Speeches by Fox.

“An approved auditor could do that.”

“Hello. I am Ashley Fox, the Member for Bridgwater. I am a former solicitor and my interests are on the register.”

“Ms Reeves, could you tell us what you mean when you say you “superintend” the SFO? You described it as impressive, yet this failure to disclose documents caused the London Mining case to collapse, and other big prosecutions have failed. What is it that your Department does to superintend this organisation?”

“What proactive steps do you take?”

“If I can come in there, when you say you superintend them, you receive reports from the director and senior officers.”

“The Secretary of State knows that the figure she has quoted to the House excludes primary schools. The Labour party manifesto promised to increase the number of teachers by 6,500, funded by the party’s education tax, yet this morning the DFE website says that there are now 1,900 fewer teachers than in 2024. Daniel Kebe…”

“Minister, are you confident that you will have enough staff to cope with the effects of your reforms in the Sentencing Act? Some of those reforms have come into effect, and more are yet to come into force. That will place an extra burden on the Probation Service. Are you confident that by the time we get to next April …”

“Are you monitoring how staff are coping with these new burdens that are being placed on them? What is the reaction from staff?”

“A lot more prisoners will be released into the community earlier. You talked about high risk, and that will be assessed, if I understood you, according to AI algorithms, presumably along with probation officer assessment. Is it a combination of the two?”

“In March 2026, there was a shortfall of 1,556 full-time equivalent probation officers against the target level, which would suggest that at the moment they are dealing with far too many cases. Is that a reasonable assumption to make?”

“I am Ashley Fox, the Member of Parliament for Bridgwater. I am a former solicitor and my interests are on the register.”

“My concern is: are the public going to be protected from this larger number of prisoners being released early? Do we have enough probation officers ready for September? Is your algorithm going to work?”

“Minister, can I ask you about the Probation Service? What is the average caseload for a probation practitioner at the moment, and, in your view, what would be an appropriate target?”

“The Minister will recall that when he wrote to me on 23 April, he confirmed that under Labour 4% fewer dental treatments were performed in Somerset than in the same period before the general election. If everything is so wonderful, why is dentistry in Somerset worse now under his watch than it was under the last Govern…”

“I thank the hon. Lady for her point. I think golden hellos are a useful tool, but they are not sufficient. Reform of the contract is fundamentally what we need, and one would hope that after two years in his place, the Minister would have developed an idea of what to take forward. I believe that these local partnership…”

“The Government were elected on a platform that included a dentistry rescue plan. They correctly assessed a crisis in NHS dentistry and promised to fix it. Nowhere is that crisis more felt than in the rural areas across the country. Nearly two years on from the general election, I consulted residents across my constitue…”

“T2. The Maritime and Coastguard Agency’s decision to discontinue hourly payments to volunteer rescue coastguards threatens the safety of Burnham-on-Sea in my constituency and coastal communities around the country. It is inevitable that fewer people will be able to volunteer to assist the coastguard if they cannot be r…”

“It is utterly shameful that this Government are presiding over the imposition of VAT on drugs donated for compassionate use. The Minister referred to the previous Government. VAT was not put on those drugs under the previous Government, but it is being put on them under this Government. Was it the Health Secretary who …”

“A modern railway system should enable everyone, regardless of their mobility, to travel safely, independently and with dignity. That is why new clause 30, which would place a duty upon Great British Railways to establish an accessible rail strategy, is so important. If the railways are to be nationalised and brought to…”

“The defence investment plan is urgently needed to provide our armed forces with the resources they need to defend our nation. Does the Minister accept that when the Government show themselves capable of publishing their welfare spending until 2031 but continually delay the publication of the defence investment plan, th…”