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Tag: Speeches

  • Thangam Debbonaire – 2021 Speech on the Government’s Future Homes Standard Announcement

    Thangam Debbonaire – 2021 Speech on the Government’s Future Homes Standard Announcement

    The speech made by Thangam Debbonaire, the Shadow Housing Secretary, on 19 January 2021.

    This is a real disappointment, given the Conservatives had suggested they would be accelerating the Future Homes Standard.

    The Government is already seriously behind on our climate targets. Cancelling Labour’s Zero Carbon Homes policy in 2015 wasted years of progress.

    To rebuild our country from Covid, we should be building homes now that are affordable to heat and durable for the future. This announcement sets out four more years of delay, which isn’t good for families, builders or the environment.

  • Alok Sharma – 2021 Speech at Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week

    Alok Sharma – 2021 Speech at Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week

    The speech made by Alok Sharma, the COP26 President, on 19 January 2021.

    Good afternoon.

    It is an absolute pleasure to join you today. At the beginning of what is a momentous year for our planet.

    Together we must make 2021 the year of climate action.

    And we have just ten years to bring our emissions under control. A decade to limit global temperature rises, to the levels set out in the Paris Agreement.

    The choices we make today will determine whether we or not we achieve it.

    The science is clear on the destruction we will unleash if we do not.

    Water supplies strained. Nature devastated. Human health increasingly stunted by the air we breath.

    So it is vital that we act now.

    As President of the next UN climate conference, COP26, I want this to be the year that all of us unite around the aims of the Paris Agreement.

    From governments, cities, and civil society. To businesses, investors, and development banks.

    So it is great to see Clover Hogan on today’s panel. Who is working to empower young people.

    And of course, my friend Laurent Fabius, who delivered the historic Paris Agreement.

    And Francesco La Camera. Under whose leadership, IRENA is supporting the clean energy transition around the world.

    I have four key goals.

    One, to strengthen adaptation – to respond to the realities of a changing climate.

    Two, to enhance international collaboration among governments, business and civil society.

    Of course, the UK works with the UAE on Mission Innovation, for example. Speeding up innovation in clean energy technologies.

    Three, I want to get finance flowing to climate action – both public and private.

    And I am calling on developed countries to honour their commitments on international climate finance and raise that $100 billion a year.

    And I am urging investors to take climate risk into account, and capitalise on the shift to clean, resilient growth across the world.

    I thank our hosts, Masdar, for their work on the global energy transition,

    including their support for UK offshore wind, which is powering British homes and businesses as we speak.

    The fourth, incredibly important, goal I want us to work towards is reducing emissions.

    I am calling on world leaders to come forward with ambitious Nationally Determined Contributions.

    To set out net zero targets, and long-term plans to achieve them.

    And to introduce policies to make these targets a reality.

    Phasing out fossil fuel subsidies.

    Deploying renewables faster.

    And moving to clean transport.

    I welcome the leadership the UAE has shown amongst the Gulf states.

    Its new NDC last December, setting a target that covers the whole economy,

    and some of the lowest solar power prices in the world.

    I am also urging business, cities and regions to take actions.

    To sign up to the Race to Zero campaign.

    And work to reach net zero emissions by 2050 at the latest.

    By signing up you will be joining over 450 cities, and 1400 firms which have already done so.

    Including the likes of the UAE’s Globesight, Microsoft and EDF.

    This is not just the right thing to do.

    It also helps to drive shareholder value.

    Whether it is finance, business, or our national economies, the opportunities presented by the move to clean growth are enormous.

    Once pre-election commitments made by President-elect Joe Biden are enacted, almost two-thirds of the world’s emissions will be covered by net zero commitments. A club that is growing all the time.

    Global trade in low-carbon goods and services is expected to grow up to 34 times between 2015 and 2050.

    By investing in clean sectors today, as we recover from the coronavirus pandemic, we can build clean growth into the heart of our economies.

    Creating jobs and prosperity.

    Here in the UK for example, our Ten Point Plan for a green industrial revolution will support and create a quarter of a million green jobs.

    Government investment in wind power, hydrogen, carbon capture usage and storage, electric vehicles and much more, will help to leverage in three times the amount from the private sector.

    The opportunities are there for the taking.

    So, friends, in this vital year for our planet, let’s come together.

    Let’s increase our ambition.

    And take action.

    To put the world on course for a clean and prosperous future.

