Baggy Shanker MP: speeches

Speeches

• 27 Mar 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  Derby station has recently been revealed as the seventh worst for delays in the UK. When people cannot get to work on time, it is not just a pain for them; it also impacts productivity and holds back our local economies. Will the Secretary of State outline the steps she is taking to tackle delayed trains in Derby and the east midlands, so that the transport system supports economic growth rather than holding it back?

• 27 Mar 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  At the Copeland Street car park in my Derby South constituency, people are getting ripped off with parking charges time after time. Too often, broken parking machines or apps that will not load mean that well-intentioned drivers are fined. Too many of these unfair fines go unchallenged, with parking companies pocketing the cash. Could the House please be updated on the Government’s plan to introduce a parking code of practice so that we can protect drivers from rip-off companies?

• 17 Mar 2025 · NEET Young People · Hansard source

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  The Derby Promise recognises that children and young people are the future of Derby by bringing together businesses and organisations across our great city to give children meaningful, aspirational experiences, whether at iconic factories, or cultural or sports venues. We know, however, that children already face limits on their future career aspirations by the age of seven. Will the Minister outline what work her Department is undertaking to support children in Derby and across the UK from an early age to raise their future career aspirations? Will she also agree to visit Derby to see the Derby Promise in action?

• 17 Mar 2025 · NEET Young People · Hansard source

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  21. What steps she is taking to support young people into employment, education or training in Derby.

• 12 Mar 2025 · Employment Rights Bill · Hansard source

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  I, too, refer the House to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. I have been a proud member of Unite the Union for over 35 years, although many Members may find that hard to believe given my youthful looks.

• 12 Mar 2025 · Employment Rights Bill · Hansard source

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  Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

• 12 Mar 2025 · Employment Rights Bill · Hansard source

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  Absolutely. I welcome the measures in the Bill, which I know will make a real difference to the lives of working people and their families in Derby and across the UK. I will focus on how the Bill will, through Government amendment 163, transform employee access to trade unions, empowering more employees to act as a collective so that they can secure better pay and conditions. When I speak to business leaders in small and large employers, they all say that their biggest asset is their people. The Conservatives can harp on about trade unions as much as they want, but in practice the best solution is for employers to work with employees and trade union reps to create the best working conditions for businesses and individuals to succeed. I know about the importance of union membership from first-hand experience. When I left school at the age of 16 and began work as an engineering apprentice, I joined the union on day two. I knew how important that would be in supporting me and my colleagues at work. Much later on, when campaigning to save Alstom in Derby last year, I saw how hard Unite and other trade unions fought to secure jobs at the Litchurch Lane facility. They stood up for working people in our local community when it mattered most. However, employees cannot access the benefits that union membership can bring if they do not know about the support offered by trade unions in the first place.

• 12 Mar 2025 · Employment Rights Bill · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is absolutely right. This is about individual members coming together to do what is right for themselves, for their trade unions, and for the companies and businesses that they work for. I welcome the Bill’s introduction of a right of access for unions to meet with workers. Government amendment 163 expands union access agreements, so that unions can communicate with workers digitally as well as by entering the workplace. I urge meaningful implementation of those digital access rights to enable direct conversations between unions and workers, as would take place during in-person meetings in the workplace. When we work together, we get more done. It is important that workers have access to union representatives and know how joining a union can support them in the workplace. I welcome the measures in the Bill to expand that access, which will further strengthen the rights of working people in Derby and beyond.

• 11 Mar 2025 · Court Backlogs · Hansard source

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  Shockingly, just 4% of rape and sexual offences reported to Derbyshire police in the last year resulted in a charge. When offenders are not prosecuted, victims understandably lose faith in our justice system. What steps has the Minister taken to reduce backlogs in Derbyshire courts so that justice can be served for these despicable crimes?

• 10 Mar 2025 · Crime and Policing Bill · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for that timely intervention. It is important that the £200 limit is being scrapped. I have spoken to many shop workers across Derby who have said that, literally on a daily basis, people are walking into the shops, loading their bags and walking straight out, almost apologetically. This Bill also introduces tougher action on knife crime, more power to support councils to tackle fly-tipping and measures to let police seize vehicles such as e-scooters much faster if they are being used for antisocial purposes. The Bill will tackle violence against women and girls by introducing a specific new offence for spiking. I want every single person in Derby—I am sure everybody in this House wants this for every single person across the country—to feel safe and to enjoy our city and the places where they live. This Bill represents a huge step forward in achieving that, and that is why I fully support it.

