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12,832 spoken contributions under 12 words (interjections such as “Will the hon. Member give way?”) are hidden. Show them

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

   Rough Sleeping and Good Growth Funds

   I thank the hon. Gentleman for that important question. He is right that many voluntary groups, including faith groups, have been doing this for many years, with little or, in some cases, no funding. Many have been driving national fundraising campaigns, many have been crowdfunding, and especially as we get closer to Christmas, many will be asking their members, their congregation and their supporters to campaign and donate. What we are doing with this national drive is bringing together different resources and perspectives to share those best practices and learning, and looking at how we can unlock more progress by building an alliance and healthy coalitions. As I mentioned, this issue will not be solved by the Government alone; it is also about working with groups that have a long history in this area and ensuring that they are adequately supported. That is one of the areas we will be looking at.

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

   Rough Sleeping and Good Growth Funds

   I thank my hon. Friend for raising that important point. It shows that where local councils are working really well to tackle this issue, they are coming together and working with different community groups, faith groups and voluntary organisations. It is that kind of example that we want to learn from and replicate right across the country to address this issue. With regard to my hon. Friend’s specific question on people who may not have any local connection, we are introducing legislation to provide for a duty to collaborate, and looking at how we can help people who are identified as being at risk of homelessness; identify them earlier so that the right support pathways can be provided to them; and connect them to other services, if the local council cannot support them.

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

   Rough Sleeping and Good Growth Funds

   I commend the hon. Gentleman for the work that he had done on this issue over many years, and the work that he led to push the then Conservative Government on their manifesto commitment to end rough sleeping by 2024. I declare that he and I briefly co-chaired the all-party parliamentary group for ending homelessness. We have to work together cross-party to address this really important issue. The hon. Gentleman knows the principles of Housing First, which involve inclusive, up-front support so that people who have been sleeping rough for a long time can move away from the streets into safe, secure accommodation where they feel valued, listened to and loved—and feel hope—and can look at how they can support themselves, before they go on to independent living. That is a key initiative that many successive Governments have known works, and it is something that we want to build on as we expand it. With regard to his second point, this is an area that, again, is very close to my heart, and it is something for which hopefully he will not have to wait much longer.

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

   Rough Sleeping and Good Growth Funds

   I thank my hon. Friend and constituency neighbour for her comments and support. We were able to visit an organisation in Victoria in her constituency a few weeks ago, a fantastic charity called Change Please, to speak to people who have been helped. It offers people who are sleeping rough and facing homelessness an employment opportunity and vital skills so that they can provide for themselves and secure their rent and accommodation. We want such initiatives rolled out across the country, giving people who are sleeping rough and facing homelessness another chance. On her question about people with no local connections, this is an area that many local authorities continue to raise with us. We are having more discussions with them, especially with colleagues in the Ministry of Justice and the Home Office. On her question about the funding package, this is an area we will continue to explore. I hope she will continue to engage with Ministry officials on that.

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

   Rough Sleeping and Good Growth Funds

   The right hon. Gentleman raises a valid point about areas without mayoral strategic authorities. We are ensuring that we can work with local councils. We continue to engage with areas without mayoral strategic authorities so that they, too, will not lose out on this vital funding. I ask him to continue to engage and ensure that his authority gets that funding.

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6. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Florence Eshalomi

   Rough Sleeping and Good Growth Funds

   I thank my hon. Friend for that important question. I highlighted the fact that, for many people leaving prison, a secure and safe accommodation may not be waiting at the end, so we are looking at working more closely with colleagues in the MOJ and across the prison estate to ensure that people leaving prison go to somewhere safe. The Secretary of State continues to press that with other Cabinet members and it is something we regularly discuss at the interministerial group, where all colleagues come together to discuss that. With regard to her question about reporting and the figures base, I will take that back to officials.

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7. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Florence Eshalomi

   Rough Sleeping and Good Growth Funds

   The hon. Member has given a crucial example of where this works well, but, as she says, some charities and other organisations have been working with very little funding. I ask her to engage with her council to ensure that the vital funds that every area will receive are going to the right organisations. I will be happy to provide her with more details in that regard.

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8. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Florence Eshalomi

   Rough Sleeping and Good Growth Funds

   My hon. Friend raises the important issue, which comes up often, of out-of-borough placements in temporary accommodation. We continue to discuss that with the devolved Administrations and representatives of other local areas where we are seeing an increase in the number of people being placed out of borough and the pressures that it is causing in local communities. Issues relating to community cohesion fall within my responsibility and I continue to monitor that closely.

   Hansard source
9. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Florence Eshalomi

   Rough Sleeping and Good Growth Funds

   What we are seeing with this new focus on homelessness is support, from the very top: support from the Prime Minister, who made it his mission, on the steps of Downing Street, to ensure that this country would not continue to watch people sleeping rough. That support is now being backed by crucial funding to help local areas to design schemes to ensure that people come off the streets. However, we are not stopping there, because it is not just about the street and a bed for Christmas; it is about long-term support. The hon. Gentleman referred to what failed, and why homelessness went up. He will find that more people will gravitate towards an area where a project or initiative has been successful. We are trying to ensure that there is support across the country, so that every area is helped to deal with rough sleeping and homelessness.

