Speeches by Taylor.

“Victoria, Lesley has quite clearly told us about some problems with the public not understanding the certificates and not knowing what to ask for. What measures do you think are necessary to improve public awareness of the risks associated with certain procedures and how to choose safe providers?”

“Thanks, Lesley. Can I stop you there? We need to try to get some details out. Victoria, can I push you a bit? What steps do you think will be required to ensure that unregulated and illegal practitioners are not able to practice once we have the licensing scheme in place?”

“How do you think you will be able to prevent the new regime from being just too confusing, too expensive or too bureaucratic to be effective, either for the businesses themselves or for the public confidence?”

“But you would be prepared to say that surgical procedures must be carried out by surgeons?”

“Thank you, Minister, and thank you for attending today. I wanted to come back on one thing about the timescale. This Committee has heard some really horrific evidence of what has happened to people who have been given liquid BBLs and it is just a really direct question: how long are we going to have to wait before they…”

“Minister, clearly a licencing scheme cannot come soon enough, but has the Department undertaken an assessment on the economic impact of the proposals on practitioners, particularly those operating small and independent businesses? And what steps are the Government taking to mitigate financial harm or unintended job los…”

“Have you carried out an assessment as to the additional resources that will be required by local authorities and the Care Quality Commission to administer and enforce the licencing scheme? It is clear that single businesses could be subject to many different parts of the licencing regime which could become complicated.”

“So there needs to be some regulatory framework around that and around criminal sanctions?”

“Do you see that being enforced through local authorities, Environmental Health officers, or Trading Standards? How would you see that enforcement?”

“Lesley, I want to talk a little about insurance because I know that is something that your organisation covers. The Government stated that appropriate indemnity insurance will be a requirement for licensing. What sort of minimum coverage should be required to protect consumers, and has there been any information obtain…”

“There is obviously a need for an amount of indemnity insurance per claim but also a total amount for all claims, is there not? Are you saying that that level should be set at £1 million for a single claim or £2 million?”

“I am guessing that would be different with the licensing scheme? Perhaps Victoria, if you had amber and red, there would be different levels of insurance for different procedures?”

“The Conservatives hollowed out our communities and Reform is exploiting it, and yet this Government are helping communities like mine to thrive. We have already had the announcement of our £20 million in the towns fund. We have set up our Believe in Bedworth board, because my residents believe in their town, and the ch…”

“I thank my hon. Friend for raising awareness of this very important condition. It is, as always, an honour to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Desmond. I am here because, like everyone else, I have had several of my constituents raise the problem of diagnosis taking far too long, the crippling impact that this condit…”

“The Women and Equalities Committee heard compelling evidence earlier this year about misogyny in the music industry. That is exactly one of the areas where people who are classed as “workers” need protection, so I thank my hon. Friend for raising this issue.”

“My next question is to Jo. The 2022 Act does not provide any additional rights to Deaf signers. Is this a weakness in the legislation?”

“Craig, do you feel that that there is a need for additional legislation to provide equal rights to Government information?”

“That link between culture and language is so important, so thank you for explaining that.”

“It is a great pleasure to open the questions today, because as a small part of my career I worked for the RNID. It is great to have you here, and particularly members of the British Deaf Association. My first question is to Rebecca. The British Sign Language Act 2022 was celebrated in the Deaf community, but there were…”

“Does my hon. Friend agree that accessible toilets keep people out longer, encourage spending, make towns more inclusive, and are critical for retail, tourism and local growth? When councils close them, disabled people and young families just stay at home. Does he agree that it is short-sighted of the Conservative counc…”