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1. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Sally Jameson

   Civil Service Pension Scheme

   I thank the hon. Member for raising her constituent’s experience, which I am sorry to hear about. I have many similar examples in my constituency, as I know have Members across the House. I hope to provide a more substantive update in October. As I have said previously, Capita’s performance is totally unacceptable. I will not defend it, and I will continue to hold Capita to account every single day that I am in office, until the service levels are brought back up to an acceptable standard and all our constituents have received the pensions that they should already have had—in the hon. Member’s constituency case, 11 months ago—and I will continue to do that. We are looking at bringing the pension scheme in-house, and we are looking at the different viable options to do that. In our manifesto we committed to the biggest wave of insourcing in a generation, and we are all committed to doing that.

   Hansard source
2. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Sally Jameson

   Topical Questions

   I thank my hon. Friend for raising that appalling case. Current service levels are completely unacceptable. We continue to use the most stringent commercial levers that we have under this contract, including withholding contractual payments. We have 147 surge staff deployed in this crisis. We will not be moving any of those team members until service levels are permanently fixed. If my hon. Friend would like to write to me, I will happily make sure that any of his future cases are looked at with urgency.

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3. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Sally Jameson

   Topical Questions

   I thank the hon. Member for raising that case. As I have said, Capita’s performance is diabolical. I will not make any excuses for it from the Dispatch Box —there are no excuses for it—but we are holding Capita to account every day. As I said, we have deployed 147 surge staff to help during this crisis—they will not be removed until service levels are brought up to scratch—we are withholding contractual payments, and an independent Capita-funded remedial adviser has been appointed to identify further issues. If the hon. Lady writes to me about that case, I will ensure that it is escalated.

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4. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Sally Jameson

   Topical Questions

   I am sorry to hear of the experience that the right hon. Member’s constituent has had with Capita. As I have said, its performance has been abysmal, and we will hold it to account every single day until service levels are brought back to a good standard. I would be happy to meet her to discuss the case, and I will personally ensure that it is escalated.

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5. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Sally Jameson

   Topical Questions

   I hope to be able to update the House shortly after recess with further steps that the Government are taking. As I have said, we have a Capita-funded remedial adviser in place who is identifying the delivery issues, and we have also deployed auditors to Capita to get a full understanding of the exact state of the service. We will continue to look at withholding contractual payments and, as I have said, this Government are committed to the biggest wave of insourcing in a generation. While we inherited this contract from the previous Government, we will ensure that going forward looking at in-house schemes is a priority.

   Hansard source
6. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Sally Jameson

   Topical Questions

   I thank the hon. Member for bringing that idea to this House. I will be happy to put that to Capita when I next meet it, and if she wants to write to me with her case, I will happily ensure that it is escalated.

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7. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Rosie Wrighting

   Jobs in AI

   8. What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to support the creation of new jobs in the AI industry.

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8. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Rosie Wrighting

   Jobs in AI

   I welcome my right hon. Friend to his place—I am so pleased to see him become the first Minister for AI at the Cabinet table. In order for AI productivity gains to be felt in every postcode and in areas such as Kettering, we need to reduce the barriers to entry for small and medium-sized businesses. What is his Department doing to ensure that it is as easy as possible for SMEs to upskill their workers and access this new technology, so that its impact is not restricted to a few large companies?

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9. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Richard Quigley

   Topical Questions

   May I say how happy I am to welcome my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster to her place? I know she will continue to be a fantastic champion for the Isle of Wight. Per capita—not the pension people but per head of population—the island tops the league for tech and advanced manufacturing, but despite our brilliant pedigree, under the previous Government, we were continually overlooked for funding and investment. Will my right hon. Friend assure me that she will use her office to secure sustained growth in our postcodes, so that the island can finally receive the recognition, investment and job opportunities that its contribution to our economy deserves?

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10. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Richard Quigley

    Social Housing Bill [Lords]

    Does the hon. Gentleman agree that the Tory idea of capping the local housing allowance would mean that families who cannot afford to stay in their area will have to move out of the area, tear their children out of school and turn their lives upside down?

