Sir David Amess Summer Adjournment

Debate between Wendy Chamberlain and Nusrat Ghani

Thursday 16th July 2026 Commons Chamber

[Wendy Chamberlain (North East Fife) (LD)]

Madam Deputy Speaker, as we prepare for the longer summer recess and reflect on the past year, I want to extend my thanks to you and your team, and to Mr Speaker and his wider team for your and their work in making this place function as it does. I also put on record my thanks to all the amazing staff who work here in Parliament. I know that every single one of us is a doughty champion— I hear that phrase often at the Dispatch Box—but it is true of those who work in Parliament too, as well as of our staff who work out in the constituencies.

On a global scale, I know that many of my constituents in North East Fife care deeply and, indeed, despair about the horrific events in the middle east. I was unable to be here for last week’s debate on trade with illegal settlements in the west bank due to the late running of prior business, and I want to reiterate the comments of my hon. Friends and other hon. Members who called for a ban on all trade in goods and services to those occupied territories. Guidance to UK business is simply not good enough, particularly when significant building contracts are going out to tender, and UK Government requests might not outweigh the demands of shareholders and private equity contracts.

I also want to raise the worsening situation in the village of Umm al-Khair, which has been subject to multiple demolition orders from the Israeli civil administration. Just yesterday, I was at a meeting with Na’amod, a movement of Jews in the UK against occupation in the west bank, and those attending asked for urgent diplomatic intervention. I ask the Leader of the House to take note of that and feed it back to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. This Palestinian village is currently having its future decided by a military court, and we must use all our diplomatic levers to prevent it from being demolished entirely.

Energy costs are high, and there has never been a more important time for us to retrofit households to make them as energy-efficient and green in their use as possible. However, when people’s homes are at stake, these retrofits must be done right, and several of my constituents have had their homes in effect trashed by workmen installing heat pumps funded through the Government’s energy company obligation 4 scheme. Ministers and officials in the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero are well aware of this, as I have raised it both in this place and more generally.

I had a meeting with some of my constituents and the Minister for Energy Consumers last year. That meeting was in December, and since then my team have written multiple times to follow up on the pledges made. I note a letter from the Minister to interested MPs today. Sadly, though, it is primarily focused on faulty solid wall insulation, and did not refer to the heat pump issues being experienced by my constituents and others. My constituents were promised audits of their properties for the purpose of remedial works, and although I am grateful to the Minister for his time, I do want to get something beyond my email update from last December.

Some of the building problems that my constituents have experienced stem from a lack of training and oversight for refitting older rural properties. Life in a rural community has its benefits, but it also comes with its own unique set of policy challenges, which are too often ignored. I have been trying consistently to get a banking hub for Cupar in the centre of my constituency, and I was pleased to meet the Chief Secretary to the Treasury at her surgery on Monday to discuss the review of the rules governing banking access. It is vital that everyone who needs access to financial advice can get it. As part of my battle for banking, I have spent a few Fridays travelling the bus routes of North East Fife to understand how hard it is to access services that are further away.

I would love to invite you, Madam Deputy Speaker, to visit North East Fife at any time—in fact, anybody is welcome. We look forward to the Largo and Pittenweem arts festivals this summer, and the Leven putting green is open every day, but I would never suggest that any hon. Members travelled across it by bus.

I want to finish by briefly highlighting a challenge that the University of St Andrews is experiencing in relation to cuts to the Science and Technology Facilities Council budget, which will badly affect the astronomy department. Cutting research and development is never the right answer, particularly with the scale of the challenges before us. I do hope that this decision can be revisited.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)]

I look forward to visiting.

Neuropsychiatric Conditions: PANS and PANDAS

Debate between Wendy Chamberlain and Nusrat Ghani

Thursday 25th June 2026 Commons Chamber

[Wendy Chamberlain]

I am sure the Minister can address that in her closing remarks. We absolutely need to ensure that. As the right hon. Member has said, amoxicillin might be one of the antibiotics that could be used. It is straightforward to use, and in the vast majority of cases it works, but if it does not, potentially PANS and PANDAS could be ruled out.

Too many families face rejected referrals, long waits and, in some cases, misdiagnosis. Only a small proportion of cases are diagnosed within the NHS, and many people are forced to travel long distances or turn to private care. That is not possible for all families; getting the private care needed for their child can bring families to their knees. To give an example from my constituency, in the same GP practice, one GP will provide support and the other does not recognise the condition. That makes things very difficult.

