Speeches by Mayer.

“I thank the hon. Member for giving way. Does she agree that it can be a particular problem when remote areas become new-build areas, yet are completely lacking in any mobile or broadband infrastructure? Some telecom companies say that they are not fully involved in the planning aspects, yet they can fully see the house…”

“Thank you for calling me so early on, Madam Deputy Speaker, at the sunrise of the debate. I believe there is not only a climate and biodiversity emergency, but real insecurity in our energy market. That is why I absolutely back the Government’s plan to triple our solar capacity and reach the clean power target by 2030.…”

“I think we need a mix, but we cannot rule out using solar panels on large chunks of land. When the Minister came along to visit our solar farm in Eggington, he not only met the sheep, but saw that some of the land around the panels has been transformed into wildflower meadows. In my constituency, AW Group —the people w…”

“I absolutely take your point that the funding was about to run out and there was a cliff edge. When the £2 fare cap was introduced, it was very clearly as a cost of living measure. As you rightly said, the £3 cap was much less so, because so few of the tickets actually cost £3. If I get on a bus from Leighton Buzzard s…”

“Does the Department have a bus fare strategy?”

“It strikes me that the formula is quite important, otherwise there could literally be a list of whichever person in the community shouted the loudest about a given bus, and there would not necessarily be an evidence base behind that.”

“In the bus services Bill there are extra rules, as you mentioned, to make sure that there is a list of supported services agreed by all parties, but that is only applicable to enhanced partnerships. It is not applicable to franchised services. It would appear that we are moving in the direction of more and more franchi…”

“On the point about councils identifying socially necessary services, are you going to require councils to produce lists, or the formula behind how they got to the list?”

“We talked earlier about the fact that BSIP was about finding new services and that the Bill was particularly about protecting socially necessary services. The onus seems to be very much on local authorities to decide. Is there not a danger that, by putting that emphasis in the Bill, and in new law and legislation, you …”

“Moving to enhanced partnerships, we have had mixed evidence. The Confederation for Passenger Transport called them “a valuable tool”. We have also had evidence that suggested they were no more than “goodwill documents”. Does the Department have plans to reform enhanced partnerships—for example, by allowing local transp…”

“In a way, we have moved into a brave new world of buses. The skills that are needed in local transport authorities have very much changed, moving away from officers who were used to coming up with sticking-plaster solutions for propping up unviable services, to the need to do contract negotiation, financial modelling a…”

“Do you think one extra member of staff is enough? Is that a floor or a ceiling in terms of the Department’s ambitions?”

“Therefore, would it perhaps be better to give local authorities the chunk of money and let them decide what the bus fares are?”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Stringer. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Rotherham (Sarah Champion) on securing this debate, although I fear she is not going to agree with what I am about to say. Glass is one of the most used materials in the world—we have used it for thousands of ye…”

“I am absolutely aware of Frugalpac in Ipswich. The east of England, where I am from, is leading the charge. These modern green manufacturing organisations face certain issues. I urge the Minister to talk to other Departments as well, not least about the Weights and Measures (Intoxicating Liquor) Order 1988, which I am …”

“Do you feel that the advent of more mayors will make it more strategic, or is there a danger that a mayor has a fairly defined geography, and railway lines tend to run through those, normally all the way to London?”

“I take your point that it does not make sense for different regions of Network Rail to be following different processes. Hopefully, within whatever format of regionalised structure, if there is one, in GBR, that might be wiped out. We know that there will be more devolved mayors, strategic authorities and the like. Do …”

“With the move to the brand-new world of GBR, how do you feel that GBR could be best structured to deliver a more robust investment pipeline?”

“Do you think that funding for enhancements should be reintegrated into the control period process?”

“We heard from our last panel of witnesses that the rail network enhancements pipeline was a flawed proposition and not a strategy for the railway. Do you agree with that? What purpose do you think it currently serves?”