International Men’s Day
Nia Griffith Excerpts(1 week, 6 days ago)
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The Minister for Equalities (Dame Nia Griffith)
Before I start my speech, I would like to pay a huge tribute to Lord Prescott, even though he caused great consternation to my hon. Friend the Member for Newport East (Jessica Morden) when she was standing right behind him as general secretary of Welsh Labour during a certain incident in north Wales. I am sure John would have welcomed today’s debate, campaigning as tirelessly as he did to extend opportunities, champion worker’s rights and, as mentioned by the Liberal Democrat spokesperson, the hon. Member for Winchester (Dr Chambers), open up on his own mental health. My sincere sympathies go to his family at this time. He will be sorely missed, but fondly remembered.
We have had a very positive and constructive debate today, in that lovely consensual way on a Thursday afternoon when we look at the real issues and think how we can tackle them and what we need to do. I am pleased to respond in this debate, celebrating International Men’s Day and joining 80 countries in marking the contribution that men make to our world. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Bishop Auckland (Sam Rushworth) for making sure we have this opportunity. He is the vice-chair of the APPG on men and boys’ issues, and now we have found out who the chair is: the shadow spokesperson, the hon. Member for East Grinstead and Uckfield (Mims Davies). I am sure there is a great partnership there and that we will hear a great deal more from them about the priorities and the things that we need to tackle.
I thank all Members who have taken part in the debate. We have certainly had a very thoughtful array of contributions. In particular, my hon. Friend the Member for Bishop Auckland, who opened the discussion today, was man enough and brave enough to open up about his own issues and how he shared those with one of his local groups. So many local groups and the excellent work that they have done have been mentioned in today’s debate. As my hon. Friend outlined, some of the main issues are health, suicide, crime—whether it be committing a crime or being a victim of a crime—exclusion from schools, social and cultural expectations, and the need for positive male role models. There was, of course, also a large focus on mental health, education, entertainment and the position of influencers.
My hon. Friend the Member for Brent East (Dawn Butler) mentioned a number of very important organisations in her constituency. She spoke about prostate cancer and that pernicious issue of the subculture, incel, and the harm that it is causing. We then heard from the hon. Member for Broadland and Fakenham (Jerome Mayhew) who mentioned his own excellent volunteer groups, including the Aylsham men’s shed. My hon. Friend the Member for Leyton and Wanstead (Mr Bailey) talked about young men, who, when genuinely considering teenage issues such as body image and relationships in a perfectly normal way, are targeted by extremists with horrendous misogyny, bigotry and homophobia. They are being set against the institutions that keep our society together. There is so much that we need to do in that area. As my hon. Friend mentioned, it is about restoring young men’s hope—restoring hope that they have a future—and helping them to achieve their goals.
My hon. Friend the Member for Leeds Central and Headingley (Alex Sobel) focused very clearly on the issues of trans men and transphobia. I would just say to him that the Government are absolutely committed to ensuring that trans people can receive the care and support that they need when accessing NHS services. We frequently engage with a wide range of stakeholders in this area, including the LGBT+ health adviser, Dr Michael Grady.
My hon. Friend the Member for Darlington (Lola McEvoy) spoke about the need for men to talk and to be able to access the services that they need. She talked about a whole range of services, right from the time of needing paternity leave through to the needs of veterans—the whole age range of need for support for men.
My hon. Friend the Member for Rugby (John Slinger) talked about tackling stereotypes. That reminded me of a quite old-fashioned headteacher, who I once worked under in a school in Swansea. She said to the boys, “If you want to be in the rugby team, you must be in the choir.” That is the same sort of idea: breaking down the stereotypes that men should not be doing artistic, wonderful and creative things as well as physical things. My hon. Friend also mentioned the tragedy of suicides and again talked about the organisations in his constituency that have done very good work in helping men in that respect.
