Speeches by Duncan-Jordan.

“Like some others in this room, I was a brand-new MP in July 2024, and I took to written questions really quickly—I love a written question. You have probably seen the list that I have put in over my time. It is not as many as some colleagues, I appreciate, but I am pretty assiduous. If I do not put in a question every …”

“The tabling I find really easy. I think the system is good—as I said, I took to it easily and quickly. I found it very easy to use and a very good system. Sometimes the Table Office will come back and query some of my assertions or the questions that I am raising.”

“Frequent fliers.”

“No, not really. Just that—I have already mentioned this, but I will say it again—at the early stage, there was a sort of suggestion that it was not helpful to do this. I absolutely find this a really helpful process in getting data, in getting information and in getting ministerial replies that you can then pass on to …”

“No, not really. Just that—I have already mentioned this, but I will say it again—at the early stage, there was a sort of suggestion that it was not helpful to do this. I absolutely find this a really helpful process in getting data, in getting information and in getting ministerial replies that you can then pass on to …”

“Thank you. Hopefully that was positive and helpful.”

“You would have to ask them that. No one has ever come to me and said “Stop.” I take that as a positive thing. Maybe over time, people who started two years ago as new MPs put in loads and then it dropped off. That has not been the case with me. I have been absolutely consistent. No one has ever come to see me to say, “…”

“Understood by whom?”

“No, not really. Just that—I have already mentioned this, but I will say it again—at the early stage, there was a sort of suggestion that it was not helpful to do this. I absolutely find this a really helpful process in getting data, in getting information and in getting ministerial replies that you can then pass on to …”

“Thank you. Hopefully that was positive and helpful.”

“I am a little bit more discreet than that. I can tell the Chair later.”

“My name is Neil Duncan-Jordan, and I am the Labour MP for Poole in Dorset.”

“Like some others in this room, I was a brand-new MP in July 2024, and I took to written questions really quickly—I love a written question. You have probably seen the list that I have put in over my time. It is not as many as some colleagues, I appreciate, but I am pretty assiduous. If I do not put in a question every …”

“The tabling I find really easy. I think the system is good—as I said, I took to it easily and quickly. I found it very easy to use and a very good system. Sometimes the Table Office will come back and query some of my assertions or the questions that I am raising.”

“Hard to believe, indeed. “You can’t demand socialism overnight, Neil—you have to take a bit longer.” It would have been helpful, I think, to have had a little more guidance about how questions should be structured. I looked at what other people had done and copied it—I did not really have any training in doing that, bu…”

“I don’t know about a game; I have certainly had very few answers that come back and say, “I can’t tell you this because of secrecy.” That is not what’s happening to me. What’s happening to me is that the detail I am wanting or the questions I am asking are not actually being answered—not because of secrecy, but because…”

“Frequent fliers.”

“There was a suggestion when I first arrived—all of us who were new probably remember this, although it was two years ago—that it wasn’t a good idea to put in loads of questions because it clogs up the Government machine. That wasn’t the view I took, because I am using them for a different purpose. I am not using them t…”

“I don’t know about a game; I have certainly had very few answers that come back and say, “I can’t tell you this because of secrecy.” That is not what’s happening to me. What’s happening to me is that the detail I am wanting or the questions I am asking are not actually being answered—not because of secrecy, but because…”

“There was a suggestion when I first arrived—all of us who were new probably remember this, although it was two years ago—that it wasn’t a good idea to put in loads of questions because it clogs up the Government machine. That wasn’t the view I took, because I am using them for a different purpose. I am not using them t…”