Westminster Hall
Tuesday 14th July 2026
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09:30
09:30
Speaker 2
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Speaker 2
Move at this house. Isolation and deprivation in coastal towns. Thank you. Chair. May I say what a stupendous pleasure it is to serve under your incredible Chairship. With so much discussion in recent weeks about the North South divide, I thought this debate would be the perfect opportunity to bring colleagues from coastal communities together for a time honored parliamentary tradition of comparing notes on who has been most overlooked for funding. While I joke there is a serious point.
Communities like mine often feel isolated not just from funding and opportunity, but from the national conversation. In fact, one of the biggest challenges I faced since being elected in 2024 has been not simply convincing policymakers that the Isle of Wight deserves government attention, that it deserves the same level of support and intervention as other communities facing similar levels of deprivation, poor education outcomes and lower levels. To see so many colleagues from coastal communities across the length and breadth of the country coming together to champion the British coast.
In fact, one of the biggest challenges I faced since being elected in 2024 has been not simply convincing policymakers that the Isle of Wight deserves government attention, that it deserves the same level of support and intervention as other communities facing similar levels of deprivation, poor education outcomes and lower life expectancy. Very often, the island's challenges are treated as serious enough to be acknowledged, but not urgent enough for government intervention. However, I believe that deprivation isolation in places like the Isle of Wight have reached a point where we can no longer pretend that these challenges are a hidden or unknown phenomenon.
The evidence has been there for years, and the experiences of local people speak for themselves. As a 2024 report from the London School of Economics argued, many of the persistent challenges facing seaside communities are driven by, in part, a striking degree of complacency and indifference. And as Professor Chris Whitty said in his 2021 report into the health of coastal areas, even after adjusting for age and deprivation, there remains a coastal excess of disease otherwise referred to as the coastal effect. Without falling into the trap of just reeling off statistics for the sake of it, I want to highlight a few examples that show exactly why this issue demands greater attention, particularly on the Isle of Wight.
Isolated by the Solent and in the only English constituency with only one method of transport on and off, which is privately operated with 85% of the island classified as rural, delivering services becomes that much more difficult. We have the second highest level of educational deprivation in the South, a population whose average age is 11 years higher than the national average, and child poverty rates that continue to sit around 4% above the national average. Taken together, these figures demonstrate a community with clear and pressing needs, but one whose deprivation is too often obscured by neighbouring affluence, leaving it overlooked by the very funding formulas designed to help those that need it most.
I know it has become something of a running joke that I mentioned ferry travel along with my hon. Friend. In almost every speech or intervention I make, but I ask colleagues to imagine it would be like to regularly pay £200 and as much as £500 to get to the next county, so to travel from Derby to Nottingham or Southampton to Portsmouth, you'd need to find that sort of money. For Ireland, that is not a hypothetical question. It is a reality. During the Isle of Wight festival a few weeks ago, the cost of a return car ferry rose to over £500 due to dynamic pricing.
For most people, a journey with a maximum distance of 12 miles would be a routine trip. For Islanders, it can mean a bill larger than many people's weekly pay packet simply to reach the mainland and access the services that many take for granted. When you also consider that islanders earn, on average £5,000 a year less than their mainland counterparts, yet still rely on those same highly expensive ferries to access specialist hospital appointments, visit family and friends, pursue educational opportunities, or simply enjoy the freedom to travel. The scale of our isolation becomes much clearer.
Indeed I will.
Communities like mine often feel isolated not just from funding and opportunity, but from the national conversation. In fact, one of the biggest challenges I faced since being elected in 2024 has been not simply convincing policymakers that the Isle of Wight deserves government attention, that it deserves the same level of support and intervention as other communities facing similar levels of deprivation, poor education outcomes and lower levels. To see so many colleagues from coastal communities across the length and breadth of the country coming together to champion the British coast.
In fact, one of the biggest challenges I faced since being elected in 2024 has been not simply convincing policymakers that the Isle of Wight deserves government attention, that it deserves the same level of support and intervention as other communities facing similar levels of deprivation, poor education outcomes and lower life expectancy. Very often, the island's challenges are treated as serious enough to be acknowledged, but not urgent enough for government intervention. However, I believe that deprivation isolation in places like the Isle of Wight have reached a point where we can no longer pretend that these challenges are a hidden or unknown phenomenon.
The evidence has been there for years, and the experiences of local people speak for themselves. As a 2024 report from the London School of Economics argued, many of the persistent challenges facing seaside communities are driven by, in part, a striking degree of complacency and indifference. And as Professor Chris Whitty said in his 2021 report into the health of coastal areas, even after adjusting for age and deprivation, there remains a coastal excess of disease otherwise referred to as the coastal effect. Without falling into the trap of just reeling off statistics for the sake of it, I want to highlight a few examples that show exactly why this issue demands greater attention, particularly on the Isle of Wight.
Isolated by the Solent and in the only English constituency with only one method of transport on and off, which is privately operated with 85% of the island classified as rural, delivering services becomes that much more difficult. We have the second highest level of educational deprivation in the South, a population whose average age is 11 years higher than the national average, and child poverty rates that continue to sit around 4% above the national average. Taken together, these figures demonstrate a community with clear and pressing needs, but one whose deprivation is too often obscured by neighbouring affluence, leaving it overlooked by the very funding formulas designed to help those that need it most.
I know it has become something of a running joke that I mentioned ferry travel along with my hon. Friend. In almost every speech or intervention I make, but I ask colleagues to imagine it would be like to regularly pay £200 and as much as £500 to get to the next county, so to travel from Derby to Nottingham or Southampton to Portsmouth, you'd need to find that sort of money. For Ireland, that is not a hypothetical question. It is a reality. During the Isle of Wight festival a few weeks ago, the cost of a return car ferry rose to over £500 due to dynamic pricing.
For most people, a journey with a maximum distance of 12 miles would be a routine trip. For Islanders, it can mean a bill larger than many people's weekly pay packet simply to reach the mainland and access the services that many take for granted. When you also consider that islanders earn, on average £5,000 a year less than their mainland counterparts, yet still rely on those same highly expensive ferries to access specialist hospital appointments, visit family and friends, pursue educational opportunities, or simply enjoy the freedom to travel. The scale of our isolation becomes much clearer.
Indeed I will.
09:34
Speaker 3
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Speaker 3
Thank my neighbour, the honourable member, for giving way, and I congratulate him on bringing forward this debate, which is not only important for us on the Isle of Wight, but for so many MPs. Hence the wonderful turnout today. I particularly thank him for highlighting our issues with ferries, and I am sure he would agree. It's not just the price we all pay to get back and forth. It's the whole impact on our local economy and I think that's a message we really need to get across and use the opportunity of a new prime minister to do so.
09:34
Speaker 2
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Speaker 2
I thank my hon. Friend and neighbor for his intervention. He is indeed correct, and you won't be surprised to know I've already raised this issue at least once, if not several times, with the potential incoming Prime Minister. Um, it isn't just islands, wallets, wallets that are impacted, it's also our council budgets, our public services, and ultimately the sustainability of the island. Earlier this year, the fair funding review left the Isle of Wight Council facing a £13 million a year funding shortfall.
Despite the additional costs and challenges I have already described. If that does not demonstrate that current funding formulas are failing places like ours, I do not know what does. There is nothing fair about a funding review that overlooks the additional costs of island life, and then expects local services to deliver the same or more, with significantly less. Truth is that being an island or a coastal area comes with unavoidable costs, and even when positive changes are made nationally, they often take longer to reach us if they reach us at all.
Research undertaken by Portsmouth University has identified an island factor. The unavoidable additional costs associated with delivering services on the Isle of Wight. The study found that our island status creates extra costs through self-sufficiency, dislocation and what is termed the island Premium estimate. Added cost of £380 per resident every year, but costing the Isle of Wight Council at least £23 million a year extra just to stand still when compared to a smaller size authority. Similar size authority on the mainland. This is coupled with our deprivation often hidden in plain sight.
Unlike in some parts of the country where deprivation is concentrated within large urban areas. Our challenges are widely dispersed across the island areas, which experience significant levels of child poverty, poorer health outcomes, and educational disadvantage sit directly alongside communities that are comparatively, comparatively affluent and rank far more favourably in the government's indices of deprivation. This phenomenon has been described by academics as nested deprivation, where pockets of deep need exist within areas that appear, on average to be doing relatively well. The consequence is that deprivation can be masked by neighbouring prosperity.
That helps explain, but not justify, how the Isle of Wight's two constituencies can rank amongst the most deprived and left behind in the country on some measures, yet still miss out on funding opportunities such as pride in place. In other words, our deprivation is not hidden because it doesn't exist. It is hidden because it sits behind postcard views, nostalgia and pockets of affluence, fuelled by second home ownership that can distort the reality. Indeed, this deprivation makes the challenges already facing the country more widely that much harder to deal with on the island.
Delivering send provision on the island or a coastal area brings additional challenges, from recruiting and retaining specialist staff to ensuring that there are enough specialist places available. Unlike many mainland communities, families do not have the same range of nearby alternatives. When local provision is stretched and accessing support off the island can mean significant, significant additional costs and disruption. With an ageing and often isolated population, the healthcare inequalities highlighted, highlighted by Professor Chris Whitty in his 2021 report on coastal communities, ring particularly true on the Isle of Wight, where we continue to see higher than average rates of conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, cancer and dementia all while patients must travel across the Solent to access specialist treatments such as radiotherapy and chemotherapy.
Despite the additional costs and challenges I have already described. If that does not demonstrate that current funding formulas are failing places like ours, I do not know what does. There is nothing fair about a funding review that overlooks the additional costs of island life, and then expects local services to deliver the same or more, with significantly less. Truth is that being an island or a coastal area comes with unavoidable costs, and even when positive changes are made nationally, they often take longer to reach us if they reach us at all.
Research undertaken by Portsmouth University has identified an island factor. The unavoidable additional costs associated with delivering services on the Isle of Wight. The study found that our island status creates extra costs through self-sufficiency, dislocation and what is termed the island Premium estimate. Added cost of £380 per resident every year, but costing the Isle of Wight Council at least £23 million a year extra just to stand still when compared to a smaller size authority. Similar size authority on the mainland. This is coupled with our deprivation often hidden in plain sight.
Unlike in some parts of the country where deprivation is concentrated within large urban areas. Our challenges are widely dispersed across the island areas, which experience significant levels of child poverty, poorer health outcomes, and educational disadvantage sit directly alongside communities that are comparatively, comparatively affluent and rank far more favourably in the government's indices of deprivation. This phenomenon has been described by academics as nested deprivation, where pockets of deep need exist within areas that appear, on average to be doing relatively well. The consequence is that deprivation can be masked by neighbouring prosperity.
That helps explain, but not justify, how the Isle of Wight's two constituencies can rank amongst the most deprived and left behind in the country on some measures, yet still miss out on funding opportunities such as pride in place. In other words, our deprivation is not hidden because it doesn't exist. It is hidden because it sits behind postcard views, nostalgia and pockets of affluence, fuelled by second home ownership that can distort the reality. Indeed, this deprivation makes the challenges already facing the country more widely that much harder to deal with on the island.
Delivering send provision on the island or a coastal area brings additional challenges, from recruiting and retaining specialist staff to ensuring that there are enough specialist places available. Unlike many mainland communities, families do not have the same range of nearby alternatives. When local provision is stretched and accessing support off the island can mean significant, significant additional costs and disruption. With an ageing and often isolated population, the healthcare inequalities highlighted, highlighted by Professor Chris Whitty in his 2021 report on coastal communities, ring particularly true on the Isle of Wight, where we continue to see higher than average rates of conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, cancer and dementia all while patients must travel across the Solent to access specialist treatments such as radiotherapy and chemotherapy.
09:37
Speaker 4
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Speaker 4
I know that older and vulnerable populations, often really supported by Navy clubs, particularly in coastal areas, but also across the country. In West Bromwich. Unfortunately our Naval Club, which is well used by older veterans, is set to close. I've been campaigning hard to try and save it, and I'm going to work with everyone to try and do that. But does he agree that community groups such as Navy clubs are very important in tackling these health inequalities and deprivation and isolation issues he's talking about today?
09:38
Speaker 2
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Speaker 2
I thank my hon. Friend for intervention. I do I agree entirely that we are almost reliant on community groups in coastal and island communities, which is quite a danger into making sure that provision consistently exists when when funding dries up. We also have no dedicated stroke nurse or cancer nurse. Thankfully, after asking, our ICB have agreed to fund an epilepsy nurse for the first time. The issue is now attracting someone to do the job. Despite these small positive developments, I continue to hear numerous accounts from residents who have chosen not to pursue treatment at all or have delayed doing so simply because they cannot face the cost, time and stress of repeatedly making that journey.
And as I draw to the end of my speech, that is a key point I want to leave members with. The costs faced by Islanders and indeed by many people living in isolated coastal communities, goes far beyond the inconvenience of waiting for a ferry or a lifeline transport link. Too often when we talk about isolation, we focus on geography, but the real cost of isolation and deprivation is a human one. It is the opportunity not taken, the treatment not received, the family not visited, and the support that arrives too late or not at all.
Until we recognise that that in reality, our funding, our policy making and our public services for communities like the Isle of Wight will continue to face barriers that many others never have to think about.
And as I draw to the end of my speech, that is a key point I want to leave members with. The costs faced by Islanders and indeed by many people living in isolated coastal communities, goes far beyond the inconvenience of waiting for a ferry or a lifeline transport link. Too often when we talk about isolation, we focus on geography, but the real cost of isolation and deprivation is a human one. It is the opportunity not taken, the treatment not received, the family not visited, and the support that arrives too late or not at all.
Until we recognise that that in reality, our funding, our policy making and our public services for communities like the Isle of Wight will continue to face barriers that many others never have to think about.
09:39
09:40
09:40
09:40
Speaker 6
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Speaker 6
Shock. And did through my paper to get my notes. Uh, can I thank you very much. You're very kind to invite me to speak, and I'm very pleased to speak. Can I first of all, thank the honourable gentleman for for setting the scene. And he's right to say that everywhere in this United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the issue of deprivation in coastal communities. I'm going to speak about my own constituency, obviously, I know it's not the responsibility of the minister, but I have been asked of the minister, and the minister is always very responsive, and we thank her for for her help for us.
When we discuss social isolation and deprivation in this House, the mind naturally wanders to the stark images of inner city decay or urban high rises. But I want to take the chamber this afternoon to a different kind of hardship. The one that Dalton gentleman referred to, one that is wrapped in a beautiful scenery, but is no less cruel to those who live through it. I'm talking, of course, about the Ards Peninsula in my constituency of Strangford. The peninsula is a place of incredible community spirit, from Portaferry up to Donaghadee and right down to the village of Ballywalter where I was brought up.
Um, I went there in 1959. We have people who look out for one another. We have the real definition of a community at work. However, beneath the surface, scrape away the surface. The stats from the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency Nisra tell a very, very troubling story. According to the Northern Ireland Multiple deprivation measure, the ministers are under a one notable category the geographic access to services domain. So villages like Portavogie, like Kircubbin, like Ballyhalbert, like Ballywalter, the quarter and.
Portaferry and all the way down find themselves ranked amongst the worst across the entire province. So what does that mean in reality, Minister?And that's a question I want to put on record. It means if you do not have a car, you're trapped. We have an ageing population in Ards and North Down, with around 20% of our people aged 65 years or over. Regional data shows that nearly a quarter of those older folks live in social isolation. The local bus service is infrequent, the local bank branches have closed down.
I've. I've had 11 banks have closed in my constituency in the last few years, and all my friends in my left hand side probably has something similar. I suspect. The nearest GP surgery requires a complex, multi-stage journey. Our elderly people have been cut off from the world. They're suffering in silence from chronic long term loneliness and the cost of insurance for young people. Take the other side of it is astronomic, uh, car insurance in Northern Ireland as some of the highest in the whole of the United Kingdom.
Uh, and they just can't afford to drive. They can get a car where maybe 5 or £600, your insurance will cost you 3500 pounds. You know, I'm very happy. Yes, yes.
When we discuss social isolation and deprivation in this House, the mind naturally wanders to the stark images of inner city decay or urban high rises. But I want to take the chamber this afternoon to a different kind of hardship. The one that Dalton gentleman referred to, one that is wrapped in a beautiful scenery, but is no less cruel to those who live through it. I'm talking, of course, about the Ards Peninsula in my constituency of Strangford. The peninsula is a place of incredible community spirit, from Portaferry up to Donaghadee and right down to the village of Ballywalter where I was brought up.
Um, I went there in 1959. We have people who look out for one another. We have the real definition of a community at work. However, beneath the surface, scrape away the surface. The stats from the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency Nisra tell a very, very troubling story. According to the Northern Ireland Multiple deprivation measure, the ministers are under a one notable category the geographic access to services domain. So villages like Portavogie, like Kircubbin, like Ballyhalbert, like Ballywalter, the quarter and.
Portaferry and all the way down find themselves ranked amongst the worst across the entire province. So what does that mean in reality, Minister?And that's a question I want to put on record. It means if you do not have a car, you're trapped. We have an ageing population in Ards and North Down, with around 20% of our people aged 65 years or over. Regional data shows that nearly a quarter of those older folks live in social isolation. The local bus service is infrequent, the local bank branches have closed down.
I've. I've had 11 banks have closed in my constituency in the last few years, and all my friends in my left hand side probably has something similar. I suspect. The nearest GP surgery requires a complex, multi-stage journey. Our elderly people have been cut off from the world. They're suffering in silence from chronic long term loneliness and the cost of insurance for young people. Take the other side of it is astronomic, uh, car insurance in Northern Ireland as some of the highest in the whole of the United Kingdom.
Uh, and they just can't afford to drive. They can get a car where maybe 5 or £600, your insurance will cost you 3500 pounds. You know, I'm very happy. Yes, yes.
09:43
Speaker 7
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Speaker 7
I thank the honourable member for giving way. Um, he's speaking about the transport challenges that face people in rural communities. And we know that the current government have plans to introduce additional charges for people who purchase an electric vehicle. It seems completely paradoxical that people would face this additional charge in a situation in which we're trying to encourage them to be more environmentally friendly. We agree with me that the government should think very carefully about support for people in rural and isolated areas when they consider this policy.
09:44
Speaker 6
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Speaker 6
I thank my friend and colleague for for that intervention. An on record. He's right to ascertain and focus upon that. And maybe when the minister gets on her feet, hopefully she'll be able to give us some answers in relation to that, because what happens in the honourable gentleman constituency happens in mine as well. Uh, pockets of the peninsula face real employment and income deprivation due to the seasonal nature of the economy, the stigma surrounding poverty and mental health often keeps people from reaching out for help.
And we have high levels of mental mental health issues. While healthcare and transport are rightly devolved, matters handled by the Assembly at Stormont, I believe, Minister, I believe honestly they would ask the ministers, uh, opportunity to talk and have discussions with the relevant minister at the Assembly. The stats are a warning sign that we're facing a postcode lottery of the highest order. We need a targeted infrastructure funding. We need robust support for rural community transport schemes and. Referred to in his intervention.
And we need a digital connectivity that ensures that rural pensioner are struggling. Family is left behind. I welcome some of the schemes that the North Down Council have done. Uh, but when it comes to to the economy of scale, the kit that they, they just can't reach out to the rural businesses the way they should. Councils are limited to their funding pot. And that's where I look to the minister to have some discussions with the relevant minister in Northern Ireland and also, Minister, if it's possible.
When it comes to the block grant, maybe these monies could be could be ring fenced, uh, to, uh, help in that. And I'm conscious of time. I'm very conscious of Mr. Chairman of those who want to speak. So I'm going to conclude with this. Um, I would urge the minister, please, and my ask the Minister as to work with the devolved administration to look closely at these hidden pockets of rural deprivation. Let us show the people of the Irish Peninsula we've spoken about today, my constituents, where I live, that although they live at the geographic edge of our nation, they are at the centre of our concerns and the centre of my concerns always is our MP.
But the concerns of this House so respectfully, Minister, let us invest in these worthy communities. Thank you very much.
And we have high levels of mental mental health issues. While healthcare and transport are rightly devolved, matters handled by the Assembly at Stormont, I believe, Minister, I believe honestly they would ask the ministers, uh, opportunity to talk and have discussions with the relevant minister at the Assembly. The stats are a warning sign that we're facing a postcode lottery of the highest order. We need a targeted infrastructure funding. We need robust support for rural community transport schemes and. Referred to in his intervention.
And we need a digital connectivity that ensures that rural pensioner are struggling. Family is left behind. I welcome some of the schemes that the North Down Council have done. Uh, but when it comes to to the economy of scale, the kit that they, they just can't reach out to the rural businesses the way they should. Councils are limited to their funding pot. And that's where I look to the minister to have some discussions with the relevant minister in Northern Ireland and also, Minister, if it's possible.
When it comes to the block grant, maybe these monies could be could be ring fenced, uh, to, uh, help in that. And I'm conscious of time. I'm very conscious of Mr. Chairman of those who want to speak. So I'm going to conclude with this. Um, I would urge the minister, please, and my ask the Minister as to work with the devolved administration to look closely at these hidden pockets of rural deprivation. Let us show the people of the Irish Peninsula we've spoken about today, my constituents, where I live, that although they live at the geographic edge of our nation, they are at the centre of our concerns and the centre of my concerns always is our MP.
But the concerns of this House so respectfully, Minister, let us invest in these worthy communities. Thank you very much.
09:46
09:46
Speaker 8
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Speaker 8
Pleasure to serve under your chairmanship. And I'm so pleased that the member for the Isle of Wight West has secured this debate. Isolation, isolation and deprivation in coastal communities is such an important issue. We're not an island like the Isle of Wight and Cornwall, but we are a rural peninsula with sea on three sides. We were identified by the EU as one of the poorest areas of Western Europe and received the highest level of structural structural funding from 1999. But since then we haven't often been selected to receive government funding that uses the indices of multiple deprivation as a measure because they favour more densely populated areas at the expense of sparser, more rural parts of the country.
Poor infrastructure, high housing costs, precarious seasonal employment and lack of access to health, transport and education are major issues for Cornish residents and they're all drivers of poverty in rural and coastal places. This particularly hits our young people and the opportunities open to them, and with the short term I have. I want to talk about that. Professor Vandenhove has written about the concept of educational isolation in places like ours. Problems recruiting teachers, getting to schools that low aspirations due to the distance they have to go to travel to get further and higher education.
EMA Educational Maintenance Allowance, set up in 2004, was a real boon to places like mine. It meant that the two Fe colleges in the middle of Cornwall grew massively, but that meant that sixth form shut. Um. So although they had a great system of education and apprenticeships when the EMA was abolished, that left a real problem with students across Cornwall having to get long distances to those Fe colleges without the money to help them do it. There was a bursary, but bus routes were scrapped.
The private providers left and we have been left with young people really struggling to get to that education, that further education, particularly in those work placements, those job opportunities that are so important to them in urban places. With mayors, there is free or cheap travel for under 19 seconds, um in Cornwall, the college funds most of it. That results in real inequity. We have real issues now with our children not being able to access work opportunities, not being able to access the Fe that they would like to and dropping out earlier.
That's really impacting upon them and gives them a distinct disadvantage compared to urban areas. I have raised this with the potentially new Prime Minister, and I really hope it's something we address as we move forward.
Poor infrastructure, high housing costs, precarious seasonal employment and lack of access to health, transport and education are major issues for Cornish residents and they're all drivers of poverty in rural and coastal places. This particularly hits our young people and the opportunities open to them, and with the short term I have. I want to talk about that. Professor Vandenhove has written about the concept of educational isolation in places like ours. Problems recruiting teachers, getting to schools that low aspirations due to the distance they have to go to travel to get further and higher education.
EMA Educational Maintenance Allowance, set up in 2004, was a real boon to places like mine. It meant that the two Fe colleges in the middle of Cornwall grew massively, but that meant that sixth form shut. Um. So although they had a great system of education and apprenticeships when the EMA was abolished, that left a real problem with students across Cornwall having to get long distances to those Fe colleges without the money to help them do it. There was a bursary, but bus routes were scrapped.
The private providers left and we have been left with young people really struggling to get to that education, that further education, particularly in those work placements, those job opportunities that are so important to them in urban places. With mayors, there is free or cheap travel for under 19 seconds, um in Cornwall, the college funds most of it. That results in real inequity. We have real issues now with our children not being able to access work opportunities, not being able to access the Fe that they would like to and dropping out earlier.
That's really impacting upon them and gives them a distinct disadvantage compared to urban areas. I have raised this with the potentially new Prime Minister, and I really hope it's something we address as we move forward.
09:49
Speaker 9
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Speaker 9
Richard. Thank you, sir. It's a pleasure, sir. The Chair And I pay tribute. To the honourable member for the Isle of Wight West for securing this debate on our coastal communities that are so often forgotten. For those of us who represent coastal communities like mine in Honiton and Sidmouth, uh, sometimes you can forget that you represent such a beautiful, stunning part of the world, and it's sometimes only on a Friday or Saturday when my mind is is here or on work that I drive over a horizon and see the sea and I'm reminded what a beautiful place it is.
But they, um, these coastal communities are often, uh, they often contain pockets of, of hidden deprivation and particularly, uh, they are susceptible to low social mobility. And that's what I want to spend a couple of minutes speaking about the latest report by the southwest Social Mobility Commission highlights a paradox. The South West region performs really well on some measures, such as employment and economic participation, but is one of the weakest in England educationally for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. And if we want stronger local economies, higher productivity and better paid jobs, we need a pipeline of young people with the skills, qualifications and opportunities to access them.
The South West Peninsula has got some fantastic opportunities for for the economy and for the UK as a whole. Uh, agri food defense industries, clean energy are second to none. And yet the South West Mobility Commission found that just 41% of pupils eligible for free school meals in the South West achieved the expected standard in reading, writing and maths at age 11, the lowest level of any region in England. By age 19, only 30% of those eligible for free school meals had achieved a level three qualification to offer.
Ambitious young people are faced with a choice stay in the community they've grown up in and that they love or leave in search of better paid and more varied career opportunities. This really could be different, and if we really value our coastal communities and value the economic opportunities that they offer, then we can really set regions like the South West alight.
But they, um, these coastal communities are often, uh, they often contain pockets of, of hidden deprivation and particularly, uh, they are susceptible to low social mobility. And that's what I want to spend a couple of minutes speaking about the latest report by the southwest Social Mobility Commission highlights a paradox. The South West region performs really well on some measures, such as employment and economic participation, but is one of the weakest in England educationally for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. And if we want stronger local economies, higher productivity and better paid jobs, we need a pipeline of young people with the skills, qualifications and opportunities to access them.
The South West Peninsula has got some fantastic opportunities for for the economy and for the UK as a whole. Uh, agri food defense industries, clean energy are second to none. And yet the South West Mobility Commission found that just 41% of pupils eligible for free school meals in the South West achieved the expected standard in reading, writing and maths at age 11, the lowest level of any region in England. By age 19, only 30% of those eligible for free school meals had achieved a level three qualification to offer.
Ambitious young people are faced with a choice stay in the community they've grown up in and that they love or leave in search of better paid and more varied career opportunities. This really could be different, and if we really value our coastal communities and value the economic opportunities that they offer, then we can really set regions like the South West alight.
09:50
09:50
Speaker 11
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Speaker 11
Can I congratulate my honourable friend on securing this debate?I represent the lovely seaside town of Southport, and I know that, like many coastal MPs, our lovely towns can actually be deceptive because behind the frontage there are lower wages, poor health, seasonal work, young people leaving. That's why I'm welcoming how this debate has been framed. Because as well as being economic, the challenge facing facing our coastal areas is also social. There's the loss of the places that bring people together. Things like libraries, youth clubs, post offices, surestart centres, village halls and pubs.
Um, there's been a wealth of research in the last decade or so or so on the hollowing out of these places and the malign long term consequences of the funding decisions over the last 20 years or so. But the one that strikes me the most and stays with me the most is Diane Bolt's Drinking Alone. It charts the correlation between the loss of the local pub and the subsequent propensity of the population there to vote for the radical right at election time. The correlation is striking.
Now, it's true that the causal relationship isn't fully understood. But what I do understand is that if social isolation is correlated to extreme politics, then it's worth a chance of reversing that ideology by trying to socialise people more and more in their local areas, in their geographic communities. I'd also encourage colleagues to search out nothing to do and nowhere to go. Now, it might sound like the B-side to a song by some sort of Second Division punk band from 1978, but it's actually an academic paper published earlier this year, and the title says it all.
It argues that the years, the years of losing youth provision, leisure facilities, community spaces hasn't just reduced opportunities, it's reduced opportunities for young people. It's weakened people's sense of belonging. And to bring it back to Diane Bolt's thesis about voting behaviour, the research was conducted in Great Yarmouth. Now, when the general public hear about infrastructure, they tend to think about roads. But social infrastructure matters to youth clubs, sports clubs, libraries, community centres, parks and gardens, faith groups, all of that. And so what I'm going to say is anybody watching this footage of this debate back in Southport, please get involved.
Please help to make our town the town. It can be, um, in whatever way that you can do. Thank you.
Um, there's been a wealth of research in the last decade or so or so on the hollowing out of these places and the malign long term consequences of the funding decisions over the last 20 years or so. But the one that strikes me the most and stays with me the most is Diane Bolt's Drinking Alone. It charts the correlation between the loss of the local pub and the subsequent propensity of the population there to vote for the radical right at election time. The correlation is striking.
Now, it's true that the causal relationship isn't fully understood. But what I do understand is that if social isolation is correlated to extreme politics, then it's worth a chance of reversing that ideology by trying to socialise people more and more in their local areas, in their geographic communities. I'd also encourage colleagues to search out nothing to do and nowhere to go. Now, it might sound like the B-side to a song by some sort of Second Division punk band from 1978, but it's actually an academic paper published earlier this year, and the title says it all.
It argues that the years, the years of losing youth provision, leisure facilities, community spaces hasn't just reduced opportunities, it's reduced opportunities for young people. It's weakened people's sense of belonging. And to bring it back to Diane Bolt's thesis about voting behaviour, the research was conducted in Great Yarmouth. Now, when the general public hear about infrastructure, they tend to think about roads. But social infrastructure matters to youth clubs, sports clubs, libraries, community centres, parks and gardens, faith groups, all of that. And so what I'm going to say is anybody watching this footage of this debate back in Southport, please get involved.
Please help to make our town the town. It can be, um, in whatever way that you can do. Thank you.
09:52
Speaker 10
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Speaker 10
Thank you. It's a pleasure to. Serve under. Britain's coastal. Community amongst the most beautiful parts of our country. But behind that picture postcard image lies a reality that too often goes unnoticed. Isolation, hidden deprivation, and a lack of opportunity. As an MP representing a number of coastal communities along the coast of Somerset, through Brean and Berrow, Burnham on Sea and all the way to Steart, I know that there are many shared issues in those communities that are markedly different from those in land.
The statistics paint a stark picture. Coastal communities have higher levels of deprivation than inland areas, lower rates of educational attainment, higher rates of disability and an older population. Too many coastal towns suffer from poor transport links. Economic inactivity, seasonal employment and the loss of young people seeking opportunities elsewhere. The House of Lords Select Committee recognised these challenges as far back as 2019, and called on the government to develop a dedicated coastal communities strategy. Today, however, many local businesses in coastal areas face higher costs and greater uncertainty.
High streets continue to struggle and tourism operators face mounting pressures. The looming threat of a tourist tax, along with Labour's slew of other taxes on work, an increasing compliance costs such as the Employment Rights Act, all serve to make it harder for small businesses in coastal areas to survive. I hope the Minister, when she sums up, will consider the effect of the right to guaranteed hours on businesses in coastal towns. Has she considered those businesses when they take on seasonal workers during a period of good weather, are then compelled to offer those hours for the next reference period?Whatever the weather might be, coastal communities need improved transport and digital connectivity to overcome geographical isolation.
They need fair funding that recognises the pressures of ageing populations and vulnerable residents. It is time, Sir Alec, for the government to listen to develop a genuine coastal communities strategy and to ensure that the people who live and work along our coastline have the opportunities that they deserve.
The statistics paint a stark picture. Coastal communities have higher levels of deprivation than inland areas, lower rates of educational attainment, higher rates of disability and an older population. Too many coastal towns suffer from poor transport links. Economic inactivity, seasonal employment and the loss of young people seeking opportunities elsewhere. The House of Lords Select Committee recognised these challenges as far back as 2019, and called on the government to develop a dedicated coastal communities strategy. Today, however, many local businesses in coastal areas face higher costs and greater uncertainty.
High streets continue to struggle and tourism operators face mounting pressures. The looming threat of a tourist tax, along with Labour's slew of other taxes on work, an increasing compliance costs such as the Employment Rights Act, all serve to make it harder for small businesses in coastal areas to survive. I hope the Minister, when she sums up, will consider the effect of the right to guaranteed hours on businesses in coastal towns. Has she considered those businesses when they take on seasonal workers during a period of good weather, are then compelled to offer those hours for the next reference period?Whatever the weather might be, coastal communities need improved transport and digital connectivity to overcome geographical isolation.
They need fair funding that recognises the pressures of ageing populations and vulnerable residents. It is time, Sir Alec, for the government to listen to develop a genuine coastal communities strategy and to ensure that the people who live and work along our coastline have the opportunities that they deserve.
09:55
Speaker 12
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Speaker 12
Thank you so much. Sir. It's a really important debate because despite countless studies showing gaping disparities in everything from employment to life expectancy, coastal towns are neglected. When we come to discussions about geographical inequality, there are a few reasons for that. They often sit within otherwise affluent areas, and they don't neatly fit into that north south divide. Places like Morecambe and Blackpool have more in common with Ramsgate and Bournemouth than, say, Manchester. To pick a random example in Morecambe and Lunesdale, 10.2% of people say they are always lonely.
This is staggering, given what we know about the health impacts of loneliness. Social connection is a fundamental human need. It's as crucial to our survival as food, water and shelter. We are biologically wired for social connection now, as adults, we can't just go up to someone in the playground like my daughter does and say, Will you be my friend?Um, our communities don't happen by accident. They need the social infrastructure to be there. The parks, the libraries, the youth clubs, the naval clubs.
So we need to protect that infrastructure and we need to think about the barriers to social interaction, poverty. If you can't afford to go and do anything, how do you go and meet people, particularly if you're on a fixed income like pensioners transport?I've got two brilliant bush users groups in my constituency who fight every day to make sure everyone can get on a bus, go places, meet people, and just finally, Sir Alec, I want to mention the necessity of communities with roots. So in Morecambe we actually have a really deep rooted community.
There are areas of transience, but actually people have been there for generations. People know each other and that's social infrastructure is really important. And I'm really concerned about the impact of short term lets things like Airbnb and others on that social cohesion. Now in Morecambe, we're getting Eden Project, Morecambe and which is going to be brilliant for our town. It's going to be fantastic, but I am concerned about the impact of the changing accommodation scene. I'm worried about the impact on residential housing, which is why I'm supporting calls for licensing, including caps on numbers for short term lets.
We need to make sure those roots can stay deep in our community. We need to make sure that people are able to build those connections over generations, and then they can be healthier and live longer. Thank you, Sir Alec.
This is staggering, given what we know about the health impacts of loneliness. Social connection is a fundamental human need. It's as crucial to our survival as food, water and shelter. We are biologically wired for social connection now, as adults, we can't just go up to someone in the playground like my daughter does and say, Will you be my friend?Um, our communities don't happen by accident. They need the social infrastructure to be there. The parks, the libraries, the youth clubs, the naval clubs.
So we need to protect that infrastructure and we need to think about the barriers to social interaction, poverty. If you can't afford to go and do anything, how do you go and meet people, particularly if you're on a fixed income like pensioners transport?I've got two brilliant bush users groups in my constituency who fight every day to make sure everyone can get on a bus, go places, meet people, and just finally, Sir Alec, I want to mention the necessity of communities with roots. So in Morecambe we actually have a really deep rooted community.
There are areas of transience, but actually people have been there for generations. People know each other and that's social infrastructure is really important. And I'm really concerned about the impact of short term lets things like Airbnb and others on that social cohesion. Now in Morecambe, we're getting Eden Project, Morecambe and which is going to be brilliant for our town. It's going to be fantastic, but I am concerned about the impact of the changing accommodation scene. I'm worried about the impact on residential housing, which is why I'm supporting calls for licensing, including caps on numbers for short term lets.
We need to make sure those roots can stay deep in our community. We need to make sure that people are able to build those connections over generations, and then they can be healthier and live longer. Thank you, Sir Alec.
09:57
Speaker 13
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Speaker 13
There is a merger between two. Chocolate box fishing villages and tight knit communities where people look out for one another. And there is certainly truth in that. In Tiverton and Minehead I represent one and I see it. But when we talk of coastal areas being at the end of the line for West Somerset, there is no line. It is a cul de sac. West part of my constituency, for all its natural beauty, suffers from the lowest social mobility in the country and ranks among the poorest travel times to employment in the country at the 96 percentile.
Education, educational and employment opportunities for those living along the coast are so limited that teenagers are catching a bus at 6:00 in the morning, a two hour journey each way just to reach the further education courses they need. It is a material hit to a young person's aspirations, forcing them to compromise before they've even started, and putting them at a direct disadvantage to their peers elsewhere. It creates a profound poverty of aspiration and ambition, brought about by an environment that tells people that they have been forgotten.
That is why my party has consistently called on the government to apply a fair funding formula, which properly takes into account the realities of coastal and rural life when it comes to education, travel, health and much, much more. Perhaps the Right Honourable member for Makerfield, much of whose political brand rests on regional empowerment empowerment, might turn his attention to the South West as he closes in on number ten, because the coastal and rural premium is real and it's felt acutely there. Over the last few months, my office has produced a report into dementia in Tiverton and Minehead.
Isolation and loneliness ran through it as a constant, unrelenting theme, not as one issue among many, but as the backdrop against which everything else is experienced. This year alone, the West Somerset coastal area has lost dental services. Its post office, hospital scanning equipment and its Local Citizens Advice Bureau services, young and old alike depend on, and one by one they are disappearing. Devolution in Tiverton and Minehead means meaningful evolution. Evolution to prosperity, opportunity and a better future for all my constituents.
Education, educational and employment opportunities for those living along the coast are so limited that teenagers are catching a bus at 6:00 in the morning, a two hour journey each way just to reach the further education courses they need. It is a material hit to a young person's aspirations, forcing them to compromise before they've even started, and putting them at a direct disadvantage to their peers elsewhere. It creates a profound poverty of aspiration and ambition, brought about by an environment that tells people that they have been forgotten.
That is why my party has consistently called on the government to apply a fair funding formula, which properly takes into account the realities of coastal and rural life when it comes to education, travel, health and much, much more. Perhaps the Right Honourable member for Makerfield, much of whose political brand rests on regional empowerment empowerment, might turn his attention to the South West as he closes in on number ten, because the coastal and rural premium is real and it's felt acutely there. Over the last few months, my office has produced a report into dementia in Tiverton and Minehead.
Isolation and loneliness ran through it as a constant, unrelenting theme, not as one issue among many, but as the backdrop against which everything else is experienced. This year alone, the West Somerset coastal area has lost dental services. Its post office, hospital scanning equipment and its Local Citizens Advice Bureau services, young and old alike depend on, and one by one they are disappearing. Devolution in Tiverton and Minehead means meaningful evolution. Evolution to prosperity, opportunity and a better future for all my constituents.
09:59
Speaker 5
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Speaker 5
Thank you for bobbing. We're just trying to make sure we've got everybody in because I know I'm whipping through. Um, so Perryman. And it's an honour to serve under your chairmanship. I'd like to thank my hon. Friend from the Isle of Wight West for this very important debate, which speaks directly to the reality facing my constituents in Camborne and Redruth and Hayle, the furthest southerly Labour seat in the United Kingdom when it comes to remote coastal isolation and hidden deprivation.
The machinery of government is simply broken by stereotypes and urban centric thinking. As a matter purely of scale, most people have no idea that Bristol, supposedly in the South west, is closer to Manchester than it is to Camborne and Redruth and Hayle, where most people think of Cornwall. They have a picture postcard images. Yet beneath this image lies deep hidden deprivation wages. Below the well, far below the national average employment, seasonal and insecure and housing ridiculously unaffordable to most. And whilst the EU recognised this with objective one funding, Westminster simply has not.
