Auditory Verbal Therapy

Yasmin Qureshi Excerpts

Tuesday 21st January 2025 Westminster Hall

[Yasmin Qureshi (Bolton South and Walkden) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Western. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Washington and Gateshead South (Mrs Hodgson) for securing the debate, as well as colleagues who have spoken. I will not repeat what everybody has said, but I will mention a few things.

As has been said, auditory verbal therapy provides numerous benefits for deaf children, and that is particularly true of their educational prospects. We need to bridge the gap between the educational attainment of deaf children and their classmates, which is created by the barriers they face in integrating realistically in the classroom. With investment in an AVT programme, we can overcome those barriers.

In 2019, the average deaf GCSE student faced a gap of 17.5 months in learning, compared with classmates with no special needs. That is only a three-month decrease from 2011, so not a lot has changed. AVT would help to deliver the promise of bridging that gap, by intervening in the earlier stages of language development. Accessing that early intervention lays the foundation for a more successful future, which will help deaf children to realise their educational potential. It will also be an integral part of boosting their self-esteem, ensuring that they are not hindered in interacting with their friends and classmates or participating in lessons. AVT also has the potential to foster a sense of social inclusion, and therefore provide deaf children with the skills and confidence to succeed at the same level as their peers who have no special needs, both in the classroom and beyond.

There are currently 7,200 deaf children below the age of five, which is a target subset of AVT. As it stands, there are not enough qualified auditory verbal therapists—I believe there are only 33 in the whole country—so we need more of them to be able to see these children. However, one challenge faced by many families is that they do not have sufficient spare money to spend on these services. The fact that services are so limited, and provision is so hit and miss across the United Kingdom, presents even more of a challenge. A programme that trains speech and language therapists in AVT would make sure that all deaf children have equal access to quality therapy. It is a cause that it is well worth the Government spending money on.

We train professionals from other countries who then go back to their countries, such as Denmark and others. Our deaf children deserve the same care and attention, and we must not forget that there are 50,000 deaf children in our country. If we train more therapists, we can share in the success of such initiatives. As my hon. Friend the Member for Bury North (Mr Frith) said, it is morally right that we look after our young people, but it also makes economic sense to ensure that deaf children are well educated and able to integrate and to be part of the fantastic workforce we need for the future.

Finally, I thank the campaigners and the families who have been campaigning on this issue for the tremendous work they have done. I also thank my hon. Friend the Member for Washington and Gateshead South for bringing this really important matter forward for debate. I have to declare an interest: although I am not deaf in the sense that these children are, I am hard of hearing, so this issue is quite close to me personally.

Obesity: Food and Diet

Yasmin Qureshi Excerpts

Monday 20th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Yasmin Qureshi (Bolton South and Walkden) (Lab)]

I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Stroud (Dr Opher) for securing this debate.

Some 21.7% of five-year-old children starting school in Bolton are classified as overweight or obese, and the figure rises to 37.8% by the time they leave primary school. Across the country, children in the poorest areas are twice as likely to be living with obesity as those in the richest areas. When we walk around our constituencies, we can see why. We all know that the poorest parts of the areas we represent are invariably overwhelmed with fast food outlets selling cheap junk food with minimal nutritional value. They are plastered with adverts for food that harms people’s health. They are often devoid of safe green spaces for exercise and of routes to travel safely to work. That is the impact of the places where people live.

When we add the price and convenience of unhealthy food and the relentless and predatory marketing that pressures people into eating more junk food, we can see why the UK now has the third highest obesity rate in Europe. The burden of this preventable illness is falling on our poorest citizens. It cannot continue. As the Minister will be aware, it is in the poorest communities that we see the worst cases of heart attacks, strokes, type 2 diabetes, fatty liver disease and other preventable diseases.

There will always be those who claim that people just need to make better choices. I would ask them, “Are our poorest citizens making choices that are twice as bad? Are they less informed? Do they care less about their children’s health?” Of course not. They face structural barriers that richer people do not. We must break down the barriers. Many of the interventions recommended in the House of Lords report could make a real difference, including improving baby food, increasing access to Healthy Start vouchers and building on the success of the soft drinks industry levy. All those interventions are worth making, but I will talk specifically about marketing.

It is very welcome that the Government have committed to deliver regulations on TV and online advertising in October this year and to end the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to children. I note that the latter policy was one of the most popular ideas in our manifesto, because people are worried about what their children are eating and drinking and they want the Government to do something about it. Both policies should have come into effect under the last Government, but unfortunately they did not. I urge Ministers not to make the mistake of listening to the same lobbying that took place last time and prevented the regulations from coming in. The 2018 regulations on TV and online advertising were modest and will not come into effect until the end of this year. That is not good enough. We must go further and faster to deliver the changes that we need to really turn the tide.

The House of Lords Food, Diet and Obesity Committee recommended going further and ending the advertising of foods high in fat, salt and sugar, on all formats, by the end of this Parliament. There is a clear blueprint for this. Tobacco advertising on TV was ended in the mid-1990s, but the Blair Government realised that more action was needed and introduced the Tobacco Advertising and Promotion Act 2002. That legislation could almost be copied verbatim to protect children from predatory advertising or products that harm their health.

