Special Educational Needs and Disabilities: Specialist Workforce

Debate between Virendra Sharma and Rachael Maskell

Wednesday 22nd March 2023 Westminster Hall

[Rachael Maskell (York Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Mr Sharma. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Swansea West (Geraint Davies) on leading today’s debate and concur with all comments made by colleagues across the room.

It is a fight, and it is always a fight, to get the right support in the right place at the right time—that is what parents have consistently told me. That is why we are here today. We have serious concerns about the timing of the Government’s proposals. Already, we are hearing about a specialist workforce group being set up, but it will be two years before we see that workforce plan delivered. On top of that, we have the training time to get those specialists in place to provide the support for young people, and timing is of the essence.

Time is of the essence for parents in my constituency, too. I think about the parents who came to see me because their child goes to specialist provision in the morning, but in the afternoon, is left to play with Lego; or the child who was confronted in their school environment because they did not make eye contact, and was told off and given detention for not doing so; or the parents whose child, who has autism and is non-verbal, despite meeting all the thresholds for an EHCP assessment, has been denied that assessment by their local authority. Children miss out time and again.

Let me speak about one child whose needs were not recognised in primary school. We raised our concerns frequently, but the teachers did not identify his dyslexia and memory and processing issues until the last term of year 6. He did not get the right support and fell further and further behind. His experience of school was horrendous: he had self-esteem issues by year 2 and signs of anxiety in year 3, and he told us that he would rather die than go to school in year 4. In years 5 and 6, the impact of his school experience was huge. Thankfully, he has now had the opportunity that he should have had when he started school, or even pre-school. It is always a fight for parents.

I am also here to fight for the workforce. It needs to be recognised, organised and supported. We are creating family hubs, but we had Sure Start. We brought people together across the professions to work together and wrap the services around the child. We need to reinstitute that. Labour did it, and we will do it again, because we know the importance of that inter-working.

I particularly want to speak up for teaching assistants, who are at the forefront of providing day-by-day support to young people. They know their children and are attuned to their needs. However, in a school in York, their contracts have been reduced to just term-time working, rather than full-time. They are therefore not able to afford to go to work any more. Teaching assistants should be recognised as the professionals that they are for the skills that they bring, and they should be rewarded with the pay they deserve. They work incredibly hard, giving children confidence on a day-to-day basis. Many children with special educational needs identify with their teaching assistant more than anyone else, and yet they are on minimum wage, term-time contracts. It is frankly disgraceful. When the Minister puts a workforce plan together, I ask her to put teaching assistants at the forefront and to recognise the professional skills they bring in supporting children at their time of need.

[Mr Virendra Sharma (in the Chair)]

I call Robin Walker. As he is the Chair of the Education Committee, I will relax the four-minute time limit.

National No Smoking Day

Debate between Virendra Sharma and Rachael Maskell

Thursday 9th March 2023 Westminster Hall

[Rachael Maskell (York Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Efford. I congratulate the hon. Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman) on securing today’s debate. I was really sorry to learn about the circumstances that have brought him here; they really do account for why he is such a passionate advocate for non-smoking.

For decades, tobacco companies have used every manipulative means possible to recruit the next generation of smokers. For them, it is about big profits—£900 million at last count. With around 75,000 victims of their exploits dying every year, those companies have to market their products to new generations to replace those who die. I am angry because they are deliberately causing harm and taking advantage of marketeering, peer pressure and a pack of lies around a pack of cigarettes to make their victims feel good about succumbing to the powers of their addictive means. Once people are hooked, companies draw their prey into a lifetime of handing over precious savings to deposit in their bank accounts.

Those companies are using their resources wisely. British American Tobacco has bankrolled the Institute of Economic Affairs, a Tory think-tank that wants to privatise the NHS. One of its trustees has reported funding a former Health Secretary with £32,000 between 2010 and 2018—the less said about him, the better. With 30 Tory MPs benefiting in all, what could their motivation be? What could BAT’s motivation be? We will never forget Margaret Thatcher taking $1 million from Philip Morris as a consultant.

It is children that these despicable companies are targeting. I have been following the vaping debate, and child vaping is the latest fad. British American Tobacco and others are at it again, addicting children to their products, using different products at different times, with different flavours and colours and cheap devices. They are once again addicting a generation. Among young people, vaping is now seen as cool, as smoking once was, but the harms of these stimulants are unknown, and a lifetime of expense lies ahead, costing users physically, mentally and financially. These wolves in sheep’s clothing need calling out, and today’s debate is a good place to start.

Tobacco is still the biggest killer, luring people into horrible diseases such as cancers—including lung cancer—stroke and heart disease, as well as dementia, which, as we have heard, is the focus of national No Smoking Day. Given that that costs the NHS £2.2 billion a year and social care £1.3 billion, I have to ask why the Government are content not to set out an ambitious plan that is ruthless with the tobacco giants yet compassionate with their victims, taking every step to draw people out of their addictions and recover their health. Why are Government paralysed when the evidence is screaming at them?

