Speeches by Voaden.

“I think we would all agree that it is a tragedy when any rape victim withdraws from the criminal justice system, but I do not buy the faux outrage from the shadow Secretary of State. I was the chief executive of a rape crisis centre when his party was in government, and every single day I heard victims talk about the d…”

“Will the hon. Lady give way?”

“Will the hon. Member give way?”

“Exactly, and why would this be better?”

“Last week, I attended the impressive national emergency briefing on the climate and nature crisis, where 10 leading experts warned MPs about escalating risks facing the UK. The briefing was challenging and informative, but also encouraging, and it set out positive steps that we can take to mitigate the impact. Those ex…”

“May I start by echoing the comments of the Secretary of State and all Members in saying that my thoughts are with the families affected by this awful case? There is a concerning lack of accountability once a setting shuts down, even if it is part of a chain. There is no mechanism to ensure that chain providers have cor…”

“It is really difficult for a headteacher to do that. One of my local headteachers has just done it, and the pushback, not from the kids but from the parents, is really hard, because it becomes a personal decision taken by the headteacher. They want to be able to say, “I have to do it because that is what the law says,”…”

“Prior to last week’s talks with leaders of the British overseas territories, concerning reports suggested that the Government were planning to cave in to pressure from the British Virgin Islands, the epicentre of billions of pounds of tax evasion, and allow it to restrict public access to a register of company share ow…”

“Hello, Secretary of State. We talked about this at yesterday’s oral questions, and I think you might have partly answered what I was going to ask, but I will go through it again. You said yesterday that the cost would not be coming from the schools budget, which you have just repeated here, and that the cost would vagu…”

“So it is a start, and it is going to keep getting better?”

“Turning to higher education, at the autumn Budget the Government announced that the international student levy will go ahead. The Department’s updated analysis has increased the number of international students it expects to be deterred by the levy in the longer term from 7,000 to 17,000 a year. That is despite the lev…”

“Can you explain the change in the estimate of how many international students are likely to be deterred by that levy?”

“The Government’s roll-out of mental health support teams in schools and colleges has been described as “glacial”. What steps are the Government taking to accelerate the delivery of mental health support teams?”

“How will you ensure that children in schools who have to wait until 2030 for this provision are not left without vital mental health support in the intervening years?”

“You mentioned the maintenance grant. The proposed maintenance grant will only be £1,000 a year, restricted to certain subjects, and it will be introduced in nearly three years’ time, compared with what used to be £3,000 for all subjects when they were abolished. The maximum will also only be £750 in the third year, whe…”

“The Government have said that all schools should take steps to prohibit the use of smartphones during the school day, but they do not support an outright ban on smartphones in schools. As I told the Prime Minister, I recently hosted a roundtable with headteachers of secondary schools who spoke about the transformationa…”

“But they do not have your backing in saying, “This is what you have to do,” and therefore taking the responsibility off them and putting it on the DfE.”

“In July, the Secretary of State promised a better SEND system, with strengthened support, improved access and more funding, yet even a charitable interpretation of the Office for Budget Responsibility’s analysis of the Government’s decision, announced at the Budget, to absorb SEND funding into core budgets shows severa…”

“The Government have stated that international students are welcome in the UK, and that is something that you have just repeated to us this morning. Could you share with us some examples of recent policy changes that have been designed to support and encourage international students to come and study here?”

“Finally and quickly on that, is it up to the student to find another course or is there any mechanism for the collapsing institution?”