Speeches by Voaden.

“In rural areas such as South Devon, agricultural workers and isolated young people often face distinct acute mental health crises, yet local mental health provision is stretched to breaking point. What specific targeted support is the Department providing to rural health boards to ensure that suicide intervention servi…”

“A constituent wrote to me as he was deeply concerned that the British public had been misled about the UK’s involvement in the US conflict with Iran. His sister lives next to RAF Fairford and reported 24/7 use of the base by US bomber flights in May after the ceasefire. Residents were experiencing constant aircraft mov…”

“It is funny how the thought of the Prime Minister’s legacy has suddenly spurred him on to take action to protect our children, when he has resisted for so long. That being said, it is welcome that the Government are listening to the Liberal Democrats’ proposal for a harms-based approach and are considering restricting …”

“Last week, South West Water was fined nearly £2 million after pleading guilty to supplying water unfit for human consumption in Brixham in my constituency in 2024. I do not believe that that fine does justice to the impact of the event; people became ill—some were hospitalised—and the economic impact was massive. Repea…”

“I declare an interest, having received that payment for many, many years. I do not think it is long enough either.”

“Just to clarify, you do not think 18 months is long enough.”

“Thank you. I have a quick follow-up for Charis. One thing that you have not mentioned, in talking about your priority groups, is that among the cohort of lone parents are bereaved parents. Widowed parent’s allowance was changed in 2017 and replaced by bereavement support payments, which last for only 18 months. That ha…”

“In 2022, Wales launched the first basic income pilot for care leavers and for a couple of years was paying young people £1,600 a month to help them with the transition that you have been talking about and to gain some independence post leaving care. There were some issues with it, and the pilot has been ended now. Is t…”

“Brilliant. Thank you very much.”

“To finish, what is your connection with family hubs, Tom? Is EFL working with them?”

“Perhaps paying people working in early years the minimum wage is not going to give us the outcomes that we would like to see.”

“There has been some concern in evidence that the strategy’s emphasis on early years has left a bit of a gap with regard to interventions for older children aged between four and 10, who sort of fall between two stools. Does anybody have anything to say about that and about whether Best Start family hubs have a role to …”

“I would like to ask you about Best Start family hubs. Some might say that we are slightly reinventing the wheel—we have been here before—but George, what do you think will be necessary to ensure that the roll-out of Best Start family hubs can help to reduce child poverty in local areas? Some have opened, and more will …”

“I thank the hon. Member for giving way again; he is being very generous with his time. We are talking about the importance of hospitality in our coastal communities. Given that hospitality is such a cornerstone activity in our coastal communities, providing many young people with their first jobs and providing jobs for…”

“On a point of order, Mr Speaker.”

“Nowhere is it more apparent what happens when a community is not prepared than in South Devon. We have a major A road that washed into the sea in February and we now have communities that are completely severed: bus services are not running, school buses are not running, and people cannot get to healthcare appointments…”

“Research has repeatedly shown that about half of child sexual abuse in the UK happens within the family, and the majority of the rest is by known, trusted adults. When I was chief executive of a rape crisis service, I worked very closely with an organisation called Child Abuse Prevention UK, which taught children to re…”

“I thank the hon. Member for his intervention. We do not have a mayor in Devon, so we miss out on a lot of that legislation’s benefits. I have loads of villages that do not even have a bus, so talk of bus fares is completely irrelevant when there is literally no service. How are young people supposed to get to college o…”

“What I said is absolutely correct. In my constituency of South Devon, new build homes in developer-led housing estates are selling for £950,000. We are not providing the homes we need—the social homes and the truly affordable homes that young people, young couples, young families and people who want to move out from th…”

“It is a real pleasure to speak in this King’s Speech debate, which is my first in this Chamber. Last time around, I was sat on my own in a hotel room on the south bank with covid, warmly shared as a welcome gift by a lovely new colleague just after I entered this place. After the local election results last week, it is…”