Biography
Steve Witherden has engaged extensively on health and social care through 19 debate speeches, with notable contributions on mental health impacts of educational assessment systems, type 1 diabetes screening programmes, cross-border healthcare access for his Welsh constituents, and assisted dying safeguards. His interventions frequently connect health outcomes to broader policy areas, including the effects of food poverty on children's wellbeing, the motherhood pay penalty's relationship to care work, and how curriculum narrowing affects student mental health. Beyond health-specific debates, he has raised health-adjacent issues including support for rough sleepers, covid-19 financial exclusions, and children with SEND assessments.
Generated from their own Hansard record, below
“…rauma of living in insecure, temporary and often dangerous conditions can have lifelong impacts on physical and mental health, housing stability and economic prospects.”
Record by topic
- Mental health159th of 88021.0
- Learning disability & autism253rd of 89915.0
- Unpaid carers92nd of 2836.0
- Maternity & neonatal138th of 4386.0
- Hospital discharge / bed-blocking41st of 1393.0
- Children's health56th of 1573.0
- Assisted dying193rd of 3713.0
- Cancer365th of 6223.0
- Respiratory (asthma/COPD)47th of 1423.0
- Diabetes68th of 1903.0
What they’ve said
“Some 17,600 people in Wales are known to be living with type 1 diabetes. Like England, we do not yet have a national screening programme. In 2018, the Cardiff and Vale university health board introduced a series of quality improvement initiatives to support earlier diagnoses.”
Type 1 Diabetes: Infant Testing · 2026-03-09 · Read on Hansard ↗
“…nto 15 years of temporary, precarious status risks destabilising the workforce even further, increasing delayed hospital discharges and placing yet more pressure on unpaid family carers? We must retain the five-year route to ILR, halt the retrospective application of these changes and honour the terms that workers orig…”
Indefinite Leave to Remain · 2026-02-02 · Read on Hansard ↗
“…Years later, many remain burdened by unimaginable debt, some disgusting smears, declining mental health and the loss of homes, businesses and livelihoods. I was an advocate for some of these under-represented people in my previous role as the NASUWT national executive member for the six counties of north Wales.”
Covid-19: Financial Support · 2026-01-15 · Read on Hansard ↗
“…APR places on elderly and terminally ill farmers or the serious effect that the APR proposals are having on the mental health of farmers. It does not sufficiently protect family-run farms, our food security, or the livelihoods that underpin rural communities. Much more thought is needed here.”
Budget Resolutions · 2025-12-01 · Read on Hansard ↗
“…man living close to the border, who was registered with a Shropshire GP, was diagnosed in September with breast cancer. She was told she would need to wait to be seen by the north Wales genetics clinic.”
Cross-border Healthcare · 2025-11-04 · Read on Hansard ↗
Contributions reproduced under the Open Parliament Licence.