Speeches by Reed.

“From the other side have you seen when those mechanisms have not been strong enough and they have not worked well?”

“Just one question to all three of you if possible and just short answers, please. From your perspective does the FCDO apply enough scrutiny over how money is put into these multilateral organisations?”

“Okay. That is very good. Jennifer?”

“Quickly, and building on Laura’s question about USAID, I would imagine that the FCDO’s approach to scrutiny over how money is spent in multilateral organisations is similar to how USAID would do it. We have just seen a new Department of Government Efficiency open up in America and it is currently heavily looking into t…”

“Farmers across Devon are rightly concerned about Labour’s planned changes to agricultural property relief and business property relief, particularly the serious impact on family farms and on the sustainability of rural communities. In early December I wrote to the Secretary of State to invite him to meet Devon’s farmin…”

“9. What assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the autumn Budget 2024 on business confidence among farmers.”

“I thank the Secretary of State for finally confirming that elections will go ahead in Devon. However, we had been told that, if we were not selected this time round, devolution would be imposed on us. Will the Secretary of State please give an explanation to my constituents in Exmouth and Exeter East of what that impos…”

“Will the FCDO team please confirm who is the lead Minister in these negotiations?”

“Thank you, Minister. I am conscious of time, so I will just do a few quickfire questions on FCDO internal capacity. Having the right specialists in the Department will be important. How is the FCDO attracting and retaining the specialists it needs to contribute meaningfully to SDG2?”

“The report itself will not be shared with us.”

“On the point of the Minouche Shafik report, can we have an update please? Will it be shared with the Committee?”

“The last Government informed the Committee that there would be a recruitment round for technical specialists in this area in 2024. Has this taken place yet?”

“To confirm, it will not be shared with us.”

“A pattern is forming around this not so new Government’s ability to negotiate effectively, from their disastrous approach to Chagos to the terrible deal with train unions and this latest debacle with AstraZeneca. Is it fair to say that when this Labour Government negotiate, Britain loses out?”

“Q1. If he will list his official engagements for Wednesday 22 January.”

“Before Christmas, I received nearly 1,000 handwritten letters from pupils at St Peter’s secondary school in Exeter. Each letter strongly advocated for greater support to tackle the mental health challenges faced by young people, with many sharing deeply unsettling personal stories. I am committed to improving local men…”

“This is an active issue across many of our constituencies, and we have heard many personal stories. In my constituency of Exmouth and Exeter East, we have had a new town built called Cranbrook. A sewage treatment works was promised but has not been delivered. That has put pressure on systems elsewhere, and we have seen…”

“I thank my right hon. and gallant Friend the Member for South West Wiltshire (Dr Murrison) for bringing this important debate to the Chamber. From the discussions the Minister had at the E5 conference, does he think our allies are confident that we are playing our part in air defence?”

“I agree with many of the points raised by my hon. Friend the Member for Epping Forest on debt. He raised the serious question of how much debt is too much. Does Ofwat have a firm number on how much companies should be borrowing, and at what point it should intervene?”

“We have heard repeatedly that this is just the start of the legislative process to bring our water companies back to heel. Will the Minister please explain what she thinks the Bill lacks and what she hopes to do in the future to strengthen and add to it?”