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1. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Florence Eshalomi

   Rough Sleeping and Good Growth Funds

   I thank my hon. Friend for the expertise and knowledge he brings to these matters, and for some of the comments he shared with me today about how we can address them. He is absolutely right about the work led by many voluntary and charity groups right across the country, working hand in hand regardless of which Government are in control. These groups continue to work with people who, in some cases, society has said are too hard to reach. They are not hard to reach; we just do not know how to reach them.

   Hansard source
2. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Florence Eshalomi

   Rough Sleeping and Good Growth Funds

   I thank my hon. Friend for that important question. He is right: this is our devolution revolution, and we are working hard to ensure it happens across the country.

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3. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Florence Eshalomi

   Rough Sleeping and Good Growth Funds

   That was a key statement from the Prime Minister, the Secretary of State and me, as the Minister with responsibility for this area. We have to work across the aisles, we have to work with devolved nations and we have to work with charities and businesses. A range of people at that summit today were stepping up to that mantra, and it is important that our local authority leaders take on that challenge.

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4. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Florence Eshalomi

   Rough Sleeping and Good Growth Funds

   I join my hon. Friend in supporting Porchlight’s 50 years of work. May it continue with that support for many more years. He is right that we need that wider programme, working with different organisations, groups, charities, faith groups, civic society and businesses to look at that long-term, tailored support to help people off the streets.

   Hansard source
5. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Florence Eshalomi

   Rough Sleeping and Good Growth Funds

   It is always good to see my hon. Friend from Harlow recognising the many charities across his constituency. Many charities and voluntary groups right across the country are working on this important area. The hon. Gentleman and other Members will have seen many organisations saying that they wanted certainty in that funding. I hope that this increased funding will give those organisations that certainty, ensuring that this work continues not just up to Christmas, but after Christmas. This is a key commitment from the Prime Minister, and we will honour it.

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6. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Euan Stainbank

   Topical Questions

   I thank the Minister for confirming that the contract for the Cladhan to be used as asylum accommodation signed by the previous Government will be cancelled this year. Will my right hon. Friend confirm that that was enabled only by significantly falling small boat numbers and the lowest backlog since 2019, and that claims that people are just being moved around are not borne out by the numbers?

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7. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Euan Stainbank

   Civil Service Pensions

   Capita has missed its deadlines and failed in its obligations to my constituents. Supposed priority death-in-service cases, such as Derek’s, are unresolved, and people have been left grieving for over a year without having received what they are entitled to. Quotes such as Anne’s, who retired from the Scottish Prison Service nearly seven months ago, have still not been provided, and annual benefit statements have been delayed, leaving people concerned that they will not be paid accurately when they finally are paid. We should insource this scheme. I appreciate the Minister putting that option on the table, but my constituents deserve transparency as well as action. If not the full report, will the Minister publish just the recommendations from the independent remedial adviser’s report?

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8. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Dr Simon Opher

   Performance of Royal Mail

   My hon. Friend is being so generous with his time. I echo what he said about my hon. Friend the Member for Lichfield (Dave Robertson), who has led this campaign so strongly in Parliament. In Stroud, our Cotswold Vale Talking Newspaper puts news and music on USB sticks and sends them out to blind and print-disabled listeners in Dursley; the chairman says that those now take six weeks to arrive and that many subscriptions are being cancelled. Does my hon. Friend agree that we need to take Royal Mail back into public ownership?

   Hansard source
9. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Dr Scott Arthur

