Speeches by Smith.

“Hyndburn is home to the incredible woman Lorraine Hargreaves. She established the charity Milly’s Smiles after her daughter Milly died of leukaemia, and each year she supports thousands of families whose children have cancer. Can the Minister reassure her that this plan will also improve outcomes for children? I know t…”

“Sarah Smith, Hyndburn.”

“I have worked closely with schools in some of the most disadvantaged parts of our country, and I have seen academy trust after academy trust fail to turn around schools in some of the most challenging circumstances, leaving behind some of our most disadvantaged learners. I welcome the Government’s commitment to support…”

“We are going to talk now a little bit about the need for potentially greater accountability within the local authority in the system. Far too often in Hyndburn I get families coming to me at their absolute wits’ end and there are often two big issues that come out of their individual cases. One is the problems with the…”

“I am conscious of time, so maybe a couple of you want to take this, and then we will keep pushing forward. To speak now about the cliff edge that parents often talk to me about, which is that post-16 transition and the world feels quite scary at that point, particularly for parents and carers of children with SEND: how…”

“Yes, very short. Going back to the first question, do you have evidence or believe that there is merit in the co-location of services and how they are delivered between professionals from different sectors?”

“We are going to talk now a little bit about the need for potentially greater accountability within the local authority in the system. Far too often in Hyndburn I get families coming to me at their absolute wits’ end and there are often two big issues that come out of their individual cases. One is the problems with the…”

“I am conscious of time, so maybe a couple of you want to take this, and then we will keep pushing forward. To speak now about the cliff edge that parents often talk to me about, which is that post-16 transition and the world feels quite scary at that point, particularly for parents and carers of children with SEND: how…”

“Yes, very short. Going back to the first question, do you have evidence or believe that there is merit in the co-location of services and how they are delivered between professionals from different sectors?”

“It is a privilege to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Vickers. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Lichfield (Dave Robertson) for opening the debate, and I pay tribute to Mikey. I have been privileged to work with young people for many years, putting them at the heart of leading change, and it is always brilliant to…”

“We will move on now to the issue of local authorities sometimes gatekeeping. We have, again, heard evidence about the impact of this. I am interested in what steps you intend to take to discourage local authorities from those gatekeeping practices, such as using the idea of intentional homelessness to withhold or withd…”

“Yes. I would ask the question of whether you think people actually intentionally make themselves homeless. The framing of even suggesting that vulnerable people are taking steps to make themselves homeless is quite a challenging statement to make within itself. It seems to be that there is practice within local authori…”

“This is the issue of local authorities using the idea of somebody intentionally making themselves homeless in order to prevent them accessing the support that they need or withdrawing support that they might otherwise be entitled to.”

“We will move on now to the issue of local authorities sometimes gatekeeping. We have, again, heard evidence about the impact of this. I am interested in what steps you intend to take to discourage local authorities from those gatekeeping practices, such as using the idea of intentional homelessness to withhold or withd…”

“You spoke about the pilots that are currently being undertaken to look at solutions and how to tackle this. I know that in east Lancashire and Blackburn they have been piloting pods for rough sleepers and have had some very encouraging early responses and evidence of how that is helping to tackling this. What is your t…”

“If would be good, Minister, if you could lay out the actions that you are taking to tackle rough sleeping and specifically the rough sleeping emergency. Could you please also talk about the actions you will take that are not just about the current emergency, but also about tackling this and ending this for good?”

“I am Sarah Smith, Hyndburn.”

“Yes. I would ask the question of whether you think people actually intentionally make themselves homeless. The framing of even suggesting that vulnerable people are taking steps to make themselves homeless is quite a challenging statement to make within itself. It seems to be that there is practice within local authori…”

“This is the issue of local authorities using the idea of somebody intentionally making themselves homeless in order to prevent them accessing the support that they need or withdrawing support that they might otherwise be entitled to.”

“You spoke about the pilots that are currently being undertaken to look at solutions and how to tackle this. I know that in east Lancashire and Blackburn they have been piloting pods for rough sleepers and have had some very encouraging early responses and evidence of how that is helping to tackling this. What is your t…”