Oral Answers to Questions

Deirdre Costigan Excerpts

Monday 16th June 2025 Commons Chamber

[Catherine McKinnell]

There is absolutely no complacency on the Government Benches—we saw complacency over the past 10 years, and we are picking up the pieces and fixing the system. We have committed significant funding to schools. We are providing mainstream schools and high needs settings with over £930 million to support them with increases in national insurance contributions. At the spring Budget, we announced additional funding to the tune of £4.7 billion per year by 2028-29, compared with 2025-26. We are supporting schools to get on and improve education, creating excellent outcomes for every child, and we will continue to do so.

[Deirdre Costigan (Ealing Southall) (Lab)]

I very much welcome the 2,300 extra teachers that Labour’s plan for change has seen in our schools, but school support staff are just as important as teachers in ensuring the delivery of the well-run schools we have in Ealing Southall. Will the Minister update the House on progress in reinstating the school support staff negotiating body, which was abolished by the Conservative party in 2010?

[Catherine McKinnell]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right to draw attention to the fantastic work done in our schools not only by teachers, but by all school staff. One of the first things we did in Government was to introduce legislation to bring back the school support staff negotiating body, to ensure that those staff are recognised for their vital work and that they are part of the conservation about terms, conditions and pay. That process is under way in Parliament, and we are in strong negotiations on a continuous basis through our improving education together plan, which allows stakeholders to get around the table.

Windrush Day 2025

Deirdre Costigan Excerpts

Monday 16th June 2025 Commons Chamber

[Helen Hayes]

Of course, in our two boroughs of Lambeth and Southwark, the contribution of the Windrush generation is extraordinary. It is demonstrated most powerfully in the statue that my hon. Friend mentions.

The lives of Windrush passengers, and of others from the Caribbean who followed them to Brixton, were captured by commercial photographer Harry Jacobs, who set up shop on Landor Road, close to Brixton town centre, to provide photographic services so that people could send images to their loved ones. Harry’s photos poignantly captured the hopes, dreams and achievements of people in the process of making a new life: a woman in her nurse’s uniform; families dressed in their Sunday best, showing off their prized possessions; and the first image of a new baby or a new spouse.

However, as we remember those stories with affection, our commemorations of Windrush Day must avoid any sentimentality. The contribution of the Windrush pioneers was made in a context of widespread racism, the clearest and ugliest illustration of which was found on signs on the doors of boarding houses—stating “No Irish, no blacks, no dogs”—and which in many situations ran much deeper, often resulting in daily discrimination and humiliation. An egregious example is the appalling and still unaddressed scandal of black children being deemed emotionally subnormal in the 1960s and ’70s and being placed in special schools, where they were denied an education and made to feel inferior.

[Deirdre Costigan (Ealing Southall) (Lab)]

My hon. Friend is making a very powerful speech. She talks about the experience of black children in education, and could I remind her of my constituent, Eric Huntley, whom I serendipitously bumped into at the weekend? He and his wife Jessica, who lived at 141 Coldershaw Road in West Ealing, established the Bogle-L’Ouverture Publications Bookshop back in the 1960s and 1970s. They also established the Black Parents Movement, which was to help children who were stuck in such schools and were not being given the education they were entitled to. Does she agree that we still need to continue that work to make sure that black children in our schools are treated fairly and get the education they deserve?

[Helen Hayes]

I pay tribute to my hon. Friend’s constituents, who, like so many of the Windrush generation, demonstrated their resilience by taking initiatives to circumnavigate the racism to which they were subject. We still live with that racism and discrimination today, and we can never be complacent about that. We must continue to address all the issues that still need to be dealt with.

--- Later in debate ---

[Harpreet Uppal (Huddersfield) (Lab)]

It is an honour to speak in the debate and to mark Windrush Day 2025. It is a day of reflection, recognition and pride. In Huddersfield, we are proud of our rich, diverse communities, shaped in no small part by those who came here as part of the Windrush generation and their descendants. Families made their homes in our town and have worked in our hospitals, on our buses, and in our textile mills and factories. They have helped to build not only our local economy but the very fabric of our communities, and established a number of dominoes clubs in the town, too. They include many people from Carriacou in Grenada—we have one of the largest diasporas outside Grenada—as well as communities from Jamaica and St Lucia. Their contributions continue to shape the cultural and civic life of Huddersfield today.

