Speeches by Bance.

“Thank you very much for a very enlightening panel; it is really appreciated. As referred to, we have three online marketplaces in front of us next. I am going to give you the opportunity to imagine yourself in my place. If you had to ask each of them one question about their approach to consumer protection, what would …”

“Will you write to the Committee to tell us exactly how you check that PPE documentation and certification is genuine? I am tired of tradespeople coming to me about faulty, unsafe PPE.”

“We all support greater production here in the UK, but the details of these tariffs need more work. Black Country MPs, such as me and my hon. Friend the Member for West Bromwich (Sarah Coombes), have heard huge worries from our downstream industries, including stockholders such as Amari, fabricators such as Angle Ring, …”

“Paul, I will start with you. How is AI affecting jobs skills and ways of working in SMEs, and how are businesses building the capability to use these tools? We have spoken a little about this, but particularly about the skills gaps: where are they most acute, and what more needs to be done on making sure people have th…”

“This is a question to all the members of the panel and I will come to each of you in turn. Where have you seen the most credible productivity gains from AI so far, and are there areas where expected benefits have not materialised? I am particularly keen to understand where you are beginning to realise any savings, and …”

“If we were talking about challenges for manufacturing more generally, Stephen, I am sure you would be telling me about energy costs, would you not?”

“You have talked about the carbon reduction, but do you think there is real potential for AI to cut the energy needs in some of our intensive industries?”

“You said that you had 200 or so people working in the role that you referenced. I am sure you cannot speak about individual roles, but is your intention to maintain that sort of staff profile, or to change it going forward as a result of what you have learned, and perhaps to reduce the number in that cohort of your tea…”

“That is good to hear. Coming in on the quota, my understanding was that there was some discussion about how the quota was allocated between different exporters. Have we come to a conclusion in those conversations yet? Is it still open? I think the quota was pretty fully utilised in the second half of 2025.”

“I have already started giving the Minister a hard time because my steel processing SIC codes are in, but, as Alucast in my constituency told me, my aluminium processing SIC codes are not in. That is people in the same setting, but just on different days of the week or with different sets of machines or with different m…”

“Does it mean that you are not to be granular?”

“The incentives still do not work for you to transition from gas.”

“I would like to ask a question to all of the panel at this point. We are here today focusing in on the industrial strategy. How would you rate the Government’s overall package of industrial energy support? We had the announcement about BICS two weeks ago. Many of us were very happy that it is starting earlier and is la…”

“The Government have said that the council should not assess policy impacts on an annual basis and should instead be forward-looking. I am terribly sorry. I just do not understand what that means. Do you know what it means?”

“We have three focuses. We have the sectors and the business environment more broadly, but we also have place. Could you comment a little on how you are seeing place in the work that you do?”

“I should say for the record that we have a TUC staff member on the panel and I worked for the TUC for a number of years before I was elected. For the members of the panel, if you think the implementation is off track, how do you step in and hold Departments to account? Let us take the automotive industry. A number of y…”

“You will recall that when we met before I said that for me one of the ways that the industrial strategy will be judged is whether the rate of major British employers closing slows or stops. Since we last met, we have had problems in Mossmorran. We continue to have difficulties at Grangemouth. We have seen Stellantis cl…”

“That one is a square.”

“T4. We now know what was going on in the economy before the attack on Iran. Growth was up. Unemployment was down. Borrowing was lower than forecast. The Chancellor took the right decisions and it was working. Does my right hon. Friend agree that families and businesses should know that, when times are tough, it is Trum…”

“Murray, the past year has seen significant disruptions to trade, to put it lightly. How effective do you think the Government have been in responding to these challenges from JLR’s perspective?”