Parliament's party history for this member: Labour ( – present).
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8. Miscellaneous
Trustee of MammaKind - Baby Bank supporting families in south-east London. This is an unpaid role.
Residents in my constituency have reported to me dangerous racing, speeding and other forms of antisocial behaviour on the A52 near Bardills roundabout. I have raised this issue continually with the Highways Agency, Nottingham city council, Nottinghamshire county council and Nottinghamshire police, but to no avail. Will the Leader of the House assist me in bringing together relevant Ministers, so we can get those agencies together and secure safety on that stretch of the road?
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Lewell. I thank the hon. Member for Chichester (Jess Brown-Fuller) for securing this debate. I begin by acknowledging the Nottinghamshire police officer who was shot and injured on Sunday while on duty in Nottingham city centre, close to my <span id="454WH" class="column-number" data-column-number="454WH"></span>constituency. My thoughts are with the officer and his family, friends and colleagues, and I wish him a speedy recovery. It is a sobering reminder of the courage that our police officers show every day, and the risks they face while working to keep our communities safe.
In Broxtowe, our local police service has an insufficient number of officers to tackle the crime and antisocial behaviour that is significantly impacting our communities. Even when officers are available, they do not always have the equipment, resources or operational capacity required to intervene safely and effectively. Across Broxtowe, in particular, in Eastwood, Stapleford and Beeston, residents are consistently raising concerns about antisocial behaviour, dangerous illegally modified e-bikes and drug-related crimes.
Nottinghamshire police do a fantastic job in responding to those issues, but can only operate within the staffing and resources available to them. Teams are stretched so thin that they cannot maintain a visible presence in our communities, which is what the public reasonably expect. Police visibility is a deterrent for those who carry out criminal activity, and the lack of a police presence damages public trust. Every community deserves an effective and visible police presence so that residents can feel confident that their concerns are acted on. Will the Minister give an update on the commitment to recruit 13,000 additional neighbourhood police officers and how far we have progressed? In Broxtowe, we need a sustained police force to tackle the rising crime and antisocial behaviour affecting my constituency now.
Youth Suicide Prevention and Mental Health Support
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Wishart, and I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Blaydon and Consett (Liz Twist) for securing this important debate.
Mental health for children and young people is one of the defining health challenges of our time, because one in five young people has a confirmed or suspected mental health condition. In Broxtowe, I see the scale, the need and the value of community-based support. The Middle Street Resource Centre in Beeston provides mental health support services to young people and adults in my community. I am enormously grateful to the staff and volunteers for everything they do. New referrals to its services have doubled in the last year, yet its staff numbers do not reflect that, even more so now that some of the larger funders have temporarily withdrawn funding opportunities, meaning that the demand for small funders is significantly oversubscribed. Core costs, including staff costs, are the hardest to fund.
Without sufficient funding, these specialist organisations will not be able to help young people who struggle to engage with more formal or centralised services. Young people need services to help them recover, build resilience and, even more importantly, no longer need ongoing care when they are adults. I ask the Government to provide additional funding.
<Question HRSContentId="{0EA5985D-EEE7-49B5-B374-D02AEC2FF257}">8. <QuestionText HRSContentId="{E3620D1E-DA3D-4826-9A07-3AB6D824A19C}">What steps her Department is taking to improve educational outcomes for neurodivergent pupils in mainstream schools.</QuestionText> </Question>
I thank the Minister for her reply. Sixty-five per cent of teacher training providers say that new teachers are not equipped to support SEND pupils in mainstream schools, with too many teachers still leaving training without the skills and confidence to support neurodivergent children, including those with dyslexia. Will the Minister consider reforming the initial training requirements so that every trainee educator is able to demonstrate practical competency in identifying and supporting neurodivergent children before achieving their qualified teacher status?
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship today, Dr Huq. I thank the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) for securing this debate.
The publication of the 2026 cardiovascular disease modern service framework is a welcome step towards realising our commitment to a more preventative, <span id="418WH" class="column-number" data-column-number="418WH"></span>community-focused health service. It rightly seeks to move care away from expensive and reactive hospital treatment towards earlier diagnosis and joined-up cardiovascular care in our communities. As we consider the future of vascular services, we should take this opportunity to go further and give attention to heart failure, where many of these conditions end. Heart failure places a significant burden on patients, families and the NHS. It affects more than 1 million people in the UK, and is the most common cause of hospital admissions among those over 65. The number of people living with heart failure is set to double by 2040.
Early intervention on a cardiovascular journey can do more than treat established diseases and the associated life-changing impacts that the hon. Member spoke about; it can also prevent more people from reaching heart failure. Evidence-based treatment can relieve symptoms, extend life and reduce hospital admissions, but patients can benefit only if the condition is recognised, diagnosed and treated without delay.
In my constituency, in towns such as Eastwood and areas such as Inham Nook, rates of heart failure are more than double the national average. People there are four times more likely to die from heart failure than those elsewhere. Access to diagnosis and specialist care varies from area to area, but no one’s postcode should determine how quickly they are diagnosed, when they see a specialist or when they receive treatment that could keep them well and out of hospital. The modern service framework must establish consistent national standards, with targeted support for deprived, rural and high-risk communities.
