Speeches by Sollom.

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Vickers. I thank the hon. Member for Bradford for securing the debate and raising this important issue—”

“There are different options, and I will come to this issue later. Given the scale of cross-departmental working required, having Skills England sit outside a single Government Department is probably more effective. Moreover, such bodies can be held accountable effectively by Parliament, as we have seen with some other …”

“I entirely endorse what my hon. Friend has said, and I certainly encourage those colleges on their path. As I will explain, my new clause will enable Skills England to support them more fully. Equally concerning is the need for effective cross-departmental co-ordination. Skills policy does not exist in isolation. Skill…”

“In considering the transfer of functions from the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education, we face fundamental questions about the Government’s accountability and the future structure of our skills system. While modest in size, the Bill has far-reaching implications for that system, and for millions of le…”

“I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.”

“I would hope that better scrutiny and accountability in Parliament would help with delivering what is required, and holding the Government to account when it comes to keeping their promises. On the cross-departmental work that I mentioned, the lack of a published framework for Skills England as we consider the Bill is …”

“I will come to my preference for an executive agency that fits what the Government want to do. That is the reason for my new clause, and I do not think that it need delay efforts. Ultimately, a statutory, departmental body would have more clout. On the basis of what we understand, at least, I think that the remit for S…”

“T7. In the light of the recently announced 50% staffing reductions across integrated care boards, has the Secretary of State made any assessment of how those cuts to the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough ICB will delay the delivery of essential new primary care services for my rapidly growing constituency, particularly i…”

“I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time. It is a pleasure to serve under you in the Chair, Ms Furniss. I rise to move new clause 1, which addresses fundamental concerns about the governance and accountability of Skills England. While the Bill as amended in the Lords does now make reference to Skills Englan…”

“I thank the Minister for her response. In the interests of time—and lunch—I will not go into detail. I wish to press the new clause to a vote. Question put, That the clause be read a Second time.”

“Amendments 8 and 9 address a fundamental concern that we have with the Bill, which is the lack of proper parliamentary scrutiny. As drafted, clause 10 gives the Secretary of State sweeping powers to make consequential provisions through regulations. While statutory instruments containing regulations that amend primary …”

“I beg to move amendment 8, in clause 10, page 4, line 32, at beginning insert— “Subject to subsection (6),”.”

“I thank the Minister for her response. I am afraid I am not satisfied that that is sufficient and would like to push the amendment to a vote. Question put, That the amendment be made.”

“It is a pleasure to serve under you, Sir Christopher. I would like to express Liberal Democrat support for the amendments tabled by the hon. Member for Harborough, Oadby and Wigston. They address a critical weakness of the Bill, namely the lack of any concrete requirement for the Secretary of State to engage meaningful…”

“Last week the Department announced that colleges would receive only two thirds of the funding that they were promised for the 35,000 additional 16 to 18-year-old students enrolled last autumn, a decision that could lead to thousands of prospective students being turned away this September. That follows a cut in the adu…”

“Q5. On Monday, the Prime Minister talked about creating defence jobs across the country as we rebuild our defence industrial capacity. Will he and the Government bring forward an urgent plan for skills in the defence sector, and does he agree with his Education Secretary that the strategy for defence skills should sit …”

“Gingerbread’s report on fixing the CMS is excellent. It has a lot of pointers and a lot of excellent statistics about how single-parent families are being let down. I will come on to some of those now. The Government’s own child maintenance statistics paint a damning picture: 31% of all paying parents made no maintenan…”

“I will come to the national statistics later in my speech, but those mentioned by the hon. Gentleman absolutely speak to the need for reform. The constituent I mentioned is far from alone, and it is not all one way, with paying parents often finding themselves let down by the CMS too. Another constituent has spent mont…”

“I absolutely agree; that is exactly the sort of reform we need to see in the system, and I will come to those points later.”

“This evening I want to address a system that is failing thousands of families across our country: the Child Maintenance Service. In doing so, I hope that this House will send a clear message to every parent struggling with that system and every affected young person that their MPs are listening and that we are determin…”