Speeches by Alexander.

“We spend about £2 billion a year on rail enhancement projects. We will be looking carefully through the spending review at all proposals that get freight off the roads and increase the availability of passenger services.”

“Yes, I think I will have a busy diary coming up.”

“We are exploring how we can extend pay-as-you-go to other stations in the south-east. I must admit that my mental map is not good enough to identify every station yet, but we share that ambition to make it easier for people to use the railways across the south-east region.”

“I will certainly ask the Rail Minister to take that meeting.”

“We are working on a whole range of schemes in respect of the spending review, and I will provide the hon. Gentleman with more information as soon as I have it.”

“Undoubtedly.”

“I associate myself with the shadow Minister’s lovely remarks about Lord Prescott. John was a political giant, and I am sure I speak for the whole House in sending our thoughts and condolences to his family. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for South Dorset (Lloyd Hatton) on securing this debate. I also thank th…”

“The hon. Gentleman pre-empts the next section of my speech. We saw, during the passage of the private Member’s Bill before it fell on Prorogation, that there are strong and differing views on SLAPPs. I understand that there were still unresolved issues before Prorogation. The former Member for Caerphilly, Wayne David, …”

“The right hon. Gentleman also pre-empts the next part of my speech. I am very happy to tell the House that I am keen to consider a range of non-legislative measures—procedural measures in the court—while not ruling out the possibility of legislation in future, but I want to take time to look at what options will work b…”

“I beg to move, That the Committee has considered the draft Judicial Pensions (Amendment) Regulations 2024. It is an honour to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Betts. This is my first Delegated Legislation Committee as a Minister. In fact, this is my first speech in this House since the general election. It is somewhat…”

“I am grateful to the shadow spokesperson for his support and brevity, and I am sure all members of the Committee endorse that comment. With that, Mr Betts, I hope you agree that this statutory instrument is necessary, and I commend it to the Committee. Question put and agreed to.”

“There is a small number of cases that we are still working on, yes.”

“I think that might be a question that Minister Thomas can answer.”

“The Act introduced by the last Government, as you will know, did not include convictions that were imposed in Scotland. Justice is obviously a devolved matter, and the Government at the time took the decision for responsible Ministers to remain accountable for the decisions taken in their jurisdictions. You will know t…”

“Not to my knowledge.”

“Twenty-two.”

“Ed, do you want to pick that up?”

“No. We have made it a priority in the Department.”

“If staffing proved to be the constraint, I would of course consider extra resources, but we have now assessed 822 of the 949 cases that we are aware of in England and Wales, so the vast majority of the work has been done. We are starting to come to the end of the road in finding addresses for the 61 individuals I talke…”

“No. There are certain things that we are waiting for. At the moment, the casework team is waiting for a return from the credit referencing agency Equifax. Some of the problems we have encountered are because we simply do not have addresses for 61 individuals. There have been lots of different routes that we have pursue…”