Speeches by Dixon.

“On the point about data requests to other Government Departments, it is brilliant that the Government have given extra money for potholes—they are an issue that my constituents are concerned about—but is that basically because they have not had a grip on what the condition of roads has been? How are you going to contin…”

“But somebody has to push back on Ministers.”

“I would just point out the slight paradox in that response and the earlier response, when we were talking about adult social care and the market sustainability and improvement fund, where the view was, “No, we can’t tell them or ask them; it is entirely up to local government.” So we are scrutinising the spending on po…”

“Local authority leaders would probably be pleased to hear that plans are being put in place for strategies on all those demand areas, and about the reforms you mentioned earlier on local government financing. But there are councils, like Bradford council, that are already in exceptional financing because half their bud…”

“Before we move on, I want to pick up where my colleague Clive Betts finished, looking at the adult social care sector in particular. In 2021, the NAO published a Report on the adult social care market in England. Even back then, with data going back to 2019, it found that a significant number of large providers were no…”

“What you said definitely resonates with Bradford council, which is my local council. Over the decade leading up to 2024 it made some £350 million in savings. A point comes where there is no further to go in making savings, which is why it resorted to exceptional financial support. Even with that, it leaves a gap. Obvio…”

“Apologies for being late, Chair. My only interest is that I have worked professionally in adult social care in the past before coming to this place. The NAO Report identifies many different reasons why the councils find themselves in the position they are in, both financially and in service challenges; we have touched …”

“Would you like to comment on the funding gap with the rising demand? Again, Bradford council is very typical, with 33% of its budget now going on adult social care; with all of the council tax that it raises, it cannot even cover the cost of children’s social care. Even these statutory services are dominating local aut…”

“So that would obviously be the Department of Health and Social Care on social care, where we have reform coming. Specifically there, in terms of the gap for local authorities, we have had evidence from Mencap, Sense and the Homecare Association, all basically saying that they are almost not meeting their Care Act oblig…”

“No, I am thinking in general about this idea of having an accountability framework, and having data that can give some assurance on what outcomes are being delivered for what spend.”

“One last thing: we have talked so much about demand-led and statutory services, but almost nothing about the very important discretionary services that make a huge difference to my residents’ day-to-day quality of life, whether that is parks, arts and culture, library services, or waste management. In its local governm…”

“Extending the flexibilities around things like the better care fund, for example.”

“One of the other join-ups is between health and social care budgets locally. We received evidence from the NHS Confederation expressing frustration that pooled allocations, particularly around the better care fund, are often coming out late and are not joined up with when local government hears about its funding and wh…”

“My constituency of Shipley is not short of sporting talent. Baildon Fisical Sports Coaching Academy’s under-eights team has just won the national junior premier league final for the second consecutive season. I pay tribute to the Bumble Bees Barbarians, the first mixed-ability contact rugby union team in England, which…”

“15. What steps is she taking to allocate funding to local grassroots sports facilities in the north of England.”

“Parents of LGBTQ+ children are concerned that the 2024 guidance that the previous Government consulted on is providing a hostile environment and preventing conversations about trans and non-binary children from happening. Would the Minister would consider reverting to the 2023 guidance?”

“Did my hon. Friend hear Gareth Southgate talking in the Richard Dimbleby lecture about the fact that boys need positive male role models in the real world—people like football coaches, scout leaders, youth club leaders and more male teachers? I wondered if my hon. Friend would agree that having real-world role models w…”

“I thank the hon. Lady for securing this important debate. I serve on the Public Accounts Committee, which looked at the NAO report on violence against women and girls. In West Yorkshire, the police have developed a brilliant prevention programme —the hon. Lady touched on the need for prevention—called Pol-Ed, which goe…”

“I volunteered with the OSCE to ensure free and fair elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1996, following the Dayton peace agreement. I therefore have huge concerns about the escalating tensions. I welcome the diplomatic efforts we are undertaking to support stability, on which the Minister has updated us, but can he …”

“Great. I was going to come on to that.”