Speeches by Dixon.

“I really thank the Chief Secretary and the Chancellor for delivering historic investment that will make a reality of the plans of the Mayor of West Yorkshire, Tracy Brabin, for an integrated transport network. I understand that it will be called the Weaver Network, to compete with the Bee Network on the other side of t…”

“I echo the hon. Lady’s comments about the vital role that family carers and unpaid carers play in enabling people with dementia to live well at home. Does she agree that, in addition to formal respite care, community support from groups in my constituency such as the Wrose Dementia Friendly Community Support Group and …”

“Much has been made about the decline in bus usage. The pattern is similar in West Yorkshire, where between 2011 and 2022 there was a reduction of some 60 million journeys. There has been lots of mention of Greater Manchester, but West Yorkshire Mayor Tracy Brabin’s bus service improvement plan has already seen a 4% inc…”

“Will the hon. Gentleman give way?”

“Will my hon. Friend give way?”

“Before I ask my question, I draw attention to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests: I am an unpaid trustee of Helpforce, a charity that supports volunteering in health and care and works with more than 100 NHS partners to embed volunteering in trusts. As we have heard, volunteers make a huge contrib…”

“I support the hon. Lady’s amendment. As the Royal College of Psychiatrists pointed out, pain from unresolved physical symptoms and the fear of physical pain or death can make a person want to die, and depression, which is also associated with a wish to die, is often missed. Does she agree that it is vital that people a…”

“On a point of order, Mr Speaker. I appreciate that you and the team have had a very difficult day, but as someone who tabled an amendment but has not had the opportunity to speak to it, I would like clarification that if a closure motion is moved, my amendment, as well as those tabled by other Members who have been una…”

“I note that I am chair of the all-party parliamentary group on carers. A lot of employers are already going further than the statutory requirement, in offering some days of paid leave. Members of Employers for Carers have found it has helped with retention of workers. Does she agree that some leading employers are alre…”

“I thank the Minister for his commitment to review carer’s leave and to consider the opportunity for looking at paid carer’s leave. Does he agree that would particularly benefit low-income workers and women? They make up the bulk of unpaid carers, and they find it particularly difficult to take unpaid carer’s leave beca…”

“Very significant changes were made to the route, in particular—I am sure we will spend quite a bit of today’s session on this—the inclusion of care workers in 2022 and then further changes to eligibility requirements in spring 2024. I want to understand what work was done to assess the impacts ahead of implementation a…”

“I want to come specifically to the care labour market, because there are particular characteristics, as you are saying, of the care labour market, not least that these are quite low-paid workers. I do not like to say “low skilled” because they are doing important and skilled work. It was very easy for organisations to …”

“To illustrate this briefly, most of the shortage in care is in rural areas and in domiciliary care, yet that was not where most of the people were being brought to. There was a complete mismatch, both regionally and in the type of workers. Now that these revocations have happened, that means that the people who are lef…”

“I would like to draw on some further evidence that we have received and to home in on a couple of aspects relating to care that you have brought in to effectively address the historical problem, the first being the hubs. These are for people who have found themselves here, who have come in under the work visa, only to …”

“My understanding, just to clarify, was that if they lost employment with the sponsor, they were then, effectively, no longer here legally. Often, if the accommodation is tied, they find themselves basically destitute. Until this matching process works and another sponsoring organisation takes them on, there is a period…”

“I want to come back to some of the evidence that we have received. Unison surveyed 3,000 people who had come to the care sector. It was saying that one in seven had paid money to an employer, and one in 11 to a recruiter or agency, before coming here. We will get on to this shortly. In terms of the conditions that thos…”

“I was going to come to the fact that, again, all of this just seems like it is closing the stable door after the horse has bolted. We have brought in all these people, and we are now suddenly doing lots of things to close down bogus sponsors. It would have been a basic thing to have made sure that these were legit care…”

“In a sense, it is an example of the failure of Government Departments to join up, because, in a way, the solution is for the Department of Health and Social Care and local authorities to be providing contracts with guaranteed hours. It sounds like the two are incompatible.”

“I am conscious that we need to pause in a moment for the two-minute silence, but I will ask a brief question and for a brief answer. Given all of that, was it a mistake to use the skilled worker visa for the care sector?”

“Yes, particularly about what happens overseas. Both Clive and I have concerns about that.”