Speeches by Turner.

“I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for proving my point exactly. I will happily tell him that since becoming a Member of this House, I have not received a penny in political donations from trade unions. My constituency Labour party received a donation before the election, but that is an entirely different matter. I ha…”

“Given that time is short, Madam Deputy Speaker, I will endeavour to keep my remarks brief. I intend to speak to specific amendments today, but I feel compelled to start with a general comment in respect of financial interests. Throughout the stages of the Bill, and again today, it has been suggested by the Opposition t…”

“May I invite the Minister to respond to two things? First, I was asked earlier how many times the word “maternity” appears in the Bill. The word “pregnancy” appears 16 times, “parental” 27 times, and “bereavement” 34 times, but we cannot restrict the debate to individual phrases. Secondly, this is not some abacus exerc…”

“Yes, thank you. Mr McGookin, you mentioned that you worked at Austin and later MG Rover. I have a particular local interest: the site is in my constituency and the impacts and scars of that closure can still be seen to this day. Thinking about what happened to Austin and other transport manufacturers that have declined…”

“I am grateful to the hon. Member for giving way; he is being generous with his time. I wonder if he could clarify his party’s position on the Employment Rights Bill. The shadow Secretary of State, the hon. Member for Arundel and South Downs (Andrew Griffith), said that a Conservative Government would seek to repeal wha…”

“I was initially surprised to see this motion on the Order Paper, given that it is essentially a resubmission of a motion previous submitted by the Opposition and rejected by the House in February, but I should not have been. After all, they do say that culprits often return to the scene of the offence, and when it come…”

“I draw attention to my declaration in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests in respect of the GMB, a defence manufacturing trade union. Defence is an engine for growth, but skill shortages remain. What steps are being taken to increase the number of high-quality apprentices? If I may, Mr Speaker, can I also ask …”

“8. What steps he is taking to help ensure that the defence sector supports economic growth.”

“I have a question similar to one asked of the previous panel. Do you think we can make better use of overlapping skills within the transport manufacturing sector and, indeed, other sectors? If so, are there barriers within industry and Government that prevent this from being achieved?”

“Harking back, we used to have industry training boards in many sectors, including transport, which set common competencies. Without suggesting that we wish to recreate that model, do you think there is a greater role for national bodies to set common skills profiles and passports? I know they have been looked at in the…”

“I have some follow-up questions about younger people coming into the industry. We have received evidence that there is often a common misconception about the nature of engineering and manufacturing that is perhaps outdated and a hindrance to recruitment. Does that chime with your experiences? What can be done to shift …”

“If you have any written evidence on that, it would be helpful to have it.”

“Balaji, everyone has signed up to a principle of using these routes to attract people from a more diverse range of backgrounds into the sector. We have heard—to mark Ada Lovelace Day, for example—that engineering and computing are perhaps the courses where the gender divide is still stark. If you have anything to add o…”

“I have two quick follow-up questions, if I may. Mr Cater, I was glad you talked about secondaries because so far we have mostly talked about FE and HE. Local manufacturers often need to reach people before FE stage. An employer in my constituency—AGI Group—has a good pre-apprentice scheme. Do you think there is a case …”

“I draw attention to my chairship of the GMB parliamentary group. As someone who worked on this issue the last time around, I was astonished to hear the Opposition’s flight of fantasy when they accused others of delay. On their watch, the airports commission was artificially delayed until after a general election, with …”

“I am grateful to my hon. Friend for securing this important debate. I draw attention to my chairship of the GMB parliamentary group. I am glad that he mentioned GMB’s frustrations with Amazon. Another sector in which that union and other unions have been frustrated is social care, which has been fragmented for three de…”

“The people charged with the protection of public safety carry a heavy burden, and not all the information that they consider has yet been laid out in the public domain. However, I have deep concerns about the principle of block-banning entire groups of opposition fans—some of whom, let us not forget, may be UK resident…”

“I am truly grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Morecambe and Lunesdale (Lizzi Collinge) for securing this debate and for her powerful speech. One of this debate’s origins was a question raised by a pupil at St Thomas Aquinas school in Kings Norton. They wanted to know what more could be done to improve the share …”

“I draw the Committee’s attention to the fact that I am a former employee of the GMB union and chair of the GMB parliamentary group. The second question is also quite general. In your view, what are the biggest challenges facing taxi and private hire drivers in terms of their working conditions and wellbeing?”

“We have talked almost exclusively about the workforce in terms of drivers. Does anybody want to comment about non-drivers who are involved in the trade, such as dispatch operators and local authority officers, and any wellbeing or pain conditions issues that you wish to draw to our attention?”