Speeches by Nichols.

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dr Murrison. My hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham Northfield (Laurence Turner)—I am proud to say that he truly is a friend—laid out perfectly the historical context in which the criminal injuries compensation scheme was devised and the economic, moral and financial ca…”

“My hon. Friend refers to low-paid workers; we know that retail staff are among the victims who experience a really shocking amount of violent crime within the workplace. Will he join me in paying tribute to the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers for the work it is doing to ensure that its members who are vi…”

“It was good to meet the Safeguarding Alliance this morning about its concerns, which I share, regarding the patchwork of different Departments, bodies and regulators with responsibility for safeguarding. That allows known offenders to slip through the gaps and continue offending. An overarching safeguarding regulator c…”

“Q2. The criminal injuries compensation scheme has not been uprated with inflation since 2012, which means that in real terms, compensation for victims of violent crime, including rape and child abuse, is worth less than half of what it was then. The consultation response published before Easter said that there was not …”

“Far from clarity, the verdict raises as many questions as it answers. Indeed, it has been referred to by the civil servant Melanie Field, who oversaw the Equality Act’s drafting and passage, as having significantly reinterpreted Parliament’s intentions. These questions are primarily about the purpose now of the gender …”

“In 2018, Warrington borough council applied for and was successful with a proposal for a new 56-place special free school for pupils with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder, whose needs cannot be met by our current provisions. The free school is part of an expansion plan to address that issue, and the implicatio…”

“The Secretary of State will know that we also produce a fifth of the world’s gin in Warrington. The UK video games industry is a huge success story, supporting 73,000 jobs, including in Warrington at companies like 10:10, Mindware, Freesphere Entertainment and Second Impact Games, and contributing more to UK GVA than t…”

“12. What assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of Government initiatives in supporting the long-term growth of the video game industry.”

“I thank the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) for securing this crucial debate. The statistics are harrowing, as other Members have said, but how have we got here? A decade-long disinvestment in drug treatment services, approaches more fit for scoring political points than actually solving a problem, a complete …”

“T1. If she will make a statement on her departmental responsibilities.”

“According to research, 52% of integrated care boards in England, including Cheshire and Merseyside ICB, still require same-sex couples to self-fund at least six to 12 cycles of costly intrauterine insemination before they are eligible to access in vitro fertilisation treatment on the NHS. Can the Secretary of State ple…”

“While I accept that it is perfectly possible for people with severe mental health conditions to work with the right support—in Warrington, we already have an employment rate above the Government’s national target—is there not a risk that these proposals are premature and that we are legislating for the mental health se…”

“Q8. My constituent Mike Addison was one of a kind. A physical disability rugby league world champion with England and Warrington Wolves and an avid volunteer for the club and foundation, he was a friend to everyone who knew him. Tragically, he died at age 45, having taken his own life. One death by suicide is too many,…”

“Q2. Long-standing traders in the CPS Centre in Culcheth were devastated to receive eviction notices giving them just 28 days to vacate the premises, entirely out of the blue and on spurious pretexts from the new owner, the shell company Shivat Haminim Capital. So far, the owner and its legal representatives have failed…”

“I welcome the careful and considered approach that the Secretary of State has taken to this issue; it stands in stark contrast to when the Act was first brought forward. I refer the shadow Secretary of State, and indeed the House, to my comments in Hansard on 13 May 2021, when the previous Secretary of State explicitly…”

“I am glad that we are discussing this most important issue today. The National Police Chiefs’ Council rightly stated last year: “Violence against women and girls is a national emergency.” Action must be taken against our societal epidemic of violence, including sexual violence, against women and girls, and I am glad th…”

“Just for clarification, will transcripts be available only for victim-survivors who have secured a successful conviction? Given what we are talking about, it is important that people who were not able to secure a conviction can still access transcripts as part of the important process of closure.”

“The Minister just made a point about victims being able to watch proceedings from another room, which is often not the case in rape trials, where the victim is considered a witness rather than a participant in the case. I know that the Department is looking at things like transcripts. Will they become more readily avai…”

“The Minister is making a very important point about victim attrition, but one thing that concerns me is the fact that court delays also mean that when cases are heard, the testimony of victims—including victim-survivors in these cases—will be of much poorer quality given the length of time that has passed, and more cas…”

“T6. The criminal injuries compensation scheme is a vitally important part of the justice system but among the gaps in the framework we inherited is interim support for victims of crime under 18 before they can access their award. This is profoundly affecting three of my young constituents who were victims of rape, and …”