In fact, Treasury models compound the Cornish misery. In-migration from wealthier English retirees inflates affluence figures masking the scale of poverty. In my constituency alone, nine neighbourhoods rank among the most deprived in the country. In the country and yet wealthier coastal areas create overall impression of reducing poverty. The indices of multiple deprivation fail. These nine communities because Treasury models consider the overall picture and do not identify the hidden poverty within in housing, health care and public transport. As my friend from Truro and Falmouth has alluded to, Cornish residents are systematically disadvantaged, disadvantaged on send.
Cornwall is the 11th least funded of 151 local authorities, less than half the per pupil, premium per pupil funding of councils in Kensington and Chelsea, and around £500 less than than places in Manchester. Much of Cornwall lives in poverty. It is isolated, deprived and hidden from Westminster. If government is serious about tackling tackling inequality, it must ensure that funding reflects need and not averages. On an on a Whitehall spreadsheet. It is time for a radical review of funding models for remote coastal areas.
The machinery of government is simply broken by stereotypes and urban centric thinking. As a matter purely of scale, most people have no idea that Bristol, supposedly in the South west, is closer to Manchester than it is to Camborne and Redruth and Hayle, where most people think of Cornwall. They have a picture postcard images. Yet beneath this image lies deep hidden deprivation wages. Below the well, far below the national average employment, seasonal and insecure and housing ridiculously unaffordable to most. And whilst the EU recognised this with objective one funding, Westminster simply has not.
In fact, Treasury models compound the Cornish misery. In-migration from wealthier English retirees inflates affluence figures masking the scale of poverty. In my constituency alone, nine neighbourhoods rank among the most deprived in the country. In the country and yet wealthier coastal areas create overall impression of reducing poverty. The indices of multiple deprivation fail. These nine communities because Treasury models consider the overall picture and do not identify the hidden poverty within in housing, health care and public transport. As my friend from Truro and Falmouth has alluded to, Cornish residents are systematically disadvantaged, disadvantaged on send.
Cornwall is the 11th least funded of 151 local authorities, less than half the per pupil, premium per pupil funding of councils in Kensington and Chelsea, and around £500 less than than places in Manchester. Much of Cornwall lives in poverty. It is isolated, deprived and hidden from Westminster. If government is serious about tackling tackling inequality, it must ensure that funding reflects need and not averages. On an on a Whitehall spreadsheet. It is time for a radical review of funding models for remote coastal areas.
10:02
10:02
Speaker 1
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Speaker 1
And I congratulate the honourable member for securing this important debate. Now, I've lived and worked in a coastal community, uh, throughout my life, so I think I can speak with some, uh, force about the challenges that, uh, that they face. Uh, our seaports, uh, are not just transit points for goods, but they are engines of regeneration, holding the unique power to lift these coastal areas out of deprivation and firmly reconnect them to national prosperity. Ports are the lifeblood of coastal economic health, explicitly serving to catalyze jobs and drive local wealth where it's most needed.
And their activity supports 9000 jobs across the broader region. However, a significant driver of both isolation and economic deprivation in coastal communities is the severe lack of adequate transport connectivity. Coastal communities are, by their geographical nature. At the end of the line, when we talk about hidden deprivation, deprivation, we're talking about young people who cannot easily travel to access further education. Local businesses that struggle to attract external investment, and the residents who face profound social isolation. Yes, I happily give way.
And their activity supports 9000 jobs across the broader region. However, a significant driver of both isolation and economic deprivation in coastal communities is the severe lack of adequate transport connectivity. Coastal communities are, by their geographical nature. At the end of the line, when we talk about hidden deprivation, deprivation, we're talking about young people who cannot easily travel to access further education. Local businesses that struggle to attract external investment, and the residents who face profound social isolation. Yes, I happily give way.
10:03
10:04
Speaker 7
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Speaker 7
Giving way. He's speaking very powerfully about the need for connectivity in coastal ports. Uh, is he aware that in my constituency to the two largest towns in the UK with no Railhead, Fraserburgh and Peterhead, after the Beeching cuts in the 1960s, um, have been left in exactly that position. Would he agree that if the government is going to bring forward a new strategy for these areas, that they've got to look at rail connectivity.
10:04
Speaker 1
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Speaker 1
Aware of the two particular towns that the honourable gentleman mentions, but he highlights a key point. And I've been campaigning, uh, for the last 15 years to, uh, reintroduce. The direct train service between Grimsby and Cleethorpes, uh, to London King's Cross. Um, what Hull trains have done for the North Bank of the Humber, and members and many members will be familiar with that has been a real boost to the local economy. And I now look to Great British Railways to do the same for the South Bank.
I have my doubts, it has to be said, uh, if this if we are really serious about tackling hidden deprivation in our coastal communities, we cannot leave them cut off from the capital. Uh, a direct rail link would be a real boost to the, uh. South bank, South bank of the Humber economy. Truly. To break physical barriers of isolation, we must strengthen East West rail freight connectivity as well. Immingham is the largest port in the country, measured by tonnage, and it needs better access to other main industrial centres.
And it would relieve an enormous amount of HGV traffic from the M62. When we invest in fundamental infrastructure, private investment and supply chain growth can naturally follow. I urge the Minister to recognise that upgrading transport infrastructure is absolutely key to reducing isolation and deprivation in our local communities. A More in Common recently published a report commissioned by ABP, which provides a fascinating array of statistics and opinions gleaned from extensive research. It shows very clearly that the state of the high street and the cost of living is the key issue in our coastal communities, and I urge the minister to focus on that.
And when she replies to the debate.
I have my doubts, it has to be said, uh, if this if we are really serious about tackling hidden deprivation in our coastal communities, we cannot leave them cut off from the capital. Uh, a direct rail link would be a real boost to the, uh. South bank, South bank of the Humber economy. Truly. To break physical barriers of isolation, we must strengthen East West rail freight connectivity as well. Immingham is the largest port in the country, measured by tonnage, and it needs better access to other main industrial centres.
And it would relieve an enormous amount of HGV traffic from the M62. When we invest in fundamental infrastructure, private investment and supply chain growth can naturally follow. I urge the Minister to recognise that upgrading transport infrastructure is absolutely key to reducing isolation and deprivation in our local communities. A More in Common recently published a report commissioned by ABP, which provides a fascinating array of statistics and opinions gleaned from extensive research. It shows very clearly that the state of the high street and the cost of living is the key issue in our coastal communities, and I urge the minister to focus on that.
And when she replies to the debate.
10:06
10:06
10:06
Speaker 15
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Speaker 15
My constituency of Blackpool North and Fleetwood has enormous potential, but it has been held back by years of austerity, underinvestment and managed decline. Coastal communities once stood at the heart of British Britain's economy. Our ports connected us to the world, our fishing fleets fed the country and our industry sustained skilled and secure jobs. Fleetwood was a thriving port central to our national prosperity. Sorry. Today, many coastal communities face deep poverty, poor health, lower educational attainment, insecure work and poor quality housing.
And yet the deprivation is hidden. Severe need in one neighbourhood can be obscured by apparent prosperity only a few miles away. While broad funding formulas fail to reflect the reality of individual towns, those problems are made worse by isolation. When buses are unreliable, railway lines have been have disappeared and services have closed. Geographical isolation quickly becomes economical and social isolation. Young people feel they must leave to find decent work. The industries that once sustained reliable working communities like mine have disappeared with too little put in their place.
This decline was not inevitable. It is the result of political choices, and it is now the duty of this government to fix it. Without investments in towns like Blackpool and Fleetwood, the government cannot meet its missions of growth, opportunity, health and clean energy. It is not good enough simply to pump more money into the major cities of the North and south. Our towns need support too, but the lasting answers to poverty is good work that pays decent wages, and that requires reindustrialisation of our coastal towns.
In Fleetwood, we need a tidal barrage and. And the train line reconnecting. Um. Transport is not simply about getting from one place to another. It connects people to work, education and health care. We came here to rebuild our communities, build warm homes, restore transport links, create secure jobs, and give young people a reason to live locally. It's time to give our coastal towns hope again. Let us all get on with delivering the future we promised.
And yet the deprivation is hidden. Severe need in one neighbourhood can be obscured by apparent prosperity only a few miles away. While broad funding formulas fail to reflect the reality of individual towns, those problems are made worse by isolation. When buses are unreliable, railway lines have been have disappeared and services have closed. Geographical isolation quickly becomes economical and social isolation. Young people feel they must leave to find decent work. The industries that once sustained reliable working communities like mine have disappeared with too little put in their place.
This decline was not inevitable. It is the result of political choices, and it is now the duty of this government to fix it. Without investments in towns like Blackpool and Fleetwood, the government cannot meet its missions of growth, opportunity, health and clean energy. It is not good enough simply to pump more money into the major cities of the North and south. Our towns need support too, but the lasting answers to poverty is good work that pays decent wages, and that requires reindustrialisation of our coastal towns.
In Fleetwood, we need a tidal barrage and. And the train line reconnecting. Um. Transport is not simply about getting from one place to another. It connects people to work, education and health care. We came here to rebuild our communities, build warm homes, restore transport links, create secure jobs, and give young people a reason to live locally. It's time to give our coastal towns hope again. Let us all get on with delivering the future we promised.
10:09
Speaker 14
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Speaker 14
To serve under your chairmanship, I congratulate member for the. Isle of Wight West for securing this key debate. The vital question on Desert Island Discs is not what luxury you desire, nor which tune you would say from the waves. It is how you would cope on your own. While we all enjoy a bit of peace and quiet now and then, we are, in the end, social animals. Which is why isolation, grinding day in, day out. Loneliness is such torture.
The Scottish Household Survey said roughly 1 in 4 people suffer loneliness, with a 16 to 24 age group at over 75, particularly disproportionately affected coastal areas such as Myra and Galloway constituency have many remote and rural communities and this is itself a problem. If you have £10 in your pocket in a city, you can do something with that, go somewhere, see someone but £10 up an isolated farm track, little use at all. The reasons for isolation are myriad people. Living longer is, of course, a good thing, but harsh reality is that one half of a couple is likely to outlive the other, although the 2022 Scottish Census was utterly botched by the SNP, it indicated single person households were the most common, representing about 37.1% of all homes.
Places such as pubs, once the wellspring of communities are closing in droves, and rural deprivation, especially in coastal areas where communities are fragile because of a lack of employment and critical infrastructure, is all too real. Coastal areas are beautiful, none more so than Dumfries and Galloway, with its rocky cliffs, secluded bays and unspoilt empty beaches, rolling, gentle hills. Yet you cannot eat the scenery, cannot have a chat with the big sky overhead. Loneliness needs to be seen for what it is a public health issue.
But rural people are by nature resilient and self-reliant. They have to be. And the fact is, no government can do everything. And I must mention the charity a listening ear which in my community movingly has a programme called No One Dies Alone. That outreach is compassionate and absolutely vital. It's critical that we have communities working together to tackle the issue of loneliness.
The Scottish Household Survey said roughly 1 in 4 people suffer loneliness, with a 16 to 24 age group at over 75, particularly disproportionately affected coastal areas such as Myra and Galloway constituency have many remote and rural communities and this is itself a problem. If you have £10 in your pocket in a city, you can do something with that, go somewhere, see someone but £10 up an isolated farm track, little use at all. The reasons for isolation are myriad people. Living longer is, of course, a good thing, but harsh reality is that one half of a couple is likely to outlive the other, although the 2022 Scottish Census was utterly botched by the SNP, it indicated single person households were the most common, representing about 37.1% of all homes.
Places such as pubs, once the wellspring of communities are closing in droves, and rural deprivation, especially in coastal areas where communities are fragile because of a lack of employment and critical infrastructure, is all too real. Coastal areas are beautiful, none more so than Dumfries and Galloway, with its rocky cliffs, secluded bays and unspoilt empty beaches, rolling, gentle hills. Yet you cannot eat the scenery, cannot have a chat with the big sky overhead. Loneliness needs to be seen for what it is a public health issue.
But rural people are by nature resilient and self-reliant. They have to be. And the fact is, no government can do everything. And I must mention the charity a listening ear which in my community movingly has a programme called No One Dies Alone. That outreach is compassionate and absolutely vital. It's critical that we have communities working together to tackle the issue of loneliness.
10:11
10:11
Speaker 17
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Speaker 17
Thank you, sir. It's a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship. Hartlepool is a town with a proud coastal and industrial heritage, but above all, it is a town of proud people. We spend a great deal of time in this place talking about the concept of freedom. We usually mean freedom from something, from regulation, from taxation, from the state. And those debates do matter. But there is another freedom we speak of, far less the freedom to become everything you are capable of becoming.
The freedom to earn, to learn, to build a secure life through your own hard work, to raise a family with confidence. The freedom to fulfil your potential. To me, those freedoms matter every bit as much, if not more. Freedom is not simply the absence of restraint. Freedom is the presence of opportunity. And that's what deindustrialization and globalisation robbed from communities like mine. It did not simply close factories. It took freedom away from working people.
It took freedom away from them to earn a secure wage, to build a career, to believe that if you worked hard, there would be decent jobs waiting for you at the end. The freedom to know that your children would enjoy a better future than you did. The scars were never just economic. They were social, cultural, and deeply personal. To solve this, education must be the engine room of freedom in Hartlepool. I am so proud that our. Uh.
Our Fe College is a visionary, taking a visionary approach to ensuring that children have freedom going forward because not every young person wants the same pathway. Vocational excellence is every bit as valuable as academic excellence. And with our partnership with Ex Energy and Centrica and the new nuclear that we are bringing to Hartlepool, partnering with our Fe College, we are once again giving the freedom to our young people to believe that the future for them will be better than the one their parents had. Thank you.
The freedom to earn, to learn, to build a secure life through your own hard work, to raise a family with confidence. The freedom to fulfil your potential. To me, those freedoms matter every bit as much, if not more. Freedom is not simply the absence of restraint. Freedom is the presence of opportunity. And that's what deindustrialization and globalisation robbed from communities like mine. It did not simply close factories. It took freedom away from working people.
It took freedom away from them to earn a secure wage, to build a career, to believe that if you worked hard, there would be decent jobs waiting for you at the end. The freedom to know that your children would enjoy a better future than you did. The scars were never just economic. They were social, cultural, and deeply personal. To solve this, education must be the engine room of freedom in Hartlepool. I am so proud that our. Uh.
Our Fe College is a visionary, taking a visionary approach to ensuring that children have freedom going forward because not every young person wants the same pathway. Vocational excellence is every bit as valuable as academic excellence. And with our partnership with Ex Energy and Centrica and the new nuclear that we are bringing to Hartlepool, partnering with our Fe College, we are once again giving the freedom to our young people to believe that the future for them will be better than the one their parents had. Thank you.
10:14
10:14
Speaker 18
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Speaker 18
It's a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship and a word that everybody has come back to in this debate time and time again is community. And I believe that coastal communities do it like nobody else. When you look at my constituency of Chichester, it is affluent, but because of its affluence, the pockets of deprivation that we see, especially on my coast, means that the funding doesn't make it to them, because you look at somewhere like Chichester and they go, they don't need the support. And then those people are far more likely to fall between the cracks.
And I've got coastal communities of Pagham and the Witterings and Selsey Selsey translate directly to Seal Island, because even though we're part of the mainland, there is one road in and one road out. So if there's an accident on that road, they are literally an island and they do community like nobody else. When I think of Selsey, I think of Selsey Care Shop. I think of the Selsey Venture bus. I think of the Selsey Beach Litter ninjas and the Selsey Seabather's because they all come together, charitable organisations, communities to support each other, to tackle the poverty that we see in that area, to tackle the isolation and the loneliness.
But the other thing that happens in Selsey is their population doubles over the summer because of all of the holidaymakers that are coming to enjoy our beautiful coastline. But with that doubling in population, they don't have extra police officers that then patrol the streets. They don't get extra support for an ambulance service. They don't suddenly have less cars on the road, so no extra resource comes in, no extra infrastructure comes in. It's the community that ends up stepping up and supporting.
So when we think about isolation and hidden deprivation within our coastal communities, I see it all the time in places like Selsey. But I'm so grateful that we have amazing charitable organisations that pick those groups up and try and fix the problems where statutory services so often have failed.
And I've got coastal communities of Pagham and the Witterings and Selsey Selsey translate directly to Seal Island, because even though we're part of the mainland, there is one road in and one road out. So if there's an accident on that road, they are literally an island and they do community like nobody else. When I think of Selsey, I think of Selsey Care Shop. I think of the Selsey Venture bus. I think of the Selsey Beach Litter ninjas and the Selsey Seabather's because they all come together, charitable organisations, communities to support each other, to tackle the poverty that we see in that area, to tackle the isolation and the loneliness.
But the other thing that happens in Selsey is their population doubles over the summer because of all of the holidaymakers that are coming to enjoy our beautiful coastline. But with that doubling in population, they don't have extra police officers that then patrol the streets. They don't get extra support for an ambulance service. They don't suddenly have less cars on the road, so no extra resource comes in, no extra infrastructure comes in. It's the community that ends up stepping up and supporting.
So when we think about isolation and hidden deprivation within our coastal communities, I see it all the time in places like Selsey. But I'm so grateful that we have amazing charitable organisations that pick those groups up and try and fix the problems where statutory services so often have failed.
10:15
10:16
10:16
Speaker 10
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Speaker 10
Congratulate my hon. Friend for securing this important debate. Now, like all honourable members who represent a coastal constituency, we are lucky to speak for such beautiful areas. But one of the first issues we face is that of perception. My constituency has some of the most expensive land in the country, which sits just 20 minutes away from areas that fall within the most deprived 10% of places in England. These extremes of wealth can often mask what's really happening in a town.
Average gross, median weekly full time earnings in Poole are £764, but monthly rent is around £1,400. 1 in 4 children in Poole are living in relative poverty after housing costs, further suggesting the impact of high rents and and the effect on the cost of living. Now, towns like Poole are also desperate for good quality, affordable and secure council housing for local families rather than. The developer led luxury waterside apartments that have sprung up in recent years. These are either unsuitable for young families or out of the reach of many locals, and we know that poor housing can lead to poor health outcomes, life expectancy, healthy life expectancy and disability free life expectancy are all lower in coastal areas, and the gap between more affluent and poorer areas continues to widen.
So in concluding, I hope the new Prime Minister will therefore consider appointing a minister for coastal communities to address these very important and pressing issues.
Average gross, median weekly full time earnings in Poole are £764, but monthly rent is around £1,400. 1 in 4 children in Poole are living in relative poverty after housing costs, further suggesting the impact of high rents and and the effect on the cost of living. Now, towns like Poole are also desperate for good quality, affordable and secure council housing for local families rather than. The developer led luxury waterside apartments that have sprung up in recent years. These are either unsuitable for young families or out of the reach of many locals, and we know that poor housing can lead to poor health outcomes, life expectancy, healthy life expectancy and disability free life expectancy are all lower in coastal areas, and the gap between more affluent and poorer areas continues to widen.
So in concluding, I hope the new Prime Minister will therefore consider appointing a minister for coastal communities to address these very important and pressing issues.
10:17
Speaker 19
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Speaker 19
Member for the spotlight on the challenges came to light. 20% of Bexhill neighbourhoods are among the most deprived in England, and so many of our speeches are focused on what central government can do. But I want to use this opportunity to thank and recognise the amazing work organisations in my community are doing to tackle our challenges right here, right now. For example, funded by the previous government's Levelling Up fund, heart of Sidley has shown what can be achieved through years of grassroots work, local partnerships and community leadership.
Developing the vision for a brand new community hub at the heart of Sidley. I want to thank Tanya and her team and the chair, Jay Carroll, and all the volunteers involved in that project. The Pelham are helping to tackle the causes and consequences of social isolation and poor mental and physical health through youth work and counselling and volunteering. It's also home to the Suicide Prevention Focus running group Running Space, founded by Jackie Jordan, who had direct experience of how exercise helped her. The Bexhill Family Collective provides a local nursery service, a dragonfly's nursery service, a community pantry, an outdoor learning and gardening activities for families.
Bexhill caring in the community has for decades provided affordable, vital support to older, housebound and lonely residents. Freedom Church in Sidley provides a community marketplace which puts food that would otherwise go to waste, redistributed to households that are struggling and there are many others. The Bexhill Foodbank Advice Service Warming up the homeless, the homeless, unity group, all of them doing their best to tackle the challenges in the community and providing hope and and advice and support to so many people. The government does have a role, and I echo the comments of the member sponsoring the the debate in terms of the funding formula and the challenges that's created.
And of course, as a coastal community with a lot of hospitality, the damaging jobs tax and the increase in business rates have all made things difficult. But in Bexhill, we're looking ahead to our £20 million pound, £20 million town deal awarded by the previous government. I know residents are excited about what we can achieve with that money, because Bexhill, at its heart, is a community of positive people that want to get things done and want to improve their their lot in life, and we'll do everything we can with that money to support them in doing so.
Developing the vision for a brand new community hub at the heart of Sidley. I want to thank Tanya and her team and the chair, Jay Carroll, and all the volunteers involved in that project. The Pelham are helping to tackle the causes and consequences of social isolation and poor mental and physical health through youth work and counselling and volunteering. It's also home to the Suicide Prevention Focus running group Running Space, founded by Jackie Jordan, who had direct experience of how exercise helped her. The Bexhill Family Collective provides a local nursery service, a dragonfly's nursery service, a community pantry, an outdoor learning and gardening activities for families.
Bexhill caring in the community has for decades provided affordable, vital support to older, housebound and lonely residents. Freedom Church in Sidley provides a community marketplace which puts food that would otherwise go to waste, redistributed to households that are struggling and there are many others. The Bexhill Foodbank Advice Service Warming up the homeless, the homeless, unity group, all of them doing their best to tackle the challenges in the community and providing hope and and advice and support to so many people. The government does have a role, and I echo the comments of the member sponsoring the the debate in terms of the funding formula and the challenges that's created.
And of course, as a coastal community with a lot of hospitality, the damaging jobs tax and the increase in business rates have all made things difficult. But in Bexhill, we're looking ahead to our £20 million pound, £20 million town deal awarded by the previous government. I know residents are excited about what we can achieve with that money, because Bexhill, at its heart, is a community of positive people that want to get things done and want to improve their their lot in life, and we'll do everything we can with that money to support them in doing so.
10:19
10:19
Speaker 20
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Speaker 20
My honourable friend, for bringing this important debate this morning. Uh, Blackpool is a town with huge potential and pride, but we also are a case study in what happens when national policy neglects the specific needs of coastal communities, the decline of traditional industries, the collapse of secure employment, and decades of underinvestment in housing, education, health have left scars that no one off funding round can heal. In Blackpool, the impact of deprivation extends far beyond income. It affects health, wellbeing and social connection. Last year's community survey found that adults living in the most deprived communities are nearly three times more likely to report feeling lonely than those in the least deprived areas, and loneliness does not exist in isolation from health.
People living with disabilities or long term health conditions are almost three times more likely to experience chronic illness and loneliness left unaddressed. Isolation and poor health feed one another, deepening inequality and creating a cycle that is difficult to break. Tackling isolation is vital to improving public health, reducing health inequalities and helping people live healthier, happier lives. Yet against this backdrop, I've seen what's possible when people are given a chance to build that connection. I've seen it at the Blackpool at the Grange Community Centre.
I've seen it in the hub in South Shore, with the Monday Lunch Club run by Brian and Karen, and I've seen it at the Forget Me Not Dementia Cafe, led by Jenny Fitzsimons and all her brilliant volunteers. It's places like these that are stepping up to fill that gap. I've seen volunteers, community groups and local organisations build connections and create hope where it's needed. Now we need a government to match that determination. We need targeted funding, long term planning and genuine recognition of place based disadvantage.
That means scaling up and ambition and speed of projects like Pride in Place, moving beyond short term pots of cash and towards sustainable, multi-year investment tied to measurable outcomes in coastal towns, better jobs, improved health, higher educational attainment and connected communities. And with a dedicated coastal communities minister leading all that change.
People living with disabilities or long term health conditions are almost three times more likely to experience chronic illness and loneliness left unaddressed. Isolation and poor health feed one another, deepening inequality and creating a cycle that is difficult to break. Tackling isolation is vital to improving public health, reducing health inequalities and helping people live healthier, happier lives. Yet against this backdrop, I've seen what's possible when people are given a chance to build that connection. I've seen it at the Blackpool at the Grange Community Centre.
I've seen it in the hub in South Shore, with the Monday Lunch Club run by Brian and Karen, and I've seen it at the Forget Me Not Dementia Cafe, led by Jenny Fitzsimons and all her brilliant volunteers. It's places like these that are stepping up to fill that gap. I've seen volunteers, community groups and local organisations build connections and create hope where it's needed. Now we need a government to match that determination. We need targeted funding, long term planning and genuine recognition of place based disadvantage.
That means scaling up and ambition and speed of projects like Pride in Place, moving beyond short term pots of cash and towards sustainable, multi-year investment tied to measurable outcomes in coastal towns, better jobs, improved health, higher educational attainment and connected communities. And with a dedicated coastal communities minister leading all that change.
10:21
Speaker 16
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Speaker 16
Thank you, Mr. Chair. And can I thank the honourable member from the Isle of Wight for bringing this important debate today. I want to speak up for one town in particular, Ilfracombe, and challenges that will be familiar to coastal communities everywhere. Devon County Council has identified Ilfracombe as one of the most vulnerable towns in Devon. Its remote location leaves it badly cut off from wider public services, economic opportunities and emergency intervention. This pattern will be all too familiar with those in this room.
What I can never accept are shameless articles, like the one recently published in a national tabloid newspaper. I won't name punching down Ilfracombe in particular trashing a small town's reputation for clicks is not journalism, it is monetising misery and is not fit to. For tomorrow's fish and chip paper. I've spoken with local business owners, pouring their heart and soul out into Ilfracombe, trying to make things better, and the very last thing they need is a hatchet job in a national press. Just yesterday it was reported that a local teenager, Bradley Blackmore, bravely rescued another boy from drowning.
Well done Bradley Ilfracombe can boast award winning manufacturing businesses and several promising new housing schemes, supported by North Devon Council and the Ilfracombe Community Land Trust, delivering safer social housing for local people. Every year, crowds flock to Ilfracombe for a maritime festival this August. A daring soapbox derby will again raise thousands for charity and I am proud to say Ilfracombe has just been shortlisted for the first ever UK Town of Culture Awards, one of only 15 towns in the country. So I would ask the minister, would the government ever consider reinventing the Coastal Communities Fund or Coastal Revival Fund for the new generation?Or how should we talk about and how should we talk about challenges without damaging the reputation of coastal towns that deserve our help?And how do we deliver what the Right Honourable for make us feel called good growth in every postcode.
That's great.
What I can never accept are shameless articles, like the one recently published in a national tabloid newspaper. I won't name punching down Ilfracombe in particular trashing a small town's reputation for clicks is not journalism, it is monetising misery and is not fit to. For tomorrow's fish and chip paper. I've spoken with local business owners, pouring their heart and soul out into Ilfracombe, trying to make things better, and the very last thing they need is a hatchet job in a national press. Just yesterday it was reported that a local teenager, Bradley Blackmore, bravely rescued another boy from drowning.
Well done Bradley Ilfracombe can boast award winning manufacturing businesses and several promising new housing schemes, supported by North Devon Council and the Ilfracombe Community Land Trust, delivering safer social housing for local people. Every year, crowds flock to Ilfracombe for a maritime festival this August. A daring soapbox derby will again raise thousands for charity and I am proud to say Ilfracombe has just been shortlisted for the first ever UK Town of Culture Awards, one of only 15 towns in the country. So I would ask the minister, would the government ever consider reinventing the Coastal Communities Fund or Coastal Revival Fund for the new generation?Or how should we talk about and how should we talk about challenges without damaging the reputation of coastal towns that deserve our help?And how do we deliver what the Right Honourable for make us feel called good growth in every postcode.
That's great.
10:23
Speaker 21
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Speaker 21
Scarborough and Whitby. We see persistently high levels of domestic abuse where victims and survivors are hidden and isolated. Scarborough has the highest rate of reported domestic abuse in North Yorkshire. A landmark report found that on average, victims in rural areas, including North Yorkshire, were subject to abuse for 25% longer and half as likely to report it, compared with victims in urban areas. Referrals to the Idas service in North Yorkshire, the largest charity supporting victims of domestic abuse and sexual violence here, continue to rise.
In 2025, it received over 2000 referrals, compared with 18,000 in 2022. I have worked on countless heartbreaking cases on behalf of my constituents, where women experiencing domestic abuse have been denied the support they need, a constituent recently told me she contacted multiple organisations to try and help her and her child move away from her abuser, and was told they keep saying there is not much help. They can give me. Another survivor wrote to me to say she was homeless and living with her three children in hotels, which she was paying for herself.
My constituents desperately want to move on from the isolating and traumatic experiences of domestic abuse. Sometimes dispersed accommodation is the answer. Other times the refuges. However, there is no refuge in North Yorkshire Council area, the largest county area by area in the largest county by area in England. I'd like to urge the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority to deliver a women's refuge on the coast, and I would be grateful if the Minister could outline how she is working across government to provide targeted support to hidden and isolated victims of domestic abuse in coastal communities.
In 2025, it received over 2000 referrals, compared with 18,000 in 2022. I have worked on countless heartbreaking cases on behalf of my constituents, where women experiencing domestic abuse have been denied the support they need, a constituent recently told me she contacted multiple organisations to try and help her and her child move away from her abuser, and was told they keep saying there is not much help. They can give me. Another survivor wrote to me to say she was homeless and living with her three children in hotels, which she was paying for herself.
My constituents desperately want to move on from the isolating and traumatic experiences of domestic abuse. Sometimes dispersed accommodation is the answer. Other times the refuges. However, there is no refuge in North Yorkshire Council area, the largest county area by area in the largest county by area in England. I'd like to urge the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority to deliver a women's refuge on the coast, and I would be grateful if the Minister could outline how she is working across government to provide targeted support to hidden and isolated victims of domestic abuse in coastal communities.
10:25
Speaker 22
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Speaker 22
Thank you sir. It's a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship. And I also honourable friend the member for Isle of Wight West, because it is vital to consider the issue of hidden deprivation and isolation in coastal communities. But a methyl and Buckhaven in my constituency, with proud histories in fishing and in mining, these problems are there in plain sight too many derelict buildings, too many families scarred by the impacts of substance misuse, too many homes which are hard to heat. A third of children living in relative poverty.
Levenmouth has the lowest employment rate in Fife and the highest economic inactivity rate. That is why the future of the methyl yard in my constituency has been such a priority for me since I was elected. If we ensure that British yards benefit from government procurement, including through the Defence Investment Plan, that could make a big difference for many of our coastal towns. It certainly will in methyl. If we create more opportunities for work, if we tackle the pressures on cost of living, if we improve our public services and public transport for all our people, coastal communities stand to benefit the most.
But I believe it is also means that government at all levels, including the Scottish Government, has to have a clear focus on their specific needs. It means devolving power, including within Scotland, further, so that the people living in these communities who are so proud of their areas and ambitious for them, have a real opportunity to create change where they live. Methyl and Buckhaven will receive £20 million of pride in place funding over the next ten years, and our new neighbourhood board is brimful of ideas on what can be done with these funds to provide better support to local people through using that investment in public realm to realise the beauty there is in our local coastline, to improve the quality of life in their community.
If we take the example of pride in place and go much further, investing in our coastal towns, backing local residents to take the decisions which can transform their local areas, this government can make a real difference in improving their communities and in improving their lives.
Levenmouth has the lowest employment rate in Fife and the highest economic inactivity rate. That is why the future of the methyl yard in my constituency has been such a priority for me since I was elected. If we ensure that British yards benefit from government procurement, including through the Defence Investment Plan, that could make a big difference for many of our coastal towns. It certainly will in methyl. If we create more opportunities for work, if we tackle the pressures on cost of living, if we improve our public services and public transport for all our people, coastal communities stand to benefit the most.
But I believe it is also means that government at all levels, including the Scottish Government, has to have a clear focus on their specific needs. It means devolving power, including within Scotland, further, so that the people living in these communities who are so proud of their areas and ambitious for them, have a real opportunity to create change where they live. Methyl and Buckhaven will receive £20 million of pride in place funding over the next ten years, and our new neighbourhood board is brimful of ideas on what can be done with these funds to provide better support to local people through using that investment in public realm to realise the beauty there is in our local coastline, to improve the quality of life in their community.
If we take the example of pride in place and go much further, investing in our coastal towns, backing local residents to take the decisions which can transform their local areas, this government can make a real difference in improving their communities and in improving their lives.
10:27
Speaker 23
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Speaker 23
As. A pleasure to serve and I thank my hon. Friend for securing this debate. A report by Plymouth Marjon University used the phrase pretty poverty to describe places like mine in south east Cornwall, where visitors see our coastline, our fishing villages, our tourist economy. But behind the curtain are local families facing low wages, insecure seasonal work and a shortage of affordable homes. The poor transport links, patchy digital connectivity and challenges accessing healthcare, education and employment make it a challenge.
The realities of living in rural and coastal communities can't be measured by populations, because the distance travel times and cost of service delivery really matter, they impact whether someone can actually get to an appointment, get to their college or to a job interview. And we need more bus provision to enable them to do so. Those realities should be reflected much more consistently in funding decisions. And in addition, reality brings struggles with tolled crossings like the Tamar crossings, which many people in my constituency rely on every single day.
Adding yet another additional cost. The high level second homes and short term holiday. Lets put additional pressure on local housing market. They reduce the supply of homes for local people and force people often to move away from their communities where their support networks are based. We we have a thriving social infrastructure in south east Cornwall with pubs, social clubs and other places, but those are under pressure and we must do more to support them. Property values in Cornwall are driven up by homes that local people could never realistically afford, and that really impacts our experience.
Tourism is absolutely vital to our economy, but those visitors do place significant additional pressures and young people often feel they have to leave home to find opportunities. I want Cornwall to become not only one of the UK's leading tourist destinations, but a place where young people can build careers in digital industries, in defence, in clean energy and maritime tech and other advanced manufacturing. We have so much potential. We've led the country before and we'll do so again and with greater support from the government, we can face these challenges head on because Cornwall certainly does not lack ambition.
The realities of living in rural and coastal communities can't be measured by populations, because the distance travel times and cost of service delivery really matter, they impact whether someone can actually get to an appointment, get to their college or to a job interview. And we need more bus provision to enable them to do so. Those realities should be reflected much more consistently in funding decisions. And in addition, reality brings struggles with tolled crossings like the Tamar crossings, which many people in my constituency rely on every single day.
Adding yet another additional cost. The high level second homes and short term holiday. Lets put additional pressure on local housing market. They reduce the supply of homes for local people and force people often to move away from their communities where their support networks are based. We we have a thriving social infrastructure in south east Cornwall with pubs, social clubs and other places, but those are under pressure and we must do more to support them. Property values in Cornwall are driven up by homes that local people could never realistically afford, and that really impacts our experience.
Tourism is absolutely vital to our economy, but those visitors do place significant additional pressures and young people often feel they have to leave home to find opportunities. I want Cornwall to become not only one of the UK's leading tourist destinations, but a place where young people can build careers in digital industries, in defence, in clean energy and maritime tech and other advanced manufacturing. We have so much potential. We've led the country before and we'll do so again and with greater support from the government, we can face these challenges head on because Cornwall certainly does not lack ambition.
10:29
10:29
Speaker 25
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Speaker 25
Thank you very much, Sir Alec, and congratulations on calling this debate. It's a fantastic subject. Um, what I'm about to say is specific to the Highlands of Scotland, but to a lesser extent relevant to everybody in this room. I have written a brilliant report called Remote Scotland Spiralling towards Unviability, which I imagine you'll all be scrambling to get copies of afterwards. It is. It is about education, childcare, health and social care, energy, demographics, centralisation, housing. Working economy, transport and digital connectivity all subjects which have been covered here today.
Isolation comes as a result of many of the issues, which I will point out, and deprivation, as has been mentioned before, is much less obvious in a small, pretty croft house on the loch than a deprived inner city, a housing estate, an 82 year old widow in Gairloch wrote to me saying she's living in her croft house in the winter and is paying as much to heat it as her state pension of £182 per week. There is not a daily bus to the town. She does not have a car.
Her carer comes intermittently and her daughter lives near Glasgow. She is both isolated and deprived. Now I want to focus on four things. Being part of the EU was extremely important for remote areas. They were receiving funding commensurate with the additional costs of delivering infrastructure and services across a remote, dispersed and sparsely populated area. A week before getting elected, Boris Johnson promised not a penny of funding in rural areas would be lost as a result of Brexit. This money funded skills training, community projects, infrastructure, roads, bridges in the Highlands and Islands in the 2000 to 2018 period, the EU structural funds contributed €1.2 billion in the last three years.
The UK Shared Prosperity Fund was only 9.4 million. That just shows you the disparity. Boris Johnson's government broke his promise immediately and the Labour government has not replaced that shortfall either. Centralisation of services in the UK and Scotland in particular has seen powers move from councils back to Whitehall and Holyrood. In the Highlands. The powers and funding have also been moved back to Inverness City at the expense of Wester Ross. Skye, Caithness, Sutherland, Um and Lochaber.
Capital investments like the City Deal have been hogged by the cities. Now the Scottish Affairs Committee before I joined it in January 24th, produced a report that said the cost of living premium in remote Scotland was up to 30% higher than in urban Scotland. Mains gas, we will all know, is only really available in the towns and cities and at seven per kilowatt. If you're in rural areas, you're paying electricity, which is £0.26 per kilowatt, to heat your house four times as much. Food prices are a great deal more in rural in rural shops, and they are in supermarkets.
And of course, the distance to essential services to go to a bank or the doctor or the medical centre, etc., are far more. Now the renewable boom, you guys haven't had the renewables boom yet in Scotland. We've had the renewables boom, except it's produced very few local jobs, no legacy housing and minimal community benefits. It is not a boom. Scotland as a whole only received £30 million in community benefit in 2025, and the Highlands, covered in wind farms, only got £7 million.
Now Westminster could have legislated for community benefits at any time over the last 20 years, but it didn't. Britain will be generating electricity for the. Rural. Britain will be generated. Electricity for urban Britain. But at the moment there's precious little in it for rural communities.
Isolation comes as a result of many of the issues, which I will point out, and deprivation, as has been mentioned before, is much less obvious in a small, pretty croft house on the loch than a deprived inner city, a housing estate, an 82 year old widow in Gairloch wrote to me saying she's living in her croft house in the winter and is paying as much to heat it as her state pension of £182 per week. There is not a daily bus to the town. She does not have a car.
Her carer comes intermittently and her daughter lives near Glasgow. She is both isolated and deprived. Now I want to focus on four things. Being part of the EU was extremely important for remote areas. They were receiving funding commensurate with the additional costs of delivering infrastructure and services across a remote, dispersed and sparsely populated area. A week before getting elected, Boris Johnson promised not a penny of funding in rural areas would be lost as a result of Brexit. This money funded skills training, community projects, infrastructure, roads, bridges in the Highlands and Islands in the 2000 to 2018 period, the EU structural funds contributed €1.2 billion in the last three years.
The UK Shared Prosperity Fund was only 9.4 million. That just shows you the disparity. Boris Johnson's government broke his promise immediately and the Labour government has not replaced that shortfall either. Centralisation of services in the UK and Scotland in particular has seen powers move from councils back to Whitehall and Holyrood. In the Highlands. The powers and funding have also been moved back to Inverness City at the expense of Wester Ross. Skye, Caithness, Sutherland, Um and Lochaber.
Capital investments like the City Deal have been hogged by the cities. Now the Scottish Affairs Committee before I joined it in January 24th, produced a report that said the cost of living premium in remote Scotland was up to 30% higher than in urban Scotland. Mains gas, we will all know, is only really available in the towns and cities and at seven per kilowatt. If you're in rural areas, you're paying electricity, which is £0.26 per kilowatt, to heat your house four times as much. Food prices are a great deal more in rural in rural shops, and they are in supermarkets.
