Oral Answers to Questions
Patricia Gibson Excerpts(1 year ago)
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Tommy Sheppard (Edinburgh East) (SNP)
Patricia Gibson (North Ayrshire and Arran) (SNP)
The Minister of State, Department for Business and Trade (Nigel Huddleston)
Our free trade programme helps to remove market access barriers for importers and exporters, making the UK more competitive and contributing to a greater choice of goods. The UK’s trade policy works to increase access to good-quality, good-value food from around the world, while the liberalisation of tariffs can help to lower food prices.
Nigel Huddleston
The hon. Gentleman is being somewhat selective. The figures from the Office for National Statistics showed that food price inflation in the UK was 19.2%—and the EU average is 19.2%. As for apologising, I will not apologise for the fact that when we left the EU, we got rid of hundreds of useless tariffs that were doing nothing other than pushing up prices for British consumers. We liberalised tariffs on environmental goods, and we liberalised tariffs on goods that we generally do not produce in the UK, thus massively reducing the total number of tariffs faced by British consumers. That is a good thing, throughout the UK.
Patricia Gibson
Recent figures from the Trussell Trust show that food bank use across the UK by people in need of a three-day emergency food supply soared to a record 3 million in 2022-23. Does the Minister accept that food bank use, which has more than doubled in a decade, has a direct correlation with the disastrous Brexit —according to the London School of Economics—causing food prices to soar, and does he agree that more must be done to tackle a disgraceful situation in which too many of my constituents struggle to put food on the table?
Nigel Huddleston
All of us, on both sides of the House, are concerned about the struggles faced by our constituents, which is precisely why the Government have supported families through the challenges of the cost of living to the tune of £94 billion—£3,300 per household. As for the specific connection with trade, I refer the hon. Lady to the answer that I gave a moment ago: since we left the European Union, 47% of tariff lines in our tariff schedule have fallen to zero. The figure is 27% in the EU. British consumers are better off because of our tariff policy.
Eating Disorders Awareness Week
Patricia Gibson Excerpts(1 year, 2 months ago)
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Patricia Gibson (North Ayrshire and Arran) (SNP)
I am delighted to participate once again in this debate in Eating Disorders Awareness Week.
An eating disorder is a cruel and distressing illness both for those who live with the disorder and for their families, who are so often at a loss as to how best to support their loved one who is experiencing the illness. As we have heard, an eating disorder can affect anyone, regardless of gender, age, ethnicity or social background, and the impact of this serious mental illness, affecting 1.25 million people across the UK, is profound. The causes are complex, and there is no quick fix to resolve this condition. There is no doubt that, as we have heard, the gap between the onset of the illness and the start of treatment is simply too long. While family members shrink into the grip of the illness before the eyes of loved ones, families are left feeling helpless to understand what is happening and how best to provide the support that is so obviously needed.
One innovation, or new measure, that has not helped the charities and those on the frontline seeking to support people living with this condition or in danger of developing an eating disorder is calorie information on menus, which has become mandatory in England. Although we all understand the good intentions behind it, I believe it is a misguided measure. The eating disorder charity Beat is urging the Scottish Government not to follow suit on that, for very understandable reasons.
My first knowledge of the issue of eating disorders was through the story of Karen Carpenter, who died at the age of 32 in 1983 because of illness related to her eating disorder, and then Lena Zavaroni, a Scottish singer and entertainer who died in 1999 at the age of 35 because of issues surrounding her long battle with anorexia. Both those young, beautiful and very talented women spent almost all of their short lives battling with this condition, and they ultimately lost their lives to it.
Those are two very high-profile examples of deaths from eating disorder. Many people will have heard their stories and about their struggles. Sadly, it is the case that, for anyone who develops this condition, the mortality rate is frighteningly high: it is the highest mortality rate of any mental illness. As we have heard today, eating disorder does not come alone; it is accompanied by other mental health conditions such as depression, self-harm and obsessive behaviour.
Wera Hobhouse
Is it not also important that we look at athletes? We have heard that a lot of eating disorders are combined with over-exercising. It is important that we look at those highly successful and high-performing people, who are in danger of developing an eating disorder.
Patricia Gibson
Indeed. We have talked about the overlap and common ground between eating disorders and obsessive behaviour. That territory certainly includes issues such as athletes who are very conscious of body image and how to maintain it.
We have heard that eating disorders are often incorrectly, and perhaps almost exclusively, associated with young women. Stereotypes around the disorder mean that often men who are living with this condition can be deterred from seeking the help that they need. They can also have their difficulties and struggles misdiagnosed. That is why this year’s Eating Disorders Awareness Week theme is eating disorders in men. In fact, one in four people with eating disorders are men, and it is important that we raise awareness around that so that people understand this is not restricted to women.
Mr Gregory Campbell (East Londonderry) (DUP)
Even though men are in the minority of those affected, an important issue, and one that I too struggle with in my gender, is that many males, and young males, fail to get help, and fail to admit and acknowledge their problems. That is not the case in every other walk of life—if the car is not working, we take it to the garage; if the television is not working, we get the TV repair man—but we sometimes struggle to get males to understand that if help is needed, they should seek help and get it.
Patricia Gibson
Other health statistics show that men are notoriously poor at asking for the help they need, which is why they often have undiagnosed conditions. The creation of a gender stereotype around eating disorders makes it all the more difficult to break the barriers if young men develop this condition or are in danger of developing it. We need to be aware of that.
I am glad that the Scottish Government have made available support to the eating disorder charity Beat, to help to provide additional support and services across Scotland for those who are affected by this cruel illness. All medical courses in Scottish universities are discussing with Beat how to deliver, or are already providing, further training on this complex condition, of which we need to continue to develop our understanding.
Those living with the condition and their families have seen this illness tighten its grip on individuals and families who were already struggling with it during the covid pandemic. Many of those affected were left to the mercy of the awful online forums, which advise those living with the condition on how best to avoid food without family members noticing. In preparation for this debate I checked, and those online forums still exist. They are still operating and advising people how to fool their families into believing that they are eating when they are not—that is simply appalling. It is absolutely disgraceful that such sites can be hosted with apparent impunity, effectively promoting self-harm, which can and often does lead to death. When the Minister responds, I really hope she will address that.
This is a very serious condition. We work to try to remove any websites that host hate speech or incite hatred of any kind; these forums are equally dangerous, in my view, and they ought not to continue. They have been in operation, to my knowledge, for at least 20 years. There seems to have been no progress in tackling them. The takeaway for me today is that the Minister should at least tackle that element of the problem, while we all work together to try to improve treatment and diagnosis for those affected.
Several hon. Members rose—