Speeches by Ranger.

“Great, thank you.”

“That is something from your establishment in particular?”

“It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Sir Roger. I congratulate the right hon. Member for Chingford and Woodford Green (Sir Iain Duncan Smith) on securing this debate. The stories, as has been said many times, of small and medium-sized charities and the impact that they have can be seen across our cities, to…”

“Diolch yn fawr, Madam Deputy Speaker. It is a real pleasure to speak in my second St David’s day debate in this Chamber. I begin by thanking my hon. Friend the Member for Newport West and Islwyn (Ruth Jones), Chair of the Select Committee, and the hon. Member for Ceredigion Preseli (Ben Lake) for securing this debate t…”

“It’s a close-run thing. There is also a range of interactive and engaging cultural and educational activities for everyone to enjoy and take part in. Wrexham is bidding to become the city of culture in 2029 and our annual St David’s day celebrations, which are now embedded in our city and growing every year, demonstrat…”

“In the hon. Member’s response to our Labour Government’s record-breaking £14 billion commitment to Welsh rail, he stated that there was no mention of the electrification of the north and south Wales main lines in the plan. I assume that he has now had a chance to read the full Transport for Wales vision document, which…”

“You have already touched on the removal of the two-child limit from April. I am just wondering what impact this will have in Wales. I know you have already touched on it, particularly for families facing housing insecurity.”

“We now want to look more at the UK Government legislation side of the issues. Dr Evans, when you wrote to the Committee, you noted that, of all households who get the housing element of universal credit that live in the private rented sector, six in 10 of them do not have their rent covered in full. What analysis or in…”

“That answer is great. There are more questions to come on that, but I will hand back to the Chair.”

“I was going to ask a question about Brand Wales but, as Steve said, you have covered that in great detail already. We had Lord Stockwood from the Office for Investment in front of us a couple of weeks ago, and one of the questions we asked was about how they and yourselves target the different regions of the UK, and ho…”

“As with that discussion with my colleague, there is a lot of talk about the future of Welsh devolution and it has often been talked about as a journey, not a destination, in many ways. We have spoken already today about how the partnership in power between the two Governments is really delivering for Wales. I was refle…”

“That is really good news. I know that will make a difference in Wrexham, particularly with house building and land banking, as you have spoken about. That is really good news and I hope to see that develop further. Thank you very much.”

“You have just spoken about the fantastic announcement about the AI zones in north and south Wales. Could you tell me a little bit more about how the UK Government are co-ordinating with the Welsh Government on the development and deployment of both those zones?”

“Trust and confidence are the cornerstones of a functioning asylum system, yet both were damaged in Wrexham recently due to an unclear and poorly communicated proposal for large houses in multiple occupation to be used for asylum accommodation. Following years of Tory failure, we have inherited a chaotic system and wast…”

“Same question—in terms of the UK, are you targeting specific markets?”

“Thank you very much. Moving on, is the Office for Investment targeting specific markets overseas to promote Wales?”

“You talked about place and regions. You mentioned local authorities—we have mayoral authorities and all those kinds of things. Is there capacity or ability to bring those together? I am thinking about Wrexham, where I am. The whole north-west England corridor—Manchester; Liverpool—is so important for us. I imagine that…”

“Thank you, both, for coming to see us today—it is good to see you again, Lord Stockwood. You have already touched on quite a bit of this in answering the Chair’s question, but how is the Office for Investment delivering benefits for Wales and where in Wales are those benefits being felt? Could you go into some more det…”

“They will feed back to you on their targets about employment and the quality of that employment—for example, the skill levels, regional prosperity and other things—but you measure the success of the activities you are taking on at more of a macro level.”

“To build on this point, how does the OFI evaluate its activity in Wales in terms of effectiveness and value for money? Is there a mechanism that does that, or is it across the UK?”