Speeches by Gilmour.

“I get the point that this is innovative and new, and sometimes one has to take a risk. It is all very well for private investors to come up with £1 billion but we—taxpayers—are not private investors. This is taxpayers’ money that you are prepared to take a quite substantial risk with. It is not just about the question …”

“Okay. When you say a “small amount of grant”, how small is it?”

“I agree with you.”

“Blundell’s school is also in Tiverton. Would the hon. Member be surprised to hear that when canvassing in Tiverton, in areas that might be considered relatively poor, I met numerous grandparents who were saving money every month to help their children to pay for a better future for their own children at Blundell’s scho…”

“Let me start by saying how deeply and genuinely grateful I am to the Secretary of State for Education for providing the money to rebuild Tiverton high school following a 20-year campaign. I also want to disassociate myself from some of the comments made by Conservative colleagues. Some of them were personalised and vit…”

“I am sure that we are all aware of and concerned about the recent report from Peninsula Transport that emphasises the problems we shall experience in Devon because of the impact of the HS2 development in Birmingham, which will close Paddington station for up to 10 years. Will the hon. Member reassure us that the Govern…”

“As many Members know, I am able to speak with some expertise on this subject, as I was the first female director of the NFU in some 100 years and I now represent a constituency, in which I have lived for 34 years, where there are 1,006 farms or holdings. The Country Land and Business Association says that 432 of those …”

“No. Another flawed assumption is that the residential nil rate band will be applicable. If the value of the farm business is worth over £2.65 million, there is no residential nil rate band, so that swallows up large numbers of family farms. I know that many Members are very, very unhappy indeed with the proposals. The …”

“I keep on hearing the expression “anecdotal evidence” rather too often in front of this Committee. If you focused more on having data, case studies and strategies that were evidenced-based—if you had the proper data—you would not have to use the term “anecdotal evidence” all the time. May I suggest that that happens?”

“Yes, October 2025.”

“That is an assurance that you will give this Committee?”

“Could I just ask for an assurance from you? I think it would not be unreasonable in this Committee to put it on the record that we would very much like you to expedite this as soon as possible, because one would not want to give the impression that excuses were being made when things could be expedited more quickly.”

“I will say one more thing. From everything we have heard today, given the scenario behind the scenes and the difficulties that NHS senior and junior staff have to work with, the job they do is more and more exceptional, whether they are a cleaner or a CEO.”

“Risk analysis?”

“If you can’t make it realistic, nobody else can.”

“So you could do better: 6/10.”

“To Julian and Amanda, what are you doing to make sure that things are signed off in a more timely manner well in advance of the financial year? To me, with my background—very briefly, I worked for the Environment Agency, which I found really frustrating—we would never consider starting a budget in November of the year …”

“Okay, that was a good, quick answer. Do you accept that you should all agree, publicise and stick to a deadline for publishing planning guidance for future financial years as well?”

“So can I take from what you are saying that the date you have all agreed on for releasing the 2025-26 planning guidance to NHS systems is not as delayed as the one for ’24-25?”

“I think that is enough, because we are running short on time.”