Paulette Hamilton: Everyone deserves financial security in retirement and should be able to rely on a decent state pension, but currently around one in six older people is living in poverty and over the last decade pensioner poverty has risen by almost half a million. People in Erdington, Kingstanding and Castle Vale have been contacting me, worried about the impact the cost of living crisis is having on their...
Paulette Hamilton: We heard from the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon), who highlighted the important contribution of agriculture in Northern Ireland to our food security. We must ensure that no one feels they are left behind. I thank the hon. Member for Glasgow North (Patrick Grady), who talked about the right type of support for farmers and people having access to markets to sell the products they...
Paulette Hamilton: I beg to move, That this House has considered global food security. It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Mr Pritchard, and I want to thank all Members for attending the first debate I have ever hosted in this place. I will start by setting out what we mean when we use the term “global food security”. The UK Government define it as “stable global production and a...
Paulette Hamilton: I thank the hon. Member for her intervention, and I absolutely agree. Famine is also projected in parts of Somalia this month. Up to 60 million children worldwide could become acutely malnourished by the end of this year. Evidence from previous famines shows that young children are the most vulnerable in times of crisis. During the Somalia famine in 2011, more than half the deaths were among...
Paulette Hamilton: People in Birmingham are absolutely sick to the back teeth of Avanti West Coast—its cancelled trains and overcrowded carriages, the cuts to services and the lack of ticket availability. It is absolutely ridiculous that its contract was extended. If we are serious about levelling up and improving services, we need to have plans in place to end this chaos. So Minister, do you think that—
Paulette Hamilton: Madam Deputy Speaker, does the Minister think that rewarding Avanti with a contract extension was a mistake?
Paulette Hamilton: Why does the Chief Secretary think that the Nobel prize winner Paul Krugman said that the mini-Budget was “stupid and cruel”? I know that that is how my constituents in Erdington, Kingstanding and Castle Vale think.
Paulette Hamilton: On behalf of my constituents in Birmingham, Erdington, I offer my sincere condolences following the passing of Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Our thoughts and prayers are with the King and the royal family at this time. The sad loss of our greatest and longest serving monarch is being felt around the world, and she will be greatly missed, but we should also celebrate her lifetime of...
Paulette Hamilton: If she will list her official engagements for Wednesday 7 September.
Paulette Hamilton: Can I warmly welcome the Prime Minister to her place? This is her first Prime Minister’s question, and it is also mine. In a leaked audiotape, the Prime Minister is heard saying that British workers need to put in “more graft” and that they are lacking in “skill and application”. She also wants to take away their basic workers’ rights. In my Erdington constituency, the latest...
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.
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 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 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: Although I welcome the additional resource in response to the heatwave, it is simply not enough. Does the Secretary of State agree that until the Government address the systematic problems in social care to ensure that it is properly funded and people can be discharged quickly into the community, and we no longer see the revolving door service that is proving so damaging in the sector, we...
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 assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing a robust mandatory licensing scheme for Exempt Accommodation.
