Speeches by Alaba.

“Good morning to you all. My first question is to Hilary and Ben. What are the biggest causes of financial pressure on the heritage sector today?”

“Good morning all. Vanessa, I will come to you first: what challenges do smaller charities in the heritage sector face?”

“You mentioned earlier the love of local people. I am assuming that—not in all cases, but in most—a lot of the smaller charities working on a particular project may well be local because of their connection to the project, which then gives them a bit of a disadvantage.”

“What more could public bodies do to support volunteer-led heritage sites?”

“The capacity point is a good one. You might have out-of-date local plans. You need people to point you towards what you need and what is right for the community. If you have out-of-date local plans, communities are disadvantaged straight away.”

“Which goes to your point. You have mentioned mentoring, support and critical friends a couple of times, and I totally understand. Vanessa, what practical support is available to smaller charities working on historic buildings?”

“My next question is for Tegwen. We have received written evidence that praised high streets in terms of heritage action zone schemes. What made that model of funding so effective?”

“Thank you. Staying with the Eldon Street scheme, can you elaborate a little bit on the support from Historic England?”

“You mentioned that eight buildings were brought back into use. In terms of ownership, were they local investor stakeholders?”

“Since Historic England’s funding finished in 2024, do you feel the benefits have been retained?”

“I see. And if they are not owner-operators, the relationship with their landlord would mean that you have a significant buy-in to the sort of civic pride.”

“Vanessa, do you want to have a last word?”

“Thank you. Ben, how is the way in which public funding for heritage is distributed impacting its efficacy?”

“Thank you. Alice, what can heritage sites and diversification do to appeal to new audiences, and maintain audiences and income revenue streams?”

“Our Labour Government have recently invested in a new state-of-the-art linear accelerator machine in Southend hospital. The machine is the first of its type in the country and will drastically improve cancer treatments. Please can the Minister outline how record levels of investment, such as in the LINAC machine and as…”

“13. What steps his Department is taking to reduce the time taken for cancer diagnoses.”

“Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I am sure colleagues across the House are extremely proud of our armed forces. Does the Minister agree that this Bill is an opportunity for us to show a united Chamber in support of our armed forces and that colleagues should support it?”

“In Southend and Rochford I have had the pleasure of meeting many veterans and service people, men and women, who keep our country safe. An Armed Forces Commissioner will be a direct point of contact for those serving and their families, and will have direct authority to investigate welfare complaints from housing to ki…”

“I commend the Secretary of State for his calm and measured approach to this really serious topic. Will he expand on the safeguards in the deal, in particular the 24-mile nautical exclusion or buffer zone and the ban on foreign military presence, which guarantee full UK command of the base? I remind Opposition colleague…”

“I declare that I am also a school governor. I have spent many months in my constituency meeting teachers, governors and stakeholders within the community, so I welcome the Government’s announcement of 2,000 additional teachers. Can the Minister tell us how the Government are turning the tide in the teacher recruitment …”