Business of the House

Munira Wilson Excerpts

Thursday 14th September 2023 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

I am sorry to hear about the situation in my hon. Friend’s constituency. The Government are committed to ensuring that by 2030 half of all journeys in towns and cities are walked or cycled, and enabling more choice about how people get around. That is good for them and for the environment. We have invested more than £600 million in active travel since 2020. That is a record amount of funding, with further investment coming this financial year. Of course, that is a good thing only if local authorities are spending that money well and things are being designed well. I shall make sure that the relevant Departments have heard his concerns and, again, offer some advice as to how he can ensure that this situation is mitigated and in future years rectified.

[Munira Wilson (Twickenham) (LD)]

Figures out this week show that the Government target for secondary school teachers entering training was missed by a whopping 48%. Schools are already struggling to find specialist teachers for their pupils and some schools, including the brilliant Turing House School in my constituency, have had to drop offering computer science at A-level because they cannot find a specialist teacher. The Prime Minister says that he wants our country to be a leader in AI, yet we cannot find the teachers to teach some of those skills. The figures are woeful; only three subjects met their targets—classics, physical education and history. I raised the issue with the Leader of the House back in June and asked for an urgent debate on the crisis in teacher training, recruitment and retention. Given that there is no legislation for us to consider, will she grant an urgent debate in Government time on the issue?

[Penny Mordaunt]

The hon. Lady will know that across all disciplines we have increased the number of teachers by close to 30,000. I am happy to raise the issue of specialist teachers in the specific disciplines she mentioned with the Secretary of State for Education, as Education questions is not until 23 October. We are introducing an enormous amount of legislation but we have given time to the Backbench Business Committee. She will have heard the advert that the hon. Member for Gateshead (Ian Mearns) gave earlier and she will know how to apply for a debate. I encourage her to do so, but I will ensure that the Secretary of State for Education has heard what she said.

Business of the House

Munira Wilson Excerpts

Thursday 8th June 2023 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

I am sorry to hear about this case. My hon. Friend will know how to apply for a debate, which I am sure that many Members would want to attend, but she is right to say that this is a time-sensitive matter for her constituent. I know that the Department of Health and the Care Quality Commission have been working with private providers to ensure continuity of care for patients affected by the retirement of their current prescriber, so I will write today to the Department and ask that officials immediately contact my hon. Friend’s office to see whether the work they have been doing can assist her constituent, who should have access to the medical care they need.

[Munira Wilson (Twickenham) (LD)]

New figures published this morning show that almost a third of teachers quit within five years of qualifying. The Government miss their own teacher training targets so often that they are not worth the paper they are written on. Our children are being let down as a result, and millions are being taught by teachers who are not qualified in their subjects, particularly in maths and physics. May we have an urgent debate in Government time to discuss the crisis in teacher recruitment and retention, so that every child has the opportunity to learn from a great teacher? It is the very least our children deserve.

[Penny Mordaunt]

The hon. Lady is right that every child should have the benefit of excellent teaching, and part of that is ensuring that we have the right number of teachers and in particular that they are teaching their specialist subjects. She will know that teacher numbers are up 2,800 on last year, and the figures out today show a positive trend. It is not just about those numbers but retaining teachers longer, for the wealth of experience they bring to the classroom. Teacher numbers are being increased not just through our moves to address workforce issues but through the reforms that we have brought into schools.

Business of the House

Munira Wilson Excerpts

Thursday 9th March 2023 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

One of the ways in which my hon. Friend can do that is by raising the issue in this House. I am sure that all Members will want to join me and my hon. Friend in praising Tony for his huge achievements. He was recognised with a CBE and remains a very influential person in all aspects of sport. My hon. Friend knows how to apply for a Westminster Hall debate, and she could also use an early-day motion if other Members of the House want to express their support and thanks to him for all he has achieved.

[Munira Wilson (Twickenham) (LD)]

Last night I received a distraught email from a hard-working and dedicated civil servant who lives in my constituency. He described how he and his colleagues are demoralised and tired of being demonised and blamed by Ministers when they are serving the country as best they can, without exception, whatever their personal views of Government policy.