  • Alok Sharma – 2021 Speech at the 11th International Renewable Energy Agency Conference

    Alok Sharma – 2021 Speech at the 11th International Renewable Energy Agency Conference

    The speech made by Alok Sharma, the COP26 President, on 19 January 2021.

    Excellencies, ladies, and gentlemen. It is an absolute pleasure to join you today.

    And I would like to thank Mr Francesco La Camera for the fantastic work IRENA is doing under his leadership.

    Friends, we all know that we must act now on climate change.

    If we do not, the consequences will be almost unimaginable:

    With crops failing.

    Nature devastated.

    And hundreds of millions threatened by rising seas.

    To avoid this, it is vital to decarbonise the energy sector, which accounts for around two-thirds of global emissions.

    And so I am asking governments around the world to do three key things to achieve it.

    First, raise ambition and action at home.

    Second, invest in clean recoveries in response to the COVID pandemic.

    And, third, work together to make progress on our climate ambitions.

    I am urging all countries to come forward with new Nationally Determined Contributions, and long-term strategies.

    And to put clear policies in place to achieve them.

    Policies like improving product efficiency standards.

    Phasing out coal power.

    Encouraging decarbonisation in those sectors where it is a challenge.

    And creating the policy environment to attract private finance.

    Getting finance flowing, both public and private, is one of my key COP26 priorities.

    Including urging developed countries to honour the commitment they have made to raise $100 billion a year in international climate finance.

    I am grateful to IRENA for its work on NDCs and long-term planning. And its support for countries on the clean energy transition.

    And I am pleased to say that here in the UK, we are acting.

    We announced a new NDC, consistent with our target to reach net zero by 2050.

    And last year, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced our ten-point plan for a green industrial revolution.

    A plan to mobilise £12 billion of government investment.

    That spurs three times as much from the private sector.

    A plan to power every home in the country from offshore wind within a decade.

    And invest in nuclear, hydrogen technologies and Carbon Capture Usage and Storage.

    A plan which will support and create a quarter of a million jobs.

    This shows how investment in clean technology can drive our recovery from COVID-19.

    Which I know has been a focus of IRENA’s work.

    By aligning our recovery packages with the Paris Agreement, we can help to build clean growth into the heart of our economies.

    And of course many countries are doing fantastic work to invest in green recoveries. And now we need all leaders to follow suit.

    We are confident in this approach because we have seen that clean growth is absolutely possible.

    Over the past thirty years in the UK, we have seen our economy grow by 75 per cent while reducing our emissions by 43 per cent.

    We have also seen how, by working together, we can make progress faster.

    By increasing incentives for investment.

    Creating economies of scale.

    And accelerating innovation.

    Solar and wind power costs have fallen by 28% and 15% respectively, each time global deployment has doubled.

    But we only realise these benefits if we tailor our response to each challenge and sector.

    That is why international collaboration is one of the key goals of my COP Presidency.

    Our COP26 campaigns are bringing government, industry, investors, development banks, and civil society together, around five critical areas:

    Finance, nature, adaptation and resilience, clean transport, and, of course, clean energy.

    And we have created new forums for collaboration, like the Zero Emission Vehicle Transition Council, and the Energy Transition Council.

    And I would like to thank everyone involved with this work. Including IRENA, as a member of the COP26 Energy Transition Council.

    The work of this council includes improving the international support to developing countries to move away from coal.

    Friends, together, through ambition, collaboration, and investment in green recoveries, we can transform the global energy sector.

    So let’s take action now, to put the world on track for a clean and prosperous future.

  • Paul Blomfield – 2021 Speech on Dental Services

    Paul Blomfield – 2021 Speech on Dental Services

    The speech made by Paul Blomfield, the Labour MP for Sheffield Central, in the House of Commons on 14 January 2021.

    Can I, too, express my gratitude to my hon. Friend the Member for Putney (Fleur Anderson) for securing this debate? Dentistry often does not get the attention it deserves when we are looking at health provision for the country, and today is an opportunity to address that.

    Clearly, the pressure on dental services preceded covid-19, but the pandemic has exacerbated it. In normal times—if we can remember them—the demand for NHS dentistry in Sheffield was huge, with unmet need amounting to more than 35,000 patients. That clearly has a long-term impact on oral health, and one that is particularly worrying for children.

