Chris Bloore

Whenever I meet the Minister, I have a bad habit of simply asking for things. I appreciate that yet again I am in this place asking for something, but such is the job. I thank all those who contributed to the debate, as well as someone else who is in the room but did not contribute because she is a Member of the other place: Baroness Kennedy. I thank her for all her work on the subject in both her professional and her political life. More than many, she has raised the importance of the issue and the discourse around it. I thank her for what she does, day to day. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Clwyd East (Becky Gittins) for her remarks, which were informed both by her role on the APPG and by her personal experience. I feel slightly fraudulent, because I think I secured this debate just ahead of her. Her contribution was a lived story about what it is like to suffer from these allergies and the impact that they can have on the way a person grows up—but certainly not on her attainment, because she is in this place, doing an incredible job. I also thank my hon. Friend the Member for Nuneaton (Jodie Gosling). I was astounded to hear the stories about the challenges that she has faced, simply being in this place, in keeping herself safe, let alone the stories that she has told about her son. I always listen intently to my hon. Friend the Member for Bexleyheath and Crayford (Daniel Francis). He was absolutely right to make those points about the quality of life for our children in our schools. I also thank my hon. Friend the Member for North West Leicestershire (Amanda Hack), who is no longer in her place. She was absolutely right to highlight the fact that parents have lost support from county councils. I thank the Liberal Democrat spokesperson, the hon. Member for St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire (Ian Sollom), for his contribution. He was absolutely right to raise the damning statistics that have been found in many pieces of research in the last 18 months. I thank the spokesperson for His Majesty’s loyal Opposition, the hon. Member for Harborough, Oadby and Wigston (Neil O’Brien). He noted what has improved in the past two to three years, and the work that has been done in this place, but he also addressed Owen’s law and the challenges that we still face in moving forward on the issue. Of course, I also thank the organisations that we have all mentioned. I would like to return to the Minister’s comments. The statistics on the number of children who are developing allergies and are having incidents in schools are going only one way. Laws are fit for purpose only if they are delivered appropriately, and only if the people who serve under them are accountable for their actions. It is clear both from this debate and from the information in the public domain that the laws we have in place right now are not meeting the safety needs of our children. The Minister’s response echoed many responses that have been given before in this place. I welcome the Government’s contribution on breakfast clubs and school nursery places, but the canary in the coalmine is right in front of us. There are things happening in our schools that should not be happening. There are articles in the national newspapers about what has happened when things have gone wrong. The complexity of the issue should not be a vice. We cannot let it defeat us in this place; we should be able to rise to the occasion and change things. We should not have to wait for things to go wrong again before we act. I am afraid that this will not be the last time that I raise the issue. I plan to raise it not just next week, but throughout my short time in this place, I am sure. We can do more, and we can do better. This is not just about the life chances of our children; sometimes it is their very life itself. Question put and agreed to. Resolved, That this House has considered the matter of safeguarding children with allergies at school.