This is the difference between the Tory party and the Labour party: Labour knows that health inequality is unjust. We want to take people to a safer, healthier place. That will be our priority. Thirty years ago, I did my dissertation on this very issue for my degree, and my conclusions were simple: money buys silence. Labour must never touch dirty money, and nor will it. That money kills, whether directly or indirectly. Instead, we must invest in health.

According to Action on Smoking and Health, 9.2% of the community in my city of York smoke. While that is lower than the national average of 13%, it costs our city £46.9 million. In my ICB area of Humber and North Yorkshire, 2,500 people, sadly, die each year. The healthcare costs are £8.2 million, adding to economic costs of £19.9 million due to lost earnings and £10.9 million due to smoking-related unemployment. What a lot of money. Let us reflect: 6.6 million people smoke across the UK. There are 150 new cancer cases a day, and 54,300 a year. Every minute, another victim is admitted to hospital, with 506,100 hospital admissions attributed to smoking. Last year, the cost to the public finances was £2.6 billion.

These wretched companies are fleecing their victims of their hard-earned living, with an average smoker spending £2,500 a year. Some 70% of smokers want to quit, so we need to ensure they have the means to achieve that. Let us remember that these multimillion-pound companies prey on the poorest, with 31% of households with somebody who smokes falling below the poverty line—if ever there was exploitation, this is it. Many new communities of people coming into the UK from challenging places across the world also have a high prevalence of smoking, presenting a new challenge for public health teams, and it is important to get on top of that too.

The UK Government aim to reduce the level of smoking to just 5% by 2030, but there is no tobacco control plan. In York, the local authority’s public health grant has been cut by 40% over the term of this Government, yet we do not know what is to come in 22 days’ time, when the public health grant runs out. On top of that, we have not seen the health disparities White Paper. We understand that it has been scrapped, so what on earth is going on? Tobacco companies make an annual profit of £900 million, yet only £2.2 million is spent on prevention. We need funding, we need professionals, we need education and we urgently need to move people to a space where their lungs and bodies can start to recover.

Despite Javed Khan’s independent review of tobacco control, published nearly a year ago, the Minister has been silent. Mr Khan recommends spending £125 million each year to enable the UK to hit its target, which will be missed without the investment that we absolutely need to see; increasing the age at which people can buy tobacco products; and ensuring that every public health intervention is made. I take the point made by my hon. Friend the Member for Blaydon (Liz Twist) about the illicit trade in tobacco, which we also need to crack down on. There are 15 strong recommendations in Mr Khan’s review, and I want to see the Government taking action, responding to that report and publishing their plan.

Unlike the Minister, Humber and North Yorkshire ICB is not sitting back. Its outstanding public health team are engaging in driving down smoking levels, with a new centre of excellence to co-ordinate population-level interventions, and investing in programmes of activity targeted at those who most need them. With stop smoking support and lung health check screening, work is under way to screen and divert. Like many colleagues across the House, I am asking the Government to publish the tobacco control plan; to publish a strategy to tackle the rise in vaping, particularly among our young people; to give local authorities the means and tools to safeguard a generation; and to introduce an annual public health windfall tax on these companies in the Budget next week. It is all about profit for them, and that profit should be used for public health.

[Mr Sharma]

Does my hon. Friend agree that the Government’s strategy and plan should include special provision for black, Asian and minority ethnic communities, so that they can be targeted and helped to give up this dirty habit?

[Rachael Maskell]

I thank my hon. Friend for making that really important intervention. We must help communities that are finding it hard to quit, including new communities. We really welcome the large number of asylum seekers who have come to York, but we know that there is a higher prevalence of smoking in that community. We must ensure that proper interventions are targeted at BAME communities too.

The figures speak for themselves, and the Minister cannot afford to sit back any longer. Labour will not. We want to save lives, and we want to save the health of our NHS too.

Lateral Flow Tests in Healthcare Settings

Debate between Virendra Sharma and Rachael Maskell

Monday 28th March 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mr Sharma]

I thank the hon. Member for that important intervention. I am sure that the Minister took note of his concerns.

We all know that we are experiencing and facing an increasing cost of living crisis, and earlier this month the Foreign Secretary agreed that the escalating crisis in Ukraine will only drive inflation higher, so in the midst of the most serious cost of living crisis for a generation, with a national insurance tax rise and with covid remaining a global threat, it would be wrong to add a further burden on to families wanting to stay safe from covid and visit friends and families in care settings. The introduction of charges for lateral flow tests risks introducing a serious cost on many for visiting their closest family when those visits mean so much to visitor and host.