Windrush Day gives us a chance to honour that legacy, but it must also remain a call to action, especially when so many of those who gave so much continue to be denied justice. For this year’s commemorations in Huddersfield, there will be a powerful new documentary series by Kirklees Local TV as part of its groundbreaking Windrush wise words project. The documentary captures the stories of 16 Caribbean descendants, preserving their lived experiences for future generations and shining a light on the contributions and challenges faced by our Windrush communities and their descendants.

Events like the Deighton carnival provide an incredible local celebration of African Caribbean culture and continue to showcase the vibrancy, pride and legacy of our communities in Huddersfield. Venn Street was once home to legendary sound systems that put Huddersfield at the heart of the UK’s reggae scene in the 1980s. Gregory Isaacs, Jimmy Cliff and Desmond Dekker all played at Venn Street. More often than not, artists would come to Huddersfield direct from Jamaica, though some might do one show in Birmingham or London.

It is vital that we celebrate those stories, but we must also confront the ongoing injustices that many still face. I previously raised in the House the case of a constituent who has been struggling to access the Windrush compensation scheme. Like many, he did not have access to support or legal aid. The process can be complicated, confusing and deeply frustrating for those seeking justice. Sadly, his experience is not unique. Across the country, many eligible individuals still do not know that they can apply, and others are deterred by the scheme’s complexity. Some are navigating ill health or grief but are expected to work through layers of bureaucracy to get the redress that they are owed. I welcome the Minister’s response to my question in the Chamber, and the subsequent assistance offered to my constituent. I know that she is committed to getting this right.

The Labour Government have made it clear that the treatment of the Windrush generation was a profound injustice. We must do everything in our power to ensure that everyone affected is treated with dignity and can access the support and compensation they deserve.

[Deirdre Costigan]

I have learned a lot about my hon. Friend’s constituency from her speech. She mentions the difficulties that victims of the Windrush scandal have had in accessing support and getting the compensation that they deserve; in fact, many of them have been afraid to go to the authorities, because it is those same authorities that treated them that way in the first place. Does she welcome the £1.5 million that the new Labour Government have put into the advocacy support group, which will help smaller, local advocacy groups and community groups to assist people in accessing the compensation that they deserve?

[Harpreet Uppal]

I do welcome that. I was about to turn to the subject funding outreach in places like Huddersfield; that funding will be important. We must ensure that local organisations can play their part, because they know best who to reach out to, but they must have institutional support. We must also embed cultural change in the Home Office, so that these injustices never happen again.

The Windrush generation did not just arrive in Britain; they helped to shape it. They made our NHS possible. They raised their families in our towns and cities, and they contributed to the growth of our economy. They have contributed so much to Huddersfield, the town I live in. They have endured discrimination and hardship, yet they have stood proud, contributing with dignity and determination. As we mark Windrush Day this year, let us move beyond words. Let us match our tributes with action, and ensure that justice is delivered, not delayed.

Oral Answers to Questions

Deirdre Costigan Excerpts

Monday 10th March 2025 Commons Chamber

[Catherine McKinnell]

I would be happy to arrange a meeting for the hon. Lady to discuss this matter further. Buckinghamshire requested for a local authority-owned facility to be funded, and, in line with the published guidance, rental costs for local authority-owned facilities are out of scope of the exceptional funding. However, local authorities should organise such provision within the cost availability for schools. I would be happy to discuss the matter further.

[Deirdre Costigan (Ealing Southall) (Lab)]

Too many children in Southall go to school hungry, so I am delighted that the Chancellor and this Labour Government have chosen to triple investment in breakfast clubs, and that some of the first free breakfast clubs will open at Blair Peach and Wolf Fields primary schools in my constituency. Does the Minister agree that children learn better with a full stomach?

[Catherine McKinnell]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right, which is why we are focusing our investment on breakfast clubs, which will ensure that children get not only a good start to the day with a full belly, but the support of a club that will help them to achieve and thrive.

Oral Answers to Questions

Deirdre Costigan Excerpts

Monday 27th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Catherine McKinnell]

The Department for Education’s regional team engage with Wokingham regularly to discuss its SEND provision, provide support and constructive challenge, and share best practice. That has included providing a DFE SEND adviser to work with Wokingham and support the local authority in improving its services.

[Deirdre Costigan (Ealing Southall) (Lab)]

I recently visited Beaconsfield primary school in Ealing Southall, where teachers told me they have to fill in up to six forms to get disabled children the help they need. The time that takes is time they do not have, and they often need to choose which child to prioritise for support. How will the Minister reduce unnecessary paperwork and make it easier and more efficient for schools to ensure that every disabled child gets the educational support that they need?

