Speeches by Voaden.

“Will the hon. Member give way?”

“Will the hon. Gentleman give way?”

“Will the hon. Lady give way?”

“A fantastic organisation in my South Devon constituency called Child Assault Prevention, which I worked with when I worked for Devon Rape Crisis, had to close its doors two years ago because its funding was cut by the previous Government. It was doing vital work with primary school children, teaching them about the dan…”

“Large areas of rural South Hams in my constituency of South Devon are still struggling with almost prehistoric broadband speeds. The company that was tasked with rolling out full-fibre broadband was astonishingly allowed to walk away from its contract after building the easy urban bits, leaving all the hard-to-reach ar…”

“I wish you, Mr Speaker, and all the House staff, a very merry Christmas. Following on from the hon. Member for Calder Valley (Josh Fenton-Glynn), next year I will be taking part in a strictly dancing competition for my local Rowcroft Hospice. However, I am pretty sure that, even if all the Members in this House sponsor…”

“I welcome the Government’s statement and their attention to local government finances. Delivering services in large, dispersed rural areas such as mine in South Devon is challenging and costly. What plans does the Minister have to ensure that rural local authorities will be allocated additional funding to manage the ex…”

“I want to move on and ask James a question about adoption. The previous Government launched their national adoption strategy in 2021. What impact do you think that had on adoption provision and what measures would you like to see from the new Government to build on it?”

“Pharmacies in two of the major GP surgeries in my constituency, Leatside in Totnes and Compass House in Brixham, have closed in the past year because the private operators could not make a profit. Does my hon. Friend agree that it is urgent that we revise the funding model for prescriptions so that pharmacies, particul…”

“It is not a silver bullet?”

“This is a question for Katharine and Maris primarily. Leaving care can feel like walking towards a cliff edge for many young people. What are your views on the Government’s proposed measures to support care leavers, in particular the extension of the Staying Close support?”

“Do you think that there is enough support offered to adoptive families post adoption, or is that geographically varied?”

“Top-down reorganisation of a failing council such as Conservative-run Devon county council is a bit like shuffling the deck chairs on a sinking ship. We know that years of chronic underfunding have made it impossible for councils to fulfil their obligations, so I welcome the multi-year funding settlement. However, crea…”

“Will the hon. Member give way?”

“The hon. Member mentioned the cryptosporidium incident in May in Brixham in my constituency, where 17,000 houses were affected by contaminated water. A boil water notice was enforced for eight weeks, and many of my constituents are still suffering from that. I say to the Minister that, when the Drinking Water Inspector…”

“It was interesting in the pandemic year that grades went up when it was down to teacher assessment. Some might say teachers were being generous because it was a difficult time. Did that make you reflect at all on the exam system and whether at GCSE level it might be better to have more input from teachers about how kid…”

“Can I ask a supplementary?”

“Sir Ian, over the last five years we have seen significant variations in grading due to the Covid-19 pandemic and then efforts since to address that grade inflation. Are you confident that students are now assessed to the same standard as they were pre-pandemic?”

“While the children’s wellbeing Bill proposes statutory breakfast programmes, research from the Food Foundation shows that such clubs are more likely to benefit wealthier families because of the convenience that they offer working parents. By contrast, offering children free school lunches is known to help iron out ineq…”

“What can be done to support students who choose to withdraw from T-levels, especially those who are most susceptible to leaving education and training all together? Obviously if we defund the other qualifications, we are narrowing their options if they drop out of T-levels. What can we do to support them?”