My hon. Friend the Member for Bracknell (Peter Swallow) talked about stereotypes and the pressure of those stereotypes, men’s suicide, the need for mental health support for men and the need to encourage men to talk. The spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats, the hon. Member for Winchester (Dr Chambers), talked about farmers and how extraordinary and welcome it is to find middle-aged farmers now opening up. Again, he mentioned the issue of prostate cancer and how, as a doctor, he would advise every man to get checked. He stressed the importance of being open about health and talking about it.
Dame Nia Griffith
I remember the hon. Member’s maiden speech. I remember it very clearly. None of us will ever forget it.
Dame Nia Griffith
No, but I am sure, that, as a vet, the hon. Member would still urge men to get checked out. Lastly, the Opposition spokesperson, the hon. Member for East Grinstead and Uckfield, talked about the collegiate debate that we have had, how male allies help on women’s issues and women allies help on male issues, and the importance of voluntary groups and positive role models, which are so important in this area.
Many men and boys with mental health issues are still not getting the support and care that they need, with men shockingly three times more likely to die from suicide than women. That is why this Government will fix the broken system and ensure that we give mental health the same attention and focus as physical health. We intend to provide access to specialist mental health professionals in every school in England, and recruit an additional 8,500 mental health workers across children and adult services. We have already started to make changes. Earlier this month, we introduced the Mental Health Bill, which will modernise the Mental Health Act 1983. The Bill will ensure not only that our legislation is fit for the 21st century, but that men and boys get the crucial support that they need.
Men are three times more likely to die from suicide than women, and this Government are committed to tackling suicide as one of the country’s biggest killers. As part of that, the 8,500 new mental health staff we will recruit will be specifically trained to support people at risk, to reduce the lives lost to suicide. The suicide prevention strategy for England published in September 2023 identifies a number of groups for tailored or targeted action at a national level, including children and young people and middle-aged men, and we are exploring opportunities to go further.
Some 79 organisations have been allocated funding from the two-year 2023 to 2025 £10 million suicide prevention grant fund, and are delivering a broad and diverse range of activity that will prevent suicide and help to save lives. The charity Second Step in Bristol, for example, provides men who are in psychological distress or have recently self-harmed but are not in contact with mental health services with short-term emotional and practical support interventions via its Hope Project, including developing support plans that give people hope. Users of the service have said that this work is life changing.
While we know that there are gendered health impacts, there is still much that we do not know; however, we remain determined to reduce health inequalities wherever they fall. As I mentioned, one thing that we can all get behind is working with NHS England, which is partnering with Prostate Cancer UK. I repeat the message of that important campaign: “Use Prostate Cancer UK’s risk checker, understand your level of risk, and make an informed choice about whether to have further tests.” We are working with Prostate Cancer UK to launch TRANSFORM, a nationwide screening study supported by £16 million of Government funding, so that we can ensure that men receive a diagnosis as soon as possible.
Some illnesses are simply more prevalent among men. Men are more likely than women to consume alcohol at harmful levels. They are also more likely to smoke and suffer from addiction. Ensuring that they have access to help and support that works for them is crucial to breaking the cycle. That is why it is so important that in addition to the public health grant, the Department of Health and Social Care has allocated local authorities a further £267 million in 2024-25 to improve the quality and capacity of drug and alcohol treatment and recovery. Alongside the steps that we are taking to support smokers to quit and to provide gambling support services, that represents a huge commitment to ensuring that men are able to break the cycle of addiction and disadvantage.
We know that the pressure on men, particularly young men, to achieve an idealised body image has increased in recent years. While the impact of body image on girls has been taken seriously, when it comes to boys it can be trivialised, despite having wide-reaching consequences. That is why through statutory health education, secondary school pupils are taught about the similarities and differences between the online world and the physical world. Body image is explicitly covered in the topic of internet safety and harms, but can also be covered in topics such as respectful relationships, online relationships, online media, mental wellbeing, and physical health and fitness. The teacher training modules of those topics are free to download.
