Speeches by Hayes.

“I am honoured to be intervened on in an Adjournment debate by the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon), and I thank him for his intervention. He is right that adequate staffing at railway stations is a really important part of making stations accessible. All too often, disabled passengers have to endure unacceptabl…”

“I am grateful for the opportunity to bring before the House the significant issues that affect my constituents across Dulwich and West Norwood because of the lack of accessibility at our local railway stations. The Dulwich and West Norwood constituency covers part of Lambeth and part of Southwark. Unlike much of the no…”

“I welcome the Minister’s statement: the expansion of funded childcare hours this week; the future expansion of school-based nurseries; and confirmation of a further three years of funding for the holiday activities and food programme. My Committee is today launching an inquiry on the early years. We will examine in det…”

“It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Ms Lewell. I thank the hon. Member for Mid Sussex (Alison Bennett) for securing this important debate. The introduction of the adoption and special guardianship support fund as part of the Children and Families Act 2014 marked an important recognition of our understanding of th…”

“Thank you, Chair. I am Chair of the Education Select Committee. Thank you for having me as a guest.”

“Your attention to that issue would be really helpful. It is not a local problem; it is a national problem. It relates in part to the structures for accountability. For example, SEND tribunals make recommendations that are binding on local authorities but not binding on health services, even though health services could…”

“Not at all; I am very glad to be here. The interest of my Committee in this inquiry is twofold. We are just reaching the end of a very big inquiry on SEND; we will publish our report soon. We have resolved to undertake an inquiry on early years, which will launch very soon, so we are midway between two significant piec…”

“Thank you. Another strand running through much of the evidence that we received relates to health. It is the view of many parents, professionals and local authorities that within the SEND system it is very hard to get Health to the table. NHS services are often absent and although we have education, health and care pla…”

“I welcome the commitment to recognising the Palestinian state later this month. That is an essential step, and there can be no further delay. Israeli Government support for illegal settlement in the west bank and the decision to build in the E1 area are strategically designed to undermine the viability of a Palestinian…”

“Good afternoon, Prime Minister. My Committee has just completed an inquiry on children’s social care. As part of that inquiry, we heard really devastating evidence from care-experienced young people who experience a cliff edge in support at the age of 18. For example, a young person told us how she had to give up her A…”

“On current policy, they will still face that cliff edge. They will still fall through gaps in support because there is not a national safety net for them, so I hope you will look at that in detail and come back to this Committee with progress in due course.”

“One of the issues is that mental health support is often not there for those young people, who have experienced trauma earlier in their lives. If they are living with trauma, it is very difficult for them to take advantage of opportunities that might otherwise be available to them. That is why we are looking particular…”

“Finally, again drawing on that report, the evidence is that if the Government are serious about homelessness and tackling the problems in the criminal justice system, they have to be serious about providing better support for young people in the care system, because they are so vastly over-represented in both of those …”

“Thank you. We very much welcome the Government’s commitment to a youth guarantee to support young people into education, employment or training, but we are really concerned about some of the additional barriers that young care-experienced people face, often as a consequence of trauma they suffered earlier in their live…”

“Children are being starved and shot in front of our constituents’ eyes. They are watching illegal settlers systematically and strategically undermine the Palestinian state. It is not that there is a risk of international humanitarian law being broken. International humanitarian law is being broken in front of our eyes,…”

“Giving every child the best possible start in life should be a driving mission of every Government. Investment in the early years and in a high-quality education for every child delivers among the highest returns of any area of public spending; they are literally building the foundations of a child’s life. Governments …”

“I thank the hon. Member very much for his intervention, and our report, which we published last week, says exactly that. We have a system of children’s social care that is under so much pressure that it all too often fails to put children at the centre of the services that are supposed to be delivered to give them more…”

“I agree with the hon. Gentleman. Over my 10 years in this place, I have seen how it has become harder and harder for families to get resources and accountability out of the Child Maintenance Service. I agree that there is further work to do in that space, and I am sure the Government are similarly aware of the challeng…”

“I thank the hon. Member for his intervention, and it is devastating to hear about those disparities across the country. Recently, I was at a secondary school in a very deprived area of my constituency, and a teacher told me that she noticed at an event for those from across the whole of her academy trust that her child…”

“I am grateful to the Backbench Business Committee for allocating time for this statement. Today I speak on behalf of the Education Committee and, more importantly, the thousands of children across England whose lives are profoundly shaped by our children’s social care system. I put on record my thanks to the Committee …”