Speeches by Kane.

“You said that it has been minimised, but what has been minimised? What is the impact, even if it has been minimised?”

“Good morning Sir Peter, Barbara and Katherine. Before I start, can I say that I went for a visit to my local jobcentre in Stirling? We are going to talk an awful lot about it, but I would like to recognise the work that the staff are doing in centres around the country. They are working hard and we should recognise tha…”

“Does my hon. Friend also recognise that there is also a funding crisis in Scotland, with the Scottish Government starving local authorities of the funding they need to provide these vital services? This is not just in England; it is a UK-wide problem, and the SNP Scottish Government are certainly not making it easy.”

“When we talk about youth services, we are really talking about the kind of country we want to be. We often discuss crime prevention, education and mental health in silos, but the thread that runs through all those issues is clear: we need to invest in our young people through properly funded, long-term youth services. …”

“I entirely agree with my hon. Friend, and I thank him for recognising Billy Bremner—a very good Stirling man. As I was saying, many projects rely on a patchwork of short-term funding, but that reliance points to a deeper problem: the retreat of local government, especially under the SNP Government in Holyrood, who have…”

“In my constituency, residents of the rurally isolated community of Balquhidder did not wait for a major provider; they dug and laid 34 km of fibre optic cable themselves using the Government’s broadband voucher scheme to partner with a small business and deliver gigabit broadband—a remarkable achievement. That success …”

“On the location of libraries, certainly in Scotland, there is a statutory duty is to provide a library service. That means that only one library could be provided for my constituency of nearly 2,500 sq km. Does the hon. Member agree that access and proximity to the library in terms of travel time is important to any st…”

“I have said before in this place that libraries are the NHS for the soul. They are funded by our taxes, free at the point of use and there when we need them the most. Libraries are no longer just about borrowing books, although that is still reason enough to love them; they are community hubs, digital lifelines, maker …”

“You have; I am happy to ask a few more questions on the devolved approach to this. Listening to what you are saying on the devolved nature, while recognising that any variations are a Government decision, if that were to be the case, can you give me the assurance that, in terms of collecting the data and engaging with …”

“Can I finally ask about paragraph 1.11 in the Report? This is about the additional charges that are levied. There is a section on the immigration skills charge where it says, “DfE does not directly receive this income, so it is unclear how the money is allocated by HM Treasury, or spent.” I do not know who wants to tak…”

“Let me ask it this way. Is there a curiosity being expressed by your Department as to what is happening with this? Are you engaging with the Treasury to get a better understanding of it?”

“I have one final point. In my constituency, Camphill Blair Drummond is a remarkable residential service for people with learning disabilities. It attracts volunteers from all over the world to work with residents. It is reporting to me that the high increase in, for example, the health surcharge is limiting who they ar…”

“Thank you. I can write you on that one, but certainly it is being caught up in that. It is reporting to me that the health surcharge is causing problems.”

“It is the concept of the impact it is having on volunteering. I think that volunteering helps to build the skilled workers of the future; it is something that they do prior to them becoming the skilled workers we want in 10 years’ time. I will happily take that up.”

“Can I quickly talk about customer experience? This is about paragraph 3.7 and 3.8. I am conscious of time, and I did want to get into this a little bit more. Given that figure 8 shows that you are getting good feedback from your customers on the bits of the process that they do not like or they are having difficulties …”

“I am sorry, but I am conscious of the time. I just need the assurance that all of this feedback is actually being listened to and acted on, and it is not just read. I want the assurance that it is being ingested into the system and read.”

“As MPs, we can tell you from the casework that we have received that we do get some frustrated applicants coming in. We can certainly see that there is an issue. Your target is to have an 80% good feedback response. Can I suggest to you that your target should be 100%, and then we will measure against that? Aiming for …”

“Recognising how new into the job you are, can you give us an indication of how long you think it will take to get these processes in place? I am not looking for a date.”

“Thank you both for that. Can I now move on to paragraph 2.10 of the Report? This is about the Government’s plans, announced in July, to develop closer links between immigration policy and sectoral labour market policies, with all the intentions listed in that paragraph. Simon, how will improving the links between immig…”

“I want to talk first about paragraphs 2.4 and 2.9 of the Report. Paragraph 2.4 says, “In considering entry requirements on the Skilled Worker visa route, the Home Office must balance government immigration policy with the priorities of other departments and the route’s objective to enable employers to recruit the skill…”