The week began on Monday with Oral Questions to the Department for Education. I had the opportunity to highlight the importance of providing children with additional needs with one-to-one teaching assistant support and ask what steps are being taking to improve recruitment and retention of these vital staff members during the ongoing cost of living crisis. You can read a transcript of my question here in Hansard or watch it here in ParliamentTv.

Then, during topicals, I asked the Minister what progress the Government had made in introducing defibrillators to schools. You can read a transcript of my question here in Hansard or watch it here on ParliamentTv.

This was followed by an Urgent Question to the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Developmental Affairs on the issue of Saudi Arabia continuing to carry out mass executions. I asked for the Minister to call publicly for the execution of Hussein Abo al-Kheir to be halted, alongside others who are facing execution for drug offences. You can read a transcript of my contribution here in Hansard or watch it here on ParliamentTv.

On Tuesday there were questions to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. I asked the Minister for Climate whether the UK is considering it’s position regarding the Energy Charter Treaty, given the number of European countries to exit the agreement due to a lack of modernisation. You can read a transcript of my question here in Hansard or watch it here on ParliamentTv.

Thursday kicked off with Business Questions, where I had the chance to draw attention to a number of excellent projects in my constituency which have seen grants from the National Lottery Community Fund and asked the Leader of the House to schedule a debate in Government time to discuss the need for more funding streams for other important community works. You can read a transcript of my contribution here in Hansard or watch it here on ParliamentTv.

Later that afternoon, I took part in a Westminster Hall debate to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. I made two interventions here. Firstly, to point out that while the UK is a signatory of the Istanbul Convention, it has also chosen to opt out of key articles that ensure the inclusion of migrant women. I asked if this doesn’t defeat the purpose of the convention, which is to protect all women equally. I followed this up with a point about how some clothing which is described as oppressive, can actually be considered empowering by the wearer and that respecting women’s choices is an important factor in uplifting women and girls. You can read a transcript of my interventions here and here in Hansard or watch them here and here on ParliamentTv.