In trying to combat some of the online misogyny and undesirable influences that we have heard about, I would like to mention one initiative in Wales, where influencers and role models from Welsh sports teams, music and popular entertainment streaming, such as reality television, are used to generate a positive response. For example, Ben Davies, Joe Morrell and David Brooks from the Wales football team got together for a locker-room chat on positive masculinity and what men can do to help women feel safe in public. The content was released to tie in with Wales’s Euro qualifiers and White Ribbon Day.
We have heard about the many problems, but of course there is hope. I pay huge tribute to all those organisations working hard to make this hope a reality and offering support, whether in a small or more extended way, to men up and down the country. I highlight the work of Llanelli men’s shed in my constituency, which recently moved into new premises in North Dock. It is part of Men’s Sheds Cymru and the wider Men’s Sheds movement across the UK. Men’s Sheds and other organisations like it create those important spaces to improve men’s health and wellbeing. Last year, I met an inspirational men’s support group run by the Stroke Association where men can discuss how stroke has affected them physically, mentally and emotionally.
I assure the House that we as a Government take seriously all the issues raised, and I look forward to hearing many more discussions about the issues and problems men face and the wonderful work being done to help men. Long may we continue to work together to tackle the challenges that men can face.
Oral Answers to Questions
Nia Griffith Excerpts(4 weeks ago)
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Clive Jones (Wokingham) (LD)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Wales (Dame Nia Griffith)
I recently met the Deputy First Minister of Wales to discuss a range of matters relating to farming. In September, the inter-ministerial group meeting on rural affairs agreed to improve food security and environmental land management by increasing the exchange of data and insights on farming support schemes. I was also pleased to see the Budget protecting Welsh farm budgets at current levels for the financial year.
Clive Jones
The Secretary of State, while in opposition, warned that the New Zealand trade deal would push Welsh farmers into bankruptcy and noted that Australian meat was produced at a far lower standard than in Wales. I agree. My constituents want high-quality Welsh lamb, beef and chicken. Will the Minister therefore push her colleagues in the Department for Business and Trade to review the Australia and New Zealand trade agreement and get it right for our farming communities?
Dame Nia Griffith
The hon. Member will know as well as I do that the new Leader of the Opposition is the one who sold our farmers down the river, negotiating deals with places such as Australia and leaving our farmers open to increasing quotas on imported meat. I assure him that this Government are committed to promoting robust standards, nationally and internationally, to protect consumer interests and to ensure that consumers have confidence in the food that they buy. We will consider the full range of tools at our disposal to uphold the UK’s commitment to high standards. That includes using our influence in the World Trade Organisation and other multilateral bodies to argue for better and fairer trading rules.
Steve Witherden (Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr) (Lab)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Wales (Dame Nia Griffith)
Our mission to kick-start economic growth will deliver good jobs and growth in Wales. Just last month, our international investment summit secured over £63 billion in private investment into the UK. Since July, we have secured over £1 billion of investment into north Wales, creating and sustaining 400 well-paid jobs in manufacturing.
Steve Witherden
The Secretary of State has said that economic growth is her No. 1 priority. Can the Minister say how the Budget’s confirmation of the investment zones will help contribute to that aim?
Dame Nia Griffith
The Budget includes a total of £320 million and a commitment for the investment zones in Cardiff and Newport and in Wrexham and Flintshire. This is a crucial part of our work with the Welsh Government to provide a rocket boost for sectoral strengths such as the creative industries, the life sciences and advanced manufacturing, including our world-leading compound semiconductor cluster.
Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)
There is great potential for creating new jobs in wind energy and sea energy in Wales. We in Northern Ireland, and in Belfast in particular, have the engineering skills to provide the turbines for that energy production. Everyone would gain: Wales would get the jobs, and Northern Ireland would get the jobs as well.
Dame Nia Griffith
This Government are absolutely committed to economic growth across all parts of the United Kingdom.
Draft Government of Wales Act 2006 (Devolved Welsh Authorities) (Amendment) Order 2024
Nia Griffith Excerpts(1 month, 3 weeks ago)
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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Wales (Dame Nia Griffith)
I beg to move,
That the Committee has considered the draft Government of Wales Act 2006 (Devolved Welsh Authorities) (Amendment) Order 2024.
