Speeches by Newbury.

“The awarding of that three-year contract enables you to develop the schemes further. It is not just about continuity of payments; it is also about continued improvements, which it sounds like you are making to hardware as well. That is very positive. On the timescales here, from what the report stated the need for a ne…”

“That is very promising. I understand that you would not want to specifically group things together and force farmers down a certain route if some actions are deliverable, but others are not, and they feel like they have to do the full package. Through the advice, is there encouragement to go to the next stage? You say …”

“Lastly, before the election, this Committee reported on soil health. One of the things that was mentioned in that report was the pick and mix approach between SFI and countryside stewardship could limit some of those environmental gains. The recommendation was that environmental land management schemes incentivise comb…”

“Okay, great. Some stakeholders have expressed concern that in allowing farmers to have a free choice from a really big range of actions, some of the environmental objectives might not be realised. You have mentioned Natural England. We have talked in the past about it potentially—or its lack of advice—being a bottlenec…”

“Following the discussion we have been having about the environmental objectives, I want to touch on some of those higher impact actions and how they could be optimised. In the agricultural transition plan that was published around a year ago, DEFRA acknowledges that the environmental land management schemes needed to b…”

“I thank the Secretary of State for his response. My constituency of Cannock Chase has wide health inequalities, and particularly high levels of respiratory illness and bladder and brain cancer. In some parts of the country, NHS trusts are rapidly speeding up diagnostic waiting times by using highly accurate AI models, …”

“3. What progress his Department has made on supporting technological innovation to accelerate NHS diagnostic processes.”

“Q14. Last year, this Labour Government delivered justice for members of the mineworkers’ pension scheme, and 45,000 members of the similar British coal staff superannuation scheme are keen to see their £2.3 billion investment reserve returned to them, which could boost coalfield communities such as mine in Cannock Chas…”

“Merry Christmas, Mr Speaker. This time of year brings festive cheer, but it also brings the Boxing day hunts. Alongside many of my constituents, I am keen to see an end to the smoke- screen that is trail hunting. Following the last Labour Government’s historic foxhunting ban, will the Minister confirm this Labour Gover…”

“The recently proposed closure of a council-owned museum and theatre in Cannock Chase has shone a bright light on how much culture and heritage venues such as those mean to communities like mine and on the challenges facing the arts and museums more broadly. Would the Leader of the House join me in commending the campai…”

“There is this big public debate around the figures, and what we as a Committee are trying to drill down into, is how many farms are going to be affected, rather than estates. Why is there that disagreement on the figures, and how can you help us get to that point where we are really talking about businesses being affec…”

“You mentioned holdings, right? Is that based on holding numbers? Because we know that often one farm can have a number of holding numbers.”

“I would just like to start by echoing Andrew’s thanks for coming and being really frank with us. A number of us are on the NFU’s parliamentary scheme, and we are really looking forward to exploring all these issues around the future of farming outside London. For the benefit of our inquiry, could I ask you both, Tom an…”

“I just have one follow-up question on that. One of the things that has been talked about a lot is that the biggest financial liability for this would fall on the largest estates, and that has been cited as a reason why it is fair in that sense. Do you have a sense of how many of those large estates are actually made up…”

“Q9. Fourteen years of the Conservative party gutting local government has left councils having to make impossible choices. My constituents were recently shocked when Cannock Chase district council proposed the closure of the Museum of Cannock Chase and the Prince of Wales theatre. Will the Prime Minister ask the Cultur…”

“I would just like to start by echoing Andrew’s thanks for coming and being really frank with us. A number of us are on the NFU’s parliamentary scheme, and we are really looking forward to exploring all these issues around the future of farming outside London. For the benefit of our inquiry, could I ask you both, Tom an…”

“I just have one follow-up question on that. One of the things that has been talked about a lot is that the biggest financial liability for this would fall on the largest estates, and that has been cited as a reason why it is fair in that sense. Do you have a sense of how many of those large estates are actually made up…”

“You mentioned holdings, right? Is that based on holding numbers? Because we know that often one farm can have a number of holding numbers.”

“There is this big public debate around the figures, and what we as a Committee are trying to drill down into, is how many farms are going to be affected, rather than estates. Why is there that disagreement on the figures, and how can you help us get to that point where we are really talking about businesses being affec…”

“Last week, my local council announced the proposed closure of the much-loved Prince of Wales theatre in Cannock. Despite the council’s financial pressures, local people do not want that theatre to become collateral damage. Will the Minister meet me to see what could be done to explore community ownership and give our t…”