[Rachael Maskell (York Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for bringing forward the debate. In York, the case rate is now 977.7 per 100,000, 261 patients are in hospital poorly, five more deaths have just been announced and four people are in intensive care, so the virus is far from leaving us. In Labour-run Wales, an extension to the lateral flow test programme has been announced so that we can know where the virus is, manage it and protect our NHS. Should we not be doing that in England?

[Mr Sharma]

I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention. Again, the Minister has taken note. I am certain she will make that comparison and try to assist and to follow the best practices in other parts of the country.

Low-income and frontline workers will be hit the hardest by the introduction of charges, but regular testing is vital to minimise the spread of covid-19. The money saving expert Martin Lewis said last week that he was out of ideas. There is nothing left for families to do. Inflation is just too high. In my constituency, I have spoken to staff and volunteers at Ealing food bank who do amazing work to help those most in need. They are deeply concerned about the move to charge for lateral flow tests. Their service users will have to make the choice between paying to test and heating and eating.

In January, I raised this issue with the then Minister for the Cabinet Office, the right hon. Member for North East Cambridgeshire (Steve Barclay), who agreed that testing

“has played a key role in our response”.—[Official Report, 13 January 2022; Vol. 706, c. 629.]

But now we are cutting off that limb of the response. The Government are choosing to weaken their arsenal in the fight and to lessen the effect of two years of hard work and sacrifice.

Even before the newest wave of inflation struck, families in my constituency were struggling to feed themselves. Now it will get only worse, with a cost of £12 for just one pack of tests. At the end of February I asked the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care how much the packs cost his Department, but he could not give me the figures for commercial reasons.

But please, Madam Deputy Speaker, do not think it is just the cost that is the problem: no, it is the fairness too. Throughout the country, nearly 1.5 million people are eligible for treatments such as antivirals if they get covid-19, because the UK Government have identified them as being at the highest risk of severe illness. We know that those people are more at risk, less safe, and less protected by natural or acquired immunity. Around 500,000 of these people are immunocompromised, meaning it is less likely that they receive the same level of protection from covid-19 vaccines. The vaccines have been incredible and have reopened the world for many, but not for everyone. Infection is still a terrifying and uncertain prospect for many of the 500,000 immunocompromised.

There is more. The national health service has worked tirelessly to keep us safe and to save lives. I again pay tribute to the incredible staff of Hillingdon Hospital who did so much for me when I had my own covid infection. They saved my life, and I am eternally grateful to them. What payment to them for two years of danger and worry is it that they will have no certainty that their patients are covid free?

I recall the fuss from Members on the Government Benches when they were asked to wear masks to help to prevent the spread of covid-19. There were ludicrous comments from some. One compared wearing a mask to abuse, agreeing with the statement that masks were

“germ or bacteria ridden cloths”.

Well, those in the NHS still have to wear masks for their own safety. Perhaps more testing, and allowing people to take responsibility without having to pay for tests, would allow a few more people in hospitals and GP surgeries to take their masks off.

[Rachael Maskell]

My hon. Friend is making an excellent speech, I must say, but could I mention care homes as well? People have made huge sacrifices over the last two years in not seeing their loved ones in care homes, and not being able to afford a test will put another barrier in their way. Does my hon. Friend agree that in the care home setting it is vital that relatives have access to tests?

[Mr Sharma]

I thank my hon. Friend very much, and I was going to talk next about care homes, but her intervention has certainly confirmed my argument and point of view that this is the most important area the Government need to look at very seriously if we want to control the effects of covid-19 on our society.

We could also speak about dentists, whose industry is struggling with the pandemic, while they are driven by targets in NHS contracts that they cannot meet. There is no help from the Government to meet the massive costs of making their practices safer, but now patients are being robbed of the opportunity to test before going to the dentist’s. We cannot erase risk, but we can try to minimise it for everyone working in healthcare and in healthcare settings.

We have all gone through so much to combat covid-19, suffered so much and sacrificed so much. I do not argue for lockdowns and closing the economy or closing the country off from the world, but now is the wrong time to cut this specific key lifeline for millions. It is the wrong time to take away peace of mind, and the ability to do the right thing in checking whether we have covid-19 and acting responsibly. I urge the Minister to work with the Chancellor of the Exchequer to find a way to pay for lateral flow tests, and to protect this tool in the fight to ensure that the worst-off in society are not cut off from their loved ones and that the most vulnerable feel more secure leaving their homes.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Virendra Sharma and Rachael Maskell

Tuesday 25th January 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mr Virendra Sharma (Ealing, Southall) (Lab)]

6. What diplomatic steps her Department has taken to help secure safe routes for refugees as part of the Afghan citizens resettlement scheme.

[Rachael Maskell (York Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

11. What diplomatic steps she is taking to help secure safe routes in third countries for people seeking to leave Afghanistan.