    Then came covid-19, which has hit the sector hard. Frankly, to choose this time to impose new targets, without warning or consultation, shows either a lack of understanding or a lack of regard for the consequences. The 45% target will disrupt the priorities of dentists by imposing penalties for failing to hit levels of what are described as normal NHS activity in what are blatantly abnormal times. It will threaten the viability of practices, and worsen access to dental care across Sheffield and the rest of England.

    Dental practices have made huge efforts to be covid-secure, with cleaning and air-clearing procedures that mean they cannot see as many patients as usual. Many have therefore prioritised emergency and urgent care, and this normal activity target will skew their priorities away from those patients most in need. As one dentist explained it to me, they will be

    “forced to stop seeing emergency patients…and to push the limits of the sound infection control procedures brought in to protect patients and staff”.

    Another simply said:

    “These targets are the wrong choice at the wrong time”.

    This is not scaremongering, as has been suggested, but a real and genuine concern from dental professionals who care about the services they provide.

    Sheffield Central is in the top 10% of areas where NHS dental care was most impacted by the pandemic, according to a survey, and the Association of Dental Groups says that problems are particularly acute in the most deprived urban, coastal and rural areas. Imposing this target will hit those most in need—levelling down, not levelling up. We need to be growing our dental services, not threatening them with damaging targets.

    I have great regard for the Minister—we have worked together on other issues, and I know she takes her responsibilities seriously—so I do hope that she will listen to the concerns she has heard today from both sides of the House, talk to colleagues and review this contract.

  • Anthony Mangnall – 2021 Speech on Dental Services

    Anthony Mangnall – 2021 Speech on Dental Services

    The speech made by Anthony Mangnall, the Conservative MP for Totnes, in the House of Commons on 14 January 2021.

    I congratulate the hon. Member for Putney (Fleur Anderson) on securing this debate.

    The impact of covid on the dental sector has been profound, from the sector’s closure in March to the 20 million lost appointments, the 15 million-appointment backlog and the year-on-year decrease in those who visit the dentist. In previous years, being able to avoid the dentist may have seemed an art form, but it is rapidly becoming a significant and desperately serious problem, with mouth cancer diagnoses significantly down and major operations being put on hold or just avoided due to lack of access.

    It is right that we have to clear the significant backlog. While I do not oppose the concept of a UDA target, I do oppose the mechanism that penalises dentists who do not meet that target. I respectfully ask the Minister to consider whether the target could be rejigged so that people have the security and understanding that if they are unable to meet it, they will not see a loss of salary or any penalisation from the Government. Of course, we have already heard that 50% of dental practices are meeting that target, so we have seen an ability to deliver.

    The intent is right, but the mechanism is wrong and only adds to the extra stress that those who work in dental practices are already suffering. I do not deny that dental practices in my constituency are safe, but the individual set-up of each is very different; things such as the air purification systems that they implement will mean that they have different fallow times and will therefore also impact the UDA issue. There is a result here whereby different circumstances will mean that the overall target is unable to be met.

    I ask the Government to consider taking away the penalisation mechanism of UDAs, reimbursing the VAT costs faced by dentists on PPE, and ensuring that our dentists are treated as part of the primary healthcare network. We hope to encourage people to stay in this sector. We want them to do so—we do not want them to go towards private alone—so I hope that the Minister will be able to reassure me and many of the dental practices in my constituency.

    Dentists are not asking for any more than anyone else, but they have received significantly less than many of those out there. All that we ask the Government today is to treat our dental sector with the respect that it deserves and to help it deliver for those who most need it across the whole United Kingdom.

  • Sarah Owen – 2021 Speech on Dental Services

    Sarah Owen – 2021 Speech on Dental Services

    The speech made by Sarah Owen, the Labour MP for Luton North, in the House of Commons on 14 January 2021.

    Like so many aspects of our lives over the last year, the pandemic has meant changes for dentists and for our constituents as patients. During the first lockdown last year, dental care was paused and emergency dental hubs were set up as back-up, naturally creating a backlog of patients in the system. Already in this new lockdown, practices are facing patient cancellations and staff sickness and self-isolation. It is clear that Government support is needed. No patient or dental practice should be put out for doing the right thing during the pandemic.

    Over the last year, I have met dentists and heard from practice managers across Luton North, who have told me about the challenges of keeping people’s mouths healthy during a global pandemic. One Luton North practice got in touch this week to tell me that dentists have been told that they must still hit their targets of 45% for dentistry and 70% for orthodontics, even in this new lockdown. That seems grossly unfair.