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11. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Rebecca Long Bailey

    Social Housing Bill [Lords]

    In Salford, around 3,500 applicants are on the housing waiting list, with 1,335 children living in temporary accommodation. Across England, more than 1.3 million households are waiting for a social home, but at the current rate of delivery, Shelter estimates that it would take 119 years to clear the waiting lists. The crisis did not happen overnight, and it was not inevitable. We did not suddenly discover that council housing did not work; previous Governments sold it off. They stopped building it, cut the funding and hollowed out the housing departments that had given local government the skills, capacity and ability to build at scale. In their place, we became increasingly dependent on a private housing market whose primary purpose has always been to generate returns, so it is no surprise that the market did not deliver the social homes that we needed—it was never going to do that. That is why I really welcome the measures in the Bill to protect existing social housing, particularly the reforms to right to buy, but it is only the first part of the story. We now need to build council houses at scale and to give councils the powers, funding and confidence to do it. We know it can be done, because in the greatest city on earth, Salford, we have already shown how to do it. In 2017, Paul Dennett and Salford city council established Dérive, a council-owned housing company that was created to develop land and increase the supply of council and genuinely affordable homes. The first homes were delivered in 2019, and 513 had been built by April this year, with another 700 in construction or development. That is public ownership in practice, and it is particularly significant because much of this happened during austerity, when councils were on their knees. We used our land, our democratic mandate and our own housing company to rebuild the capacity that successive Governments had allowed to disappear, and we did it on a shoestring. Imagine what could be achieved with Government support! That is the lesson that I want the House to take from Salford: councils can acquire land, develop it and build high-quality, energy-efficient homes, but crucially, they can retain those homes as public assets for generations to come. I very much welcome the Government’s ambition to put councils back at the heart of house building, including the £39 billion affordable housing programme and the commitment to a major expansion in council house building, but if we are serious about delivering that ambition, we need to see the detail that will make it real—not in 10 years’ time, but now. How many of those homes will actually be owned by councils? How much funding will go directly to local authorities? Will councils have the borrowing capacity that they need to deliver, and will grant rates make genuinely social rent homes financially viable? Finally, we have to be honest about what we mean by affordable. A home does not become affordable simply because we put the word “affordable” in front of it. For a family on a low wage, 80% of an inflated market rent can still be completely unaffordable. Social rent has to be different, because it is designed for what people can genuinely afford. We have to invest in council house building and make that a central pillar of our industrial strategy. There has been lots of talk this week about crowding in private investment, but that will happen only if the Government set the strategic direction and put the funding on the table for councils to deliver.

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12. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Rachel Taylor

    Topical Questions

    T4. I regularly hear from young people in my constituency about the challenges they face getting their foot on the career ladder. Will the Minister set out the specific steps that the Cabinet Office is taking to ensure that the Government’s new procurement rules translate into more jobs, more apprenticeships and more opportunities for young people in rural communities like mine?

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13. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Rachel Blake

    Business of the House

    Awaab’s law has support from across this Chamber. Does the Leader of the House agree that we now need an assessment of the impact of Awaab’s law? What parliamentary time could be allocated to that? We need to be certain that the scourge of damp and mould will be tackled by this Government in our lifetimes.

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14. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Rachel Blake

    Social Housing Bill [Lords]

    There is part of the Bill that the Minister has not referred to: part 2 on a review of shared ownership. Shared ownership is a tenure that provides a great opportunity to get into home ownership for many people, yet far too many people find themselves indebted and in a difficult position because of the service charges imposed on them and the quality of shared ownership. I am particularly interested in the different models of shared ownership that come forward. I am interested to know what this review will cover and how its outcomes might be reflected in any future investment in genuinely affordable homes.

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15. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Peter Swallow

    Ukraine and Russia

    Through their Representation of the People Bill, this Government are already doing a lot to protect our democracy from dodgy foreign donations, but my right hon. Friend knows that I am also concerned about foreign misinformation and disinformation undermining our democracy, support for Ukraine and community cohesion. What conversations is he having with Cabinet colleagues about what more we can do to target foreign misinformation and disinformation, particularly from Russia, and to protect our democracy?

