Oral Answers to Questions

Liz Twist Excerpts

Wednesday 7th February 2024 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I know the whole House will join me in commending my hon. Friend for his bravery in sharing his story and I can absolutely assure him that we take this issue incredibly seriously. The new suicide prevention strategy ensures that we will have the actions in place to reduce suicide over the next years, because we absolutely recognise the impact that it has on people and their families, and we should do everything we can to prevent that from happening.

[Liz Twist (Blaydon) (Lab)]

Q7. May I take this opportunity to ask the Prime Minister if he will consider apologising to Brianna Ghey’s mother for his insensitive comment? Turning to my question, the independent report into Teesworks released last Monday throws up more questions than it answers. It is vital that we now have a National Audit Office investigation. The report was scathing and said that there is insufficient transparency to offer evidence of value for money. Should the Government not lead by example, and will the Prime Minister finally release details of his conversations surrounding Teesworks, as he was asked to do twice last year?

[The Prime Minister]

I think the hon. Lady was talking about the report on Teesworks, as far as I can see. What that report noted was that the pace and scope of the regeneration had had a wide-reaching positive impact on the local economy—and of course it was an independent external report. It makes it clear that there is no evidence of corruption or illegality and the Government will of course respond to the recommendations in the report as soon as possible.