Speeches by Stephenson.

“I am interested in asking some questions about the legislative framework; some of the responses to questions that Sarah asked piqued my interest. My constituents—all our constituents—would be horrified to know that in 2023, £55 billion to £81 billion of their hard-earned money was lost to fraud and error. They might al…”

“Can the Secretary of State give a clear assurance that not a single offshore wind project procured in this round will be built with technology made by Chinese slaves?”

“Constituents of mine have been reporting that they have been directed to hospital for regular blood tests, rather than having them at their GP surgery. Will the Secretary of State outline how he will ensure that blood tests are done in a community setting, which surely must be much better value for the taxpayer and muc…”

“London is a critical global financial centre; we all rely on it, as do all of our constituents. Does the Minister recognise the very serious risk that approving this Chinese super-embassy could, as my hon. Friend the shadow Minister said, pave the way for economic war—not just on our country, but on the western world, …”

“I start by saying how extraordinary it was to hear the Minister of State for Courts and Legal Services say earlier that she would be pursuing this policy even if there were not a backlog to deal with. That suggests that it was planned all along, but it is nowhere in the Labour party manifesto. Will the Under-Secretary …”

“In response to the question from my hon. and gallant Friend the Member for Spelthorne (Lincoln Jopp), the Minister said that he respected the views of the officers who had shared their concerns—so why does he think they are wrong?”

“With two dangerous offenders on the run, many of our constituents will rightly be very concerned and worried. Will the Minister explain what resources are being deployed to capture those offenders as soon as possible?”

“Nearly 17,000 companies licensed to sponsor worker visas have five or fewer employees, and over 3,000 of these have just one employee. Ministers have been unable to tell me how many inspections have been made of companies since the general election. How sure is the Home Secretary that these are not bogus companies offe…”

“May I welcome the focus on reducing deprivation in this statement? How confident is the Minister that deprivation in rural areas will not be missed in the funding formula? I should refer Members to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests, because I am still a councillor on Central Bedfordshire council.…”

“On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. This morning I received a notification via the Facebook page of the hon. Member for Bedford (Mohammad Yasin) that the planning for the Universal UK theme park, which is located wholly within my constituency of Mid Bedfordshire, has been approved. The hon. Member for Bedford sh…”

“But you are still using the manual approach.”

“What assurance can you provide taxpayers that any savings reported will reflect genuine reductions in spend and not simply reclassifications or continuing inconsistencies with the data across Departments?”

“Do you know why the difference is so big each year at the moment, or is it work that you need to do through this taskforce?”

“It was only to ask what work you are doing to ensure that Departments submit better-quality data through OSCAR. If we look at figure 10, on page 27 of the NAO Report, we can see that consistently, each year, the OSCAR data is much higher than the ARA data that you are referring to. You are saying that OSCAR is incorrec…”

“Ms Robinson, NGOs argue that alternatives exist for the approved PFAS active substances in pesticides. First, do you agree with that? Secondly, would you support a phased approach to removing PFAS from pesticides if alternatives are proven effective? You may have answered that in the previous question. If so, what depe…”

“Q12. Digital ID is intrusive and fundamentally un-British. The Government have no mandate for it, and no sensible person believes that it will tackle illegal immigration or illegal working. It is an attack on our open society and a staggering waste of taxpayers’ money, isn’t it?”

“I am pleased you have said that, because I would not want to tell my farmers that they have to start monitoring PFAS.”

“In terms of monitoring, do you think that the agricultural sector has a potential role to play so that we can better understand the scale of the issue across the country?”

“Dr Megson, do you want to add something to that?”

“That is very helpful. I totally understand the points about food security. If you could follow up on your answer to the first question, the Committee would appreciate it. My second question to you, Ms Robinson, and to Dr Megson is what your assessment is of the evidence regarding TFA contamination in UK rivers and how …”