And of course, the distance to essential services to go to a bank or the doctor or the medical centre, etc., are far more. Now the renewable boom, you guys haven't had the renewables boom yet in Scotland. We've had the renewables boom, except it's produced very few local jobs, no legacy housing and minimal community benefits. It is not a boom. Scotland as a whole only received £30 million in community benefit in 2025, and the Highlands, covered in wind farms, only got £7 million.
Now Westminster could have legislated for community benefits at any time over the last 20 years, but it didn't. Britain will be generating electricity for the. Rural. Britain will be generated. Electricity for urban Britain. But at the moment there's precious little in it for rural communities.
10:34
Speaker 18
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Speaker 18
There's precious little in it for rural communities. Now we have a major demographic crisis. It's come up here before, but in primary schools and secondary schools all the way up in the West Coast, the school roll has dropped by 50%. Poor tree. The island of Skye was built. The school was built less than 20 years ago for 1000. There are less than 500 children at that school, and the small schools do not get the Stem coverage.
They don't get the physics, mathematics, computing teaching that the big urban schools get. And that means that parents with gifted children, these subjects, they move into the cities. And so there's a sort of downward spiral at these schools. The University of the Highlands Islands is a brilliant concept. But again, it doesn't teach Stem or engineering in, say, Fort William or Portree. And our kids leave. They go to they go to Inverness or they go to Glasgow, never to return.
We have a much a greatly ageing population. So we have a 71% growth in the people over the age of 75. And that will increase by a further 34% in the next five years. And we have 18% less care homes than we have. Despite that growth in the elderly. There are only 45 care beds in Skye for a population of 10,000 and. Highland is paying £77,000 a day for delayed discharges. In short, people in rural coastal communities earn less money.
Their housing costs more, their food costs more, their heating their houses cost more fuel for their vehicles, costs more public transport costs more due to the distances, they have less access to public services find it harder to access equivalent education and their young leave and when they need care as elderly people, it's not available and if it is, it's more expensive. Remote Scotland aspiring towards being unviable and neither the Westminster government or Holyrood government are stepping forward to support it. Thank you.
They don't get the physics, mathematics, computing teaching that the big urban schools get. And that means that parents with gifted children, these subjects, they move into the cities. And so there's a sort of downward spiral at these schools. The University of the Highlands Islands is a brilliant concept. But again, it doesn't teach Stem or engineering in, say, Fort William or Portree. And our kids leave. They go to they go to Inverness or they go to Glasgow, never to return.
We have a much a greatly ageing population. So we have a 71% growth in the people over the age of 75. And that will increase by a further 34% in the next five years. And we have 18% less care homes than we have. Despite that growth in the elderly. There are only 45 care beds in Skye for a population of 10,000 and. Highland is paying £77,000 a day for delayed discharges. In short, people in rural coastal communities earn less money.
Their housing costs more, their food costs more, their heating their houses cost more fuel for their vehicles, costs more public transport costs more due to the distances, they have less access to public services find it harder to access equivalent education and their young leave and when they need care as elderly people, it's not available and if it is, it's more expensive. Remote Scotland aspiring towards being unviable and neither the Westminster government or Holyrood government are stepping forward to support it. Thank you.
10:36
10:36
Speaker 26
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Speaker 26
Thank you, Sir Alec. It is a real pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, and it is a huge privilege to wind up the debate on behalf of the official opposition. And I'd like to thank the member for the Isle of Wight West for securing this very important debate. And I would also like to welcome the Minister to her place. It's her first time we've had exchanges across the despatch box. Um, as you will all know, I do not represent a coastal community myself.
The River Lea and the white Water Rafting centre that proudly hosted events for the summer 2012 Olympics. It's the closest my constituency has come to having a coastline. However, many of my constituents have grown up by visiting our coasts and have warm memories and strong cultural attachment to beaches, cliff tops and seaside towns of our great island nation. I myself fondly remember trips to places like Clacton, Bournemouth, Great Yarmouth and Southend visiting. Many of our seaside towns today and hearing the testimonies from honourable members right across this chamber, as we have just done.
It is apparent that those places face unique challenges and unfortunately, many have seen a decline in recent decades. The challenges they face are not always adequately recognised or addressed by central government. Understandably, many feel like they are overlooked time and time again. Many members have made eloquent cases about this, providing us with valuable insights based off to the people they speak to and their own experiences. But I will touch on some of these challenges again. Poor or sometimes non-existent transport links, unemployment and changes to a once reliable, profitable seasonal trade.
The lack of housing supply, the large disparities in income mean that many cannot afford to live in the places where they grew up. This is made even worse by the conversion of former hotels, B&Bs and residential properties into HMOs, with councils and government departments using these to house people from elsewhere, leading to a transient and unstable communities and education system that receives far less money per pupil than we see in some great inner city London areas, for example. Unfortunately, these decisions are made worse by this Labour government and they have compounded many of these issues.
Businesses, whether that be a hotel, ice cream parlour or fisherman, have been hit hard by the employers. National insurance increase and burdensome regulations. Business rates have increased in some cases massively and seemingly arbitrarily. Many people I meet in the hospitality industry, which I know are so vital to coastal communities, tell me they are really struggling. They simply don't have more to give. And the question is why should they even bother?The minister's own department is now pushing through local government reorganisation, which in some areas will see lump in coastal communities with towns and villages inland of them which have completely different priorities and challenges.
We risk seeing coastal communities being marginalised even further, and I would urge the government to pay particular interest to this aspect when making decisions on local government reorganisation. Ultimately, our coastal communities and indeed the whole United Kingdom deserve better. We need a government that cuts taxes rather than increases them, that rewards aspiration and success rather than punishes it. That prioritizes quality housing for local people rather than HMOs, for illegal asylum seekers and the government that puts the interests of ordinary British people, not least our coastal communities, first.
Yeah, I.
The River Lea and the white Water Rafting centre that proudly hosted events for the summer 2012 Olympics. It's the closest my constituency has come to having a coastline. However, many of my constituents have grown up by visiting our coasts and have warm memories and strong cultural attachment to beaches, cliff tops and seaside towns of our great island nation. I myself fondly remember trips to places like Clacton, Bournemouth, Great Yarmouth and Southend visiting. Many of our seaside towns today and hearing the testimonies from honourable members right across this chamber, as we have just done.
It is apparent that those places face unique challenges and unfortunately, many have seen a decline in recent decades. The challenges they face are not always adequately recognised or addressed by central government. Understandably, many feel like they are overlooked time and time again. Many members have made eloquent cases about this, providing us with valuable insights based off to the people they speak to and their own experiences. But I will touch on some of these challenges again. Poor or sometimes non-existent transport links, unemployment and changes to a once reliable, profitable seasonal trade.
The lack of housing supply, the large disparities in income mean that many cannot afford to live in the places where they grew up. This is made even worse by the conversion of former hotels, B&Bs and residential properties into HMOs, with councils and government departments using these to house people from elsewhere, leading to a transient and unstable communities and education system that receives far less money per pupil than we see in some great inner city London areas, for example. Unfortunately, these decisions are made worse by this Labour government and they have compounded many of these issues.
Businesses, whether that be a hotel, ice cream parlour or fisherman, have been hit hard by the employers. National insurance increase and burdensome regulations. Business rates have increased in some cases massively and seemingly arbitrarily. Many people I meet in the hospitality industry, which I know are so vital to coastal communities, tell me they are really struggling. They simply don't have more to give. And the question is why should they even bother?The minister's own department is now pushing through local government reorganisation, which in some areas will see lump in coastal communities with towns and villages inland of them which have completely different priorities and challenges.
We risk seeing coastal communities being marginalised even further, and I would urge the government to pay particular interest to this aspect when making decisions on local government reorganisation. Ultimately, our coastal communities and indeed the whole United Kingdom deserve better. We need a government that cuts taxes rather than increases them, that rewards aspiration and success rather than punishes it. That prioritizes quality housing for local people rather than HMOs, for illegal asylum seekers and the government that puts the interests of ordinary British people, not least our coastal communities, first.
Yeah, I.
10:39
10:39
Speaker 24
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Speaker 24
Thank you very much, chair. It's a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship. And can I also welcome the Shadow Minister to his place?He and I have known each other a long time. Yes. Neither of us represent a coastal town. Um, the government recognises the importance of coastal communities. And. Can I thank my hon. Friend the member for the Isle of Wight for securing such an important debate, which is so well attended today and places like the Isle of Wight are often thought of as postcards of national pride as they should be.
But as others have so well put today, behind these postcards, they face a distinctive challenge geographical isolation, poorer connectivity, deprivation and barriers to opportunity. And we know that social. We know that the Social Mobility Commission found that coastal communities have some of the least favourable conditions for childhood in our country. A disproportionate high number of children eligible for free school meals. For instance, with parents that have relatively low qualification levels, and the Isle of Wight itself. Demonstrates both strengths and challenges found across many coastal communities.
Its economy was worth over £3 billion in 2020. Indeed, health, education, retail, manufacturing and of course tourism all play a major role in the island's strengths. And at the same time, we know it faces a. Coastal communities face a number of challenges, both economical and social challenges. The government is committed to ensuring that no community is left behind. There is no hierarchy when it comes to deprivation. Regardless of where you live, people must have access to the opportunities they need to succeed.
Happy to give way.
But as others have so well put today, behind these postcards, they face a distinctive challenge geographical isolation, poorer connectivity, deprivation and barriers to opportunity. And we know that social. We know that the Social Mobility Commission found that coastal communities have some of the least favourable conditions for childhood in our country. A disproportionate high number of children eligible for free school meals. For instance, with parents that have relatively low qualification levels, and the Isle of Wight itself. Demonstrates both strengths and challenges found across many coastal communities.
Its economy was worth over £3 billion in 2020. Indeed, health, education, retail, manufacturing and of course tourism all play a major role in the island's strengths. And at the same time, we know it faces a. Coastal communities face a number of challenges, both economical and social challenges. The government is committed to ensuring that no community is left behind. There is no hierarchy when it comes to deprivation. Regardless of where you live, people must have access to the opportunities they need to succeed.
Happy to give way.
10:42
Speaker 11
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Speaker 11
Of a funding formula is it does exactly that. It creates hierarchies and inefficiencies and unfairness in the funding. As so many members of this House and this debate have raised, that will. The minister pledged to go back and look at the funding formula, how it's impacting negatively on so many of our communities.
10:42
Speaker 24
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Speaker 24
Thank the member for making the point. It's a point I'll come on to address later on in my speech, and there are over 5 million residents living in 169 coastal towns across England and Wales, and they deserve a voice and a future. And the government's commitment to doing this goes well beyond rhetoric. And that's why I'm particularly proud that the government is supporting the Pride and Place programme. Just one programme, but it is an important one. It's £6 billion that has been allocated to provide long term investment to communities across the United Kingdom, and I recognise that not every constituency in the coastal community has secured one, but 50 coastal communities have, and that's a collection collectively benefiting from over £1 billion of investments.
And these communities are not just simply receiving the funds. They're. They're giving a greater voice as to how that money should be spent alongside. Alongside happy. To give. Happy to give way.
And these communities are not just simply receiving the funds. They're. They're giving a greater voice as to how that money should be spent alongside. Alongside happy. To give. Happy to give way.
10:43
10:44
Speaker 24
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Speaker 24
The Pride and place plan sets quite clearly criteria. The first tranche focused on deprivation, the second focused on deprivation and community cohesion. Very happy to provide more information to the member. But but you know, with that said, I recognise not every part of the country has got pride in place. That is why I've always been clear as a minister that pride and place alone will not see the transformation that coastal communities need. But I but but but I'm going to make a little bit of progress.
But but I do, but I do think it is important because £20 million for areas including 50 in coastal communities is not nothing. And alongside the Pride and place, impact and Pride of Place Impact Fund is also delivering up to £143 million to 93 local authorities, almost 40% of which are coastal communities, and coastal communities are also benefiting from a range of wider government interventions, as I've said, and we recognise that improving education is a key part of that. And can I thank members for raising so many important points relating to education and the challenges that coastal communities are facing in respect to isolation of educational facilities and also, in many sense, their viability.
The government is already acting through initiatives such as the coastal, working with schools, academy trusts and local partners to improve outcomes in disadvantaged coastal areas and through the local regeneration fund. We're also providing local authorities with greater flexibility to deliver projects that support local growth and respond to local priorities, I. Denies the frustration that members have when it comes to local government funding, and I know that valuable services are delivered by councils. I have to say that the government settlement strengthens the relationship between deprivation and funding, and I think that is a good thing.
And coastal communities will benefit from that. And by 2020 829, the top 10% of most deprived areas will receive 45% more funding per head than the least deprived. But then the least deprived areas. I'm happy to give. I'm happy to give way to members, but I will just say this having had 14 years of austerity imposed on us by Conservative and Lib Dems, I really think members should reflect on the multi-year settlement that local authorities are benefiting from. Very happy to give way.
But but I do, but I do think it is important because £20 million for areas including 50 in coastal communities is not nothing. And alongside the Pride and place, impact and Pride of Place Impact Fund is also delivering up to £143 million to 93 local authorities, almost 40% of which are coastal communities, and coastal communities are also benefiting from a range of wider government interventions, as I've said, and we recognise that improving education is a key part of that. And can I thank members for raising so many important points relating to education and the challenges that coastal communities are facing in respect to isolation of educational facilities and also, in many sense, their viability.
The government is already acting through initiatives such as the coastal, working with schools, academy trusts and local partners to improve outcomes in disadvantaged coastal areas and through the local regeneration fund. We're also providing local authorities with greater flexibility to deliver projects that support local growth and respond to local priorities, I. Denies the frustration that members have when it comes to local government funding, and I know that valuable services are delivered by councils. I have to say that the government settlement strengthens the relationship between deprivation and funding, and I think that is a good thing.
And coastal communities will benefit from that. And by 2020 829, the top 10% of most deprived areas will receive 45% more funding per head than the least deprived. But then the least deprived areas. I'm happy to give. I'm happy to give way to members, but I will just say this having had 14 years of austerity imposed on us by Conservative and Lib Dems, I really think members should reflect on the multi-year settlement that local authorities are benefiting from. Very happy to give way.
10:45
Speaker 5
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Speaker 5
I the minister says, and I've personally found those years extremely difficult. As a lifelong liberal. That said, Rurality is not taken into account when the government is assessing giving out money for for local areas. And that exact point about putting rurality and remoteness into local government funding outcomes would make a massive difference to my constituency and others in this country.
10:46
Speaker 24
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Speaker 24
I thank the member for her really important point, and she and I have worked well together on on select committees, and I know that she advocates for area incredibly well. It's a point that I know across the political divide. Others will agree on at rural communities, I think are being addressed through a number of different funds. But but the general point about fairness through local government settlement is something I recognise strongly and spent much of my political career advocating for. So I certainly won't diminish the points that have been made.
In terms of the Right Honourable member's points on employment, national contributions and the difficult decision the government had to make. It was in order to be able to boost £100 million, billion pounds of additional spend for public services. That was a political choice made that, I think, is the right choice, that ultimately is actually helping coastal communities. And I'll just gently say this, the challenge that coastal communities are facing hasn't just emerged in the past two years because of fiscal government policy. These are long standing challenges that multiple governments have failed to properly address.
And so I think there is always a balance to be had with taxation and how much money we can generate for frontline services and the long term investment that coastal communities need. Um, we have to constantly review that, but I certainly welcome the £100 billion additional investment that has been generated from the increasing employers national insurance contributions. And on that, half of those who pay National Insurance contributions are paying the same as they did previously. And because of the changes to the employment allowances, over 800,000 employers pay no national insurance at at all.
In terms of the Right Honourable member's points on employment, national contributions and the difficult decision the government had to make. It was in order to be able to boost £100 million, billion pounds of additional spend for public services. That was a political choice made that, I think, is the right choice, that ultimately is actually helping coastal communities. And I'll just gently say this, the challenge that coastal communities are facing hasn't just emerged in the past two years because of fiscal government policy. These are long standing challenges that multiple governments have failed to properly address.
And so I think there is always a balance to be had with taxation and how much money we can generate for frontline services and the long term investment that coastal communities need. Um, we have to constantly review that, but I certainly welcome the £100 billion additional investment that has been generated from the increasing employers national insurance contributions. And on that, half of those who pay National Insurance contributions are paying the same as they did previously. And because of the changes to the employment allowances, over 800,000 employers pay no national insurance at at all.
10:47
Speaker 27
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Speaker 27
I'm grateful to the Minister for giving way. I just want her to give her the opportunity to comment on how the right to guaranteed hours affects seasonal workers. We're enjoying some beautiful weather at the moment in Somerset, and if we were to be followed by a period of rainy weather when those same businesses have no need of the staff, the government's legislation will compel employers to offer them that same time. And what that means is that those same employers are deterred from offering employment at the moment.
Could she comment on that?
Could she comment on that?
10:48
Speaker 24
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Speaker 24
Though he read my notes, I was just about to come on to that. I do welcome the opportunity of the member highlighting that point. It has long been debated, both in Westminster Hall debates and in the chamber. On this point around flexible working, of course, flexible working is important for a labour market, and I recognise that is particularly the case for coastal towns. But the truth is that flexible working has too often been used as a reason as to why employers do not give people their fair share of payment.
And I recognise, as I say, the seasonal nature of work and coastal towns. But but there has to be a balance. And the Employment Rights Bill includes powers to ensure that measures relating to zero hour contracts, for example, accommodated and do accommodate the needs of seasonal industries through further regulation so that further regulation and scrutiny is able to come. But actually, there is already provision in the act in itself. So I recognise the point that member is making, but I am confident that the Government's Employment Rights Act not only provides the right.
For employees, but also provides the flexibility that coastal towns need to have seasonal work and. Point of transport opportunities which have been so well put by members from. From. From all sides. And the particular challenge for coastal communities who find themselves isolated. We know that convenient and reliable, affordable transport is essential for giving people access to education, training, employment and jobs. I have to say, I was particularly shocked to hear the cost of ferry travel from the Isle of Wight.
Um, extraordinary. Um, and it is particularly um, shocking when. You, when you think about um the transport that is necessary to allow a local economy to keep going. The government has announced through their child poverty strategy, um that they will look at, we will look at new transport poverty tools to help national and local bodies in England to identify transport connectivity and affordability. And I know that services depend on access to services, depend on connectivity. Um, and indeed a local and economy and the ability for individuals to be able to get on some transport and go to work.
And I agree with members that transport infrastructure investment is a key part of economic growth. Indeed, I am pleased that 11 of the UK's 12 freeports, which I think members raised a at one point, an important part of our economic growth. 11 of the UK's 12 freeports are in coastal locations supporting the government's um drive. For economic growth on how I'm going to make some progress because I have very little time. I apologise on on housing. Um, I know that some coastal communities are also facing the same challenges of the housing crisis elsewhere in the country.
But there are of course, um, particular characteristics of the housing crisis that are impacting coastal towns. The government's £40 billion to build more affordable and social homes will benefit coastal communities as well as the rest of the country. Um, but I know that there are challenges around short term lets and the government is making changes to the tax system to ensure that housing is primarily seen as a home rather than an investment. A really important point that has not been made in this debate, but also, um, in the House too.
And those taxation changes will be important for coastal communities. Alongside that, the government has abolished the furnished holiday lets tax regime, meaning that landlords will no longer be incentivised to um via the tax system to make their properties available for short term lets. I believe this will make a real tangible difference to coastal communities on health um members so powerfully spoke about the need for a more joined up approach to delivery of health services and the particular challenges coastal communities are facing because of their isolation. Um, can I pay tribute to members who spoke about social isolation as well as healthcare challenges for coastal communities?And it is distressing, distressing to hear that constituents are not receiving the healthcare treatment they need.
Healthcare cannot depend on whether someone is a car owner. It isn't right and I know that Mhclg has a role to play, making sure services are joined up. The NHS has a role in that too, and government has made it um reducing health inequalities as central part of our mission. Can I thank a very, very quickly if I can.
And I recognise, as I say, the seasonal nature of work and coastal towns. But but there has to be a balance. And the Employment Rights Bill includes powers to ensure that measures relating to zero hour contracts, for example, accommodated and do accommodate the needs of seasonal industries through further regulation so that further regulation and scrutiny is able to come. But actually, there is already provision in the act in itself. So I recognise the point that member is making, but I am confident that the Government's Employment Rights Act not only provides the right.
For employees, but also provides the flexibility that coastal towns need to have seasonal work and. Point of transport opportunities which have been so well put by members from. From. From all sides. And the particular challenge for coastal communities who find themselves isolated. We know that convenient and reliable, affordable transport is essential for giving people access to education, training, employment and jobs. I have to say, I was particularly shocked to hear the cost of ferry travel from the Isle of Wight.
Um, extraordinary. Um, and it is particularly um, shocking when. You, when you think about um the transport that is necessary to allow a local economy to keep going. The government has announced through their child poverty strategy, um that they will look at, we will look at new transport poverty tools to help national and local bodies in England to identify transport connectivity and affordability. And I know that services depend on access to services, depend on connectivity. Um, and indeed a local and economy and the ability for individuals to be able to get on some transport and go to work.
And I agree with members that transport infrastructure investment is a key part of economic growth. Indeed, I am pleased that 11 of the UK's 12 freeports, which I think members raised a at one point, an important part of our economic growth. 11 of the UK's 12 freeports are in coastal locations supporting the government's um drive. For economic growth on how I'm going to make some progress because I have very little time. I apologise on on housing. Um, I know that some coastal communities are also facing the same challenges of the housing crisis elsewhere in the country.
But there are of course, um, particular characteristics of the housing crisis that are impacting coastal towns. The government's £40 billion to build more affordable and social homes will benefit coastal communities as well as the rest of the country. Um, but I know that there are challenges around short term lets and the government is making changes to the tax system to ensure that housing is primarily seen as a home rather than an investment. A really important point that has not been made in this debate, but also, um, in the House too.
And those taxation changes will be important for coastal communities. Alongside that, the government has abolished the furnished holiday lets tax regime, meaning that landlords will no longer be incentivised to um via the tax system to make their properties available for short term lets. I believe this will make a real tangible difference to coastal communities on health um members so powerfully spoke about the need for a more joined up approach to delivery of health services and the particular challenges coastal communities are facing because of their isolation. Um, can I pay tribute to members who spoke about social isolation as well as healthcare challenges for coastal communities?And it is distressing, distressing to hear that constituents are not receiving the healthcare treatment they need.
Healthcare cannot depend on whether someone is a car owner. It isn't right and I know that Mhclg has a role to play, making sure services are joined up. The NHS has a role in that too, and government has made it um reducing health inequalities as central part of our mission. Can I thank a very, very quickly if I can.
10:53
Speaker 24
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Speaker 24
Can I thank the member?And he's absolutely right. And I had intended on saying, of course, I'm very happy to pick that up separately with the devolved nations and especially in relation to health, because some of the principles go beyond England, obviously. Um, can I thank members for, um, highlighting the challenge?Can I thank in particular, the member for Scarborough and Whitby for highlighting the acute challenges of domestic abuse in your constituency, in your in your region. Um, there isn't a, um, a.
There is not much help that can be given. It's simply not a good enough answer to anybody. I believe there is help and it's the wrong message to give. Um, Mr. Chair, can I thank members for an excellent debate important issues. Um, coastal communities are important to the government and the potential of the whole country can only be achieved if coastal communities potential is achieved too. Thank you very much.
There is not much help that can be given. It's simply not a good enough answer to anybody. I believe there is help and it's the wrong message to give. Um, Mr. Chair, can I thank members for an excellent debate important issues. Um, coastal communities are important to the government and the potential of the whole country can only be achieved if coastal communities potential is achieved too. Thank you very much.
10:54
Speaker 12
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Speaker 12
Chair, let's take a minute for a response. To the points made by colleagues from across the House today. Also, once again, sincerely thank you for attending this debate and contributing. And I'd also like to thank or mention my honourable friend for Bournemouth West, who couldn't make the debate today but shares the concerns raised today. Too often, decisions that appear cost effective on a spreadsheet can have profound consequences in the real world. Saving identified in an Excel workbook may in practice mean an older person on the Isle of Wight sent to a mainland care home, a student reaching 18 without ever experiencing life beyond their area, or a local authority struggling to meet rising demand with an overstretched adult social care budget, the human cost is always felt by those who can least afford it, and the financial cost is ultimately felt by all of us.
True fiscal responsibility is not about just balancing the books for the next quarter, it is about making the investments today that reduced costs tomorrow. In coastal communities like ours, that means tackling isolation and hidden deprivation rather than simply managing their consequences year on year. Thank you chair.
True fiscal responsibility is not about just balancing the books for the next quarter, it is about making the investments today that reduced costs tomorrow. In coastal communities like ours, that means tackling isolation and hidden deprivation rather than simply managing their consequences year on year. Thank you chair.
10:55
10:55
10:57
Speaker 1
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Speaker 1
Order. I will call Edward Morello to move the motion and will then call the minister to respond. I remind other members that they may only make a speech with prior permission from the member in charge of the debate and the Minister. There will be there will not be an opportunity for the member in charge to wind up, as is the custom in 30 minute debates. I call Edward Morello to move the motion.
10:58
Speaker 29
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Speaker 29
Thank you, Mr. Vickers. It's a pleasure to serve with you in the chair. It's a privilege to bring this important debate to the House, and I beg to move that this House has considered government support for rugby in schools. Rugby is far more than 80 minutes on a Saturday afternoon. It teaches young people that success is earned collectively rather than individually. It instills discipline, respect, resilience and leadership. It provides a place where people of every shape, size and background have a role to play.
There are few sports where a prop, a scrum half and a winger can all become international stars. Despite having entirely different physiques, skills and strengths. Rugby's greatest asset is not Twickenham, it is not the Premiership, it's not even the England team or the Red roses. It's the thousands of volunteers who open the clubhouse on a cold Saturday morning. Mark out the pictures before dawn, coached the under sevens, washed the kit, cooked the burgers, pull the pints, organise the fixtures, referee junior matches and somehow still find time to mow the grass across my constituency of West Dorset, we are fortunate to have extraordinary clubs including Bridport, Dorchester, Puddletown and Sherborne.
These clubs are about more than rugby. They are community hubs. They bring together generations. Parents become coaches, grandparents become supporters. Every membership subscription paid, every burger bought after a match, every pint served in the clubhouse and every raffle ticket sold helps. Keeps those clubs alive. A thriving grassroots ecosystem produces world class athletes and world class athletes inspire the next generation to pull on a pair of boots for the first time. But our grassroots game cannot be taken for granted.
Over the last 24 years, 174 amateur clubs have disappeared. Many more are under immense financial pressure. Changing rooms are ageing, clubhouses need investment. Facilities are often unsuitable for women and girls, and volunteer numbers are hard to sustain. Many clubs that once fielded six senior teams now struggle to put out two youth sections increasingly struggle to field full teams at the weekend. We need to support our grassroots teams by encouraging children to start rugby in the first place, and the best place to do that is through schools.
If we want world class international rugby tomorrow, we must invest in grassroots and school level rugby today. Research found that physical activity improves classroom behaviour. Attention reading and mathematical performance. A different study found that children who consistently participate in organised sport experienced lower absenteeism, better attention, stronger memory, higher educational, higher educational attainment and were more likely to progress to university, importantly, team sport produces some of the strongest educational benefits. Rugby teaches young people to solve problems together. It teaches communication, leadership, decision making under pressure, discipline, trust and resilience.
When things inevitably go wrong. Those are precisely the skills employers tell us they struggle to find. The Confederation of British Industry found that 61% of employees were dissatisfied with young people's resilience and self management, while nearly one third identified poor teamwork skills. Rugby develops exactly those qualities. It teaches young people how to win graciously, how to lose with dignity, how to lead and how to follow, how to respect officials even when they disagree with the decision. And perhaps most importantly, it teaches the individual brilliance only succeeds when it serves the team.
I will.
There are few sports where a prop, a scrum half and a winger can all become international stars. Despite having entirely different physiques, skills and strengths. Rugby's greatest asset is not Twickenham, it is not the Premiership, it's not even the England team or the Red roses. It's the thousands of volunteers who open the clubhouse on a cold Saturday morning. Mark out the pictures before dawn, coached the under sevens, washed the kit, cooked the burgers, pull the pints, organise the fixtures, referee junior matches and somehow still find time to mow the grass across my constituency of West Dorset, we are fortunate to have extraordinary clubs including Bridport, Dorchester, Puddletown and Sherborne.
These clubs are about more than rugby. They are community hubs. They bring together generations. Parents become coaches, grandparents become supporters. Every membership subscription paid, every burger bought after a match, every pint served in the clubhouse and every raffle ticket sold helps. Keeps those clubs alive. A thriving grassroots ecosystem produces world class athletes and world class athletes inspire the next generation to pull on a pair of boots for the first time. But our grassroots game cannot be taken for granted.
Over the last 24 years, 174 amateur clubs have disappeared. Many more are under immense financial pressure. Changing rooms are ageing, clubhouses need investment. Facilities are often unsuitable for women and girls, and volunteer numbers are hard to sustain. Many clubs that once fielded six senior teams now struggle to put out two youth sections increasingly struggle to field full teams at the weekend. We need to support our grassroots teams by encouraging children to start rugby in the first place, and the best place to do that is through schools.
If we want world class international rugby tomorrow, we must invest in grassroots and school level rugby today. Research found that physical activity improves classroom behaviour. Attention reading and mathematical performance. A different study found that children who consistently participate in organised sport experienced lower absenteeism, better attention, stronger memory, higher educational, higher educational attainment and were more likely to progress to university, importantly, team sport produces some of the strongest educational benefits. Rugby teaches young people to solve problems together. It teaches communication, leadership, decision making under pressure, discipline, trust and resilience.
When things inevitably go wrong. Those are precisely the skills employers tell us they struggle to find. The Confederation of British Industry found that 61% of employees were dissatisfied with young people's resilience and self management, while nearly one third identified poor teamwork skills. Rugby develops exactly those qualities. It teaches young people how to win graciously, how to lose with dignity, how to lead and how to follow, how to respect officials even when they disagree with the decision. And perhaps most importantly, it teaches the individual brilliance only succeeds when it serves the team.
I will.
11:02
Speaker 22
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Speaker 22
For bringing this forward and. He outlined some of the clubs in his constituency that do great things. AM, I maintain origin constituency of Strangford. They are a club, are a phenomenal club who seek to be involved in charitable aspects as well as sporting aspects within the area. They recently went on their own initiative into schools to provide free training sessions with children, to give them the understanding and the passion for the game. Both girls and boys were invited to train with the club, and does the honourable member agree that when the clubs can do so much, they really do need that extra help to ensure that the clubs and what they do can lift the children's aspects of the small teams across the game.
11:02
Speaker 29
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Speaker 29
I thank the honourable member for his intervention and he must forgive me that my speech is weighted towards English rugby, but he is absolutely right that the important role that rugby clubs play in a community is true in in all four parts of the United Kingdom. Um research has now described the evidence linking organised, organised sport with improved psychological well-being as compelling. They found that with more physical activity, they saw improved classroom behavior, concentration, stronger social relationships, attention, readiness to learn cognitive function, healthier body composition, improved mood, reduced stress, increased blood flow to the brain, and increased oxygen delivery.
There is strong evidence that physical activity is associated with lower anxiety, lower depression, better mood, greater happiness, higher self-esteem, greater life satisfaction, and better body image. I could go on. I know that rural areas like West, we should also recognise that sport is one of the most effective preventative public health interventions available to us. Children who are active are significantly more likely to become active adults. That means lower long term healthcare costs during the 2020 324 season alone, rugby generated over two.
We often discuss young people's mental health in this House, and rightly so. I know that rural areas like West Dorset have worse access to services, and children often struggle to get help the help that they need. But we should also recognise that sport is one of the most effective preventative public health interventions available to us. Children who are active are significantly more likely to become active adults. That means lower long term healthcare costs during the 2020 324 season alone, rugby generated over 2.03 billion in value, including 707 million through improved physical and mental health more than the 823 million of wider social value and over £500 million in economic growth.
The RFU's all school programme, originally established as part of the Rugby World Cup legacy, introduced rugby into hundreds of state secondary schools. Independent research found remarkable outcomes. 73% of participating schools reported improved confidence amongst pupils, 49% reported improved resilience. Nearly one third even reported improvements in academic performance. Participants themselves reported improved leadership skills, greater confidence, better behaviour, reduced stress and improved self-esteem. The Sky Sports Living for sports programme has supported more than 500,000 young people gain access to sport.
More than 90% of teachers reported improvements in pupils confidence, self-esteem and teamwork. Teachers also reported improvements in 71% of pupils attendance, 72% in academic attainment, 78% in behaviour, 83% in engagement with learning and 85% in engagement with school life. These are exactly the qualities we should want every young person to develop, and they demonstrate why government support for rugby and sport should never be viewed just about exercise. It's also about the tangible benefits that follow. For too long, access to elite rugby in England has been dominated by a relatively small number of independent schools.
While those schools have made enormous contributions to the game and continue to develop exceptional players, the current pathway is simply too narrow and based on privilege. Talent exists in every town, in every city and in every village in this country. But opportunity does not. If English rugby is to reach its full potential, we must ensure that a child's postcode or their parents income no longer determines whether they have the opportunity to excel. The numbers demonstrate both the challenges and the opportunity.
Independent schools educate about 7% of pupils in England, yet they continue to produce a disproportionately large share of professional rugby players. It's not because the talented talent is concentrated in one part of the society. It's because access to coaching facilities, fixtures and clear development pathways often are independent. Schools are more likely to have experience than sometimes professional staff. This means that their students have far easier access to such facilities and better opportunities to perfect their sporting skills compared to those at many state schools, there are thousands of children attending state schools who have never picked up a rugby ball, not because they lack the ability or enthusiasm, enthusiasm, but simply because the opportunity has never been presented to them.
If we are guilty of if we are genuinely seeking to improve England's competitiveness on the international stage, the answer is not simply coaching the same group of players more effectively, it is finding talented young people who are currently sit entirely outside of the system. That is why I welcome the work already being undertaken by the RFU. The All Schools programme has shown what can be achieved when rugby is brought into state education. Hundreds of schools that previously had little or no rugby provision are now introducing the sport to thousands of young people.
Government can play an important role by ensuring that schools have access to suitable facilities, qualified coaches and meaningful links with local community clubs. Sport, school sport should never operate in isolation. The strongest systems are those where schools, clubs and governing bodies work together. It now needs to become the norm rather than the exception. We also need to look at a model which does not place the burden on teachers to become professional sports coaches, alongside their already demanding and vitally important jobs.
We have world class universities with outstanding sports coaching degrees. And we should be using this pipeline to develop a new generation of professional coaches who can support schools, take the pressure off teachers and help build the next generation of athletes across different sports, including rugby. We should also recognise that not every young person wants or is initially able to play full contact rugby by providing a non-contact version of the game. The T1 rugby initiative removes many of the barriers that may otherwise prevent young people from becoming involved.
It offers accessibility and accessible introduction to rugby values, teamwork and skills while giving participants confidence to progress if they wish. Importantly, it also enables schools with limited experience of rugby to introduce the sport safely and inclusively. One of the greatest successes in English sport over recent years has undoubtedly been the rise of the Red roses. The success of the Red roses, winning the Rugby World Cup and wider participation in it, presents an extraordinary opportunity to build on that momentum. When girls are inspired by watching the red roses, there must be somewhere local for them to play the following weekend or through the week at school.
The evidence shows that children from more deprived backgrounds are less likely to participate in organised sport, despite often benefitting, benefitting the most from doing so. If we genuinely believe that rugby builds confidence, resilience, leadership and teamwork, then those opportunities should be available to every young person, regardless of their background. Sport should never become another form of inequality. That is why partnerships between schools, local authorities and community clubs are so valuable. Community clubs already possess qualified volunteers, coaching expertise and strong local networks.
Schools possess young people eager to participate. The challenge is ensuring that those two worlds connect more effectively. We should make it as easy as possible for schools to signpost pupils towards their nearest club, and equally straightforward for clubs to engage with local schools and introduce children to the game. This is particularly important in rural constituencies like West Dorset. Our geography means opportunities can sometimes be harder to access. Transport presents challenges, schools are more dispersed, volunteer recruitment can be more difficult.
It's why clubs such as Bridport, Dorchester, Puddletown and Sherborne continue to play such an important role in growing our game with greater connection with local schools. They can have. They can have an even greater part to play, where state schools have been given the right funding and support, they have demonstrated exactly what is possible. A powerful example is Northampton School for boys in the 2526 season, NSB achieved the historic breakthrough by winning the National Schools Cup, defeating Epsom College in the final and ending a 20 year absence of state school winners.
This reflects a deeply embedded and highly effective rugby programme, where 19 players currently part of Northampton Saints under 18 academy and seven players earning England under 18 international honours earlier in the same season. NSB also secured the Socks Daily Mail schools trophy, becoming the first state school ever to lift that title. Taken together, these achievements represent a watershed moment for state school rugby. For decades, these competitions have been dominated by independent schools. Before Nsb's success, the last state school to win the National Cup was Saint Peter's High School in Gloucester in 2006.
NSB has shown that when state schools are properly supported with access to coaching facilities integrated into local clubs and clear talent pathways, they can compete at the highest levels. Their success challenges long standing assumptions about where elite rugby talent comes from, and demonstrates that excellence exists across the entire education system. When opportunity is made available, we can already see the impact of widening those pathways in the players who have reached the very top of the game. Sadia Kabeya of the Red roses attended a state school and Ellis Genge, an England and British, British and Irish Lions player, also came through the state school system.
They are outstanding examples of players who did not follow the traditional route into rugby, yet have become some of the most exciting and influential figures in sport. Their success shows exactly what can be achieved when talent is given the opportunity to flourish. We must make it easier for more young people to follow that path because when we do, the game of rugby benefits enormously from diversity, skill and character, those players bring investment in changing rooms, floodlights, sports kit to take schools, pictures and time in children's weeks would unlock years, if not decades, of increased participation.
It enables clubs to expand youth sections. It creates better facilities for women and girls. It allows clubs to host schools, disability, rugby and walking rugby. As I have already highlighted, rugby contributes more than £2 billion annually to England through improved health, stronger communities and economic activities. Those benefits are felt in every constituency represented in this House. In this House, healthy young people place less pressure on the NHS. Young people engaged in sports are less likely to become isolated.
Communities with thriving sports clubs tend to have stronger volunteer networks and greater civil participation. Businesses benefit from healthier, more confident and more resilient workforces in the future, investment in grassroots rugby and sport more widely delivers dividends across multiple government departments. It benefits education, health, local government. It benefits the economy. It's why I hope ministers will continue working closely with the RFU schools, local authorities and community clubs to develop a genuinely long term strategy for growing participation. We should ensure that every child has access to rugby during their education if they wish.
We should strengthen links between schools and local clubs. We should continue supporting the growth of women's rugby and we should invest in community facilities that are fit for the next generation in schools and clubs, because every England international wants pulled on an oversized shirt at their local club. Every professional player began with a volunteer coach. Every packed stadium begins with a child picking up a rugby ball for the first time. If we continue investing in those first opportunities, then the future of English rugby will take care of itself.
I therefore ask the minister, will he work across government and with governing bodies to deliver the new schools Partnership and enrichment framework and provide these early clarity and provide early clarity on its objectives, priorities and delivery models and timescales?Will they ensure schools have the capacity, facilities and support to deliver high quality sport so that every child can participate, especially in deprived communities?And will they guarantee sustainable funding, sufficient staffing and strong professional development for school sports partnership?Will they invest?Will they support investment in the wider school workforce to help deliver activities like rugby?Will they reaffirm the importance of PE and commit to a minimum of two hours of high quality PE each week, and will they ensure the curriculum recognises the wider benefits of team sports?Because if we get this right, we not only secure the future of English rugby across codes, we will strengthen our communities, improve the health of our nation and give every child the chance to grow, belong and thrive through sport.
Thank you.
There is strong evidence that physical activity is associated with lower anxiety, lower depression, better mood, greater happiness, higher self-esteem, greater life satisfaction, and better body image. I could go on. I know that rural areas like West, we should also recognise that sport is one of the most effective preventative public health interventions available to us. Children who are active are significantly more likely to become active adults. That means lower long term healthcare costs during the 2020 324 season alone, rugby generated over two.
