Oral Answers to Questions

Helen Grant Excerpts

Thursday 13th November 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Solicitor General.

[Helen Grant (Maidstone and Malling) (Con)]

I also welcome the right hon. Lady to her place. She is the third Solicitor General I have sat opposite in the past 12 months, and I look forward to working with her constructively where we can and to having healthy debate in this Chamber in the weeks and months to come.

I associate myself with the right hon. Lady’s remarks on the sad passing of Baroness Newlove. I had the honour of working with her when I was the Victims Minister. She was a great champion of victims and she will be sadly missed.

Violence against women and girls is a scourge. It wrecks families and ruins lives. One of the most sickening aspects of it is cruelty to and abuse of children. There is currently no national mechanism to track down and monitor serious child cruelty offenders after service of their sentences. The Under-Secretary of State for Justice, the hon. Member for Rother Valley (Jake Richards), said this of the Sentencing Bill on Report:

“A problem in the system has been identified, and we are determined to fix it. It simply cannot be right that some horrific child abusers can have access to children—to live with children or work with children—at the end of their sentences without any system of monitoring or notification”.—[Official Report, 29 October 2025; Vol. 774, c. 409.]

The Minister went on to welcome the offer of cross-party talks and promised to work “at speed” to establish a child cruelty register. Can the Solicitor General please update the House on what concrete steps have been taken since then?

[The Solicitor General]

I thank the hon. Member for raising the extremely important issue of child abuse. I will work with the Minister to respond to her in full on the points that she raises today.

[Helen Grant]

The campaign to introduce a child cruelty register has been led tirelessly by Paula Hudgell, the adoptive mother of 11-year-old Tony Hudgell. Sadly, Paula has now been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Tony was just 41 days old when his birth parents abused him so badly that he had to have both his legs amputated. Tony will live with the consequences of those injuries for the rest of his life. Will the Solicitor General agree to work, and at speed, with her colleagues in the Ministry of Justice? They seem keen to support Paula’s campaign, hopefully with an amendment to the Sentencing Bill in the House of Lords. We must take this opportunity to close this dangerous safeguarding gap so that all our children and families can be protected from repeat abusers.

[The Solicitor General]

I thank the hon. Member for raising the tragic case of Tony Hudgell. I know that his parents, along with the right hon. Member for Tonbridge (Tom Tugendhat), who is no longer in his place, have campaigned tirelessly for Tony and his family. I am very sorry to hear about Paula’s diagnosis, and I am sure that the thoughts of the House are with her and the family. I will take this matter away and do everything I can, along with Home Office and Justice Ministers, and we will respond in full to the points raised by the hon. Lady.