Speeches by Kyrke-Smith.

“T2. This month I was delighted to award my community champion award to Afzaal Hussain. After his best friend was stabbed and died in 2021, he set up In This Together Bucks, which has now removed more than 1,500 knives from the streets while also addressing underlying causes of knife crime through mentoring, mediation a…”

“We have seen three years of unimaginable suffering in Sudan, with 19 million people extremely hungry, millions of children out of school, and thousands of women and girls who have been raped. The world should have been focused on stopping that, but major powers, like the US, have been largely absent and others, from th…”

“The threats we face from hostile states are unprecedented in my lifetime, and geography is deceptive; we do not share a border with Russia or Iran, but our critical infrastructure is well within their reach, from hospital networks to transport networks and our banking systems. What are Ministers doing to prepare for th…”

“10. What steps she is taking to improve further education pathways.”

“Every time I have been to Buckinghamshire College Group in Aylesbury I have met fantastic staff who bring decades of professional experience to their roles and have a deep commitment to the young people. However, many further education colleges, including ours, are struggling with staff recruitment and retention, in pa…”

“One of my constituents has written to me about Natalie Abu Dayyeh, a young Christian girl from Birzeit in the west bank who was seized at gunpoint by Israeli forces earlier this month. Her family do not know where she is being held—they do not even know whether she is alive and being treated well. This is a repeated pa…”

“7. What steps the Church of England is taking to support Christians in Palestine.”

“Q To go back to the single patient record, I see huge potential—at least in my constituency, where we have real challenges with GPs and hospitals not talking to each other or sharing information. Nor do trusts and local authorities across Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire share that information. Sarah has…”

“Q I come from a county with really significant health inequalities—people in the wealthy parts of the county live 10 or 12 years longer than people in some of the more deprived parts of Aylesbury, which I represent. I would love to hear your thoughts on how we ensure that local authorities, ICBs and the voluntary secto…”

“We all have examples of Thames Water letting our residents down. Just last week I heard from one of my farmers, who has had Thames Water discharging raw sewage into the ditch next to his fields. It has flooded his fields and contaminated the land, which is no longer in use. I welcome the progress made by the Secretary …”

“From Hawkslade to Buckingham Park, there are parked vehicles that sit abandoned for months on our roads, causing obstruction and danger to local residents, and even attracting fly-tipping and antisocial behaviour. They are usually untaxed and without an MOT, so when we try to have them removed we are passed between Buc…”

“T3. My local Jewish community does not have a dedicated building to meet and worship in. That means that they are not eligible for the Government’s expanded support for Jewish communities, which is primarily aimed at fixed places of worship. I welcome the Government’s expanded commitment, and I am grateful for their en…”

“4. What assessment she has made of the potential impact of the proposed changes to indefinite leave to remain on skilled legal migrants resident in the UK.”

“I have spoken to many young people in Aylesbury and the villages about this issue. One boy told me about the content he had seen, from terrorist beheadings to sexual abuse. He said to me, “Please don’t stop us communicating with our friends—we want to do that—but please stop us seeing this illegal and traumatising mate…”

“Last month I joined a very generous community event at Herali, a much-loved Sri Lankan restaurant in Aylesbury, which is dependent on staff who are here on skilled worker visas. The proposed changes to ILR put many of my local residents, including Sri Lankans and Indians, in a very uncertain and difficult position. Whe…”

“In Lebanon, the Government’s contribution to the humanitarian response is welcome, but the response does not work when aid workers are being killed; 116 healthcare and rescue personnel have already died. The House is united in condemning these violations of international law, but does the Minister accept that the killi…”

“Q10. On a more serious note, sometimes we all have those meetings with constituents that really stick with us. For me, it was the lady who came to my surgery and told me about the character.ai chatbot that had groomed her 12-year-old son. The chatbot turned him against his school and his parents, made sexual advances, …”

“I welcome the Government’s knife crime strategy, with its ambitious goal of halving knife crime in a decade, and its recognition that serious violence is both a criminal justice issue and a social failure. I commend Thames Valley police on their hard work to tackle knife crime in Aylesbury and the villages. We have see…”

“8. What progress he has made with Cabinet colleagues on the Government's knife crime strategy.”

“I am grateful to the Chancellor for the work she is doing to protect us from the economic impacts of this war. One of my local farmers has been in touch about the impact on red diesel prices, which are up by around 70%, and fertiliser prices, and shared his nervousness about the affordability of going ahead and plantin…”