Speeches by Newbury.

“The minor injuries unit at Cannock Chase hospital temporarily closed more than five years ago. In August, the Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent integrated care board announced proposals to permanently close our MIU, but it has been radio silence since October. My constituents are having to use unreliable bus services to…”

“I thank the right hon. Gentleman for bringing his expertise and long experience to the debate. I am sure that that message has been heard by the Minister on the Front Bench and that she will look into it. We must recognise that every child’s needs are different. Reforms must deliver on three major fronts: early interve…”

“I am proud to have supported the BCSSS campaign since long before I became an MP, and I have continued to support it. I pay tribute to the campaigners in my constituency, including ex-miner Tony Jones, who gave me a badge that I wear with pride. I am grateful to the Minister for her engagement with BCSSS trustees and u…”

“I pay tribute to my hon. Friend and thank her for her steadfast campaigning. Like many hon. Members, I have had conversations with tradespeople on the doorstep. I have had loads of messages and emails thanking her and supporting her campaign. Rob Waring, who runs Midland Central Heating in Cannock, told me that its van…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Dowd. I welcome the opportunity to debate this subject, so I, too, thank the petition author, Mr Osborne, and the signatories for enabling us to do that. I declare that I am personally against non-stun slaughter. I am not religious, and I would never knowingly buy prod…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Furniss. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham Erdington (Paulette Hamilton) for securing this important debate. I remember campaigning alongside her in her by-election, and this issue being raised by constituents, who, in her, are now fortunate to have such…”

“I welcome the announcement, which will help more than 4,000 working-class children in my community. The Minister rightly emphasised that the expansion of free school meals is both pro-learning and anti-poverty, and we know that the appalling cost of living crisis, which the previous Government left behind, means that s…”

“I absolutely agree with the right hon. Gentleman. I think that that is a perfect example of where stronger, more consistent animal welfare labelling would give consumers that kind of information. In other countries, such as Germany, systems take that into account, and consumers should have access to that information. O…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Vickers. I thank the hon. Member for Waveney Valley (Adrian Ramsay) for enabling us to speak on this important topic. I will start by sharing how valuable it was to spend a day of last week’s recess at Staffordshire’s county show. As always, I came away full of admi…”

“I very much welcome the Minister’s response. Through the park tennis project, Cannock Chase has benefited from £215,000 of investment from the Government and the LTA Tennis Foundation to revive tennis courts in four of our parks, but the notorious British weather remains a barrier to participation, and many in my towns…”

“Is the Lord Chancellor as astounded as I am by the hypocrisy of the Conservatives? They really are the arsonists attacking the firefighters. We are having to clean up their mess, because, in the words of the National Audit Office, this crisis is the result of their failure “to ensure that the number of prison places wa…”

“T6. Cannock Chase is home to many fantastic dance schools such as the Crystal Academy in Hednesford, which has been crowned dance school of the year. Dance can empower people from all backgrounds, but a third of schools are not teaching it, despite its being on the national curriculum. A varied, high-quality sports off…”

“3. What steps her Department is taking to support the provision of grassroots sports facilities in Cannock Chase constituency.”

“That is really welcome to hear. My local authority, Cannock Chase District Council, has a really good record on this, with a really strong set of officers who pursue things, so the fact that they are going to have that kind of strength and powers to deal with it is really welcome. Chair, Helena wanted to ask one questi…”

“This is something that has a lot of interest out there. I am sure that your inbox is as full as ours of messages from passionate constituents who want to push the Government to do as much as possible on animal welfare. I am aware, of course, that the Government are supporting several private Members’ Bills that will st…”

“One particular pressure on animal welfare legislation in general is on local authorities, because they have a huge role in enforcing this, and the pressures on them are clear for all to see. They often cannot maintain proper enforcement and deterrence by themselves. For example, the British Veterinary Association has h…”

“We have an upcoming report, we understand, into the phasing out of using animals in research, which is much awaited. Could you tell us about how that is going to balance that really lofty ambition with existing scientific capabilities and resources in the UK?”

“Yes, absolutely. It is another example of where technology and innovation have moved on at pace, and legislation perhaps has not kept pace with that, so that is really welcome.”

“Do you know whether the strategy will include a proposed date for achieving that phasing out? Will it have milestone targets along the way for research and testing?”

“We will definitely be looking forward to that. Finally, can I raise another animal welfare policy that seems to be stuck in departmental limbo at the moment? This is about labelling on welfare standards on food products. It was not a commitment in the manifesto that we both stood on, but the previous Government did lot…”