A number of families whom I have engaged with have had to seek private support, and that makes me ask—I hope the Minister is sympathetic to this—what about the children from families who are reliant on NHS support, and do not get the diagnosis? They may be absent from school for long periods. Their family may be written off as problematic, and the children as having problematic behaviours, when ultimately the condition could be at the root of the problem. From the point of view of our ongoing economic wellbeing, we need to support children’s being in education as much as we can. That is why the research is so important—because we need to ensure that families can get the support that they need, no matter their financial situation.

A National Institute for Health and Care Research-funded evidence synthesis is under way; that has changed since the last time this topic was debated. It is already highlighting significant gaps in our understanding, particularly around effective treatments. Also, with other members of the all-party parliamentary group on PANS PANDAS, which I chair, we met doctors some time ago who are researching how the brain functions. Their work suggests that there may be biomarkers that indicate a higher likelihood of developing the conditions, and they have produced fascinating research that I encourage colleagues to read. We need to understand how severe the impact of PANS and PANDAS can be on a child. It is clear that further research is urgently needed to aid both diagnosis and treatment, which often needs to be ongoing.

Awareness and training are fundamental. Without them, as has been mentioned, healthcare professionals miss the signs, and teachers misinterpret symptoms. Children who experience sudden neurological decline are too often viewed through the lens of behaviour, anxiety or neurodivergence, rather than as having a medical emergency. From the children that I have engaged with through the youth board, I have learned that it is a terrifying experience for a young person to deal with those symptoms.

I am pleased to say, however, that we are at an important turning point. The UK clinical guidance, which the hon. Member for Harlow (Chris Vince) mentioned, is expected later this year, and there has been significant work since the last debate, which I held in September 2023, to bring PANS and PANDAS further into the policy landscape. I pay tribute to PANS PANDAS UK for that, because the charity has been the key driver in making that happen. Guidance alone will not be enough, however; it must be consistently embedded across the NHS, so that we end the postcode lottery in diagnosis and care. I suspect that we will hear about some of that from other Members. The consequences are profound; the human cost of delay and misdiagnosis is devastating. Children lose the ability to attend school, lose previously secure skills, and experience severe psychiatric and physical symptoms.

Just a few months ago, I hosted a roundtable in Parliament, at which the PANS PANDAS UK youth board members were able to speak directly to MPs about their experiences. As MPs, we engage with parents in the first instance, but it was very powerful to hear directly from children who are experiencing the condition. They might not be in the Gallery, but many of them will be voting; as we were informed, they are the voters of the future and are paying attention to what we do right now. It was an eye-opening session, particularly for those who had not heard of the condition. The children spoke about wanting to be believed and understood, and wanting to get help more quickly. Their message was clear: earlier recognition could change everything. They explained how PANS and PANDAS have impacted their lives; they described watching their peers progress, while they feel stuck behind, and being too unwell to attend school and so having to repeat years. That adds to a feeling of isolation. We can all remember when we were younger and times when childhood was quite cruel.

Families have described watching their child disappear in front of them. Parents leave work to provide care: 36% report having to stop working entirely, and many families face financial losses as a result, as well as from seeking private care. At the youth board roundtable, we also heard from the siblings of children diagnosed with PANS and PANDAS—I believe that my hon. Friend the Member for Henley and Thame (Freddie van Mierlo) has a constituent in Parliament this afternoon who is part of the sibling community. It was a stark reminder of how these conditions impact entire family units; there is the financial impact of having to seek healthcare, and of a parent leaving their job, and the impact of home becoming an unstable and unpredictable environment.

The conditions also have a devastating effect on learning. Nearly half of affected children miss more than six months of school, and over a third miss more than a year. They often experience the sudden loss of core learning skills. Under the current system in England, which is designed to support gradual, stable learning needs, rather than acute onset, as well as under aspects of the proposed special educational needs and disabilities reforms, there is a real risk that those children are misunderstood. Without clear guidance, education professionals default to familiar frameworks. A sudden loss of skills can be misinterpreted as a behavioural issue or neurodivergence, leading to inappropriate support and a delay in the medical intervention required. That is why the alignment between health, education and local authorities is so critical.