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16. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Peter Swallow

    Social Housing Bill [Lords]

    I wholeheartedly welcome the Bill and all it will do to support the very Labour promise that everyone should have access to a safe and secure place to call their home. While the Leader of the Opposition apparently believes that if nurses, teaching assistants and tradies cannot afford to live in Bracknell Forest, with its high rents and house prices, they should be forced to move out, I believe the answer is more social and council housing to support people from Bracknell Forest to stay in Bracknell Forest. That is why I support the push by the leader of Bracknell Forest council, Helen Purnell, to make the council a leading force in delivering new council housing. I welcome the measures in the Bill on the disposal of social houses by registered providers, but the Minister will not be surprised to hear that I think we need to go further. Since 2018, housing associations have permanently sold 28,585 social homes to private and other non-social purchasers, with 5,806 sold in 2024-25 alone, the highest annual figure on record. Some 87% of those went at open market value, far beyond the reach of a local authority’s purchasing power. Unlike right to buy, these homes are not being sold to the families living in them—they are being sold out of the sector entirely into private ownership. In my constituency, 154 homes have been sold since 2018, including bungalows and several three and four-bedroom properties, which are the very homes Bracknell Forest families most need. As it stands, the Bill asks housing providers to give local authorities notification of any disposals that they are planning, but the measures are not sufficiently strong. On Third Reading in the other place, the Minister confirmed that the Government are planning a Commons amendment on the notification period, so may I press the Housing Minister for more information on that and on what we can do to strengthen that measure? Will he also consider two further changes to the Bill? First, Homes England should develop a code of responsible disposal practice, with the regulator and the sector more widely, to which housing providers can be held as a condition of holding long-term partner status under the social and affordable homes programme. That is a very simple principle: if they are receiving Government money, they should not be disposing of homes, wherever possible. Secondly, when a social home is disposed of, the Government should do more to ensure that the income is reinvested in replacement social rent homes in the same local authority area. I know my right hon. Friend the Housing Minister shares my concerns about this issue and I am committed to working with him and the Government to ensure the Bill addresses disposals properly. I look forward to constructive conversations with the Minister as the Bill progresses.

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17. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Peter Swallow

    Water Management

    I confess that I am a little confused. There are plenty of places in the country, including in my region, where we already have a separate system for sewage and rainwater runoff that should keep them separate. Yet, over many years, we have seen that that has not had the desired effect, and I am sorry to say that we are still seeing far too much sewage going into our rivers. While I recognise the point he is trying to make, I do not think that it is the silver bullet he suggests. Does he not accept that if we are to capture more rainwater, the way to do that is to build the reservoirs we need?

    Hansard source
18. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Peter Swallow

    Water Management

    I completely agree with the Minister. There are many SUDS in Bracknell Forest that have been delivered as part of alternative natural green spaces, and they create lovely nature corridors in our community. I just wanted to put that on the record.

    Hansard source
19. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Perran Moon

    Business of the House

    Rick Rescorla, a son of Hayle in my constituency, was the head of security at Morgan Stanley in the south tower on 9/11. He was widely credited with helping to evacuate more than 2,500 people, and singing Cornish songs as he did so. He sacrificed his own life while attempting to save the last few employees. Having served in both the Parachute Regiment and the US Air Cavalry, Rick is truly a national hero. Does the Leader of the House agree that Rick’s life, as well as the thousands who died that fateful day, should never be forgotten?

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20. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Perran Moon

    Ukraine and Russia

    I welcome the Defence Secretary to his place. This morning, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe proposed a mechanism that could allow Ukraine to receive frozen Russian assets based on rulings by the European Court of Human Rights. The document states that directing Russian assets towards compensating Ukraine could be a legitimate countermeasure and is consistent with the norms of international law. Will the Secretary of State consider this mechanism in relation to the UK’s seized Russian assets as well as in discussions with European allies?

