The Adult Social Care sector is facing an urgent staffing crisis with more than 100,000 vacancies across the country and staff who have been burnt out by the pandemic leaving the profession for better paid work in retail or distribution.  This has terrible consequences both for the NHS and for vulnerable people who cannot access the care they need.

Urgent action is needed now to stem the loss of valued social care staff. Yesterday, I asked the government to fund an immediate retention bonus and a permanent pay rise for social care staff. You can see my question here > >

I am so grateful to our NHS and social care staff for their tireless work throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. They have been on the frontline, often risking their own health to care for our loved ones. A decade of Tory cuts and neglect left our health and care systems unprepared for the pandemic. Staff now face an incredibly difficult winter trying to clear record waiting lists whilst Covid-19 rates remain high.

It is shameful that in the middle of the biggest crisis the NHS has faced, the Government is rushing through an unnecessary top down reorganization in the Health and Care Bill. The Bill will do nothing to solve the NHS workforce crisis  and will open the NHS up to increased privatisation by allowing profit-driven businesses to sit on local NHS boards.

The Bill also fails to deliver desperately needed reform of social care. The sector needs long-term sustainable funding and to be put on a parity of esteem with the NHS. More than 2 million people who are eligible for care are already not receiving any help at all with vacancies in the sector continuing to grow. Staff need a proper pay rise and the opportunity to build a career in social care.

The Bill is an unnecessary distraction from the urgent problems facing the NHS and social care sector. I will be voting against the Bill and will continue to call for the support our health and care staff need.

Privatised water companies discharged raw sewage into our seas and rivers over 400,000 times in 2020. This shocking practise pollutes our waters leaving just 14% of England’s rivers meeting good ecological standards. As a member of the Environmental Audit Committee, I recently saw first-hand the damage raw sewage discharges have caused in Oxfordshire and the urgent need for stronger regulations and better enforcement.  

In addition to harmful bacteria, nitrogen and phosphates, the unmonitored discharges also includes substances such as microplastics, antibiotics and hormones which water companies aren’t required to measure or remove from waste water, but which also harm aquatic life and in turn enter our food chain.

Locally, we have seen the consistent failure of Thames Water to invest in aging pipes and sewers. This has led to recurrent bursts and leaks which waste water and cause disruption on local roads.  The quality of workmanship when repairs are undertaken is also frequently shoddy, with new leaks and bursts often occurring within days of repairs being completed.  This is all evidence of a water industry which is not fit for purpose.

We face a climate and ecological emergency. Our water system has an important role to play in cleaning up our natural waterways and reduce water wastage but privatised water companies, under pressure to deliver a return to shareholders, cannot deliver the investment that is needed.  The water industry should  be returned to common ownership so that it can focus on delivering functioning clean water infrastructure and be part of the solution to the challenge of nature recovery.  You can watch my speech here >>

The eyes of the world are currently on Glasgow as the city hosts COP26, the UN climate conference.

The stakes could not be higher. We urgently need the governments of the world to agree to actions to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees centigrade to avoid the most catastrophic consequences of climate change.  Current commitments are far from adequate, and we need to see bold action including to stop the use of coal and keep fossil fuels in the ground, halt deforestation and support nature recovery, and invest in the world’s poorest countries to ensure a just transition to Net Zero.

My constituents care deeply about climate change and the future of our planet, and I have made commitments in every election to work for climate action on their behalf.  In the run up to COP26, I took part in a conference organised by the Dulwich and West Norwood Climate Coalition, an organisation I helped to set up in 2015, attended by hundreds of local residents.  Following the conference, we delivered our petition to Boris Johnson at 10 Downing Street, calling for the UK government to negotiate the strongest possible commitments in Glasgow.

Last week, I travelled to Glasgow – by train – to take part in COP26. I’m a member of the Environmental Audit Committee in Parliament, which has the job of scrutinising all government policy and decision making for its impact on the environment and climate change.  We organised an event on international parliamentary scrutiny, looking at the vitally important question of how governments around the world will be held to account for delivering on the commitments they make in Glasgow.

This weekend, delegates from across the world will be arriving in Glasgow for the pivotal UN COP26 climate conference. This is a critical opportunity for world leaders to agree to the scale of climate action needed to limit global warming to 1.5°, but the UK Government’s last minute preparations and lack of leadership and commitment risk squandering this opportunity.

I recently spoke in Parliament, calling on the government to step up their action and their leadership to ensure that COP26 delivers the agreement the world needs to avert catastrophic climate change.  You can watch my speech here>>

Fire and rehire is when an employer introduces new contracts for staff with lower pay and weaker employment rights and threatens to sack staff who refuse to sign up. It’s a disgraceful practise and it should be illegal.

My colleague Barry Gardiner is introducing a private member’s bill in Parliament today to ban the pernicious practise of fire and rehire. I fully support this bill.

I’m attending the funeral of our much-loved friend Duncan Chapman today so I can’t be in Parliament to vote for the bill, but I have been paired, so my absence won’t affect the result.

I hope the Bill succeeds - if it doesn’t, a Labour government would outlaw fire and rehire, it needs to stop. #stopfireandrehire