I obviously speak as a Scottish MP. We must ensure alignment across the UK, so that there is no postcode lottery in the level of support available. My Scottish Liberal Democrat colleague Adam Harley, the new MSP for Strathkelvin and Bearsden, recently raised a constituent’s case in the Scottish Parliament; I was particularly disappointed in the response of First Minister John Swinney, who referred to PANS/PANDAS as a “rare disease”. It was clear that he knew nothing about it. Despite my own correspondence with his Government, we have seen limited progress in Scotland. I must emphasise that it is not a potentially rare disease; it is an undiagnosed one. I genuinely believe many children with PANS/ PANDAS have not been diagnosed and are therefore not getting the support they need. That underlines the need for close engagement with devolved Governments to ensure a truly joined-up approach to improving support.

Today’s debate will largely focus on children and young people with PANS/PANDAS, but it is equally important to recognise the challenges faced by adults. One adult with PANS/PANDAS shared with me that she has experienced mostly neuropsychiatric symptoms, rather than physical ones. Research shows that PANS and PANDAS can be associated with systemic inflammation and autoimmune responses affecting the whole body, including conditions such as arthritis and other inflammatory diseases. In that person’s case, tests revealed ongoing systemic inflammation that has damaged tissues and organs over time, as the immune system mistakenly attacks healthy cells, rather than protecting them. Too often, the symptoms that PANS/PANDAS can manifest are put in the “too difficult to deal with” basket.

These are the practical steps that we are asking the Government to consider. First, when the UK clinical guidance is published later this year, there must be a clear commitment that steps will be taken to ensure that it is embedded consistently across the NHS, not left to chance, and that appropriate stakeholders are engaged to support its dissemination.

Secondly, we need training for healthcare professionals and those working in education, so that symptoms are recognised early and acted on appropriately. Thirdly, we must have a renewed commitment to research funding, building on the work of the National Institute for Health and Care Research, to address the significant gaps in evidence and improve treatment pathways. I ran the London marathon—my first ever—at the end of April, and one of the charities I was fundraising for was PANS PANDAS UK. It should not take fundraising to deliver the funds that are needed for the research that will provide the right support for these children.

Finally, there must be clear signposting and alignment with the forthcoming local authority guidance to ensure that schools and services are equipped to meet their legal duties. As one clinical psychologist working with a young person with PANS has stated,

“Without training…pupils risk unnecessary and avoidable long-term loss of skills.”

I will be pushing on exactly this matter in Scotland.

This debate is an opportunity to put these issues firmly on the record, to raise awareness across Parliament and to ensure that families living with PANS and PANDAS feel heard. I am grateful to colleagues here today and look forward to hearing their contributions and the Minister’s response.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)]

I am in awe of the hon. Member for running the marathon and, of course, for raising funds for PANS and PANDAS.

Business of the House

Debate between Wendy Chamberlain and Nusrat Ghani

Thursday 4th June 2026 Commons Chamber

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)]

I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.

[Wendy Chamberlain (North East Fife) (LD)]

I start by echoing the comments made by both the shadow Leader of the House and the Leader of the House in relation to the murder of Henry Nowak and the comments made by his family. As a former police officer, I would say to those seeking to protest, or indeed encouraging those to protest, that protests involve policing and they take away the very police officers who operate in our communities, trying to tackle the scourge of knife crime. It is important that we remember that. I also echo the comments in relation to the service personnel who have tragically died in recent days, the death of Sir Alex Younger, and the former parliamentarians who we all recognise and remember.

This week, I draw the attention of the House to the Ebola virus outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda. Already, more than 60 people have died as a result of the ongoing outbreak, and the head of the World Health Organisation said yesterday that it could have begun as early as January. I fear that drastic cuts to international aid have undermined the international community’s preparedness to identify and respond urgently to such outbreaks. Under the Conservative Government, aid was slashed from 0.7% of GDP to 0.5%; under Labour, it is down to its lowest levels as a proportion of GNI since 1999. We are responding to the Ebola crisis with one hand tied behind our back.

International development is

“important for Britain’s strength abroad”—

not my words, but Tony Blair’s, in his much-commented-on essay last week. I believe it is important to our national security, too. Liberal Democrats enshrined the 0.7% international development target in law while in Government, thanks in large part to the dedication of the now Liberal Democrat leader in the Lords, Lord Purvis. That law has still not been repealed, despite successive Governments flouting it. Will the Leader of the House ask the Foreign Secretary to come before the House to update us on the Government’s compliance with the International Development (Official Development Assistance Target) Act 2015?