We often discuss young people's mental health in this House, and rightly so. I know that rural areas like West Dorset have worse access to services, and children often struggle to get help the help that they need. But we should also recognise that sport is one of the most effective preventative public health interventions available to us. Children who are active are significantly more likely to become active adults. That means lower long term healthcare costs during the 2020 324 season alone, rugby generated over 2.03 billion in value, including 707 million through improved physical and mental health more than the 823 million of wider social value and over £500 million in economic growth.
The RFU's all school programme, originally established as part of the Rugby World Cup legacy, introduced rugby into hundreds of state secondary schools. Independent research found remarkable outcomes. 73% of participating schools reported improved confidence amongst pupils, 49% reported improved resilience. Nearly one third even reported improvements in academic performance. Participants themselves reported improved leadership skills, greater confidence, better behaviour, reduced stress and improved self-esteem. The Sky Sports Living for sports programme has supported more than 500,000 young people gain access to sport.
More than 90% of teachers reported improvements in pupils confidence, self-esteem and teamwork. Teachers also reported improvements in 71% of pupils attendance, 72% in academic attainment, 78% in behaviour, 83% in engagement with learning and 85% in engagement with school life. These are exactly the qualities we should want every young person to develop, and they demonstrate why government support for rugby and sport should never be viewed just about exercise. It's also about the tangible benefits that follow. For too long, access to elite rugby in England has been dominated by a relatively small number of independent schools.
While those schools have made enormous contributions to the game and continue to develop exceptional players, the current pathway is simply too narrow and based on privilege. Talent exists in every town, in every city and in every village in this country. But opportunity does not. If English rugby is to reach its full potential, we must ensure that a child's postcode or their parents income no longer determines whether they have the opportunity to excel. The numbers demonstrate both the challenges and the opportunity.
Independent schools educate about 7% of pupils in England, yet they continue to produce a disproportionately large share of professional rugby players. It's not because the talented talent is concentrated in one part of the society. It's because access to coaching facilities, fixtures and clear development pathways often are independent. Schools are more likely to have experience than sometimes professional staff. This means that their students have far easier access to such facilities and better opportunities to perfect their sporting skills compared to those at many state schools, there are thousands of children attending state schools who have never picked up a rugby ball, not because they lack the ability or enthusiasm, enthusiasm, but simply because the opportunity has never been presented to them.
If we are guilty of if we are genuinely seeking to improve England's competitiveness on the international stage, the answer is not simply coaching the same group of players more effectively, it is finding talented young people who are currently sit entirely outside of the system. That is why I welcome the work already being undertaken by the RFU. The All Schools programme has shown what can be achieved when rugby is brought into state education. Hundreds of schools that previously had little or no rugby provision are now introducing the sport to thousands of young people.
Government can play an important role by ensuring that schools have access to suitable facilities, qualified coaches and meaningful links with local community clubs. Sport, school sport should never operate in isolation. The strongest systems are those where schools, clubs and governing bodies work together. It now needs to become the norm rather than the exception. We also need to look at a model which does not place the burden on teachers to become professional sports coaches, alongside their already demanding and vitally important jobs.
We have world class universities with outstanding sports coaching degrees. And we should be using this pipeline to develop a new generation of professional coaches who can support schools, take the pressure off teachers and help build the next generation of athletes across different sports, including rugby. We should also recognise that not every young person wants or is initially able to play full contact rugby by providing a non-contact version of the game. The T1 rugby initiative removes many of the barriers that may otherwise prevent young people from becoming involved.
It offers accessibility and accessible introduction to rugby values, teamwork and skills while giving participants confidence to progress if they wish. Importantly, it also enables schools with limited experience of rugby to introduce the sport safely and inclusively. One of the greatest successes in English sport over recent years has undoubtedly been the rise of the Red roses. The success of the Red roses, winning the Rugby World Cup and wider participation in it, presents an extraordinary opportunity to build on that momentum. When girls are inspired by watching the red roses, there must be somewhere local for them to play the following weekend or through the week at school.
The evidence shows that children from more deprived backgrounds are less likely to participate in organised sport, despite often benefitting, benefitting the most from doing so. If we genuinely believe that rugby builds confidence, resilience, leadership and teamwork, then those opportunities should be available to every young person, regardless of their background. Sport should never become another form of inequality. That is why partnerships between schools, local authorities and community clubs are so valuable. Community clubs already possess qualified volunteers, coaching expertise and strong local networks.
Schools possess young people eager to participate. The challenge is ensuring that those two worlds connect more effectively. We should make it as easy as possible for schools to signpost pupils towards their nearest club, and equally straightforward for clubs to engage with local schools and introduce children to the game. This is particularly important in rural constituencies like West Dorset. Our geography means opportunities can sometimes be harder to access. Transport presents challenges, schools are more dispersed, volunteer recruitment can be more difficult.
It's why clubs such as Bridport, Dorchester, Puddletown and Sherborne continue to play such an important role in growing our game with greater connection with local schools. They can have. They can have an even greater part to play, where state schools have been given the right funding and support, they have demonstrated exactly what is possible. A powerful example is Northampton School for boys in the 2526 season, NSB achieved the historic breakthrough by winning the National Schools Cup, defeating Epsom College in the final and ending a 20 year absence of state school winners.
This reflects a deeply embedded and highly effective rugby programme, where 19 players currently part of Northampton Saints under 18 academy and seven players earning England under 18 international honours earlier in the same season. NSB also secured the Socks Daily Mail schools trophy, becoming the first state school ever to lift that title. Taken together, these achievements represent a watershed moment for state school rugby. For decades, these competitions have been dominated by independent schools. Before Nsb's success, the last state school to win the National Cup was Saint Peter's High School in Gloucester in 2006.
NSB has shown that when state schools are properly supported with access to coaching facilities integrated into local clubs and clear talent pathways, they can compete at the highest levels. Their success challenges long standing assumptions about where elite rugby talent comes from, and demonstrates that excellence exists across the entire education system. When opportunity is made available, we can already see the impact of widening those pathways in the players who have reached the very top of the game. Sadia Kabeya of the Red roses attended a state school and Ellis Genge, an England and British, British and Irish Lions player, also came through the state school system.
They are outstanding examples of players who did not follow the traditional route into rugby, yet have become some of the most exciting and influential figures in sport. Their success shows exactly what can be achieved when talent is given the opportunity to flourish. We must make it easier for more young people to follow that path because when we do, the game of rugby benefits enormously from diversity, skill and character, those players bring investment in changing rooms, floodlights, sports kit to take schools, pictures and time in children's weeks would unlock years, if not decades, of increased participation.
It enables clubs to expand youth sections. It creates better facilities for women and girls. It allows clubs to host schools, disability, rugby and walking rugby. As I have already highlighted, rugby contributes more than £2 billion annually to England through improved health, stronger communities and economic activities. Those benefits are felt in every constituency represented in this House. In this House, healthy young people place less pressure on the NHS. Young people engaged in sports are less likely to become isolated.
Communities with thriving sports clubs tend to have stronger volunteer networks and greater civil participation. Businesses benefit from healthier, more confident and more resilient workforces in the future, investment in grassroots rugby and sport more widely delivers dividends across multiple government departments. It benefits education, health, local government. It benefits the economy. It's why I hope ministers will continue working closely with the RFU schools, local authorities and community clubs to develop a genuinely long term strategy for growing participation. We should ensure that every child has access to rugby during their education if they wish.
We should strengthen links between schools and local clubs. We should continue supporting the growth of women's rugby and we should invest in community facilities that are fit for the next generation in schools and clubs, because every England international wants pulled on an oversized shirt at their local club. Every professional player began with a volunteer coach. Every packed stadium begins with a child picking up a rugby ball for the first time. If we continue investing in those first opportunities, then the future of English rugby will take care of itself.
I therefore ask the minister, will he work across government and with governing bodies to deliver the new schools Partnership and enrichment framework and provide these early clarity and provide early clarity on its objectives, priorities and delivery models and timescales?Will they ensure schools have the capacity, facilities and support to deliver high quality sport so that every child can participate, especially in deprived communities?And will they guarantee sustainable funding, sufficient staffing and strong professional development for school sports partnership?Will they invest?Will they support investment in the wider school workforce to help deliver activities like rugby?Will they reaffirm the importance of PE and commit to a minimum of two hours of high quality PE each week, and will they ensure the curriculum recognises the wider benefits of team sports?Because if we get this right, we not only secure the future of English rugby across codes, we will strengthen our communities, improve the health of our nation and give every child the chance to grow, belong and thrive through sport.
Thank you.
11:13
11:13
Speaker 30
-
Speaker 30
Thank you. It's a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr. Vickers. I begin by thanking my hon. Friend the member for West Dorset for securing this important debate on rugby in schools. When I was asked to sub in for this debate, I knew that it would not be very trying to, um to take it on from my colleague, the Minister of State for School standards. I should start with a brief disclaimer that, um, we'll talk about rugby in generic terms in this debate, but I do, as a West Cumbrian MP, have a particular obligation to recognise the role of rugby league in many communities in our country.
And just briefly, rugby league has a long and proud history with deep roots in towns and communities across the north of England. It's part of a local identity and community pride, and it helps form connections between schools, families and local clubs in much the same way as rugby union does. Just this Saturday. As a constituency MP, I saw the amazing impact of Kells in bringing the community, especially children, together, and the community building is down to great characters. Characters like Peter Smith from Kells or Vince and Lana at Derwent Park Rangers, who have been getting into schools to teach rugby league for well over 20 years.
There are so many others that I could mention just in my own constituency, which in a way reflects the scale of volunteer hours. The amazing adults who spend a chunk of their week really giving young people that opportunity to do exercise, do team building and develop a passion for rugby, right?The length and breadth of our country, there's so much to celebrate about rugby at the elite level. Both rugby union and league continue to inspire through outstanding athletes, strong traditions and thriving communities. However, the success of rugby should not be measured only by what happens on professional pitches.
It should also be measured by the opportunities available to children and young people in schools and local communities at the grassroots level, alongside other team sports. Rugby helps young people develop physically, socially and emotionally through participation. Pupils learn teamwork, communication, leadership, resilience and respect. For others. These are not simply sporting skills, they are life skills that help prepare young people for further education, employment and adult life. A key reason rugby supports children to thrive is the contribution of the Rugby Football Union and Rugby Football League through resources, training and support for schools and teachers.
They help ensure that young people from all backgrounds have the opportunity to experience and enjoy the sport. Decent work across both codes has highlighted the importance of ensuring rugby remains accessible, inclusive and relevant to today's schools. We know that some schools can face barriers to participation, whether through concerns about safety, confidence in delivery or access to expertise. The response from both governing bodies has been to broaden opportunities and provide formats that are easier for schools to adopt and deliver. Programmes such as T1, rugby and Tagra, which my hon.
Friend referenced, are really excellent examples. They provide engaging, non-contact ways for pupils to experience the values and enjoyment of rugby, while helping teachers deliver the sport confidently and safely. Importantly, these approaches show that the future of rugby in schools is not simply about reproducing the adult game, it's about ensuring every child has the opportunity to participate in a way that is enjoyable, accessible and appropriate. That principle of equal access is especially important for girls. Again, referencing what my hon. Friend has already highlighted the recent success of the Red roses has inspired a new generation of young women to demonstrate what they can achieve when girls are given the opportunity to participate fully.
But inspiration alone is not enough. We must ensure that girls in every community have access to high quality rugby opportunities through curriculum, PE, extracurricular activity and inclusive formats that allow them to build confidence, develop skills and enjoy being active. These approaches can help introduce rugby to pupils who may never previously have considered the sport to be for them, whilst also supporting broader participation amongst girls and young people from a wider range of backgrounds and communities. As we as a government develop our new partnership approach, the expertise of organisations such as the RFU and RFL will be invaluable and it is already proving to be so.
National governing governing bodies have a vital role to play in supporting schools through resources, workforce development and sporting expertise. Their contribution can help schools achieve the right balance between participation and competition. We know these are not competing priorities. Every child should have the opportunity to participate, develop competence and build confidence through the sport. At the same time, pupils should be able to pursue competitive opportunities built around safety and fairness. Rugby is particularly well placed to support both of those aims through inclusive programmes, strong local partnerships and clear pathways into competition.
Rugby can continue to reach more young people while providing opportunities for those who wish to take the sport further. To directly address some of the questions and points that my hon. Friend has raised, he's right to describe the need to change the model of school sports in this country. I believe that is exactly what we're trying to do with the school's sports partnership model, and that's really what it's all about, which is recognising that despite levels of funding that have gone in over recent years, the participation in school sports has remained fairly flat and actually well below what we need as a country in order to have a healthy.
Population of young people who benefit from all that sport has got to offer. Um, we have worked closely with the NBS in this space. They're at the heart of this plan. And really the partnership model is designed around bringing their expertise in to support schools rather than relying on very busy teachers and schools to have to do that heavy lifting themselves, especially if you're a small primary school. The challenge is around navigating a whole range of different sports and national governing bodies and local competitions can be overwhelming.
So I believe that the changes that we're making will address the objectives that he set out, quite rightly, in his questions. In closing, I would like to place on record my thanks to the teachers, volunteers, coaches, school leaders, local clubs and the national governing bodies of sport for the work they do every day to create sporting opportunities for young people across our country. Their efforts ensure that sports like rugby continue to enrich the lives of children and young people across the country, not only by developing future players, but by helping to develop future citizens equipped with the teamwork, communication, resilience and respect that will serve them throughout their lives.
Rugby also has a crucial role to play at the heart of so many communities, so I'd like to thank my. Honourable friend for bringing this debate to Westminster Hall, and I'll finish there.
And just briefly, rugby league has a long and proud history with deep roots in towns and communities across the north of England. It's part of a local identity and community pride, and it helps form connections between schools, families and local clubs in much the same way as rugby union does. Just this Saturday. As a constituency MP, I saw the amazing impact of Kells in bringing the community, especially children, together, and the community building is down to great characters. Characters like Peter Smith from Kells or Vince and Lana at Derwent Park Rangers, who have been getting into schools to teach rugby league for well over 20 years.
There are so many others that I could mention just in my own constituency, which in a way reflects the scale of volunteer hours. The amazing adults who spend a chunk of their week really giving young people that opportunity to do exercise, do team building and develop a passion for rugby, right?The length and breadth of our country, there's so much to celebrate about rugby at the elite level. Both rugby union and league continue to inspire through outstanding athletes, strong traditions and thriving communities. However, the success of rugby should not be measured only by what happens on professional pitches.
It should also be measured by the opportunities available to children and young people in schools and local communities at the grassroots level, alongside other team sports. Rugby helps young people develop physically, socially and emotionally through participation. Pupils learn teamwork, communication, leadership, resilience and respect. For others. These are not simply sporting skills, they are life skills that help prepare young people for further education, employment and adult life. A key reason rugby supports children to thrive is the contribution of the Rugby Football Union and Rugby Football League through resources, training and support for schools and teachers.
They help ensure that young people from all backgrounds have the opportunity to experience and enjoy the sport. Decent work across both codes has highlighted the importance of ensuring rugby remains accessible, inclusive and relevant to today's schools. We know that some schools can face barriers to participation, whether through concerns about safety, confidence in delivery or access to expertise. The response from both governing bodies has been to broaden opportunities and provide formats that are easier for schools to adopt and deliver. Programmes such as T1, rugby and Tagra, which my hon.
Friend referenced, are really excellent examples. They provide engaging, non-contact ways for pupils to experience the values and enjoyment of rugby, while helping teachers deliver the sport confidently and safely. Importantly, these approaches show that the future of rugby in schools is not simply about reproducing the adult game, it's about ensuring every child has the opportunity to participate in a way that is enjoyable, accessible and appropriate. That principle of equal access is especially important for girls. Again, referencing what my hon. Friend has already highlighted the recent success of the Red roses has inspired a new generation of young women to demonstrate what they can achieve when girls are given the opportunity to participate fully.
But inspiration alone is not enough. We must ensure that girls in every community have access to high quality rugby opportunities through curriculum, PE, extracurricular activity and inclusive formats that allow them to build confidence, develop skills and enjoy being active. These approaches can help introduce rugby to pupils who may never previously have considered the sport to be for them, whilst also supporting broader participation amongst girls and young people from a wider range of backgrounds and communities. As we as a government develop our new partnership approach, the expertise of organisations such as the RFU and RFL will be invaluable and it is already proving to be so.
National governing governing bodies have a vital role to play in supporting schools through resources, workforce development and sporting expertise. Their contribution can help schools achieve the right balance between participation and competition. We know these are not competing priorities. Every child should have the opportunity to participate, develop competence and build confidence through the sport. At the same time, pupils should be able to pursue competitive opportunities built around safety and fairness. Rugby is particularly well placed to support both of those aims through inclusive programmes, strong local partnerships and clear pathways into competition.
Rugby can continue to reach more young people while providing opportunities for those who wish to take the sport further. To directly address some of the questions and points that my hon. Friend has raised, he's right to describe the need to change the model of school sports in this country. I believe that is exactly what we're trying to do with the school's sports partnership model, and that's really what it's all about, which is recognising that despite levels of funding that have gone in over recent years, the participation in school sports has remained fairly flat and actually well below what we need as a country in order to have a healthy.
Population of young people who benefit from all that sport has got to offer. Um, we have worked closely with the NBS in this space. They're at the heart of this plan. And really the partnership model is designed around bringing their expertise in to support schools rather than relying on very busy teachers and schools to have to do that heavy lifting themselves, especially if you're a small primary school. The challenge is around navigating a whole range of different sports and national governing bodies and local competitions can be overwhelming.
So I believe that the changes that we're making will address the objectives that he set out, quite rightly, in his questions. In closing, I would like to place on record my thanks to the teachers, volunteers, coaches, school leaders, local clubs and the national governing bodies of sport for the work they do every day to create sporting opportunities for young people across our country. Their efforts ensure that sports like rugby continue to enrich the lives of children and young people across the country, not only by developing future players, but by helping to develop future citizens equipped with the teamwork, communication, resilience and respect that will serve them throughout their lives.
Rugby also has a crucial role to play at the heart of so many communities, so I'd like to thank my. Honourable friend for bringing this debate to Westminster Hall, and I'll finish there.
11:21
Speaker 1
-
Speaker 1
The question is that this House has considered government support for rugby in schools, as many of that opinion say, I. To the contrary, no. I think the ayes have it. The ayes have it. Order. The sitting is suspended until 230. Order!Order!A witness for extreme heat. And I know this is something that affects all of our constituents. I'll be happy to. And it's a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship.
I beg to move that the House considers prepare to take interventions. During my speech over recent weeks, Britain has experienced an extraordinary succession of heat waves that have tested the resilience of our communities and our public services. We've all talked on our way in today about how we've all been personally affected. We might have been uncomfortable at various points, but this succession of heat waves poses serious risks. We've seen hospitals declaring critical incidents.
I beg to move that the House considers prepare to take interventions. During my speech over recent weeks, Britain has experienced an extraordinary succession of heat waves that have tested the resilience of our communities and our public services. We've all talked on our way in today about how we've all been personally affected. We might have been uncomfortable at various points, but this succession of heat waves poses serious risks. We've seen hospitals declaring critical incidents.
14:31
Speaker 2
-
Speaker 2
At the moment, there are 19 live wildfires across England and Wales and last year, a devastating wildfire in north on the North York mills raged for 40 days over ten square miles. It was caused by a campfire. I thank the honourable member for giving way. As he mentions wildfires. At the moment, there are 90 on the North York mills raged for 40 days over ten square miles. It was caused by a campfire. Does the honourable member agree with me that it's the time?It is time to ban the use of disposable.
I thank the honourable member for giving way. As he mentions wildfires. At the moment, there are 19 live wildfires across England and Wales and last year, a devastating wildfire in north on the North York mills raged for 40 days over ten square miles. It was caused by a campfire. Does the honourable member agree with me that it's the time?It is time to ban the use of disposable barbecues in public areas.
I thank the honourable member for giving way. As he mentions wildfires. At the moment, there are 19 live wildfires across England and Wales and last year, a devastating wildfire in north on the North York mills raged for 40 days over ten square miles. It was caused by a campfire. Does the honourable member agree with me that it's the time?It is time to ban the use of disposable barbecues in public areas.
14:32
14:32
Speaker 3
-
Speaker 3
Friend did say he wanted to take interventions. And he mentioned schools. And on the way into Parliament today on the Northern Line, which is very appropriate for today's debate because it's spoiling. I received a number of emails from parents who are very worried because schools are closing early in my constituency, because they can't accommodate the heat, and a lot of these are smaller primary schools in Victorian buildings, which just cannot sustain the heat that we're experiencing at the moment. And it won't come as a surprise to my hon.
Friend that it tends to be single parents and parents who don't have secure incomes, who suffer the most when schools do finish early. So could I ask my hon. Friend, does he think we need to speak with the Department for education about getting some funding for extra fans and cooling units for our schools, that children don't suffer because of the climate change?
Friend that it tends to be single parents and parents who don't have secure incomes, who suffer the most when schools do finish early. So could I ask my hon. Friend, does he think we need to speak with the Department for education about getting some funding for extra fans and cooling units for our schools, that children don't suffer because of the climate change?
14:33
Speaker 1
-
Speaker 1
I thank the honourable member for raising this point, and I do agree with her, and I will come on later in my speech to talk both about the impact on schools and also the fact that extreme heat doesn't affect everyone equally. There are communities and individuals who are particularly affected. So I very much support her call, particularly as it highlights the need for a cross-government approach. In response to this. So the instance I talked about were not isolated weather events, but a real world test of our preparedness for a hotter climate, exposing vulnerabilities across our health service, critical infrastructure and emergency response, and natural environment.
Britain has entered a new climate reality. The Climate Change Committee's latest UK climate risk assessment warns that climate risks are increasing faster than our preparedness, with progress described as slow, stalled or moving in the wrong direction. Extreme heat is no longer an occasional anomaly, but an increasingly defining feature of the UK's climate. The ten warmest years on record have all occurred since 2002, and the UK has already warmed by around 1.2 degrees since the pre-industrial period. England has experienced four major summer heat events since 2018, while the three warmest years on record have all occurred during this decade.
UK HSA projections indicate heat related deaths could more than triple by the 2050s without stronger adaptation. Extreme heat is now a growing threat to public health infrastructure, food security, nature and national resilience. It's already a public health emergency. Evidence on rising temperatures and mortality shows that recent heatwaves were not merely uncomfortable, they were deadly. New analysis estimates that around 2700 heat related deaths occurred during the May and June heatwaves in England and Wales. These are not abstract statistics.
They are the human cost of temperatures. Our society is not adequately prepared for now, unlike floods or storms, extreme heat rarely creates dramatic images. Instead, people die quietly in hospitals, care homes and at home. The Environmental Audit Committee described extreme heat as a silent killer. It increases mortality gradually, often among those already vulnerable. To extreme heat places significant strain on the body, increasing the risk of cardiovascular and respiratory illness, dehydration, heat exhaustion and heat stroke. Hospital admissions rise for heart attacks, strokes, kidney injury and respiratory disease, while those with chronic illnesses, pregnancies and the elderly feel these impacts more acutely.
Prolonged heat also affects mental health, disrupting sleep, increasing anxiety and impairing cognitive performance. I will.
Britain has entered a new climate reality. The Climate Change Committee's latest UK climate risk assessment warns that climate risks are increasing faster than our preparedness, with progress described as slow, stalled or moving in the wrong direction. Extreme heat is no longer an occasional anomaly, but an increasingly defining feature of the UK's climate. The ten warmest years on record have all occurred since 2002, and the UK has already warmed by around 1.2 degrees since the pre-industrial period. England has experienced four major summer heat events since 2018, while the three warmest years on record have all occurred during this decade.
UK HSA projections indicate heat related deaths could more than triple by the 2050s without stronger adaptation. Extreme heat is now a growing threat to public health infrastructure, food security, nature and national resilience. It's already a public health emergency. Evidence on rising temperatures and mortality shows that recent heatwaves were not merely uncomfortable, they were deadly. New analysis estimates that around 2700 heat related deaths occurred during the May and June heatwaves in England and Wales. These are not abstract statistics.
They are the human cost of temperatures. Our society is not adequately prepared for now, unlike floods or storms, extreme heat rarely creates dramatic images. Instead, people die quietly in hospitals, care homes and at home. The Environmental Audit Committee described extreme heat as a silent killer. It increases mortality gradually, often among those already vulnerable. To extreme heat places significant strain on the body, increasing the risk of cardiovascular and respiratory illness, dehydration, heat exhaustion and heat stroke. Hospital admissions rise for heart attacks, strokes, kidney injury and respiratory disease, while those with chronic illnesses, pregnancies and the elderly feel these impacts more acutely.
Prolonged heat also affects mental health, disrupting sleep, increasing anxiety and impairing cognitive performance. I will.
14:35
Speaker 4
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Speaker 4
Just like to intervene on his point around mental health, does he recognise that there's a number of treatments for depression and anxiety and other mental health conditions, such as SSRIs?Snris as well, that can affect the body's ability to regulate temperature. And this is all written in the small print with the medication. But often doctors and practitioners aren't always passing this information on. And does he agree that that needs to be more widely informed to people suffering with those conditions?
14:36
Speaker 1
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Speaker 1
I thank the honourable lady for raising this point, and it does show the breadth of issues that we need to contend with in addressing this. It really is a whole society, whole government matter and I very much support, certainly raising awareness of the point she raised, but really it shows the need to review how we go about treating people in a way they get the support they need, but is not does not make other problems worse. In the context of heat waves. And where people live also matters to Christopher.
Poorly ventilated homes, upper floor flats, care homes, social housing and densely built urban areas can trap heat for prolonged periods. Poverty compounds these risks. Those least able to afford adaptations are often the most exposed. In my own constituency of Waveney Valley, friends of the earth analysis has identified neighborhoods that are both highly exposed to extreme heat and socially vulnerable, with around 1 in 10 neighbourhoods falling into this category. I am grateful to one of my constituents for drawing my attention to the risk of overheating faced by her neighbour, whose council owned bungalow effectively became a greenhouse during this latest period of extreme heat.
The consequences extend beyond individuals to our health and care system. The NHS was built for a different climate during the June heatwave. Hospitals declared critical incidents. Elective operations were postponed and temporary cooling equipment was required. Ambulance services experienced unprecedented demand, with the London Ambulance Service recording its busiest week on record at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital, which serves part of my constituency. MRI scanners stopped working when their cooling systems failed. Much of the NHS estate was not designed to operate safely during prolonged periods of temperatures approaching 40 degrees.
While many care homes remain poorly adapted to protect vulnerable residents, extreme heat therefore threatens not only individual health but the resilience of the health and care system itself. Heat, health warnings, public communication and targeted support for vulnerable people must become routine. And extreme heat is also an occupational health risk. Employers will increasingly need practical measures such as water, shade, ventilation, rest breaks and adjusted working patterns. Stronger workplace protections would both safeguard workers health and productivity. The private member's bill, in the name of the member for Gorton and Denton, recognises that existing protections have not kept pace with our changing climate, and that employers need to be supported to ensure people are working in safe and healthy conditions.
And Britain's buildings were designed for a cooler climate during heat waves. Schools, hospitals, libraries, prisons and care homes can become dangerously hot, placing public services under additional pressure just as demand is rising, I will yes, I.
Poorly ventilated homes, upper floor flats, care homes, social housing and densely built urban areas can trap heat for prolonged periods. Poverty compounds these risks. Those least able to afford adaptations are often the most exposed. In my own constituency of Waveney Valley, friends of the earth analysis has identified neighborhoods that are both highly exposed to extreme heat and socially vulnerable, with around 1 in 10 neighbourhoods falling into this category. I am grateful to one of my constituents for drawing my attention to the risk of overheating faced by her neighbour, whose council owned bungalow effectively became a greenhouse during this latest period of extreme heat.
The consequences extend beyond individuals to our health and care system. The NHS was built for a different climate during the June heatwave. Hospitals declared critical incidents. Elective operations were postponed and temporary cooling equipment was required. Ambulance services experienced unprecedented demand, with the London Ambulance Service recording its busiest week on record at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital, which serves part of my constituency. MRI scanners stopped working when their cooling systems failed. Much of the NHS estate was not designed to operate safely during prolonged periods of temperatures approaching 40 degrees.
While many care homes remain poorly adapted to protect vulnerable residents, extreme heat therefore threatens not only individual health but the resilience of the health and care system itself. Heat, health warnings, public communication and targeted support for vulnerable people must become routine. And extreme heat is also an occupational health risk. Employers will increasingly need practical measures such as water, shade, ventilation, rest breaks and adjusted working patterns. Stronger workplace protections would both safeguard workers health and productivity. The private member's bill, in the name of the member for Gorton and Denton, recognises that existing protections have not kept pace with our changing climate, and that employers need to be supported to ensure people are working in safe and healthy conditions.
And Britain's buildings were designed for a cooler climate during heat waves. Schools, hospitals, libraries, prisons and care homes can become dangerously hot, placing public services under additional pressure just as demand is rising, I will yes, I.
14:38
Speaker 5
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Speaker 5
Thank him for giving way. He's making a good speech on the risks associated with this. I had the good fortune of being a maths teacher in a brand new school building in 2023 in Leeds, and just before the building opened, the builders showed us around the place and asked, how are we going to keep this building cool?And they said, well, it's a passive cooling system. I said, I'm not sure it's going to hold up in a heat wave conditions. And they said, well, we've got this revolutionary new technology.
Mr. Seward, you can open the window. Now, as anybody who has taught in classrooms during a heat wave or been taught in classrooms during a heat wave, knows opening a window does absolutely nothing for the learning of those students. So would you not agree that it's time for the DfE to consider changing their guidance around new school buildings, so that air conditioning is preferred?
Mr. Seward, you can open the window. Now, as anybody who has taught in classrooms during a heat wave or been taught in classrooms during a heat wave, knows opening a window does absolutely nothing for the learning of those students. So would you not agree that it's time for the DfE to consider changing their guidance around new school buildings, so that air conditioning is preferred?
14:39
Speaker 1
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Speaker 1
I thank the honourable member for raising this point, and I'm going to come on to talk about buildings of all sorts, both how we retrofit existing buildings and making sure that new buildings that are built of whatever type, including schools, schools, are fit for purpose. And recognising that there's large numbers of people, mainly young people in schools. So his points are absolutely well made. Um schools can become unsuitable for learning. Hospitals struggle to provide safe conditions for patients and staff, and care homes become hazardous for some of the most vulnerable members of society.
And the problem doesn't end when temperatures fall. Many buildings retain heat long into the night. One constituent told me her home reached 42.5 degrees, and her young son required urgent care after suffering a severe asthma attack due induced by extreme heat in the flat. Committee warns that by 2050, 92% of existing homes could overheat during summer heat waves. If we don't have a full programme of adaptation measures, most of the homes that we live in, we will live in then have already been built.
Now making national retrofit programmes including shading, cooling, ventilation and green infrastructure essential to keep people safe. At the same time as we were just discussing every new home, school, hospital and workplace should be designed for a hotter climate through passive cooling measures such as external shading, ventilation, green roofs and reflective materials. Retrofitting later is far more expensive than building resilience from the outset, and every building constructed today should be designed for the climate we are moving towards, not the one we are left with left behind. And I'd add that as well as these changes to the built environment, there are going to be social changes that we need to consider as well.
And in the context of schools, I think we need to question whether the summer period is going to be the right time for exams in future. As we look to protect young people to do their absolute best in their exams, in whatever conditions, that will be comfortable for them to work in at their best.
And the problem doesn't end when temperatures fall. Many buildings retain heat long into the night. One constituent told me her home reached 42.5 degrees, and her young son required urgent care after suffering a severe asthma attack due induced by extreme heat in the flat. Committee warns that by 2050, 92% of existing homes could overheat during summer heat waves. If we don't have a full programme of adaptation measures, most of the homes that we live in, we will live in then have already been built.
Now making national retrofit programmes including shading, cooling, ventilation and green infrastructure essential to keep people safe. At the same time as we were just discussing every new home, school, hospital and workplace should be designed for a hotter climate through passive cooling measures such as external shading, ventilation, green roofs and reflective materials. Retrofitting later is far more expensive than building resilience from the outset, and every building constructed today should be designed for the climate we are moving towards, not the one we are left with left behind. And I'd add that as well as these changes to the built environment, there are going to be social changes that we need to consider as well.
And in the context of schools, I think we need to question whether the summer period is going to be the right time for exams in future. As we look to protect young people to do their absolute best in their exams, in whatever conditions, that will be comfortable for them to work in at their best.
14:41
14:41
14:41
Speaker 6
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Speaker 6
I thank the honourable member for giving way and just in in the way of thinking about things that we have to consider, that might not be. He'll know that with extreme heat and reduced rainfall, a lot of water companies are putting in place hosepipe bans to try and mitigate the risk. But does he agree with me that it seems a bit redundant, given that AI centres use between 11 and 19,000,000l of water a day?And does he agree that as we prepare to experience more extreme heat over the summer periods, there's an urgent need to address the water consumption of data centres to reduce the risk of drought across the country.
14:42
Speaker 1
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Speaker 1
I thank the honourable lady, makes an extremely important point. Of course, water conservation, like energy conservation, is critically important and that does need to involve measures to help households do their absolute best on that. My region is one of those with the hosepipe ban at the moment, but she's absolutely right that data centres pose a real risk to both our water conservation and energy conservation targets and the Environmental Audit Committee, which I should declare I'm a member of, is currently doing an investigation into that because that she is absolutely right that there is limited point in emphasizing other ways of reducing water and energy reduction, which we must do if we're going to allow massive increases in usage in other ways.
We have got to get a grip of the environmental risk of data centres and AI as a as a society before it takes hold. Yeah.
We have got to get a grip of the environmental risk of data centres and AI as a as a society before it takes hold. Yeah.
14:42
Speaker 7
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Speaker 7
I thank the honourable member for giving way. And he's making a very powerful speech. Is of course a very big issue for our farmers as well. Um and at the moment it's extremely difficult for a farmer to get planning permission for a small on farm reservoir. Yes. And it's a big investment for the farmer. So it's a big deal that it takes so long. Would he, would he support that. We really need to make this process easier because food security is of course as important as as energy security or any of our other issues.
14:43
Speaker 1
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Speaker 1
I strongly agree with the honourable gentleman for all the points that he raises. Food security and water security are absolutely central to this debate and issues that are at real threat, and it's hard to believe it is so difficult for farmers to get permission to store water on their farms when in so many areas. And I represent a rural area as well. We have the problem of too much water at some times of the year and too little at others. And surely there have to be answers to bring those problems together.
So like with anything else, government policies need to be supporting farmers to do the things that they want to do that will help with our natural environment and our social preparedness. So I thank the member for a really important point. Turning briefly to our transport networks, which were designed for a cooler climate, extreme heat causes rails to buckle overhead, power lines to sag, and road surfaces to deteriorate, leading to delays, cancellations and rising maintenance costs. As heatwaves become more frequent, transport resilience must become a standard requirement for infrastructure investment.
Every road and railway built today should be designed for the hotter climate it will face over its lifetime, because building resilience now is far cheaper than repeatedly repairing failures later and on. In our energy system, which was also designed for a climate where peak demand occurred in winter well as temperatures rise, demand for cooling is increasing, while extreme heat reduces the efficiency of power generation and places greater strain on the electricity network. Recent heat waves have demonstrated that hotter summers are creating new challenges for energy security and resilience.
The electricity system must become more resilient to hotter summers, as well as colder winters. Extreme heat poses one of Britain's greatest long term resilience challenges. Water security hotter, drier summers increased demand just as higher temperatures reduced river flows, lower reservoir levels, dry soils and intensify pressures on supplies, particularly across eastern and southern England. The environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee has repeatedly warned that England faces a serious risk of water shortages unless resilience improves off. What warns that without action, England could face a daily water shortfall of around 5,000,000,000l by 2055.
This year's record breaking spring heat provides a warning that with high demand and low storage levels leaving thousands of households in south east England without water, building resilience means expanding reservoir capacity, modernizing ageing infrastructure, reducing leakage, improving water efficiency and restoring natural catchments. Water security is no longer simply an environmental issue. It is fundamental to public health, food production, economic resilience and national security. And extreme heat, as we've discussed, is becoming one of the greatest threats facing farmers and our food system. Predictable seasons, reliable rainfall and healthy soils are at risk of extreme risk of climate breakdown.
The National Farmers Union describes climate change as one of the biggest threats to UK food security, while 80% of farmers say increasingly frequent extreme weather is threatening their livelihoods and reducing productivity and heat stress is threatening animal welfare. During the 2022 heatwave, when UK temperatures exceeded 40 degrees for the first time, around 18,500 chickens died from heat in transit. While government figures indicate more poultry died this summer during the heat waves. We've already experienced higher temperatures. Dry soils increase irrigation demand and reduced crop yields, and this year's dry spring brought harvests forward into late June in some areas, with lower spring yields expected.
As a result, many farmers can now only harvest in the mornings and evenings because grain becomes too dry during the hottest parts of the day, increasing storage, fire risks and in some cases requiring costly cooling before processes. The Climate Change Committee estimates that heat stress already costs agriculture around £205 million a year, and last year's hottest and driest spring on record contributed one of the poorest harvests in recent decades, costing arable farmers at least 100 800 million in lost revenue. The consequences extend far beyond the farm gate.
The UK Food Security Digest concludes that climate related disruption is already pushing up food prices, while the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit estimates extreme weather added around £361 to the average household food bill during 2022 and 23. As Britain becomes more reliant on imported food, we are increasingly exposed to climate shocks overseas, with disruption to just five staple foods estimated to have driven 30 to 40% of food price inflation over the past two years. Climate change is no longer just affecting where food is grown. It's affecting what families can afford.
Supporting farmers through resilient farming systems, better water management, healthier soils, stronger animal welfare and continued innovation is essential to protecting affordable food, rural livelihoods and the resilience of Britain's food supply. Because food security is national security and as we've heard, wildfires are becoming a growing challenge for farmers and fire and rescue services occurring earlier, lasting longer and increasingly threatening homes, businesses, infrastructure and rural communities. Hotter, drier summers, dry vegetation and soils, allowing fires to spread rapidly and causing devastating damage to crops, wildfire and property. As the climate warms, fire and rescue services will need greater capability, stronger land management and better public awareness.
Wildfire resilience must become a central part of Britain's climate adaptation strategy. And Britain's wildlife is experiencing the consequences of hotter, drier summers as well. Sir Christopher Rivers and lakes warm rapidly during prolonged heat, reducing oxygen levels and contributing to fish deaths and declines in freshwater biodiversity. Wetlands dry out, placing pressures on amphibians, insects and waterbirds, while prolonged heat and drought weaken woodlands and leave ecosystems more vulnerable to pests, disease and wildfire. These impacts come on top of decades of habitat loss and ecological decline.
The wildlife Trusts warn that climate change is amplifying the nature crisis. While the RSPB has highlighted that important habitats including peatlands, saltmarshes, heathlands and wetlands are becoming increasingly vulnerable to prolonged heat and drought. The problem we have is a lack of real time data on ecological impacts. This matters because healthy ecosystems are part of our national resilience. The Committee on Climate Change increasingly describes healthy ecosystems not simply as environmental assets, but as a part of the nation's nation's resilience infrastructure. Healthy ecosystems, store water, cool communities, reduce flood risk, and support biodiversity.
Peatlands store carbon and retain water during periods of drought. Wetlands help regulate river flows, reduce flood risk and provide cooler refuges during heatwaves, trees and woodlands lower surrounding temperatures, helping to cool both urban and rural environments while supporting biodiversity. If we continue to lose the natural environments that regulate water, cool, our towns and cities, retain fresh water and sustain biodiversity. We will become progressively less resilient to the impacts of climate change, protecting and restoring nature is therefore not simply an environmental ambition. It's an essential part of preparing Britain for a hotter future.
In conclusion, Sir Christopher, the costs of extreme heat are already being paid. Dame Emma Howard Boyd, chair of the National Heat Risk Commission, has described extreme heat as a force multiplier because it increases health care costs, disrupts transport and energy systems, damages crops, raises food prices and places growing pressure on water supplies and wildfire risk. The June 2026 heatwave alone is estimated to have reduced UK productivity by at least £2.336 billion, as this reflects productivity losses alone, the true economic impact is almost certainly higher and if current trends continue, annual productivity losses could reach 25 billion by 2030.
