Speeches by Chowns.

“Merry Christmas to you and your staff, Mr Speaker. I declare an interest as co-chair of the all-party parliamentary group on water pollution. While I welcome the limited measures that the Government are taking to tackle pollution from the water industry, there is an elephant in the room, because agricultural pollution …”

“Could I ask you about it, as you are the Minister for this area? The National Wealth Fund currently focuses on infrastructure. It appears to interpret infrastructure as grey infrastructure, but we frequently talk about green and blue infrastructure. In fact, in speaks about infrastructure in relation to water and waste…”

“I fully echo everything that Julia said. You referenced the £5 billion over two years to the farming budget—£2.5 billion a year. In the earlier question that Toby asked, you were talking about much, much smaller numbers. You talked about £4 million being mobilised, and so forth. Those are really quite small numbers in …”

“Perhaps you could write back to us after your meeting with Tulip Siddiq on the topic.”

“At the minute, it is not explicitly excluded by the current investment principles, but there is arguably something that needs to be clarified in the definition of national infrastructure. Would you agree that the quality of our natural capital is a key element of national infrastructure?”

“Thank you. So there is a little chink, perhaps—the door is open a little. There is a bit of history that we can build on.”

“Citizens Advice has found that more than a third of private tenants could not afford to heat their house to a comfortable temperature last winter, and in research published a month ago, it found that 80% of private landlords have no plans to invest in the energy efficiency of their properties in the next five years. Ca…”

“I welcome the elements of this White Paper that are about devolution, but we have to recognise that some elements are about concentration. The Minister has talked about the two-tier premium, but the reality is that his proposals mean that in some places a local tier will be replaced by a more distant mayoral tier. Does…”

“I declare an interest as a founding co-chair of the all-party parliamentary group on water pollution. As the Minister well knows, I have a deep and abiding interest in the theme of water pollution. I gently remind her that agricultural run-off is the primary source of water pollution in my constituency, and I welcome t…”

“I am really sorry, but I will not give way because I know so many Members want to come in. In my view and that of my Green colleagues, the only way to run a water system in the interests of people and nature is to take away the profit motive entirely. It should never have been allowed near our water industry in the fir…”

“Benefits such as pension credit and disability living allowance are important in assisting people to stay out of poverty, but delays in processing applications push people into poverty. One constituent of mine is an 82-year-old gentleman who has spent more than 16 weeks waiting for his application to be processed, and …”

“This is a question to Lord Vallance about Government support for UK science in Antarctica. The Antarctic Infrastructure Modernisation Programme is valued, I think, at £670 million. Could you comment on how the Government are evaluating the impact and effectiveness of that investment, in terms of both advancing scientif…”

“Personally, I would be quite interested in a written response on the format and timeframe for that.”

“We have heard in the previous session about the limitations of NERC funding, and I know the previous committee heard about NERC’s ability to fund the long-term research programmes that are needed, particularly given the significance of the research that we have heard about here. Do the Government plan to ensure that la…”

“This week, I was contacted by my constituent, Sally, who is a GP. She had called 999 on Monday to try to get an ambulance for a critically ill patient, but could not because all the ambulances were stuck outside Hereford A&E waiting to unload their patients. At the same time, we know that medically fit patients acr…”

“Regarding the RRS Sir David Attenborough, can you comment on how the UK Government plan to optimise the use of this significant investment and significant ship, bearing in mind its different roles in supporting scientific research, logistical support and so on? Would you consider investing in an additional icebreaker? …”

“Regarding the RRS Sir David Attenborough, can you comment on how the UK Government plan to optimise the use of this significant investment and significant ship, bearing in mind its different roles in supporting scientific research, logistical support and so on? Would you consider investing in an additional icebreaker? …”

“This is a question to Lord Vallance about Government support for UK science in Antarctica. The Antarctic Infrastructure Modernisation Programme is valued, I think, at £670 million. Could you comment on how the Government are evaluating the impact and effectiveness of that investment, in terms of both advancing scientif…”

“Can I just press you gently to elaborate a bit more on the Government’s process for evaluating that impact? You were saying we can already see the impact of the ship. We have heard stories of that already. What is the formal process for evaluating that?”

“Personally, I would be quite interested in a written response on the format and timeframe for that.”