A particular focus should be on outdoor advertising. Four out of five billboard adverts in this country are in the poorest areas, and they are overwhelmingly for unhealthy products. It is overtly preying on our citizens, and we have the power to stop it. Eleven metro Mayors, including my own Mayor in Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, have stepped up to end such adverts on the outdoor spaces that they control, but they can only do so much. We need the Government to extend the regulations to cover privately held outdoor advertising, to ensure that children in my constituency and across the country are protected from these adverts.

Obesity and poor diet constitute the leading preventable health crisis of our time, one that is driving horrific and preventable harms to people’s health and is driving inequalities in health outcomes. Our poorest citizens are paying the price for these harmful foods with their health. The House of Lords inquiry echoes the recommendations of many other experts, including the Henry Dimbleby national food strategy, multiple leading think-tanks, such as the Health Foundation and the Institute for Public Policy Research, and the 60 leading health charities and medical royal colleges represented by the Obesity Health Alliance. All the experts agree on the action that needs to be taken. The Minister has a blueprint for what needs to be done. I implore him to implement it.

Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency

Yasmin Qureshi Excerpts

Thursday 16th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Yasmin Qureshi (Bolton South and Walkden) (Lab)]

My interest in this matter arises as I chair the APPG on Primodos, and it is a campaign that I and many other MPs have been working on for the past 12 years. On one occasion, after a big debate, the Minister ordered an expert working group to be set up. The MHRA was supposed to examine the evidence. We the campaigners and Members of Parliament thought that all the documents we had would be looked at by the MHRA, but clearly it did not look at them. The MHRA was supposed to engage with the victims and their families, but they were not spoken to or dealt with properly, and there was no thorough examination.

In fact, some of the members of the expert working group, which was set up by the Commission on Human Medicines, had connections with pharmaceutical companies. We wanted the MHRA to look at the documents, which showed very clearly that in the 1970s it was accepted by the then Committee on Safety of Medicines that this drug was causing deformities. However, the chief medical officer at the time colluded with the manufacturer, destroyed the evidence and refused to help.

We have documents that show that the manufacturer knew there was a cover-up, and yet the MHRA refused to look at them. Subsequently, Professor Carl Heneghan from Oxford University looked at the same material the EWG had looked at and came to a completely different conclusion: he said the evidence showed that there was a connection. The EWG was asked to look at whether there was a causal connection, and it changed its recommendation again. The former Prime Minister, Mrs May, was also not convinced by the expert working group. We persuaded her to set up a review chaired by Baroness Cumberlege, who said there was avoidable harm and that the victims should be compensated.

Throughout all those years, the Government of the day did not want to communicate with us, and they have not been dealing with this issue properly. They have always relied on the expert working group’s report, which has held the victims back and held us back from pursuing a possible legal claim. We say to the Government now that the EWG report needs to be relooked at, and Professor Carl Heneghan’s study of it should also be looked at. Scientific evidence has been produced using an experiment on zebrafish which shows that there is a link with this drug, and we have sent this to the Commission on Human Medicines for the Department to look at.

We must remember that this drug is 40 times the strength of the morning after pill. Women were given this pill and told it had no effect other than to see whether they were pregnant, and it then caused this damage. I ask the Minister today, with the new Government now in place, to please relook at this; the report by the EWG, which was set up by the MHRA, has been discredited, so please stop listening to it.

[Madam Deputy Speaker]

I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.

Children’s Hospices: Funding

Yasmin Qureshi Excerpts

Wednesday 30th October 2024 Westminster Hall

[Yasmin Qureshi (Bolton South and Walkden) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Twigg. I thank the hon. Member for Liverpool West Derby (Ian Byrne) for securing this debate. I do not have any children’s hospices in my constituency as such, but we do have Bolton Hospice, a brilliantly run organisation that serves adults well. Francis House Children’s Hospice serves the Greater Manchester area and some children from Bolton will have been cared for there.

I will not try to repeat everything that everyone has already said, except to raise a few salient points. When we see a loved one unwell and suffering, it is incredibly painful, but we can all agree that the pain is even more acute when a child or young person is suffering and reaching the end of their life. Let us remember what hospices are there for: for children and young people, and of course adults in the adult hospices, who are dying. That will be their last few weeks and months. Surely, to have a kind, decent society, we should be able to provide them with the best service possible for their last few weeks and months in this world.

There should be, and should always have been, central provision for palliative care across the whole of the United Kingdom. It should never have been left to local authorities, integrated care boards, charities, the voluntary sector and all the different people who contribute. I agree with my hon. Friend the Member for Mitcham and Morden (Dame Siobhain McDonagh) that there is a role for volunteers, and I pay particular tribute to the people of Liverpool for rallying round and getting money for their hospice, but we should not have to rely on that. We should have £285 million—I believe that is the figure—to provide proper facilities for everyone across the UK so that hospices can plan. With living expenses rising, we know we need experienced and skilled people. If the hospices know they have regular funding coming in, they can plan for things properly, so that it is not a case of, “Gosh, we’ve got a bit of money this month, and we can use it for this facility.” They should be able to plan for the whole year and for years to come.

I congratulate the Minister on his new position. I know will have many such issues to deal with, but I ask him, as colleagues already have, please to think about palliative care in the 10 year NHS review plan and to make it a national plan so that it is given to everyone across the United Kingdom.