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Vickers, and indeed, it is a pleasure to lead my first debate of this nature as a Wales Office Minister. The draft order, which was laid on 21 May 2024, will make modifications to the list of devolved Welsh authorities in schedule 9A to the Government of Wales Act 2006 in the light of the Senedd’s Tertiary Education and Research (Wales) Act 2022.
The 2022 Act provided for the establishment of the new Commission for Tertiary Education and Research—also known as Medr—which came into operation from August this year. The commission is now the regulatory body responsible for the funding, oversight and regulation of tertiary education and research, encompassing all post-16 education in Wales. To that end, it took on the functions of the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales, which has been dissolved.
The Government of Wales Act established a delineation between devolved Welsh authorities and reserved public authorities. Devolved Welsh authorities are those that are accountable to Welsh Ministers and to the Senedd. Conversely, reserved public authorities are accountable to the UK Government and to Parliament.
Section 157A of the 2006 Act defines devolved Welsh authorities as a public authority whose functions
“are exercisable only in relation to Wales”
and which
“wholly or mainly…do not relate to reserved matters.”
The Commission for Tertiary Education and Research meets those conditions and is therefore a devolved Welsh authority.
In addition, a public authority is a devolved Welsh authority if it is included in the list in schedule 9A to the 2006 Act. That list also serves helpfully to confirm the public authorities that meet the definition. Section 157A(5) of that Act includes a power to amend that schedule so as to add, remove or revise entries to reflect changes in the landscape of devolved Welsh authorities.
Accordingly, this draft order, which was laid under the previous Administration, will remove the reference to
“The Higher Education Funding Council for Wales or Cyngor Cyllido Addysg Uwch Cymru”,
which has been dissolved, and replace it with
“The Commission for Tertiary Education and Research or Comisiwn Addysg Drydyddol ac Ymchwil”
to reflect the changes brought about by the 2022 Act. This ensures that the list remains up to date.
In line with requirements in section 157A of the Government of Wales Act, I am pleased to confirm that the draft order was approved by the Senedd on 18 June. I also welcome the positive work that has taken place between the Wales Office and Welsh Government officials in preparing it. I therefore commend the order to the House.
Dame Nia Griffith
I thank the Opposition spokesperson for his contribution this morning, but I would just like to take issue with this: it is quite extraordinary that he can stand there and talk about funding—of all the things to talk about. We know that the settlement to the Welsh Government has been very considerably reduced over the last 14 years, and that has to lie at the feet of the former Government. That is entirely their responsibility, and how that very small cake is then divided up is an enormous challenge. But I digress, Mr Vickers, and I am sure that you as Chair would not wish me to dwell further on this issue.
I simply say that the order will make the changes to the list of devolved Welsh authorities in schedule 9A of the 2006 Act to take account of the establishment of the Commission for Tertiary Education and Research and the dissolution of the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales. I offer my thanks for the productive manner in which the UK and Welsh Governments have worked in preparing this draft order, and I commend it to the Committee.
Question put and agreed to.
Oral Answers to Questions
Nia Griffith Excerpts(2 months, 3 weeks ago)
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Claire Hughes (Bangor Aberconwy) (Lab)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Wales (Dame Nia Griffith)
This Government’s No. 1 mission is to kick-start economic growth across the United Kingdom. Wales can be at the forefront of that mission, with renewable energy, advanced manufacturing, our vibrant creative sector, fintech and the life sciences each offering huge opportunities to create jobs and drive growth.
Torsten Bell
I thank the Minister for her answer and congratulate her on her appointment. Welsh universities are central to economic growth in many of our communities, but these are difficult times: Swansea University has already seen 200 voluntary redundancies, and many more are happening across Wales. Our universities are affected by decisions of the Welsh Government as well as those of the UK Government, so can the Minister update the House on how the two Governments will work together to nurture those crucial institutions?