    Hansard source
21. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Perran Moon

    Social Housing Bill [Lords]

    Cornwall’s social housing shortage is not only a major contributor to our severe housing crisis, but one of the greatest blockers of economic regeneration. In the Conservative years, the construction of new social housing in Cornwall plummeted—for example, in 2015-16, just six new homes were built for social rent across the entire duchy. Combine that with 14,000 second homes and nearly 24,000 Airbnb listings, which further reduce the overall housing stock, and it comes as no shock that our social housing waiting list stands at a staggering 25,000. That incurs vast costs for emergency and temporary accommodation. The size of that register will only grow in coming years unless urgent action is taken. In the light of our acute housing crisis, I warmly welcome measures in the Bill to protect our existing social housing stock, particularly the right to buy exemptions for new social homes and for those in designated rural areas. However, the scope of the Bill addresses just one element of Cornwall’s housing crisis. I welcomed the former Chancellor’s stamp duty increase for second homes from 3% to 5%, and I also welcomed the confirmation last week by the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport that a new registration scheme for short-term lets will be live by March, but we must go further. To that end, I have three quick asks of the Government. First, I urge the Government to review Cornwall council’s £90 million housing revenue account debt associated with the 2012 self-financing settlement. Servicing that inherited debt settlement diverts key resources away from repairs to existing homes and delivering additional affordable housing. Secondly, the Government have already recognised the value of low-cost development finance through 0.1% loans to housing associations. Extending those opportunities to councils would unlock significant additional housing delivery. Thirdly, Cornwall must not be locked out of further powers and funding for social housing simply because we will not be joining a mayoral strategic authority. A strategic place partnership with Homes England would give us not only the framework to deliver social housing for Cornwall, but the funding, which so far has gone only to mayoral strategic authorities. Cornwall cannot build a stronger economy on a foundation of housing insecurity. The only sustainable answer is to increase our stock of genuinely affordable social homes and to do that at scale. To that end, I strongly welcome this Bill.

    Hansard source
22. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Paulette Hamilton

    Jobs in AI

    18. What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to support the creation of new jobs in the AI industry.

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23. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Paulette Hamilton

    Jobs in AI

    I, too, welcome my hon. Friend to his place. Birmingham has enormous potential to benefit from the growth of AI, but communities like mine in Erdington must not be left behind. What steps is the Minister taking with colleagues across Government to ensure that young people in constituencies like mine have access to the skills, apprenticeships and training they need to secure the new, well-paid jobs being created by AI?

    Hansard source
24. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Pam Cox

    Business of the House

    Following the visit this week by the victims Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Pontypridd (Alex Davies-Jones), to Colchester’s much-respected Centre for Action on Rape and Abuse, or CARA, and the confirmation of an additional £9 million for victim support services in Essex, will the Leader of the House make time for a debate on the progress that the Government are making on their work on prevention, enforcement and survivor support?

    Hansard source
25. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Nesil Caliskan

    Social Housing Bill [Lords]

    Safe and secure housing is the foundation of a good life, and the availability of social and affordable housing plays an important part in the provision of housing in this country, in what should be a mixed housing picture. I would like to begin by talking about the right to buy. Between 2012 and 2024, 124,000 right-to-buy sales took place, but fewer than 50,000 of those properties were replaced in the same period. The maths alone demonstrate what is happening to social housing. I therefore particularly welcome the Government’s commitment to reforming right to buy, including measures to exempt newly built affordable and social housing from sale under the right-to-buy scheme for 35 years. I also welcome 100% of right-to-buy receipts being left to local authorities. As an ex-council leader, I recall the frustration I felt about being unable to plough that money back into affordable homes. Councils will now be able to combine that money with developer contributions and grant funding; it will mean that councils that are committed to affordable and social housing can build more.

    Hansard source
26. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Nesil Caliskan

    Social Housing Bill [Lords]

    There were a number of reasons hindering us from delivering affordable homes. The Conservatives’ measure did not go as far as the proposals that the Government are setting out today. The other reasons included record interest rates, which completely decimated housing revenue accounts for councils up and down the country. In my constituency of Barking, rising rents and bills take a bigger piece of people’s household spending each month. That is the result of a housing crisis in this country that has got progressively worse because building simply is not keeping up with demand. Every week, I speak to constituents who tell me about their experience of the housing crisis, which leaves them with anxiety that they may be left without a roof over their head at any moment—and that is in a local authority that is building at a record rate. I would also like to speak about the new powers to support domestic violence victims. Like many Members in this place, I speak to constituents who tell me about their fear of being left homeless, should they speak out and leave their secure home. I very much welcome the changes in the Bill, which will mean that women and children can sleep safer.