Gambling Act 2005 (Monetary Limits for Lotteries) Bill

Debate between Wendy Chamberlain and Nusrat Ghani

2nd reading
Friday 24th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Wendy Chamberlain (North East Fife) (LD)]

I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)]

Order. I hope that those who just walked past the Member about to speak are going to apologise.

[Wendy Chamberlain]

This is a small and, on the surface, technical looking Bill, but one that would revolutionise charity fundraising in constituencies up and down the country. The key clause is 1(2), which would omit subsection (3) from section 99 of the Gambling Act 2005. The law that would be changed is a requirement placed on charity lotteries alone that caps the proceeds of their sales in any given year. Put another way, if someone is running a purely profit-driven lottery with no societal benefit, there are no caps on the number of tickets they can sell, but for charity lotteries—the most well-known being the People’s Postcode Lottery—there is a cap of £5 million per draw and £50 million over the course of a calendar year.

What clause 1(2) would do—indeed, this is the purpose of the whole Bill—is remove that cap and allow unlimited charitable fundraising from licensed lottery sales, because, of course, it is important that the proceeds of the lottery go to charities, rather than just creating bigger and bigger prize pots. As things stand, there is a limit on prizes of £25,000 or, if it is more, 10% of the proceeds of the lottery. The limit is therefore £500,000 with the current cap. All the stakeholders agree that we ought to amend section 99(4) of the 2005 Act so that it reads £500,000, to maintain the current prize levels. My Bill seeks the Government’s agreement to that and asks them to exercise their powers under clause 3 to make the relevant consequential provisions. That is the extent of the Bill—two small legislative changes with a huge consequence for charities across the UK.

There are approximately 500 charity lottery operators generating more than £450 million for good causes every year. As I have mentioned, the largest of these is the People’s Postcode Lottery; indeed, it is the one with the largest reach in every constituency. To date, the People’s Postcode Lottery has coped with the fact that demand exceeds the cap by establishing different postcode trusts that each operate on a thematic or geographical basis, but I would argue that there are three fundamental problems with that.

First, it is incredibly bureaucratic, with each trust having to have its own licences, monthly returns, registrations under Scottish, English and Welsh law, trustees, audit and risk committees, monthly and annual accounts, financial audits, websites and so on. That bureaucracy increases costs that could otherwise be used for good causes. Secondly, it is deeply inflexible, with the funds raised under each trust being required to be directed to the trust theme or geographical designation. Right now, we see Storm Éowyn causing destruction over Northern Ireland and Scotland. If there is damage or some sort of major accident causing loss of life, charities, as they always do, will step in to urgently provide support. However, the People’s Postcode Lottery, for example, would not be able to divert funds to assist with such efforts because of the current rules on trusts, as a result of the cap.

Thirdly, even if we accept the additional bureaucracy and the restrictions on where funds are deployed, at the end of the day, all the evidence still shows that fundraising is being limited by the caps, and in any case, their value is eroded by inflation. It is estimated that if we do nothing and keep the caps today, the charities supported by the People’s Postcode Lottery will lose out on £175 million over the next five years. I challenge anyone in the House to argue that the charities in their constituency would not benefit from that funding.

We already benefit from funding in North East Fife, and I would love to see more support for fantastic local initiatives. I will list some of the individual projects that have been supported in the last two years alone. St Agatha’s and St Andrews nurseries received funds for the cost of outdoor education equipment and training. There has been support for Scotland’s international poetry festival, StAnza, which takes place in St Andrews every year—I am looking forward to March’s programme. The Newburgh wellbeing choir, which provides support for people living with dementia, was able to hire professional singers trained in dementia inclusion to lead the group. Nurture Steps had a project funded to run support sessions for parents of young children with disabilities, and Veterans Tribe Scotland was supported on a significant project to reduce isolation, loneliness and anxiety among those who have served our country. There were funds allocated to maintain a community playing field at Dunbog community hall. In the late summer, I hope to go to the Cupar big weekend, which has also been supported by charity lotteries.

I could go on; there are countless projects. For example, the Cupar food bank and local brownie units receive funding from their central bodies, the Trussell Trust and Girlguiding, that also comes from charity lotteries.

--- Later in debate ---

[Wendy Chamberlain]

Yes, I absolutely agree. Indeed, in a Westminster Hall debate just last week, where the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Isle of Wight East (Joe Robertson), also spoke, I highlighted that very thing: the national insurance increase will hurt charities, and there is an opportunity for the Government, through my Bill, to ameliorate some of that.