Dame Nia Griffith
I welcome my hon. Friend to his place, and am very sorry to hear about the recent redundancies at Swansea University. Only last week, the Secretary of State and I met with Professor Paul Boyle, vice-chancellor of Swansea University and chair of Universities Wales, to discuss the challenges facing Welsh institutions and ways of supporting the higher education sector in Wales. We recognise that Welsh universities, including Swansea, have a huge contribution to make, both to our mission of growth in the economy and within their local regions. Colleagues at all levels in the UK and Welsh Governments are working closely together to safeguard those universities’ potential amid the difficult economic circumstances we have inherited.
Claire Hughes
As has already been said, passengers on the north Wales coast are being let down by the poor performance of Avanti. This issue is affecting passengers and businesses, and hampering economic growth in my constituency of Bangor Aberconwy. What specific discussions has the Secretary of State had with our right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Transport on this issue?
Dame Nia Griffith
I welcome my hon. Friend to her place. As she quite rightly says, transport plays an essential role in driving economic growth across Wales. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State met the Transport Secretary last week to discuss rail connectivity, including the performance of Avanti. As the Secretary of State has set out, the Government are clear that the performance of Avanti has not been good enough, with too many cancellations and delays. So Ministers and officials are now holding regular performance reviews with Avanti and Network Rail, and monitoring Avanti West Coast compliance with its contractual obligations, with the aim of securing better services for her constituents.
Carla Lockhart (Upper Bann) (DUP)
One of the biggest contributions to economic growth is the agrifood sector. With today being Back British Farming Day, does the Minister agree that farmers, whether they be in Wales or Northern Ireland, need the support of this Government to ensure they reach their full potential to contribute to economic growth?
Dame Nia Griffith
As the hon. Member quite rightly says, farmers make a huge contribution both to the economic growth of this country and to our food security. That is why we are absolutely determined to work hand in hand with the Welsh Government to ensure that we can offer the very best to our Welsh farmers.
Sir Ashley Fox (Bridgwater) (Con)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Wales (Dame Nia Griffith)
Nuclear energy can play an important role in helping to achieve energy security and clean power, while providing thousands of skilled jobs. Great British Nuclear has acquired the Wylfa site with a view to developing a new nuclear project. Decisions on the project and the technologies to be deployed at Wylfa will be made in due course.
Sir Ashley Fox
The last Government announced the biggest expansion in nuclear power for 70 years, including the commissioning of Hinkley Point C in Somerset. Does the Minister agree that a new nuclear power plant at Wylfa is vital to the UK’s energy security, and can she give a timeline for its development?
Dame Nia Griffith
As a previously designated nuclear site that has hosted nuclear power, Wylfa is ideally placed either to be used for large-scale nuclear, or to be used for a series of small modular reactors. We will be setting out our plans for the site in due course.
David Chadwick (Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe) (LD)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Wales (Dame Nia Griffith)
This Government are committed to improving digital connectivity, as demonstrated by our commitment to full gigabit and national 5G coverage by 2030. I have recently met internet and mobile providers as well as Ofcom. The hon. Member will be aware that, thanks to the UK Government’s shared rural network, 4G connectivity has been boosted in his constituency as a result of the activation last month of two additional masts.
David Chadwick
Many of my constituents living in areas such as Llanwrthwl and Llanafan Fawr have been missed out by previous roll-out schemes. Are the Government committed to ensuring that funding is available to ensure that people living in so-called hard-to-reach areas can be connected?
Dame Nia Griffith
I very much appreciate the concern that the hon. Member has for his constituents, particularly in a rural area that has so many challenges for connectivity. I can tell him that over 90% of premises in his constituency can access superfast broadband speeds. To extend gigabit-capable coverage further, approximately 3,000 premises in his constituency are currently expected to receive gigabit-capable connection through the Project Gigabit cross regional procurement framework. Alongside this, there are 21 voucher projects across the constituency, which will cover approximately 5,000 premises. However, if he has any concerns, perhaps he could come and see me on the matter.
Jerome Mayhew (Broadland and Fakenham) (Con)