   Prostate Cancer Screening

   It is a pleasure to serve under you, Dr Murrison. I start by paying tribute to the right hon. Member for Richmond and Northallerton (Rishi Sunak). He is doing a fantastic job of using the convening power that comes with his former office to shed light on this subject. The hon. Member for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk (John Lamont) did a great job of outlining the need for a more evidence-based focus on increasing the base for screening. I will not touch on that, but I do want to talk about the inequalities associated with screening. The national prostate cancer audit in 2025 showed that inequalities in prostate cancer treatment are deepening. Men in deprived areas are more likely to present with advanced diseases and are more likely to die. That should shame us. There is a national dynamic to this. At a recent meeting with Prostate Cancer Research, I was told about the discrepancies in late diagnosis across the UK. In Scotland, 31% of prostate cancers are diagnosed too late for curative treatment. That is higher than in any other part of the UK. In London, for example, the figure is 15%. Those differences are unacceptable and should shame us. The current system relies too often on chance and on a patient being persistent. GP guidelines do not encourage practitioners to discuss risks with patients if they are asymptomatic. That means that too many men request a test only because of a chance conversation with friends or family—or, hopefully, they might get the opportunity to access one in Parliament. Awareness of the risks is also unequal, with the most health-literate and affluent men more likely to request a test. If men from all walks of life are not aware of the risks or their right to request a test, without a national screening programme inequality is baked into the system.

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10. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Dr Scott Arthur

    Prostate Cancer Screening

    I agree and we have to be honest that this is not an issue unique to prostate cancer. With so many cancers, members of the black and ethnic minority community are much more likely to be diagnosed in accident and emergency, and that never leads to a good outcome. Screening will not end deaths from prostate cancer completely, but it is the right way forward to minimise deaths from prostate cancer, and I think that that is something we are all agreed on today.

    Hansard source
11. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Dr Scott Arthur

    Road Traffic Collision Reporting: Cats

    It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Vickers. I thank the hon. Member for Newton Abbot (Martin Wrigley) for the way in which he introduced the debate. Like other Members, I must declare an interest: I am the proud owner of a cat called Millie. She is over three years old now, but she is still a baby to me. I got her from the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Balerno in my constituency before I was elected. She came to me both chipped and neutered. When I first got Millie, my friend Denise said that I should not have got a cat because it would just climb up my curtains. Millie did do that when she was a kitten and it was incredibly cute. My wife, Mrs Arthur, was less sure about the situation. She picked Millie’s name because she promised that the cat would become a millstone around our necks. The other piece of advice we got was that one day we would let the cat out and it would not return. That is the focus of this debate: so many cats are let out and do not return because they are hit by a car, crawl off under a hedge or a bush and are never found. To millions of households across the UK, cats are deeply loved family members and constant companions. Yet, under current law, if a driver hits a cat they can simply drive away—I know that not all do. That is not the case for collisions with dogs, which must be reported; I and many other cat owners throughout the country believe that that is an outdated distinction that no longer reflects the way we live. Each year in the UK an estimated 230,000 cats are hit by cars. I find that number absolutely incredible; I had to triple-check it. It works out at roughly one cat—and one family who have lost that cat—in every constituency in the UK every day.

    Hansard source
12. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Dr Scott Arthur

    Road Traffic Collision Reporting: Cats

    Absolutely. A few years ago, we looked after my daughter’s cat for a short period—three years, it turned out. It was a fantastic cat, and its pastime was chasing foxes, but one day it was in the garden and then darted across the road, almost getting run over, so I get that it is not always—or even seldom—the driver’s fault. I like to think that if it happened to me, I would stop and perhaps explain what had happened. Lost cat signs have become common on lamp posts right across the UK. They are almost so common that we hardly see them at all now. Only last month, a constituent contacted my office, deeply distressed after a driver tragically killed her two-year-old kitten. She was left searching for answers and completely bewildered as to why the police could not intervene or help clarify what had happened. This is not about criminalising drivers; it is about compassion and accountability. Leaving an injured cat on the roadside deprives it of potentially lifesaving veterinary care and leaves owners in agonising uncertainty. I am very proud to have a People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals hospital in my constituency. I visited it a few months ago. Two cats I saw had had had operations after they had suffered some kind of trauma, and the assumption was that that was being hit by a car. That is just two cats on one day in that one hospital. I thank the PDSA for its fantastic work to support people on low incomes being able to access excellent veterinary treatment. Updating the legislation would not place an inordinate burden on drivers or the police. With microchipping now compulsory in England—and needed in Scotland, as we heard earlier—identifying the owner and offering closure is easier and faster than ever before. The petition shows a very real public mandate for a change that people demand. At the same time, I recognise that some voices in the animal welfare sector are concerned that amending the Road Traffic Act to include cats might have the unintended consequences of imposing criminal and civil liability on owners of cats involved in collisions. Of course, it is the job of this place to consider unintended consequences and to ensure that they are absolutely minimised or, we hope, do not happen at all. I urge the Government to explore how to update the Act in a manner that will protect owners while giving the same basic duty of care to cats that we extend to dogs. We heard that Gibraltar and Jersey already have some such provisions. They are places with close connections to the UK and I am sure we can learn lots from how they approached the problem. Finally, as a Scottish MP, I have to acknowledge that this is a devolved matter; I appreciate that in Scotland it falls under the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006. I very much hope for progress at a UK level, but we can also speak to colleagues in Scotland, perhaps at the same time talking about mandating chipping in Scotland and—something else I am passionate about—heavily regulating people who choose to breed cats at home for a profit, which involves at least a lot of distress for the cats. That needs to be addressed north and south of the border.

