Business of the House

Peter Gibson Excerpts

Thursday 18th May 2023 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on securing his Westminster Hall debate—he has successfully advertised it today and I hope it will be well attended. He will know that, in addition to the Government’s £94 billion support package to assist with the cost of living, we give funding to be distributed nationally as well as ensuring that local authorities have enough flexibility to be able to target households in greater need or that have fallen through the cracks, through the household support fund and others. This is a serious and important matter to us. I will see what is said in his Westminster Hall debate, and I thank him for securing it.

[Peter Gibson (Darlington) (Con)]

My right hon. Friend will be aware of the ongoing situation on the provision of mental health services via Tees, Esk and Wear Valley NHS Foundation Trust, with a rapid review underway into its services. In recent weeks and months we have seen continuing coverage of yet more alarming news about TEWV in The Northern Echo. As we await the publication of the rapid review, can my right hon. Friend find time for a debate on the performance of TEWV and a potential public inquiry into the trust?

[Penny Mordaunt]

I am extremely sorry to hear about the ongoing situation and the difficulties for my hon. Friend’s constituents. He knows that I am unable to comment on current legal proceedings before his local magistrates court, but I congratulate him on his diligent campaigning on these matters and on ensuring that his constituents will get the services that they are entitled to and deserve. I will ensure that the Secretary of State has heard his concerns again today.

Business of the House

Peter Gibson Excerpts

Thursday 23rd March 2023 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

I am very sorry to hear about this case. As the hon. Gentleman will know, if he gives me the details, I will assist him in getting his constituent an answer immediately.

[Peter Gibson (Darlington) (Con)]

My right hon. Friend will be aware of the marvellous work being done in London, Brighton, Manchester and Blackpool with opt- out testing, following fantastic campaigns by the Terrence Higgins Trust and my hon. Friend the Member for Blackpool South (Scott Benton). We are now weeks away from the end of the first year of opt-out testing. In the first 10 months, emergency departments in those areas have diagnosed almost 1,500 people with HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C. As the anniversary approaches, we will have a full year’s-worth of data to look at. Will she find time for a debate to explore the further roll-out of opt-out testing to all areas of high prevalence?

[Penny Mordaunt]

I thank my hon. Friend for drawing attention to this very important work, and I pay tribute to all the organisations that have assisted, including the Terrence Higgins Trust, the National AIDS Trust and the Elton John AIDS Foundation. My hon. Friend is right, in that the accident and emergency departments involved have diagnosed 268 people with HIV and found a further 139 people who knew that they were HIV positive but were not engaged with services. There are benefits elsewhere, as they found a further 730 people with hepatitis B and 299 people with hepatitis C. I think this is something we should be doing everywhere and I commend all those involved in this initiative and care for making such good progress.

Business of the House

Peter Gibson Excerpts

Thursday 26th January 2023 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

The hon. Lady is right that high streets are a lifeline. They are very important to the local economy, and they provide a place for people to socialise and for all sorts of services to be provided. As someone who has not had money granted in applications, I know that we are often successful in subsequent rounds and that the Department will be looking at the unsuccessful bid from her area and what could be done to improve it or ensure there is some other investment into her constituency. I will not comment on the specific planning issue, because Mr Deputy Speaker would chastise me for doing so, but the hon. Lady has got her concerns on the record today, and I wish her luck.

[Peter Gibson (Darlington) (Con)]

My inbox is full of correspondence from constituents who are concerned about NHS dental services. With the imminent closure of the dentist at Firthmoor Community Centre, 7,000 of them face the prospect of no dental provision. I know that my right hon. Friend takes the issue seriously and has been successful in campaigning for better provision across Portsmouth, so can she find Government time for us all to debate it?

[Penny Mordaunt]

I am sorry to hear that those providers are leaving my hon. Friend’s constituency. He will know that we have put additional funding into dentistry: about this time last year, an additional £50 million was made available to assist with the catch-up job that we had to do to get everyone dentally fit after the covid pandemic, and further funds have also been put in. It is also vital to have flexibility in commissioning to ensure that the money can be used to ensure that every dental chair and every dentist is occupied for the longest possible time. I had a meeting with the Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, my hon. Friend the Member for Harborough (Neil O’Brien), yesterday and I know that he is looking at bringing forward further measures shortly to assist with that. I will make sure that he has heard the concerns of my hon. Friend the Member for Darlington (Peter Gibson).

