Alan Mak

I absolutely agree with the hon. Gentleman. We should use this opportunity of the 25th anniversary to look forward and to educate young people. As well as educating young people about al-Qaeda’s terrorism and its murderous ideology, there is an opportunity to teach them about the extraordinary courage shown in response to that ideology—from the firefighters climbing the stairs as others came down, to police officers, paramedics and office workers helping strangers to safety, and to the passengers and crew of United Airlines flight 93 whose resistance prevented many more deaths. 9/11 must never be reduced to footage of aircraft and collapsing buildings. The numbers “2977” were 2,977 individual lives—parents, children, husbands, wives, siblings, friends and colleagues, all of whom expected to return home that evening. That includes the 67 British victims, who were mentioned by me and the hon. Member for Strangford. 9/11 was an attack on the United States, but its grief crossed borders immediately. British families received the same unbearable phone calls, waited for the same news and experienced the same permanent empty place at family gatherings. I recognise those British families today. Their loss did not end when the cameras moved on. Anniversaries can bring public attention, but bereavement is lived privately day after day and year after year. Earlier this year, His Majesty the King and Her Majesty the Queen visited the memorial in New York. They laid flowers beside the south pool, met bereaved families, survivors and first responders, and left a message honouring those who lost their lives. They expressed Britain’s enduring solidarity with the American people, and their visit was a fitting expression of the special relationship between our countries and a reminder that Britain continues to share in this remembrance. That loss also reaches into my Havant constituency. My constituent Sally Taber lost her godson Oli Bennett in the attacks. Oli was 29 years old and a successful financial journalist. He was at the World Trade Centre on 9/11 to report on a conference. Sally told me that, when she saw the TV footage, she knew her godson had died. Oli’s family, his godmother and his school friends were determined that his life would be remembered not for the terrible way it ended, but for the values he had lived. They established the Oli Bennett Charitable Trust in his memory, offering grants to aspiring entrepreneurs. Over nearly 25 years, the trust has helped 169 young people begin their dream of starting a business. The trust is now drawing to a close, but its closure does not bring Oli’s legacy to an end. It leaves behind scores of young people who were given an opportunity because his family and friends responded to an act of destruction by helping others create something new. Sally’s story reminds us that an atrocity committed thousands of miles away can leave an absence in a home and a community right here in Britain. It also reminds us why names, photographs, voices and personal memories still matter. We must therefore continue to recognise that the human cost did not cease on 11 September. The destruction of the World Trade Centre released a vast toxic dust cloud, and more than 400,000 first responders, recovery workers, survivors, residents and others were exposed during the attacks and the nine-month recovery operation that followed, as the hon. Member for Edinburgh South West (Dr Arthur) rightly said, and this House pays tribute to all of them. It is also right that this year, for the first time, the ceremony at ground zero will include a seventh moment of silence, dedicated to those who died from 9/11-related illnesses. This is an important recognition that the victims of 9/11 were not only those whose lives were taken on the day itself, but also those whose sacrifice shortened their life in the years afterwards. That brings me to the role of technology in remembrance. 9/11 was one of the first great tragedies of the digital age. Millions watched it unfold live on television, and much of what survives was recorded by ordinary people using the technology available to them at the time: voicemails, telephone calls, photographs, emails, webcam recordings and amateur video. They all captured fragments of individual experience. Today’s technology allows those fragments to be preserved, connected and shared on a scale that would once have been impossible. A pupil in the Havant constituency who has never visited New York can examine a digital timeline of the morning, study primary source material and hear directly from a survivor, a bereaved relative or a first responder. That work of preservation is increasingly urgent as people with first-hand memories of 9/11 grow older. The children who lost parents are now adults. Many of the firefighters, police officers, medics and recovery workers have passed away. We cannot assume that first-hand testimony will always be available, so we must record it while we can so that it remains accessible in the decades ahead. No institution has done more to provide that access than the National September 11 Memorial and Museum in New York. Built on the site of the World Trade Centre, it combines the physical power of place with the evidence needed to understand what happened. Its collections preserve objects, images, recordings and personal accounts, and its educational work helps teachers to introduce pupils to an event that took place before they were born. Anyone who has visited the memorial and museum, as I have had the privilege of doing with my wife, will understand the scale of its reach. It is not only an American place of remembrance. Around 97 million people have visited the memorial and nearly 28 million have entered the museum. Visitors have come from more than 170 countries, travelling to the place where history happened to pay their respects, understand the attacks and remember those who were murdered. I thank everyone at the memorial and museum for the care and the seriousness with which they have preserved this history, supported families and helped a generation understand the attacks. I also thank the survivors, relatives, first responders and witnesses who have entrusted the museum with their memories. Sharing those experiences can carry a considerable personal cost, but it gives future generations something that no summary can ever provide: a direct connection with another person’s experience. The museum’s work should prompt us to consider our responsibilities here in the United Kingdom. 9/11 is not a mandatory topic in England’s national curriculum and, while some schools do teach it, not every pupil will learn about it. I recognise that education policy does not fall within the Minister’s Department; nevertheless, 9/11 was an international event that profoundly shaped Britain’s relationship with our closest ally. I would therefore be grateful if she addressed three questions when responding. First, will she work with the Prime Minister and the Education Secretary to examine how 9/11 is taught in schools and how resources from the museum can be made more readily available to teachers and pupils? Secondly, will she ask the British embassy in Washington and the consulate general in New York to support closer educational and commemorative links between the museum, British cultural institutions and victims’ families? Thirdly, how can the Government support British families to preserve their memories so they are not lost? Today’s anniversary is an opportunity to reaffirm our faith in democracy and decency.