Speeches by Atkinson.

“Q We heard from the National Association of Head Teachers that they wanted to see more collaboration, and some concern was expressed that not enough collaboration was taking place to date. I would be interested to hear your views as to how we can improve that, and whether you would acknowledge that, across a lot of dif…”

“Q You were talking about “broad and balanced”. Given the 47% drop in arts subjects at GCSE, do you feel that more needs to be done to ensure that we have an even broader range of subjects that can be enjoyed? Sir Martyn Oliver: Speaking as a qualified teacher of fine art, absolutely.”

“I am very pleased to hear it.”

“Q We heard in earlier evidence that spending on early intervention has reduced while crisis costs have significantly increased. What do you think will be the impact of early intervention, including family group decision making, primarily on outcomes but also, in the longer term, on costs? Ruth Stanier: We very much thi…”

“Q We have seen the number of children in care rising really significantly. Looking at the child protection measures, the kinship clauses and the family group conferencing, what do you feel the overall impact of Bill will be on the numbers of children in care? Jacky Tiotto: It is difficult. We have primary legislation i…”

“Q We heard from the Children’s Commissioner that the number of children who are missing from education and at risk of child sexual exploitation has been getting worse. I am interested in your views as to why. Sir Martyn Oliver: We see quite a number of issues. I spoke recently in my annual review, which I laid before P…”

“Q So you are doing something, but that is not necessarily happening across other trusts and academies? Luke Sparkes: I cannot speak for the whole sector,but I can say what we believe. Sir Dan Moynihan: I agree with you on breadth, and we too emphasise the EBacc. Around 40% of our kids are pupil premium and another 30% …”

“Q How do you think the Bill will help to stop children falling through the net? How can it help to support families, in the cost of living crisis, with the costs associated with school? Catherine McKinnell: Those are two quite big issues. Do you want to start on cost savings, Stephen? Stephen Morgan: As we have heard t…”

“T6. Last week I met a young dad at Derby City Mission who had been sleeping rough until he used its Safe Space night shelter. He was then able to move into one of its bedrooms, and he had just been informed that there was a home for him to move into: another step towards having somewhere his son can visit him next Chri…”

“Unregulated and uninsured souped-up electric scooters have been a real source of antisocial behaviour in Derby. Our police and crime commissioner Nicolle Ndiweni-Roberts has been working with Derbyshire constabulary to clamp down on illegal e-scooters, seizing and disposing of more than 200 since November. Will the Lea…”

“Does my hon. Friend agree that we need to grow the skills necessary to build the service and maintain our submarine fleet? Rolls-Royce Submarines in Derby is doubling the size of its site in preparation for AUKUS, and it has its own nuclear skills academy with 200 apprentices every year. Does my hon. Friend agree that …”

“I met women from the endometriosis support group in Derby, and so many reported that they had had to give up work because of their symptoms as well as the huge delays in their diagnosis and treatment. Does my hon. Friend agree that until this gets real priority and understanding, we will continue to lose out on the tal…”

“What potential do you see for the infrastructure strategy supporting the industrial strategy?”

“We have talked about the 10-year infrastructure strategy being a starting point, albeit an essential starting point. What would you like to see in it from a transport perspective?”

“You singled out electrification as something that could benefit from pipelines of work going forward. Why do you think it would work for that in particular, and what would you want to see?”

“Would you be hopeful that, with the plans being made for an industrial strategy and infrastructure strategy, we will see those pipelines and, therefore, we will be giving that kind of confidence to the supply chain?”

“We started to set that out, but why do you think we have not done it today? What have been the barriers, and what has been the impact on the supply chain of our failure to do so?”

“On the need for pipelines when it comes to achieving what we want to achieve on infrastructure, you gave the example of Spanish high speed; electrification in Germany is another. What can we learn from other countries about pipelines being useful in achieving real progress on infrastructure?”

“I think that is what we are coming on to.”

“One of the things that has been mentioned as impacting on costs is skills. Skills is something that I have been concerned about for a while. There are massive skills shortages in the transport sector, and across sectors. I want to ask you about what impact that has, not just on costs but potentially even feasibility of…”