    Hansard source
27. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Nesil Caliskan

    Social Housing Bill [Lords]

    There are excellent examples up and down the country of local authorities doing very good work. With the backing of a Labour Government, we can see real progress in supporting women who are the victims of domestic violence, and their children. Part 2 of the Bill requires the Secretary of State to conduct and publish a review of the operation and effectiveness of shared ownership. Barking has a significant number of shared ownership properties, and I speak to constituents who tell me that a move that was full of hope is quickly turning into a nightmare. Many constituents have told me about the increase in their charges, in some cases from £2,000 to £4,000, and some are paying up to £6,000 in charges for a three-bedroom property. Simply put, a shared ownership property that is categorised as affordable has become unaffordable for many of my constituents. I welcome the Government’s commitment to reviewing this, to ensure that affordable means affordable. Where charges mean that properties become unaffordable, my constituents should not feel as though they are trapped in them. Housing and the provision of decent homes, including social and affordable housing, were the reason why I ran for public office. I am delighted to support the Government’s Bill. We need to build more social and affordable homes, we need to protect them, and we need to invest in them, so that they are fit for the future. I welcome the Bill and look forward to it being rolled out, so that my constituents in Barking can benefit.

    Hansard source
28. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Natasha Irons

    Social Housing Bill [Lords]

    I speak as the granddaughter of Jamaican immigrants who came to this country and had a council house, and then bought that council house and profited from right to buy. The conversation we had around our dinner table was, “Isn’t right to buy great? The problem is they are not rebuilding the houses.” The idea of changing the policy is to stop the leakage out of the system. We cannot continue to pour more into the top while it comes out of the bottom. I hope we can agree that building more social homes is everyone’s objective, but keeping them in the system will also alleviate the pressure on social housing.

    Hansard source
29. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Natasha Irons

    Social Housing Bill [Lords]

    I want to clarify the point about people born in other countries and living here. If a person is born somewhere else, it does not mean that they are not a British citizen, or that their children were not born in this country. Being in social housing does not mean not being in work. Is the hon. Gentleman suggesting that, if someone becomes a British citizen after moving to this country, they should have a different tier of support in the system, even if they have paid into it?

    Hansard source
30. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Natasha Irons

    Social Housing Bill [Lords]

    Would you like to clarify?

    Hansard source
31. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Nadia Whittome

    Social Housing Bill [Lords]

    One major driver of the housing crisis has been the selling off of our council homes under Thatcher’s right-to-buy scheme. Not only has that greatly reduced the supply of social housing, exposing more people to higher rents and the insecurity of private renting, but we now know that it has indirectly inflated private rents by shifting low-income households into market-rate renting. That is why I welcome the Bill’s aims of protecting existing social housing stock and incentivising the building of more social rented homes. I also commend its commitment to provide greater social security and stability for social tenants who are victims and survivors of domestic abuse. However, while the Bill turns over a new leaf in our housing policy, I am concerned that it does not go far enough on right to buy. New social homes will only be protected for 35 years, and existing tenants will wait seven more years to buy their homes at a discount, so we will still lose our social housing stock, just at a slower pace. The argument we often hear against removing right to buy from existing social housing is that it would be unfair to those hoping to buy their homes at a discount, but selling public assets to private individuals at a loss to the state is accelerating the housing crisis for all. Since council homes began being sold off at a discount, the state has effectively given away an estimated £194 billion, and to add insult to injury, 41% of those homes are now in the hands of private landlords. The Government rightly recognise that we need to replenish our social housing stock, so as well as a mass programme of council house building, we must help local authorities to recover former council homes through grants and a stronger right of first refusal policy. These measures will, in the long term, pay for themselves. A typical private tenant spends over a third of their income on rent today, compared with only 10% in 1980, so we need more drastic measures to tackle the housing crisis, and that includes stabilising our social housing stock. We should be ending right to buy completely, as Wales and Scotland have, because every year delayed is another year that we fail the hundreds of thousands of people without a secure home, the over 170,000 children in England who are in temporary accommodation and, of course, the millions paying extortionate rents to their landlords.

    Hansard source
32. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Mrs Sharon Hodgson

    Business of the House

    Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker; I will be very brief. Next Thursday is World Patient Safety Day. As the landmark Cumberlege review confirmed, patients—particularly women—have had their concerns dismissed and denied for far too long. As co-chair of the all-party parliamentary group “First Do No Harm”, I ask the Leader of the House if he will grant a debate in Government time on when they will respond to the excellent Hughes report.

