Diane Abbott MP, Labour’s Shadow Home Secretary, responding to today’s terrorist attack in Parsons Green, said:

“We are all horrified by the terrorist attack in Parsons Green today. Our hearts are with those affected and their families and we are thankful that there are no fatalities.

“In what has been a difficult year, we have seen just how much we owe our emergency services including the police, NHS, Ambulance and fire service. And today we applaud the swift response of the British Transport Police and Transport for London staff who were first on the scene.

“Setting out to harm people on their daily commute is an attack on our very way of life. In times like this our great city has always pulled together with resilience and in defiance of any threat. Londoners will never be beaten by terror.”

Angela Rayner MP, Labour’s Shadow Education Secretary, commenting on the Government’s National Funding Formula announcement, said:

“Today’s announcement on the National Funding Formula follows years of pressure from the Labour Party as well as schools, teachers and parents across the country, forcing the Government to abandon millions of pounds in outright cuts to schools.

“However, it does not go nearly far enough to meet the Tories’ own election promises and is far less than Labour pledged in our manifesto. For many pupils and schools, funding will fall in real terms between now and 2020, which comes on top of a £2.7 billion in real term cuts since 2015.

“There is no new money for education at all, and this funding for schools is coming from other cuts to education budgets. Only months ago, Ministers guaranteed that the healthy pupils fund would be protected – now it is being cut by over 75 per cent, and the Education Secretary can’t even tell us where else the axe will fall.

“The next Labour government will give our schools the resources they need, reversing funding cuts and increasing the schools budget in real terms, as we build a National Education service that allows every child to fulfil their potential.”

Barbara
Keeley MP,
Labour’s Shadow Cabinet Minister for
Social Care, commenting on new delayed transfers of care figures due to
social care, said

“It
is deeply worrying that in July there was an 11 per cent increase in NHS bed
days lost due to a lack of social care. Over the last five years, delayed days due
to social care have increased by 113 per cent

“Delays
caused by patients waiting for a care package at home have also increased,
continuing an upward trend since February 2015, yet we see no action from
Theresa May and Tory Ministers to fix this shortage of home care.

“Keeping
older and vulnerable people in hospital when they are medically fit to leave
poses a risk to their recovery and increases their likelihood of contracting
hospital-acquired infections.

“A
Labour Government would provide the urgent additional funding needed to end the
crisis in social care.”

Justin
Madders MP, Labour’s Shadow Health Minister, responding to today’s NHS Combined Performance statistics, said:

“The Tories’ underfunding of the NHS has caused chaos for patients
and even in the height of summer key targets are being missed and waiting list
numbers are rising.

“There is a real danger to patients unless the Government takes
urgent action to support the NHS through the extra winter pressures.

“Theresa May’s decision last year to refuse the necessary winter
funding for the health service caused misery for patients right across the
country – she needs to say what action she’s going to take so that patients and
their families don’t suffer the same unacceptable waiting lists this winter.”

Tom
Watson MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, commenting on
Ofcom’s report into broadcasting diversity, said:

“Today’s
report proves that British broadcasting has a diversity problem.

“Women
and people from BAME backgrounds are underrepresented, particularly in senior
roles, but the most shocking fact is that just 3 per cent of the broadcasting
workforce has a disability, compared with 18 per cent of the population.

“Data
can be an important driver of change, but that data needs to be comprehensive.
The huge gaps in diversity data that Ofcom have found are unacceptable, but we
also need to collect data that paints a broader picture, and that means
collecting data on social class too.

“Our
television represents who we are as a nation and those who work on and off
screen should represent the whole country, not just part of it.”

Ends

Notes
to Editors

·         Ofcom’s report
out today can be found here: https://www.ofcom.org.uk/about-ofcom/latest/features-and-news/diversity-uk-television-industry

·        
Labour released its Acting
Up report over the summer which looked at access and diversity in the
performing arts. One of the key recommendations was an improvement in diversity
data collection and monitoring. The full report and executive summary is
available here: http://www.tom-watson.com/actingup