Nottingham Maternity and Neonatal Services

Debate between Laurence Turner and James Murray

Wednesday 24th June 2026 Commons Chamber

[James Murray]

I thank my hon. Friend for sharing with us his experience of brain injury in his own family, and for reminding us how some of the issues that we are discussing today touch the lives of many people in the House and across the country. We all have a responsibility to act on the basis of the recommendations of today’s report, and I assure my hon. Friend that those recommendations, along with those in Baroness Amos’s report, will enable the taskforce to produce a comprehensive action plan. A key element of that work—this concerns his direct point—will be ensuring that when people are at greater risk of harm, greater risk of being ignored, greater risk of being discriminated against, lied to or not being given the care that they need, that inequality will be addressed.

[Laurence Turner (Birmingham Northfield) (Lab)]

I was born in Nottingham City hospital, and while the Ockenden report was necessarily bounded by the last 13 years, I think it is important to record that women and children were avoidably harmed and avoidably died in those settings many years before, and the pain is not diminished by the passing of time. As I have listened to these exchanges, I have had at the forefront of my mind those friends and people I grew up with who, many years later, found themselves close to death in circumstances that could have been avoided.

As my right hon. Friend said in his compassionate and thoughtful statement, the description of what happened in Nottingham will be all too familiar to families well beyond that city. He will know that Sandwell and West Birmingham hospitals NHS trust is one of the trusts that are subject to particular attention as part of the national investigation. What assurance can he give people in cities such as Birmingham that this time, after these reports and their recommendations, things will change and NHS senior management will be held to account?

[James Murray]

Although the report that we are discussing today deals with what has happened in Nottingham over the past 13 years, my hon. Friend is right to point out that it has not just happened in Nottingham and it has not just happened over the past 13 years. When I have spoken to people about this report, even today, so many have shared their own stories from many years ago in all different parts of the country. That reminds us that although the focus of the report is what has happened to the families in Nottingham, this issue affects families throughout the country, which is why, as my hon. Friend says, it is “all too familiar” to so many people when they hear what has happened. That is why it is so important that we develop our plan, which will have a nationwide impact, in order to finally tackle this challenge head-on and ensure that we deliver the maternity and neonatal services that women across the country need and deserve.

Office for Budget Responsibility Forecasts

Debate between Laurence Turner and James Murray

Monday 1st December 2025 Commons Chamber

[James Murray]

I am sorry that the right hon. Lady does not welcome the fact that the Chancellor is in Wales today to promote investment in Wales, but I can point her to the fact that the decision to lift the two-child benefit cap will benefit children in Wales, that the money off energy bills will benefit people in Wales, and that the changes to the fiscal framework will benefit people in Wales. The decisions that this Government took will cut the cost of living and make sure that we cut Government borrowing, which will benefit people right across the UK.

[Laurence Turner (Birmingham Northfield) (Lab)]

The OBR is a valuable institution, and the “Economic and fiscal outlook” is by far the most important document that it produces. Today’s report makes it clear that the OBR’s IT infrastructure was a point of critical failure that should have been identified as far back as 2013. Does the Minister agree that the chair of the OBR now cannot credibly lead the investigatory and reconstruction work, and that he should resign?

[James Murray]

Events are moving quickly, and I understand that the chair of the OBR has resigned. That is what I understand from messages passed to me.

Budget: Press Briefings

Debate between Laurence Turner and James Murray

Monday 17th November 2025 Commons Chamber

[Laurence Turner (Birmingham Northfield) (Lab)]

The Minister said in his response that the Treasury and the OBR are exchanging information, but that did not happen in the period immediately before the last election, when spending pressures were withheld from the OBR in a way that the chair said may have broken the law. Will the Minister confirm that that failure is being corrected under this Government?

[James Murray]

I thank my hon. Friend for his question. He is right to point out that the process between the OBR and the Treasury has been strengthened to be more robust and transparent under this Government. Of course, it is an iterative process whereby the OBR shares its forecasts with us and we share with it our proposed measures. It iterates throughout the Budget process, culminating in the Budget itself on 26 November.