Speeches by Slade.

“Wessex Internet, which was founded by the late James Gibson Fleming, has done some great work in Dorset, Wiltshire, Hampshire and Somerset, but the vouchers that are given out to areas that are not included are not available in Dorset. We have challenged that many times with the Ministry. Would the Minister mind seeing…”

“Does my hon. Friend agree that there is a slight confusion? The Minister consistently referenced the importance of this review and how independent and important it was, but then has thrown out the central tenet of it, which was to introduce a court that has a judge and two magistrates. That would provide three heads ra…”

“Hello. I am Vikki Slade, the Member of Parliament for Mid Dorset and North Poole. My interests are as per the register, but I have no relevant interests.”

“Thank you.”

“Yes, if you don’t mind. I am sorry to go back to it, but I am concerned, particularly with some things that you said, Rohini, about access to justice for people who are working versus people who are on universal credit. Linsey and I have both discussed a couple of cases that we have had where there has been custody and…”

“T5. My constituents welcome the £150 saving on energy bills, particularly as it is now snowing, but Andrew from Arrow Energy Solutions is worried. Some 35% of his heat pump and solar installations were through the energy company obligation. Although he says it needed reform, he is worried about what comes next. I welco…”

“I am fascinated and happy to hear what is being proposed. Will it be possible for members of the public to check an online database for that permit? When somebody picks something up from a house and shows their permit, people can feel quite vulnerable. Being able to go online and check the permit against the local auth…”

“I thank the hon. Member for Southport (Patrick Hurley) for that really moving account. We know that cancer affects us all. In my family it claimed my mum Lin; my sister-in-law Lisa and my stepmum Sally have both beaten it, and now my dad Ray is living with terminal cancer. One of my team is also undergoing treatment fo…”

“I am disappointed to hear that the Minister is not looking at a common certificate of sponsorship. Has he made a decision, with his colleagues, on whether care workers will be considered in the same group as NHS workers in relation to the faster route? Otherwise, we are going to end up with a massive hole in our servic…”

“Thank you, Mr Speaker—what a lovely birthday present. Last week I met my constituent Kevin, the programme lead for TESTBED Dorset. He told me that although life sciences is one of the key sectors in the modern industrial strategy, none of the seven projects is in the south-west, and there is not a single reference to D…”

“I refer the House to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. I welcome the Government’s announcement of a cap on social care placements, but some special schools are making unreasonable charges. One school in my area that is offering places to neurodiverse children who are struggling in mainstream edu…”

“When this Government came into office in July 2024, magistrates were dealing with cases that had a potential sentence of up to six months, but that has now gone up to 12 months and by next year it could be two years. There is already a backlog of 361,000 cases in the magistrates courts. In my meeting with the Law Socie…”

“I thank my neighbour for his intervention. Of course they are people; they are our friends, family and neighbours. Puberty blockers are of no use once someone reaches 16 or 17, as by that time the damage is done. The hon. Member for Sleaford and North Hykeham (Dr Johnson) may pull a strange face at me but, frankly, for…”

“Some of this will be a little repetitive, but I think it is really important to get to the bottom of it. I am slightly confused by some of the answers you have given. First, I will go back to Sir Brian Leveson’s recommendations. As I mentioned at questions earlier, I met the Law Society today and it is deeply concerned…”

“It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Mr Turner. I thank the hon. Member for North Warwickshire and Bedworth (Rachel Taylor) for such a passionate, incredible speech. Although she focused on adults, I would like to talk more about young people. I am not sure whether the recent outrage about the puberty block…”

“There are two things there. We said earlier that it is going to take some time for these reforms to make a change. There are 17,500 people currently in the system. I do not get the impression that those people are going to really benefit from the changes, because even those who have been there for a year will eventuall…”

“This links quite interestingly with probation, because I want to look at the other end, which is remand—he sighs.”

“It is a really tricky issue, and the data on it is absolutely staggering—20% of the prison population consists of people who are on remand. Those people have not been convicted and may be innocent. I admit that a lot of them are not and it is important that when people are convicted of violent offences, or when people …”

“I have one more question, if that is okay. This is the third time I have asked you this, so you probably know exactly what it is, but I am going to talk about magistrates and the magistrates court. The question was asked earlier on this morning, but I am not sure that we got a particularly robust answer. It may be that…”

“Do you think that the money you are putting in is sufficient to make enough of a nudge to have a real impact on the backlog? If they are all incremental, tiny changes, what assessment has been done of how much change the collective will actually have?”