    Across all health services right now, patients are reluctant to attend appointments for non-emergency treatment. Many GPs are not seeing patients face to face unless absolutely necessary, but the Government and the NHS are asking dental staff to put themselves at risk. The new obstacles that covid has brought are preventing dentists from being able to do their best for their patients. Will the Minister take these issues away and consult dentists?

    I was shocked to find that dentists are not recognised as key workers, so they will not be in the highest priority groups for the covid-19 vaccine. I understand that priority must be given to those most at risk of serious illness or loss of life, but dentists are healthcare workers. Dentists are essential, and they are put in high-risk situations with respect to covid on a daily basis. Will the Minister please lobby her colleagues and NHS England to put dental workers on the same level as healthcare workers when it comes to vaccinations?

    Let me finish with an even bigger ask. We know that dental health is a determinant of other health and public health issues and matches up with other health inequalities that are caused by or can lead to poverty and other kinds of ill health. I therefore want to see the Government listen and rise to the challenge that dentists in Luton North have put to me over the last year.

  • Peter Aldous – 2021 Speech on Dental Services

    Peter Aldous – 2021 Speech on Dental Services

    The speech made by Peter Aldous, the Conservative MP for Waveney, in the House of Commons on 14 January 2021.

    I congratulate the hon. Member for Putney (Fleur Anderson) on securing the debate.

    Before the pandemic, my engagement with the dental sector led me to form a number of views on how it served our communities. Those who work in dentistry are highly competent and well qualified professionals, but there are problems in recruitment, and it is increasingly difficult to find an NHS dentist. When good and highly respected dentists retire, they are hard to replace. There is a lack of accountability in NHS England and NHS Improvement, and the world of UDAs—units of dental activity—is opaque and difficult to understand.

    One readily reaches the conclusion that in normal times, the system does not work in the best interests of local communities and public health. Covid-19 presents those working in dentistry with enormous challenges. They are placed in a position of significant health risk, there is a dramatic reduction in capacity, and there have been some problems with those working in the sector being recognised as key workers.

    The Government were right to set up a network of urgent dental centres, and in many respects this has worked well, although I have received a lot of complaints about where and how to find them, being kept waiting on the phone for seemingly hours on end, and then difficulties getting an appointment. Not only is there the challenge of getting through the current lockdown, but the shadow of covid will hang over the sector for a very long time. There is an enormous backlog of work, and yes, although some of that may be classed as non-emergency, it is important to bear in mind that it is often a routine visit to the dentist that picks up cancer at an early stage.

    The position has been exacerbated by the Government writing to dentists before Christmas seeking to impose a 45% target of UDAs for January, February and March. The proposal has been described to me by dentists in my constituency as “completely irresponsible”, “disrespectful”, “neglectful”, “unsafe” and “inconsiderate”. It should be dropped. The Government need to work with dentists to come up with, first, a short-term plan to get through the immediate crisis, and then a long-term plan that is easy to understand, provides proper accountability and full national coverage of NHS dentistry, and ensures the recruitment and retention of highly trained professional staff.

  • Fleur Anderson – 2021 Speech on Dental Services

    Fleur Anderson – 2021 Speech on Dental Services

    The speech made by Fleur Anderson, the Labour MP for Putney, in the House of Commons on 14 January 2021.

    I beg to move,

    That this House has considered the effect of the covid-19 outbreak on dental services.

    I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Brent North (Barry Gardiner) who co-sponsored the application for this debate, and the Backbench Business Committee for granting it. I also thank many MPs from across the House for their support for this important and timely debate.

    I am speaking on behalf of everyone who has suffered toothache under lockdown, or who will suffer it this year, for all the children whose orthodontal treatment has been delayed or is in disarray—that includes two children in my own house—and for all those whose more serious dental problems would have been spotted in routine check-ups, but who have not yet had them spotted. I speak also on behalf of dental practitioners and laboratories in my constituency and across the country who have felt ignored during the pandemic, and not treated as the frontline health workers they are.

    During the pandemic, one constituent told me that he had to pull out his own tooth, and a local dentist told me of an elderly lady whose dental pain meant that she could not eat solid food throughout the lockdown, and had lost weight as a result. There are serious consequences to the implications of covid-19 on dental practices. I would like to thank the dentists in my constituency and across the country, who have kept going in very difficult and stressful times, and often against all the odds.

