Sally Jameson MP: speeches

Speeches

• 18 Nov 2024 · Independent Armed Forces Commissioner · Hansard source

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  Will the Minister consider that it is right that the Armed Forces Commissioner be able to challenge Ministers, and increase parliamentary oversight of the issues that face our forces and their families?

• 18 Nov 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T2. In Doncaster, we are proud to have an armed forces covenant co-ordinator, the fantastic Teresa Hodgson, and a Doncaster armed forces covenant board, which is a coalition of groups and organisations committed to supporting the armed forces community in Doncaster. Will the Minister visit my constituency to speak to the board and discuss the action that the Government are taking to support veterans facing homelessness?

• 13 Nov 2024 · Kinship Carers · Hansard source

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  Does my hon. Friend agree that kinship carers like David and Pamela in my constituency not only should have equal access to vital financial allowances, but should get the training and support they need when they take on this vital role?

• 11 Nov 2024 · Rail Performance · Hansard source

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  Doncaster has a long and historic relationship with the railways; we are home to both the Mallard and the Flying Scotsman. The financial sustainability and success of rail are critical to our local economy, so can the Secretary of State update the House on the net cost of the solution that she brokered to end the strikes?

• 4 Nov 2024 · Income Tax (Charge) · Hansard source

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  I am proud that our Labour Government are taking crucial steps towards fixing the foundations of our economy, while protecting working people and supporting struggling households. We were elected on a manifesto of change, and last week we proved to our constituents that we will make good on that promise. What is so important, and what struck me about the Budget, is the commitment to justice—justice for the victims of the infected blood scandal and the Post Office Horizon IT scandal, who will now receive the compensation they deserve, and, crucially for my constituents in Doncaster Central, justice for our former mineworkers on the mineworkers’ pension scheme who will now get the money that is rightfully theirs. I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Barnsley South (Stephanie Peacock) for her long-standing campaign on this matter. Having spoken not too long ago to some miners from Markham Main, who powered our country, I know how much it means to right that historical injustice, and I am proud that it is a Labour Government that have done so. I am also thrilled to see our Labour Government progress our industrial future and commit such a high level of investment in green energy projects. That funding will support those skilled job opportunities that industrial cities like Doncaster need. The British jobs bonus will help support clean power businesses that offer good jobs, such as Clean Power Hydrogen in Doncaster, which not only offers skilled work opportunities but supports the production of green hydrogen. The Budget offers Doncaster the chance to once again power the country and bolsters our industrial offering. The green transition is not just about climate change and protecting our planet; it also provides an opportunity for growth, offers a skills revolution and provides opportunities that will keep our city and country powered well into the future. Growth in cities like mine will be critical in the coming years for us to set up an economy of the future that benefits every corner and region of the country. I will, of course, be fighting over the coming days, weeks, months and years to ensure that Doncaster and South Yorkshire businesses get their fair share, because the funding and prosperity we deserve was long denied under the last Government. We deserve to thrive, to be a part of Britain’s drive to become a clean energy superpower and to dominate the global race in that growing, vital industry.

• 31 Oct 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  In Doncaster, we have an innovative chamber of commerce and a fantastic set of local businesses. As well as the much-needed upgrade to workers’ rights, can the Minister update the House on what we are doing to kickstart a skills revolution for businesses in Doncaster and across the country? Can he also update the House on what he is doing to work across Departments to ensure that happens?

• 24 Oct 2024 · Horseracing · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Member for West Suffolk (Nick Timothy) for securing this debate. I refer Members to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. Horseracing is a national treasure and the UK is a world leader in the sport, which is worth more than £4.1 billion annually to the UK economy, as has been said. In Doncaster, our racecourse is a source of great pride. It is one of the oldest racecourses in the country, in operation since 1614, and has been home to the best race festival, the St Leger, since 1776. As well as being the largest racecourse in the country, it acts as a concert venue, hosting iconic pop artists such as the Saturdays, Madness and Jess Glynne. It was also host to this year’s election count, where I was duly elected to this place—without doubt, the best count in the country. The importance of horseracing to Doncaster’s culture and the economy cannot be overstated. On leaving Doncaster railway station, visitors to our city can see our racehorses across the road on the city’s mural, and for four days each September Leger Way becomes impassable as locals and visitors alike flock to the country’s most iconic fixture at the racecourse. But we also have fixtures throughout the year—there were 36 in 2023—which are always popular events for both my constituents and visitors from further afield. The racecourse is one of the jewels in Doncaster Central’s crown. As a proud Doncaster native and regular attendee at my course, I hope that racing continues to flourish to uphold this important cultural and economic asset in my city. To do that, it is important that the Government set the necessary conditions to sustain it and for it to flourish. As has been discussed, the British Horseracing Authority and the previous Government reached a settlement on the betting levy. The changes were due to take place in September, but following the election and the welcome change in Government, we have yet to see them implemented. I ask the Government to pick up the discussions on that settlement so that the horseracing industry can have clarity on its future and on the settlement, and to ensure that racecourses such as Doncaster are able to prepare and adapt to any changes. I also ask, as other Members have, that the Government pick up on the need for an independent review of the wider funding model for the sport after this year’s settlement has taken effect, to ensure that the industry is able to succeed. I repeat the ask that consideration be given to applying the horserace betting levy to all horseracing globally that is bet on by British customers. It is imperative that we do not underestimate the value of British horseracing to many constituencies like mine and recognise that we must protect its interests, so that racecourses such as ours in Doncaster can continue to thrive and provide high-quality events and jobs for visitors and constituents for the years to come.