Christmas Adjournment

Peter Gibson Excerpts

Tuesday 20th December 2022 Commons Chamber

[Peter Gibson (Darlington) (Con)]

The past year has been a hugely exciting one for Darlington as we continue to go from strength to strength. By my calculations, including funds for my hard-working constituents during covid and the current cost of living challenges, Darlington has received around £620 million in support and investment from the Government since I was elected in 2019. We are already seeing what that investment is delivering, such as the £23.3 million from the towns fund, which is improving our historic yards, Victoria Road and Northgate.

We have seen the announcement of the permanent location of the Darlington economic campus, which continues to grow. Treasury civil servants are joined by those from Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, the Department for International Trade, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, the Department for Education, the Office for National Statistics and the Competition and Markets Authority. More than 80% of those new jobs have gone to people from the region, allowing people to stay local but go far. I want to put on the record my thanks to my neighbour, my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister, for his decision as Chancellor to choose Darlington.

T-levels have now come to Darlington. They offer a fantastic new educational route for young people, helping to train the next generation of skilled workers. Darlington College has benefited from £2.69 million from the towns fund for a new engineering block. I have invited the Secretary of State for Education to open the extension, and I look forward to welcoming her to Darlington in the new year.

Diggers are on site as the £139 million investment in Bank Top station gets under way. This will be transformational for the station and is key to ensuring Darlington’s position as the gateway to the region. Darlington’s rail heritage quarter is taking shape, with £35 million in investment from Ben Houchen and Darlington Borough Council. We look to the future and the 200th anniversary of the Stockton and Darlington railway on 27 September 2025. Darlington Borough Council is already setting out plans to commemorate this milestone. I hope that the Government will commemorate the anniversary in a fitting way.

On railways, I have had the railway bridges on Yarm Road and North Road painted. I am campaigning for tactile edging at Bank Top station and I am pulling people together to see improvements at North Road station. I have campaigned to ensure that we see no reduction in services from London North Eastern Railway and I want to see price and provider competition at Darlington from the likes of Lumo. I support calls for the reopening of the Leamside line and I am backing the restoration of services through to Weardale. It is not just about rail in Darlington. It is also about roads. I continue to press for the inclusion of Darlington’s northern link road in road investment strategy 3.

Delivering as a Member of Parliament is not just about fighting for jobs and investment. It is also about strengthening our communities. I have spent as much time as possible in Darlington talking to residents and delivering on local priorities. Last year, I co-ordinated and helped to deliver a new playground at Corporation Road Community Primary School. I am delighted to have been able to repeat that project twice more this year, first at Maidendale Nursery and then at the Coleridge Centre in Skerne Park, and have worked with fantastic organisations such as Splash and Hands On, in partnership with local businesses and community groups.

It was a huge honour to secure my very first Adjournment debate finally, on the posthumous recognition of Pilot Officer William McMullen. For the benefit of those who were not able to attend the debate, William is a true hero to the people of Darlington for saving the lives of countless Darlingtonians at the cost of his own life. I became the first Member of Parliament for Darlington to tell his story on the Floor of the House. His story is now rightly recorded in Hansard.

As a hospice trustee and co-chair of the all-party parliamentary group on hospice and end of life care, I look forward to the publication of our report in the new year. I welcome the obligations on palliative care in the Health and Care Act 2022. I will always continue to push for further support and recognition of these important organisations, just like St Teresa’s in Darlington, which does so much good work.

Being a constituency MP affords us the opportunity to meet people from all walks of life and to experience the roles they play in our communities. Over the past year, I have cleaned rivers with the Environment Agency, I have been on patrol with the police, I have emptied bins with the fantastic guys from the Darlington Council refuse team, I have painted railway bridges with the guys from Network Rail, I have built children’s playgrounds alongside community volunteers, I have called bingo, danced the conga and participated in quizzes in clubs across my constituency, I have attended almost every denomination of faith represented in Darlington—and I have loved every minute of it.

I thank everyone I have engaged with for their support, their encouragement and their willingness to share their stories and experiences with me: it helps me to learn and helps me to serve my community better. I wish everybody across Darlington, all Members of this House, the House’s incredible staff and my exceptional staff team—Rachael, Kevin, Jonathan, Berni, Gemma and Theo, who do so much to support me—a very merry Christmas and a happy new year.

Business of the House

Peter Gibson Excerpts

Thursday 24th March 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mark Spencer]

I thank my hon. Friend for her question, but also her constituents for their support. Home Office and Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities officials are providing a service for Members and their caseworkers on these very matters at the Portcullis House customer service hub. I encourage my hon. Friend to take this matter up with them.

