Speeches by Glover.

“Yes. My colleague, Rebecca, has a question about contracts and money.”

“Given those contracts that you inherited and their terms.”

“On the subject of improving what there already is, the operators that are being taken in-house first are quite an interesting mix. Obviously, South Western Railway has many challenges, but c2c and Greater Anglia are generally high performing. You have previously said that you “will not hesitate to take decisive action”…”

“On the subject of walking and cycling to and from school, we had a Westminster Hall debate on that yesterday, which was very well attended. Many colleagues across the House would very much agree with your sentiments there. Moving on to rail, Chair, if that is all right. South Western Railway, c2c and Greater Anglia wil…”

“Secretary of State, we had an excellent session at this Select Committee in January with Chris Boardman, the Commissioner for Active Travel England. However, certainly at that time, he expressed concern that the funding being offered would not be sufficient to achieve the Government’s active travel goals. I appreciate …”

“The example my hon. Friend gives from her constituency shows what dedicated infrastructure can achieve in getting more people walking and cycling. What needs to change, and how? First, as my hon. Friend just said, infrastructure and street design are incredibly important. We know from countries with high rates of walki…”

“The hon. Lady is absolutely right. This is not one size fits all, and we need to recognise the different characters and characteristics of our areas. However, in the Netherlands there would always be this thing called a cycle path next to rural roads, so there is that segregation and people have confidence. That is the…”

“I beg to move, That this House has considered road safety and supporting active travel to school. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mrs Hobhouse. I am pleased to introduce this topic, not least in my role as Lib Dem vice-chair of the all-party parliamentary group for cycling and walking. Walking and cycli…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Stuart. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for South Devon (Caroline Voaden) for her excellent and comprehensive speech, as well as for securing the debate. My constituency of Didcot and Wantage in Oxfordshire has seen enormous population growth. New estates affected…”

“Yes, tackling pavement parking is essential, because three quarters of children support stopping cars parking on the pavement, as do 58% of parents and guardians. Councils in Wales and in most of England have limited pavement parking powers, relying on cumbersome street-by-street traffic regulation orders. In contrast,…”

“My hon. Friend gives an excellent example of the benefits of Bikeability. Since 2007, Bikeability cycle training has been delivered to over 5 million children in England. In my Oxfordshire constituency of Didcot and Wantage, 61% of year 6 pupils were booked on a Bikeability level 2 course in 2023-24; we aim for three q…”

“The hon. Member gives a really strong example of how, when we plan new developments and new areas, there is no excuse for not getting the infrastructure right from the off. Milton, a village where I recently lived, is split in two by the A34 and the enormous Milton interchange roundabout. The St Blaise school on the so…”

“That is a very good example of how spending money well can lead to a big difference. I have already mentioned the Netherlands, but my hon. Friends on the Lib Dem Benches would be disappointed were I not to bore them to tears by wanging on about the Netherlands at greater length. If I might plug an opportunity for hon. …”

“I have one very quick question. You mentioned that you have tweaked 70 routes. Roughly, how many routes do you have in total?”

“Wherever I have lived that has definitely not been the case, and I have lived in a wide range of places. Maybe I have lived in unusual places.”

“I had a brief question based on what you were saying about SMEs potentially being squeezed out. Please do correct my ignorance, but the impression one gets of the bus sector is that it is largely dominated by Stagecoach, FirstGroup, Go-Ahead, et cetera, that generally run monopolies in the areas concerned. Again, pleas…”

“Yes, potentially.”

“It is good to hear your plans for night buses. From my time living in Greater Manchester and the West Midlands, it was remarkable how sparse the night offer was for such a large and densely populated urban area. You have hinted at this with your answer about orbital routes—this applies to Greater Manchester as well—but…”

“That is quite a high percentage.”

“Mr Rhodes, Manchester is the only area in England outside of London to have implemented franchising. How is it working in practice? I appreciate you touched on a bit of that in your introductory remarks, but it would be good to hear a bit more.”