Speeches by Witherden.

“Before my election, I spent nearly 20 years as a secondary school teacher, seeing at first hand the devastating effects of food poverty on children’s health, concentration and academic performance. I welcome the introduction of free breakfast clubs in primary schools, which will improve child health and learning outcom…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Roger. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Brent East (Dawn Butler) on securing this important debate. Research in 2023 revealed that mothers in the UK earned, on average, 31% less than fathers—a gap worse than the one 40 years before. The motherhood pay pena…”

“We rightly place huge emphasis on danger to life when deciding the severity of weather warnings. Should we also place an emphasis on danger to livelihood? Both storms have done tremendous damage to people’s livelihoods. I am interested to hear your thoughts on that.”

“Mr Brown, Storm Darragh and Storm Bert caused really severe consequences in my constituency. Probably the worst incident was a horrendous landslide that we had in Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog during Storm Bert. Can you explain why you issued a yellow warning for Storm Bert, but then a red warning for Storm Darragh?”

“Was the response to Storm Darragh informed in any way by the criticism received about the response to Storm Bert?”

“I would like to ask about mitigating future flood risk and I would like to hear from all of the panel, please. Climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of flooding events. In my constituency we see it on the Montgomery to Welshpool road and in other hotspots all around the constituency. I am very curious…”

“My final question is to Mr Barrow. Going on what we have just heard, how does this ratio compare to public sector prisons of a comparable size and categorisation to HMP Parc?”

“Thank you for that up-to-date data from June onwards. Right now, what is the ratio of prison officers to prisoners at HMP Parc?”

“I would like to ask some questions about staffing, initially to Mr Styles. Retention of prison officers is a challenge across the prison estate as a whole. Should G4S prison staff be paid more?”

“We have touched on this already in relation to self-harm and substance misuse, but are staff shortages at HMP Parc making an unsafe prison?”

“Mr Brockington, would you like to come in on that?”

“I have one final question for Mr Barrow: why does Wales have such a high imprisonment rate?”

“Something that has been touched on briefly already is that distance from home can be a key to ensuring a prisoner’s successful rehabilitation and is especially relevant to Welsh women offenders, given the lack of women’s prisons in Wales. Will the sentencing review be assessing HMPPS prisoner placement procedures? If n…”

“The Ministry of Justice is currently undertaking an independent sentencing review due to report in spring 2025. How will you ensure that the unique delivery environment of Wales, in which many criminal justice-adjacent services are devolved to the Welsh Government, is taken into account when implementing any recommenda…”

“I thank my neighbour the hon. Member for Ceredigion Preseli (Ben Lake) for asking the urgent question. Let me add my voice to the chorus of voices thanking the emergency services, and also pay tribute to communities and local businesses such as the Hand in Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog, in my constituency. The storm brough…”

“Assisted dying is already occurring in unregulated ways, with up to 650 terminally ill people taking their own lives each year, often in traumatic circumstances, causing additional pain for their loved ones. The Bill promotes freedom of choice at the end of life in a controlled and regulated manner. Does my hon. Friend…”

“This is a question for David. There is a wide range of figures on the number of farms that will be affected by the inheritance tax changes to agriculture relief, with Farmers Weekly recently reporting that no impact assessment had been done. Is it clear how many farms will be affected by these changes?”

“Thank you. I have a very important follow-up question. Just how hard will this affect the ability of farmers to pass the family farm down to future generations?”

“I thank the hon. Member for Poplar and Limehouse (Apsana Begum) for securing this crucial debate and for her exceptional dedication to tackling violence against women and girls. UN Women’s latest femicides report reveals that globally the home is now the most dangerous place for a woman to be. For far too long, domesti…”

“Yes, I 100% agree. The role of education cannot be understated; it is fundamentally important.”