    My message today is simple: we are sleepwalking into the biggest oral health crisis since the creation of the NHS. Unless the Government begin to recognise that dentistry is an essential health service, the sector will collapse. For now, the current activity targets are unattainable and need to be scrapped—I am sure other Members will be talking about them today. In the longer term, we also need better targeted financial support to save the sector. Overall, we need a national dentistry recovery plan to provide safety for dentists and patients, funding to stop closures, and ways to address the huge backlog of dental appointments. There is an NHS England phased recovery plan, but it does not address the whole dental sector. Dental care is not a middle-class luxury, but it is moving that way. It is a fundamental aspect of good health and a key indicator of health equality. We neglect it at our peril.

    From March to June last year, all routine dental care in England was paused and according to the British Dental Association over 20 million appointments were lost between March and November. That has created a huge backlog that will take years to clear unless it is addressed now. In my own borough of Wandsworth, nearly 6,000 fewer courses of treatment took place in the final quarter of 2020. It did not have to be this way. For example, in Germany, personal protective equipment and guidance was put in place straightaway and dentists were not shut. Funding of PPE and ventilators remains a major issue for enabling dentists to function and see patients even during the pandemic.

    Dentists have faced acute financial problems. They are both frontline health services and important high street businesses in all our communities, yet they did not receive the same funding as other frontline health services or high street businesses. Financial support remains either absent or uneven. As many as 53% of dental practices estimate that they can only maintain their financial stability for 12 months or less in the face of lower patient numbers and higher overheads. Beyond access to the furlough scheme and Government credit, support for private practice has been close to non-existent. There has been a failure to recognise the mixed economy on which dentistry is based. Dentists are among the only businesses on the high street that continue to pay business rates. That is totally unfair. Many of my local practices have not received any financial support, such as business grants, and this must be renewed.

    Now, on top of that, there are targets. In December, NHS dental practices were instructed by the Government to deliver 45% of all their targets, based on pre-covid levels, to earn their contract value from January to April. This was a hasty, not negotiated and widely discredited target-based dental contract, and it is incompatible with providing safe and sustainable services for patients during the pandemic. I understand that the targets were set before lockdown, but now is the time for the Minister to tell us that they will be reconsidered, they are not achievable and there will be a change of policy. The targets need to be scrapped.

    Most dental practices are small high street buildings and they cannot expand to meet the guidelines on social distancing and fallow time as well as meeting the targets. The British Dental Association found in a recent practice poll that 40% of practices in London alone have seen more than half their capacity wiped out by cancellations, staff sickness, self-isolation and difficulties accessing childcare. If there was ever an excuse not to visit the dentist, we have one now. We have told everyone to stay at home, so they are staying at home and they are not going to the dentist, but that is just building up huge problems for us in the future. Dentists cannot be financially penalised because of that.

    The latest UK data show high levels of cancellation and non-attendance during lockdown. One local dentist told me that at absolutely full stretch before Christmas he was able to meet 30% of pre-covid activity levels. He cannot meet them now, and he is worried about being penalised and losing money retrospectively, because he is obviously having to pay out for those contracts during these months. We would all like more people to be able to see dentists. We would like them to reach 100% of the targets and to clear the backlog, but the targets are simply unachievable at the moment and will put the future of dental practices at risk. By implementing this target, the Government are effectively removing the safety net from NHS dentistry at a time when covid-19 rates are surging. It is important to note as well that the target is set not by the chief dental officer, but by the Government. The wider implications of these issues extend beyond just bad oral health or a bit of toothache. It is predicted that it will increase emergency attendances at hospital A&E, increase antibiotic prescribing, increase admission to hospitals and longer stays, and increase missed oral cancer diagnoses, which is really worrying. The Oral Health Foundation found that mouth cancer referrals fell by 56% during the lockdown.

    In my constituency, the waiting list for tooth extractions by children’s tertiary care is now two years and growing —that is an almost emergency treatment. I met with dentists in my own constituency in the lead-up to this debate, and they made it clear that the 45% target is just unacceptable. One said to me:

    “How can the dental profession be expected to transition to this flawed quota system? Practices that fail to reach targets, through no fault of their own, will face penalties and clawbacks which will result in mass closure of dental practices as the funding to provide dental care will not make it viable to stay open. This is a reckless and unsafe decision”.

    Today, the Faculty of General Dental Practice UK, the College of General Dentistry and the Royal College of Surgeons Of England issued a joint statement saying that

    “safety must take a clear priority over dental activity levels during the…lockdown.”