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10. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Florence Eshalomi

    Rough Sleeping and Good Growth Funds

    My hon. Friend has asked me to visit her constituency and, diary permitting, I will look at that. She is right: many people who are sleeping rough and experiencing homelessness face a number of complex challenges and needs which, in some cases, fall to very stretched mental health provision and substance misuse services across the country. We want to continue that vital partnership work with colleagues and the NHS to ensure that those local services are helping people by providing the right pathway of support before they are housed.

    Hansard source
11. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Florence Eshalomi

    Rough Sleeping and Good Growth Funds

    I will take that back to colleagues in the MOJ, but we cannot force anybody into housing. We have to assess people on an individual basis.

    Hansard source
12. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Florence Eshalomi

    Rough Sleeping and Good Growth Funds

    I thank my hon. Friend for his comments, and I am pleased to hear that he found the summit inspiring, challenging, meaningful and purposeful as we came together to address rough sleeping. He is absolutely right: faith communities right across the UK have been doing a lot of work in this area, and they have provided charity and support for so many people. In some cases, people have turned away and shunned them. People have harassed and attacked them, but faith communities continue to open their doors. It is vital that we continue to work with faith communities and the voluntary sector in addressing this mission.

    Hansard source
13. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Florence Eshalomi

    Rough Sleeping and Good Growth Funds

    This is a key area that we discuss, and I continue to discuss it with the Minister with responsibility. I hope that we will soon have some additional updates for the hon. Member. It is vital that we recognise that many young people might still not be able to live independently once they hit 18, and it is important that we look at support for them as they transition into adulthood.

    Hansard source
14. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Florence Eshalomi

    Rough Sleeping and Good Growth Funds

    I thank my hon. Friend for making that important point. She is absolutely right: in many inner urban areas, we find a lot of people without recourse to public funds. It is vital that local authorities exercise discretion about local connections and people who have no recourse to public funds, which should not be a barrier to accessing support. Local authorities have to assess individuals based on their needs, including accommodation, and refer them to additional and appropriate services to help them.

    Hansard source
15. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Florence Eshalomi

    Rough Sleeping and Good Growth Funds

    I am happy to look into that and come back to the right hon. Lady.

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16. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Florence Eshalomi

    Rough Sleeping and Good Growth Funds

    I thank my hon. Friend for raising that vital point. As I have highlighted, this is not just about giving people a roof over their heads for Christmas; this is about the long-term support, including vital wraparound support, to help people stay off the streets and make a meaningful contribution to society. A number of people who find themselves sleeping rough or in homelessness want to go back and offer their vital employment and training skills, so it is vital that we look not just at a bed for Christmas, but at the support afterwards.

    Hansard source
17. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Florence Eshalomi

    Rough Sleeping and Good Growth Funds

    I thank the right hon. Gentleman for raising those vital points. He is absolutely right about looking at the “intentionally homeless” terminology, which I know colleagues are continuing to look at. I and other Ministers press the matter of local housing allowance with the Treasury, and we will continue to do so. On housing associations and councils selling off some of their empty properties, it is vital that housing associations and councils have the capital funding to bring such properties back into use, and we will continue to work with them on how they manage those properties.

    Hansard source
18. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Florence Eshalomi

    Rough Sleeping and Good Growth Funds

    It seems as though my hon. Friend jumped the gun and held his own summit before we did at No. 10 today! It is good to hear about the lessons learned there. It sounds similar to what happened at the No. 10 summit, where organisations, charities, civic society, local leaders, local authorities and businesses all came together to make a pledge to work towards resolving this issue. It is vital that we learn lessons from such summits, and I would be very happy to meet my hon. Friend.

    Hansard source
19. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Florence Eshalomi

    Rough Sleeping and Good Growth Funds

    It is good to make sure that I am getting out of south London, so I will look—diary permitting—at coming to see that work, which is right and important. This Government are removing some of the ringfence that comes with the vital funding that councils need. I hope the hon. Member’s council will be successful in the new round.

    Hansard source
20. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Florence Eshalomi

    Rough Sleeping and Good Growth Funds

    I thank my hon. Friend for raising that vital point. It is really sad to see that increase of 22%, and it is a shame that no SNP Members are here as we try to hold their Government to account. We will continue to press the devolved Administrations, and work to closely with them, to ensure that no child is left behind.

    Hansard source
21. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Florence Eshalomi

    Rough Sleeping and Good Growth Funds

    It is always a pleasure to take a question from the hon. Gentleman, and I thank him for raising the vital work in his constituency and across Northern Ireland. This funding is new money, and an additional part of it will be agreed in the Budget process with the Treasury. He will be aware that, as part of the normal Barnett consequentials, this will apply to all the devolved Administrations, so they will also receive the additional funding.

    Hansard source
22. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Labour·Florence Eshalomi

    Rough Sleeping and Good Growth Funds

    It is good to see that many local areas are sharing their experience of dealing with this matter. We have to be honest: a person sleeping rough costs the taxpayer on average about £14,000 a year in public service use, so it is really important that we are working across different Departments. This is not just an issue for MHCLG. There has to be a whole-of-Government approach, and I am really pleased that we have a strong interministerial group to address this.

    Hansard source
23. 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
24. 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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25. 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.

    Hansard source
26. 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
27. 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.

    Hansard source
28. 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?

    Hansard source
29. 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?

    Hansard source
30. 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
31. 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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32. 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
33. 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
34. 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
35. 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
36. 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
37. 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
38. 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
39. 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.

    Hansard source
40. 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?

    Hansard source