Speeches by Bedford.

“They say that a week is a long time in politics, yet during this short debate we have seen the Health Secretary leave the Government. Amid the open revolt and factional infighting, one thing remains abundantly clear: whoever will be steering the ship, this Labour Government lack both the courage and the political capit…”

“With the number of young people not in education, employment or training hovering at the 1 million mark, apprenticeships now more than ever are key to supporting opportunity and aspiration for so many of our young people. Conservative Members fundamentally believe that the best path out of poverty is being in work and …”

“8. What assessment he has made of the effectiveness of performance management plans in the civil service.”

“T4. Last week, a former Attorney General wrote that there was no legal reason for the Government not to publish a list of the Humble Address documents being withheld by the Metropolitan police. Will the Government publish that list?”

“Our constituents must interact with many Government agencies each week to renew their passport or driving licence or to submit their tax returns. Despite record numbers of bureaucrats, productivity remains low, which results in many errors and vast delays for our constituents. The answers to my written parliamentary qu…”

“I thank the Minister for such a comprehensive run-through of those regulations and the changes proposed. I can confirm that the Opposition will not oppose the changes today; we believe, fundamentally, that overbearing and unnecessary red tape should be removed wherever possible. It is worth celebrating the fact that a …”

“I recently met several early years providers, who told me that the 30 hours funded childcare scheme is placing real strain on their businesses because the policy does not take into account the setting up time, the packing away time, and the time spent training and dealing with compliance issues with their staff. Combin…”

“14. What assessment she has made of the potential impact of 30 hours of free childcare on early years providers.”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Jardine. As with many areas of Government policy, there is a degree of consensus across the House; the draft order is no different, and the official Opposition will not oppose it today. Auto-enrolment, alongside the creation of NEST, was an obvious achievement of th…”

“Is not the hallmark of every Labour Government that they end up running out of other people’s money? When they do that, they end up borrowing. When that runs dry, they end up eyeing up our pensions, as Gordon Brown did. My constituents and many people who contact me are deeply concerned by the mandation powers in the B…”

“There is a disparity. This gentleman came from a very modest background—a single-parent family. He invested a lot of his savings during his lifetime in saving for his later years, and now that is going to be brought into the scope of inheritance tax. Do you see that the incentive has been taken away for people who stri…”

“That is not quite true.”

“On the state pension age for those approaching retirement, and particularly those in ill health, you touched earlier on whether they use their savings or the means-tested benefit system; can you elaborate further on what policy we are looking at in this area? I have another constituent who is in their early to mid-60s,…”

“In response to our pensioner poverty report, you talked about plans to share additional data with local authorities. Can you give us a progress update? Is that programme on track?”

“As you well know, most of the Bill was progressed under the previous Government. There are lots of good parts of that Bill that will help to increase the savings of pensioners. That is why we did not vote against Second Reading, but we did propose amendments on the mandation point that were voted down by the Government…”

“So are you going to make the amendment part of the law? Are you going to make a statement of intent? What are you doing?”

“Turning to broad policy, like many MPs I had a surgery at the weekend. Someone came to my surgery and expressed a lot of concern that I have raised previously about the scope of inheritance tax now encompassing private pension provision. He said to me he was going to essentially draw down huge amounts from his pension …”

“Turning to private pensions and savings, clearly mandation as part of pensions schemes was a very controversial topic. However, I understand that you said recently that you were going to clarify the position on the use of that power in the Bill. Can you elaborate on how that is going to happen? Is it going to be at the…”

“The £16,000 asset test has not been uprated for 20 years. Do you have a view on that?”

“Do you foresee any learnings for the Pensions Regulator, which is responsible for overseeing the governance going forward?”