• 10 Mar 2025 · Crime and Policing Bill · Hansard source

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  I encourage all hon. Members to visit us in Derby and in Derby city centre. They will find a city that is firmly on the up, with a bright future ahead. Our city centre regeneration projects are full steam ahead. We are creating fantastic cultural and community hubs in Derby, whether that is our multimillion-pound revamp of our market hall, the completion of the Becketwell Live arena or the University of Derby’s new business school, all of which are set to open their doors in the coming months. I want everyone in our community to be able to take a walk around our city and feel proud and safe. However, although we are rightly excited about the future that Derby holds, we have to acknowledge the problems that the city centre faces. Our pride is tested when we see fly-tipping on the side of the road. It is tested again when we are worried about walking on the pavement because e-scooters are being used antisocially, and it is tested further for shop workers who are worried about going to work because the previous day they were threatened during a shoplifting incident. Lots of fantastic work is under way on these issues at a local level, such as the work of our police and crime commissioner, Nicolle Ndiweni-Roberts, and of Derbyshire constabulary. They are clamping down on illegal e-scooters, seizing and disposing of more than 200 since last November alone. However, I and my constituents know that more needs to be done so that they can feel proud and safe in the city we call home. For that reason, I welcome the measures introduced in today’s Bill, which will go further to protect city centres such as Derby and their residents from antisocial behaviour and crime. Whether they are employees at our central Co-op in Osmaston or at the Asda superstore in Sinfin, it is right that this Bill will introduce specific measures to protect them from retail crime. Shockingly, 18% of shop workers were assaulted in 2023. Nobody should fear going into work, which is why I am pleased that this Bill will make assaulting a shop worker a stand-alone offence.

• 6 Mar 2025 · English Football: Financial Sustainability and Governance · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Turner. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Earley and Woodley (Yuan Yang) for securing this important and timely debate. So many things make me proud to be an MP from Derby, and Derby County football club is one of them. We have some of the most dedicated and passionate fans in the country. However, as anyone who has followed the fortunes of Derby County will know, we have had our fair share of financial difficulty. In 2021, our beloved club entered administration. I know at first hand how the lack of transparency made the subsequent negotiations and the administrators’ job difficult, and I was involved in a number of those discussions. We were thankfully saved by a local man and fan, David Clowes, who stepped up to preserve Derby County for generations of fans to come, but the dire financial situation he faced in 2021 showed just how important securing financial stability is for clubs in the EFL. EFL clubs will lose around £450 million this season. The financial instability jeopardises the clubs that sit at the heart of our communities. That is why I welcome the Government’s plans to introduce an independent football regulator through the strengthened Football Governance Bill. It is right that clubs are required to stick to stringent financial regulations.

• 25 Feb 2025 · SEND Education Support · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Suffolk Coastal (Jenny Riddell-Carpenter) for securing this incredibly important debate. When we came into government we knew we were going to inherit a mess after years of chaos under the Conservatives. Unfortunately, special educational needs provision has been a particularly shocking example of the real consequences for families and individuals who are lost in a system that has been mismanaged, neglected and starved of funding. Put simply, SEND provision was at crisis point. I pay tribute to the incredible teachers and teaching assistants who work so hard to support every child, in every school, in every classroom. Whenever I visit schools in Derby, I see how dedicated they are to helping children, despite their limited resources. But teachers feel guilty because while they focus their attention on the children with special educational needs, they are unable to support the rest of their classes who, with a little more help, could go on to achieve so much more. Every child deserves the tools they need to succeed, but children cannot succeed when they are deprived of the basic support they need in the classroom. In my constituency, one of the challenges we face is the availability of appropriate SEND school placements. I welcome the steps that the local council is taking to address that shortage. It is creating 70 more SEND places at the Kingsmead school in Alvaston, as part of a broader plan to create more than 200 additional specialist places for the city’s schools over the next two years. But there is only so much that local authorities are able to do. Funding, support and reform from central Government is crucial, and I am pleased that we have an Education Secretary who is committed to sorting out SEND as one of her top priorities. It is the Conservative party that broke our SEND system, but I say to every parent who is currently struggling to advocate for their child to access the support they need: it is the Labour Government who will work to fix it.

• 5 Feb 2025 · English Devolution and Local Government · Hansard source

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  I wholeheartedly welcome the reforms and, importantly, the funding injection, which will help councils to rebuild after 14 years of disastrous Tory austerity. Can the Deputy Prime Minister confirm that her Department will move to longer-term funding settlements for local authorities as soon as possible, giving financial certainty and helping to deliver local services for local people?

