Sir David Amess Summer Adjournment

Holly Mumby-Croft Excerpts

Thursday 20th July 2023 Commons Chamber

[Holly Mumby-Croft (Scunthorpe) (Con)]

It is a great pleasure to speak in this Sir David Amess Adjournment debate. There are a number of issues that I would like to raise before the House adjourns.

First, on health, I am delighted that we have secured £19.4 million for a new community diagnostic centre in Scunthorpe. That, alongside our new A&E, which I have had the pleasure of looking around—thankfully, not as a patient—is very significant for Scunthorpe and a once-in-a-generation improvement in our local healthcare provision. I was particularly delighted to see how pleased the staff in the A&E were with their new facilities and the fact that they had been consulted and involved in the decisions that were made as the A&E was designed.

Alongside that good news, I want to raise the issue of access to NHS dentistry, which continues to be a concern for my constituents. I would like to press the Government again on the idea of a tie-in, which I know has been discussed, so that those we help to train as dentists then spend a certain percentage of their time delivering NHS dental care to patients. My constituents should be able to access an NHS dentist with ease, and I want to push the Government to ensure that that is the case.

Again, on health, it has been a privilege to work with the family of local man David Hopkins, who sadly died of a brain tumour. Alongside David’s wife, Nicki, I have been working with the all-party parliamentary group on brain tumours. We have looked carefully at how we can get the £40 million that the Government have committed to brain tumour research into the hands of the researchers. While we are delighted that the money has been put in place, and it is hugely significant, we have to expedite the research and the testing that is required, so that we can help these patients.

It has similarly been a privilege to work alongside our local charity The Beat Goes On, which was founded by Stephen and Gill Ayling following the tragic death of their son, Nathan. I am a little bit older than Nathan was, but we went to the same school, and I regularly speak to people in the constituency who remember him very fondly. We are incredibly proud of Stephen and Gill in Scunthorpe. Their campaign to improve the diagnosis rate of cardiac conditions in people aged between 14 and 35 has already saved lives.

Stephen and Gill came to London earlier this year, and we met the Minister for Primary Care and Public Health, who was extremely helpful. I want to raise again with the Government the need for further research into the effectiveness of screening and to consider what is done in other countries and in sport. I would be grateful if the Department of Health and Social Care could provide a further update on that, and specifically on the potential for review.

I want to raise the excellent work being done by those at Prostate Cancer Lincs and Humber, a superb local group that supports our community and raises awareness. They seem to be everywhere I go—they are incredibly prolific—and I am really grateful for all the work they do. When a family or individual is affected by cancer, whether it be prostate or another form of the illness, it is incredibly difficult. It was an honour to spend some time recently with Joanne Sowerby. Joanne is a really special person, and the work she does in our community through Hope House is exceptional, providing support groups, counselling and therapy and helping to access a home-cooked meal. I know that the work Joanne and her team do makes a huge difference, and I want to register my thanks to her before the House rises.

Another area that requires continued engagement is transport. While the Government’s £2 bus fare scheme was welcomed in Scunthorpe and has gone a long way to address the affordability of public transport, the reliability of local service providers has been a problem in recent months on our trains. However, I am hopeful that under new management, we will see improvements in rail services, and I hope to raise the specific issue of ticket offices in the House later this evening.

It would be a strange day were I to stand up in the Chamber and not raise the issue of steelmaking. I welcomed the Secretary of State for Business and Trade to our steelworks in May, where I was able to explain again to the Government that we make the finest steel in the world in Scunthorpe. I have said this in the House many times: none of us can go a single day without needing to use steel, and that will remain the case. We use steel for everything we do, from defence to growth, and we must never, ever lose the ability to make our own.

Before the House adjourns, I want again to raise my concerns about the long-term future of steelmaking. If we ever lose the ability to make our own steel, we will still need to use it and will simply have to ship it from all over the world, from places very far away that will choose how much to charge us, and we will face all the ethical, environmental and strategic concerns that that inevitably brings. I know that the Government have been a good supporter of steel in the past, through the safeguards and through paying people’s wages in Scunthorpe. We remember that well in my constituency. I want to press the Government again before we adjourn to continue to recognise the strategic importance of this industry and its importance to my Scunthorpe constituency.

In closing, I want to mention the Redbourne Centre, an outstanding residential home in my constituency that I visited recently. I think I was supposed to go for half an hour, but I ended up staying for two hours, because it was so wonderful. I thank all those who work in the care sector in my constituency and throughout the country. The work they were doing at the Redbourne Centre was incredible. I particularly enjoyed hearing from a gentleman who lives there about how he had visited Parliament when he was a child and his memories of visiting the Chapel of St Mary Undercroft. I put on record my sincere thanks to everyone in my constituency who works in that sector.

I also want to wish you, Mr Deputy Speaker, and all right hon. and hon. Members a safe, healthy and enjoyable recess.