Biography
Daniel Francis has engaged extensively on disability and SEND issues through 39 debate speeches, drawing on personal experience as a parent of children with disabilities and chair of all-party parliamentary groups on wheelchair users and disability equipment access. His contributions have focused particularly on community equipment provision, wheelchair services, Changing Places toilets, and learning disability protections in legislation, including concerns about mental capacity safeguards in the assisted dying Bill. He has also raised broader SEND reform and health service coordination issues, consistently emphasizing the need for cross-departmental approaches and drawing on evidence from parliamentary inquiries and consultation with constituents and the disability sector.
Generated from their own Hansard record, below
“…I was also married to a special educational needs co-ordinator who was employed by the local authority. I was employing my own professionals to get through this process and ensure that the health aspects of the EHCP were upheld. The situation is absolutely abhorrent.”
Record by topic
- Learning disability & autism11th of 899125.5
- Palliative & end of life care14th of 56881.0
- Assisted dying15th of 37169.0
- Cancer38th of 62230.0
- Mental health140th of 88024.0
- Hospital discharge / bed-blocking10th of 13915.0
- Unpaid carers48th of 28312.0
- Rare diseases28th of 2029.0
- NHS waiting lists207th of 5346.0
- Dementia60th of 2516.0
- Maternity & neonatal238th of 4383.0
- Health inequalities135th of 2883.0
- Public health & prevention417th of 6883.0
- GP access93rd of 2413.0
- Respiratory (asthma/COPD)47th of 1423.0
- Adult social care & reform186th of 3763.0
- Children's health56th of 1573.0
- Heart disease & stroke174th of 3983.0
What they’ve said
“…In recent research on children experiencing delayed discharge from hospital, the office was told that delays in getting equipment, and having equipment serviced, had led to children being stuck in hospital, away from family, friends and school.” This postcode lottery is not just cross-country—I know of a number of ICBs…”
Health Bill · 2026-09-07 · Read on Hansard ↗
“…At a time when we are rightly focused on reducing waiting lists and improving patient flow, it makes little sense for somebody to remain in a hospital bed simply because the equipment they need to return home has not arrived.”
Health Bill · 2026-09-07 · Read on Hansard ↗
“I beg to move, That this House has considered capital funding for Changing Places toilets. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Alec. I am grateful to the Backbench Business Committee for granting this debate.”
Changing Places Toilets: Capital Funding · 2026-07-16 · Read on Hansard ↗
“…Clearly, part of the problem is also the SEND policies and the health service that they handed over to this Government. As my right hon. Friend knows, I believe that we need cross-departmental buy-in as part of this process, as part of the SEND review, as part of health reform in the 10-year plan and as part of a revie…”
Timms Review: Interim Report · 2026-07-09 · Read on Hansard ↗
“…Bill Committee, and I think I am the only one of those who voted against the assisted dying Bill on both Second Reading and Third Reading. As Members know, I support the principles of the Bill, but I continue to have concerns about the issues of mental capacity and learning disability.”
Progression of Bills through Parliament · 2026-06-08 · Read on Hansard ↗
Contributions reproduced under the Open Parliament Licence.