    Hansard source
13. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Dr Scott Arthur

    Road Traffic Collision Reporting: Cats

    I am pleased to hear that a DEFRA Minister is going to meet CatsMatter to talk about this issue. I also welcome the Minister’s talk of reviewing what other jurisdictions do; will he commit to publishing that work in some shape or form, so that we can get sight of it?

    Hansard source
14. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Dr Rupa Huq

    Antisocial Behaviour

    This month has tragically seen a fatal shooting in East Acton. I know that, as they used to say on “Crimewatch”, these things are incredibly rare, but at a community meeting I went to, which also involved the council and the police, it still felt very raw. There is consternation that the gangs, violence and exploitation unit, which has been instrumental in solving previous murders, is being wound up. I wonder whether the Home Secretary, or one of my other hon. Friends in the Department, could meet me and the borough west commander to find a way forward.

    Hansard source
15. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Dr Peter Prinsley

    Prostate Cancer Screening

    Thank you for chairing this debate, Dr Murrison. I declare an interest in that I am a surgeon and appointed chair of the all-party parliamentary group on prostate cancer. Prostate cancer bewilders people. They think, “Surely it must be like other cancers we know about? Find it early, treat it early and save lives.” Only lung cancer causes more death in men, but prostate cancer is not so simple. We know it to be a range of diseases that behave quite differently. At the one end is the dreadful spreading disease of cancer that kills men, sometimes quickly and sometimes very young, and at the other end are the indolent cancers that simply sit around causing little trouble, so that the patient lives with the cancer and dies of something unrelated. The great dilemma is how to distinguish which is which. If we identify cancers that are, in fact, not going to cause any trouble and we treat them, we will need to deal with the consequences of the treatments and side effects that so many men fear—incontinence and impotence—and we risk doing more harm than good. That, in simple terms, explains why the screening experts have determined that at present whole-population screening is not the way to go. People find that a little difficult to understand, and so do I, to be honest. As we have heard, at least two former prime Ministers have been advocating for screening, as have a number of famous sportsmen. The blood test used in screening is the PSA test. What is the problem? False positives—three quarters of men with PSA greater than 4 ng/ml will on biopsy be found not to have cancer—and false negatives, as men with cancer can have normal PSA. So it is not a yes or no test, and is perhaps not massively useful. The UK National Screening Committee says we should do targeted screening of men with the BRCA2 gene and a family history of prostate cancer, but it might be best to use MRI for those men. I would like to say that there is hope. Analysis of surgical samples of prostate cancer subjected to genetic study at the University of East Anglia, where I too lately completed an MD in medical genetics studies, will soon allow us to distinguish between bad prostate cancer and good prostate cancer. We can be proud of how British science is contributing. I urge our Government to use this Parliament to support that research and those amazing scientists in their bold endeavour.

    Hansard source
16. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Dr Peter Prinsley

    Prostate Cancer Screening

    The problem is that that is not the screening test—the screening test is the PSA, which, as we have said, is unreliable.

