Speeches by Sewards.

“I welcome the Government’s commitment to 100 years of friendship with the people of Ukraine. In pillar 4, which talks about economy and trade, there is a commitment to “broaden mutual market access” and raise “awareness and utilisation of the UK-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement”. How long will it take for that work come in…”

“The Conservatives made promises about 40 new hospitals that they knew they could not build and deliver, and now it turns out that they knew they could not pay for them by 2030. It is little wonder that trust in politics is so low at the moment. It is also little wonder, given the unedifying display from Conservative Fr…”

“I am grateful for this opportunity to speak in favour of this Bill, having been involved in its scrutiny at most of its stages. I join my hon. Friend the Member for Wolverhampton North East (Mrs Brackenridge) in thanking all the witnesses who came forward to give evidence to the Bill Committee. I thank them for the evi…”

“Thanks for your answers so far. I welcome the creation of registers of children not in school. What projections, if any, has your Department made on the costs that local authorities might incur as a result of the creation of these registers?”

“That is definitely the case. You talked there about having to take a step back and look at the entire system, not trying to get ahead of ourselves. Has your Department looked at any alternative systems? Have you looked at other countries to see what works there? Is there anything that you are considering implementing f…”

“As somebody who was teaching on this day a year ago, I know just how creative teachers can get when it comes to approaches towards children with SEND and how to make them feel included, especially in mainstream settings. Some have suggested that the best way to improve inclusivity in mainstream settings is to legislate…”

“I will move on to the next part of my speech, but I am happy to take any further interventions that might be relevant to that point. I am going to talk about the amendments now. I think new clauses 1 to 3 are unnecessary. The Government will monitor the effects of the new multipliers and, as we know, they will show wha…”

“I am grateful to the hon. Member for that contribution. Of course I have read the House of Commons Library research into this. I also took time to listen to all the witnesses who came forward in the Bill Committee, and they made it clear that the changes in this Bill will benefit small businesses in the long term. I am…”

“I return to the point I made earlier. We know that we have to support these smaller businesses—these bricks-an-mortar businesses, as the right hon. Gentleman calls them—and the only way we are going to pay for this is by finding the money from elsewhere. We have chosen to cut business rates for smaller businesses, and …”

“I welcome the Secretary of State’s statement. It is good to see that our universities will no longer be a battleground in which political parties seek to make headlines—unsuccessfully, I might add. Does she agree that now that she has taken decisive action on this issue, it is time to talk about the financial situation…”

“In addition to that, I know that your Department and you have no problem with parents who choose to home school their children. That is not what this is about. It is about keeping children safe. I have met with home schoolers in my constituency and they have concerns about the security of the data. What reassurances ca…”

“Will there be any guidance about how to standardise this process across all local authorities so that you do not end up with hundreds of local authorities taking different approaches to data collection?”

“Thank you, Chair. I appreciate that. When I was a teacher, when I reached the lofty heights of head of maths at my comprehensive school, I often found myself struggling with recruitment. We would put adverts out for jobs and we would be very fortunate if we received one applicant per position in some cases. I promise t…”

“I believe it is right to tax businesses. Private schools are businesses, and we are choosing to levy the tax on businesses. We are not choosing to levy the tax on state education, because as I was just setting out, it is imperative on us to make sure there is an excellent and well-funded place in state-funded education…”

“I heard the right hon. Gentleman put that question to the Minister in last Monday’s Westminster Hall debate but, just to go back to his original point—I will come to the 6,500 new teachers—we are deliberately taking these decisions in order to increase the amount of money that state schools have to teach the 94% of stu…”

“Yes, it would be helpful if the Minister could provide clarity. As someone who uses soft play—[Laughter.] Not personally, enjoyable though it is. I am sure that my sons Oscar and Arthur, who is six months old and not quite ready to take advantage of soft play, will also be keen to know, so perhaps the Minister could of…”

“I welcome the Secretary of State’s leadership on AI—it is good to have someone taking this seriously. As somebody who was teaching a year ago, I am always interested in the application of AI in the classroom, especially when it comes to reducing teacher workload so they can spend more face-to-face time with their stude…”

“I welcome the Government’s announcement that Yorkshire and the Humber is getting £123 million to repair potholes. Since the announcement, many of my constituents in Leeds South West and Morley have been in touch about key roads in the constituency—Cross Peel Street, the Tingley roundabout and Asquith Avenue. I have men…”

“With time so short, I will focus on the three areas that my constituents raise with me most frequently. We have heard about them today. First is the introduction of free breakfast clubs, which is the latest in a long line of manifesto commitments that we have kept over the past six months, despite objections and commen…”

“Q7. Last year, I was honoured to accept an invitation from the European Jewish Association to go to Krakow and discuss the role of Holocaust education in tackling the rising tide of antisemitism across Europe. We also visited Auschwitz and Auschwitz-Birkenau, where we laid wreaths and paid tribute to the many victims o…”