In the light of the Home Secretary’s outrageous email to Conservative party supporters, does the Leader of the House agree that political attacks on the integrity of the civil service are never acceptable, and will she grant a debate in Government time on the importance of Ministers upholding the ministerial code and the work of the civil service?

[Penny Mordaunt]

The fact that this is the third opportunity I have had in this question time to say how much we appreciate the work that civil servants do, and to recognise that they work hard to deliver on the policies of the Government of the day, should give people confidence that that view is shared by Members across the House. That sentiment has been expressed by Members on both sides of the Commons today. I say to the hon. Lady, though, that if we wish to provide reassurance that civil servants are respected and their contribution valued, it is not helpful to attribute the remarks to which she alludes to the Home Secretary. The Home Secretary has very clearly said that those were not her remarks and that she did not approve those remarks, and I know that she would want me to put on the record her thanks to all those in her Department and the agencies that work with them.

Christmas Adjournment

Munira Wilson Excerpts

Tuesday 20th December 2022 Commons Chamber

[Munira Wilson (Twickenham) (LD)]

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Gloucester (Richard Graham). I offer my condolences to him on the loss of his brother and pay tribute to all those who comforted him and his family at the end of life. The hon. Gentleman obviously touched on the health service, which is where I want to focus my remarks. I will touch on rail services if I have time.

I had the privilege of being elected to this place three years and one week ago. I had something of a baptism of fire as a brand-new MP: I was appointed the Liberal Democrats’ health spokesperson and we found ourselves in a global pandemic. Although I spoke a lot about health in my first two years here, that time was understandably dominated by covid and all the surrounding issues.

I wish to spend a little time today touching on the wider challenges facing primary care and ambulance services, not just in my constituency, but, more broadly, in Greater London and across the south-east. I do so not least because with the Government’s levelling up generally focusing on the midlands and the north, London and the south-east, the capital and the commuter belt, have seen and continue to see such huge population growth and have been really underinvested in, particularly in terms of GPs, dentists and ambulance services. I will mention a few places today and I humbly request the Leader of the House to ask Ministers at the Department of Health and Social Care to visit some of them, so that they can see at the coal face across the south-east some of the challenges that residents, patients and health workers are facing. On that note, I would like to thank health and care workers across my constituency and across the country for the amazing job they do, day in, day out, in the most difficult circumstances.

Earlier this year, I was alerted to a shocking case in my constituency, that of a full-time carer in Hampton who looks after her daughter with special needs. As she could not find access to an NHS dentist in the entire area, having rung each one faithfully, she had to use her disability benefits, her food and her heating money to pay for her daughter to go private. She even begged one dentist to allow her daughter to take her place on the NHS list. I pay tribute to Healthwatch Richmond, which works in my constituency and with Healthwatch England to secure extra money for dentistry. Frankly, however, that has been a drop in the ocean. We know that the national average is that nine out of 10 NHS dentists are not accepting new patients and that this rises to a shocking 98% out towards the south-west of the country. That means that people are suffering in pain or, as I have described, are forced to fork out for private care, in the middle of a cost of living crisis. Just down the train line from my constituency, no dental practices are taking on new NHS patients in areas such as Wokingham—not a single one of the 12 practices across that town is doing so. I ask the Leader of the House to ask DHSC Ministers to go to Wokingham to see for themselves how this underfunding is bringing the local dentistry and health services to their knees. We know that without core preventive care, be it in oral health or in other areas, things just end up in crisis care, often at accident and emergency, and we do not want that being replicated in constituencies across the country. I hope that the Minister will heed Liberal Democrat calls for the dental contract to be fundamentally reformed—we are not just talking about the tinkering around the edges announced in November—and for a real focus on long-term workforce planning.