Children First also said that it understands that technical barriers place limits on the way that charity lotteries provide funds and that it supports calls to remove the cap. There are about 170,000 charities across the UK. Of course, not all of them want or need charity funding, but many thousands do.

There are many reasons why the House should support the Bill. I understand some of the Government’s concerns. I have been told that they are worried about the impact on the national lottery, considering the Secretary of State’s statutory obligation to maximise its success. However, I would argue that there is no evidence to suggest there is a detrimental impact on the national lottery from charity lotteries. The Gambling Commission has investigated this three times in the last 15 years, most recently in October 2017, and found no statistically significant effect of charity lotteries on national lottery sales. That was confirmed again in 2022 in an impact assessment by Regulus Partners.

My goal with the Bill is to keep the distinct nature of the national lottery by protecting its much larger prize pots. This weekend, the lotto’s prize is £4 million, while the Euromillions’ is £83 million. In changing the law on sales, we want to change the current price cap to keep the prize maximum at £500,000. It is a very different ball game, and the Bill supports the evidence that players of one lottery often play the other as well.

I know that the Government are awaiting updated research. I suggest that the Government choose to progress my Bill today and consider the research at Committee stage or later. From my conversations with the Minister, I understand that the Government are determined to hold their current position that they want to see the evidence first. I hope that the Minister will confirm the commitment to make the research public when it is received and to update the House on the Government’s review of the research before the summer recess. I hope she will then set out any legislative action the Government are prepared to take.

I know that the Minister supported these reforms in opposition and is therefore sympathetic to the purpose of the Bill. I am sure she is aware of the money charities in her constituency have benefited from and will continue to benefit from. The Station House Community Association in her constituency notes the following in a project description:

“this grant has supported our running costs—just like everyone else all our bills have increased and we need to cover these costs.”

As my hon. Friend the Member for Newbury (Mr Dillon) highlighted, this is an issue we hear everywhere, particularly now that charities are faced with the additional cost of national insurance contributions. Increased fundraising to counterbalance these additional costs will be increasingly vital over the years ahead if charitable projects that we all champion are to survive. The Bill offers a way for the Government to support such charities, and at no cost to the taxpayer. It is a win-win in my view.

Before I finish, I would like to touch on gambling harms. I am a strong believer in reforms to the sector to protect people from problem gambling. Public Health England has said that there are more than 400 gambling-related suicides a year and that it costs the UK £1.4 billion. Extrapolation of this data by Gambling with Lives suggests that up to 650 gambling-related suicides take place across the UK each year. My party wants to see a compulsory levy on gambling companies to fund research, education, treatment, restrictions on advertising and the establishment of a gambling ombudsman.

The seriousness of addictive, problem gambling cannot be underestimated. I want to outline the steps that the People’s Postcode Lottery takes to tackle it. Players sign up to a monthly subscription to be entered into the draws. The number of monthly subscriptions for a single player is limited, and draws take place throughout the month with results published accordingly. One of the most influential factors in the development of gambling problems is the ability to gamble in real time over and over again. Charity lotteries do not allow real-time gambling, so it takes away the ability to chase a perceived high. Lotteries are widely recognised as being low-risk games compared to other forms of gambling.

To conclude, I feel confident that there are only benefits to the Bill. There are benefits to the charity sector, which is facing unprecedented pressures, to local charities and community projects, and ultimately to all of our constituents.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)]

I call the shadow Minister.

Income tax (charge)

Debate between Wendy Chamberlain and Nusrat Ghani

Thursday 31st October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Wendy Chamberlain]

I absolutely agree. Whenever I have that discussion with farmers, they want to support climate and nature—they want to do the right thing—but they need support to do so.

As I say, the overall funding envelope for farmers is for the Scottish Government to deliver, and I am confident that my Scottish Liberal Democrat colleagues in Holyrood will be making the case for them to do so. In his intervention on the Chair of the Public Accounts Committee, the hon. Member for Leeds Central and Headingley (Alex Sobel) talked about how the number of farms affected will be small, but the issue is that the Government promised last year not to do anything in relation to agricultural property relief, yet that is what is happening. I am already being contacted by local farmers who fear that this will be the death of their and other families’ farms. It is important that we remember that it is not just about those farmers; it is also about the infrastructure and the wider communities that they support, such as vets and other facilities.

