Speeches by Law.

“Thank you. Maybe just briefly, Hanin, is the international community leading by example one of the key changes we need to make here to progress this from warm words and a vision and a commitment to a change in practice? That is what I was getting from Fawzia here.”

“Thank you. Hanin, do you have anything to add on the success of the agenda since its implementation?”

“Fawzia, do you want to comment on the success of the implementation?”

“To the whole panel, but maybe sticking with Stephanie to start with, it is 25 years since the adoption by the UN of the women, peace and security agenda. What is your assessment of its implementation and the success of that?”

“Community involvement, great, but perhaps community ownership, given the context, is a step too far. Do the likes of BII have the tools at their disposal to make sure that we enable those opportunities where they exist?”

“Minister, you have already very robustly answered what I was going to ask about, which is ongoing community involvement after the origination of these energy assets. Perhaps we can go one more than that and ask about community ownership in some of these projects, and about making sure that you get local buy-in and skin…”

“Very briefly, you mentioned the contestation of the very concept that we prioritise women and girls in development. Do you expect that to be strongly contested in the UN General Assembly?”

“One of the challenges, in my experience of WASH projects, is making them investable and identifying the correct pipeline of projects. I appreciate that you could perhaps write to us in detail about this, but it would be interesting to hear what steps the likes of BII and partner institutions are taking to address that …”

“This is maybe another quite functional question. How does FCDO define clean energy in its ODA programming?”

“Could I just press you on this point, Minister? Do you see research and innovation as value for money with respect to our goal of poverty alleviation? Or is it simply value for money for UK plc and our university sector?”

“You mentioned siloed working and the risk of that. Is there any way to ensure that there is not that siloed working between your energy access programmes and your broader climate adaptation programmes?”

“You alluded to the ongoing commitment to ODA in this area. Do you expect that FCDO will continue to support bilateral programmes in community energy?”

“You have mentioned jobs quite a bit, but is there anything more that can be done to reduce emissions while combating poverty?”

“Last week, our US allies pulled back from the Global Engagement Centre their international effort to tackle cyber-threats. What steps is the Minister taking to ensure that our democracy is protected from foreign interference, cyber-threats and misinformation?”

“I welcome the fact that the rolling reporting of dry-day spills has become mandatory under our Government, but it has unfortunately laid bare the track record of South West Water, which is among the worst offenders on dry-day spills. What steps is the Minister taking to ensure that companies such as South West Water fe…”

“I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend. On top of the many examples he has given of Cornwall’s constitutional status, and aside from our devolution arrangements with Westminster, the leader of Cornwall council was in 2023 given permission to attend ministerial meetings of the British-Irish Council, much like the other …”

“Few matters have occupied as much of my first year in this House as the question of Cornish devolution. For decades, if not centuries, the people of Cornwall have spoken of their desire to have a greater say in the decisions that shape their lives. That desire is founded in our distinct needs and our more than 1,000-ye…”

“I agree with the hon. Gentleman that it is incredibly important that Cornwall’s national minority status is respected by the Bill, and that the powers and investment required to meet Cornwall’s distinctive needs—if not enshrined in the text—are considered as part of the devolution process in the months ahead. Finally, …”

“Distributionally. We are taking a huge sum of money that was, and it will no longer be, so who are the losers in that distribution?”

“Who do you think loses out most from the UK’s ODA cuts?”