Speeches by Sullivan.

“Minister, you said a few moments ago that Grangemouth is an investable opportunity. With that in mind, what assessment, if any, did the Government make of the viability of bringing Grangemouth into public ownership?”

“Will you keep an open mind about some of those existing licences?”

“I appreciate that you mentioned the manifesto commitment not to give out new exploration licences, but based on some of the consultation responses, is it possible that the Government could consider reversing that position?”

“What form will the outcome of the consultation take?”

“Minister, you have said that the Government will publish the outcome of the consultation into the North Sea’s energy future later this year. Are you able to give a better indication of when we can expect that?”

“Thanks, Susie. Finally on this point, I think it was you who mentioned earlier briefings from social landlords and making that information available to those who may leave the service within a few years to make sure that they are able to plan and have a good understanding of what lies ahead. Is that a two-way street? A…”

“Do you not see a potential unfairness with those employees being offered less, even though their jobs have been directly impacted by the closure of the refinery?”

“I thank the Secretary of State for her statement, and for the recent move to protect existing claimants. I appreciate that the adult disability payment is devolved to the Scottish Government. However, my constituents are really concerned about the potential for different qualifying criteria across the nations, which ma…”

“Almost 300 residents in West Lothian, which covers a large part of my constituency, and many others around the country will be affected by the shortage of galantamine capsules, which are used to treat Alzheimer’s. As a result of the shortage, local pharmacies are scrambling for provision, and some patients rely on twic…”

“I thank my right hon. Friend for his very welcome statement. In my constituency of Bathgate and Linlithgow, we have the Avon gorge, which is unsuitable for the volume of heavy goods vehicles that traverse it every day; a motorway junction at Burghmuir only for traffic going east, not west; and, of course, the long-awai…”

“Does it also give a bit more impetus to the drive to upskill, retrain and reskill our local workforce and build those pathways?”

“Thank you for that response, but Type 31 does not feature in the strategic defence review either. Do you have any comments on that? I understand they are currently being built in Fife.”

“You touched on the fact that you had to obtain workers from overseas to plug skills gaps. To what extent is current immigration policy impacting your ability to do that?”

“In recent evidence to the Business and Trade Committee, it was indicated that skills shortages are no longer a significant challenge for BAE and Babcock, which was a shift from the evidence to the predecessor Committee in 2022. However, you have said this morning that skills remain the biggest challenge. Can you give m…”

“I understand that the Type 32 frigate was announced by former Prime Minister Johnson in November 2020, and there was a further announcement in September 2023 by the then Minister for Defence Procurement suggesting that the Type 32 would enter into service in the 2030s, but that did not feature in the strategic defence …”

“That point about retirement and perhaps changing the roles to support people to work longer leads nicely into my next question. How prepared is your organisation to manage the anticipated wave of retirements over the next five to 10 years?”

“Does my hon. Friend agree that across all aspects of the Bill we cannot legislate only for those with good mental health, or for those who are loved, supported and protected? We must have at heart the best interests of the most vulnerable and those without a voice or without loved ones, to ensure that they are protecte…”

“Largely, you are looking at the operational costs in the context of the cost restructure and the quality of service improving. On that latter point, are you taking into account the consumer experience? I know concerns have been expressed by the communications consumer panel that the pilots have been mostly looking at t…”

“You both touched on ways that you have reached out to get greater uptake in consultation responses from various bodies. We know that in rural communities community organisations and groups such as community development trusts and community councils can often play a very active role in the daily life of local residents.…”

“Do you feel that there is a gap that still exists there with feedback from more rural communities? You mentioned local authorities, but as we saw on our recent trip to Stornoway, some people can live two or three hours’ travel from the centre of those local authorities, so it is important to get to communities at a ver…”