Speeches by Dickson.

“17. What recent progress he has made on the expansion of youth hubs.”

“I thank the Minister for the statement, and the Government’s clear objective to ensure that hotels are eliminated from our asylum accommodation system and that military bases become a short-term stopgap. Can he reassure us all that the Government will continue to focus very closely on processing people more quickly and…”

“That is very helpful. Did anyone else want to come in on what the positive outcomes might be?”

“Some people have attributed the increase in the buy now, pay later sector to the strong regulation, or stopping altogether, of other forms of short-term credit, such as payday loans and other areas. That is why they say there has been the focus switch to buy now, pay later. Do you see a possible effect—an unintended co…”

“Buy now, pay later, which we were talking about earlier, is a sector that has grown hugely from under £1 billion in 2017 to £13 billion in 2024. Regulation is long overdue. It has already been said that it took too long for the FCA to take it over, which it is doing on 15 July. Starting with Ms Pardoe, could I ask how …”

“Is there a risk under that model that cost escalation beyond what is currently expected—for any number of reasons that can happen in a big construction project—could result in higher tolls than we expect at the moment, both for the Dartford Crossing and the Lower Thames Crossing? Because of the model the strain gets ta…”

“Could I quickly come in on the skills issue? The construction industry is the one that affects us the most in this conversation. Additional investment is going into construction skills, but in total terms it is still 23% below the peak in the 2000s: we are not investing as much in apprenticeships and skills in those se…”

“The basic premise is for toll pooling between the Dartford Crossing and the Lower Thames Crossing.”

“I would like to quickly go back to the Lower Thames Crossing project because my constituents in Dartford have a particular interest in that: it can help solve a lot of problems for them. What are the pros of using the regulated asset-based model, compared to a conventional public borrowing model? Could you set those ou…”

“T6. In Kent, the county council has adopted a community of schools model for the allocation of high-needs funding, but schools in Dartford are concerned that that has led to a situation in which access to funding is unfair, inconsistent and unpredictable. It has left them unable to plan for the future, because they can…”

“1. What steps her Department is taking to improve the nutritional standards of school food.”

“I join the Secretary of State in sending condolences to the family of Shaun Burton, who died in the accident, in wishing those who are injured a speedy and full recovery, and in thanking the emergency services for their prompt action on Friday. It is important that we have heard from the Secretary of State that a full …”

“Mr Speaker, I know that looking at me you would never guess that my children are now well past school age, but when they were at school—long past Jamie Oliver’s campaign against turkey twizzlers—the school food served was still not as healthy as it should have been, so I am delighted by the Minister’s assurance that th…”

“My hon. Friend is making an excellent speech on an important issue. As he will know, the Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026 recently came on to the statute book, which I hugely support as a member of the all-party parliamentary group on smoking and health. There is a licensing scheme under that Act, enabling local authorities …”

“The OBR was 2%; the Bank of England was 1%; the IMF was under 2%.”

“One suggestion from people who have submitted evidence to us is that what the OBR could do is produce more scenarios based upon what may happen over that forward period for spending and borrowing. If economic growth is at a certain level or expenditure plans come in at a certain level, here is what might have to happen…”

“On this issue of optimism bias, it does appear that, certainly recently, compared with the other forecasters that are out there for economic growth in the UK economy, the OBR has tended to be more optimistic than the Bank of England, the IMF and the OECD. Do you still see some optimism bias in the way in which the OBR …”

“Some people have suggested that this Government are falling into the trap that the last Government did of putting in their forecasts unrealistic assumptions about what departmental expenditure is likely to be and what is politically possible in terms of the likely levels of departmental expenditure. Would you say that …”

“For far too long, Dartford residents have put up with very poor performance and high water bills. It is extremely likely that Thames Water leaks contributed to the collapse of the Galley Hill road in 2023, as a result of which Swanscombe residents have been pretty much trapped in their town over the past three years. A…”

“That appears to be carrying on. If you look at the forecasts for growth in 2025 and 2026, again, the OBR is an outlier in being more optimistic about UK growth than these other forecasters. Despite the badmouthing of OBR forecasts by some who may wish to say that it is acting as a constraint, it appears that that optim…”