    Hansard source
17. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Dr Peter Prinsley

    Performance of Royal Mail

    In the summer of 1914, as Britain was on the brink of war, Mr Asquith, 62, the Prime Minister, was having an affair with Venetia Stanley, 26. They wrote several letters to each other each day, for there were multiple postal deliveries daily, at a cost of 1d each, the equivalent of 62p today, although as we all know the cost of a first-class letter is now £1.80. Asquith sensibly destroyed the letters, but his letters to Venetia Stanley—all 300,000 words—were retained. When the writer Robert Harris wrote the novel “Precipice”, he invented her letters and used Asquith’s originals. That was an amazing work of a novelist’s imagination, for as we all know letters tell magical stories. We have heard many passionate contributions. I will call out particularly the amazing contribution of my hon. Friend the Member for Blyth and Ashington (Ian Lavery), who is no longer in his seat. We have learned that times have certainly changed for this essential service. From Beyton to Stanton and from Honington to Rattlesden, villages across my constituency have one thing in common: a completely unreliable service. As we have heard, constituents are missing hospital appointments, bank correspondence and other important communications. Does the Minister agree that that is simply unacceptable? I agree completely with my right hon. Friend the Member for Bristol North West (Darren Jones), who is also no longer in his seat, that the solution to this issue is to renationalise the service.

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18. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Dr Allison Gardner

    Rough Sleeping and Good Growth Funds

    This year I have convened a taskforce in Stoke-on-Trent with key service providers and people with lived experience to tackle the issue of homelessness for those who experience substance misuse. A particular challenge is enabling them to receive mental health treatment concurrently with drug and alcohol treatment. Does the Minister agree that it is absolutely vital for those providing mental health support to work concurrently with all other service providers to provide a sustainable pathway to recovery for this vulnerable group, and will she take me up on my offer, visit my constituency, and perhaps attend a taskforce meeting?

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19. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Dr Allison Gardner

    Performance of Royal Mail

    My constituency covers city and rural areas, and the villages I represent have the greatest problem with getting regular deliveries, and elderly constituents there who cannot rely on email are really struggling. Villages like Tean, Swynnerton, Oulton and Fulford must get the support they need, and it is interesting that you are experiencing the same issues in Staffordshire.

    Hansard source
20. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Dr Allison Gardner

    Crossing in Tittensor

    I rise to present this petition for a pedestrian crossing across the A34 at Tittensor village. Tittensor residents have been campaigning for a crossing for over 30 years, led by the indefatigable Josie Windsor. The A34 dual carriageway cuts directly through the village, separating bus stops that take people to school, doctors’ appointments and the shops. My constituents cannot safely cross from one side to the other due to heavy and speeding traffic. Sadly, an elderly gentleman was knocked over recently. Staffordshire county council’s own assessment confirms that pedestrians experience delays waiting for safe gaps to cross. Indeed, the council has finally agreed to the crossing in principle but, as yet, has not allocated funds. This petition, signed by over 100 constituents, requests “that the House of Commons urge the Government to compel Staffordshire county council to deliver a crossing” to improve pedestrian safety. My constituents cannot be left waiting for another 30 years to see their crossing delivered. Following is the full text of the petition: [The petition of residents of the constituency of Stoke-on-Trent South in Staffordshire, Declares that a crossing should be added on the A34 in Tittensor to improve road safety and pedestrian access to services and public transport. The petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urge the Government to compel Staffordshire County Council to deliver a crossing in Tittensor. And the petitioners remain, etc.] [P003249]

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21. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Dr Allison Gardner

    Jobs and Employment: Staffordshire

    I represent the neighbouring constituency, and of course I have to mention ceramics. Since 2018, employment in traditional ceramics has fallen by 37% in Staffordshire. Advanced and traditional ceramics companies need skilled workers, but local employers are struggling to attract new talent. Stoke-on-Trent college has proposed a national ceramics and advanced materials technical college, which would create a national centre for technical education offering apprenticeships, industry placements and workforce development in traditional and advanced ceramics. Will my hon. Friend join me in recognising the value of the proposal in boosting local ceramics employment by providing the specialist skills required and creating clear pathways from education to high-value careers?