    There is a universal call to scrap the targets, and I hope that we will hear about that from the Minister later.

    To wrap up, I have five demands of the Minister. First, we need a national plan for dentistry following the pandemic and a way that the backlog of appointments will be addressed, created in full consultation with the national professional dental bodies. Secondly, the activity levels for January to April must be scrapped. The 45% target will undermine patient care and safety. Thirdly, we must provide urgent support to practices to enable them to increase the number of patients that they can see. That means supplies of PPE and ventilation equipment to keep fallow time down. Fourthly, we need to be clear that all dental teams, including receptionists, must be given priority access to covid vaccines alongside other healthcare professionals. Fifthly, we need to maintain and expand the business rates holiday to dental practices and backdate it to late March.

    In conclusion, many parts of the country already had poor access to dental care before the pandemic. Current levels of capacity across the service mean that, unless something is done now, problems are likely to reach an unprecedented scale in every community up and down the country, and we will see a whole generation growing up with poor dental health. Let us recognise the dental sector as the essential frontline health care service that it is and do everything in our power to support it through this crisis and for our future.

  • Jess Phillips – 2021 Speech on Domestic Abuse

    Jess Phillips – 2021 Speech on Domestic Abuse

    The speech made by Jess Phillips, the Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley, in the House of Commons on 14 January 2021.

    I thank the Minister for advance sight of her statement. We in the Labour party are really pleased to hear about the launch of the Ask for ANI scheme today, which will be a real innovation in helping victims come forward. Can the Minister tell the House what work her Department has done to ensure that in launching this brilliant scheme, when a victim comes forward there will be support beyond an initial phone call available, especially in cases where victims are not ready to inform the police?

    We are now eight days into a third national lockdown, with a “Stay at home” message that we have become incredibly familiar with. It was welcome in this third lockdown that the Prime Minister clarified that individuals who wish to leave their homes to escape domestic abuse could do so. That message was not given back in March, and I welcome that being rectified and that the right thing has now been said.

    We on the Opposition Benches welcome what the Minister has said today about the measures being taken to tackle domestic abuse and hidden harms. Back in April, the shadow Home Secretary, my hon. Friend the Member for Torfaen (Nick Thomas-Symonds) wrote to the Home Secretary urging her to act on this important issue. He also raised concerns from the sector, including the need to bring forward urgently a package of emergency financial support for organisations doing the vital work on the frontline which the Minister has talked about.

    It was the Labour party that urged the Government to put in place £75 million of financial support for the sector. When the Government announced that they would do that, we welcomed the support, but the Home Secretary confirmed back in June, months into the crisis, that only a staggering £1.2 million had been spent. Today, the Minister’s statement tells us that 11 months into this crisis, still only a third of that funding has reached the frontline. Can she explain that? Will she tell us when the £51 million unspent will be allocated? Will she confirm that the £11 million extra that she has announced today is in excess of the £75 million already announced?

    The Minister has also mentioned refuge capacity, and we thank all those who struggled very hard under very difficult circumstances to create urgently needed beds that should never have been missing. We must now ask: is that still enough? I have myself this week tried to get a refuge bed and not been able to find one. Will the Minister tell us today and in the coming weeks what contact she has had with refuges about capacity? Can she today say that she is confident that there is capacity to meet the demand? Can she tell the House what specific provisions have been made for specialised services for those victims who are black, Asian and minority ethnic, migrants, LGBTQ, male or disabled?

    As the Minister has mentioned, children are often the hidden victims of domestic and sexual abuse in the home. Can she tell us what work her Department is doing to ensure that vulnerable children who are out of school are safe? What, if any, detached youth work and proactive targeting of children—at the very least, those on child protection plans—has she asked for in order to reach children living in dangerous and violent homes?

    The Minister mentioned the £11 million of funding to the brilliant “See, Hear, Respond” scheme, but as she said herself, it will target 50,000 children, not the three-quarters of a million children today living in dangerous homes. Can she tell us whether any of the schemes that she has announced for children cover every child in our country, so that all child victims can benefit, not just those in some areas, where a postcode lottery determines whether we fund a child’s safety?

    To continue on a theme, the Minister mentioned the support of independent child trafficking guardians—a brilliant scheme that we welcome. Can she confirm that that scheme is available to all children trafficked in our country, as was promised some years ago by this Government, or is it still, as I understand, just a pilot for some areas, leaving some trafficked children without support?