[Peter Gibson (Darlington) (Con)]

Darlington is the birthplace of the modern railway, and I am of the view that Darlington is the best place for the new headquarters of Great British Railways. It just makes sense—it is where it all began. Given that there is huge interest across the House, from 42 locations across the United Kingdom, to be the home of Great British Railways, and given that many MPs representing those constituencies have already held Adjournment debates and Westminster Hall debates, may I ask my right hon. Friend to find Government time for a debate on all those amazing locations, so that we can extol the virtues of our respective bids?

[Mr Speaker]

I have been told that it is going to Preston.

Business of the House

Peter Gibson Excerpts

Thursday 20th January 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

It is not always right to draw conclusions about a whole system from one case. The hon. Gentleman raises the case of Garry McDermott, who has sent in his papers 50 times over 10 years, with 1,500 pages going missing. I will certainly take up the case with the Ministry of Defence if he sends me more information, as it is important that systems work well not just in theory but in practice for individual constituents. I view it as very much the role of the Leader of the House to try to facilitate redress of grievance, where that is possible.

[Peter Gibson (Darlington) (Con)]

In 1825, Locomotion No. 1 pulled the first passenger train over Skerne bridge in Darlington, marking the birth of the modern railway. Ever since, Darlington has had a unique connection to the railways that made Britain great. Does my right hon. Friend agree that we should celebrate the ingenuity of our Victorian ancestors by establishing the headquarters of Great British Railways in Darlington? Due to the extent of interest from hon. Members on both sides of the House in their constituencies hosting it, may we please have a debate in Government time?

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

Talking about early railway journeys always makes me nervous because we all remember that Huskisson, who was President of the Board of Trade at the time, unfortunately stepped the wrong way on the track and was run down by an early railway experiment.

However, my hon. Friend is right to ask me of all people to celebrate our Victorian forebears. I share a birthday with Her Majesty Queen Victoria, 24 May, which used to be a public holiday as Empire Day. Talking of birthdays, I have not yet wished the Chief Whip a happy birthday. Mr Speaker, did you know it is the anniversary of that distinguished gentleman’s birth?

Business of the House

Peter Gibson Excerpts

Thursday 23rd September 2021 Commons Chamber

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

The right hon. Lady always raises points of great importance in this House, and the work done by people on the frontline during covid was of fundamental importance. I think that this is initially a subject for a Backbench Business debate to raise this issue and whether covenants may be appropriate in other areas beyond the armed forces and the police, but I will certainly take it up with the Department concerned.

[Peter Gibson (Darlington) (Con)]

Since a fire at the Bilsdale mast on 13 August, many of my constituents have been left without access to terrestrial TV services. Many of my constituents have contacted me about this issue and especially about the impact it has had on elderly loved ones who rely on these services for company. With no concrete date by which these services will be restored, will my right hon .Friend find time for a debate on the Bilsdale mast fire and the impact it has had on communities, such as mine in the north-east?

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for raising this important issue, which my hon. Friend the Member for Harrogate and Knaresborough (Andrew Jones) raised with me last week. I understand that my hon. Friends attended a meeting with the Minister responsible at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and Arqiva, which is responsible for the mast. The point that my hon. Friend made is spot on: terrestrial television channels such as ITV are important in the lives of many people, especially the elderly and vulnerable, who are often alone for extended periods and find such channels an important form of comfort and company. As I understand it, the Bilsdale mast is in a particularly remote location, which has provided certain challenges, but I hear that a temporary mast may be constructed before 8 October, so I think some good news is in the pipeline.

Business of the House

Peter Gibson Excerpts

Thursday 15th October 2020 Commons Chamber

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

As I have just mentioned, Digital, Culture, Media and Sport questions will be on 5 November, so “Remember, remember the 5th of November” for other purposes. The national data strategy is a very good strategy. We need to be buccaneering about it because it may determine our economic future, and if that is coming from Dominic Cummings, all power to his elbow.

[Peter Gibson (Darlington) (Con)]

In 1821, this House passed the Act that brought about the Stockton and Darlington railway, enabling Darlington to become the birthplace of the railways. Our world heritage bridge featured on the £5 note, with Locomotion No. 1 travelling across it, and my constituents are petitioning for that engine to stay in Darlington. We have grand plans to develop a rail heritage quarter, in part funded by a successful towns fund bid. Our nation will have the opportunity to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the railways in 2025. As they are central to our country’s identity and economy, I wonder whether the Leader of the House could find time to debate how our nation might mark and celebrate this significant milestone, highlighting the significant contributions of our railways, past, present and future.