We should not forget tenant farmers, either, because they are some of our most vulnerable. I know that because I worked with some of them prior to the election in relation to the roll-out of universal credit. That system is not fit for purpose for farmers. The Work and Pensions Secretary is no longer in her place, but I will be coming back to her on that issue. We need to ensure that we provide that support.

Until very recently, I wore multiple hats, because I had far fewer colleagues. Now that I have more of them, I have given up my Department for Work and Pensions hat, but I welcome the changes to carer’s allowance. I would like some clarity about the carer support payment in Scotland, which is a devolved benefit that is currently being rolled out. I have not seen it in the notes that I have looked at so far, but perhaps it will become clear in the coming days whether that is included in the block grant that is coming to Scotland, or whether there will be additional consequentials.

To conclude, there are things in this Budget that I absolutely welcome, but, as always, there are unintended consequences, on which I hope the Government will listen to us.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)]

I call Gregor Poynton to make his maiden speech.

Carer’s Allowance

Debate between Wendy Chamberlain and Nusrat Ghani

Wednesday 16th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Wendy Chamberlain (North East Fife) (LD)]

I declare an interest as I am in the process of joining the board of Fife Carers in an unpaid capacity; it is a privilege to join the organisation. I have worked with unpaid carers throughout the past few years, as constituency MP for North East Fife and through the passage of my private Member’s Bill that became the Carer’s Leave Act 2023. If hon. Members want to learn more widely about carers, they may wish to read my Adjournment debate on the subject, which took place in the first few weeks of this Parliament, where I talked about the need for a strategy on carers to ensure that carers get the cross-cutting governmental and departmental support they need.

I will not touch on the overpayments scandal specifically, but I welcome the announcement of the review after months of campaigning by my dear friend the Leader of the Liberal Democrat party, my right hon. Friend the Member for Kingston and Surbiton (Ed Davey), as well as by the Liberal Democrats, carer charities and journalists. However, I want to raise some points about the carer’s allowance more generally.

I recently asked the Minister responsible for carer’s allowance, the right hon. Member for East Ham (Sir Stephen Timms), a written question about a review of how carer’s allowance is working. The response said:

“This government will keep eligibility criteria and processes of Carer’s Allowance under review, to see if it is meeting its objectives.”

That response poses more questions than it provides answers. What are the Government’s objectives for carer’s allowance? Are they ever reviewed? How do they know if they are meeting them? What metrics are being used? What would happen if it was found that the objectives were not being met?

I assume that the objective of carer’s allowance is to keep unpaid carers out of poverty, given the additional barriers they face to working and the additional costs they face through their caring. I also assume that we want to help unpaid carers to stay linked to the workplace, if possible, through part-time work or training. On any assessment, carer’s allowance is failing these objectives. It is a failure when a third of households in receipt of carer’s allowance are classed as food insecure, compared with 10% of households as a whole; when Carers UK research from 2019 found that 600 people per day who were caring were giving up work; and when the rate of poverty among unpaid carers is 50% higher than among non-carers.

One immediate remedy that could be considered, as is set out in our motion, is an increase in carer’s allowance. It may not seem much in the big scheme of things, but during the pandemic we saw the impact of the £20 uplift to universal credit, which delivered an immediate and marked fall in food bank use.

We must do all we can to support people into work and to stay in work, so that they are not relying on carer’s allowance to get by. That point refers to the earnings allowance, which stops carers from working more than 13 hours a week on the minimum wage before losing carer’s allowance. As has already been discussed, there is no taper rate, so as soon as carers earn a penny more, the allowance goes.

Bizarrely, yearly increases to the allowance are not pegged to changes to the national minimum wage. Historically, people could work for 16 hours before they lost carer’s allowance; some of the scandal we have seen could be because people have continued to make those assumptions. We need to take the complexity out of the system. It is completely reasonable for people to assume that if they are earning national minimum wage and receiving carer’s allowance in one financial year, they can continue to do so in the following financial year, as long as they do not increase their hours, but that is not how the system works. The national minimum wage went up by 9.8% this year, but the earnings allowance did not go up at all. That sounds to me like a system set up to make people fail.

Should we not be enabling people to take on more hours and to progress in their jobs if they can? We know that often people—especially those who are below or near the poverty line, as too many unpaid carers are—are scared to risk losing their benefits in case that does not work out. One of the unseen outcomes of the scandal is that people are simply not looking for work or to get into employment because they are scared about the consequences.