    Hansard source
33. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Mr Paul Foster

    Ukraine and Russia

    Will the Secretary of State please outline what assessment the Government have made of recent statements from Moscow regarding the United Kingdom?

    Hansard source
34. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Mr Luke Charters

    Fathers and Positive Male Role Models

    It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mrs Hobhouse. I am chuffed that we are having this debate, as, reportedly, I am the youngest parent in Parliament. I was the first dad to take extended parental leave as an MP by appointing an MP representative, but we want a similar opportunity for all dads across the country. Post-war Britain was built by working-class families, who frankly deserved more time with their kids. The fact is, they never really got it, and that continued into the ’60s and ’70s—my dad’s generation. My dad came from a council house to become a joiner, but it was his dad who went down the pit, and it was my mum’s dad who worked on the floor of a bacon factory—one powered the nation, one fed it, and my dad helped to build it. I will never shy away from telling their stories, because I am proud of them. For their generation, work came first, because they felt it had to. The role of a dad in society has shifted and continues to evolve. Fathers rightly taught important lessons about graft, grit and hard work, but the role is changing, and now, as society shifts, the greatest contribution a man can make to society is by being a present father. The biggest barrier to that is the fact that Britain’s paternity leave remains among the weakest in western Europe, and I am proud that this Labour Government are committed to ending that injustice. We have been lagging behind, because Sweden began normalising hands-on fatherhood in the ’70s. The image was simple: the latte papas—a dad with a toddler, a pram and a coffee, spending time with his children alongside his friends. Norway went further in 1993, introducing four paid weeks reserved for fathers with full-wage compensation. Yes, it was a Labour Government who introduced statutory sick pay in the noughties, but the fact of the matter is, right here, right now, in Britain, we are 40 years behind Norway and Demark. Research from the University of Copenhagen links longer parental leave with better wellbeing, better emotional stability and behaviour later in life. Swap Stockholm’s pastries for Yorkshire puddings, swap Copenhagen’s Lego and follow the shared Viking heritage, and we can see that York is leading on advocacy for greater parental rights today. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation, which is headquartered in my constituency, has published research that shows that six weeks of statutory paternity leave at 90% of earnings could deliver a net economic gain of £2.7 billion a year to the UK economy. Whether it is the University of York’s equal parenting project, or my constituent Joeli Brearley, founder of Pregnant Then Screwed, York is putting parental rights firmly on the national agenda. I try to balance my job with being a present father, including bringing my boys here to Parliament. That might mean explosive nappies before votes, running around in the family room, or even sneaking them into the Tea Room for jelly and toast. My boys have become two little mascots who have joined me every step of the way in my campaign for better paternity leave for dads. I remember being at the Movember head office, where I was talking to the legendary Dad Shift and Mother Pukka. I will never forget the kindness of Amy O’Connor at Movember, who made Robin, my son, some slices of toast. Putting my kids first does not make me a worse MP; it makes me a better, more grounded one. When my boys are here with me in Parliament, we make happy memories together as a family, but when they are not here, we miss each other. This week, we all cried at the end of a FaceTime call. Even at three, Robin understands that when his daddy is away, he is out there maybe fighting for other families. I really believe that a world powered by a parent’s love of their children is just a world that is better for all of us.

    Hansard source
35. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Mr Luke Charters

    Fathers and Positive Male Role Models

    I welcome the Minister back to his post. Will he commit to working with the new class unit set up by the Minister for Women and Equalities as part of her work?

