Over the last few months I have been working with campaigners to grow support for the Climate and Ecology Bill, and this month we finally brought the bill back to Parliament. Our ability to prevent temperatures rising by more than 1.5°C is in the balance. The Bill, which I brought to Parliament as a Ten Minute Rule Bill, is our chance to position the UK as a world leader on climate and environmental action by embedding the ambition and the action we need to tackle the twin climate and nature crises in law.You can read more about what the Bill does and our campaign to get it into law below.

Please read on to hear what else I have been up to in Parliament and in Sheffield.

In Sheffield…

• I was pleased to attend the wonderful Grove Road Green Festival organised by the Grove Road Environmental Group. It was brilliant to see the community coming together around the environment. Thank you to the organisers!
• I welcomed King Edwards School’s decision on deferring the MAT until June. I have had many concerned parents and representatives get in touch about the process so far. It is really important that parents are consulted fully going forward, and I will be working to make sure this happens.
• I attended a really enjoyable event with the Hong Kong Add Oil project, set up to help bring communities in Sheffield together through sharing art and (delicious!) food. Make sure to check out their upcoming events!

• It was amazing to hear that 1463 people in Sheffield Hallam took time out of their day to take part in RSPB’s Big Garden Watch – the world’s largest wildlife survey! 
• It was a pleasure to join residents at the Shepley Spitfire Totley Friendship Lunch. Thanks to   Age UK Sheffield and People Keeping Well for helping make the lunch happen. 

• I met with Sheffield Wednesday FC Community Programme to discuss their youth work programme in partnership with Sheffield City Council, their Community Food Champions and other amazing work they do in our community. 
• I was also pleased to get to speak with year 12 students at King Ecgbert School about climate change and politics. The students had insightful and interesting questions as ever! 
• I met with Friends of Dore and Totley Station to hear about the effect of the pandemic on the planned development of the station and what more I can do to support the work there.
• I was deeply saddened and shocked to hear of the tragic incident in Crookes last week. My thoughts and condolences are with the young man’s family, friends and all those affected. You can read my full statement  here:

In Parliament…

• Last month I was proud to bring the Climate and Ecology Bill back to Parliament. The climate and nature crisis is affecting people’s lives right now, especially in the global south, but increasingly here in the UK as well. I believe – and I know many in Hallam do, too – that we cannot tackle the climate crisis without saving our key ecosystems, restoring habitats and protecting our much-loved species. But despite the efforts of groups championing nature–based solutions in our region – such as the Bentley Ings Pumping station, Lady Canning’s Plantation, or the Yorkshire Peat Partnership – the UK’s critical carbon sinks and stores are deteriorating. In some cases, they have even become net carbon emitters rather than sinks and stores. 
  
• Current legislation contains a target to halt and reverse this decline of nature by 2030. However, the absence of any concrete plan to do this means that the state of nature is on course to worsen – not restore – pushing ecosystems beyond danger points from which they may not be able to recover. That is why this Bill – drafted by many of Britain’s leading climate and ecology scientists, and supported by MPs from all major parties and people across the country – is such an important piece of legislation. It is the only piece of proposed or existing legislation that would tackle the intertwined crises of climate and nature together to ensure a strong, integrated response. If enacted, it would create a joined-up strategy to cut emissions in line with the 1.5°C target, while halting and reversing nature loss by 2030.
  
• This Bill would also create a temporary nature and climate assembly, made up of a representative sample of the UK population to consider expert advice and reports on recommendations for inclusion in the strategy. From working with people across Sheffield Hallam to build the Hallam Citizens’ Climate Manifesto, our vision for climate action locally and nationally, I know the importance of democracy in the transition to net zero. This is in part why I am particularly proud to be championing this Bill, which puts people at the centre of this decision making. If you would like to hear more about my work on the Climate and Ecology Bill, or get involved in the campaign, please get in touch.• You can watch my speech  here  and read my piece for Labour List  here  and Yorkshire Post  here.