Many young carers have high levels of absence from school and there are barriers to them accessing education. Potentially, if we do not help them to claim carer’s allowance when they are entitled to do so, they will never go into work and be able to make a contribution. Fife Young Carers, in my constituency, supports people up to the age of 25. We want to encourage young carers to complete their education so they have the best possible options later.

To return to my cross-cutting strategy, the Department for Work and Pensions may think that it is for the Department for Education to support young people. However, as the hon. Member for Salford (Rebecca Long Bailey) said, under the under-21 rule, doing a vocational qualification could preclude somebody from receiving carer’s allowance, as T-levels are one of the qualifications that falls into that trap. She is right that we need to think about how we are potentially inhibiting those young people in employment and training from moving forward. We need to ensure that we improve young people’s outcomes.

The Minister will know that employment among unpaid carers is about more than just benefits. We welcome her reference to the Carer’s Leave Act 2023 in her opening remarks and the fact that the Government are looking for that leave to be paid, which has long been a party policy of the Liberal Democrats. However, I do have to express my disappointment that there was no sign of paid leave in the Employment Rights Bill, because there was a real opportunity there to move the matter forward. I would appreciate it if, in her closing remarks, the Minister provided an update on the likely timescales in relation to the Carer’s Leave Act. I am concerned that, since the implementation of the Act, we do not actually know what the take-up of carer’s leave is. I am hearing worrying anecdotes that, six months after the legislation was fully implemented, some companies are still not aware of, or properly recording, carer’s leave. Part of that is because the communication from the then Government was not good enough. Unless somebody was starting a small business, or actively looking for these details, they would not find anything on carer’s leave.

I would like to raise one final point with the Minister. Again, the hon. Member for Salford highlighted this. I am often contacted by constituents who are upset to find that, having retired, they have lost their carer’s allowance—or, in Scotland, the carer support payment—because they are claiming their state pension. We know that female pensioners are more likely to be in poverty because of the working life that they have had—or not had—as a result of raising their families, and that unpaid carers are more likely to be female and older. I would like the Minister to pick up on that point, because too many pensioners are in poverty this winter as well as carrying caring responsibilities.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)]

I call Gill German to make her maiden speech.

Unpaid Carers

Debate between Wendy Chamberlain and Nusrat Ghani

Tuesday 3rd September 2024 Commons Chamber

[Tom Gordon (Harrogate and Knaresborough) (LD)]

I thank my hon. Friend for bringing forward this Adjournment debate, and of course for the work she did before this parliamentary Session on what is now the Carer’s Leave Act 2023. One of the reasons why I became involved in politics is that the day before I started my master’s degree, my mum was diagnosed with breast cancer. I studied my degree part-time over two years to look after her and my little sister, who was just five. Looking back, it is clear that I was filling the role of a carer, but I did not identify as one. That is a key point to note if we are to have a carers strategy. A recent Carers Trust survey found that 73% of those who provide or have provided unpaid care do not identify as unpaid carers. Does my hon. Friend agree that a national carers strategy should prioritise the identification of carers across all sectors?

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Ghani)]

Order. This is an Adjournment debate and interventions must be super-short.

[Wendy Chamberlain]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend. It demonstrates how prevalent caring is in our society when we have Members who have direct experience of it. Identification of carers, or people identifying themselves as carers, is a key issue that any strategy should address.

The then shadow Minister was right that we need a cross-Government strategy. This is not a new idea, because we have had such strategies before; the last one was drawn up all the way back in 2008, but the problems that unpaid carers face have not gone away. Unpaid carers are significantly more likely to be in poverty than the rest of the population. The most recent data available from the Department for Work and Pensions—the 2023 family resources survey—shows that just under a third of households in receipt of carer’s allowance are food insecure, compared with 10% of households as a whole. That is a huge difference.

To assess food insecurity, the survey asks the respondent whether in the past 30 days: they have has eaten less than they felt they should because of lack of funds; they have been hungry, but not eaten due to lack of funds; or they have lost weight due to not enough money for food. It also asks whether they or someone in their household has gone without eating for an entire day because they lack money for food. Further, the survey found that 13.3% of households in receipt of carer’s allowance—that is just more than one in every eight—had used a food bank in the previous 12 months, compared with just 3% of households overall.

Criminal Law

Debate between Wendy Chamberlain and Nusrat Ghani

Thursday 25th July 2024 Commons Chamber

[Wendy Chamberlain (North East Fife) (LD)]

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I congratulate you on your election, as well as the other Deputy Speakers, and welcome you to your place.

