Speeches by Taylor.

“indicated dissent.”

“On a slightly more constructive point, does the Minister agree that calls for the process to allow asylum seekers to work after they have been in the country for three months would allow them to integrate more closely with their communities and to earn money to support themselves? A measure to change the arrangement fr…”

“My hon. Friend has given three fantastic reasons that my hon. Friend has given for lifting the ban, but such a move is also popular with the public: 80% of people polled backed the right for asylum seekers to work. Moreover, 45% of asylum seekers would be classified as critical workers. Does my hon. Friend agree that t…”

“We would like to press the new clause to a vote, please. Question put, That the clause be read a Second time.”

“I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time. As things stand, there is no specific criminal offence of domestic abuse in England and Wales. Instead, such cases are prosecuted under a patchwork of broader offences: common assault, actual bodily harm and coercive control. While those charges may reflect elements…”

“In response to the specific comments from the Opposition spokesperson, the hon. Member for Stockton West, this measure relates entirely to existing footage and would allow access to existing footage. I thank the Minister for addressing the points made. At this point, are happy to withdraw the new clause. I beg to ask l…”

“I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time. I rise to speak in support of new clause 9, which was tabled by my hon. Friend the Member for St Albans (Daisy Cooper). We seek a simple but critical improvement to public safety: the interoperability of CCTV systems across our railway network. Currently, rail opera…”

“I rise to speak in support of new clause 13, as well as Conservative new clauses 27, 96 and 98. We had a long discussion on this issue, but it is worth repeating as often as possible that tool theft is a devastating crime that cost tradespeople more than £94 million last year. Research from NFU Mutual shows that one in…”

“Based on the comments and reassurances, I will be happy to withdraw the new clause. I would be interested in being involved in any discussions and updates as they come forward. I beg to ask leave to withdraw the motion. Clause, by leave, withdrawn. New Clause 22 Duty to follow strategic priorities of police and crime p…”

“I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time. There can be no denying that we are entering a new world with the advent of new technologies that fundamentally reshape the relationship between citizens and the state. There is probably no more vivid an example of that than live facial recognition technology, which…”

“This year, the Met police will cut more than 1,700 officers, PCSOs and staff. I invite the Minister to intervene and correct me on that if necessary, as it would seem to suggest that there was an error in the figure given earlier. A correction cometh not. That figure will include the loss of the parks police team and o…”

“Again, I invite the Minister to respond to the specific point about the 1,700 fewer officers in London. Whatever the circumstances, people today are concerned about crime, including tool theft and sexual offences. We can argue back and forth about the note from the right hon. Member for Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihu…”

“The Minister has set me up nicely with that point, and I will come back to it later. The Met police are going to reduce their staff—including officers and police community support officers—by 1,700 next year. The Government are attempting to present a case that the legislation is sufficient at present, and that they ar…”

“The premise of the Minister’s point is effectively that sufficient legislation is already in place to combat these crimes. The response to an freedom of information request that I submitted to the Met police showed that in London, in the last five years, nine in 10 tool thefts went unsolved. The fact that that failure …”

“Is that because many are set up for short-term tasks that they then perform and become redundant? Or is it because they are set up and then decide they are not functioning in the way they are intended to and they want to do it slightly differently? Or a combination of both?”

“We hear quite often—it reflects the opening question—about the red top headline, which is that we have too many public bodies, and that is reflected in the opinions of Government and most political parties as well. We then see Governments forming new ones as they absorb old ones, and a constant flux and flow. Why is it…”

“Broadly, the language and the debate quite often degrade into abolishing “these jobsworths who are doing nothing and adding nothing to our process. We need to smash all the quangos.” That actually quite directly detracts from the understanding of how they fit together and the roles that they perform.”

“In the answer to the previous question, it sounded like a lot of it is about comms, explanation, demystifying what the roles and responsibilities are, and where the accountability sits for the decisions that are made. How do you think the Government, the media and bodies such as the IfG can help with better communicati…”

“The follow-up point I have here actually fits quite nicely. Is it too easy to establish new arm’s-length bodies badly at the moment, and how do we stop that process from continuing to churn out poorly defined groups?”

“Is there a central body? Is there a set of terms of reference templates that are used to guide the establishment of arm’s-length bodies that the individual Departments refer back to? Is there a commissioner of standards for this? What I am trying to get to is how are we learning these lessons? How are they implemented …”