Speeches by Perteghella.

“Minister, the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill does not contain any measures relating to adoption. This is despite evidence highlighting problems, including a shortage of adopters, lack of support for adopted children at school, difficulties accessing funding, long waiting lists for children to be adopted, especia…”

“Thank you, Minister. We have heard that there is a crisis in recruitment and retention of foster carers because of the inadequacy of financial support and lack of value and respect for the role. Will you increase the financial support available to foster carers to help them stay in the role?”

“Thank you. Will you introduce a national fostering strategy alongside the strategies on adoption and kinship care to show how the role is valued and fundamental to a social care system?”

“I want to talk about mental health. The care-experienced young people we took evidence from in this inquiry made very helpful suggestions for improving mental health support for children and young people in care. These included mandated mental health check-ins by social workers or teachers, fast track access to CAMHS a…”

“I fully agree with my hon. Friend. I too have heard of women who have had to keep working despite ill health, and who have had to use up all their life savings but still face poverty now. The Liberal Democrats have long stood with WASPI women. We made a manifesto commitment to fight for fair compensation and we will no…”

“It is an honour to serve under your chairship, Sir Edward. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for South Cotswolds (Dr Savage) for securing and opening this debate, the hundreds of thousands of people who signed this important petition, and the formidable campaigners. An estimated 6,500 women in my constituency of Stratf…”

“We have heard calls for putting SEN support on a statutory footing. In your view, would this help improve provision in mainstream education settings, and what should this look like in practice?”

“My question is for Annamarie and Margaret. What measures can the Department or individual education settings implement to upskill teaching assistants and other support staff to improve the support for children and young people with SEND?”

“We have heard calls for putting SEN support on a statutory footing. In your view, would this help improve provision in mainstream education settings, and what should this look like in practice?”

“My question is for Annamarie and Margaret. What measures can the Department or individual education settings implement to upskill teaching assistants and other support staff to improve the support for children and young people with SEND?”

“I need to declare that I worked as a university lecturer for the past 20 years, although I do not any more. Professor Peck, higher education providers face an existential challenge on funding, and we have seen some of the impact in the large volume of redundancies announced by several universities. What will the Office…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir John. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Taunton and Wellington (Gideon Amos) for securing this timely and urgent debate. A healthy natural environment is essential for both public health and our economy, yet our rivers and bathing waters are being polluted at an a…”

“It was about how providers can diversify away from over-reliance on international student fees.”

“You have described an impressive turnaround of the finances of Nottingham Trent University under your vice-chancellorship. What lessons can you derive from your experience for the sector’s finances? That is my first question. My second is: how can providers diversify away from over-reliance on international student fee…”

“Rob, the National Association of Head Teachers previously called for the Government to publish data on SEND provision against SEND need. Why is the data needed in current and future capacity planning for the SEND system?”

“Anyone else?”

“Yes.”

“Claire, the National Audit Office warned that relying on independent specialist schools for specialist provision “may lead to poor value for money.” What is your response to this and what role do you think independent specialist schools should play in SEND provision?”

“To Claire again, what are the barriers to an effective collaboration between local authorities and independent school provision? What steps are needed to overcome these barriers?”

“The panel has already discussed the importance of early intervention in supporting children and young people with SEND. Should the high needs block prioritise this to improve the consistency and availability of early years SEND provision, and are there additional areas where high needs funding should be directed?”