Business of the House

Andy McDonald Excerpts

Thursday 30th October 2025 Commons Chamber

[Sir Alan Campbell]

The hon. Gentleman raises further evidence that the SEND system is broken. It does not work for parents or children, and it does not really work for the staff of our schools either. We have committed to investing an additional £1 billion in SEND funding, but there is a wider issue, as the Government have recognised, and we will therefore be bringing forward proposals to radically alter the system. The hon. Gentleman asks for a debate; should he secure a Backbench Business or Adjournment debate, I think that would actually help the wider debate.

[Andy McDonald (Middlesbrough and Thornaby East) (Lab)]

Earlier this week, I was pleased to welcome health practitioners, charities and those with lived experience to the House when the all-party parliamentary group on spinal cord injury published its new report, “From Fragmented to Co-ordinated: Building a National Spinal Cord Injury Strategy”. The APPG officers look forward to the Government’s considered response. Will the Leader of the House ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and the Minister for Public Health and Prevention to meet the APPG officers and the secretariat, and could we also have a statement in the House from the Department on the report’s recommendations?

[Sir Alan Campbell]

I thank my hon. Friend for his work as the chair of the all-party group on spinal cord injury. He has worked tirelessly on this matter across the years; it is a good example of the campaigning work he does. I pay tribute to him and to the injuries unit at Middlesbrough James Cook university hospital, which is a good example but one that, unfortunately, is not always replicated across the country. I am sure that Health Ministers will have heard his concerns, and should he and the all-party group want a meeting, I am sure that Ministers will accommodate them.