    Hansard source
22. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Douglas McAllister

    Civil Service Pensions

    West Dunbartonshire has one of the worst backlogs for civil service pension cases in the country. Although taskforce meetings help me keep constituents informed, the delays remain unacceptable. On top of that, I have found that many pension quotes are incorrect, requiring manual recalculation by Capita, whose revisions team is overwhelmed. My constituents are waiting too long for quotes that are often undervalued, or omit service years, or use incorrect pay rates. Is the Minister aware of these particular issues, and what steps will the Government take to address them?

    Hansard source
23. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Douglas McAllister

    Securing Scotland’s Future: Defence Skills and Jobs

    Figures announced last week confirmed that young apprenticeships have fallen by a third since 2016. We need greater regional control over skills and training. Decisions should be shaped by the people who best understand the industries in order to plug the defence skills gap and take advantage of defence shipbuilding investment. Does my hon. Friend agree that a successful example of this is the applied shipbuilding training academy—a £12 million facility at BAE Systems in Scotstoun, Glasgow, which has offered apprenticeship opportunities to many young people in my West Dunbartonshire constituency?

    Hansard source
24. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Deirdre Costigan

    Topical Questions

    Ealing Southall is unique, as two thirds of our rough sleepers have overstayed their visas. Many would go home voluntarily but are often stopped at the airport because the police national computer says that there is a pending case against them, when in fact it has been closed. Will the Minister look at how the police national computer can be updated more regularly so that these people can leave a life on the streets in Southall and go home with dignity?

    Hansard source
25. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Deirdre Costigan

    Rough Sleeping and Good Growth Funds

    I thank the Minister for her statement, and for the £874 million investment into ending rough sleeping. I particularly welcome this Government giving local leaders the power to make decisions that work best for their own areas. Given the very different character of rough sleeping in Ealing Southall, where the vast majority have no recourse to public funds, will she work with Ealing council and Hope for Southall Street Homeless, based at St Anselm’s church, to give them the funding and powers they need, so that the very unique circumstances for rough sleepers in Ealing Southall can be addressed?

    Hansard source
26. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Dawn Butler

    Topical Questions

    MPs’ safety is paramount. After my speech in the Black History Month debate on Thursday, a shadow Minister posted a racially charged tweet online that has resulted in more abuse against me. Do Ministers accept that MPs are bound by the code of practice, and, at the very least, that they should not be racist online?

    Hansard source
27. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Dawn Butler

    Topical Questions

    On a point of order, Mr Speaker. I need some clarification. After I posted my Black History Month speech last week, I received thousands of abusive messages. The shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Harborough, Oadby and Wigston (Neil O'Brien), posted: “If you want to tax my constituents more to fund random handouts to your mates overseas then yes, that is ‘stolen wealth’—their money is not yours, they have done nothing wrong, and you can do one.” That resulted in a racist pile-on, and I am troubled and concerned by the phrase “your mates overseas”. What exactly does the Member mean? I am deeply concerned by this. It is not about the reparations debate—I can handle people disagreeing with that—but “The Code of Conduct” states that Members are required to “treat others with respect.” I have emailed the Member to ask for an explanation, but none was given. Mr Speaker, could you advise me on how I can obtain an explanation for what was meant?

    Hansard source
28. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·David Williams

    Topical Questions

    In Stoke-on-Trent, whether it is Kidsgrove or Tunstall, residents tell me that they are fed up with being terrorised by off-road bikes that tear through our parks and our streets. Will the Minister please reassure me that Staffordshire police will have the neighbourhood officers, the funding and the powers available to them to deal with those who are making life a misery for others?

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29. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·David Williams

    Rough Sleeping and Good Growth Funds

    Having worked for our local YMCA in Stoke-on-Trent for nearly two decades before entering this place, this issue is personal to me, so I warmly welcome the statement. I was also so pleased to attend the homelessness summit at No. 10 earlier today. At that summit, the Prime Minister rightly talked about seeing people—getting to know their names—and not treating them as numbers and statistics. This is about giving people what we all need in life: it is about love, hope and dignity. We have heard today about the important role played by the voluntary sector. Does the Minister agree that voluntary and community sector partners are absolutely critical to getting this right, as they are they are rooted in the communities they serve? Can I offer her a visit to meet some of our fantastic organisations up in Stoke-on-Trent North and Kidsgrove?