• It was fantastic to see the first successful prosecution of burning on deep peat in England! This is a great step in protecting our peatlands. Going forwards, we need stronger legislation to ban any burning on peat to restore our natural environment. I wrote  this piece  for Chamber on the dangers of peatland burning and what needs to be done. 
• On behalf of the many constituents who have contacted me, I once again voted against the Retained EU Law Bill, the Government’s plans to drive us off a regulatory cliff. You can watch my full speech  here.  We should be strengthen laws which protect nature and biodiversity, not weakening them. 
• I am currently on the Bill Committee for the Energy Bill, helping scrutinise and amend this key bit of legislation and all of the amendments that have been tabled to it. We’ve already discussed the use of  carbon capture, utilisation, and storage and the bill’s purpose. I will be working with my colleagues on the committee to ensure the Bill reduces emissions from energy consumption, lays the groundwork for the renewable revolution we so desperately need, and helps reduce energy bills for all those struggling. 
• As a member of the Public Accounts Committee, I also questioned DEFRA officials on what they’re doing to protect the environment we depend on and end the ongoing damage and destruction of our countryside, waterways and quality of the air we breathe.
• I attended the Acquired Brain Injury Reception to meet my constituent, Steph Grant, who is a brain injury survivor and Chair of the Head Injury and Homelessness Research Group (HIHRG) in Sheffield.  HIHRG supports brain injury survivors to conduct research and regularly delivers brain injury awareness training, across the country and particularly Sheffield.  Brain Injuries affect over 300,000 people every but the level of specialist care and rehabilitation is inadequate and hugely variable. We urgently need a strategy to improve outcomes for those with ABI.

• On the Public Accounts Committee,  I questioned NHS and DHSC officials  about worrying reports that guidance relating to medical emergencies in eating disorders is not being followed. I also questioned officials on the use of restraint on mental health patients in non-mental health settings. We urgently need to close the loophole so that restraint is monitored and recorded and so patients, including children, get the dignity and respect they deserve. You can read more about my campaign to change the law in the Independent  here .
• I was proud to sign this open letter calling on the Government to urgently develop and implement a properly funded eating disorder strategy. No one should be dying of an eating disorder in 2023. 
• Instead of putting forward real solutions to the cost of living crisis or the climate emergency facing our planet, the Government is more focused on scapegoating people fleeing war and violence. I spoke out against the Government’s dangerous and inhumane Anti Refugee Bill during the debate. You can watch my speech  here.   I’ve also written for Labour Outlook  on why we must continue to oppose this dangerous and inhumane Bill and fight for real solutions to the humanitarian crisis in the Channel. 
• I attended an important roundtable with the Director General of the Ukrainian Red Cross Society to discuss their work at the frontline of the unprecedented humanitarian response over the last year, as well as their growing efforts to support rehabilitation and reconstruction in the country.
• Following the major incident in Stannington I have been campaigning for a single priority register, which all utility companies and local authorities can access during major incidents, to ensure no vulnerable person falls through the cracks. I was pleased to speak at the Ofgem vulnerability summit about this campaign. It is vital we learn the lessons from the Stannington crisis. I have also written to Ofgem to call for immediate support for people in Stannington who have still not had appliances fixed, are being charged extortionate amounts for gas they couldn’t use, and who have yet to receive compensation.

• The native Woodcock population has shrunk by nearly 20% in the last 10 years. During the debate in Parliament I called on the Government to limit the shooting season and take proactive steps to extend their habitats – our woodlands. Thank you to the 370 people in Hallam who signed Wild Justice’s petition and made the debate happen. You can watch my speech  here.
• It was great to host the launch of the Sands and Tommy’s report on “Working Together to Save Babies Lives”. The report brings into sharp focus what we know about baby loss and neonatal deaths and the inequalities we see that need to be tackled. I’d like to thank the Joint Policy team for bringing the report together, and a massive thank you for the amazing campaigning of my fellow panellists.

• Black women are nearly four times more likely to die during pregnancy or childbirth and 43% more likely to miscarry.This is a national scandal, yet the Government has repeatedly failed to act. Instead of more empty promises we need binding targets and properly resourced solutions. In Parliament, I raised this with the Minister and called for immediate action.
• Following a Panorama documentary on ADHD,  I have been speaking ou t about the common misconceptions about ADHD and the complete failure of the documentary to highlight the very real issues with diagnosis and treatment pathways – like huge NHS waiting lists, chronic workforce shortages, underdiagnosis of women and people of colour, or stigma around diagnosis and drugs. I hope panorama will issue an apology for this documentary and the harm it has caused to people with ADHD.