The strains on essential primary care services such as dentistry and access to GPs are well reported. Unfortunately, but understandably, they often lead to frustration for patients. There are those who are understandably desperate for an appointment, given the challenges of their situation. The fact that NHS services are under strain is not the fault of those working in the NHS—I would lay that squarely at the Government’s feet. That means that hard-working primary care staff are often on the receiving end of some of the strain that constituents are feeling, especially those who are administering the system, who are often wrongly and pejoratively referred to as “faceless bureaucrats”. I am sorry to say that that is why tomorrow morning I will be having a meeting with partners at a local GP surgery in Hampton Hill, because they wrote to me to raise the issue of the level of abuse their staff receive on a regular basis. That medical centre in my constituency is not alone. Reports reached me recently about a GP surgery just down the road in Walton-on-Thames, in Surrey, where staff were left in tears and needing to call the police about abuse because people were unable to get an appointment. Again, I ask the Leader of the House whether Ministers at the DHSC would visit that surgery in Walton-on-Thames and the one in Hampton Hill to offer an apology to those staff, who are under such immense pressure in our health system. Again, I hope that calls will be heeded to train more GPs by offering more training places to those students who want to go into the medical profession and to look to reform pension rules for more experienced staff.

As we are on the brink of an ambulance workers’ strike tomorrow over pay and conditions, I was alarmed to read the words of one NHS ambulance chief in The Times this morning. He said:

“The best we can hope for is that everyone stays indoors, no one falls over, no one gets ill and no one has a car crash.”

Indeed, a Health and Social Care Minister on 5 Live this morning told people to avoid risky activities, including running, if it is icy.

Having had to take both my young daughter and my elderly father to A&E in recent months, I have seen for myself the level of strain and pressure under which A&E is operating. Obviously, this then translates into the pressures on the London ambulance services that are operating at capacity day in, day out, and that applies to ambulance services across the country.

I was sent a story from Winchester of a 96-year-old woman who slipped and fell and was left in pain on the floor. Thankfully, a neighbour heard and called an ambulance, but that took seven hours to arrive. Even when they arrived at the hospital, it was still another six-hour wait to see a doctor. Again, I hope that Health Ministers will visit that ambulance station and speak to those heroic paramedics to understand the resources that both their ambulance station and the South Central Ambulance Service need in order to improve the waiting times and the care for patients in that area.

My hon. Friend the Member for St Albans (Daisy Cooper) introduced a Bill earlier this year calling for localised waiting times for ambulance services. The Liberal Democrats have also called for rural ambulance stations to be reopened and for urgent funding to recruit paramedics.

In the couple of minutes I have left, I wish to touch on the issue of the South Western Railway service, which has affected my constituency, south-west London, Surrey and a number of other areas down to the south-west of England over the past few days. The Minister may or may not be aware that 40 stations across the South Western Railway network have absolutely no services; they have all been cancelled between now and the new year. That is despite the fact that there are no rail strikes on a number of those days during that period. It is ruining the Christmas break for people who want to visit loved ones, for people who desperately need to get to work and for those who need to attend medical appointments.

I have heard from a police officer in my constituency who is struggling to get to work for his shift and from a cancer nurse, who is not striking today, but who is struggling to get to hospital. Her hospital is having to fork out to pay for overnight stays for staff so that they can be there to treat patients.

The impact on the wider community and the hospitality industry is immense. My local rugby club, Harlequins, was due to have its big match, which it has every year, at the big Twickenham stadium the day after Boxing day. Eighty thousand spectators were expected, but the event has had to be cancelled. Quins lost more than £15 million during covid, and it fears losing, potentially, hundreds of thousands more as a result of having to move the match to March. It employs, both directly and indirectly, hundreds of people in the local area. The matches and the event days benefit local businesses in Twickenham. I implore rail Ministers to work closely with South Western Railway and with RMT to get this overtime ban and the strikes stopped, so that our constituents can get to work and our businesses, which are already struggling, do not go under.

