Speeches by Dixon.

“Local authority leaders would probably be pleased to hear that plans are being put in place for strategies on all those demand areas, and about the reforms you mentioned earlier on local government financing. But there are councils, like Bradford council, that are already in exceptional financing because half their bud…”

“I welcome that we are at the beginning, and I pay tribute to the chief executive, the council leader and the head of children’s services for the progress they are making in extremely difficult circumstances to turn this around. It is really important to recognise that, while in some councils there is a history of finan…”

“On the longer term, this is a major reform and it is important there is stability in how it then beds in given the transition. We have recognised that, in parallel, there are other reform discussions on. I would like to pick up on one in particular, which is the Casey review of adult social care looking at a national c…”

“So you are reassuring us that the timelines for those can match up, and that your plans will accommodate any proposals coming out of that review.”

“One of the other join-ups is between health and social care budgets locally. We received evidence from the NHS Confederation expressing frustration that pooled allocations, particularly around the better care fund, are often coming out late and are not joined up with when local government hears about its funding and wh…”

“We have heard a lot about local government having less of these ringfenced pots of money and greater flexibility. Will you be extending such flexibilities to allow greater pooling of budgets and allocating of resources between health and care, as the NHS Confederation propose?”

“Extending the flexibilities around things like the better care fund, for example.”

“One last thing: we have talked so much about demand-led and statutory services, but almost nothing about the very important discretionary services that make a huge difference to my residents’ day-to-day quality of life, whether that is parks, arts and culture, library services, or waste management. In its local governm…”

“My constituency of Shipley is not short of sporting talent. Baildon Fisical Sports Coaching Academy’s under-eights team has just won the national junior premier league final for the second consecutive season. I pay tribute to the Bumble Bees Barbarians, the first mixed-ability contact rugby union team in England, which…”

“15. What steps is she taking to allocate funding to local grassroots sports facilities in the north of England.”

“Parents of LGBTQ+ children are concerned that the 2024 guidance that the previous Government consulted on is providing a hostile environment and preventing conversations about trans and non-binary children from happening. Would the Minister would consider reverting to the 2023 guidance?”

“Did my hon. Friend hear Gareth Southgate talking in the Richard Dimbleby lecture about the fact that boys need positive male role models in the real world—people like football coaches, scout leaders, youth club leaders and more male teachers? I wondered if my hon. Friend would agree that having real-world role models w…”

“I thank the hon. Lady for securing this important debate. I serve on the Public Accounts Committee, which looked at the NAO report on violence against women and girls. In West Yorkshire, the police have developed a brilliant prevention programme —the hon. Lady touched on the need for prevention—called Pol-Ed, which goe…”

“I volunteered with the OSCE to ensure free and fair elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1996, following the Dayton peace agreement. I therefore have huge concerns about the escalating tensions. I welcome the diplomatic efforts we are undertaking to support stability, on which the Minister has updated us, but can he …”

“Lord O’Neill has just suggested that it could be more ambitious. That is fine. That was the question—whether we are pushing hard enough in the latest plan. I do not know whether Dr Partridge wants to comment on whether the new plan goes far enough.”

“4. What steps she is taking to promote active travel.”

“I did not realise that it was necessary to declare this, but my husband works for the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, which does postgraduate training in some of these subjects, so I probably should put that on the record. I have not really thought of it being relevant, but I suppose it is. Addressing t…”

“We received evidence from the Royal College of Pathologists, and it was reiterated in our pre-panel, that there is a workforce problem here too, with a 20% shortfall in consultant medical microbiologists and a 14% shortfall in consultant virologists. Taken together with the problems that we have just talked about with …”

“Does that factor in human behaviours in terms of the basics that we were talking about, such as hand hygiene, with accessibility to sinks?”

“I am glad that you said what you said. We have an excellent primary care practice called Bevan Healthcare, which is specifically set up to provide specialised primary health and medical care both to asylum seekers in hotels and to recently arrived refugees, so that they can better help meet the needs of people coming i…”