome the £33 billion in investment from SSE, helping to connect clean energy to areas across Scotland where it is most needed.

[Linsey Farnsworth (Amber Valley) (Lab)]

Q8. Prior to the general election, the Health Secretary visited Amber Valley and declared it an NHS dentistry desert. Since then, I have secured £240,000 of additional funding, encouraged my constituents to access the 16,300 emergency appointments in Derbyshire, and last week secured thousands of extra units of dental activity, but there is more to do. Can the Prime Minister update me on the progress of the contract negotiations with the British Dental Association and the timescale that the Department is working to?

[The Prime Minister]

I am appalled that we inherited such a situation where tooth decay is the most common reason that children between five and nine are admitted to hospital—in every children’s hospital on the Conservatives’ watch. I was very shocked when I first heard that, at Alder Hey hospital up in the north-west. More children between the ages of five and nine are being admitted to have their teeth taken out because they are rotting than for any other operation. That was the Conservatives’ record, and they should just be ashamed of it. That is why I am determined to rebuild NHS dentistry. I can confirm that discussions are under way with the sector, including the British Dental Association, on fundamental reform of the dental contract to get my hon. Friend’s constituents the care that they need and deserve.

UK-EU Summit

Linsey Farnsworth Excerpts

Tuesday 20th May 2025 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

We had a clear red line in our manifesto on freedom of movement. We did that because we had a referendum, and at the heart of that referendum, or one of the key issues, was freedom of movement. Everybody made their case and the country voted to leave. We respect that and that is why we put the red line in. What we have now negotiated is a scheme that does not cross our red lines, but is good for young people both here and in Europe.

[Linsey Farnsworth (Amber Valley) (Lab)]

I would like to turn to the co-operation aspect of the agreement, on which I congratulate the Prime Minister. When I was an international liaison prosecutor, my colleagues and I in the Crown Prosecution Service, Eurojust and Europol were relieved when the trade and co-operation agreement was finally agreed. Does the Prime Minister agree with me that this new deal enhances and improves our ability to tackle cross-border serious and organised crime, and to keep the people of the UK safe?

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my hon. Friend for her previous work. One of the important things I was able to do when I was chief prosecutor was to play a part in Eurojust. Before we left the EU, we could play our full part in Eurojust. That meant we shared evidence, strategy, arrest arrangements and issues about where a case would be prosecuted. We want to ensure that we improve law enforcement by making sure that, wherever we can, we can co-operate better with Europe. That was not possible under the deal that the Conservative party negotiated. I want to make sure that we have better co-operation on criminal justice issues.