[Bridget Phillipson]

Yet again we hear about the urgent need to reform our SEND system. We are determined to turn it around. We will work with everyone across the House and anyone with an interest in this area, including parents, teachers and staff, because we need to get this right.

Workplace Pay Gaps

Deirdre Costigan Excerpts

Tuesday 7th January 2025 Westminster Hall

[Deirdre Costigan (Ealing Southall) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Roger. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Brent East (Dawn Butler) for securing this important debate. I declare an interest as vice-chair of the Unison group of MPs.

We have had gender pay gap reporting since 2017. Although it was a very welcome first step, it has proved to be too weak on its own to fully level the playing field between men and women at work. Women are still being paid significantly less than men on average. Gender pay gap reporting relies on a name-and-shame approach that means that employers can continue to report paying women less, year after year, without having to take any action at all to change this. It is great news that the new Labour Government have already taken decisive action by bringing forward the new Employment Rights Bill. The new law will mean that employers have to publish an action plan setting out how they will take tangible steps to reduce gender pay gaps and discrimination in the workplace. Finally, employers will be held to account to ensure that they pay women fairly.

Today, I want to focus on disabled people in particular. Disabled workers are paid an average of over £2 an hour less than non-disabled workers. That is thousands of pounds a year that disabled workers are losing out on. Disabled women experience one of the worst pay gaps as a result of double discrimination: not only do they suffer the gender pay gap, but they experience the disability pay gap, which has barely moved over the past decade. There was no progress at all under the previous Government, and disabled workers are still losing out.

I am delighted that the new Labour Government announced straight away in the King’s Speech that we would bring forward a new equality Bill that will ensure a full right to equal pay for both disabled and black and Asian workers. The new law will finally extend pay gap reporting to disabled workers and will mean that employers with more than 250 staff must publicly account for the difference in how much they pay their disabled staff. However, as the gender pay gap has shown, we will still need to do more, and the groundbreaking disability employment charter outlines some of the solutions. The disability employment charter is a list of nine demands of Government that will break down the barriers for disabled people at work. It was put together by organisations such as Scope, Disability Rights UK and Unison. Over 220 employers have already backed the disability employment charter but the previous Government failed to act on any of its recommendations.

One of the charter’s key demands is for disability pay gap reporting alongside employment gap reporting, because too many employers just do not employ disabled people in the first place, let alone pay them properly. I hope that the Minister will consider mandatory publication of the level of disabled staff at larger employers so that an employer’s commitment to treating disabled people fairly can be properly assessed. Disabled workers are twice as likely to be unemployed than non-disabled workers. That is caused by discrimination in recruitment, but also by workers being hounded out due to bullying and harassment, or a failure to provide reasonable adjustments. Disabled workers are entitled by law to reasonable adjustments—often small changes that can help them do their job—but research by Unison found that a quarter of disabled workers have waited over a year for adjustments to be put in place and many never hear back from their employers at all. They get ignored and the current law is not strong enough for them to do anything about it.

No one can do their job properly if they do not have the tools to do it, so of course those disabled workers lose out on promotion and get stuck on the bottom rung of the pay ladder. That is a key cause of the disability pay gap. Without the right help, many disabled workers are in pain each day at work, or struggle to perform. The next thing they know, they are out of the door: an outcome that could have been avoided with changes to hours, additional breaks, or with, for example, speech-to-text software. That is a massive waste of talent, which has led to a disability employment gap of 30% and nearly 3 million people stuck at home on long-term sick leave when many of them want to work.

The disability employment charter calls for a new right to a two-week deadline to get at least a reply to requests for reasonable adjustments. Currently, there is no deadline for a response—unlike, for example, flexible working requests, to which the employer needs to respond in eight weeks. I gave evidence on that point to the Lords Public Services Committee in my previous role with Unison and I welcome the Committee’s recommendation of a four-week deadline for responses to requests for reasonable adjustments. I know the Minister will consider that issue as she works with colleagues, including the Minister for Social Security and Disability, on proposals to help to reduce the disability employment gap and the pay gap.

Disabled people are full of talent and creativity. For too long they have been pushed out of jobs that they love because of discrimination, bullying and a simple refusal to give them the basic help that they need to thrive at work. The solutions outlined in the disability employment charter, including mandatory publication of the disability pay gap and the employment gap, and a deadline for responses to requests for reasonable adjustments, will help to finally unleash that talent. I look forward to this transformative Labour Government taking forward this vital work.