More than 1 million people are living with heart failure in the UK, with around 200,000 diagnosed each year. In England, 80% of diagnoses are made in hospital, despite 40% of the patients having previously experienced symptoms. That clearly demonstrates the urgent need to move from crisis-driven care to early diagnosis and planned treatment.
The modern service framework acknowledges that NHS health checks do not include the NT-proBNP blood test, which identifies whether the walls of the heart are stretched or there is a pressure overload on the heart. Although the framework proposes new testing models, valuable opportunities for early diagnosis such as that test can be missed. Heart failure must be explicitly mentioned in the modern service framework, and supporting measures must be clear, funded and measurable.
We also need stronger links between primary care, community services, hospitals and specialist centres. Those pathways need to be supported by a specialist workforce, as reform cannot simply mean reorganising structures. We need diagnostic capacity, specialist staff and community services; otherwise, pressure will just move from one part of the NHS to another.
I ask the Minister to make heart failure an explicit and measurable national priority within the modern service framework. That should include guaranteed access to testing, diagnosis, evidence-based treatment and multidisciplinary heart failure care, supported by investment in specialist staff, increased diagnostic capacity and community services. I hope the Minister will ensure that he goes further than considering reform of the vascular services and makes heart failure a national priority.<span id="419WH" class="column-number" data-column-number="419WH"></span>
<Question HRSContentId="{FAECF785-CB76-4E08-83CC-47CFCD12F02D}">8. <QuestionText HRSContentId="{55219571-A6B4-44BC-B4BA-72B16C89567A}">What steps she is taking to help improve outcomes for neurodivergent women and girls. </QuestionText></Question>
I thank the Minister for his reply. However, people in Broxtowe, and across the country more widely, are concerned that dyslexia in women and girls is identified later than in boys. Too often, there is a lack of understanding of how dyslexia presents in girls, meaning that they are three times more likely to miss out on diagnosis, which creates barriers to supporting education and later life. What action is the Minister taking across Government to close the gap of diagnosis and improve the outcomes for dyslexic women and girls in education, health, employment and the criminal justice system?
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Alec. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Bexleyheath and Crayford (Daniel Francis) for securing the debate and for all his work in championing the rights of disabled people<strong>. </strong>He is tireless in what he does. I also put on record that Changing Places toilets <span id="475WH" class="column-number" data-column-number="475WH"></span>were first introduced in Nottingham, where my constituency of Broxtowe is. I am proud that Nottinghamshire carries that legacy of innovation.
In previous roles, I have been a champion for disabled people, and many people have spoken to me about the need for Changing Places toilets. Many people with profound, multiple and severe disabilities and neurological conditions have complex needs, and a standard accessible toilet is insufficient. Many require a Changing Places facility equipped with a hoist, an adult-sized changing bench and adequate space for carers to provide sufficient support safely and with dignity.
Without those facilities, everyday activities that many of us take for granted become impossible—a family day out, a trip to the high street, visiting a museum, going shopping or meeting friends. Many of us take those things for granted, but those ordinary experiences are denied to too many people because they do not feel confident that their needs will be met once they leave home.
According to the Office for National Statistics, there are 10,000 disabled people in my constituency of Broxtowe who require a Changing Places facility, but there are only two such facilities there, meaning that people in Eastwood, Awsworth, Stapleford and Beeston do not have access to suitable provision. Only one of those facilities is modern enough and regularly open.
Disability rights charities and organisations across the country talk about disabled people and their carers restricting their journeys or avoiding going out altogether because they cannot find suitable toilet facilities or be certain that facilities will be open and accessible. Isolation, loneliness and poor mental health are often attributed to low social interaction, which can lead to anxiety and depression—that is what such facilities being missing can mean for disabled people. Parents of disabled children frequently report to me avoiding going out on outings altogether, not because they want their children to be excluded but because they cannot be certain that they will find a changing facility.
As a result, people become isolated from their communities and excluded from socialising. No child should be excluded from public spaces because there is nowhere suitable for them to change when necessary; no parent should have to choose between taking their child out and preserving their dignity; and no adult should be prevented from participating in social activities because the basic infrastructure that they require is absent.
The last Government rightly addressed some of this by making changes to building regulations that will increase Changing Places provision in new, large non-dwelling buildings. That is a welcome step and will improve access over the long term. However, disabled people cannot wait for a future development to solve today’s problems. Capital funding is needed now. The reality is that there are still large gaps in provision across the country, particularly in our transport corridors, town centres, tourist destinations and rural communities.
I urge the Government to look at how Changing Places provision can be embedded with current and future urban planning and within the Government’s high street strategy, with capital funding attributed to it. Accessible toilet facilities should form part of any strategy to create genuinely accessible high streets, ensuring that disabled people can confidently visit their towns, cities <span id="476WH" class="column-number" data-column-number="476WH"></span>and public attractions without fear of being left without appropriate facilities. Capital investment in Changing Places toilets is not simply an investment in buildings or facilities themselves; it is an investment in an inclusive society where disabled people can enjoy the same opportunities, freedoms and quality of life as anyone else.
I thank the Minister for his statement. The option taken for Nottingham and Nottinghamshire sees Broxtowe borough council split in two; Eastwood and Brinsley will sit in the county and the rest of the borough will form part of the Greater Nottingham authority. What consideration has he given to the additional difficulties that splitting up an area will cause for our public services and electoral services?