Climate Change Committee estimates that around 11 billion a year is needed to strengthen the UK's climate resilience, with around a third invested in protection from extreme heat. Adaptation is an investment in resilience and prevention will always be cheaper than recovery. What's lacking is not evidence, but coordinated delivery. Britain needs a heat resilience strategy led from the Cabinet Office with clear ministerial accountability, ensuring that decisions on housing, infrastructure, health, energy and land use are all designed for the climate we now face heat, health warnings, public information and targeted support for vulnerable people should become routine before heatwaves strike.
Green infrastructure is among the most effective adaptation measures available, but adaptation alone cannot protect us from unchecked warming, and mitigation cannot protect us from the warming already locked in. We need both a world that warms by four degrees would bring dire consequences beyond the limits of adaptation, making climate resilience and decarbonisation inseparable. The challenge before Parliament is therefore not whether to act, but whether we act quickly enough and with enough ambition to prepare Britain for the climate in which we must now live.
So like with anything else, government policies need to be supporting farmers to do the things that they want to do that will help with our natural environment and our social preparedness. So I thank the member for a really important point. Turning briefly to our transport networks, which were designed for a cooler climate, extreme heat causes rails to buckle overhead, power lines to sag, and road surfaces to deteriorate, leading to delays, cancellations and rising maintenance costs. As heatwaves become more frequent, transport resilience must become a standard requirement for infrastructure investment.
Every road and railway built today should be designed for the hotter climate it will face over its lifetime, because building resilience now is far cheaper than repeatedly repairing failures later and on. In our energy system, which was also designed for a climate where peak demand occurred in winter well as temperatures rise, demand for cooling is increasing, while extreme heat reduces the efficiency of power generation and places greater strain on the electricity network. Recent heat waves have demonstrated that hotter summers are creating new challenges for energy security and resilience.
The electricity system must become more resilient to hotter summers, as well as colder winters. Extreme heat poses one of Britain's greatest long term resilience challenges. Water security hotter, drier summers increased demand just as higher temperatures reduced river flows, lower reservoir levels, dry soils and intensify pressures on supplies, particularly across eastern and southern England. The environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee has repeatedly warned that England faces a serious risk of water shortages unless resilience improves off. What warns that without action, England could face a daily water shortfall of around 5,000,000,000l by 2055.
This year's record breaking spring heat provides a warning that with high demand and low storage levels leaving thousands of households in south east England without water, building resilience means expanding reservoir capacity, modernizing ageing infrastructure, reducing leakage, improving water efficiency and restoring natural catchments. Water security is no longer simply an environmental issue. It is fundamental to public health, food production, economic resilience and national security. And extreme heat, as we've discussed, is becoming one of the greatest threats facing farmers and our food system. Predictable seasons, reliable rainfall and healthy soils are at risk of extreme risk of climate breakdown.
The National Farmers Union describes climate change as one of the biggest threats to UK food security, while 80% of farmers say increasingly frequent extreme weather is threatening their livelihoods and reducing productivity and heat stress is threatening animal welfare. During the 2022 heatwave, when UK temperatures exceeded 40 degrees for the first time, around 18,500 chickens died from heat in transit. While government figures indicate more poultry died this summer during the heat waves. We've already experienced higher temperatures. Dry soils increase irrigation demand and reduced crop yields, and this year's dry spring brought harvests forward into late June in some areas, with lower spring yields expected.
As a result, many farmers can now only harvest in the mornings and evenings because grain becomes too dry during the hottest parts of the day, increasing storage, fire risks and in some cases requiring costly cooling before processes. The Climate Change Committee estimates that heat stress already costs agriculture around £205 million a year, and last year's hottest and driest spring on record contributed one of the poorest harvests in recent decades, costing arable farmers at least 100 800 million in lost revenue. The consequences extend far beyond the farm gate.
The UK Food Security Digest concludes that climate related disruption is already pushing up food prices, while the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit estimates extreme weather added around £361 to the average household food bill during 2022 and 23. As Britain becomes more reliant on imported food, we are increasingly exposed to climate shocks overseas, with disruption to just five staple foods estimated to have driven 30 to 40% of food price inflation over the past two years. Climate change is no longer just affecting where food is grown. It's affecting what families can afford.
Supporting farmers through resilient farming systems, better water management, healthier soils, stronger animal welfare and continued innovation is essential to protecting affordable food, rural livelihoods and the resilience of Britain's food supply. Because food security is national security and as we've heard, wildfires are becoming a growing challenge for farmers and fire and rescue services occurring earlier, lasting longer and increasingly threatening homes, businesses, infrastructure and rural communities. Hotter, drier summers, dry vegetation and soils, allowing fires to spread rapidly and causing devastating damage to crops, wildfire and property. As the climate warms, fire and rescue services will need greater capability, stronger land management and better public awareness.
Wildfire resilience must become a central part of Britain's climate adaptation strategy. And Britain's wildlife is experiencing the consequences of hotter, drier summers as well. Sir Christopher Rivers and lakes warm rapidly during prolonged heat, reducing oxygen levels and contributing to fish deaths and declines in freshwater biodiversity. Wetlands dry out, placing pressures on amphibians, insects and waterbirds, while prolonged heat and drought weaken woodlands and leave ecosystems more vulnerable to pests, disease and wildfire. These impacts come on top of decades of habitat loss and ecological decline.
The wildlife Trusts warn that climate change is amplifying the nature crisis. While the RSPB has highlighted that important habitats including peatlands, saltmarshes, heathlands and wetlands are becoming increasingly vulnerable to prolonged heat and drought. The problem we have is a lack of real time data on ecological impacts. This matters because healthy ecosystems are part of our national resilience. The Committee on Climate Change increasingly describes healthy ecosystems not simply as environmental assets, but as a part of the nation's nation's resilience infrastructure. Healthy ecosystems, store water, cool communities, reduce flood risk, and support biodiversity.
Peatlands store carbon and retain water during periods of drought. Wetlands help regulate river flows, reduce flood risk and provide cooler refuges during heatwaves, trees and woodlands lower surrounding temperatures, helping to cool both urban and rural environments while supporting biodiversity. If we continue to lose the natural environments that regulate water, cool, our towns and cities, retain fresh water and sustain biodiversity. We will become progressively less resilient to the impacts of climate change, protecting and restoring nature is therefore not simply an environmental ambition. It's an essential part of preparing Britain for a hotter future.
In conclusion, Sir Christopher, the costs of extreme heat are already being paid. Dame Emma Howard Boyd, chair of the National Heat Risk Commission, has described extreme heat as a force multiplier because it increases health care costs, disrupts transport and energy systems, damages crops, raises food prices and places growing pressure on water supplies and wildfire risk. The June 2026 heatwave alone is estimated to have reduced UK productivity by at least £2.336 billion, as this reflects productivity losses alone, the true economic impact is almost certainly higher and if current trends continue, annual productivity losses could reach 25 billion by 2030.
Climate Change Committee estimates that around 11 billion a year is needed to strengthen the UK's climate resilience, with around a third invested in protection from extreme heat. Adaptation is an investment in resilience and prevention will always be cheaper than recovery. What's lacking is not evidence, but coordinated delivery. Britain needs a heat resilience strategy led from the Cabinet Office with clear ministerial accountability, ensuring that decisions on housing, infrastructure, health, energy and land use are all designed for the climate we now face heat, health warnings, public information and targeted support for vulnerable people should become routine before heatwaves strike.
Green infrastructure is among the most effective adaptation measures available, but adaptation alone cannot protect us from unchecked warming, and mitigation cannot protect us from the warming already locked in. We need both a world that warms by four degrees would bring dire consequences beyond the limits of adaptation, making climate resilience and decarbonisation inseparable. The challenge before Parliament is therefore not whether to act, but whether we act quickly enough and with enough ambition to prepare Britain for the climate in which we must now live.
14:52
14:53
14:53
Speaker 9
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Speaker 9
It was in 1976 with the New Forest Fire in your own constituency that woke me up to the dangers of climate destruction. And then just last week, at the weekend, on Sunday night, I heard about a raging fire just on the edge of my own constituency in the area of Acomb, where a field of wheat had caught ablaze. And, of course, the fear of residents. And I really do want to thank the police and the fire service for their rapid response. But obviously it came at great cost, not only to the farmer but the community, but makes us all so alert to the challenges that we face at our time.
In discussing the challenges our city face, it is clear we're not climate resilient as a city. We don't have the strategies and the plans which are necessary to address the urgent needs of our time. My city has done well in focusing on flooding, but when it comes to heat resilience, it's a new area in which we must put all of our attention because schools over the last month have closed and the hospital has overheated on many of those wards and across our city, we have felt the real swathe of heat waves coming through, and it is massively challenging, and we recognise that if we are going to address the issue of flooding in our city, we have to get the hydrology right up in the upper catchment area and as a result of that, we've got to make those decisions whether or not we can afford grouse moor shooting any more, because that in itself drains the land and as a result makes it more, um, more akin to catching a light.
So there is much thought that needs to be done on the infrastructure that is needed around this, whether it is in agriculture, but also across our, buildings, our public services, and so much more. I want today just to focus on a few points around health, that being my own speciality, and certainly looking at the scale of what we're talking about, we've heard already 2700 deaths so far this year, akin to the climate emergency due to heat alone. And we know, particularly those who are most vulnerable babies, children under the age of four, older people, as it's harder for the body to regulate.
And we think particularly around those people who have cognitive dysfunction, that will find it difficult to make the adaptations, which are necessary to keep them safe. And of course, we know that the challenges bear down hardest on those of lower socioeconomic, um, circumstance. And as a result of that, we really need to look at this in a way that we're looking at this through justice, through equality, and ensuring real fairness. Because for so many people, they can go out and buy an air con unit or a fan and to keep themselves cool.
But for those people who do not have any resources, clearly they don't have that advantage and therefore their health is placed at even greater risk. And we know, um, not only the distress, this causes respiratory distress, cardiovascular distress, um, but also serious risks to, to kidney dysfunction. And we can name so much more. We've heard about farmer impact and of course, the impact of exhaustion, cramps, and indeed the risks of cancer, which we haven't heard in the debate today, but greater UV exposure will increase those risks too.
And we've got to think about the environments where people then go into and our hospitals are just not equipped. York Hospital, built in 1977, is just not heat resilient. It's a greenhouse that's already been highlighted. And if you are struggling to breathe in those environments, then it is massively challenging indeed. And therefore, the urgency by which we need to put resilience into our public buildings cannot be overstated. And I really, therefore, call on the minister, and I appreciate this goes way beyond her brief, but it is across government function is to look at how we build resilience across the board.
What resources are we going to invest in our climate resilience?Are we going to have a single minister leading cross departmental mentally on ensuring that we have got that resilience in place?How are we going to ensure that it isn't just in Westminster that we're looking?Because we know that real change and impact can happen on the ground in locality?So how are we empowering our local authorities to have the resources and the plans to make the difference now, not in the future?And also, how are we ensuring that those people working in these facilities also have the support that they need to say it's tools down and we can't work any more.
And of course, that is very difficult when we talk about health facilities and we think back to Covid and the conditions people were working in, in extreme heat there, but we need to ensure that we have got plans in place to support workers as well, who also risk many of those health challenges as a result. So what I'm really asking for the minister is what are the resources?How are we going to ensure devolution is part of that, and how are we going to institute comprehensive planning so that we don't face the risks and the closures and the real discomfort?And sadly and tragically, the deaths that we have seen this year.
In discussing the challenges our city face, it is clear we're not climate resilient as a city. We don't have the strategies and the plans which are necessary to address the urgent needs of our time. My city has done well in focusing on flooding, but when it comes to heat resilience, it's a new area in which we must put all of our attention because schools over the last month have closed and the hospital has overheated on many of those wards and across our city, we have felt the real swathe of heat waves coming through, and it is massively challenging, and we recognise that if we are going to address the issue of flooding in our city, we have to get the hydrology right up in the upper catchment area and as a result of that, we've got to make those decisions whether or not we can afford grouse moor shooting any more, because that in itself drains the land and as a result makes it more, um, more akin to catching a light.
So there is much thought that needs to be done on the infrastructure that is needed around this, whether it is in agriculture, but also across our, buildings, our public services, and so much more. I want today just to focus on a few points around health, that being my own speciality, and certainly looking at the scale of what we're talking about, we've heard already 2700 deaths so far this year, akin to the climate emergency due to heat alone. And we know, particularly those who are most vulnerable babies, children under the age of four, older people, as it's harder for the body to regulate.
And we think particularly around those people who have cognitive dysfunction, that will find it difficult to make the adaptations, which are necessary to keep them safe. And of course, we know that the challenges bear down hardest on those of lower socioeconomic, um, circumstance. And as a result of that, we really need to look at this in a way that we're looking at this through justice, through equality, and ensuring real fairness. Because for so many people, they can go out and buy an air con unit or a fan and to keep themselves cool.
But for those people who do not have any resources, clearly they don't have that advantage and therefore their health is placed at even greater risk. And we know, um, not only the distress, this causes respiratory distress, cardiovascular distress, um, but also serious risks to, to kidney dysfunction. And we can name so much more. We've heard about farmer impact and of course, the impact of exhaustion, cramps, and indeed the risks of cancer, which we haven't heard in the debate today, but greater UV exposure will increase those risks too.
And we've got to think about the environments where people then go into and our hospitals are just not equipped. York Hospital, built in 1977, is just not heat resilient. It's a greenhouse that's already been highlighted. And if you are struggling to breathe in those environments, then it is massively challenging indeed. And therefore, the urgency by which we need to put resilience into our public buildings cannot be overstated. And I really, therefore, call on the minister, and I appreciate this goes way beyond her brief, but it is across government function is to look at how we build resilience across the board.
What resources are we going to invest in our climate resilience?Are we going to have a single minister leading cross departmental mentally on ensuring that we have got that resilience in place?How are we going to ensure that it isn't just in Westminster that we're looking?Because we know that real change and impact can happen on the ground in locality?So how are we empowering our local authorities to have the resources and the plans to make the difference now, not in the future?And also, how are we ensuring that those people working in these facilities also have the support that they need to say it's tools down and we can't work any more.
And of course, that is very difficult when we talk about health facilities and we think back to Covid and the conditions people were working in, in extreme heat there, but we need to ensure that we have got plans in place to support workers as well, who also risk many of those health challenges as a result. So what I'm really asking for the minister is what are the resources?How are we going to ensure devolution is part of that, and how are we going to institute comprehensive planning so that we don't face the risks and the closures and the real discomfort?And sadly and tragically, the deaths that we have seen this year.
14:58
Speaker 10
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Speaker 10
Give me the opportunity to speak. Real pleasure to serve on your ship. A big thank you to the honourable gentleman for Waveney Valley for highlighting this issue and whether people like it or not, this issue has to be addressed. It is a key issue for many people, and the temperature rises across the United Kingdom cannot be ignored either. And they do set a trend. And the experts tell us that we have to be prepared for that. So when we think of heat planning, we must think in bigger terms than it does.
Not being facetious, by the way, than having enough ice lollies in the freezer. It's the pressure of actually running the freezer. It's the additional fans and cooling systems that are running in a nation that is better equipped to store the heat and not letting it escape as such suits us 90% of the time. So there's some practical things that we've got to address as well. I want to talk about two things. I want to talk about health. I want to talk about agriculture.
I believe we must also highlight a blind spot in our national resilience planning, the unique, devastating vulnerability of rural, coastal and agricultural communities to heat stress events. I want to ground this debate in my own constituency of Strangford, which stretches across the Ards Peninsula, and merge many coastal communities across the United Kingdom in the Ards and North Down area, roughly 20% of our population is age 65 or older. So from a health point of view, thousands of these elderly constituents live in older, traditional stone or poorly ventilated rural properties that act as little storage heaters during a heat wave, I.
My office in Ards when it's warm in the summer, it's like a sauna bath. When it's cold in winter, it's like a. It's like a freezer. Uh. It's the nature of the buildings. The walls are thick and they were built for a purpose to hold the roof up or something, but they never built for ventilation. They were never built for health, for, uh, for heat. And we have that across the Ards Peninsula where I live.
So if you're an isolated pensioner living in a village in the Ards Peninsula, you can't just pop out to an air conditioned shopping centre or a public building. There's personal health concern here as well. And furthermore, our agricultural sector, the very backbone of the Strangford economy, is facing an unprecedented strain. Vegetable and crop farmers are already grappling with intense summer droughts and skyrocketing water demands to keep yields alive. So our livestock are highly susceptible to heat stress, threatening food security and farmers livelihoods alike.
So our critical infrastructure, I believe, is also hanging by a thread. Just last month, I tabled a parliamentary question regarding the resilience of our electricity grid during extreme weather, when a heat wave strikes, transformers overheat and water treatment facilities face immense pressure and a real layout like Strangford. If a water pump or a power line fails because of extreme heat, entire communities are left vulnerable, cut off from basic utilities, so the impact upon them is not just one household, it's multiple households. And while environmental adaptation is heavily devolved, the strategic funding and the macro infrastructure backing must be all of the United Kingdom effort.
And we cannot treat heatwaves as an occasional summer novelty. I love heat, I'm not sure if I like 40 degrees. I don't think I could probably even take 30. But we had our 12th of July parade yesterday. Sir Christopher, and it was a lovely sunny day and I really enjoyed it. Uh, and, uh, it's nice that heat now and again, but maybe not at the constant that we now have. So my question to the minister is this.
Can I ask the minister to come back to me with what cross-departmental work has been done with the devolved administrations to ensure that the UK health Security Agency's heat health Alerts and emergency response playbooks are seamlessly integrated into rural health care networks. We've got the system in place. Make sure that the health care centres will it be the GPS, the clinics, the hospitals, the health workers, the carriers, all those need to all be integrated and working better together. It's my belief that we need specific capital funding to be made available to modernize rural electrical grids, so that they don't buckle under the twin pressures of winter storms and the summer heat waves, and support our agri food sector to transition into heat resilient farming practices.
All of these improvements, of course, take planning, Sir Christopher, and take funding as well. And if government truly believes in the environmental concerns that are that are are seeing green taxes added to those who can afford it, then we must also see the funding to come to these industries at the same time. So in conclusion, ever mindful of the of the timescale of about five minutes each. Sir Christopher, we must act now that our national heat wave preparedness protects every citizen, whether they live in the heart of London or in the shores of Strangford.
My constituency of Strangford, that our farmers and our agri food industry are prepared to deal with any continued periods of heat. And if that is what is to be expected in the future, and if it is, we've got to be able to respond to it. Then government tells us this is the way things are going. I gently then say that we need to be more prepared. I look forward to the minister's response, and I know that the minister is always very keen to ensure that the regional um administrations and here at Westminster work together.
My hope would be that that would be exactly what we do. Thank you.
Not being facetious, by the way, than having enough ice lollies in the freezer. It's the pressure of actually running the freezer. It's the additional fans and cooling systems that are running in a nation that is better equipped to store the heat and not letting it escape as such suits us 90% of the time. So there's some practical things that we've got to address as well. I want to talk about two things. I want to talk about health. I want to talk about agriculture.
I believe we must also highlight a blind spot in our national resilience planning, the unique, devastating vulnerability of rural, coastal and agricultural communities to heat stress events. I want to ground this debate in my own constituency of Strangford, which stretches across the Ards Peninsula, and merge many coastal communities across the United Kingdom in the Ards and North Down area, roughly 20% of our population is age 65 or older. So from a health point of view, thousands of these elderly constituents live in older, traditional stone or poorly ventilated rural properties that act as little storage heaters during a heat wave, I.
My office in Ards when it's warm in the summer, it's like a sauna bath. When it's cold in winter, it's like a. It's like a freezer. Uh. It's the nature of the buildings. The walls are thick and they were built for a purpose to hold the roof up or something, but they never built for ventilation. They were never built for health, for, uh, for heat. And we have that across the Ards Peninsula where I live.
So if you're an isolated pensioner living in a village in the Ards Peninsula, you can't just pop out to an air conditioned shopping centre or a public building. There's personal health concern here as well. And furthermore, our agricultural sector, the very backbone of the Strangford economy, is facing an unprecedented strain. Vegetable and crop farmers are already grappling with intense summer droughts and skyrocketing water demands to keep yields alive. So our livestock are highly susceptible to heat stress, threatening food security and farmers livelihoods alike.
So our critical infrastructure, I believe, is also hanging by a thread. Just last month, I tabled a parliamentary question regarding the resilience of our electricity grid during extreme weather, when a heat wave strikes, transformers overheat and water treatment facilities face immense pressure and a real layout like Strangford. If a water pump or a power line fails because of extreme heat, entire communities are left vulnerable, cut off from basic utilities, so the impact upon them is not just one household, it's multiple households. And while environmental adaptation is heavily devolved, the strategic funding and the macro infrastructure backing must be all of the United Kingdom effort.
And we cannot treat heatwaves as an occasional summer novelty. I love heat, I'm not sure if I like 40 degrees. I don't think I could probably even take 30. But we had our 12th of July parade yesterday. Sir Christopher, and it was a lovely sunny day and I really enjoyed it. Uh, and, uh, it's nice that heat now and again, but maybe not at the constant that we now have. So my question to the minister is this.
Can I ask the minister to come back to me with what cross-departmental work has been done with the devolved administrations to ensure that the UK health Security Agency's heat health Alerts and emergency response playbooks are seamlessly integrated into rural health care networks. We've got the system in place. Make sure that the health care centres will it be the GPS, the clinics, the hospitals, the health workers, the carriers, all those need to all be integrated and working better together. It's my belief that we need specific capital funding to be made available to modernize rural electrical grids, so that they don't buckle under the twin pressures of winter storms and the summer heat waves, and support our agri food sector to transition into heat resilient farming practices.
All of these improvements, of course, take planning, Sir Christopher, and take funding as well. And if government truly believes in the environmental concerns that are that are are seeing green taxes added to those who can afford it, then we must also see the funding to come to these industries at the same time. So in conclusion, ever mindful of the of the timescale of about five minutes each. Sir Christopher, we must act now that our national heat wave preparedness protects every citizen, whether they live in the heart of London or in the shores of Strangford.
My constituency of Strangford, that our farmers and our agri food industry are prepared to deal with any continued periods of heat. And if that is what is to be expected in the future, and if it is, we've got to be able to respond to it. Then government tells us this is the way things are going. I gently then say that we need to be more prepared. I look forward to the minister's response, and I know that the minister is always very keen to ensure that the regional um administrations and here at Westminster work together.
My hope would be that that would be exactly what we do. Thank you.
15:04
15:04
Speaker 11
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Speaker 11
Thank you chair. And I thank the member for Waveney Valley for raising such an interesting topic and timely topic as extreme heat. And it's a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship. Sir Christopher. So we were warned, we were warned more than 20 years ago that extreme temperatures were the consequence of uncontrolled greenhouse gas emissions. And what did we do?Not enough. Not enough to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions and not enough to adapt to climate change.
And across the UK, new high temperatures are being set in my constituency, the highest temperature has been recorded at a mere 26.7 degrees in 2018, but I would not be surprised if that was surpassed soon and what used to be a 1 in 100 event, or a 1 in 200 event, as we were warned, has now become the new normal. And while we are asking ourselves what we need to do to get through this summer, can I gently suggest that what we need to heed is the warnings of climate scientists, and think about how the heat map of Europe and the UK will look over the next 20 years.
Short term fixes like air conditioning, will set the average household back several thousand pounds, but also adding to the demand for energy. And as a regular visitor to London these days, I can see just how much more extreme the heat is here compared to my own constituency of Paisley and Renfrewshire North and my constituency, of course, benefits from a more northern latitude, but also from wide open spaces, lower population and lower density, and a mix of both urban and rural areas. And it will always be cooler in my constituency than London, at least on the thermometer.
So having missed the opportunity over the last 20 years, we need to look forward with short term relief and long term strategies for retrofitting buildings, emphasising design and construction techniques that reduce extreme impact of extreme heat, and also to the circular economy. And we need to also consider embodied carbon in buildings, which was a topic of a very interesting adjournment debate last night by the honourable member for North Herefordshire. And as I mentioned last night, I think we need local authorities to look to how buildings are demolished so that clear night sites are not holding the embodied carbon hypothetically and affecting industry benchmarks like Breeam adversely.
That um Breeam points are impacted by poor and thoughtless demolition practices. So in conclusion, a chair. I stand here ready to help the government meet our 2030 and 2050 targets on climate change and greenhouse gases.
And across the UK, new high temperatures are being set in my constituency, the highest temperature has been recorded at a mere 26.7 degrees in 2018, but I would not be surprised if that was surpassed soon and what used to be a 1 in 100 event, or a 1 in 200 event, as we were warned, has now become the new normal. And while we are asking ourselves what we need to do to get through this summer, can I gently suggest that what we need to heed is the warnings of climate scientists, and think about how the heat map of Europe and the UK will look over the next 20 years.
Short term fixes like air conditioning, will set the average household back several thousand pounds, but also adding to the demand for energy. And as a regular visitor to London these days, I can see just how much more extreme the heat is here compared to my own constituency of Paisley and Renfrewshire North and my constituency, of course, benefits from a more northern latitude, but also from wide open spaces, lower population and lower density, and a mix of both urban and rural areas. And it will always be cooler in my constituency than London, at least on the thermometer.
So having missed the opportunity over the last 20 years, we need to look forward with short term relief and long term strategies for retrofitting buildings, emphasising design and construction techniques that reduce extreme impact of extreme heat, and also to the circular economy. And we need to also consider embodied carbon in buildings, which was a topic of a very interesting adjournment debate last night by the honourable member for North Herefordshire. And as I mentioned last night, I think we need local authorities to look to how buildings are demolished so that clear night sites are not holding the embodied carbon hypothetically and affecting industry benchmarks like Breeam adversely.
That um Breeam points are impacted by poor and thoughtless demolition practices. So in conclusion, a chair. I stand here ready to help the government meet our 2030 and 2050 targets on climate change and greenhouse gases.
15:06
Speaker 12
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Speaker 12
Thank. You. See you in the chair this afternoon. And I'd like to thank the honourable gentleman from Waveney Valley for introducing this very important debate. Reports this week have been horrifying that thousands may have died in. This heat shows how ill equipped we are as a country to deal with this kind of weather. I represent Tiverton and Minehead, a rural and coastal constituency with a disproportionately elderly population and the underlying health inequalities that so often go with an area of its character.
When the heat comes. My constituents are among the first to suffer and the least equipped to cope, so I wish to highlight plainly where preparedness has failed them. In my in part of my constituency, this period has not been managed. It has been completely mismanaged. Children cooling off in the River exe on a hot summer's day. As any of us would want to have fallen ill because of an alleged discharge into the river. The children's father kayaked up the river later yesterday evening, and he reports, encountering a pungent sewage odour in the vicinity of one of Taiwan's Tiverton sewage treatment work sites, and he witnessed what appeared to be active discharge, which the company's own tracker failed to reflect because it had not been updated.
A monitoring system that does not monitor is worse than useless. It is a fig leaf. Then a hosepipe ban. The. The. This company had months of warning. A wet start to the year gave way to weeks of record heat that was forecast and foreseeable. And yet when the pressure came. South West water was not at all ready. Position of the ban on Mid-devon and parts of East Devon and nowhere else in the region.
My constituents want to know why they alone are paying the price for a company's failure to plan. Where was the investment?Where was the foresight?This is not bad luck. This is dereliction of duty. It is very hard to shake the distinct impression that South West Water, the stakeholders, stakeholders come a distant second behind their shareholder interests. This is unacceptable and the consequences go beyond garden hoses at a slaughter site in Willand, water pressure was cut to a quarter.
It was cut by 75% of normal levels. It led to an unfolding animal welfare crisis and posed a potential public health risk. Because a site that cannot access adequate water cannot maintain high. Hygiene standards as the MP for the area, it took me five five phone calls yesterday before someone from South West Water picked up the phone. I found the lack of urgency and concern to be outstanding. I am assured that some water pressure has now been restored, but this is on a cliff edge and major welfare issues remain a concern.
Despite what I heard from the new chief executive of South West Water just a few weeks ago in a breakfast meetings, it seems as though South West Water still has not learned any lessons, and if I may, chair, I will end on one final point. Briefly. Heat preparedness is as much to. About the everyday infrastructure that people rely on. Buses in particular, are used disproportionately by elderly residents. The very group most at risk of heat stroke, and two.
Many still lack adequate air conditioning. This has to be part of the preparedness conversation to this heat will come again and again. And we need a system and the infrastructure that meets it head on, and corporate entities that put people first, not profit.
When the heat comes. My constituents are among the first to suffer and the least equipped to cope, so I wish to highlight plainly where preparedness has failed them. In my in part of my constituency, this period has not been managed. It has been completely mismanaged. Children cooling off in the River exe on a hot summer's day. As any of us would want to have fallen ill because of an alleged discharge into the river. The children's father kayaked up the river later yesterday evening, and he reports, encountering a pungent sewage odour in the vicinity of one of Taiwan's Tiverton sewage treatment work sites, and he witnessed what appeared to be active discharge, which the company's own tracker failed to reflect because it had not been updated.
A monitoring system that does not monitor is worse than useless. It is a fig leaf. Then a hosepipe ban. The. The. This company had months of warning. A wet start to the year gave way to weeks of record heat that was forecast and foreseeable. And yet when the pressure came. South West water was not at all ready. Position of the ban on Mid-devon and parts of East Devon and nowhere else in the region.
My constituents want to know why they alone are paying the price for a company's failure to plan. Where was the investment?Where was the foresight?This is not bad luck. This is dereliction of duty. It is very hard to shake the distinct impression that South West Water, the stakeholders, stakeholders come a distant second behind their shareholder interests. This is unacceptable and the consequences go beyond garden hoses at a slaughter site in Willand, water pressure was cut to a quarter.
It was cut by 75% of normal levels. It led to an unfolding animal welfare crisis and posed a potential public health risk. Because a site that cannot access adequate water cannot maintain high. Hygiene standards as the MP for the area, it took me five five phone calls yesterday before someone from South West Water picked up the phone. I found the lack of urgency and concern to be outstanding. I am assured that some water pressure has now been restored, but this is on a cliff edge and major welfare issues remain a concern.
Despite what I heard from the new chief executive of South West Water just a few weeks ago in a breakfast meetings, it seems as though South West Water still has not learned any lessons, and if I may, chair, I will end on one final point. Briefly. Heat preparedness is as much to. About the everyday infrastructure that people rely on. Buses in particular, are used disproportionately by elderly residents. The very group most at risk of heat stroke, and two.
Many still lack adequate air conditioning. This has to be part of the preparedness conversation to this heat will come again and again. And we need a system and the infrastructure that meets it head on, and corporate entities that put people first, not profit.
15:11
Speaker 4
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Speaker 4
Pleasure to serve. Under your chairmanship this afternoon, and I thank and congratulate the member for Waveney Valley for securing this important debate today. I recently attended a screening of the National Emergency Briefing in my Stourbridge constituency, and one sentence that stuck with me. This is the least extreme climate we will experience in our lifetime. So as we swelter through another heat wave, many people are welcoming the hot and sunny weather. But it is unprecedented to have record breaking temperatures three months in a row, and this is only set to continue.
Experts estimated that there were more than 2700 excess deaths during the May and June heat waves, attributed to heat related causes, and we are now seeing dangerous climate change fuelled heat that is claiming lives, disrupting schools and hospitals, shutting down transport and infrastructure. And we need to urgently adapt. In recent weeks, I've been hearing from teachers and workers across my constituency who've struggled to keep buildings at a comfortable temperature. Teachers cited the guidance from the Department for education as deeply unhelpful, which suggests opening windows as a solution.
The National Education Union rightly criticised the department for underestimating the scale of the problem, and while I welcome the £710 million funding to improve school and college buildings, which includes funding to install solar panels to bring down energy bills, this must be coupled with measures to provide good ventilation and cooling systems, such as air conditioning. And remember, not every school can simply open the windows, particularly in schools where this could be contrary to risk assessments. I've also been contacted by train drivers, bus drivers and delivery drivers who've been working in extreme temperatures with no air conditioning.
And I've even heard that some supermarkets deliberately chose new delivery, new delivery vehicles without air conditioning to reduce their costs. This is simply unacceptable, and workers well-being should always be a priority over saving a few pounds. I've long supported the campaign for a maximum working temperature law, led by all the major trade unions, and would welcome this being introduced, but this must be matched with the mitigating adaptations to ensure productivity and the economy can continue in the face of climate challenges. When I worked in the operating department before coming to this place, maintaining temperature and humidity at certain levels was crucial to reducing infection risks while balancing the need to maintain a patient's core temperature.
Operating theatres are usually windowless rooms filled with electrical equipment and even the best laminar flow and ventilation systems would struggle in hot weather. The lack of legislation on working temperatures and the pressures of waiting lists meant we often had to carry on regardless and try to minimise the risk along the way. We need to act now to adapt to extreme heat, to outpace the health risks and impacts on daily life, and this requires a combination of immediate operational changes and long term architectural upgrades to maintain safe, comfortable learning, working and living environments.
So I would ask the minister, what is the government doing to adapt to this new normal?Will comprehensive guidance and support be provided to help schools, workplaces and public buildings mitigate the impacts of extreme heat?And will the government follow the lead of Spain, Belgium, Latvia and others and answer the calls from trade unions to implement a maximum working temperature in this country?This country is built for a climate that no longer exists, and without immediate action, we will see more health implications and more disruption. We are at a tipping point and adapting to extreme heat will strengthen our national and economic resilience and improve everybody's lives.
Experts estimated that there were more than 2700 excess deaths during the May and June heat waves, attributed to heat related causes, and we are now seeing dangerous climate change fuelled heat that is claiming lives, disrupting schools and hospitals, shutting down transport and infrastructure. And we need to urgently adapt. In recent weeks, I've been hearing from teachers and workers across my constituency who've struggled to keep buildings at a comfortable temperature. Teachers cited the guidance from the Department for education as deeply unhelpful, which suggests opening windows as a solution.
The National Education Union rightly criticised the department for underestimating the scale of the problem, and while I welcome the £710 million funding to improve school and college buildings, which includes funding to install solar panels to bring down energy bills, this must be coupled with measures to provide good ventilation and cooling systems, such as air conditioning. And remember, not every school can simply open the windows, particularly in schools where this could be contrary to risk assessments. I've also been contacted by train drivers, bus drivers and delivery drivers who've been working in extreme temperatures with no air conditioning.
And I've even heard that some supermarkets deliberately chose new delivery, new delivery vehicles without air conditioning to reduce their costs. This is simply unacceptable, and workers well-being should always be a priority over saving a few pounds. I've long supported the campaign for a maximum working temperature law, led by all the major trade unions, and would welcome this being introduced, but this must be matched with the mitigating adaptations to ensure productivity and the economy can continue in the face of climate challenges. When I worked in the operating department before coming to this place, maintaining temperature and humidity at certain levels was crucial to reducing infection risks while balancing the need to maintain a patient's core temperature.
Operating theatres are usually windowless rooms filled with electrical equipment and even the best laminar flow and ventilation systems would struggle in hot weather. The lack of legislation on working temperatures and the pressures of waiting lists meant we often had to carry on regardless and try to minimise the risk along the way. We need to act now to adapt to extreme heat, to outpace the health risks and impacts on daily life, and this requires a combination of immediate operational changes and long term architectural upgrades to maintain safe, comfortable learning, working and living environments.
So I would ask the minister, what is the government doing to adapt to this new normal?Will comprehensive guidance and support be provided to help schools, workplaces and public buildings mitigate the impacts of extreme heat?And will the government follow the lead of Spain, Belgium, Latvia and others and answer the calls from trade unions to implement a maximum working temperature in this country?This country is built for a climate that no longer exists, and without immediate action, we will see more health implications and more disruption. We are at a tipping point and adapting to extreme heat will strengthen our national and economic resilience and improve everybody's lives.
15:15
15:15
Speaker 14
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Speaker 14
Thank you. Mr.. Can I say?It's a pleasure to be serving under your chairmanship. And can I thank the honourable member for Waveney Valley for not only his timely securing of this debate, but also his detailed and comprehensive speech?Um, it took me back to my school days a few years ago. Um, or should I say a few decades ago, but, um, my biology teacher was talking about global warming and, um. The chickens are home to roost when we see what's taking place.
Um, not just in this country, but across the world with additional flooding and warmer climates. And it really demonstrates, doesn't it, how governments across all nations need to react. Um, it's interesting that we have no reform parliamentarians in this chamber. Um, and the absence of many conservative MPs because the phrase drill, baby, drill, um, is what is often spoken about and not realizing how carbon dioxide and the additional carbon dioxide in the atmosphere can increase the heat across the globe. And so, um.
From personal experience, I want to just talk about when I visited my local hospitals very recently, in fact, I had the unfortunate scenario where a family member needed emergency treatment and I found myself in an A&E department. And it was shocking. It was shocking because we already have crises within hospitals and at A&E departments. You often go on the live data to see which hospital in your area has the lowest waiting time, and pretty much all hospitals around Birmingham, which serve not just my constituents of Birmingham, Perry Barr, but the city of Birmingham, had an average wait time of about four hours.
But in actual fact, when you went to the hospital, that data wasn't live. And in fact, people are waiting far longer than what's been set out online. And it was shocking to see vulnerable, elderly people that. Had significant injuries, sat in a waiting area that was sweltering, and the NHS staff were doing their level best, um, providing water and and trying to assist patients. But it was really shocking that in modern times where we've had an enormous amount of investment in hospitals, that we're just simply not adequate in treating the most vulnerable and the most needy.
Um, at, at a time, which was, um, one where they needed some critical support. So that experience brought home a simple truth that extreme heat is no minor inconvenience. It is a public health emergency. The honourable members have already raised that, um, during this heat wave alone, we've seen 2700 people who have died as a result of heat related causes, and that includes 368 deaths in the West Midlands, which experienced its highest death rate per head during the June heat wave. Yet the buildings intended to protect us are themselves unprepared.
And while we don't have any data yet from this summer, more than half of NHS trusts reported that at least one overheating incident during the summer of 2022 and the number of NHS overheating incidents requiring risk assessments rose by 53% between 2016 and 2024. And honourable members have spoken about schools and other public buildings. But during the recent heat wave, around 1000 schools closed or shortened their days, with teachers reportedly passing out in classrooms reaching temperatures in excess of 40 degrees. The answer cannot simply be to send children home or tell patients and workers to drink more water.
And that's why we need a properly funded national heat resilience programme. Auditing every school, hospital and care home, installing effective ventilation, external shielding, reflecting roofs and energy efficient cooling when necessary, creating accessible community cooling centers and establishing clear, maximum safe indoor temperature standards. Because extreme heat is already costing lives and the government must prepare for some emergencies with the same seriousness with which we prepare for winter. Words and weather warnings will not cool. A classroom. Protect a hospital patient or prevent the next avoidable death.
Thank you chair.
Um, not just in this country, but across the world with additional flooding and warmer climates. And it really demonstrates, doesn't it, how governments across all nations need to react. Um, it's interesting that we have no reform parliamentarians in this chamber. Um, and the absence of many conservative MPs because the phrase drill, baby, drill, um, is what is often spoken about and not realizing how carbon dioxide and the additional carbon dioxide in the atmosphere can increase the heat across the globe. And so, um.
From personal experience, I want to just talk about when I visited my local hospitals very recently, in fact, I had the unfortunate scenario where a family member needed emergency treatment and I found myself in an A&E department. And it was shocking. It was shocking because we already have crises within hospitals and at A&E departments. You often go on the live data to see which hospital in your area has the lowest waiting time, and pretty much all hospitals around Birmingham, which serve not just my constituents of Birmingham, Perry Barr, but the city of Birmingham, had an average wait time of about four hours.
But in actual fact, when you went to the hospital, that data wasn't live. And in fact, people are waiting far longer than what's been set out online. And it was shocking to see vulnerable, elderly people that. Had significant injuries, sat in a waiting area that was sweltering, and the NHS staff were doing their level best, um, providing water and and trying to assist patients. But it was really shocking that in modern times where we've had an enormous amount of investment in hospitals, that we're just simply not adequate in treating the most vulnerable and the most needy.