    Hansard source
30. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·David Burton-Sampson

    Performance of Royal Mail

    I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Redditch (Chris Bloore) for securing the debate and my hon. Friends the Members for Lichfield (Dave Robertson) and for Corby and East Northamptonshire (Lee Barron), and many other hon. Members across the House, for their work on this matter. My constituents in Southend West and Leigh, like those of so many other hon. Members, have been rightfully disappointed in the service provided by Royal Mail. I concur with much of what I have heard. Southend was the original pilot area for the optimised delivery model, so we have been experiencing these issues locally for well over a year. It was deeply concerning that the clear indications that the ODM was not working in Southend did not prevent it from being rolled out nationwide. It is increasingly frustrating for my constituents, who feel that they are not getting the service they are paying for. For many people, the poor service has been not just inconvenient but disastrous, and we have heard many stories tonight about how it has been replicated across the country. NHS letters are not the only urgent post not being delivered. One constituent lost a job opportunity when a Disclosure and Barring Service certificate failed to arrive in time and another man, who was terminally ill, experienced unacceptable delays in receiving the paperwork he had requested to arrange his own funeral. I heard many such stories at a public meeting I held back in April, which gave residents the chance to put their concerns directly to Royal Mail’s regional management. Improvement was promised at the meeting, but guess what? It never came. In July, I held a consultation, which received 122 responses in just a couple of days. I am sorry to say that the feedback was overwhelmingly negative. Of those 122, 102 said that they were “dissatisfied” or “very dissatisfied” with the postal service. Only one person considered the current standard of service acceptable. Throughout this time, I have regularly met the CWU—the union that represents postal workers—and heard from it that postal workers in my constituency have been overworked, under immense pressure and unhappy with the standard of service they have been able to provide. They are equally unhappy at the massive variations between the old and new contracts, but I do not have time to talk about that. I was heartened to hear—a bit of positivity—that after a visit in August, having requested my fourth visit to the depot, Southend sorting office, in partnership with CWU reps, was ready to trial a new system that would rebalance the round loads and help reinforce the local link between the postie and their area in an amendment to DM26 that is about to be rolled out. Posties are much more efficient when they know the layout of their rounds, so it is clearly not rocket science to have them on a dedicated round. The trial took place in Leigh-on-Sea in my constituency. A month later, I was glad to visit the sorting office again and see the racks empty—but this time the CWU assured me that things had worked well and that, in that particular round, they were back in control. As of 19 October, the new system has been rolled out across our whole sorting office area. I will be keeping a watching brief, but it is showing real positive signs. I hope that those at Royal Mail will look at the success of the local pilot and roll it out across the rest of the country. If it is working, why would they not?

    Hansard source
31. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·David Burton-Sampson

    Performance of Royal Mail

    I share those concerns. We have heard from Members across the House tonight that many people feel that Royal Mail is putting the service into a managed decline. We have to fight against that. The service is vital across the country, and we have to do everything we can to ensure that we do not lose it. Royal Mail has let people down for far too long, and it needs to work at speed to get things back on track. It was great to see the Government’s announcement in September about cracking down on bogus self-employment. That is rightly a priority for the CWU. Delivery companies undercutting Royal Mail’s prices by mislabelling staff as self-employed to avoid statutory obligations—shifting costs on to workers so that nothing is covered—is unacceptable. Those companies do not cover sick pay, employer national insurance contributions, holidays or even the petrol used for deliveries. We do not want to see Royal Mail dragged down to that level. Our Government want everyone to enjoy security in their employment.

    Hansard source
32. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·David Burton-Sampson

    Performance of Royal Mail

    My hon. Friend makes a fantastic point. The CWU, too, is deeply concerned about the differences in contracts, and it is working with Royal Mail towards contract harmonisation. Royal Mail has shown some desire to move towards that, but, like many others, I am concerned about the speed with which that will happen—and whether it will happen at all. Royal Mail faces challenges on several levels. Through better employment practices, a more efficient delivery model and, most importantly, listening to their posties, the unions and residents, I am hopeful that for the first time in a while, there is a possible route to improvement in Southend. I thank Ministers, past and present, for working with me and other Members across the House on the issue and for the continued focus on holding Royal Mail to account. I will continue to work on this issue as hard as I can to ensure that my residents are getting the service that they are paying for and, to speak frankly, the service that is absolutely essential to so many.