• 4 Feb 2025 · Apprenticeships · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Jardine. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Peterborough (Andrew Pakes) for securing such an important debate as we approach National Apprenticeship Week. National Apprenticeship Week will bring us together to shine a spotlight on fantastic businesses and apprentices across our country, and rightly so. Across the country, apprentices are building skills for life. They are also helping us to plug massive skill shortages across critical national infrastructure sectors as they train. One sector where we lack suitably qualified and experienced people and where apprenticeships are building skills for the future is the nuclear sector. Last week, I had the real pleasure of meeting and speaking to apprentices from Rolls-Royce, on which I refer the House to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. These highly skilled, hard-working apprentices are based at Rolls-Royce’s Raynesway site in Derby. They are designing propulsion plants that will power the next generation of AUKUS submarines and safeguard our national security for years to come. They should be proud of their work. As much as I love speaking to the apprentices working in businesses across my constituency, I do not need to take their word for how valuable their experiences are. I myself know how valuable an apprenticeship can be and what a fulfilling career trajectory it can lead to, although I must say that when I first walked through the doors at Courtaulds to start my apprenticeship back in 1989, I would not have imagined ending up in this place. Having decided that A-levels did not feel right for me, I began a four-year broad craft apprenticeship. It allowed me to build my practical skills and attend college one day a week, before going on to specialise as an instrument and control mechanic. I want every child in Derby and across the country to be educated about the amazing career opportunities that apprenticeships can offer. Our teenagers and young people must be able to make an informed choice about their next step, whether that is university or entering the workplace as an apprentice. The curriculum has an important role to play, and it is vital that we give every child a practical, hands-on learning experience. It is also important that students understand how such experiences might link to a range of vocational opportunities once they leave school. I am pleased that the Labour Government have brought forward the curriculum and assessment review, which will ensure that children leave school ready to enter the workplace. As a former apprentice, I will always advocate for the huge value of apprenticeships. Apprenticeships are not second best. They are a fulfilling and exciting opportunity that our education system must support and reflect.

• 21 Jan 2025 · Auditory Verbal Therapy · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Western. I also thank my hon. Friend the Member for Washington and Gateshead South (Mrs Hodgson) for raising this incredibly important topic and securing the debate. You may not know this, but Derby and Derbyshire have the largest deaf community outside of London. The Royal School for the Deaf Derby sits in the neighbouring constituency of Derby North, and the staff do an absolutely fantastic job supporting deaf children and young people to access the very best education they can. However, despite the work of such specialist schools, deaf children nationally face huge educational inequality, which is compounded by the lack of access to critical therapies such as auditory verbal therapy. It is staggering that only 38% of deaf children in England completed their first year of school having achieved their expected levels of development, compared with 66% of all children. We have seen huge strides forward in support for our deaf community, with pioneering gene therapy delivered just last year, allowing a UK girl who was born deaf to hear unaided. Medical professionals across the country should rightly be recognised for their hard work in delivering such innovative treatments to support our deaf community. These success stories should be celebrated, but unfortunately access to critical therapies and support is often unequal, with less than 10% of deaf children in the UK currently able to access them. Auditory visual therapy is one of those inequalities. Children in the east midlands and across the UK are missing out on the benefits it can offer. As we have heard today, those benefits are life-changing, with research showing that 80% of deaf children can achieve age-appropriate spoken language following AVT. They are missing out on an incredible opportunity. Let us be really honest: it is no surprise that the provision of AVT is a postcode lottery, because years of Tory austerity have brought the NHS to its knees. I have been so pleased to see our Labour Government turning the page on that austerity nightmare, committing to the biggest NHS funding uplift since 2010, outside covid. It is vital that AVT provision sees the benefits of Labour’s investment in our public services, supporting deaf children and their families, wherever they live in the UK.

• 9 Jan 2025 · Rail Passenger Compensation · Hansard source

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  2025 is an exciting year for Derby, partly because of the progress on Great British Railways, which will be headquartered in Derby, and rightly so. Can we also make this the year that the British public fall in love again with rail travel, by giving GBR a strict timetable to simplify complicated ticketing and fares and to implement digital pay-as-you-go, as well as automatic compensation?

• 9 Jan 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  I welcome the Government’s commitment to crack down on waste incinerators. In my constituency, I have campaigned for 16 years against the Sinfin waste treatment centre, which failed initial testing in 2017 and has never been put into operational use. But the project continues, and over £150 million has been wasted. It is clear that this incinerator needs to be stopped. Where there are legitimate local, environmental and financial concerns, as there are in Sinfin, we need to take the tough decisions. Will my right hon. Friend allow time for a debate on the management of incinerator projects?

• 8 Jan 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T2. I refer the House to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. Globally, billions of pounds of investment are flowing into companies that are creating new technologies to power data centres, and communities across the UK should be sharing the opportunity of well-paid, skilled jobs that that investment offers. In Derby, Rolls-Royce is a world leader in the development of small modular reactors. Does the Secretary of State agree that Rolls-Royce shows British innovation at its strongest, and would be a dynamic partner for any technology company wishing to invest in the future?