Um, at, at a time, which was, um, one where they needed some critical support. So that experience brought home a simple truth that extreme heat is no minor inconvenience. It is a public health emergency. The honourable members have already raised that, um, during this heat wave alone, we've seen 2700 people who have died as a result of heat related causes, and that includes 368 deaths in the West Midlands, which experienced its highest death rate per head during the June heat wave. Yet the buildings intended to protect us are themselves unprepared.
And while we don't have any data yet from this summer, more than half of NHS trusts reported that at least one overheating incident during the summer of 2022 and the number of NHS overheating incidents requiring risk assessments rose by 53% between 2016 and 2024. And honourable members have spoken about schools and other public buildings. But during the recent heat wave, around 1000 schools closed or shortened their days, with teachers reportedly passing out in classrooms reaching temperatures in excess of 40 degrees. The answer cannot simply be to send children home or tell patients and workers to drink more water.
And that's why we need a properly funded national heat resilience programme. Auditing every school, hospital and care home, installing effective ventilation, external shielding, reflecting roofs and energy efficient cooling when necessary, creating accessible community cooling centers and establishing clear, maximum safe indoor temperature standards. Because extreme heat is already costing lives and the government must prepare for some emergencies with the same seriousness with which we prepare for winter. Words and weather warnings will not cool. A classroom. Protect a hospital patient or prevent the next avoidable death.
Thank you chair.
15:20
Speaker 15
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Speaker 15
Thank you very much. It's a pleasure to serve with you in the chair, and I'd like to thank my hon. Friend the member for Waveney Valley for securing this extremely important and indeed highly topical debate. We are, of course, having had three heat waves in the space of less than three months, all more than aware of the reality of extreme heat. We do need to talk more about our preparedness for extreme heat, or rather, our lack of preparedness for extreme heat.
The figures that we've heard published this week about the thousands of excess deaths due just to the heat waves in May and June, we don't yet have the figures for the latest heat wave spell out in such clear terms. Exactly what impact this has on human lives. And like members who've spoken from across the House today, I too have heard from constituents about the direct impact that extreme heat is having on their lives from parents deeply concerned, both about school closures and also about the schools not closing when their kids are in them, struggling to learn within a conditions of extreme heat from people desperately concerned about our health infrastructure, our social care homes, all of them struggling to cope with the effects of this, which of course is particularly important for those who are most vulnerable, particularly for the very young and for our older community members who are particularly vulnerable to these effects of extreme heat.
I represent a constituency, North Herefordshire, an absolutely beautiful place where farming is at the heart of the constituency and farmers are on the forefront of the the impacts of climate change. Uh, not just indeed extreme heat, but also other weather extremes, extremes of flooding, as my honourable friend pointed out in his speech, we are facing a situation in which climate change climate breakdown is driving increasing frequency and severity of extreme weather events. And as the honourable member pointed out, we have known about this for decades. But sadly, governments have been effectively asleep at the wheel, both on reducing climate warming emissions to the level that we need to, but particularly in terms of adaptation and building our resilience.
So we find ourselves now in conditions of water shortage faced by our farmers, in conditions where those are people working in public services, whether that's in health, in education, in public transport, are struggling to cope with conditions for which our infrastructure is not built, simply not built. I will give way at the point that my constituents are experiencing an extramural, which is infrastructure, and they have faced repeated cancellations and delays to their trains if their commute into London. So that's affecting their livelihoods. It's affecting businesses.
So does my hon. Friend agree with me that it's really important that we do improve resilience for transport infrastructure, so that people can continue to go about their daily lives, go to work, and so that businesses can continue to function. Absolutely. I completely agree with her. And in order to do that, we need to think long term. We do not do well enough in this country at thinking long term, thinking beyond the next election cycle. We need to think of the next generation.
What sort of world is it that we want to bequeath to them?What sort of country do we want to bequeath to them, and how are we going to build the country that is suitable for the climate, that will be there in a few decades time?Because, as has been pointed out, this is the coolest it's going to be in our lifetimes. This is only going to become more extreme, more extreme heat, more extreme floods. We need to change our ways as a country.
Now, experts have been telling us this for a long time. The Committee on Climate Change has pointed out that we are not doing anywhere near enough to recognize the adaptation challenge that we face. So I call on the government to grasp this nettle, because this is investment in building a better future. It's actually win win investment because building houses that are suitable for the weather conditions that we're going to be facing is much cheaper to do when you're constructing them than when you're having to retrofit them afterwards.
If we use materials and building approaches that recognize we can cool buildings naturally, we can create urban areas that aren't such huge heat islands as they currently are, but are actually built in such a way, including with lots of tree planting in urban areas. We can cool temperatures locally using natural methods, so we've got a real opportunity here and we should grasp it with both hands. Tackling the adaptation and the resilience challenge isn't just about sticking our fingers in the dike. Sticking plaster approaches, a patchwork retrofitting of air con in every building that's struggling with the heat.
No, this is an opportunity to imagine and to build a better country for the future. And so there are things that the government can do right now. My honourable friend the member for Gorton and Denton yesterday introduced her private member's bill to establish a maximum workplace temperature. We have a minimum workplace temperature. We clearly need a maximum one. So I call on the minister to say, is this something that the government will support?I very much hope so.
As we've seen, there's international precedent and huge amounts of support from across from across the country for this. We also, though, need to recognise that we need to build the long term resilience that is required. We do not yet have, as a country, an adaptation plan that is fit for purpose. We do not yet have the coordination that is needed. I raised this issue with the minister just a few days ago in a debate on national security and resilience, and was told, well, we have, you know, Defra responsible for resilience in farming, and the health department is responsible for resilience in health.
I raised this in health questions just this morning. But we it's the the issues we face are not just retrofitting of our hospitals. They're enabling everybody in the country to stay healthy in the extremes of heat that we are increasingly seeing, so that they're not having to go into hospital in the first place. This is a cross-government requirement across government priority. Will the government ensure that we put in place adaptation plans that the Committee on Climate Change itself will say, ah, yes, this is finally fit for purpose.
And finally, we've got to put the brakes on the problem. At the same time, it's not an either or between mitigation and adaptation. We still have more to do to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, to reduce the emissions that are causing climate breakdown, so that we save ourselves from the worst possible effects of runaway climate change. And so I call on the government to go further and further in climate, further and faster in real climate action, not least by holding the line on jackdaw and on Rosebank, because we cannot, in the one hand, struggle with facing the consequences of climate change, such as extreme heat and, on the other hand, continue to bring more fossil fuels out of the ground and burn them.
We need consistent government policy across the piece. I hope the government will provide that.
The figures that we've heard published this week about the thousands of excess deaths due just to the heat waves in May and June, we don't yet have the figures for the latest heat wave spell out in such clear terms. Exactly what impact this has on human lives. And like members who've spoken from across the House today, I too have heard from constituents about the direct impact that extreme heat is having on their lives from parents deeply concerned, both about school closures and also about the schools not closing when their kids are in them, struggling to learn within a conditions of extreme heat from people desperately concerned about our health infrastructure, our social care homes, all of them struggling to cope with the effects of this, which of course is particularly important for those who are most vulnerable, particularly for the very young and for our older community members who are particularly vulnerable to these effects of extreme heat.
I represent a constituency, North Herefordshire, an absolutely beautiful place where farming is at the heart of the constituency and farmers are on the forefront of the the impacts of climate change. Uh, not just indeed extreme heat, but also other weather extremes, extremes of flooding, as my honourable friend pointed out in his speech, we are facing a situation in which climate change climate breakdown is driving increasing frequency and severity of extreme weather events. And as the honourable member pointed out, we have known about this for decades. But sadly, governments have been effectively asleep at the wheel, both on reducing climate warming emissions to the level that we need to, but particularly in terms of adaptation and building our resilience.
So we find ourselves now in conditions of water shortage faced by our farmers, in conditions where those are people working in public services, whether that's in health, in education, in public transport, are struggling to cope with conditions for which our infrastructure is not built, simply not built. I will give way at the point that my constituents are experiencing an extramural, which is infrastructure, and they have faced repeated cancellations and delays to their trains if their commute into London. So that's affecting their livelihoods. It's affecting businesses.
So does my hon. Friend agree with me that it's really important that we do improve resilience for transport infrastructure, so that people can continue to go about their daily lives, go to work, and so that businesses can continue to function. Absolutely. I completely agree with her. And in order to do that, we need to think long term. We do not do well enough in this country at thinking long term, thinking beyond the next election cycle. We need to think of the next generation.
What sort of world is it that we want to bequeath to them?What sort of country do we want to bequeath to them, and how are we going to build the country that is suitable for the climate, that will be there in a few decades time?Because, as has been pointed out, this is the coolest it's going to be in our lifetimes. This is only going to become more extreme, more extreme heat, more extreme floods. We need to change our ways as a country.
Now, experts have been telling us this for a long time. The Committee on Climate Change has pointed out that we are not doing anywhere near enough to recognize the adaptation challenge that we face. So I call on the government to grasp this nettle, because this is investment in building a better future. It's actually win win investment because building houses that are suitable for the weather conditions that we're going to be facing is much cheaper to do when you're constructing them than when you're having to retrofit them afterwards.
If we use materials and building approaches that recognize we can cool buildings naturally, we can create urban areas that aren't such huge heat islands as they currently are, but are actually built in such a way, including with lots of tree planting in urban areas. We can cool temperatures locally using natural methods, so we've got a real opportunity here and we should grasp it with both hands. Tackling the adaptation and the resilience challenge isn't just about sticking our fingers in the dike. Sticking plaster approaches, a patchwork retrofitting of air con in every building that's struggling with the heat.
No, this is an opportunity to imagine and to build a better country for the future. And so there are things that the government can do right now. My honourable friend the member for Gorton and Denton yesterday introduced her private member's bill to establish a maximum workplace temperature. We have a minimum workplace temperature. We clearly need a maximum one. So I call on the minister to say, is this something that the government will support?I very much hope so.
As we've seen, there's international precedent and huge amounts of support from across from across the country for this. We also, though, need to recognise that we need to build the long term resilience that is required. We do not yet have, as a country, an adaptation plan that is fit for purpose. We do not yet have the coordination that is needed. I raised this issue with the minister just a few days ago in a debate on national security and resilience, and was told, well, we have, you know, Defra responsible for resilience in farming, and the health department is responsible for resilience in health.
I raised this in health questions just this morning. But we it's the the issues we face are not just retrofitting of our hospitals. They're enabling everybody in the country to stay healthy in the extremes of heat that we are increasingly seeing, so that they're not having to go into hospital in the first place. This is a cross-government requirement across government priority. Will the government ensure that we put in place adaptation plans that the Committee on Climate Change itself will say, ah, yes, this is finally fit for purpose.
And finally, we've got to put the brakes on the problem. At the same time, it's not an either or between mitigation and adaptation. We still have more to do to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, to reduce the emissions that are causing climate breakdown, so that we save ourselves from the worst possible effects of runaway climate change. And so I call on the government to go further and further in climate, further and faster in real climate action, not least by holding the line on jackdaw and on Rosebank, because we cannot, in the one hand, struggle with facing the consequences of climate change, such as extreme heat and, on the other hand, continue to bring more fossil fuels out of the ground and burn them.
We need consistent government policy across the piece. I hope the government will provide that.
15:27
15:27
15:28
15:28
Speaker 16
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Speaker 16
It's an honour to serve under your chairship. And I'd also like to congratulate the honourable member for Waveney Valley for bringing this extremely timely debate. And as Britain experiences yet another summer of extreme heat, what we've heard from everybody, I think, across the debate today is that we cannot ignore the fact that the UK was built for a climate that no longer exists. It's not a distant threat, climate change. It's here today. And as we have the minister here, it is an issue of national security.
It's affecting our constituents, damaging our economy and increasingly costing lives on our current trajectory. In my constituency of South Cambridgeshire, average summer temperatures could rise by more than four degrees. Days above 30 degrees are expected to increase sixfold, while summer rainfall could fall by more than a fifth. And those aren't just statistics. As with others, my constituents have come to me with teachers telling us stories of children struggling to learn in overheated classrooms, older people becoming dangerously ill in care homes, critical incidents in our hospitals, farmers facing drought and water shortages, and communities and wildlife under threat from wildfires.
And yet, despite these growing risks, the Climate Change Committee has concluded that the government's approach to climate adaptation clearly is not working, and we are woefully unprepared. Now, I would like to ask the Minister whether it's true that the Treasury has now accepted as a forecast two degrees for 2050. And if that is the fact that we now have an agreed forecast, whether each department is doing what it should do, which is to set adaptation goals, given, we can now model what it means for every single sector, because preparing for climate impacts, these increasing climate impacts has to be seen as an issue of national security and resilience.
And we, as liberal Democrats, are calling on the following measures that adequate cooling in all NHS hospitals, care homes and schools in high risk areas within the next five years, working with local authorities and mayors to create a network of air conditioned, cool hubs for vulnerable people. We also agree that we could call for maximum workplace temperatures as many of our European neighbours already have increasing green space and planting more trees to cool our towns and cities, and supporting households to insulate their homes and install heat pumps that can provide both efficient heating in winter and cooling in summer.
Without greater resilience, the foundations needed for our UK security will struggle to function, but we have chair all the answers in our hands and that's the message of the multiple people's emergency briefings that have been arranged by the South Thames Climate and Nature Group across my constituency and that I have attended and that have happened across the country. And I'd also like to call on the minister to ask if she supports the need for a government backed televised briefing of the national emergency briefing, because people deserve the facts and they need and want to be better prepared.
Thank you.
It's affecting our constituents, damaging our economy and increasingly costing lives on our current trajectory. In my constituency of South Cambridgeshire, average summer temperatures could rise by more than four degrees. Days above 30 degrees are expected to increase sixfold, while summer rainfall could fall by more than a fifth. And those aren't just statistics. As with others, my constituents have come to me with teachers telling us stories of children struggling to learn in overheated classrooms, older people becoming dangerously ill in care homes, critical incidents in our hospitals, farmers facing drought and water shortages, and communities and wildlife under threat from wildfires.
And yet, despite these growing risks, the Climate Change Committee has concluded that the government's approach to climate adaptation clearly is not working, and we are woefully unprepared. Now, I would like to ask the Minister whether it's true that the Treasury has now accepted as a forecast two degrees for 2050. And if that is the fact that we now have an agreed forecast, whether each department is doing what it should do, which is to set adaptation goals, given, we can now model what it means for every single sector, because preparing for climate impacts, these increasing climate impacts has to be seen as an issue of national security and resilience.
And we, as liberal Democrats, are calling on the following measures that adequate cooling in all NHS hospitals, care homes and schools in high risk areas within the next five years, working with local authorities and mayors to create a network of air conditioned, cool hubs for vulnerable people. We also agree that we could call for maximum workplace temperatures as many of our European neighbours already have increasing green space and planting more trees to cool our towns and cities, and supporting households to insulate their homes and install heat pumps that can provide both efficient heating in winter and cooling in summer.
Without greater resilience, the foundations needed for our UK security will struggle to function, but we have chair all the answers in our hands and that's the message of the multiple people's emergency briefings that have been arranged by the South Thames Climate and Nature Group across my constituency and that I have attended and that have happened across the country. And I'd also like to call on the minister to ask if she supports the need for a government backed televised briefing of the national emergency briefing, because people deserve the facts and they need and want to be better prepared.
Thank you.
15:30
15:30
Speaker 17
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Speaker 17
To serve under your chair. And can I thank the honourable member for Waveney Valley for securing a debate on this very important topic and his wide ranging speech, in particular, highlighted the worsening climate outlook that we face, the health impact both physical and from mental health and sleep as a result of the extreme heat waves we've recently been suffering, as well as important issues about water storage. The honourable member for York Central quite rightly highlighted the impact that extreme heat waves have on people with lower incomes who may not be able to go and buy air conditioning units, etc..
And the honourable member for Strangford, as well as highlighting the the mitigation of ice lollies in the freezer, talked about the impact on elderly population in older rural properties. The honourable member for Paisley and Renfrewshire North added to her comments in last night's adjournment debate about the importance of embodied carbon in buildings and my hon. Friend the member for Tiverton and Honiton joined a number of honourable members in highlighting the failures of water companies and the need to improve reliability of water supply in South West Water's failings.
In her case, the honourable member for Stourbridge highlighted the fact that the Department for education guidance has focused on open windows. I want to come on to whether or not opening the windows helps or not a little while in some of the experimentation I've been doing in my own house as to how to deal with this, and the honourable member for Birmingham, Perry Barr, quite rightly highlighted the fact we've had long term knowledge of climate change, and we have collectively, as a as a human species, failed to take decisive action.
Thus far. The North, the honourable member for North Ayrshire talked about the impact of learning. And finally, my hon. Friend for South Cambridgeshire talked with her customary passion and expertise on this topic that the impact of climate change is here today and should be considered a national security issue. And we Liberal Democrats share the concerns of honourable members in this chamber and are acutely aware of the serious public health threat posed by heatwaves, particularly to those with underlying health conditions, residents of care homes and people living in temporary accommodation.
Back in the summer of 2023, an estimated 2295 deaths were associated with five periods of heat, and this year so far, more than 2700 people may have died from heat related causes, and England and Wales, as suggested by expert estimates. We've also seen wildfires very tragically, leading to the deaths of British citizens in Almeria, in Spain, but I've also had them locally in the Astons and West Challow in my constituency, although thankfully not leading to fatalities in this case. My constituency was also faced the challenge of hot school buildings, particularly at recent school visits.
I felt this for myself at the Stanford C of E Primary School, but also at a secondary school. Despite that building not even being a decade old, and shows how we continue to not get these things right. And I've also attended a national emergency briefing in Wallingford, a community one, and there's also been one in Didcot. And that shows that there is rising popular concern about these topics and that we need to take more action. Now, sir Christopher, I feel that we need to think about this topic in three separate categories.
Firstly is what can we do to prevent the root cause?Secondly, what we can do to mitigate it?And thirdly, what coping measures we have in place now in terms of prevention, I personally very strongly feel and a number of other honourable members do, we can't keep shunting carbon emissions reductions down the road. We have made progress in a number of areas in the United Kingdom, but there is a lot more to be done. But globally, the same issue applies in that when often fronted, confronted with a choice between making further and faster progress on reducing carbon emissions and other factors, it's often those other factors that win out.
Pretty, pretty stagnant progress on introducing electric vehicles and adapting our infrastructure. The hopeless record of the UK has on rail electrification, including under this government and industrial production needs lots of attention. And that's before we even think about rainforest loss and destruction of nature, both here and elsewhere. And that's why we as politicians who care about these topics, we must take. We must tackle net zero skepticism head on because we're directly seeing the impacts of climate change now.
And the honourable member for Strangford, as well as highlighting the the mitigation of ice lollies in the freezer, talked about the impact on elderly population in older rural properties. The honourable member for Paisley and Renfrewshire North added to her comments in last night's adjournment debate about the importance of embodied carbon in buildings and my hon. Friend the member for Tiverton and Honiton joined a number of honourable members in highlighting the failures of water companies and the need to improve reliability of water supply in South West Water's failings.
In her case, the honourable member for Stourbridge highlighted the fact that the Department for education guidance has focused on open windows. I want to come on to whether or not opening the windows helps or not a little while in some of the experimentation I've been doing in my own house as to how to deal with this, and the honourable member for Birmingham, Perry Barr, quite rightly highlighted the fact we've had long term knowledge of climate change, and we have collectively, as a as a human species, failed to take decisive action.
Thus far. The North, the honourable member for North Ayrshire talked about the impact of learning. And finally, my hon. Friend for South Cambridgeshire talked with her customary passion and expertise on this topic that the impact of climate change is here today and should be considered a national security issue. And we Liberal Democrats share the concerns of honourable members in this chamber and are acutely aware of the serious public health threat posed by heatwaves, particularly to those with underlying health conditions, residents of care homes and people living in temporary accommodation.
Back in the summer of 2023, an estimated 2295 deaths were associated with five periods of heat, and this year so far, more than 2700 people may have died from heat related causes, and England and Wales, as suggested by expert estimates. We've also seen wildfires very tragically, leading to the deaths of British citizens in Almeria, in Spain, but I've also had them locally in the Astons and West Challow in my constituency, although thankfully not leading to fatalities in this case. My constituency was also faced the challenge of hot school buildings, particularly at recent school visits.
I felt this for myself at the Stanford C of E Primary School, but also at a secondary school. Despite that building not even being a decade old, and shows how we continue to not get these things right. And I've also attended a national emergency briefing in Wallingford, a community one, and there's also been one in Didcot. And that shows that there is rising popular concern about these topics and that we need to take more action. Now, sir Christopher, I feel that we need to think about this topic in three separate categories.
Firstly is what can we do to prevent the root cause?Secondly, what we can do to mitigate it?And thirdly, what coping measures we have in place now in terms of prevention, I personally very strongly feel and a number of other honourable members do, we can't keep shunting carbon emissions reductions down the road. We have made progress in a number of areas in the United Kingdom, but there is a lot more to be done. But globally, the same issue applies in that when often fronted, confronted with a choice between making further and faster progress on reducing carbon emissions and other factors, it's often those other factors that win out.
Pretty, pretty stagnant progress on introducing electric vehicles and adapting our infrastructure. The hopeless record of the UK has on rail electrification, including under this government and industrial production needs lots of attention. And that's before we even think about rainforest loss and destruction of nature, both here and elsewhere. And that's why we as politicians who care about these topics, we must take. We must tackle net zero skepticism head on because we're directly seeing the impacts of climate change now.
15:34
Speaker 9
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Speaker 9
If we focus solely on mitigation, which, alas, we need to do because of the lack of progress we've made, rather than tackling the root causes of carbon emissions. Turning to the second theme in terms of mitigation, where building design is really important here and the honourable member for North Herefordshire made embodied carbon in buildings the focus of her adjournment debate last night. But that also we can also learn from that about how to design our buildings better so that they are resilient for the future. And we know from buildings as part of our estate here in Parliament, what a long way we have to go on that.
Elements of the palace can be very cool, but portcullis House has hardly been a triumph of modern building design, given the greenhouse that is the atrium. And frankly, every room in that place. I personally am very, very delighted to not have one. A room in portcullis House in the in the ballot and happy to be in Derby Gate where the aircon actually works well for half of it anyway. But that's another story. And it's not right that so many people are left to endure dangerously high temperatures in poorly insulated homes and buildings.
And that's why the Liberal Democrats are calling for a ten year emergency home upgrade programme, beginning with free insulation and heat pumps for low income households, while ensuring all new homes are built to zero carbon standards. And this builds on our recent success getting the government to commit to putting rooftop solar on all new builds. Very much encouraged by my hon. Friend the member for Cheltenham's Sunshine Bill, and it's important that we remember when we're dealing with heat pumps, skepticism that heat pumps have the capability to provide air con in summer.
Now, successive governments have comprehensively failed to take climate adaptation measures seriously, guaranteeing misery for people and communities affected by heat stress, as well as flooding and wildfires. And that's why we would prioritise protecting communities by implementing a comprehensive UK adaptation strategy, embedding climate resilience into decision making across all government departments rather than the current siloed approach, and agencies to prevent problems before they happen. We would want to deliver adequate funding to local communities so that they are empowered to be able to combat flooding, drought and heat waves, including nature based flood management, sustainable drainage, water supply enhancements, building retrofits and urban greening.
Backed by stronger planning and regulatory frameworks. We continue to ignore the evidence that even very simple solutions like more trees and more shade in urban areas, can make an enormous difference to our ability to withstand heat waves. We would also want to develop resilience standards for the energy, water, transport and telecommunications, telecommunications sectors and support homeowners to install proactive adaptation measures against flooding and overheating. We also believe that no one should be expected to work in unacceptably high temperatures, and we support the Climate Change Committee's recommendation to introduce a statutory maximum workplace temperature.
Turning to the third theme coping measures. Well, call hubs is our policy solution for this, which would be rather like a warm, warm hubs and areas of heating. As is very, very popular in Ukraine in winter, when Russia attacks Ukraine's infrastructure. This is the summer equivalent. Community spaces with air conditioning such as gyms, leisure centres and libraries could provide much needed respite from soaring temperatures in summer months following similar call bank schemes in other countries. We need to do more to make our transport networks resilient.
We need to consider whether our current rail stress temperatures need to be increased, given a much wider range of temperatures and much hotter summer temperatures. More modern railway electrification we have in this country is much more resilient to older equipment installed in past decades, and melting tarmac can be an issue both for roads and for aviation and public health. Advice and information is going to be more and more important. Making sure people understand the good practice on keeping houses cool. Now, I've realised from contributions to the Didcot Community Facebook group that I've been doing this all wrong and actually having the windows open often does not help.
And somebody was saying, why are you?Why are you such idiots for opening your windows, keep your windows cool when it's hot. And I have tried that. And I have to say it is a lot better. But, you know, perhaps that exposes my embarrassing lack of understanding of science. But it shows that we can do a lot more to help inform people to reach the best conclusions for their own houses. And finally, we need a public information campaign on what we can all do to prevent fires and reduce the risk of fires, particularly in the countryside where we shouldn't be smoking, vaping, having barbecues in areas that have been subject to drought and are at much higher risk.
So, Christopher, this is very clearly a very challenging topic and one that does need to need action across government departments. And for that reason, I look forward to the minister's comments.
Elements of the palace can be very cool, but portcullis House has hardly been a triumph of modern building design, given the greenhouse that is the atrium. And frankly, every room in that place. I personally am very, very delighted to not have one. A room in portcullis House in the in the ballot and happy to be in Derby Gate where the aircon actually works well for half of it anyway. But that's another story. And it's not right that so many people are left to endure dangerously high temperatures in poorly insulated homes and buildings.
And that's why the Liberal Democrats are calling for a ten year emergency home upgrade programme, beginning with free insulation and heat pumps for low income households, while ensuring all new homes are built to zero carbon standards. And this builds on our recent success getting the government to commit to putting rooftop solar on all new builds. Very much encouraged by my hon. Friend the member for Cheltenham's Sunshine Bill, and it's important that we remember when we're dealing with heat pumps, skepticism that heat pumps have the capability to provide air con in summer.
Now, successive governments have comprehensively failed to take climate adaptation measures seriously, guaranteeing misery for people and communities affected by heat stress, as well as flooding and wildfires. And that's why we would prioritise protecting communities by implementing a comprehensive UK adaptation strategy, embedding climate resilience into decision making across all government departments rather than the current siloed approach, and agencies to prevent problems before they happen. We would want to deliver adequate funding to local communities so that they are empowered to be able to combat flooding, drought and heat waves, including nature based flood management, sustainable drainage, water supply enhancements, building retrofits and urban greening.
Backed by stronger planning and regulatory frameworks. We continue to ignore the evidence that even very simple solutions like more trees and more shade in urban areas, can make an enormous difference to our ability to withstand heat waves. We would also want to develop resilience standards for the energy, water, transport and telecommunications, telecommunications sectors and support homeowners to install proactive adaptation measures against flooding and overheating. We also believe that no one should be expected to work in unacceptably high temperatures, and we support the Climate Change Committee's recommendation to introduce a statutory maximum workplace temperature.
Turning to the third theme coping measures. Well, call hubs is our policy solution for this, which would be rather like a warm, warm hubs and areas of heating. As is very, very popular in Ukraine in winter, when Russia attacks Ukraine's infrastructure. This is the summer equivalent. Community spaces with air conditioning such as gyms, leisure centres and libraries could provide much needed respite from soaring temperatures in summer months following similar call bank schemes in other countries. We need to do more to make our transport networks resilient.
We need to consider whether our current rail stress temperatures need to be increased, given a much wider range of temperatures and much hotter summer temperatures. More modern railway electrification we have in this country is much more resilient to older equipment installed in past decades, and melting tarmac can be an issue both for roads and for aviation and public health. Advice and information is going to be more and more important. Making sure people understand the good practice on keeping houses cool. Now, I've realised from contributions to the Didcot Community Facebook group that I've been doing this all wrong and actually having the windows open often does not help.
And somebody was saying, why are you?Why are you such idiots for opening your windows, keep your windows cool when it's hot. And I have tried that. And I have to say it is a lot better. But, you know, perhaps that exposes my embarrassing lack of understanding of science. But it shows that we can do a lot more to help inform people to reach the best conclusions for their own houses. And finally, we need a public information campaign on what we can all do to prevent fires and reduce the risk of fires, particularly in the countryside where we shouldn't be smoking, vaping, having barbecues in areas that have been subject to drought and are at much higher risk.
So, Christopher, this is very clearly a very challenging topic and one that does need to need action across government departments. And for that reason, I look forward to the minister's comments.
15:39
Speaker 18
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Speaker 18
Thank you very much. It's a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship. And can I congratulate the honourable gentleman for Waveney Valley from another Valley MP on securing this debate this afternoon, he had. He excellently outlined. Uh, many people affected by the extreme heat that we've had over the last few weeks, both personally, but also to schools, hospitals and farmers. And all of us will have been, uh, had the experience in the last few months of helping some of our vulnerable groups in our constituencies.
Myself, just last Saturday, when I met an elderly couple who hadn't got fans or water, um, who hadn't been seen in the system, we all know that we've helped vulnerable residents and I commend everybody around this chamber for the job that they do. I noted that when he made his initial speech, just as he was speaking, a doorkeeper was bringing in another fan. And I didn't lose the irony that the doorkeepers are wearing a very heavy woollen suit. And so I hope that we think about them as much as everybody else when we're talking about the extreme heat with their uniform in this house.
Um, I will take the intervention.
Myself, just last Saturday, when I met an elderly couple who hadn't got fans or water, um, who hadn't been seen in the system, we all know that we've helped vulnerable residents and I commend everybody around this chamber for the job that they do. I noted that when he made his initial speech, just as he was speaking, a doorkeeper was bringing in another fan. And I didn't lose the irony that the doorkeepers are wearing a very heavy woollen suit. And so I hope that we think about them as much as everybody else when we're talking about the extreme heat with their uniform in this house.
Um, I will take the intervention.
15:40
15:40
Speaker 8
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Speaker 8
Hosted in speaker's court a solar powered ice cream van, which we did for your constituency, which, given the heat, was very, very nourishing. It was lovely to see that the doorkeepers and those who are working with the speaker were able to come out and have a little bit of resource, but what was so good was to see electrify Britain's campaign about getting bills down whilst we reduce emissions. So a fully solar powered stiles ice cream production and ice cream vans was fantastic to see and giving everybody a bit of comfort.
15:41
Speaker 18
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Speaker 18
I think I'll leave that one for the minister to respond to, but I do absolutely agree with her, entirely agree with her. It's good to see that the doorkeepers and members of this House who support us so admirably were allowed to have a brief break. I myself did not manage to get a solar powered produced ice cream. Perhaps I'll pop down there afterwards. Um, look. Honourable members, Sir Christopher have addressed the challenges. For example, the honourable gentleman for Birmingham, Perry Barr, Perry Barr and the Honourable Lady for North West Herefordshire have said that enough wasn't focused on over the last few years in terms of mitigation.
They're absolutely correct, but also in terms of emissions. But I would just remind members of the House that since 2010, we have seen a 40% reduction in the total number of total carbon emissions since 2010. And the United Kingdom itself only represents 0.8% of total global emissions. We have to make sure, and I know that they would agree that we have to tackle this internationally as well as domestically. And I know that they would have said that if they had longer to speak, has been, as has been already outlined, last summer was the warmest on record in Britain, and the UK Health Security Agency estimates that 1504 people died as a result of the heat behind that figure.
Of course, Sir Christopher, are families who have lost loved ones, and what is particularly striking is that the overwhelming majority were elderly. More than 1300 of those deaths were among people aged over 75. Fortunately, that number was lower than the more than 3000 deaths that had been predicted, thanks in part to the successful implementation of the Adverse weather and health plan introduced by the previous government. That demonstrates an important point preparation saves lives, and as our climate changes, extreme heat can no longer be regarded as an exceptional event.
It is becoming a recurring feature of British summers, and government policy must adapt accordingly. Reducing emissions remains important, but adaptation must sit alongside mitigation. We have a duty to ensure that our homes, our infrastructure, our public services and our energy system are capable of coping with the conditions we increasingly face. That begins with protecting those who are most vulnerable. The Cabinet Office, Sir Chris, is the lead government department for severe weather and has responsibility for identifying those who require particular protection during periods of extreme heat.
Last year's Resilience Action Plan committed the government to publishing new lead department expectations and updated guidance to help departments identify those who may become vulnerable during emergencies, such as heat waves. Yet a year after those commitments were made, neither appears to have been delivered. So can I ask the minister, in her winding up, therefore, whether she will explain when these long promised expectations and updated guidance will be finally published?Because, as I've said, preparing for emergencies cannot simply be a slogan. It requires effective planning and proper coordination across government.
Preparation must also extend to the homes we are building today. Many of these homes will still be occupied, but at the end of this century, they should therefore be designed not simply for the climate of the past, but for the hotter summers that experts increasingly expect in apartments in densely built urban areas, or during prolonged periods of extreme heat. Opening windows is often ineffective. As the Liberal Democrat spokesman outlined through personal experience is often ineffective or impractical impractical because of security concerns, pollution or noise.
Um. Now, current building regulations may not explicitly prohibit air conditioning, but they require developers to exhaust every possible passive cooling measure before mechanical cooling can even be considered. And in practice, that has created a system where air conditioning has become the exception rather than a realistic option. Indeed, there have been cases where families have installed air conditioning and have been instructed by councils to remove it. At precisely the moment, Britain needs to become more resilient to hotter summers. Government policy is too often acted as a barrier to the adoption of technology that could help people remain safe and comfortable.
Research suggests that wider use of air conditioning could reduce heat associated deaths among those at greatest risks by as much as three quarters. This is not simply a matter of comfort, it is about public health and protecting vulnerable people. It is also about ensuring children can learn effectively during hot weather. Workers remain productive and families are able to sleep safely through increasingly warm nights. Britain is increasingly becoming an international outlier. Sir Chris Around 90% of homes in both Japan and the United States have air conditioning, compared with only 3 to 5% of homes in the United Kingdom.
Now, we in the Conservative Party have already committed to removing the regulations that effectively discourage air conditioning in new homes. And I ask the minister whether the government will now consider doing the same. There is also another contradiction in current policy. At a very time that we are discouraging greater use of air conditioning. Consumers are paying billions of pounds through their energy bills to compensate renewable generators for switching off when there is excess electricity generation during sunny summer days, air conditioning demand rises precisely when solar generation is at its strongest.
Rather than paying generators not to generate, surely it makes more sense to allow households to use that electricity electricity to cool their homes. So, Chris, as electricity generation becomes increasingly dependent on intermittent weather conditions, maintaining stability on the grid becomes ever more challenging. During this summer, the National Energy System operator took the unprecedented step of issuing electricity margin notices following periods when supply became dangerously tight that that should concern every member of this House. Very briefly.
They're absolutely correct, but also in terms of emissions. But I would just remind members of the House that since 2010, we have seen a 40% reduction in the total number of total carbon emissions since 2010. And the United Kingdom itself only represents 0.8% of total global emissions. We have to make sure, and I know that they would agree that we have to tackle this internationally as well as domestically. And I know that they would have said that if they had longer to speak, has been, as has been already outlined, last summer was the warmest on record in Britain, and the UK Health Security Agency estimates that 1504 people died as a result of the heat behind that figure.
Of course, Sir Christopher, are families who have lost loved ones, and what is particularly striking is that the overwhelming majority were elderly. More than 1300 of those deaths were among people aged over 75. Fortunately, that number was lower than the more than 3000 deaths that had been predicted, thanks in part to the successful implementation of the Adverse weather and health plan introduced by the previous government. That demonstrates an important point preparation saves lives, and as our climate changes, extreme heat can no longer be regarded as an exceptional event.
It is becoming a recurring feature of British summers, and government policy must adapt accordingly. Reducing emissions remains important, but adaptation must sit alongside mitigation. We have a duty to ensure that our homes, our infrastructure, our public services and our energy system are capable of coping with the conditions we increasingly face. That begins with protecting those who are most vulnerable. The Cabinet Office, Sir Chris, is the lead government department for severe weather and has responsibility for identifying those who require particular protection during periods of extreme heat.
Last year's Resilience Action Plan committed the government to publishing new lead department expectations and updated guidance to help departments identify those who may become vulnerable during emergencies, such as heat waves. Yet a year after those commitments were made, neither appears to have been delivered. So can I ask the minister, in her winding up, therefore, whether she will explain when these long promised expectations and updated guidance will be finally published?Because, as I've said, preparing for emergencies cannot simply be a slogan. It requires effective planning and proper coordination across government.
Preparation must also extend to the homes we are building today. Many of these homes will still be occupied, but at the end of this century, they should therefore be designed not simply for the climate of the past, but for the hotter summers that experts increasingly expect in apartments in densely built urban areas, or during prolonged periods of extreme heat. Opening windows is often ineffective. As the Liberal Democrat spokesman outlined through personal experience is often ineffective or impractical impractical because of security concerns, pollution or noise.
Um. Now, current building regulations may not explicitly prohibit air conditioning, but they require developers to exhaust every possible passive cooling measure before mechanical cooling can even be considered. And in practice, that has created a system where air conditioning has become the exception rather than a realistic option. Indeed, there have been cases where families have installed air conditioning and have been instructed by councils to remove it. At precisely the moment, Britain needs to become more resilient to hotter summers. Government policy is too often acted as a barrier to the adoption of technology that could help people remain safe and comfortable.
Research suggests that wider use of air conditioning could reduce heat associated deaths among those at greatest risks by as much as three quarters. This is not simply a matter of comfort, it is about public health and protecting vulnerable people. It is also about ensuring children can learn effectively during hot weather. Workers remain productive and families are able to sleep safely through increasingly warm nights. Britain is increasingly becoming an international outlier. Sir Chris Around 90% of homes in both Japan and the United States have air conditioning, compared with only 3 to 5% of homes in the United Kingdom.
Now, we in the Conservative Party have already committed to removing the regulations that effectively discourage air conditioning in new homes. And I ask the minister whether the government will now consider doing the same. There is also another contradiction in current policy. At a very time that we are discouraging greater use of air conditioning. Consumers are paying billions of pounds through their energy bills to compensate renewable generators for switching off when there is excess electricity generation during sunny summer days, air conditioning demand rises precisely when solar generation is at its strongest.
Rather than paying generators not to generate, surely it makes more sense to allow households to use that electricity electricity to cool their homes. So, Chris, as electricity generation becomes increasingly dependent on intermittent weather conditions, maintaining stability on the grid becomes ever more challenging. During this summer, the National Energy System operator took the unprecedented step of issuing electricity margin notices following periods when supply became dangerously tight that that should concern every member of this House. Very briefly.
15:47
Speaker 12
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Speaker 12
I thank him for giving way. Does he recognise that it's not actually unusual for Nezo to issue emergency measures?And actually there are normally peaks and troughs during the day. For example, when people come home from work, put the kettle on, turn on the air conditioning, and they have stated that that is quite normal.
15:47
Speaker 18
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Speaker 18
I thank the honourable lady for giving way. It may be quite normal, but I still think that it should concern people that we are still vulnerable in terms of our electricity supply, and that we are becoming increasingly dependent, as I say, on on weather conditions. But I do appreciate her intervention. So. So, Chris. In conclusion, preparing Britain for a changing climate means much more than setting emissions targets. It means protecting vulnerable people. It means ensuring government departments are properly prepared.
It means building homes that are fit for hotter summers, and it means embracing practical technologies that improve resilience. And it means maintaining an electricity system capable of supporting them. Adaptation is not an alternative to tackling climate change. It is an essential part of responding to it, because whatever path the climate takes over the coming decades, and we all know what path that will be, our responsibility today is to ensure that Britain is ready. Thank you Minister.
It means building homes that are fit for hotter summers, and it means embracing practical technologies that improve resilience. And it means maintaining an electricity system capable of supporting them. Adaptation is not an alternative to tackling climate change. It is an essential part of responding to it, because whatever path the climate takes over the coming decades, and we all know what path that will be, our responsibility today is to ensure that Britain is ready. Thank you Minister.
