Speeches by Pitcher.

“So very much around the tone of voice, as much as anything.”

“This question is probably for you, Rebecca, but do come in as well, Steve. In the first part of the 2024-25 Session, we saw an improvement in DEFRA’s performance, but it started to fall off during the second half of that period, despite named day WPQs becoming fewer. What happened there and is there any learning from t…”

“T9. Doncaster East’s neighbourhood policing team recently seized multiple stolen offroad bikes using tactics including drones and high-visibility patrols. Its swift action has made a real difference in tackling antisocial behaviour in places such as Hatfield and Dunscroft. I commend the team on its work and the public …”

“I have had a visit today from students at St Wilfrid’s school in Branton—the 17th, of the 43 schools in my constituency, that I have seen or visited—and they spoke about the fabric of the school, and of the importance of the buildings to ensuring not just that students have the right learning environment, but that teac…”

“I want to express my absolute support for this clause. I chair the all-party parliamentary water group and the APPG for sustainable flood and drought management, and prior to my time in this place, I worked in the world of design and engineering around the climate, so this is an important issue for me. I support sustai…”

“I can imagine.”

“Karin and Tom, I would like to ask about governance. When you come together as a departmental management board, is WPQ performance a standard agenda item that you discuss?”

“Now you have the visibility, and you are having those discussions on a more regular basis at management board. In terms of actions to take away, have you set yourself some internal targets around getting back to 85%? You described to Lee Dillon the difficulty of achieving 85% on named days questions, but is there a pla…”

“I do not want to miss the opportunity to say how good it is that we are praising those people who are achieving outcomes and getting 100%. The positives are massively important, to show other people that role-model leadership, so that praise is fantastic to hear.”

“I am intervening on a different but still very much related point. What is also really important for me is that we remain attractive as a country to foreign investors and others who are looking to invest here, including in the infrastructure that enables our country to grow and creates jobs. It is important that invest…”

“Q Are you saying that it will make it worse? Richard Benwell: Yes, but it could make it better if you do it well. At the moment, it is worse because it allows developers to short-circuit the mitigation hierarchy and go straight to damage. It is worse because the level of certainty of environmental benefits is lower tha…”

“Q I am just trying to understand, Richard. I have watched programmes, I have worked in the world of climate and I spoke at COP26, so I have a bit of background. You have talked to us about the number of species that are dying out now and, globally, I know they are dying out 100 times faster than normal evolutionary rat…”

“No—where within the planning process? Jack Airey: The Bill puts much greater emphasis on local plan making. In my view, that is a really good thing. We need plans that really stand up to scrutiny, and we need promised homes to be actually delivered. The Planning Inspectorate has a big role there, and I think that is wh…”

“Q From your experience and the best practice out there, where in the system is the best place to engage with local voices and have those voices heard? Jack Airey: Do you mean geographically?”

“Q It sounds as though you are saying that you are ready to work across the private, public and voluntary sectors to deliver that. Marian Spain: We are already having those conversations as part of the preparatory work.”

“Q Thank you, Marian, for coming along today; that is massively appreciated. I have heard a few things today about genuine community benefits being essential—they must be delivered—and partnerships and relationships being hugely important in order to be able to facilitate those. Everybody we have talked to, including yo…”

“That is my follow-on question: do you believe that the Chair of the Backbench Business Committee should be elected for the duration of the Parliament, based on your experience?”

“Do you think that a longer period between the closing of the nominations and the election taking place would affect the election process or the candidates in any way?”

“Thank you.”

“No, I am not talking about illness; I am talking about people with a long-term disability. We have talked about examples of people maybe having an illness that is degenerative, and it gets to a stage where they can still perform their duties, but they cannot come in and have to do that away from Parliament.”