Workforce Skills
16. What steps he is taking to improve skills in the defence workforce.
Lauren Edwards
Labour Party MP for Rochester and Strood since (elected). An MP continuously since .
Parliament recordVoting recordWritten questionsEarly day motions
Entries on this tracker
109
Each filed under the party they sat for that day
Register entries
4
As currently published
Declared while sitting for Labour
£900
2 of 4 entries state an amount
Party affiliation
| Party | Office | Area | Period | Began | Ended | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour | MP | Rochester and Strood | – present | elected | — | Party history |
Parliament's party history for this member: Labour ( – present).
Register of interests
Every entry the member has in the Register of Members' Financial Interests, as Parliament currently publishes it. The wording and values are the member's own declarations; nothing here has been assessed by this site.
Totals add only the entries that declare an amount received: payments for work, donations, gifts, and funded visits (register categories 1.1, 2, 3, 4 and 5). Ongoing employment is listed but not added, because its figure is a rate rather than a sum received. Each entry is dated by when the benefit happened, not when it was registered, and placed under the party the member sat for on that date. A member who changed party therefore has a separate total for each.
| Date | Category | Entry | Declared value | Sitting for | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5. Gifts, non-UK sources | International Cricket Council (ICC) - £500.00 | £500 | Labour | Register record | |
| 3. Gifts, UK sources | Sky UK - £400.00 | £400 | Labour | Register record | |
| date registered | 8. Miscellaneous | Unpaid Director, Route to Zero Ltd. | — | Labour | Register record |
| 8. Miscellaneous | Labour & Co-Operative Councillor for Rochester East and Warren Wood, (unpaid since August 2024 and previously registered under Category 1). | — | Labour | Register record |
Latest on this tracker 109
- Hansard source
- Hansard source
Workforce Skills
Last week, BAE Systems in Rochester launched its Movement to Work initiative, a three-week programme that will develop practical skills, provide real work experience and build the confidence that Medway needs. Will the Secretary of State join me in congratulating the company on that fantastic initiative, and outline how he is working more broadly with the defence sector to help tackle the crisis of people not in education, employment or training across the UK?
- Hansard source
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time. It is a privilege to open this debate on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill—a Bill that will give dying adults, under very stringent criteria, choice, autonomy and dignity at the end of their lives. What is being asked of MPs today? It is a fair question, given that this House already voted to send the near identical Bill introduced by my hon. Friend the Member for Spen Valley (Kim Leadbeater) back to the House of Lords in June last year. On Second Reading, we vote on the principle of a Bill, but we did that in November 2024. It is a broader principle that the House must consider today: who ultimately decides the laws that govern our nation? Many Members would no doubt prefer to be working in their constituencies today. They are not because a small number of peers in the other place chose to prevent any votes from taking place on the substance of the Bill in the last Session.
- Hansard source
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
I will once I have concluded my opening remarks. That decision by those peers means that one of the most significant national conversations that we have been having as legislators was brought to an abrupt halt. Who suffers detriment as a result? Clearly, the terminally ill and their families, who had a fair assumption that the will of the people they elected to represent them in this Chamber would be respected, but also those who must navigate our current, unclear laws. They are laws that do not protect or guide those who work in our health system, laws that do not contain safeguards against the risks of coercion, laws that criminalise and traumatise families who simply want to be with their loved one at the moment of their death, and laws that four Directors of Public Prosecutions have urged need to change. If we do not vote today to allow this Bill to continue its passage through Parliament, we accept those outcomes as the cost of maintaining the status quo, and who knows how long it will be before we get the opportunity to consider the introduction of assisted dying laws again, despite consistent polling showing that it receives majority public support?
- Hansard source
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
I think we need to be very careful when we are quoting polling. For instance, we know that Whitestone Insight has been criticised heavily by the British Polling Council in recent weeks for failing to meet its standards in terms of disclosing who has been funding its research. The reference I am making in my speech is to those very robust, independent polls, such as the British attitudes survey, which in 2024 found that 73% of the British public supported assisted dying and have done so over the last 20 years.
- Hansard source
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
I will give way to my hon. Friend the Member for Hackney South and Shoreditch (Dame Meg Hillier).
- Hansard source
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
It is not quite the exact same Bill; it incorporates two amendments that were agreed without a vote in the House of Lords last time. We have had our conversation in this Chamber about this Bill in 2025, and we have had an interrupted conversation as a nation. I am asking Members of this House to send the Bill back to the House of Lords so that they can continue their important work of amending and scrutinising legislation.
- Hansard source
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
Absolutely—it would set a dangerous precedent. Those Members who want to come in on the specifics of the Parliament Acts will have ample opportunity to do so later in my speech, and I will be willing to take interventions on that matter. I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Spen Valley for the courage, courtesy and openness she showed during the passage of her Bill. Her engagement with those from all sides of the debate, particularly in Committee, delivered a stronger Bill that this House voted for on Report and Third Reading. One strengthening factor was the introduction of a requirement for the Health Secretary to report regularly on the availability, quality and distribution of palliative care. In asking parliamentarians to consider assisted dying, my hon. Friend also prompted a national conversation about how we improve and fund palliative care. We saw more funding for hospices, as well as Government action to develop a new framework to improve palliative care and end-of-life care.
- Hansard source
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
It is absolutely right that, for instance, the Prime Minister and the Government have said that improving palliative care must be a priority—I think that is something we can all support. Everybody should have access to good-quality palliative, hospice and end-of-life care in their final moments.
- Hansard source
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
I will make some progress. As acknowledged by organisations that provide that care, though, their services cannot address pain and suffering in all circumstances. During the passage of the Bill in the last parliamentary Session, we heard examples of the limits of palliative care from Members with medical expertise themselves.
2024 General Election: Rochester and Strood
Held . Recorded result: Lab Gain. Majority 2,930. 42,598 votes cast from an electorate of 74,257. Parties are as each candidate stood at the time.
| Candidate | Party | Votes | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lauren Edwards | Labour | 15,403 | 36.2% |
| Kelly Tolhurst | Conservative | 12,473 | 29.3% |
| Daniel Dabin | Reform UK | 9,966 | 23.4% |
| Cat Jamieson | Green Party | 2,427 | 5.7% |
| Graham Colley | Liberal Democrat | 1,894 | 4.4% |
| John Innes | Workers Party of Britain | 245 | 0.6% |
| Peter Burch | Heritage Party | 190 | 0.4% |
Parliamentary career
Seats held
| Seat | Dates |
|---|---|
| Rochester and StroodElected 1 time | – present |
Committee memberships
| Committee | Dates |
|---|---|
| Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (Transfer of Functions etc) Bill [HL] | – |
| Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee | – present |
Published contact details
Website
Only the details Parliament publishes for this member. Contact page on Parliament's site
Profile data retrieved from Parliament on .