15:48
15:49
Speaker 17
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Speaker 17
In, uh, this debate today, it's and it's a debate about a matter which has affected a great many of our constituents, probably everybody here as well, struggling through the London Heat. And I'm grateful to members for their valuable contributions today. Um, I'd like to thank the honourable member for Waveney Valley for securing the debate and, and, and I hope to be able to, um, give all members and honourable members some, uh, some confidence that we are making progress in what is an extremely complicated and interconnected problem, not only in interconnected here in this country, but a problem which requires action locally, nationally, and also internationally.
It's not something that can be solved easily or quickly, but the despite some of the, um, the issues and the considerable challenges that, um, many of the honourable members contributing today have pointed out and they, and they are considerable. I just wanted to cheer people up slightly with the, the statement that my honourable friend, the Nature Minister, made on the floor of the House yesterday, where she did point out, um, that before the Paris Agreement, the world was on track for 4% of warming. We've now got it down to 2.5.
Now this is still way too high, but I use that example simply because I want to inject a little bit of confidence that if we can get our processes right internationally as well as nationally, that there are things that we can actually do about this. Um, I often think that when we discuss issues such as this, they are so complex and interrelated that it's very easy for people just to think the problem is too great. We cannot possibly deal with it and then be despairing about it.
And so I wanted to inject a little bit of optimism. We have made progress. Um, but we've got to carry on and we've got to ensure that we carry on making progress. Um, this government recognises that extreme heat fuelled by climate change is no longer a rare seasonal event to be managed with temporary emergency measures. It is a chronic recurring structural risk to our economy, our public health and our national security. And I think every member and honourable member who has made contribution today has recognised that point.
Our response to it is built on a combination of tried and tested plans and capabilities that have been refined over time, and also longer term programmes to meet the specific challenges of climate change. Evidence suggests that without action, the physical impacts of climate change could cost England's economy between 1.1% of GDP to 3.3% by 2050 and at least 7.4% by the end of the century. And we're taking action now in recognition that it's economically beneficial to invest early to reduce emissions. And as Sir Nicholas Stern said many years ago, the more money you spend on investing to prevent, the cheaper it is to deal with the consequences that you are facing.
Sir Christopher, the government has therefore put clean energy and climate action at the heart of its agenda, including showing global leadership by setting a world leading target to reduce emissions by at least 81% by 2035, cutting emissions remains our first line of defence. Um, Sir Christopher, it's harder when, uh, the consensus that had existed about climate action has broken down politically, globally as well as in this country, and that there are still people out there who claim that climate change doesn't exist. And we're spending a load of money for no particular reason.
When we know that scientists are universally agreed that the trouble, the increase in heat that we're talking about in this debate, the changes in climate that we're talking about more generally have been caused by human effects on our planet's climate. And the sooner that everybody recognizes that globally. Sir Christopher, the easier it will be for the great ingenuity of the human race when it's in a good mood to be able to deal with the consequences of what has been done in the past with industrialisation. So we're taking action as well as mitigation, to prepare the UK for the impacts of climate change under the Climate Change Act 2008, we maintain a robust climate change risk assessment and through the National Adaptation Programme, Defra coordinates a rigorous cross-government response to ensure that our sectors remain resilient.
The government. I'm happy to.
It's not something that can be solved easily or quickly, but the despite some of the, um, the issues and the considerable challenges that, um, many of the honourable members contributing today have pointed out and they, and they are considerable. I just wanted to cheer people up slightly with the, the statement that my honourable friend, the Nature Minister, made on the floor of the House yesterday, where she did point out, um, that before the Paris Agreement, the world was on track for 4% of warming. We've now got it down to 2.5.
Now this is still way too high, but I use that example simply because I want to inject a little bit of confidence that if we can get our processes right internationally as well as nationally, that there are things that we can actually do about this. Um, I often think that when we discuss issues such as this, they are so complex and interrelated that it's very easy for people just to think the problem is too great. We cannot possibly deal with it and then be despairing about it.
And so I wanted to inject a little bit of optimism. We have made progress. Um, but we've got to carry on and we've got to ensure that we carry on making progress. Um, this government recognises that extreme heat fuelled by climate change is no longer a rare seasonal event to be managed with temporary emergency measures. It is a chronic recurring structural risk to our economy, our public health and our national security. And I think every member and honourable member who has made contribution today has recognised that point.
Our response to it is built on a combination of tried and tested plans and capabilities that have been refined over time, and also longer term programmes to meet the specific challenges of climate change. Evidence suggests that without action, the physical impacts of climate change could cost England's economy between 1.1% of GDP to 3.3% by 2050 and at least 7.4% by the end of the century. And we're taking action now in recognition that it's economically beneficial to invest early to reduce emissions. And as Sir Nicholas Stern said many years ago, the more money you spend on investing to prevent, the cheaper it is to deal with the consequences that you are facing.
Sir Christopher, the government has therefore put clean energy and climate action at the heart of its agenda, including showing global leadership by setting a world leading target to reduce emissions by at least 81% by 2035, cutting emissions remains our first line of defence. Um, Sir Christopher, it's harder when, uh, the consensus that had existed about climate action has broken down politically, globally as well as in this country, and that there are still people out there who claim that climate change doesn't exist. And we're spending a load of money for no particular reason.
When we know that scientists are universally agreed that the trouble, the increase in heat that we're talking about in this debate, the changes in climate that we're talking about more generally have been caused by human effects on our planet's climate. And the sooner that everybody recognizes that globally. Sir Christopher, the easier it will be for the great ingenuity of the human race when it's in a good mood to be able to deal with the consequences of what has been done in the past with industrialisation. So we're taking action as well as mitigation, to prepare the UK for the impacts of climate change under the Climate Change Act 2008, we maintain a robust climate change risk assessment and through the National Adaptation Programme, Defra coordinates a rigorous cross-government response to ensure that our sectors remain resilient.
The government. I'm happy to.
15:53
Speaker 20
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Speaker 20
Very briefly, on the government's approach to water in. In the recent um. Heat, South East Water reported that water usage went up by 15% because people were taking extra showers and all the rest of it, um, that she will know that South East water has had huge problems with resilience in the network that pushed them right to the brink. What is the government doing to get a grip of this so that we do build in that resilience to areas like Kent that will be in water deficit by the end of 2027?
15:54
Speaker 17
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Speaker 17
Well, my honourable friend the Minister for Water in Defra is probably, um, much more in a position to give him detail on that. The Water White Paper will seek to try as well to create a more coherent system than the one that we inherited, which we know is inadequate. Now the government is strengthening long term climate adaptation by setting stronger objectives based on on common planning assumptions informed by the guidance we requested from the climate Change Committee. And again, referring to my honourable friend, the Nature Minister's.
Uh, state. On the state of climate and nature on the floor of the House yesterday, she did actually make an announcement that on on climate adaptation, where she said that the government are accepting that we're building our future resilience and adaptation on a minimum of 2% warming by two. 2050 and supporting combined authorities to increase their resilience to climate change to so that that minimum percentage increase, temperature increase is the assumption that will the government will take forward, um for its adaptation, um, planning in the future.
And I think that's what the honourable lady was asking me about in her contribution. I happily give way.
Uh, state. On the state of climate and nature on the floor of the House yesterday, she did actually make an announcement that on on climate adaptation, where she said that the government are accepting that we're building our future resilience and adaptation on a minimum of 2% warming by two. 2050 and supporting combined authorities to increase their resilience to climate change to so that that minimum percentage increase, temperature increase is the assumption that will the government will take forward, um for its adaptation, um, planning in the future.
And I think that's what the honourable lady was asking me about in her contribution. I happily give way.
15:55
15:55
15:56
15:56
Speaker 8
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Speaker 8
I presume we're talking about degrees of warming in terms of temperature. Um, and I just want to confirm that that's what we've been looking at as not a minimum, but that is accepting that we're going beyond not being able to keep it below 1.5 degrees and that the two degrees is actually not, not a minimum, but it's actually accepting that's a forecast that we wouldn't like to see, but is probably happening. And if we don't do more, we're then looking at that going towards four degrees by the end of the century.
15:56
Speaker 17
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Speaker 17
Um, yes, I absolutely accept that. And so does the government. Um, it's not ideal that 2% is, is, is the minimum in terms of what we wish public authorities to, to, to, to plan their adaptation assumptions on. And we want to avoid getting to 2%. But the fact is that the way things are going. That is a realistic assumption for our planners to incorporate in the work that they do now.
15:57
15:57
15:57
15:58
Speaker 1
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Speaker 1
Okay, thank you, chair, and thank you for all of the honourable members who've come along to take part in today's debate. It shows the amount of interest there is in this issue from across the House and how this affects our constituents day to day lives now, let alone the changes that could come in the future. I thank the Minister for the information she gave. She suggested she had more information to give, which I would welcome seeing, especially if she's gone to the trouble of preparing it.
I'd welcome a written response to see what else. There is more. In particular, I'd like to hear more about the cross-departmental work that is planned. That's why I called for this to be led by the Cabinet Office, because as much, as much as I respect and work with Defra ministers in order for it to be cross-government, and it really needs to be cross-government, being led by the Cabinet Office is extremely important. I was also looking forward to the minister coming on to talk about what immediate actions can be taken this summer, given that we've got many measures that will take longer to deliver, in particular around increasing the support for tackling wildfires and increasing the support for A&E departments.
So she has more to add on that. I'd welcome it. And I also wanted to underline what 2 or 3 other members have said in this debate. I've also hosted a screening of the People's Emergency Briefing in my constituency recently, and I do think it would be immensely powerful for the government to get behind there being a public information screening of that film, and alongside it, you could have measures around how people can adapt as best they can to the changes that we've got.
I know systemic measures that are needed on both of these things. It's not about what individuals can do, but providing people with that information would help raise the profile of this and the sense in which we're all working on this together. Um, and I also want to reinforce the point that my honourable friend from North Herefordshire made that if we are to get to grips with this problem, we must stop, first of all, making it far, far worse, which the granting of new licences for oil drilling in Rosebank and Jackdaw would do.
Rosebank would emit emissions equivalent to 28 low income countries. We can't possibly justify that if we're going to be getting to grips with the scale of the problem, but it has been reassuring to hear that members from across the House are concerned about the degree of warming we already have in front of us, and that we need to be tackling to protect people, especially the most vulnerable, who are affected the most. And I look forward to hearing further from the minister around the range of actions the government has planned.
I'd welcome a written response to see what else. There is more. In particular, I'd like to hear more about the cross-departmental work that is planned. That's why I called for this to be led by the Cabinet Office, because as much, as much as I respect and work with Defra ministers in order for it to be cross-government, and it really needs to be cross-government, being led by the Cabinet Office is extremely important. I was also looking forward to the minister coming on to talk about what immediate actions can be taken this summer, given that we've got many measures that will take longer to deliver, in particular around increasing the support for tackling wildfires and increasing the support for A&E departments.
So she has more to add on that. I'd welcome it. And I also wanted to underline what 2 or 3 other members have said in this debate. I've also hosted a screening of the People's Emergency Briefing in my constituency recently, and I do think it would be immensely powerful for the government to get behind there being a public information screening of that film, and alongside it, you could have measures around how people can adapt as best they can to the changes that we've got.
I know systemic measures that are needed on both of these things. It's not about what individuals can do, but providing people with that information would help raise the profile of this and the sense in which we're all working on this together. Um, and I also want to reinforce the point that my honourable friend from North Herefordshire made that if we are to get to grips with this problem, we must stop, first of all, making it far, far worse, which the granting of new licences for oil drilling in Rosebank and Jackdaw would do.
Rosebank would emit emissions equivalent to 28 low income countries. We can't possibly justify that if we're going to be getting to grips with the scale of the problem, but it has been reassuring to hear that members from across the House are concerned about the degree of warming we already have in front of us, and that we need to be tackling to protect people, especially the most vulnerable, who are affected the most. And I look forward to hearing further from the minister around the range of actions the government has planned.
15:59
16:00
Speaker 21
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Speaker 21
Expenses. Rates for employees travelling outside the UK. Thank you. Um, can I just say it's a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, sir?Um, I'm bringing this motion before the House this afternoon to call on the government to ensure that serious consideration is given to reassessing the scale rates for expenses and subsidence, which is paid to employees who, by nature of their work, are required to travel outside the UK. Crawley is my constituency. It's home to Gatwick Airport and as a result it is also home to many workers, including pilots and various members of cabin crew, who are often required to spend a considerable amount of time abroad with the flights that they are crewing.
This can last anywhere from several hours to for those working particularly long haul flights, several days time is spent away from home in foreign cities without access to kitchens or other domestic utilities, and it can be overwhelmingly expensive, particularly for junior members of the cabin crew, whose salaries, according to the National Careers Service, begin at around £19,000. It is right, therefore, that employers pay tax deductible subsidence payments to their employees to cover the costs associated with travel necessary to do their jobs. Under the previous government, in order to save companies from checking every single receipt that an employee accrues while abroad, HMRC introduced a benchmark expenses rate for employees travelling outside of the UK.
In 2013, with unique rates produced for almost every one of the world's major cities, setting out the average cover. Under the previous government, in order to save companies from checking every single receipt that an employee accrues while abroad, HMRC introduced a benchmark expenses rate for employees travelling outside of the UK. These were first published on the government's website. Website in 2013, with unique rates produced for almost every one of the world's major cities, setting out the average cost of drinks of breakfast, lunch and dinner of a night in a hotel room and even cover the costs associated with travel necessary to do their jobs.
Under the previous government, in order to save companies from checking every single receipt that an employee accrues while abroad, HMRC introduced a benchmark expenses rate for employees travelling outside of the UK. These were first published on the government's website. In 2013, with unique rates produced for almost every one of the world's major cities, setting out the average cost of drinks of breakfast, lunch and dinner of a night in a hotel room, and even the journey from hotel to office. Each city had also been given broader, non-specific subsistence reimbursement rates, demarcated across specific time boundaries.
This is a rate for when employees spent over five hours in a given city, and another for when they spent over ten and 24 hours there. Cell with which the task of producing these rates for over a decade ago is evident not simply by the fact that HMRC went to the effort of going city by city and making unique assessments, but that the increase in reimbursement between five, ten and 24 hours is not only non-linear, it is also unique between cities, however, and despite the time and effort which are clearly already been put into producing these bespoke rates, they have only been significantly upgraded once in the last 13 years.
That was in October 2014, just a year after they were first produced, and only included a fraction of the cities listed. Despite receiving previous assurances on this topic that the government keeps all taxes, including overseas subsistence rates, under review, if you check their website, the rates payable to an employee who's travelled to Zagreb for work are listed in Croatian Kuna. Despite the fact that Croatia joined the euro on 1st of January in 2023, the. Subsistence rates for at least 15 European capitals, including Athens, Madrid, Lisbon and Dublin, have never received an update.
That means due to over a decade of inflation, these benchmark values have been eroded in real terms. Ahead of this debate. Using the total residual rates produced in 2013 and nation specific Consumer Price index inflation figures from the world Bank Group, we've calculated that we might have expected the resistance rates for European destinations to be. Today. Amsterdam's total residual rate in 2013 was set at €71. A year later, it was raised to €72, where it remains today, according to the World Bank's data prices in the Netherlands 12 years since have risen an average of 2.6% every year, which compounds to a 36% increase over this period.
Had the 2013 rate for Amsterdam increased in line with inflation, workers having to spend over 24 hours in the city would now receive over €96. Here. The fact that these rates have been ignored for so long means that cabin crew and pilots, my constituents and constituents of adjacent areas, are losing out on subsistence payments of more than €25. Of course.
This can last anywhere from several hours to for those working particularly long haul flights, several days time is spent away from home in foreign cities without access to kitchens or other domestic utilities, and it can be overwhelmingly expensive, particularly for junior members of the cabin crew, whose salaries, according to the National Careers Service, begin at around £19,000. It is right, therefore, that employers pay tax deductible subsidence payments to their employees to cover the costs associated with travel necessary to do their jobs. Under the previous government, in order to save companies from checking every single receipt that an employee accrues while abroad, HMRC introduced a benchmark expenses rate for employees travelling outside of the UK.
In 2013, with unique rates produced for almost every one of the world's major cities, setting out the average cover. Under the previous government, in order to save companies from checking every single receipt that an employee accrues while abroad, HMRC introduced a benchmark expenses rate for employees travelling outside of the UK. These were first published on the government's website. Website in 2013, with unique rates produced for almost every one of the world's major cities, setting out the average cost of drinks of breakfast, lunch and dinner of a night in a hotel room and even cover the costs associated with travel necessary to do their jobs.
Under the previous government, in order to save companies from checking every single receipt that an employee accrues while abroad, HMRC introduced a benchmark expenses rate for employees travelling outside of the UK. These were first published on the government's website. In 2013, with unique rates produced for almost every one of the world's major cities, setting out the average cost of drinks of breakfast, lunch and dinner of a night in a hotel room, and even the journey from hotel to office. Each city had also been given broader, non-specific subsistence reimbursement rates, demarcated across specific time boundaries.
This is a rate for when employees spent over five hours in a given city, and another for when they spent over ten and 24 hours there. Cell with which the task of producing these rates for over a decade ago is evident not simply by the fact that HMRC went to the effort of going city by city and making unique assessments, but that the increase in reimbursement between five, ten and 24 hours is not only non-linear, it is also unique between cities, however, and despite the time and effort which are clearly already been put into producing these bespoke rates, they have only been significantly upgraded once in the last 13 years.
That was in October 2014, just a year after they were first produced, and only included a fraction of the cities listed. Despite receiving previous assurances on this topic that the government keeps all taxes, including overseas subsistence rates, under review, if you check their website, the rates payable to an employee who's travelled to Zagreb for work are listed in Croatian Kuna. Despite the fact that Croatia joined the euro on 1st of January in 2023, the. Subsistence rates for at least 15 European capitals, including Athens, Madrid, Lisbon and Dublin, have never received an update.
That means due to over a decade of inflation, these benchmark values have been eroded in real terms. Ahead of this debate. Using the total residual rates produced in 2013 and nation specific Consumer Price index inflation figures from the world Bank Group, we've calculated that we might have expected the resistance rates for European destinations to be. Today. Amsterdam's total residual rate in 2013 was set at €71. A year later, it was raised to €72, where it remains today, according to the World Bank's data prices in the Netherlands 12 years since have risen an average of 2.6% every year, which compounds to a 36% increase over this period.
Had the 2013 rate for Amsterdam increased in line with inflation, workers having to spend over 24 hours in the city would now receive over €96. Here. The fact that these rates have been ignored for so long means that cabin crew and pilots, my constituents and constituents of adjacent areas, are losing out on subsistence payments of more than €25. Of course.
16:04
Speaker 15
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Speaker 15
And and I represent Horsham, an adjacent constituency, and I very much experience the same problem. So this is not this is not a rare thing. I have many cabin crew in my area saying the same thing. I also have a one person who is affected who's trying to get, um, leave to remain. And the visa application is extremely complicated by going back and forth out of the country. So I very much support him. And I would like to emphasize the Minister that this is not a small problem.
16:05
Speaker 21
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Speaker 21
Um. I. I take that fully on board and I'm delighted to have you here today for this debate. The cities in Europe, where the situation is even more pronounced than in Amsterdam. In Budapest, the total residual rate set in 2013 and unchanged since 2014, has been eaten away by a compound inflation rate of 67%. In Hungary, the current payment of 16,000 forint is well over 10,000 forints, or 40% lower than it should be the worst. Of this amongst European capitals, however, is Ankara.
In the years since, the overseas business rates were first set, Turkey has experienced huge inflation. Prices have risen at an average of 22.5% every year. Despite this, Ankara's total residual rate remains at the 240 lira rate as set in 2014. If this increase with inflation, it would be over 25,000. So 2500 lira today, which represents an unrealized ten fold increase in. These situations as a direct result of the Treasury not having revisited those rates over the last 12 years, Airlines and other organizations are able to justify under.
Compensating their staff by pointing out to what is essentially government guidance. Treasury with these concerns last year, the Secretary informed me that in these situations with expenses, rates do not cover the actual costs of needing to eat and drink and sleep while abroad for work, the employers can instead choose to pay actual expenses incurred. Unfortunately, not every company chooses to do that for their employees, with very many of them instead choosing. And I don't think it should be a surprise for any of us that this is the case to pay the lower rate, the government's fixed rate.
This is an issue having a real and detrimental impact on the working lives of cabin crew, a constituent of mine working for an airline operating out of Gatwick Airport, was blunt about this, telling me that the fact that these rates are so far behind reality means that they've been forced to miss meals while abroad for work. Another constituent stated that the current scale rate allowances do not reflect the real costs we face on these trips, and reiterated that the allowance provided does not even cover the most basic meals. It's evident, therefore, that overseas rates must be raised.
This is why I was delighted when, in his written statement, my honourable friend the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury committed to reviewing and updating them last month. This has been a long time coming while simply increasing the 2013 rates in line with inflation would be welcome. I hope the Treasury takes some time to understand a full review of how subsistence rates can be systematically improved. Having secured this debate, I was contacted by Virgin Atlantic, who, amongst other things, raised concerns that are some destinations where the current rates might not reflect the full cost of subsistence for an individual visiting or living in the city.
For instance, they provide the example of Lagos with safety restrictions, require pilots and cabin crew to remain within their hotels and rely on higher cost room service or on site dining. It is their view and a view that I share that any review should give consideration to these concerns and ensure that safe accommodation is made affordable under the new rates. I am well aware that questions related to tax pose difficult questions for decision. So difficult decisions for governments to make, particularly at times of global economic uncertainty such as these.
But I would hope that we would all accept that people shouldn't be going without meals while undertaking travel essential to their work, particularly with those individuals, may already be on a very low wage. I'll be closely following the outcome of the Treasury's review into overseas scale rates, and I hope that the various issues that I've highlighted here today are reflected in its outcome. Thank you.
In the years since, the overseas business rates were first set, Turkey has experienced huge inflation. Prices have risen at an average of 22.5% every year. Despite this, Ankara's total residual rate remains at the 240 lira rate as set in 2014. If this increase with inflation, it would be over 25,000. So 2500 lira today, which represents an unrealized ten fold increase in. These situations as a direct result of the Treasury not having revisited those rates over the last 12 years, Airlines and other organizations are able to justify under.
Compensating their staff by pointing out to what is essentially government guidance. Treasury with these concerns last year, the Secretary informed me that in these situations with expenses, rates do not cover the actual costs of needing to eat and drink and sleep while abroad for work, the employers can instead choose to pay actual expenses incurred. Unfortunately, not every company chooses to do that for their employees, with very many of them instead choosing. And I don't think it should be a surprise for any of us that this is the case to pay the lower rate, the government's fixed rate.
This is an issue having a real and detrimental impact on the working lives of cabin crew, a constituent of mine working for an airline operating out of Gatwick Airport, was blunt about this, telling me that the fact that these rates are so far behind reality means that they've been forced to miss meals while abroad for work. Another constituent stated that the current scale rate allowances do not reflect the real costs we face on these trips, and reiterated that the allowance provided does not even cover the most basic meals. It's evident, therefore, that overseas rates must be raised.
This is why I was delighted when, in his written statement, my honourable friend the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury committed to reviewing and updating them last month. This has been a long time coming while simply increasing the 2013 rates in line with inflation would be welcome. I hope the Treasury takes some time to understand a full review of how subsistence rates can be systematically improved. Having secured this debate, I was contacted by Virgin Atlantic, who, amongst other things, raised concerns that are some destinations where the current rates might not reflect the full cost of subsistence for an individual visiting or living in the city.
For instance, they provide the example of Lagos with safety restrictions, require pilots and cabin crew to remain within their hotels and rely on higher cost room service or on site dining. It is their view and a view that I share that any review should give consideration to these concerns and ensure that safe accommodation is made affordable under the new rates. I am well aware that questions related to tax pose difficult questions for decision. So difficult decisions for governments to make, particularly at times of global economic uncertainty such as these.
But I would hope that we would all accept that people shouldn't be going without meals while undertaking travel essential to their work, particularly with those individuals, may already be on a very low wage. I'll be closely following the outcome of the Treasury's review into overseas scale rates, and I hope that the various issues that I've highlighted here today are reflected in its outcome. Thank you.
16:08
16:08
Speaker 22
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Speaker 22
It is a pleasure to speak in this debate with you in the chair, Sir Christopher, and I thank my hon. Friend the member for Crawley for raising this important issue today and for the work that he and neighbouring MPs, on a cross-party basis, have been doing to highlight this important issue and the concerns that their constituents have raised with them as members of Parliament. I was just checking. I can see hundreds of people in the constituency have signed the petition. Similarly, in Horsham and others nearby, people signing the petition near Heathrow and other major airports.
This is clearly an issue that affects many staff who work in the airline industry and as my hon. Friend points out, particularly affects those who are on lower wages and who, you know, will find the. Yes, they may really enjoy and love the travel and going to visit so many different places as as part of their work and the and the big benefits that come from a job working in the sky and working for airlines. But there are costs that are associated with being away from home.
And it's, it's right that the overseas scale rates system was put in place in 2014, but it is not right at all that it hasn't been updated since then. These overseas scale rates or Aussies play an important role in reducing administrative burdens. When employees incur these subsistence costs while travelling overseas. And the key thing is that they provide a practical alternative to reimbursing and evidencing every single expense, which would be a significant burden. Um, if a if there were to be, um, abolished at any point in the future on airlines and a burden that we certainly want to avoid.
And as my honourable friend set out, these rates have remained frozen more or less since 2014. I was doing the maths just earlier today in preparation for today's debate, and I came up with similar figures. If if they'd been uprated in line with inflation here in the UK, they'd have increased by 40% since 2014. And inflation rates have vary, of course, across the globe. But that does give you a sense of the size of the. Of of, of the gap that's opened up over the last 12 years.
So the government has been listening to representations made by airlines, made by individuals and made by members of Parliament, including my hon. Friend and we will review the overseas scale rates. We announced that, uh, just a few short weeks ago. We're going to review the OSS and the Bsr's as well, which are the domestic equivalent. The benchmark scale rates that set out, um, the scale rates for lunches and dinners that employees may have when they're here in the UK on business, we are not just going to look at the rating of these rates, but also to look whether there's scope to simplify the Oscars.
We want to engage in detail with businesses about this. And officials in HMRC have already begun that work. Um it may be the case that rather than having uh a. Series, you know, hundreds of individual rates for individual countries that need to be updated in a sort of painstaking, uh, and administratively costly way and also difficult to administer for businesses that are having buckets or bands may work better for employers and employees, but that's something that we want to look at as part of this review.
And I'd really welcome representations from the members here in Westminster Hall today on behalf of your constituents, um, as to what sort of changes, uh, you would like to see. Um, but let me be clear, we haven't taken any decisions on where we'd like to go. Our our mind is not made up. We're convinced we want to review it and we want to make the system better. But we want to carefully consider the issues, gather evidence, hear from those who are affected before a decision is made.
I was meeting with the CBI, who represent some of the large airlines, um, just last week who welcomed the announcement of of a review. And I look forward to receiving further representations from the private sector to, as my honourable friend points out, it's important for the government to strike the right balance between supporting businesses, maintaining fairness in the tax system, also protecting the exchequer, making sure that in the round we're raising the revenue that we need to fund the public services, that we need to put right after the last 14 years, where too many had been cut back.
And we also need to make sure that any administrative arrangements such as these remain straightforward and proportionate. Um, but I do hope and of course, as political change in the air. But I do hope that, uh, this review will conclude in time, uh, for the budget and that we won't be in a place where, you know, in years and years to come. We're still waiting for these changes to come in. I hope that we can make swift progress in the coming months so that your constituents.
So that, uh, so that my hon. Friend's constituents, so that employees of airlines across the country can see some improvement here. So I'm grateful to my hon. Friend the member for for bringing the debate. Grateful for the intervention as well. Today, I will take the strength of feeling and the strong representation back to me, back to the department with me for as long as I may be in the department.
This is clearly an issue that affects many staff who work in the airline industry and as my hon. Friend points out, particularly affects those who are on lower wages and who, you know, will find the. Yes, they may really enjoy and love the travel and going to visit so many different places as as part of their work and the and the big benefits that come from a job working in the sky and working for airlines. But there are costs that are associated with being away from home.
And it's, it's right that the overseas scale rates system was put in place in 2014, but it is not right at all that it hasn't been updated since then. These overseas scale rates or Aussies play an important role in reducing administrative burdens. When employees incur these subsistence costs while travelling overseas. And the key thing is that they provide a practical alternative to reimbursing and evidencing every single expense, which would be a significant burden. Um, if a if there were to be, um, abolished at any point in the future on airlines and a burden that we certainly want to avoid.
And as my honourable friend set out, these rates have remained frozen more or less since 2014. I was doing the maths just earlier today in preparation for today's debate, and I came up with similar figures. If if they'd been uprated in line with inflation here in the UK, they'd have increased by 40% since 2014. And inflation rates have vary, of course, across the globe. But that does give you a sense of the size of the. Of of, of the gap that's opened up over the last 12 years.
So the government has been listening to representations made by airlines, made by individuals and made by members of Parliament, including my hon. Friend and we will review the overseas scale rates. We announced that, uh, just a few short weeks ago. We're going to review the OSS and the Bsr's as well, which are the domestic equivalent. The benchmark scale rates that set out, um, the scale rates for lunches and dinners that employees may have when they're here in the UK on business, we are not just going to look at the rating of these rates, but also to look whether there's scope to simplify the Oscars.
We want to engage in detail with businesses about this. And officials in HMRC have already begun that work. Um it may be the case that rather than having uh a. Series, you know, hundreds of individual rates for individual countries that need to be updated in a sort of painstaking, uh, and administratively costly way and also difficult to administer for businesses that are having buckets or bands may work better for employers and employees, but that's something that we want to look at as part of this review.
And I'd really welcome representations from the members here in Westminster Hall today on behalf of your constituents, um, as to what sort of changes, uh, you would like to see. Um, but let me be clear, we haven't taken any decisions on where we'd like to go. Our our mind is not made up. We're convinced we want to review it and we want to make the system better. But we want to carefully consider the issues, gather evidence, hear from those who are affected before a decision is made.
I was meeting with the CBI, who represent some of the large airlines, um, just last week who welcomed the announcement of of a review. And I look forward to receiving further representations from the private sector to, as my honourable friend points out, it's important for the government to strike the right balance between supporting businesses, maintaining fairness in the tax system, also protecting the exchequer, making sure that in the round we're raising the revenue that we need to fund the public services, that we need to put right after the last 14 years, where too many had been cut back.
And we also need to make sure that any administrative arrangements such as these remain straightforward and proportionate. Um, but I do hope and of course, as political change in the air. But I do hope that, uh, this review will conclude in time, uh, for the budget and that we won't be in a place where, you know, in years and years to come. We're still waiting for these changes to come in. I hope that we can make swift progress in the coming months so that your constituents.
So that, uh, so that my hon. Friend's constituents, so that employees of airlines across the country can see some improvement here. So I'm grateful to my hon. Friend the member for for bringing the debate. Grateful for the intervention as well. Today, I will take the strength of feeling and the strong representation back to me, back to the department with me for as long as I may be in the department.
16:14
16:30
Speaker 23
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Speaker 23
Very much. Mr. Christopher, and it is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship. And thank you to the MPs who have come today for this debate to say that the UK's pig industry is worried is a gross understatement. The sector has always experienced ups and downs, but the current trough and range of difficulties being faced by our pig farmers is sustained and significant, and there seems few routes to a stabilise the sector. The current turndown is considered to have begun back in autumn 2025, driven by a combination of factors including an oversupply of pigs, stagnant demand and falling prices in Europe that have put downward pressure on UK pig prices.
This situation has been exacerbated by constraints in the processing sector and rising costs. Next came the substantial backlog of pigs at the start of 2026. At its peak, as many as 100,000 pigs were left on farm, while the worst of the backlog did clear the impact on the pig price, um fell markedly and has remained low. Standing pig price has fallen from about 208 pence a kilo in August 20th 25 to 170 £0.08 a kilo now, a 15% fall. But against the context context that the.
Sometimes only a 1% profit margins that we see across agriculture. It's understandable why such a scale fall in price over such a sustained period is causing such issues for the sector. It must be acknowledged, however, that the standard pig price is very much an average price metric, and we know that there are many producers receiving significantly less than this. Sometimes in the region of just 130 to 140 pence a kilo, significantly below the farms break even point. Indeed, a farmer I recently met in my constituency is losing about £50 per pig.
And across Scotland the industry has lost £5.7 million since January. Unless farmers are paid, a price, at least covers the cost of production, there can be no future in the sector and it is as simple as that. Welfare standards and the flood of cheap pig meat from the European continent, and the attractiveness of this to UK retailers is a key factor dictating the low UK price. And here lies a significant problem undercutting UK pig farmers by retailers, food manufacturers and providers. Be that in the food service sector or local authority, procurement is making the viability of UK pig sector even tougher.
And while I absolutely understand and appreciate the fine margins of hospitality, not least due to rising costs and the seemingly ever increasing taxation or the tight budgets of our local authorities, more needs to be done to ensure that local British produce be that pork, beef, lamb or other farm outputs can be prioritised and offered to British consumers. The contracts for independent pig farmers is also a well voiced concern, and I recognise that the Fair Dealings Obligation regulations will come into effect for pig sector next month, and these are designed to improve the fairness and transparency across the UK.
Pig supply chain. Indeed, these regulations were introduced in recognition of the imbalance in bargaining power between individual pig producers and the relatively small number of large processors and purchases. The changes we will see principles such as mandated written contracts, a clear pricing mechanism, mutually agreeable term lengths and fair notice periods. These regulations will not immediately resolve every challenge facing the sector, and the industry does still have concerns and has requested for the government to undertake an assessment of whether the fair dealing regulations are truly robust enough to address the pricing and margin concerns of producers when dealing with processors, and I wonder if this is something that the minister would consider.
Biosecurity concerns are never far away from the pig sector. Indeed, the outbreak of African swine fever in Spain and elsewhere in Europe, the European continent and the impact of these on the export market, such as to China, is partly responsible for the oversupply and depressed prices. We are currently seeing. There is real and growing concern that the emergence of diseases such as African swine fever or foot and mouth entering the UK and our livestock. And no one needs reminding of the devastation that the 2001 foot and mouth disease outbreak had, and every effort possible, must be put into ensuring that these diseases do not arrive on our shores.
In winding up, I asked the Minister to comment on what proactive and robust steps the government is taking to ensure diseases like African swine fever do not come and spread to the UK, because more robust checks are needed. His answers to written to recent written questions from me and a question from my honourable friend, the member for Epping Forest at Defra, questions last week show that these robust provisions are not in place. It feels like we are up to now lucky, but we have not seen cases of African swine fever or foot and mouth or any other significant livestock disease enter the UK.
The UK's biosecurity system cannot rely on luck because the consequences of any of these diseases entering the UK and our livestock is hard to overestimate. Before I conclude, I want to reflect briefly on the situation in Scotland and while I appreciate agriculture is devolved, a robust agricultural sector, supply chain, food production and biosecurity controls are relevant. UK wide. Indeed, the UK pig industry, of which Scotland plays a significant part, is worth £2 billion at the farm gate, £7 billion in retail sales and considering food service and export values, £14 billion in total.
And as I say, Scotland does contribute to this. But the Scottish pig industry is facing even more acute pressures than that in England, with just one single processor in Britain and distances too large to transport the pigs for processing south of the border. Scottish pig farmers are seeing an even lower standard pig price than their English counterparts, according to data. I have seen. The price being paid has barely got above £140 a kilo since April. At present, Scottish pig farmers have no formal contracts, so no guarantee that their finished pigs will even be taken.
Having spoken to pig farmers in my Gordon and Buchan constituency most recently just yesterday, there is genuine fear for the future of the sector. Just since January, Scotland has lost 15% of its pig herds and the average price per kilo has fallen by over 20%. The pig tech sector in Scotland is down £5.7 million since January this year. With continued losses almost guaranteed if prices remain suppressed. Almost half of those losses, over 2.5 million, are in my Gordon and Buchan constituency.
In closing, I want to ask the Minister just a single question in the hope that they will. That will be the most beneficial way for the sector to help address the challenges they are facing. My understanding is that it's been since November 2024 that Defra ministers last met the National Pig Association, or the pig industry. Will he commit to meeting the NPA?And when he does, um, making sure that there is actually a substantial package brought forward that can help support the sector?The best way to support the sector, which is complex and has is facing a wide range of issues, is to meet those who know most about it.
That is the best way that we can support our pig farmers going forward. Thank you.
This situation has been exacerbated by constraints in the processing sector and rising costs. Next came the substantial backlog of pigs at the start of 2026. At its peak, as many as 100,000 pigs were left on farm, while the worst of the backlog did clear the impact on the pig price, um fell markedly and has remained low. Standing pig price has fallen from about 208 pence a kilo in August 20th 25 to 170 £0.08 a kilo now, a 15% fall. But against the context context that the.
Sometimes only a 1% profit margins that we see across agriculture. It's understandable why such a scale fall in price over such a sustained period is causing such issues for the sector. It must be acknowledged, however, that the standard pig price is very much an average price metric, and we know that there are many producers receiving significantly less than this. Sometimes in the region of just 130 to 140 pence a kilo, significantly below the farms break even point. Indeed, a farmer I recently met in my constituency is losing about £50 per pig.
And across Scotland the industry has lost £5.7 million since January. Unless farmers are paid, a price, at least covers the cost of production, there can be no future in the sector and it is as simple as that. Welfare standards and the flood of cheap pig meat from the European continent, and the attractiveness of this to UK retailers is a key factor dictating the low UK price. And here lies a significant problem undercutting UK pig farmers by retailers, food manufacturers and providers. Be that in the food service sector or local authority, procurement is making the viability of UK pig sector even tougher.
And while I absolutely understand and appreciate the fine margins of hospitality, not least due to rising costs and the seemingly ever increasing taxation or the tight budgets of our local authorities, more needs to be done to ensure that local British produce be that pork, beef, lamb or other farm outputs can be prioritised and offered to British consumers. The contracts for independent pig farmers is also a well voiced concern, and I recognise that the Fair Dealings Obligation regulations will come into effect for pig sector next month, and these are designed to improve the fairness and transparency across the UK.
Pig supply chain. Indeed, these regulations were introduced in recognition of the imbalance in bargaining power between individual pig producers and the relatively small number of large processors and purchases. The changes we will see principles such as mandated written contracts, a clear pricing mechanism, mutually agreeable term lengths and fair notice periods. These regulations will not immediately resolve every challenge facing the sector, and the industry does still have concerns and has requested for the government to undertake an assessment of whether the fair dealing regulations are truly robust enough to address the pricing and margin concerns of producers when dealing with processors, and I wonder if this is something that the minister would consider.
Biosecurity concerns are never far away from the pig sector. Indeed, the outbreak of African swine fever in Spain and elsewhere in Europe, the European continent and the impact of these on the export market, such as to China, is partly responsible for the oversupply and depressed prices. We are currently seeing. There is real and growing concern that the emergence of diseases such as African swine fever or foot and mouth entering the UK and our livestock. And no one needs reminding of the devastation that the 2001 foot and mouth disease outbreak had, and every effort possible, must be put into ensuring that these diseases do not arrive on our shores.
In winding up, I asked the Minister to comment on what proactive and robust steps the government is taking to ensure diseases like African swine fever do not come and spread to the UK, because more robust checks are needed. His answers to written to recent written questions from me and a question from my honourable friend, the member for Epping Forest at Defra, questions last week show that these robust provisions are not in place. It feels like we are up to now lucky, but we have not seen cases of African swine fever or foot and mouth or any other significant livestock disease enter the UK.
The UK's biosecurity system cannot rely on luck because the consequences of any of these diseases entering the UK and our livestock is hard to overestimate. Before I conclude, I want to reflect briefly on the situation in Scotland and while I appreciate agriculture is devolved, a robust agricultural sector, supply chain, food production and biosecurity controls are relevant. UK wide. Indeed, the UK pig industry, of which Scotland plays a significant part, is worth £2 billion at the farm gate, £7 billion in retail sales and considering food service and export values, £14 billion in total.