    Domestic abuse and community support services are currently planning for redundancies in March—quite unbelievable in the middle of a global pandemic and a national lockdown. The sector, the Labour party, the Domestic Abuse Commissioner and the Victims’ Commissioner have all called repeatedly for sustainable funding for at least the next year. The staff being made redundant are the very people the Minister needs for Ask for ANI to have any chance of success. Can the Minister confirm whether there have been any discussions with the sector or the Treasury about multi-year funding, and an end to the dangerous year-on-year short-termism in community services for adults and children?

    The Government were too slow to act in the first and second lockdowns. I am very pleased that now, in the third lockdown, they are more alert to this issue. Labour, the shadow Home Secretary and I have been saying to the Government since April that they need to do more to protect those who cannot leave home. It is not enough to say that victims should reach out; we in this House, especially the Government, have a responsibility to ensure that when they do that there is help for them. If there is not, we risk losing them for good.

    With the thought of the lockdown carrying on until March, it is imperative that the Government act, and act fast. All Members across this House need to assure their constituents that all, not just some, victims suffering from domestic abuse and other hidden harms can leave that abuse and access safety. There are people waiting and willing to help. That is the message that we need to send, and it is on all of us to ensure that that is the case.

  • Victoria Atkins – 2021 Statement on Domestic Abuse

    Victoria Atkins – 2021 Statement on Domestic Abuse

    The statement made by Victoria Atkins, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department, in the House of Commons on 14 January 2021.

    With permission, Madam Deputy Speaker, I would like to make a statement. The coronavirus pandemic has presented this country with enormous and unprecedented challenges. In order to control the spread of the virus, we have had to ask the public to follow a simple but crucial instruction: stay at home. Earlier this month we entered a new national lockdown, and while we are absolutely clear that these measures are necessary, it is also important to recognise the potential impact on what we refer to as hidden harm crimes, which include domestic abuse, child sexual exploitation and modern slavery. These are some of the most pernicious, harmful types of offending in society, and they often occur behind closed doors. Given that fact, let me reiterate a crucial message that the Prime Minister delivered to the public last week: notwithstanding the restrictions in place, those at risk of abuse can leave home to seek safety and avoid the risk of harm.

    Protecting those at risk of abuse and exploitation remains a priority for this Government, which is why I am so pleased that today I can announce the launch of a new codeword scheme for victims of domestic abuse called Ask for ANI. From today, thousands of pharmacies across the UK will provide this service, enabling victims to seek help discreetly. Through a signal to a pharmacist, a victim will be provided with a safe space in the pharmacy, and taken through the support available to them, whether that is a call to the police or a domestic abuse helpline service. The codeword scheme will offer a vital lifeline to all victims, ensuring that they get help in a safe and discreet way.

    Let me set out more of the steps that we have taken to ensure that victims and those at risk can continue to access critical advice and support. We have provided unprecedented levels of additional funding to critical frontline services helping victims of domestic abuse. As part of wider charitable funding, the Home Office, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government have between them distributed more than £25 million in emergency covid-19 funding for domestic abuse organisations. That has provided almost 1,900 bed spaces in safe accommodation, and enabled domestic abuse organisations of all sizes to provide advice and support to victims. For example, Home Office funding allowed the charity Safelives to train hundreds of frontline workers online, including new independent domestic violence advisers. To help sustain those charities through the second part of the year, we are providing further funding of nearly £11 million from the Ministry of Justice and the Home Office.

    Although funding forms an important strand of our response, it is also vital that victims of domestic abuse, and those worried about them, know how to access help and advice. In April, the Home Secretary launched the #YouAreNotAlone communications campaign to do precisely that. The campaign has reached almost 25 million people through paid advertising, and has been supported by a range of celebrities and influencers who have shared its messages with more than 130 million followers on social media. Materials have been translated into 16 languages. The campaign directs victims to sources of specialist help and support. It also makes clear that the “stay at home” restrictions do not apply to those at risk of abuse who need to leave home to seek help or refuge. We have relaunched the campaign over the winter to reaffirm those messages, and I ask hon. Members across the House to do everything they can to highlight that campaign, and make clear to victims that help continues to be at hand, should they need it.