    Hansard source
36. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Mr James Frith

    Vascular Sector Reform

    It is a genuine pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dr Huq, and to join you again in Parliament. We worked together before and it is an honour to be here today. As is customary, I would like to thank the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) for securing this important debate and for his insights. Some of us were wondering if he would write one of his famous letters of congratulations and courtesy to himself; we hope that somebody else will step up and show him the same courtesy that he affords us all by being so generous in his support of colleagues across the House. I also thank my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow South West (Dr Ahmed), who spoke so well and with such insight, for the leadership and expertise that he showed in pulling together the Government’s ambitions for not just the 10-year plan but, as has been mentioned, the cardiovascular framework. I am of course minded to listen to anything further that he says. On his point about Scotland, he is right that I also have responsibility for the devolved nations in a seemingly ever-growing brief—he will have sympathy with me over that. I am happy to have those conversations to ensure that we learn from the Scots and that the successes here can be transported north of the non-border to which he rightly referred. The report published by the APPG earlier this year sets out suggested actions for improving vascular care. The Opposition spokesperson, the hon. Member for Solihull West and Shirley (Dr Shastri-Hurst), is right that there is much in this debate on which we agree. The calls to action include reducing waiting times, reforming commissioning, accelerating innovation, and establishing a national foot care pathway and community-based foot protection services in every local system. I commend the APPG for focusing their challenges on structural reforms and system changes, and not on simply making a new request for funding. We can all agree with the improvements the actions intend to deliver, which are, “earlier diagnosis, reduced travel and access barriers for patients, and relieving pressure on acute services by preventing deterioration and avoidable hospital admissions.” That is crucial. At the election, I was pleased to stand for a party that wanted, when in government, to bring its power and might to bear on the biggest killers. The Government very much intend to deliver those improvements through the core shifts set out in the 10-year plan for the NHS. For patients with vascular disease, that will mean fewer trips to hospital as we shift care closer to home and into the community. It will mean better use of digital technology—my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow South West referred to the innovation part of my title, and there is more to come on that—to identify vascular disease, monitor its progression and, finally, stop it from developing or worsening. In preparation for this debate, I have been encouraged—mercifully, I am pleased to say—to use my remarks reflect the call to action from the APPG.

    Hansard source
37. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Mr James Frith

    Vascular Sector Reform

    I concur fully with my hon. Friend’s point. I noted his earlier remark about the commissioning of outcomes, and I think that one of the developing themes adjoining my own thinking and my brief is the need to get better at commissioning outcomes, considering whole populations, communities and places, and determining how we spend our money based on outcomes, not just activity. My hon. Friend makes a very powerful point with his question. The hon. Member for Strangford and other members of the APPG feel strongly about the establishment of a national foot attack pathway. The Government’s ambition for integrated care boards to act as strategic commissioners focused on the needs of local populations is very much determined to assist that. The prevalence of vascular disease is not evenly distributed, as the hon. Member for North Shropshire (Helen Morgan) mentioned. ICBs are expected to use their nationally supported local commissioning power and their local data and intelligence, which includes user feedback and outcomes data, to develop a deep understanding of local need as well as local plans to develop and deliver.

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38. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Mr James Frith

    Vascular Sector Reform

    That is a very fair and right challenge. This is not about endorsing patchwork provision; it is about understanding that, whether because of the physiological, social, environmental or behavioural differences that exist, care is not evenly distributed. We should have standards that we expect nationally, but we should also commission and empower local ICBs to commission, and we should hold them accountable through the frameworks and the work that we do in the Department.

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39. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Mr James Frith

    Vascular Sector Reform

    I hope that my further remarks will address that very point; I am happy to pick it up with the hon. Member in due course if they do not satisfy. ICBs will use national modern service frameworks set by the Government and guidance to create the right services for their areas. That means local systems coming together to create neighbourhood services that reform the health and care system and are rooted in the needs of people and communities. On the issue of maximum waiting times for vascular disease, this Government recognise that it is imperative that any patient requiring a vascular assessment receives that in a timeframe that reflects their condition and enables the best possible health outcome. The Government are committed to making progress on NHS waiting times, including returning by March ’29 to the NHS constitutional standard of 92% of elective care patients’ waiting times from referral to treatment being within 18 weeks. Of course, that includes those patients waiting for vascular services. The NHS met the first interim target of 65% in March ’26, and we are now focused on driving improvements to achieve our second interim target of 70% by 2027. To help support the commitment to reduce waiting times, the podiatry workforce pipeline is currently being strengthened through NHS England’s focus programme for small and vulnerable professions, with the NHS workforce plan to be published shortly. The health service also has clear guidance on what is required in delivering services for people with vascular disease or at risk of developing it. In March ’26, NHS England published guidance on standardising community health services. That guidance identifies podiatry, diabetes and tissue viability, and wound care as core components of ICB-funded community provision. People who need urgent wound assessment—for example, those with suspected infection, rapid deterioration, or diabetic foot ulcer—should be seen within 24 hours. The guidance also makes it clear that routine assessments should occur within five to seven working days, with data collected on healing and complications. The purpose and goal of community health services must be to support people as well as to avoid their needing to be admitted to hospital and, critically, the need for amputations.

