Speeches by McEvoy.

“With your position, how much scope is there for some of these PuFins to be based in Darlington?”

“Mr Smewing, I would like to turn to PuFins, which we really enjoy. What scope is there for a better deal for devolution and the combined authorities with these PuFins?”

“I am interested in the devolution focus in the spending review. That is great news for areas like mine—Darlington and the north-east. Everybody outside London was cheering you on when we heard the devolution agenda. What are the key differences between the last Government’s devolution agenda and this Government’s appro…”

“In theory, that new model means that some Departments could start making more of an income on those loans and transactions, and that might mitigate some of the other concerns that the Departments might have in the spending review?”

“On the housing point, as you have brought it up, what is the benefit of using this for housing, apart from getting it over the line? Obviously, the housing demand is huge and we have the 1.5 million target. How did the decision get made on this for housing?”

“That all sounds great, but obviously in the past some deals have been done that have not worked out as value for money for the taxpayer. We have had a couple of conversations about the National Wealth Fund and its risk appetite—it needs to de-risk these projects, so there will be some losses to the taxpayer. What is th…”

“I have a follow-up question on the new guidelines. How will we value things that do not just have monetary value, and how transparent will the guidelines be? Do you have any ideas about what sort of things might be included? That is where value-based decisions and the difference to people’s lives will be made, so I won…”

“Moving on to public sector net financial liabilities, or PSNFL—there has been some debate in the Committee about how we pronounce that. In the spending review you state that the new approach will allow for a further £9.6 billion in additional financial transactions, such as loans and equity investments. Can you outline…”

“That would be great, because I know having social value in public procurement was an attempt to do this, but it was not weighted high enough, and it was too broad a definition.”

“We’ll have to wait and see, won’t we?”

“I have a very quick question on the Office for Value for Money reports, and the choice of the two reports. I love the Office for Value for Money and think it does a great job, but I am interested in why it was limited to only these two reports on this fixed-term contract when, as we are hearing from the Committee today…”

“My hon. Friend is making an excellent speech on this crucial issue. Does he agree that the system used to apply to join the armed forces is outdated and often cumbersome? I am very happy to say that a constituent of mine has successfully been able to submit an application, but this was after finding that she did not ge…”

“I thank my hon. Friend for being so generous with his time. He is making an excellent speech in Armed Forces Week. Does he agree that the important incentives for joining the forces include not just pride in the country but a secure career afterwards? Does he also agree that the work the Government are doing to ensure …”

“As it is fresh in my mind, I wanted to mention that I was recently at park run in Darlington where two young men won in record time—unbelievably, intimidatingly quickly—and it turned out that they were armed forces personnel who were stationed at Catterick. They were great adverts for the health benefits and discipline…”

“I thank the hon. Member for his interesting outline of the differences in what is going on in Northern Ireland. On his point about good things happening, does he agree that this Government have taken direct action in their first year, with the Armed Forces Commissioner, to tackle some of the institutional problems that…”

“What does my hon. Friend think are the causes of the drop in recruitment in our area? I frequently speak to veterans and the aftercare for people coming out of the forces has been really poor. Does he agree that the Labour Government have an opportunity to show not only that we are proud of people when they are serving…”

“This is mint for British industry. In my region, we have a proud history of making world-class products and exports. We make trains, and this Government have secured the future of Hitachi at Aycliffe. We make cars, and this Government have negotiated a tariff deal to protect the Nissan plant in Sunderland. We make huge…”

“I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Spen Valley (Kim Leadbeater) and celebrate her courage and kindness throughout this whole process. I agree with many in the House that the status quo is unacceptable—that is why most of us are here—and I urge colleagues who, like me, are in favour of the principle of choice at the …”

“I thank the Chief Secretary for his excellent work on this strategy, which will turbocharge confidence in the investment community while improving the lives, incomes and opportunities of my constituents in Darlington, which is exactly what I was elected to do. It will not surprise him to hear me ask politely for him to…”

“It’s a PuFin.”