Today and this week in Parliament several items will be presented by Sussex MPs for Minsters to consider. The Mid Sussex Liberal Democrat MP Alison Bennett has organised a debate in the main Chamber of the House of Commons today about the “Impact of sixth form college strikes in Sussex on students”. Interestingly Phil Clarke the South East regional secretary for the National Education Union spoke in an interview last week, “No teacher wants to be taking strike action…. They want to be in classrooms doing what they do best: teaching.” He further commented saying it was “simply unjust” that sixth form college teachers have not been included in the pay increase awarded to all other teachers. He warned that lower pay at these colleges would impact the students because staff would leave for better paid teaching work.

Today at 4.30-7.30pm an e-Petition, 661407 “Give parents/guardians a right to access social media accounts of their children” organised by Lewis Atkinson, the Labour MP for Sunderland Centralwill be discussed.It achieved 126,033 signatures by the 30^th May 2024.A total of 3,700 for the whole of Sussex. Cheltenham has 6,315 signatures and the rest of the UK has similar signature numbers to Sussex.  

No Sussex MPs took part in the e-petition last Monday, 700143 “Call a General Election” event arranged by Jamie Stone, the Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross for Liberal Democrat MP. However, a few of our MPs spoke in the afternoon debate which took place at the same time as the e- Petition.  

The first debate ‘Health and Adult Social Care Reform’ with Wes Streeting, the “Secretary of State for Health and Social Care” and MP for Ilford North making a statement.

Alison Bennett responded: “I would appreciate it if the Secretary of State could unpack a phrase in his statement. He said: “Where we can treat working people faster, we will”. That phrase is ripe for misinterpretation. Please could he explain what that means? Does it mean stay-at-home mums waiting for an appointment, and family carers, 26% of whom are on waiting lists?”

Wes responded to Alison with: “It does. I was talking about the fact that working class people are often left behind in a two-tier system where those who can afford it pay to go private, and those who cannot are left behind. It is the determination of this Government to bring back to life the essential Bevanite principle of an NHS that is there for everyone when they need it: healthcare available to all on the basis of need, not on ability to pay.”

At 5pm there was a discussion of “Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse”

With Nusrat contributing: “Before I call the Home Secretary to make the statement on child sexual exploitation and abuse, I have a statement to make on behalf of Mr Speaker. I remind Members of the House’s sub judice resolution, which prohibits reference being made to any active criminal cases. Members should therefore not make any reference to any active case in which an individual has already been charged.”

Yvette Cooper, Home Secretary, and MP for Pontefract, Castleford and Knottingley made a significant statement: “All of us have a responsibility to protect our children…. That is why this Government are determined to act, strengthening the law, taking forward recommendations from independent inquiries, and supporting stronger police action and protection for victims. There is no excuse for anyone not to take these crimes seriously. Brave survivors speaking out have shone a light on terrible crimes”

Yvette referred to the report “led by Alexis Jay who engaged with more than 7,000 victims and survivors, processed 2 million pages of evidence, and published 61 reports and publications. The findings should be truly disturbing for everyone”

Josh Babarinde, the Eastbourne MP for Liberal Democrat contributed Josh: “Considerable evidence tells us that children exposed to domestic violence are at increased risk of abuse themselves. Growing up, I was one of those children, and as a survivor I am appalled to have seen the shadow Home Secretary weaponize this issue in the way we saw earlier, I am appalled to see the likes of Reform play this issue like a political football, and I am appalled that zero of the 20 recommendations in Professor Jay’s report have been implemented so far. In the light of the link between domestic abuse and child abuse, I have tabled a Bill to create a dedicated set of domestic abuse offences in the law for the first time. Will the Home Secretary meet me to discuss the Bill’s provisions and how we can better respect and protect survivors across the country?”

Yvette: “I thank the hon. Member for speaking out about his personal experiences. I realise that is never an easy thing to do, and I respect him for doing it. As he says, there are all kinds of links, and domestic abuse in the household has an incredibly damaging impact on the family and on children growing up. We have to see the work on the protection of children as part of the wider work on public protection, and as being strongly linked to our mission to halve the incidence of violence against women and girls over the next 10 years. The safeguarding minister will be keen to discuss with the hon. Member his proposals relating to domestic abuse and how we can work together on these issues.”