Speeches by Kirkham.

“Water resilience is the next thing—so drought, flooding, and disrupted water supplies, of which we have had quite a lot lately. What are the Government doing to tackle those three things, which are obviously very different?”

“The current ELMs system is quite pick and mix—farmers can choose what they apply for. Are you thinking of moving towards a system that may have more of a balance, so that when we have that land management system, we know what we are aiming at and we can assist farmers with knowing where they should put that investment?”

“We are talking in the next session about the advisory services that help farmers to do that, because that is really important.”

“I do not suppose we know much of a breakdown of who is applying for those payments. Is it the small farmers or the large farmers? What will be the impact on family farms of the changes with basic payments?”

“Have you had expressions of interest from investors to doing that?”

“Thank you, Chair, and good afternoon, Secretary of State. I have just a couple of questions, going back to ownership, initially. The Treasury claims data is based on some numbers that were quite interesting: 27% of those claims assets were under £250,000 and 23% were under £0.5 million, which seems quite low. What anal…”

“I am pleased about the support for first and second-tier councils and the commitment to fair funding, which will make a real difference in, for instance, Cornwall. However, in unitary authorities such as ours, where a great many services have been shared, larger town councils have had to step up and take the strain, bu…”

“I will not rehearse the numbers that Members have already given for the south-west, except to say that fewer than half the children in Cornwall have been seen by an NHS dentist in the past 12 months. That is down 13 percentage points from five years earlier. It is just getting worse and worse: people simply cannot get …”

“We had a very successful all-party group meeting last week on floating offshore wind in the Celtic sea. I know the Minister is supportive and ask him to consider mechanisms such as ringfencing contracts for difference and investment in ports to kickstart the investment in the Celtic sea.”

“Will the hon. Gentleman give way?”

“In my constituency of Truro and Falmouth, housing is a major issue, as it is in many rural communities. Does my hon. Friend agree that we must take action on housing? We should, in particular, consider the impact of second homes in our rural communities.”

“Finally, after 14 years of patching up, we have a Budget that puts down the first bricks as we start to rebuild our country. With this Budget we will be able to start to put the NHS back on its feet with a £25 billion boost, provide a shot in the arm for our schools with extra funding including £1 billion for SEND, and…”

“In lieu of the dental contract being renegotiated, could something not be done by the local integrated care boards that commission dentistry to make special provision for local contracts when dentists are considering giving up contracts in the short term? That could be done now, in lieu of that renegotiation.”

“I welcome the commitment in the Budget to our courts after 14 years of neglect. Truro Crown court is facing a temporary cut to Crown court sitting days until the end of the year. I have previously asked about delayed rape and sexual offences cases at Truro Crown court. Can measures be considered to assist?”

“T8. My constituency has some brilliant further education colleges and apprenticeship schemes, but some students struggle, retaking GCSE and functional skills maths and English over and over again. Will the Minister consider how the process could be done better, so that those students do not end up feeling like a failur…”

“Before the election, farmers in my constituency were very concerned about the environmental land management system, which had not worked for a long time but which they felt was just beginning to work. Will the Minister please reassure them that the Government will be proceeding with it?”

“I have Falmouth University in my constituency, which is a world-leading arts university. Unlike the Conservatives, this Government have committed to restore the arts as a large part of the economy in this country. Could the Secretary of State confirm that arts degrees will be an important part of the economy in future,…”

“The Bill’s job is to set up a new and unique public energy company, to work within the clear objects set out in clause 3(2)—not simply as an investment bank, but as part of a developing strategy for renewables across the UK. Cornwall, where I am from, is set to benefit hugely from the investment from GB Energy into unb…”

“The adversarial system has caused such damage and upset. Can the Minister confirm that she will look towards a system in which expectations are clear and co-produced, and will she also look at the funding formula more generally, because some places have far less high needs and direct funding for students than others ev…”

“Can the Minister confirm that the procurement reforms will consider social value and local impact in contracts of Government and partners, such as the Crown Estate and Great British Energy, in important areas where there are World Trade Organisation non-competition exemptions, for example floating offshore wind contrac…”