• 10 Oct 2024 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Despite warm words and promises from Ministers and indeed Prime Ministers in the last Government, Doncaster royal infirmary, for reasons that to this day are still unclear, was left off the new hospitals programme, which we now know was not even funded. Will the Leader of the House allow time for a debate on Doncaster’s need for a new hospital and our extensive repair backlog, as well as the urgent need to transfer all patient records from paper to digital so that people in my constituency can have the healthcare that they deserve?

• 9 Oct 2024 · Renters’ Rights Bill · Hansard source

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  I rise to speak in support of the Bill, which will bring a range of positive and necessary reforms to the private rented sector. I welcome it wholeheartedly. The private rented sector is growing rapidly, and it is imperative that tenants and landlords can operate the system safely and with appropriate protections. I am particularly pleased to see the application of the decent homes standard to the rented sector, which will ensure that tenants have the tools to challenge unsafe housing conditions and hold landlords and letting agents to account. I know that renters in Doncaster Central will be pleased to hear that. I take this opportunity to ask the Government to address the issues that care leavers face in securing housing in my constituency and across the country. It was welcome to hear the Prime Minister say in his conference speech that we will provide homes for all young care leavers, because that has never been more important. That is a group who continue to face discrimination from some private landlords. A survey by Centrepoint found that one in 10 care leavers have been refused accommodation by private landlords. The same survey revealed that 40% of care leavers have insufficient savings for a deposit. Those factors can often force care leavers into unsafe living situations, such as poor-quality properties or living with other adults who are older and unfamiliar. Ultimately, these barriers lead to a lot of care leavers becoming homeless. Prior to entering this House, I was a prison officer, and I worked with many care-experienced men, who were there disproportionately, because care leavers represent just under a third of the prison population. Lack of access to safe and affordable housing limits employment and education opportunities and prevents access to financial and health services. This is contributing to the poor outcomes we see with this group, and we must change those outcomes. It is my hope that the Government will consider taking up some of the recommendations offered in the latest briefing from Barnardo’s to ensure that care leavers have the unique legal protections and resources they need to access housing in the private rented sector. That includes the provision of rent deposit and guarantor schemes across all local authorities and the addition of care leavers to the groups against whom landlords cannot discriminate when letting out property. I also hope that the crucial reforms in the Bill will be accompanied by the accelerated building of more social homes in the UK to ensure greater access to secure housing. I am glad that this Government are introducing crucial protections for tenants, and my next hope is that their efforts will ensure that all UK residents, including those who have left care, can access the safe accommodation that they need and deserve.