    Hansard source
33. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Dave Robertson

    Performance of Royal Mail

    Before I start, I draw the House’s attention to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests in relation to the Communication Workers Union. It is over a decade since the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats oversaw the privatisation of Royal Mail, and it is clear to residents in Lichfield, Burntwood and the villages and—if this busy Chamber is anything to go by—to people across the country that the transition was grossly mishandled. Those parties failed to plan for Royal Mail’s long-term future in a market that was already showing signs of dramatic change. Now we see the results: late delivery after late delivery, leading to countless missed hospital appointments, GP appointments, court hearings, credit card bills—the list is almost endless. The post remains an essential public service, and we need to secure its future. I am proud that Labour MPs up and down the country are leading on this, and I could thank countless Members for their hard work, I am especially grateful to my hon. Friends the Members for Redditch (Chris Bloore) and for Corby and East Northamptonshire (Lee Barron), with whom I have been working closely to co-ordinate a campaign in Parliament. I am sure that I speak for all Labour Members when I say that we understand the serious and complex challenges facing Royal Mail, but too often the response we get from the company when we raise concerns, and by extension its response to our constituents, is nothing short of dismissive. When we tell Royal Mail that yet another resident has missed cancer treatment or received a threatening message from a debt collector for an undelivered bill, we are too often told that there simply is no problem. Just today, I have had an email from Royal Mail assuring me that everything will be fine in time for Christmas, despite the fact that it has not met its delivery obligations at the Lichfield office at any point in the last five months. It beggars belief.

    Hansard source
34. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Dave Robertson

    Performance of Royal Mail

    I have experienced that at first hand as well. I went to one of the arranged visits to my local distribution office, with various people from the Royal Mail comms department there. By the time I got back to my office, I had had three emails from posties at that delivery office saying that every single postal worker went out that day with two routes on their back, just to ensure that the mail was out of the way and I did not see it. It is a real problem that Royal Mail does not want to grasp this.

    Hansard source
35. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Dave Robertson

    Performance of Royal Mail

    My hon. Friend makes an excellent point about the value that posties have in our communities not just in delivering post, but more widely. We saw it over covid where the only person a lot of vulnerable residents would see in a week would be their postie. She makes an important point about their importance to our communities. Returning to Royal Mail’s inability to grasp the nettle and to the fact that it sends us emails saying, “Everything’s fine,” “Don’t worry,” and “Nothing to see here,” that is tantamount to telling every single MP it has sent that communication to that our constituents are lying. Royal Mail needs to change its approach radically and rapidly.

    Hansard source
36. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Dave Robertson

    Performance of Royal Mail

    I will make some progress. Royal Mail needs to own the true scale of the problem and the genuinely felt anger—that is essential. I look forward to discussing this with the Royal Mail CEO when he meets Labour MPs in Parliament next month. Labour Members do not want to stand up in this Chamber and attack Royal Mail, and we are certainly not attacking postal workers. We recognise the scale of the challenge facing the industry. The number of letters sent in the UK has halved since the company was privatised, while the number of parcels has risen dramatically, fuelled in many cases by the growth in online shopping. Virtually all the parcel companies competing with Royal Mail, and oftentimes using its network, use a bogus self-employment model for their workers. That means Royal Mail is competing in a market where it has a fundamental disadvantage, and we should not want to encourage the model that these parcel companies are using—it is bad for workers, consumers and the taxpayer. Too many parcel companies pay a pittance for an unmanageable workload, exhausting drivers who cannot provide a quality service to customers as they race to complete rounds that are frankly impossible, and the public purse is ripped off in the process. While Royal Mail pays £650 million a year in national insurance contributions, many of these companies do not pay a penny. The Government are now consulting on upgrading the rights of these parcel delivery drivers, and it is a start, but we need to go further. We need true parity between Royal Mail and its competitors, a level playing field where every company pays a fair price if it chooses to use the Royal Mail network. We need Royal Mail to take a long-term view of its workforce. New entrants get far worse terms, and that is fuelling a retention crisis with a staggering 400 posties leaving the company every week. It may help pinch a few pennies now, but if Royal Mail cannot keep its hard-working staff, the business is destined to fail. I am sorry to say that we need to look again at the delivery model. Royal Mail is currently rolling out DM26, as it calls it, but our posties tell us the process is already chaotic, the workload is unmanageable and it is not a long-term solution. We need to heed the recommendation of the Business and Trade Committee to look at giving Ofcom stronger powers to regulate Royal Mail. It concerns me that the regulator has no solution beyond more fines for Royal Mail, which are clearly not working. We need to build on the Government’s “golden share” in Royal Mail and think about an ownership model for the future, with the voices of customers and workers right at its heart.