I would not go so far as to say that I welcome the measures that have been outlined today and what is being proposed, but I and the Liberal Democrats recognise that this is probably the only step that the Government can take to deal with the situation. We are looking to relieve pressure on prisons against a backdrop of concern that the prison population is rising beyond the operational capacity of the prison estate. Indeed, as of July 2024, the prison population in England and Wales was measured as 87,453, whereas operational capacity is 88,864. As Members have highlighted, reoffending rates remain high, with 75% of ex-inmates reoffending within nine years of release, and 39.3% reoffending within the first 12 months. It is estimated that reoffending costs our society more than £18 billion a year.

We should also recognise that violence against prison staff has soared as they cope with these capacity issues; an average of 23 attacks were recorded every day last year across England and Wales. Issues with staff recruitment and retention have persisted, with English prisons running red regimes due to falling below minimum staffing levels at least 22 times in 2023. It is right to recognise that the problem is partly due to the backlog in our criminal courts, which skyrocketed under the previous Conservative Government. I found the official Opposition’s response today quite stunning. We want to work as a constructive Opposition, so that we can help deal with issues around prison overcrowding, so for them to press the Lord Chancellor for answers when they know the answers—they knew them before the last election—is quite something. As of March 2024, remand populations have risen by 84% to a record high of over 16,000 people, accounting for almost 20% of the total prison population. It is quite clear that we need to take action on that issue. Back in November 2023, the previous Administration recognised the issues around prison overcrowding and introduced their own emergency measures, so surely they should recognise today that further measures are necessary.

This is about our criminal justice system as a whole, and trust in our criminal justice system as a whole is at an all-time low. The new Government talk about being a Government of service. I was a police officer for 12 years, and I consider that to be part of the public service I have given. I want to mention the shocking footage from Manchester airport yesterday. As a former police officer, I was deeply disturbed by what I saw. I also want to share my concern and thoughts for the families of the two police officers and the members of the public who were seriously injured in a car accident on the M8 outside Glasgow yesterday.

The issues facing the Lord Chancellor are not limited to England and Wales. Indeed, the Scottish Human Rights Commission has today published a report criticising the Scottish Government’s “glacial pace of change” in tackling overcrowding, suicides and mental health provision in our prisons. Only last month, the Scottish Government were making decisions similar to those being made by this Government in relation to releasing prisoners earlier. Although, as with this Government, there are exceptions to that overall approach, I absolutely understand the concerns of victims in seeing the early release of those who have offended against them, and that is something we must continue to recognise.

Although the Government have outlined that there will not be a sunset clause in the SI, and that they are looking to bring this to an end in 18 months’ time, I would appreciate some clarity from the Lord Chancellor on reporting to this place on the progress being made. This House can estimate whether the situation continues to be an emergency only if we have the data and are aware of the effect of what is being proposed today.

We need to ensure that what the Government are doing is the right thing, but we also need to know what further steps they are taking. We must address the systemic issues in the criminal courts, because these failures are failing victims on convictions in the first place. The Probation Service is also a critical part of this. I want to add that I watched the maiden speech in the other place of the new Minister for Prisons, Parole and Probation, and I was encouraged by what I heard. The Liberal Democrats are clear that cutting reoffending must be at the heart of the Government’s plans to end the prison crisis.

We know that prisons are in crisis—they are overcrowded and understaffed, and they are failing to rehabilitate offenders—but in order to prevent and reduce reoffending we need to ensure that we are improving the provision of training, education and work opportunities in prisons. We should be considering a through-the-gate mentorship programme and introducing a plan to improve the rehabilitation of people leaving prison. The Liberal Democrats want to implement a presumption against short sentences of 12 months or less to facilitate that rehabilitation in the community.

As the Minister in the other place recognised yesterday, if we do not have the right conditions in our prisons, we are only making our prisons a place where people learn how to reoffend, rather than preventing it. We need the Probation Service to have the resources it needs. We need to improve and properly fund the supervision of offenders in the community, with far greater co-ordination between the Prison Service, Probation Service providers, the voluntary and private sectors, and local authorities, and that will achieve savings in the high costs of reoffending.

The Liberal Democrats recognise that this is the only option the new Government can take. As I say, I would not go as far as to say that I support what is being proposed, but I recognise on behalf of my party that it is the only option left to the Government at this time.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Ghani)]

I call Andy Slaughter.