Yesterday, there were reports, again, of schoolchildren in Surrey unable to get to school, because Thames Ditton, Claygate and other stations were closed. In my constituency, Whitton, St Margaret’s and Strawberry Hill are all affected. However, I am very pleased that, as a result of my urgent meeting with South Western Railway yesterday, it was announced, just as I entered this Chamber, that it is now starting to run a few off-peak services, but that is not nearly enough. Our constituents deserve better.

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

I will do a bit of imploring myself. I have 14 names and about an hour and a half left of the debate before we come on to the wind-ups. That gives six minutes or so to each speaker. Please do not wildly go over that, otherwise the person who is last will hardly get any time at all and that is not in the spirit of Christmas.

Business of the House

Munira Wilson Excerpts

Thursday 13th October 2022 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

I have always thought that the people of the United Kingdom are kind, positive and tolerant. We stand up to bullies. We have lively political debate and different views, and that makes us stronger as a nation. I can tell my hon. Friend that, happily, in my experience, political movements based on hatred and division always fail as a consequence, because the British people are better than that. However, organisations that promote such hatred and dissent should be scrutinised.

[Munira Wilson (Twickenham) (LD)]

One in five households with children are struggling with food insecurity, which means that families are skipping meals or going hungry because they simply cannot afford to buy food. The Government’s own adviser, a former health Minister and now the right hon. Member for Surrey Heath (Michael Gove) all agree that every child on universal credit should be eligible for a free school meal. Now that the Schools Bill appears to have been buried in the other place, will the Leader of the House provide Government time for a debate and, crucially, a vote on extending free school meals so that no child goes hungry at school?

[Penny Mordaunt]

The hon. Lady raises an important issue. The Government’s record has been to extend free school meals, and in times of particular challenge and hardship that has been further enhanced. I will make sure that both the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Department for Education hear what she has said and encourage them to update her.

Business of the House

Munira Wilson Excerpts

Thursday 26th May 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mark Spencer]

I am delighted to join the hon. Lady in paying tribute to John; she has done an excellent job of paying tribute to him. I think that celebrating local government and all the sacrifices of those who work in it is worthy of debate. I hope that such a debate would have cross-party support.

[Munira Wilson (Twickenham) (LD)]

I have dozens of constituents who are desperate to bring family members to this country through legal routes, including a father who has been separated from his wife and son for more than six months. His son is due to celebrate his first birthday in July: he will have spent only three months of his life with his father. The reason for the delay in processing the mother’s visa, we are told, is the pressures on the Home Office from Ukrainian visa processing, but let us not forget that it was Ministers who insisted on all the red tape around bringing Ukrainian refugees over. Will the Leader of the House grant time for a debate to discuss delays across the Home Office?

[Mark Spencer]

I am glad that the hon. Lady recognises that legal routes are the best routes to get to the United Kingdom. We have a great track record to celebrate. We are a very compassionate country: we have taken refugees from Syria, Afghanistan and now Ukraine, and that will continue. The Home Office is working very hard to expedite the process as quickly as possible.

Business of the House

Munira Wilson Excerpts

Thursday 2nd December 2021 Commons Chamber

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

My hon. Friend is a tireless campaigner, and he is quite right to support small businesses. There is often very good service from small businesses, and one can help the local economy by encouraging people to shop locally, in farmers markets and so on. I would encourage people to follow the model that my hon. Friend is, in this regard.

[Munira Wilson (Twickenham) (LD)]

Over the past two weeks, the number of pupils absent from schools has risen by 47% to the equivalent of some 8,300 classrooms-worth of children missing from school. As always, the most disadvantaged are disproportionately impacted, so will the Leader of the House please grant a debate to discuss this pressing issue and ensure that we keep schools open through the winter with maximum attendance? This is vital for our children’s wellbeing and learning.

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

I am in considerable agreement with the hon. Lady. It is so important that children are in school. This is very often a question of the way we look at the figures. As I understand it, 88% of pupils are in school. I cannot absolutely swear to that figure, but I think I heard it on the wireless this morning. We want as many children as possible in school, and we want schools to get on with the business of teaching. We want to encourage them to carry on with normal activities. The advice from the Government is for teachers and pupils in secondary schools to wear masks in crowded communal spaces. It is so important that children are in school.

