Paulette Hamilton: It is believed that young adults who are being deported arrived in the UK as minors. The Home Office and the courts say that there is no such thing as a homegrown criminal, but at present no weight is being placed on rehabilitation. I am about rehabilitation. Does the Minister believe that weight should be placed on rehabilitation, especially for young people who came into this country as...
Paulette Hamilton: Today I stand, Madam Deputy Speaker, to thank you for giving me the opportunity to make my maiden speech. It is an honour to follow the hon. Member for Thurrock (Jackie Doyle-Price). I can only say how proud I am today to be a Brummie. I am overwhelmed but privileged to be standing here today in this great institution. Being elected to Parliament is not a right; it is an honour, and it is an...
Paulette Hamilton: It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Mark. As a newly elected Member, this is my first time speaking in Westminster Hall, and I am very pleased to be here. I congratulate the hon. Member for Meriden (Saqib Bhatti) on securing this important debate. I have come here to do what lots of people accuse politicians of doing every day: to talk rubbish. But on a serious note,...
Paulette Hamilton: I absolutely agree that that needs to happen. Reports of fly-tipping are increasing across the country. In Birmingham alone, the council received 38,142 reports of fly-tipping between May 2021 and May 2022. Fly-tipping is against the Brummie spirit. Our Labour council has been right to take a zero-tolerance approach, introducing a £400 fixed penalty notice for everyone caught dumping rubbish...
Paulette Hamilton: The Minister talked about recycling centres, and earlier somebody mentioned mobile recycling centres. Has the Minister done any evaluation of mobile recycling centres? In Birmingham, they have proved exceptionally successful. It would be interesting to find out what work is being done to support local authorities to expand that type of scheme.
Paulette Hamilton: I am campaigning to oppose the latest planning application for a betting shop on Erdington High Street. We already have seven bookies on the High Street and the last thing we need is yet another one. Last year, a multi-million pound bid to transform Erdington High Street was turned down by the Government. We will be submitting another application soon and I hope that Ministers will not let us...
Paulette Hamilton: It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms McVey. I thank and congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Edmonton (Kate Osamor) on securing this important debate. The points made this afternoon have been powerful and brilliant. Last Wednesday marked the 74th anniversary of the Windrush migration. It was a journey that started with a call for help to rebuild Britain following the...
Paulette Hamilton: The cocktail cabinet—they were all there and it brought back some lovely memories.
Paulette Hamilton: I absolutely agree with my right hon. Friend. As my background is in health, I will also say that I would not have gone into nursing if it was not for my parents, and for other people from Caribbean heritage, who were so proud to be British. They are not immigrants or migrants; they came here on a British passport—they were British. The exhibition is a collaboration between the Mykal...
Paulette Hamilton: Through my role as a lay manager for Birmingham and Solihull mental health trust, I know that a major problem in the west midlands is the availability of beds for individuals detained by the police under section 136 of the Mental Health Act 1983. This is having a huge impact on A&E services in our area, because that is where the police take patients if there are no mental health beds...
Paulette Hamilton: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the causes for the backlog in issuing medical paper driving licences at the DVLA; and what steps he is taking to resolve that backlog.
Paulette Hamilton: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to open the online portal for local authorities submitting bids to the second round of the Levelling Up Fund which was originally scheduled to close on 6 July 2022.
Paulette Hamilton: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing a robust mandatory licensing scheme for Exempt Accommodation.
Paulette Hamilton: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many entries have been made on the Database of Rogue Landlords and Property Agents in (a) England, (b) Birmingham and (c) Birmingham Erdington constituency since that database was established.
Paulette Hamilton: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people (a) currently at pension age or (b) close to pension age have had their state pensions affected by National Insurance contribution underpayments in error in each of the last 5 years.
Paulette Hamilton: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the impact of the Commonwealth Games on the people and communities of Birmingham.
Paulette Hamilton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the (a) causes for delays in processing passport applications at HM Passport Office and (b) the impact of those delays on people in Birmingham Erdington constituency.
Paulette Hamilton: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to protect local government finances from the cost of living crisis in (a) deprived and (b) all other areas with high demand for services from local authorities.
Paulette Hamilton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to support (a) Wilson Stuart School in Erdington and (b) other special academies to cover the costs of higher energy bills to ensure that they do not have to make cuts to other parts of their budget.