    The police have been, and will continue to be proactive in tackling domestic abuse during this period. Courts have continued to prioritise domestic and child abuse cases throughout, as well as civil protection orders relating to domestic abuse, stalking, forced marriage and female genital mutilation. We have seen many innovative police responses to domestic abuse during the pandemic. The Metropolitan police has developed an online function for the domestic violence disclosure scheme, whereby police can disclose previous domestic violence history to new partners. Nottinghamshire police is applying the disclosure scheme in every domestic abuse occurrence. Other forces are able to use discreet technology to take witness statements remotely, without leaving any trace on the victim’s phone. Some forces, such as Gloucestershire police, have used spare capacity to instigate dedicated domestic violence response vehicles, while independent domestic violence advisers are helping to support victims.

    There are, sadly, other forms of hidden harms within domestic abuse, and we are acutely aware that the pandemic has increased risks to some children and young people, and reduced their contact with trusted professionals and adults. The Government are committed to doing everything they can to continue to support and protect children at risk, and they have provided more than £11 million since last June to Barnardo’s See, Hear, Respond service, to support more than 50,000 vulnerable or hidden children, whose usual support networks have been affected by national and local pandemic restrictions.

    The Home Office has also launched a national communications campaign, Something’s Not Right, to help children who have been exposed to a range of harms, reaching millions of secondary school children in England. At this time, we are particularly concerned about online harms. With children spending more time on the internet, parents have been signposted to materials for staying safe online, including from the National Crime Agency’s Thinkuknow campaign.

    A record number of reports of online child sexual abuse have been processed by the UK’s Internet Watch Foundation, including a large increase in self-generated indecent images of children. The Home Office is providing £80,000 to support the development of the IWF’s campaign to support parents in starting conversations with their children around keeping safe online, and to help young people to identify the signs of coercion and to report abuse. In December, we published the full Government response to the online harms White Paper, which sets out our expectations on companies to keep their users safe, especially children. At the same time, we published the interim code of practice on online child sexual exploitation and abuse, which sets out steps that companies can take now to tackle these crimes on a voluntary basis, ahead of any regulatory system being introduced.

    Another form of hidden harm is modern slavery. The Government are committed to the safety and security of victims of modern slavery, particularly during the pandemic, by ensuring that victims are provided with the support they need and that those responsible for these crimes are prosecuted. Last year, we made an additional £1.73 million available for modern slavery services in England and Wales. The funding has enabled providers to adapt the ways in which they provide support during the pandemic, including by reducing face-to-face contact where appropriate and ensuring that support can be accessed remotely. The new Victim Care Contract came into force last week and will help to ensure that victims receive the care they need. In early adopter sites, child victims of modern slavery continue to be supported by the Independent Child Trafficking Guardian scheme which is working flexibly to continue to provide effective and responsive support remotely, both to trafficked children directly and to other professionals. Law enforcement agencies continue to pursue high-risk modern slavery cases where there is a risk of harm or detriment to individuals.

    Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, we have remained resolute in our commitment to tackling abuse that takes place behind closed doors and out of sight. We continue to work across Government to monitor, assess and respond to the ongoing situation, but I ask all hon. Members to consider ways in which they can point victims in their constituencies to support. We will continue to prioritise domestic abuse during and after the pandemic. To do this, we remain committed to delivering our landmark Domestic Abuse Bill to further strengthen protections for victims and bring perpetrators to justice.

    In addition, this year we will publish the new Tackling Violence against Women and Girls strategy, which will help us to better target perpetrators and support victims of these abhorrent crimes. We are currently running a call for evidence to inform the new strategy, and I urge hon. Members to share this via their networks within their constituencies to help us reach as wide an audience as possible. This will be followed by a dedicated and complementary domestic abuse strategy that will ensure progress following the passage of the landmark Domestic Abuse Bill. We will soon publish the first-of-its-kind strategy on tackling all forms of child sexual abuse, outlining our long-term ambition to drive a whole-system response in tackling this heinous crime.

    In conclusion, I would like to thank everyone involved in helping victims of hidden crimes in this pandemic and beyond, from those working in domestic abuse refuges and community services and in modern slavery safe accommodation, to those scouring the internet to remove images of children being raped, as well as our police officers, our National Crime Agency officers, our Border Force officers and those working in the security services to support this work. I thank them all for what they are doing to help support victims and to stop perpetrators of these terrible crimes. I would like to finish by reassuring all victims of hidden harms that they are not alone, their voices are heard and help will continue to be there for them. I commend this statement to the House.