And as I say, Scotland does contribute to this. But the Scottish pig industry is facing even more acute pressures than that in England, with just one single processor in Britain and distances too large to transport the pigs for processing south of the border. Scottish pig farmers are seeing an even lower standard pig price than their English counterparts, according to data. I have seen. The price being paid has barely got above £140 a kilo since April. At present, Scottish pig farmers have no formal contracts, so no guarantee that their finished pigs will even be taken.
Having spoken to pig farmers in my Gordon and Buchan constituency most recently just yesterday, there is genuine fear for the future of the sector. Just since January, Scotland has lost 15% of its pig herds and the average price per kilo has fallen by over 20%. The pig tech sector in Scotland is down £5.7 million since January this year. With continued losses almost guaranteed if prices remain suppressed. Almost half of those losses, over 2.5 million, are in my Gordon and Buchan constituency.
In closing, I want to ask the Minister just a single question in the hope that they will. That will be the most beneficial way for the sector to help address the challenges they are facing. My understanding is that it's been since November 2024 that Defra ministers last met the National Pig Association, or the pig industry. Will he commit to meeting the NPA?And when he does, um, making sure that there is actually a substantial package brought forward that can help support the sector?The best way to support the sector, which is complex and has is facing a wide range of issues, is to meet those who know most about it.
That is the best way that we can support our pig farmers going forward. Thank you.
16:37
Speaker 24
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Speaker 24
It's a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship. My constituency spans Doncaster and North Lincolnshire. Two very proud agricultural areas with a long and important connection to British pig farming. We are part of a region at the heart of British pork production. Yorkshire and the Humber accounts for around 40% of England's pig population, and Pigmeat contributed £499 million to the region's agricultural output in 2024. The Isle of Axholme also has deep roots in the farm, in farming and food traditions of Lincolnshire.
Few products symbolise that heritage more clearly than the Lincolnshire sausage. Yet consumers cannot always be sure that a product carrying a union flag, British branding or a traditional British name actually contains pork from pigs born, reared and slaughtered in the United Kingdom. And that is a problem that I feel we must address. Unprocessed pork must already carry your original origin information, but once that meat becomes bacon, ham, sausage or gammon, the picture becomes far less clear. Pork can be imported and then cured, sliced or packaged in Britain, while the finished product is presented to shoppers as British.
The place where food pack is is packaged is not the same as the origin of the food itself. For pork, the origin is where the pig was born, reared and slaughtered. That is the information consumers want to know, and that is the information they should be able to see clearly. I most certainly will.
Few products symbolise that heritage more clearly than the Lincolnshire sausage. Yet consumers cannot always be sure that a product carrying a union flag, British branding or a traditional British name actually contains pork from pigs born, reared and slaughtered in the United Kingdom. And that is a problem that I feel we must address. Unprocessed pork must already carry your original origin information, but once that meat becomes bacon, ham, sausage or gammon, the picture becomes far less clear. Pork can be imported and then cured, sliced or packaged in Britain, while the finished product is presented to shoppers as British.
The place where food pack is is packaged is not the same as the origin of the food itself. For pork, the origin is where the pig was born, reared and slaughtered. That is the information consumers want to know, and that is the information they should be able to see clearly. I most certainly will.
16:39
Speaker 25
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Speaker 25
The honourable member for giving way, and he's making a really important point about the need for consumers to be clear about where their food is produced and reared. I want to draw his attention to the private member's bill that I have already introduced into this House on that very topic, and I hope that he and others across the House will support me in ensuring we can get that through. Yeah.
16:39
Speaker 24
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Speaker 24
I absolutely thank you for your intervention, and you have my full support on that. Most definitely. And all of my farmers as well. I'm pretty sure my farmers have told me how much this matters to them. When consumers can easily identify British pork, they actively choose to buy it. That supports British farms, British jobs and our rural communities.
16:40
Speaker 22
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Speaker 22
There is nothing wrong with imported food being sold in Britain, provided it is labelled honestly. What is wrong is allowing the true origin of the meat to be hidden behind a British branding. The principle principle should be simple a Union flag on a pork product should mean British pork, not simply British packaging. I therefore ask the minister to genuine. I was going to say genuinely, but I won't do that. Extending mandatory country of origin labelling to process pork products.
Requiring the information to appear clearly on the front of the packet packet and ensuring that unqualified claims that a product is British are reserved for pork from pigs born, reared and slaughtered in the United Kingdom. Pig farmers do not need another expression of sympathy. They need practical action that helps consumers identify British produce and choose it with confidence. When shoppers pick up a packet carrying the Union flag or drawing on the proud drawing. Shoppers pick up a packet carrying the Union flag or.
Drawing on the proud reputation of UK farming, they should not have to search through the small print to discover where the pork came from. British branding should mean British farming.
Requiring the information to appear clearly on the front of the packet packet and ensuring that unqualified claims that a product is British are reserved for pork from pigs born, reared and slaughtered in the United Kingdom. Pig farmers do not need another expression of sympathy. They need practical action that helps consumers identify British produce and choose it with confidence. When shoppers pick up a packet carrying the Union flag or drawing on the proud drawing. Shoppers pick up a packet carrying the Union flag or.
Drawing on the proud reputation of UK farming, they should not have to search through the small print to discover where the pork came from. British branding should mean British farming.
16:41
16:41
Speaker 23
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Speaker 23
With you in the chair, and I'd like to congratulate the honourable member for Gordon and Buchanan for securing this important and timely debate. Pig farming is an important part of our rural economy in West Dorset, alongside several family run pig farms, we are home to the largest integrated producer businesses that support local employment, veterinary services, feed supplies, agricultural engineering, haulage and food processing. We're also fortunate to have Dorset's last remaining independent abattoir processing around 100 pigs a week, and providing a vital local route to market for small family farms.
But since August 2025, the standard pig price has fallen from around 208 pence per kilogram to approximately 178. However, many independent producers have said that they are receiving far less. In some cases, only 130 to 140 pence per kilogram. Some farmers are losing as much as £50 on every pig they sell. That is unsustainable, and it's independent farmers that have once again borne the greatest burden. Around half of the UK's pig herd is owned by independent producers. If they disappear.
Rebuilding the capacity will take many years, and we should remember that the United Kingdom is only about 58% self-sufficient in pork. We should never accept a situation where British farmers, producing some of the highest welfare standards anywhere in the world, are undercut by cheaper imports produced to standards that would not be permitted here. No future trade agreement should weaken UK food safety, undermine British farmers or lower our animal welfare standards. West Dorset farmers are proud of the standards they've achieved. Every farmer I've spoken to wants to see further improvements in animal welfare.
I want to see, as they do, an end to Farrow Crates and to inhumane or distressing methods of slaughter like CO2 stunning for pigs, which is implemented by Defra's own 2025 recommendation implementing by the end of this Parliament. We should work together to prevent unnecessarily painful practices in farming, but it must be properly funded. Farmers operating on small or in many cases, non-existent profit margins cannot absorb further mandated changes unless they are properly funded and accompanied by practical support. One pig farmer in my constituency told me they are fully.
They fully support moving towards better systems, but estimate that realistic transition could take up to 15 years. For many of them. They're already carrying debt from previous reforms. Unfunded regulation is not an option. If we move too quickly without proper support, we risk reducing British production and replacing it with imported pork products produced a lower welfare and food safety standards. Small and medium sized abattoirs continue to disappear at an alarming rate, with fewer than 200 now remaining across the United Kingdom.
Rising inspection costs, energy prices, waste disposal costs and increasing regulatory burdens have all contributed to their decline. For independent pig farmers in west Dorset, our local abattoir is essential infrastructure. Without it, transport distances increase, haulage costs rise and farmers lose access to local markets, supporting local processing capacity is therefore every bit as important as supporting primary production. Farmers managed more than 70% of our land. They underpin our food security and sustain the the economies of rural communities like West Dorset. All they are asking for is for fair markets, fair treatment, practical regulation, acknowledgment of all their hard work and the confidence to invest in their future.
But since August 2025, the standard pig price has fallen from around 208 pence per kilogram to approximately 178. However, many independent producers have said that they are receiving far less. In some cases, only 130 to 140 pence per kilogram. Some farmers are losing as much as £50 on every pig they sell. That is unsustainable, and it's independent farmers that have once again borne the greatest burden. Around half of the UK's pig herd is owned by independent producers. If they disappear.
Rebuilding the capacity will take many years, and we should remember that the United Kingdom is only about 58% self-sufficient in pork. We should never accept a situation where British farmers, producing some of the highest welfare standards anywhere in the world, are undercut by cheaper imports produced to standards that would not be permitted here. No future trade agreement should weaken UK food safety, undermine British farmers or lower our animal welfare standards. West Dorset farmers are proud of the standards they've achieved. Every farmer I've spoken to wants to see further improvements in animal welfare.
I want to see, as they do, an end to Farrow Crates and to inhumane or distressing methods of slaughter like CO2 stunning for pigs, which is implemented by Defra's own 2025 recommendation implementing by the end of this Parliament. We should work together to prevent unnecessarily painful practices in farming, but it must be properly funded. Farmers operating on small or in many cases, non-existent profit margins cannot absorb further mandated changes unless they are properly funded and accompanied by practical support. One pig farmer in my constituency told me they are fully.
They fully support moving towards better systems, but estimate that realistic transition could take up to 15 years. For many of them. They're already carrying debt from previous reforms. Unfunded regulation is not an option. If we move too quickly without proper support, we risk reducing British production and replacing it with imported pork products produced a lower welfare and food safety standards. Small and medium sized abattoirs continue to disappear at an alarming rate, with fewer than 200 now remaining across the United Kingdom.
Rising inspection costs, energy prices, waste disposal costs and increasing regulatory burdens have all contributed to their decline. For independent pig farmers in west Dorset, our local abattoir is essential infrastructure. Without it, transport distances increase, haulage costs rise and farmers lose access to local markets, supporting local processing capacity is therefore every bit as important as supporting primary production. Farmers managed more than 70% of our land. They underpin our food security and sustain the the economies of rural communities like West Dorset. All they are asking for is for fair markets, fair treatment, practical regulation, acknowledgment of all their hard work and the confidence to invest in their future.
16:44
Speaker 24
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Speaker 24
Very much, Sir Christopher. I refer members to my entry in the Register of Members Financial Interests. In my part of the world, Norfolk and Suffolk, we rear around 1 in 5 pigs in the country. That means when we talk about the future of the pig sector, we're not talking about an abstract issue. We are talking about thousands of local jobs, family farms and a sector worth billions to our local economy. The industry faces plenty of challenges rising costs, global competition and pressure on farm incomes have all been covered so far today.
I want to focus on the one issue that could undo everything else. If we get it wrong. Biosecurity, African swine fever remains the single biggest threat facing our pig industry. It has spread across Europe and Asia, but thankfully has never been detected here in the UK. We have a window of opportunity to keep it that way, but only if we take border biosecurity seriously. If ASF gets into this country, the consequences would be devastating for farmers and could cost the industry an estimated £100 million.
Once it's here, we can't simply rewind the clock, so prevention has to come first. Can the minister outline what consideration the Department has taken in terms of giving increased information to public about the risks of bringing meat products into the UK?Strengthening checks on personal imports and introducing measures such as amnesty bins before customs clearance. I also want to raise the issue of Sevington. The previous government created what many in the industry see as a weakness in our border arrangements. By moving customs checks over 20 miles inland from Dover.
That leaves a significant stretch between port and the inspection site. So will the Minister look again at whether that arrangement provides a level of biosecurity?Our farming sector deserves. I would suggest it does not. But good biosecurity isn't just about stopping disease at the border. It is also about making sure farms are as resilient as possible in the worst. If the worst should happen. The animal health and welfare pathway is a good example.
It provides funded veterinary visits, including dedicated biosecurity advice. Yet I understand uptake remains at only about 7%. So can the minister in his wind up say what more is being done to ensure farmers know about the scheme and feel confident in accessing it?Finally, I want to touch on vaccines. When the Veterinary Medicines Directorate gave evidence to the committee, I asked about the resilience of veterinary vaccine supply chains. Their evidence highlighted the risk posed by manufacturing disruption, changing demand and wider global shocks.
So can the minister set out what the department is doing, both in support of international efforts to develop an effective vaccine and to ensure that when one is available, we have resilient supply chains capable of getting it to the farmers when they need it. Our pig farmers produce world class food to some of the highest welfare standards anywhere. They deserve a government that matches their effort by taking biosecurity just as seriously. If we get this right, we protect livelihoods, strengthen food security, and avoid an entirely preventable crisis.
And I hope the minister will continue to make that his priority.
I want to focus on the one issue that could undo everything else. If we get it wrong. Biosecurity, African swine fever remains the single biggest threat facing our pig industry. It has spread across Europe and Asia, but thankfully has never been detected here in the UK. We have a window of opportunity to keep it that way, but only if we take border biosecurity seriously. If ASF gets into this country, the consequences would be devastating for farmers and could cost the industry an estimated £100 million.
Once it's here, we can't simply rewind the clock, so prevention has to come first. Can the minister outline what consideration the Department has taken in terms of giving increased information to public about the risks of bringing meat products into the UK?Strengthening checks on personal imports and introducing measures such as amnesty bins before customs clearance. I also want to raise the issue of Sevington. The previous government created what many in the industry see as a weakness in our border arrangements. By moving customs checks over 20 miles inland from Dover.
That leaves a significant stretch between port and the inspection site. So will the Minister look again at whether that arrangement provides a level of biosecurity?Our farming sector deserves. I would suggest it does not. But good biosecurity isn't just about stopping disease at the border. It is also about making sure farms are as resilient as possible in the worst. If the worst should happen. The animal health and welfare pathway is a good example.
It provides funded veterinary visits, including dedicated biosecurity advice. Yet I understand uptake remains at only about 7%. So can the minister in his wind up say what more is being done to ensure farmers know about the scheme and feel confident in accessing it?Finally, I want to touch on vaccines. When the Veterinary Medicines Directorate gave evidence to the committee, I asked about the resilience of veterinary vaccine supply chains. Their evidence highlighted the risk posed by manufacturing disruption, changing demand and wider global shocks.
So can the minister set out what the department is doing, both in support of international efforts to develop an effective vaccine and to ensure that when one is available, we have resilient supply chains capable of getting it to the farmers when they need it. Our pig farmers produce world class food to some of the highest welfare standards anywhere. They deserve a government that matches their effort by taking biosecurity just as seriously. If we get this right, we protect livelihoods, strengthen food security, and avoid an entirely preventable crisis.
And I hope the minister will continue to make that his priority.
16:48
Speaker 13
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Speaker 13
Thank you. Chair. And. For securing this debate. We do not hear about pig farming as much as we hear about other farming sectors, but it is essential to our food system and rural economy. While today's debate concerns the UK sector, I want to focus on the pressures facing producers in Scotland. As we have heard, the Scottish pig sector is under enormous strain from low market prices, rising costs, processing constraints and competition from imports. Many farmers are now selling pigs well below the cost of production, and if New Scotland estimates that Scottish members of the Pig cooperative lost around £2.7 million in the first four months of this year alone, some producers were losing up to £37 per pig, while a typical 500 unit could face annual losses approaching half £1 million.
Those figures are unsustainable for family farming businesses. The consequences extend beyond individual farms to Scotland's pig sector. Contributes around £300 million to the economy and supports around 2200 jobs, as well as haulage firms, feed merchants, vets, processors and other rural businesses. Once that critical mass is lost, it will be exceptionally difficult to rebuild. Sir Christopher In my constituency, farmers such as Adam Marshall in Berwickshire have spent decades investing in high quality Scottish pork and adding value through local enterprises, including River country, Farm Foods and Oink, that entrepreneurial, entrepreneurial spirit should be encouraged.
Yet even innovative, well run family businesses cannot absorb sustained losses indefinitely. If businesses such as Adam's are struggling despite doing everything right. That should alarm us all. I welcome the Scottish Government's recognition of the crisis through its £2 million emergency package for independent producers. However, the industry is clear that this does not go far enough. The losses being sustained are far greater than than the support on offer. Further assistance will be needed to protect Scotland's pig sector, rural jobs and domestic food production.
The UK government must also act. Ministers should urgently convene an industry roundtable and resume regular engagement with the National Pig Association. It is concerning that no bilateral meeting has taken place since November 2020, for. The government should review whether the fair dealing obligations are providing the protection producers were promised and farmers must not be left carrying an unfair share of commercial commercial risk. We should also strengthen country of origin labelling, particularly in food service, so consumers can support Scottish and British pork produced to high welfare and environmental standards.
Finally, biodiversity must remain a priority. African swine fever poses a serious threat and robust border controls and disease preparedness are essential to protecting food security and the rural economy. Our pig farmers are resilient and innovative. They are asking not for special treatment but for fair markets, sensible regulation, meaningful engagement and support proportionate, proportionate to the crisis. I hope that the government minister will listen and act.
Those figures are unsustainable for family farming businesses. The consequences extend beyond individual farms to Scotland's pig sector. Contributes around £300 million to the economy and supports around 2200 jobs, as well as haulage firms, feed merchants, vets, processors and other rural businesses. Once that critical mass is lost, it will be exceptionally difficult to rebuild. Sir Christopher In my constituency, farmers such as Adam Marshall in Berwickshire have spent decades investing in high quality Scottish pork and adding value through local enterprises, including River country, Farm Foods and Oink, that entrepreneurial, entrepreneurial spirit should be encouraged.
Yet even innovative, well run family businesses cannot absorb sustained losses indefinitely. If businesses such as Adam's are struggling despite doing everything right. That should alarm us all. I welcome the Scottish Government's recognition of the crisis through its £2 million emergency package for independent producers. However, the industry is clear that this does not go far enough. The losses being sustained are far greater than than the support on offer. Further assistance will be needed to protect Scotland's pig sector, rural jobs and domestic food production.
The UK government must also act. Ministers should urgently convene an industry roundtable and resume regular engagement with the National Pig Association. It is concerning that no bilateral meeting has taken place since November 2020, for. The government should review whether the fair dealing obligations are providing the protection producers were promised and farmers must not be left carrying an unfair share of commercial commercial risk. We should also strengthen country of origin labelling, particularly in food service, so consumers can support Scottish and British pork produced to high welfare and environmental standards.
Finally, biodiversity must remain a priority. African swine fever poses a serious threat and robust border controls and disease preparedness are essential to protecting food security and the rural economy. Our pig farmers are resilient and innovative. They are asking not for special treatment but for fair markets, sensible regulation, meaningful engagement and support proportionate, proportionate to the crisis. I hope that the government minister will listen and act.
16:51
16:51
16:51
16:51
Speaker 25
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Speaker 25
Very proud of the more than 500 farms within my south west Norfolk constituency, and since elected, I've been delighted to be able to meet with more than 100 of them. Many of them are predominantly arable, as you might expect in Norfolk, but we also have plenty of farms that include pigs as either a significant or smaller part of their operations. Farmers like Ed Langford, based at Wereham in my constituency, who was kind enough to host an NFU round that covered a whole range of issues facing the farming industry and it's been said that there are more pigs than people in Norfolk.
So when there are issues in the industry, as there currently are, it's communities like mine that very much feel the impact. The UK pig sector is going through a difficult period, an oversupply of pigs, stagnant demand and falling EU prices that have put a downward pressure on UK prices. At the same time, there are rising costs exacerbated by the conflict with Iran, as well as the constant risk of disease like African swine fever. And we may not have seen the worst of it yet because, as I highlighted at Defra oral questions last week, by November, the National Pig Association anticipates that we could see 10 to 15,000 pigs per week without an outlet to be sold, placing a significant financial burden on farmers and risking animal welfare issues.
Sadly, like so many aspects of farming, there is a huge unfairness within the pig industry. This unfairness in the supply chain is hitting independent pig farmers like those in my constituency. Independent producers are responsible for roughly 50% of the pig herd in the UK, and they are very often the ones that lose out first and come under the most financial squeeze in the industry. So very often when I meet with farmers, we talk about the issues that directly connect with my labour values, particularly around fairness and justice.
And I would strongly urge the minister to consider those values when discussing what can be done to the support the pig industry in the future. There is a huge power imbalance in the supply chain and a lack of credible contractual relations between far too many pig sellers and buyers. And I would specifically ask the minister to review whether the current fair dealing obligations are being upheld and whether they are robust enough tackling this power imbalance, not just in the pig industry, but in farming more generally, needs to be at the forefront of this Labour government's fight back to support British farming.
The commitment to cooperatives included within the farming roadmap could support a change in that direction, and I very much welcome this approach, but we need to move quickly to achieve the change that we seek because increasingly so, smaller family farms are being squeezed out of operation and we must act before it is too late. And it's something that we should do, not just because we recognise the importance of food security, but also because of our commitment to achieve economic growth in every postcode, which includes growth in rural communities like mine.
There is a huge growth potential in rural areas and it is so often the family farm that underpins that growth. If the farm is doing well, they will invest in new machinery, undertake repairs and maintenance to buildings, reinvest back into the local environment. The lack of profitability in the industry and weakened resilience is hampering that growth and by default, diminishing the prosperity of those rural communities. Later today, the Rural Labour Rural Research Group, which I am proud to be a member of, will publish its latest report, The Future of the Rural Economy.
And without giving too much away, it confirms that there is huge public support for farming and support for the government to do more to support the industry. Recognising that food security is national security, 87% of respondents to our survey agreed that it was very important to sustain a strong UK farming industry, and 77% welcomed increased investment by the government in the farming sector. We have an opportunity to do much more as a Labour government, Labour government to support the pig industry, farming more generally and our rural communities and I look forward to the government grasping that opportunity.
So when there are issues in the industry, as there currently are, it's communities like mine that very much feel the impact. The UK pig sector is going through a difficult period, an oversupply of pigs, stagnant demand and falling EU prices that have put a downward pressure on UK prices. At the same time, there are rising costs exacerbated by the conflict with Iran, as well as the constant risk of disease like African swine fever. And we may not have seen the worst of it yet because, as I highlighted at Defra oral questions last week, by November, the National Pig Association anticipates that we could see 10 to 15,000 pigs per week without an outlet to be sold, placing a significant financial burden on farmers and risking animal welfare issues.
Sadly, like so many aspects of farming, there is a huge unfairness within the pig industry. This unfairness in the supply chain is hitting independent pig farmers like those in my constituency. Independent producers are responsible for roughly 50% of the pig herd in the UK, and they are very often the ones that lose out first and come under the most financial squeeze in the industry. So very often when I meet with farmers, we talk about the issues that directly connect with my labour values, particularly around fairness and justice.
And I would strongly urge the minister to consider those values when discussing what can be done to the support the pig industry in the future. There is a huge power imbalance in the supply chain and a lack of credible contractual relations between far too many pig sellers and buyers. And I would specifically ask the minister to review whether the current fair dealing obligations are being upheld and whether they are robust enough tackling this power imbalance, not just in the pig industry, but in farming more generally, needs to be at the forefront of this Labour government's fight back to support British farming.
The commitment to cooperatives included within the farming roadmap could support a change in that direction, and I very much welcome this approach, but we need to move quickly to achieve the change that we seek because increasingly so, smaller family farms are being squeezed out of operation and we must act before it is too late. And it's something that we should do, not just because we recognise the importance of food security, but also because of our commitment to achieve economic growth in every postcode, which includes growth in rural communities like mine.
There is a huge growth potential in rural areas and it is so often the family farm that underpins that growth. If the farm is doing well, they will invest in new machinery, undertake repairs and maintenance to buildings, reinvest back into the local environment. The lack of profitability in the industry and weakened resilience is hampering that growth and by default, diminishing the prosperity of those rural communities. Later today, the Rural Labour Rural Research Group, which I am proud to be a member of, will publish its latest report, The Future of the Rural Economy.
And without giving too much away, it confirms that there is huge public support for farming and support for the government to do more to support the industry. Recognising that food security is national security, 87% of respondents to our survey agreed that it was very important to sustain a strong UK farming industry, and 77% welcomed increased investment by the government in the farming sector. We have an opportunity to do much more as a Labour government, Labour government to support the pig industry, farming more generally and our rural communities and I look forward to the government grasping that opportunity.
16:55
16:55
Speaker 17
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Speaker 17
Thank you, Sir Christopher. It's a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, and I'd like to thank the honourable member for Gorton and Buchan for securing this important debate. Since becoming a member of Parliament for Melksham and advises, I've been extremely fortunate to have visited a number of farms, including pig farms, and to meet many outstanding local farmers, including at West End Farm where I met Cameron Norton, who runs an independent pig farm with an attached farm shop. Cameron recently wrote to me to share his thoughts and asked me to represent him as an independent farmer in this debate.
He told me that his business is losing about £5,000 a week, operating a high welfare, outdoor bred RSPCA assured farm like Cameron's. Inevitably carries a much higher cost of production. But what he finds incomprehensible is that prices to the consumer keep rising, while the supermarket supply chains continue to make substantial profits. But this is not reflected in what farmers are paid. Independent producers like Cameron are bearing the brunt of a market that has been declining since 2025, driven by a combination of factors an oversupply of pigs, stagnating demand and falling prices to the farmer.
With the UK pig breeding herd at a historic low. High quality British product products. Products like Cameron's risk being replaced by lower welfare imported meat, which brings with it a heightened risk of diseases like swine fever and foot and mouth disease. And this year, the European Food Safety Authority has reported a 76% increase in African swine fever outbreaks among pigs in the EU. I urge the government, and particularly the incoming Prime Minister, not to forget our farmers and our rural communities.
I would ask them to sit down with the industry, particularly with independent farmers like Cameron, to determine what can be done to secure the survival of this vital sector and to help secure our country's vital food security. Thank you.
He told me that his business is losing about £5,000 a week, operating a high welfare, outdoor bred RSPCA assured farm like Cameron's. Inevitably carries a much higher cost of production. But what he finds incomprehensible is that prices to the consumer keep rising, while the supermarket supply chains continue to make substantial profits. But this is not reflected in what farmers are paid. Independent producers like Cameron are bearing the brunt of a market that has been declining since 2025, driven by a combination of factors an oversupply of pigs, stagnating demand and falling prices to the farmer.
With the UK pig breeding herd at a historic low. High quality British product products. Products like Cameron's risk being replaced by lower welfare imported meat, which brings with it a heightened risk of diseases like swine fever and foot and mouth disease. And this year, the European Food Safety Authority has reported a 76% increase in African swine fever outbreaks among pigs in the EU. I urge the government, and particularly the incoming Prime Minister, not to forget our farmers and our rural communities.
I would ask them to sit down with the industry, particularly with independent farmers like Cameron, to determine what can be done to secure the survival of this vital sector and to help secure our country's vital food security. Thank you.
16:58
Speaker 8
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Speaker 8
Graham. Thank you, Sir Christopher. It's a great pleasure to participate in this debate and to have the minister in his place. Um, I agree, I think practically every word that's been given by colleagues across the House about the importance of the pig industry. It's worth. It's the largest agricultural. Part of Yorkshire and the Humber worth more than half £1 billion a year. But as colleagues have set out, there has been a gradual concentration into what is now, I think, no more than about four major processors across the United Kingdom.
And, as colleagues have said, that puts up the costs of transport. More importantly still, perhaps Sir Christopher, it means there is a loss of competition and there is the potential for that market power, that imbalance in market power to. Be used in a way which is counter to fairness. As the honourable gentleman mentioned, and his labour values, but also the interests of the consumer, because competition. If there's one thing the Minister needs to keep a watch out for, not only is to keep our pig industry safe from Biohazards, but to ensure that there is healthy competition in the market so that the consumer is well served.
And I spoke, uh, earlier this. Afternoon to a local Holderness pig farmer who was at the Great Yorkshire Show, and she was telling me that, uh, she's had notice on contracts for the processing of the pigs. She no longer has anywhere to send her pigs. From 13th of August. The pigs are literally going to be backing up on the farm with nowhere to go. I'll give way to my honourable friend.
And, as colleagues have said, that puts up the costs of transport. More importantly still, perhaps Sir Christopher, it means there is a loss of competition and there is the potential for that market power, that imbalance in market power to. Be used in a way which is counter to fairness. As the honourable gentleman mentioned, and his labour values, but also the interests of the consumer, because competition. If there's one thing the Minister needs to keep a watch out for, not only is to keep our pig industry safe from Biohazards, but to ensure that there is healthy competition in the market so that the consumer is well served.
And I spoke, uh, earlier this. Afternoon to a local Holderness pig farmer who was at the Great Yorkshire Show, and she was telling me that, uh, she's had notice on contracts for the processing of the pigs. She no longer has anywhere to send her pigs. From 13th of August. The pigs are literally going to be backing up on the farm with nowhere to go. I'll give way to my honourable friend.
17:17
Speaker 26
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Speaker 26
I thank the member for giving way. And the 13th of August is obviously a very important date because that's the date that the free. The fair dealing regulations come in, and there has been warnings from the sector that this is the sort of thing that will happen and why it's so important, and I ask the minister to have a proper review of these obligations to see how they're working for the sector. So we don't have situations like that. My honourable member.
My hon. Friend has just mentioned.
My hon. Friend has just mentioned.
17:17
Speaker 8
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Speaker 8
Well, I've represented pig farmers in Holderness for 21 years. It has always been volatile. They accept the volatility. Never has there been quite such a concatenation. Sir Christopher of issues all at the same time. The introduction of those regulations, the closure of Abattoirs Scotland was hit first. My hon. Friend knows. But now, with the closure of abattoirs, they're the one that Spalding has now gone up. So it's a very serious issue, Minister, which I hope he will be able to look at.
Um processors are also buying out the independents. And again looking at the, the raw um political elements of this, then the truth is that independents who are struggling to find anywhere to have their pigs processed become more vulnerable and can be bought out, in which case competition is further reduced. So I would ask the minister to use his good offices to get his officials to engage with those major processors, to ensure that no independent farmer is left unable to have their pigs processed, because that not only offers an animal welfare crisis, it creates a financial crisis for those farmers and makes them easy meat.
Pardon the language for others to buy them out. It genuinely is a crisis, I. The danger is that one hears this word too often, but it absolutely is not only for pig farmers who are very important to my constituency, but also for consumers in the long term. And I hope the minister will take that very seriously on board and look to intervene to make sure that every farmer has somewhere to have their pig processed.
Um processors are also buying out the independents. And again looking at the, the raw um political elements of this, then the truth is that independents who are struggling to find anywhere to have their pigs processed become more vulnerable and can be bought out, in which case competition is further reduced. So I would ask the minister to use his good offices to get his officials to engage with those major processors, to ensure that no independent farmer is left unable to have their pigs processed, because that not only offers an animal welfare crisis, it creates a financial crisis for those farmers and makes them easy meat.
Pardon the language for others to buy them out. It genuinely is a crisis, I. The danger is that one hears this word too often, but it absolutely is not only for pig farmers who are very important to my constituency, but also for consumers in the long term. And I hope the minister will take that very seriously on board and look to intervene to make sure that every farmer has somewhere to have their pig processed.
17:18
17:18
Speaker 28
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Speaker 28
Thank you, Sir Christopher. It's a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship. And can I congratulate my hon. Friend the member for Gordon Buchan for securing today's debate. The financial pressures facing pig farmers, indeed, farmers in every sector of our rural economy are serious. Independent producers have seen prices collapse and contracts withdrawn, and it's important that we take time to recognise these challenges. Today, I want to focus on something fundamental to the future of the pig industry and indeed to the health of our nation.
Biosecurity. Christopher. Last month, when I asked Defra whether they'd met with the National Pig Association since the last recorded meeting over nine months ago, in response to my question, they confirmed that ministers have not met the Nppa directly for a bilateral meeting. Perhaps if they had, they would be more aware of their stark warning that the UK remains poorly protected from biosecurity. An outbreak here would devastate British agriculture and our supply chains, impacting the taxpayer to the tune of billions of pounds.
We must learn from the past. The 2001 foot and mouth outbreak cost the public and private sectors the equivalent of almost £15 billion in today's money. An outbreak of African swine fever would immediately close export markets worth around £500 million each year. Yet despite those risks, the Nppa warns that large volumes of illegally imported meat continue to enter the UK from countries where these diseases are present. I hope that the minister recognises the severity and urgency of the matter, and I urge him to set out what steps the Department is taking to ensure staff borders and checkpoints are appropriately resourced and trained to manage the risk of imports, and to set out how different ministers are working with colleagues from across government, including the Home Office and Cabinet Office, to ensure a cohesive, joined up approach.
Chair, as the government negotiates a new SPS agreement with the European Union, we need reassurances from the minister that an attempt. In an attempt to placate and pacify the EU, the government will not. Cave in any way on our world leading biosecurity standards. Reduced border checks under any future SPS agreement could undermine our market and increase the risk of animal diseases entering the UK. Does the Minister recognise that risk and would he consider providing multi-year funding for the Dover Port Health Authority and other agencies protecting our borders, to strengthen enforcement and to deter criminal activity?British pig farmers have shown real leadership.
They have reduced antibiotic use by almost 70%, invested in higher welfare standards and continually improved animal health. They are doing their part. Defra must now step up, match the commitment to our food security and our well-being and act accordingly.
Biosecurity. Christopher. Last month, when I asked Defra whether they'd met with the National Pig Association since the last recorded meeting over nine months ago, in response to my question, they confirmed that ministers have not met the Nppa directly for a bilateral meeting. Perhaps if they had, they would be more aware of their stark warning that the UK remains poorly protected from biosecurity. An outbreak here would devastate British agriculture and our supply chains, impacting the taxpayer to the tune of billions of pounds.
We must learn from the past. The 2001 foot and mouth outbreak cost the public and private sectors the equivalent of almost £15 billion in today's money. An outbreak of African swine fever would immediately close export markets worth around £500 million each year. Yet despite those risks, the Nppa warns that large volumes of illegally imported meat continue to enter the UK from countries where these diseases are present. I hope that the minister recognises the severity and urgency of the matter, and I urge him to set out what steps the Department is taking to ensure staff borders and checkpoints are appropriately resourced and trained to manage the risk of imports, and to set out how different ministers are working with colleagues from across government, including the Home Office and Cabinet Office, to ensure a cohesive, joined up approach.
Chair, as the government negotiates a new SPS agreement with the European Union, we need reassurances from the minister that an attempt. In an attempt to placate and pacify the EU, the government will not. Cave in any way on our world leading biosecurity standards. Reduced border checks under any future SPS agreement could undermine our market and increase the risk of animal diseases entering the UK. Does the Minister recognise that risk and would he consider providing multi-year funding for the Dover Port Health Authority and other agencies protecting our borders, to strengthen enforcement and to deter criminal activity?British pig farmers have shown real leadership.
They have reduced antibiotic use by almost 70%, invested in higher welfare standards and continually improved animal health. They are doing their part. Defra must now step up, match the commitment to our food security and our well-being and act accordingly.
17:20
Speaker 11
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Speaker 11
A pleasure to serve on the ship. Big thank you to the Honourable Lady for Gordon and Buchan for setting the scene incredibly well. It's a pleasure to chop in a sector that's not only vital to my constituency of Strangford, but it's an absolute cornerstone of the entire economy in Northern Ireland are fantastic, resilient yet deeply struggling pig industry. When we talk about. Agriculture, we're talking about the lifeblood of our rural communities. Some 20,000 27,000 family farms across the province, our intensive sectors, particularly pork and poultry, punch above their weight.
Northern Ireland actually holds the highest density of pigs and poultry anywhere in the United Kingdom. And for a nation of some 1.9 million, maybe just more chickens and pigs than Scotland Wales combined. That's not to boast, but it's a fact of life. It's one of the stats I want to put on record. We feed millions of people right across the United Kingdom and the globe with world class, top quality, traceable pork products. But as I stand here today, our independent pig farmers are facing an existential crisis helping give way.
Northern Ireland actually holds the highest density of pigs and poultry anywhere in the United Kingdom. And for a nation of some 1.9 million, maybe just more chickens and pigs than Scotland Wales combined. That's not to boast, but it's a fact of life. It's one of the stats I want to put on record. We feed millions of people right across the United Kingdom and the globe with world class, top quality, traceable pork products. But as I stand here today, our independent pig farmers are facing an existential crisis helping give way.
17:20
Speaker 29
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Speaker 29
I thank my honourable friend for giving way. As you know, small abattoirs are a breaking point in just about every imaginable way. But one big issue is the contradictory and inconsistent inspections. Does my honourable friend agree with me?Government urgently needs to set out a clearer plan to streamline the regulation system.
17:20
Speaker 11
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Speaker 11
I certainly do, and that's one of the things I've asked for and others have asked for it as well. I look very much forward to the minister's response. It's a sector that simply can't be switched on and off like a tap requires immense long term investment, precision, dedication and there have been squeezed to the absolute limit. At this moment in time, our farmers have battled skyrocketing input costs, feed energy, fertiliser prices have gone through the roof and their interests. As a member of Ulster Farmers Union, the Ulster Farmers Union has been forced to hold emergency meetings with major processors like Sofina Foods at their Cookstown site because of severe contact reductions and reductions in weekly slaughter volumes.
Our independent family farms are being left completely adrift in a sea of commercial uncertainty. Farmers union have said they have to take these concerns directly to major retailers. My request to the minister is, Minister, could I ask for your intervention, please, and take up the issue of costs for the what the farmers are getting for their product and what Tesco's I named them, and other large supermarket chains are actually getting for their product. The supply chain is simply broken. We need intervention.
And when I look at what the Northern Ireland Executive have to do for dairy back home, but here, Minister, here it's macroeconomic stability, supply chain legislation and national food security are firmly responsibility of this government. Our family farms need protection from immediate financial ruin and further engage with the major supermarket chains to ensure they are paying a fair and reasonable price. I last last sentence. We don't support our pig farmers right now. We will see generational family businesses shut their gates forever.
And just remember this one thing if there are no farmers, there is no food.
Our independent family farms are being left completely adrift in a sea of commercial uncertainty. Farmers union have said they have to take these concerns directly to major retailers. My request to the minister is, Minister, could I ask for your intervention, please, and take up the issue of costs for the what the farmers are getting for their product and what Tesco's I named them, and other large supermarket chains are actually getting for their product. The supply chain is simply broken. We need intervention.
And when I look at what the Northern Ireland Executive have to do for dairy back home, but here, Minister, here it's macroeconomic stability, supply chain legislation and national food security are firmly responsibility of this government. Our family farms need protection from immediate financial ruin and further engage with the major supermarket chains to ensure they are paying a fair and reasonable price. I last last sentence. We don't support our pig farmers right now. We will see generational family businesses shut their gates forever.
And just remember this one thing if there are no farmers, there is no food.
17:22
Speaker 30
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Speaker 30
Thank you, Sir Christopher. It's an honour to serve under your chairship, and I pay tribute to the member for Gordon and Buchan for bringing forward this this timely debate. A few when I was younger, about 11 years old, I grew up in a sheep and beef farm and I actually bought 13 pigs from market to bring home. And they actually became more like pets, used to play football with them. And I can certainly, um. Yeah, no reason to.
Play football matches with them. They were. There were a lot of fun. And I can certainly learnt that of all livestock, they're potentially the most intelligent and certainly some of the most affectionate animals that you can get. And I had a particularly interesting visit with the National Pig Association, two special agricultural college in Winchester, um, which has. I used to love going there as a vet, treating the animals, and I would go there as an MP looking at their, their teaching and their facilities.
And they have a fantastic indoor high welfare um unit that actually um, delivers piglets without the use of farrowing crates. And I pay tribute to the staff there for both the teaching and the welfare standards they maintain. Um, to touch on what many members have spoke on today, one of the top issues threatening the pig industry is the biosecurity at the border. I've been to Dover and I've met with the vets and the
Play football matches with them. They were. There were a lot of fun. And I can certainly learnt that of all livestock, they're potentially the most intelligent and certainly some of the most affectionate animals that you can get. And I had a particularly interesting visit with the National Pig Association, two special agricultural college in Winchester, um, which has. I used to love going there as a vet, treating the animals, and I would go there as an MP looking at their, their teaching and their facilities.
And they have a fantastic indoor high welfare um unit that actually um, delivers piglets without the use of farrowing crates. And I pay tribute to the staff there for both the teaching and the welfare standards they maintain. Um, to touch on what many members have spoke on today, one of the top issues threatening the pig industry is the biosecurity at the border. I've been to Dover and I've met with the vets and the