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40. 10 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Mr James Frith

    Vascular Sector Reform

    The hon. Member is absolutely right. We have to keep ICBs and their commissioning powers accountable to local jurisdictions. I will say a bit more on that in due course, but we are on the same page. To facilitate faster assessments we also need to speed up and make earlier diagnoses, which is why the Government plan to open four new community diagnostic centres during ’26-27. That expanding capacity will help meet our March ’29 target that no more than 1% of patients should wait over six weeks for a diagnostic test. On reforming commissioning to reward outcomes, as set out in the 10-year health plan, we want to develop new ways to pay healthcare providers based on clinical practice that maximises productivity and outcome, as my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow South West mentioned. Under the best practice tariffs, providers receive payment when they follow agreed standards of care. On the adoption of proven innovation, the APPG report rightly identifies the importance of the NHS being able to quickly adopt new innovations. As part of my responsibility to oversee further development and enhancement of the use and usability of the NHS app, one development coming through the House at the moment is the creation of the single patient record. The future exciting development of NHS online, or digital doctor, as I might yet call it, is about the digitisation of our NHS service—embracing innovation, personalising healthcare and responsive to individual need—as well as the innovator passport, delivered through a phased approach to accelerate access to and adoption of technologies. The APPG’s report says that preventing vascular disease and its deterioration should be at the centre of the system, and I agree. Identifying people with vascular diseases and providing care centred on their needs is critical to ensuring vascular disease does not progress to the point where somebody needs incredibly serious interventions, such as a leg needing to be amputated. In this modern era, such amputations are wholly avoidable and should be prevented. The distinction between the APPG’s report and the Government’s most recent announcement of the MSF has been mentioned. I was delighted to join the British Heart Foundation yesterday at the celebration event for the MSF ahead of the delivery plan later in the year. It is a reasonable challenge to ensure that we distinguish between conditions, a point made by the Opposition spokesperson, the hon. Member for Solihull West and Shirley. It was a point made to me—and a point I thought was likely to be raised with me—by stroke and diabetes charities at the event yesterday. We are on the same page on that. He made an excellent point and challenge on the distinction that is needed. As hon. Members will know, prevention is at the heart of the Government’s health agenda—the prevention of health conditions and the prevention of them worsening. The cardiovascular disease modern service framework, which was published in July, sets a clear direction for how health and care systems should accelerate progress on the Government’s ambition to reduce premature mortality from heart disease and stroke by a quarter within a decade. My hon. Friend the Member for Broxtowe (Juliet Campbell) talked about irregularity and different areas having different levels of heart failure, which she said was four times more likely in the area she represents. I would be very happy to have conversations about how we can embrace that insight and intervene. Prevention is fundamental to the Government’s efforts around an annual heart failure review, improving access to rapid diagnosis and embedding heart failure support in cardiac rehabilitation, as well as the wider Government goal to reduce premature mortality by a quarter within the next decade. Central to the cardiovascular disease modern service framework is a holistic approach with a strong focus on reducing inequalities. The principles apply here, too: the missing millions; the need for healthy intervention and to understand the difference between the physiological, behavioural, environmental and social; an appreciation that living standards and the cost of living have as much impact as any knowledge of what to eat and when; and looking after each other. It is about commissioning for outputs, not just diktat, which means recognising that several conditions and risk factors share common causes and contribute to most heart attacks and strokes. Members have described them in their speeches: high blood pressure, smoking, diabetes, high cholesterol, unhealthy diet and lack of exercise. At its core, the framework is about a fundamental shift towards proactive, whole-person, preventive care that is located in communities and neighbourhoods and makes better use of hybrid, traditional, in-person and digital models to increase uptake and treatment. Podiatry and related foot-health services align with the shift towards local community hub delivery. The framework’s approach is backed by wider Government, including the creation of the first smoke-free generation, which began under the Conservative Government.

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