• 6 Jan 2025 · General Election · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to contribute to this debate under your chairship, Mrs Harris. The new year offers a good opportunity to reflect on a busy 2024, which saw the country choose to elect a Labour Government after a long and hard-fought election campaign. Though we are rightly proud of our democratic political system in the UK, we cannot ignore the mistrust in our politics and some politicians. This mistrust has been inflamed by years of Tory chaos at the heart of Government. The new Government is made up of serious, principled political leaders who are committed to working hard to rebuild that trust. Despite the challenges we face, I am proud that in our country Governments are elected by democratic process. We vote for our representatives at polling stations or by post, not through an online petition. Voters had the opportunity to make their voices heard on 4 July, and they did. They overwhelmingly voted for change with Labour. That is why looking forward to 2025, it is vital that the result of last year’s election is respected. I know that there will be voters who did not want a Labour Government in the first place. There will be other voters who do not agree with some of the tough decisions we have made in Government so far. But none of this means we should revisit the election result. Voters will rightly have the opportunity to judge us on our record at the next general election, and we encourage them to do this. That is the beauty of our democracy. I would like to take some time to discuss Labour’s record, because I am exceptionally proud of our initial achievements in government. It is through those achievements that we are delivering for working people—not only in my constituency of Derby South, but all across the UK. In contrast to the years of Tory chaos, we have grown-up, principled leaders in charge. That means that, across Government, we are working hard to rebuild our economy, which the Tories broke, and public services, which they absolutely decimated. We have put working people at the heart of everything the Government do, and we have announced significant increases to the national minimum wage. At a local level, that will mean an additional £1,400 a year for more than 7,000 workers across Derby. We are working hard to rebuild our cash-strapped public services, which were damaged by Tory austerity. We have recently announced the most generous local government settlement since 2010. We have ended the junior doctors’ strikes and made record investments in the NHS so that we can cut waiting lists. We are breaking down the barriers to opportunity, such as by rolling out free breakfast clubs. No child should be at school hungry. That is not all. Whether investing in our roads, schools or the NHS, a Labour Government can deliver plenty more to be excited about in 2025. We are committed to delivering the real change across the country and building a record to be proud of. At the next general election, people across our great nation will decide who governs. There is no need for an election now; there is a need for sensible, stable, steadfast government. That is what Labour is providing.

• 12 Dec 2024 · High Streets: Government Support · Hansard source

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  On Small Business Saturday recently, I had the pleasure of visiting Derby’s small businesses of various types, which are the beating heart of our city. However, as our planned city centre regeneration project recognises, empty shops on our high street do not reflect the high-performing, high-technology economy that we are so proud to have in Derby. Building on the new community right to buy, what more can the Department do to ensure that community groups receive the correct business advice and support to use this new right and to breathe new life and vibrancy into our high streets?

• 12 Dec 2024 · High Streets: Government Support · Hansard source

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  16. What steps his Department is taking to support high streets.

• 11 Dec 2024 · Finance Bill · Hansard source

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  The shadow Minister speaks about a tax on aspiration, but what is his problem with having aspiration for all children in all our schools?

• 4 Dec 2024 · Farming and Inheritance Tax · Hansard source

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  The shadow Secretary of State made an important point about the health and wellbeing of our farmers. As operation waiting times were almost three times higher when she was Health Secretary than they were in 2010, does she not welcome the investment that this Government are putting into our NHS? [ Interruption. ]

• 4 Dec 2024 · Future of Farming · Hansard source

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  Thank you for allowing me to speak under your chairmanship, Sir Roger. British farmers play a significant role in keeping the nation fed, and they are the custodians of our beautiful countryside. In recognition of their vital role, the Budget is steadfast in its commitment to supporting them. More than £5 billion will be allocated to the farming budget over the next two years to bolster sustainable food production and promote nature’s recovery. Food security is national security, which is why supporting farmers to feed our nation remains a top priority. To achieve that goal, the Government will leverage their purchasing power to ensure that at least half the food procured for hospitals, military bases and prisons is locally sourced and certified to meet high environmental standards. We have provided £60 million through the farming recovery fund and allocated an additional £208 million to strengthen defences against disease threats. Those are clear examples of a commitment to safeguard farming in the UK. That is what tangible support for British farmers looks like. Opposition Members can moan, but let us remember that since 2010 more than 12,000 farmers and agriculture companies have been forced out of business. Moreover, trade deals with New Zealand and Australia, brokered by the Conservatives, opened up the UK to meat imports produced to standards so low that they would be illegal in Britain. That is their legacy on British farming. Non-farming investors have dominated land purchases, with over half the farms and estates sold being acquired by non-farmers. Meanwhile, a small number of wealthy landowners have disproportionately benefited—