Speeches by Pakes.

“I beg to move, That this House has considered the value of apprenticeships and National Apprenticeships Week. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Jardine. It is my first debate of this nature. I thank the Backbench Business Committee and its Chair, the hon. Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman), for g…”

“I very much agree with my hon. Friend. Before I came to Parliament, I was a union official at Prospect, which represents many workers in the defence sector and in Barrow, so I know full well the great expertise of apprentices in the defence sector. We need more of those apprenticeships for our national security and for…”

“T7. On Friday last week, we held our first NEETs—those not in education, employment or training—and youth opportunities summit in Peterborough, bringing together Peterborough college, Anglia Ruskin University Peterborough and employers to see how we can tackle our youth unemployment problem. Will the Secretary of State…”

“To be clear, you talked a lot there about the issues facing the sector. What you have not said is, “We are sorry for the level of bonuses that we took out of the system”. You have not apologised or said that you recognise the take-out of £41 million in pay and excessive bonuses in 2020. That was a problem. In your view…”

“Ofwat will now limit some of the payments and bonuses, and ringfence some areas in there. As the consumer council, do you think that is enough to start rebuilding trust?”

“Mike, what is your view on those answers?”

“To be clear, you talked a lot there about the issues facing the sector. What you have not said is, “We are sorry for the level of bonuses that we took out of the system”. You have not apologised or said that you recognise the take-out of £41 million in pay and excessive bonuses in 2020. That was a problem. In your view…”

“You will forgive me for welcoming the modesty of water company bosses. Do you understand the anger? I speak to residents in my patch, and we have talked about this as a Committee. You often get a corporate answer from a company saying, “We are a complex business”, and it almost ghosts the anger that residents feel abou…”

“I have a couple of questions on trust. In recent years, there has been greater awareness among consumers and households of issues affecting the sector, particularly pollution, and how we manage that and what some of the challenges are. Alongside that, we have seen increasing anger, and Mike has talked about levels of t…”

“Ofwat will now limit some of the payments and bonuses, and ringfence some areas in there. As the consumer council, do you think that is enough to start rebuilding trust?”

“Mike, what is your view on those answers?”

“I have a couple of questions on trust. In recent years, there has been greater awareness among consumers and households of issues affecting the sector, particularly pollution, and how we manage that and what some of the challenges are. Alongside that, we have seen increasing anger, and Mike has talked about levels of t…”

“You will forgive me for welcoming the modesty of water company bosses. Do you understand the anger? I speak to residents in my patch, and we have talked about this as a Committee. You often get a corporate answer from a company saying, “We are a complex business”, and it almost ghosts the anger that residents feel abou…”

“Like everyone else, I congratulate my hon. Friend on putting forward the Bill. Is she surprised to hear that this is one of the biggest issues that I come across in surgeries and emails? Over 750 people have contacted me about it since the election. She has spoken about the impact of fireworks on animals, children and …”

“We are a proud cathedral city. Everyone in Peterborough has a story to tell about our cathedral, whether it is attending a carol service, going to a graduation or community event, or even remembering the Foreign Secretary singing there as a chorister when he was a schoolboy. For over 900 years, our cathedral has been t…”

“My right hon. Friend is right that this is not a day for celebration; it is a day for prayer—prayer that this deal is seen through and prayer that hostages and ordinary Palestinians get a chance to rebuild their lives after the atrocities and horrors of the past 15 months. My right hon. Friend is right to say that this…”

“Yes.”

“Very doable.”

“If there was a Thursday that was close, I would be happy with that, as well.”

“I would happily take another day. I filled the form in in the way I did because it gave me a forced choice of when the date was, in terms of picking a Monday or a Thursday. I would happily look at another date if you think there is a more appropriate one.”