Speeches by Kirkham.

“As a vice-chair of the f40 group and as an MP in Cornwall, which has the 13th lowest SEND funding, I understand exactly what the hon. Member is talking about. Does she agree, however, that we now have a welcome focus on SEND, that we have increased funding, and that the schools White Paper and the SEND White Paper, whi…”

“The hon. Gentleman must also be pleased to see the further education White Paper, which will put some of those things into action.”

“The hon. Gentleman must be really pleased, then, about the Prime Minister’s new target of two thirds of young people being in either higher education or apprenticeships and training.”

“As an ex-employment lawyer—in fact, I was an equity partner in a law firm that employed 50 people, so I do have some experience—I remember that when the minimum wage came in in 1998, the figure for over-21s was the same, but the Conservative party changed that, so that those under 25 were paid less, although people’s r…”

“rose—”

“As a Back-Bench Member of Parliament, I understand that it is rare to see a ten-minute rule Bill progress all the way into law. That is why I was so pleased when I learned that the Armed Forces Bill has incorporated the proposal from my Bill to bring Royal Fleet Auxiliary personnel within the remit of the new Armed For…”

“I thank the right hon. Gentleman. I remember the ship sailing from Falmouth and coming back. Clause 30 of the Armed Forces Bill now delivers what I argued for and formally brings RFA personnel within the scope of the Armed Forces Commissioner. The reform does not change the RFA’s legal status or distinct identity, whic…”

“I thank the Minister for his answer. Storm Goretti was a wake-up call for Cornwall and nationally. It tested the resilience of rural and coastal Britain to these extreme weather events. In Cornwall alone, we lost over 1,000 trees and thousands of people were left without power and water. It exposed vulnerabilities, par…”

“1. What steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help improve resilience to emergencies in rural and coastal areas.”

“Q Thank you very much, Sir Alec. I have a couple of small questions. Mr Hynes, you talked about mayoral strategic authorities. In the south-west, of course, we do not really have any. In that situation, what is the duty to deal with local authorities in a similar way and take account of their transport plans? Is it the…”

“Q I will be quick. You may know, Mr Bowker, that I am the MP for Falmouth. I am trying to restore a small disused freight line at the end of the passenger line, so I am pleased to hear about the new duty to encourage freight. How do you think GBR could and should encourage freight? How will it actually do that? Richard…”

“Q Do you consider that you will have enough power under the Bill to be able to make your way in at that stage? John Larkinson: Yes.”

“Q I am one of the MPs for Cornwall, so that is really good to hear. Mr Larkinson, much of the ORR’s role is monitoring and enforcement after the fact—looking back and looking at appeals. Do you have sufficient powers to look at things before they happen, so at decisions as they are being made, if you can see trouble do…”

“Sorry I was late; I have been on a Bill Committee, so if I ask you something that you have already been asked—I will try not to—please tell me. My question was going to be quite similar to what Jenny has just asked, about the voluntary welfare proposals in the strategy and whether you thought farmers would take those u…”

“Regardless of the type of authority? Alex Hynes: Correct. Essentially, GBR will have a legal duty to take into account certain things, such as the interests of passengers, including disabled passengers, so GBR will be required by law to take into account what is in the best interests of passengers as it is running its …”

“Oh, there is a fraught question. I think anyone in the rest of the country who you ask will be having issues about devolution. Tracy Brabin: Fair enough. But it is about that oversight of the buses feeding the train timetable.”

“The other thing I wanted to ask about, which you might already have covered, is the manifesto target for 50% of publicly procured food to be British. Do you think that could be part of the solution?”

“Q Mr Westlake, on rail freight, we talked earlier about clause 63. I am the MP for Falmouth, so I want to restore rail freight there; there is a passenger rail line there as well. Obviously, there is the duty to grow rail freight but of course there will be immense pressure on capacity in some of the railways. Do you t…”

“Q I was going to move on to devolution. It is fantastic that you are investing in your local infrastructure and you are able to do that. I am from Cornwall, where we have basically one line in and one line out to serve 640,000 people; we do not really have that infrastructure. Can you see any benefit, apart from the ra…”

“Q You have sort of answered one of my questions: I was going to ask about combined and integrated local transport offers and ticketing, and how that would work. I think you answered that you could consult. Will you say something about safeguards in terms of how that ticketing would work and how you would share the tick…”