• 12 Sept 2024 · Sir David Amess Adjournment Debate · Hansard source

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  Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. It is an honour to deliver my maiden speech in the Sir David Amess Adjournment debate, and to follow some truly inspirational maiden speeches by Members from across the House, and the speech by the hon. Member for Hamble Valley (Paul Holmes). It was the honour of my life to be elected to represent Doncaster Central—my home, the place where I was born, and a place I care deeply about. Doncaster’s industrial history is one of transformation and innovation, shaping us into the town, and now city, that we are today. During the industrial revolution we became renowned for railway manufacturing. We built iconic trains like the Mallard and the Flying Scotsman, which are still a source of great pride. We also have a long and deep mining history, which has significantly shaped our local economy, community and heritage. Only the other week, I was at the Markham Main Miners Memorial Gardens in Armthorpe for the annual commemoration of the miners who died in the mine. The gardens remind us all of the miners’ sacrifice, but also of the community that they helped to build, which is still woven into the spirit of Doncaster today. We also have much to celebrate. This week, young chefs from the DN1 Delicatessen and Dining Room are at the World Skills Culinary Arts final in France. We have exciting and innovative companies, like Clean Power Hydrogen and Agemaspark, and a young generation ready to shape our future, like Millie and Emily from Hall Cross sixth form, who did their work experience on my campaign. From our racecourse, where the St Leger festival takes place this weekend—that is a quick plug—to our beautiful Mansion House and our sensational market, we may be a new city, but we have a long and rich history, which makes me proud to say that I am from Doncaster. While we have much to be proud of, I must also recognise that Doncaster has faced a number of challenges over the past 14 years, with cuts to local government and a number of broken promises. But there are opportunities to grasp. The Labour Government’s commitment to making Britain a clean energy superpower will not only bring down the soaring bills that people in Doncaster face, but bring greater energy security and the opportunity for a new, green industrial future with Great British Energy. As a Labour and Co-operative MP, I am particularly proud that, as part of that mission, we will deliver a local power plan that will have the community at its heart in order to empower people and the places where they live. I am sure that we in Doncaster will seize on this new industrial strategy to forge our future and build our city’s legacy. I am also determined to work alongside our fantastic council leadership, Mayor Ros Jones and Deputy Mayor Glyn Jones, the brilliant Doncaster Chamber, and my parliamentary colleagues across the city as we work to get our airport reopened and ensure that it thrives, and to get the health service and hospital that we so desperately need and deserve. I could not let this speech pass without paying tribute to my incredible predecessor, Baroness Winterton of Doncaster. Baroness Winterton is a formidable politician, an incredible woman and a dear friend. She served as a Government Minister across a number of Departments, as a long-serving Opposition Chief Whip and, of course, latterly as Deputy Speaker of this House. Doncaster is a better place for having had Baroness Winterton as our MP for 27 years, and while I know that I will never be able to live up to her legendary shoe collection, I hope that I am able to continue her legacy of service to the people of Doncaster Central and to this House. It is a great source of personal pride for me to be one of only two prison officers elected to Parliament, and to be one of the only POA branch chairs. Today I want to acknowledge my former colleagues in His Majesty’s Prison Service across the country, who are doing an incredibly difficult job in increasingly difficult circumstances. For too long, the work of prison staff has gone unnoticed and without reference to the outside world, and I am determined to change this with my election to this House and my appointment as a Parliamentary Private Secretary in the Ministry of Justice. I want to pay tribute to the prisons in my area, starting with HMP Doncaster in my own constituency. I pay tribute to HMP Lindholme, and to HMP and YOI Hatfield, in Doncaster East and the Isle of Axholme. Finally—I am saving the best till last—I pay tribute to the staff at HMP and YOI Moorland, where it has been a privilege to serve for over six years with some of the bravest and most dedicated people I have ever met. They take on workplace challenges that most could not bear to think of. No matter what danger you are in, they are by your side. In moments of peril, you know that you do not need to look behind your shoulder to see what is there, because your colleagues have always got your back. To work in a place that is fraught with so many dangers and so many difficulties, and still to feel safe, is a testament to the people with whom you work. Today I pay tribute to the prison staff at HMP and YOI Moorland for their commitment to our service and for their friendship, which will stay with me throughout my time in this House and, indeed, for the rest of my life. The criminal justice and prison system has highlighted to me the many things that we still need to do to ensure that children get the best start, and one area that needs urgent work is the children’s care system. Sadly, there are a disproportionate number of care-experienced people in our criminal justice system, and they make up around a quarter of the overall prison population. This shows the urgent need to address the fact that we are failing so many of the most vulnerable children, leaving them targets for predators and criminal gangs. We are failing to give them the start in life that we would expect for our own family and friends. In this area, along with so many other areas, including economic growth and restoring our services in Doncaster and across the country, change must come. I will ensure that I use every day during my time in this House to speak up and be a part of the change that the new Government will bring, to serve my constituents in Doncaster Central and to bring the prosperity, public services and progress that we deserve.

• 22 Jul 2024 · NATO and European Political Community Meetings · Hansard source

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  Does the Prime Minister agree that we need a “NATO first” defence policy in the face of growing Russian aggression, as seen in Ukraine? Will he join me in paying tribute to the Doncaster Ukrainian Centre in my constituency, which has worked tirelessly around the clock to support Ukrainian refugees, demonstrating the true community spirit of Doncaster?