    Hansard source
37. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Dave Robertson

    Performance of Royal Mail

    The hon. Member makes an important point. As we have heard from many Members today, it is not the posties; it is the system that they are being asked to work in. We need to do a number of things; there is no single answer that will solve this. We need a suite of different responses that lead to a proper outcome. We need to think about bringing Royal Mail and the Post Office back together and look creatively at opportunities for profit, such as Post Office banking hubs. We need to look at the pay and bonuses of Royal Mail’s senior leadership. We are already doing that with the water companies; I do not see why it would be inappropriate in this case. When a private company delivers a public service, it must be held to the highest standards. Just like with those water companies, we cannot see bosses’ pay balloon while workers struggle and customers are let down. I am not arrogant enough to stand here and say that I have all the answers. These ideas are all born out of consultation with organisations across the sector, and that is why it is so important that we get all the parties around the table to share those ideas so we can turn them into action. Two weeks ago, the Communication Workers Union wrote to the Secretary of State calling on him to hold an emergency summit to discuss Royal Mail’s future. I am glad to hear that the meeting will go ahead, and I ask the Minister that my hon. Friends the Members for Redditch and for Corby and East Northamptonshire and I are included in those discussions. Back-Bench MPs and our constituents must have a voice in them. Royal Mail was founded over 500 years ago. It is a great British icon and an essential public service. We cannot and must not be the generation of politicians who allow it to fail.

    Hansard source
38. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Dave Robertson

    Jobs and Employment: Staffordshire

    I am not quite a constituency neighbour, but it is always great to see a fellow Staffordshire MP in this place. Will my hon. Friend join me in thanking organisations such as AKG, which operates in my constituency? It is a private company, but it provides services to those who have been out of work for a long time through the restart scheme and the connect to work scheme, both funded by the Government, which are very much designed to provide people with the employment support they need so they can get back into work—doing the real work, not just trying to solve this problem by soundbite. Will he join me in thanking AKG for helping people find those opportunities?

    Hansard source
39. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Dave Robertson

    Jobs and Employment: Staffordshire

    The Minister is right to raise the importance of ceramics to our industries. In my part of the world, it is sanitaryware and Armitage Shanks, and we know the Stokies are all about flatware—it is a huge part of the economy. Will the Minister urge colleagues in the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade to get the funding for the ceramics rescue package out of the door faster than currently planned? We need that rescue package in the hands of companies, not sitting in a bank account in Whitehall.

    Hansard source
40. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Darren Jones

    Rough Sleeping and Good Growth Funds

    I thank the Minister and the Secretary of State and congratulate them on securing additional funding for this important initiative—not least because, on the basis of the submission from the shadow Minister, the Conservative party thinks that we should not be doing anything at all. I am pleased to see this Labour Government doing the right thing. We have seen street homelessness increase in our constituencies over the years, not just in the areas where we might normally expect to see it, such as in Bristol city centre, but in vans, on the downs and in the church gardens in Shirehampton in Bristol North West. The prevalence of street homelessness has increased to unacceptable levels. Will the Minister tell us how the Department will decide how to split the pot of money it has received from the Treasury between different councils and communities across the country to ensure it gets directly to the people who need it most this winter?

    Hansard source