Business of the House

Munira Wilson Excerpts

Thursday 4th March 2021 Commons Chamber

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

I think “Leave It to Psmith” is one of the classic P. G. Wodehouse books. Psmith himself is such a wonderful and engaging character, and I would recommend that book to anybody. Anyone who has not read any P. G. Wodehouse, should start with “Leave It to Psmith” or go for “Psmith in the City”, which is also a great work. If only I wore a monocle, I might be dressing up as Psmith himself.

I so agree with my hon. Friend that reading is one of life’s great joys. Indeed, it has been a small consolation during the pandemic that there has been more time to read because of the inability to carry out normal social activities, and I am sure that has given many people comfort during a difficult period. Children learning to read, beginning to read and beginning to have that pleasure and enthusiasm for words is something that one sees evolve in one’s own children as they develop, and it is greatly to be encouraged with all children across the country.

[Munira Wilson (Twickenham) (LD) [V]]

The Leader of the House will be aware that the Education Secretary recently instructed the Office for Students to cut the London weighting from teaching grants awarded to London universities, as part of Conservative plans to level down London. Given the disproportionate impact that that will have on disadvantaged and ethnic minority students in particular, many of whom commute across the city to attend universities such as St Mary’s in Twickenham, will the Leader of the House grant time for a debate on this discriminatory policy, which is yet another attack by the Conservatives on our capital city?

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

May I agree with the hon. Lady about what a wonderful university St Mary’s in Twickenham is? It is a very impressive institution. The reforms that have been asked for from the Office for Students will ensure that more of taxpayers’ money is spent on supporting higher education provision, which aligns with national priorities. London universities will be able to benefit from the significant uplifts that the Government are making to elements of the grant, including the first real-terms increase in per capita funding for strategically important high-cost subjects, as well as being able to bid for capital investment to support the delivery of strategic subjects. The London weighting accounts for a small proportion of London providers’ income—less than 1% of the estimated total for the 2020-21 academic year. As with all reforms, it is subject to consultation, which the Office for Students will publish shortly. The impact of any changes on providers will be carefully considered, but I would say to the hon. Lady that the policy is to level up the country; it is not a question of doing anything that is the reverse of that. We want every part of the country to be as prosperous as our great bustling metropolis.

Business of the House

Munira Wilson Excerpts

Thursday 26th November 2020 Commons Chamber

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

I completely reject the premise of the last part of the hon. Lady’s question. It is a misrepresentation—an inaccurate representation—of what was found by the Prime Minister earlier in the week. As regards what the Chancellor announced yesterday, it is worth pointing out that private sector wages have fallen by 1% while wages in the public sector have risen by 4% over the last year, and that ultimately, without the private sector, we have no money to afford the public sector. Therefore, there needs to be some degree of parity between the two. Most importantly, the least well-off—those on below the median wage of £24,000 a year—will receive an increase of at least £250 a year, which, with inflation running at 0.5%, is an above-inflation increase.

[Munira Wilson (Twickenham) (LD)]

Yet again yesterday the Chancellor completely overlooked the 3 million people who have been left out of any financial support during the pandemic. The Leader of the House will be aware that the gaps in support all-party parliamentary group is one of the largest APPGs, with 262 MPs, yet the Chancellor has refused to answer many of our letters, to meet us or to engage with representatives of the groups that he has forgotten about. My request to the Leader of the House is very simple: will he ask his right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer to meet representatives of the APPG and the groups that he has neglected?

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

I do not, again, accept that representation of what the Chancellor has done. The Government have provided £280 billion of support. There is support available in different forms for many people across the country, and every effort has been made to support the economy as widely as possible. However, I have always viewed it as my role as Leader of the House to try to facilitate meetings between Members and Ministers. I cannot promise a meeting with the Chancellor of the Exchequer, but I will do my best to try to facilitate a meeting with Ministers in due course for the hon. Lady.