Speeches by Smith.

“Since the Chancellor delivered her Budget, it has come to light that benefits have been extended for the parents of teenagers with disabilities or illnesses. Although on the face of it that may seem kind and compassionate, it is also contradictory. Parents and carers are no longer required to ensure that their teenager…”

“Given the issues surrounding Ajax and the operational gap that this leaves in the Army, is the Minister confident that no capability and usability issues with Boxer or the Project Hunter alternative individual weapon system will come out of the woodwork? On Friday I met representatives of a local defence business who s…”

“I thank the hon. Gentleman for his contribution and particularly for highlighting the case in Northern Ireland. Parental leave and shared parental leave for adopters was something that the previous Government fought hard to bring in, so I agree that that is something that should apply across all our isles. Ultimately, …”

“I am pleased to have secured this Adjournment debate on statutory support for self-employed adoptive parents. Self-employed adopters are currently excluded from any statutory parental pay. For far too long, this exclusion has been overlooked as too niche a problem, but in fact it exposes a much deeper inconsistency in …”

“I had another question building on that, which we asked the ORR earlier. It is something I also asked the Secretary of State when we were talking about the investment that has been made in Newton Aycliffe. Do you think there should be measures on the face of the Bill to ensure that investors still have confidence in in…”

“No, they have not, and I think these are all linked. I have a question for Steve. Given what we have talked about regarding the licence and ensuring that access is fair, particularly for the open-access people, how important is a strong independent regulator for securing those access requirements going forward?”

“Specifically on that point about the ORR, and I know you sat through their evidence, but do you think they will have sufficient powers to enforce the licence once it is in place? That links to your KPI point. Who will ensure that GBR deliver on an improved railway, which is what we are led to believe this will create?”

“What role would industry expect to play in the production of GBR’s licence? Will the ORR have sufficient powers to enforce that licence once it has been set up?”

“What can we glean from the Bill’s provision for GBR’s licence without having seen a draft document?”

“Who makes the decisions, then, on what is in those final documents? There is a whole lot of consultation—the entire Bill is about consultation—so who makes those final decisions? If that is not in the legislation, does it sit with the Secretary of State, you, or GBR’s management?”

“Briefly, the question I was supposed to ask: is there sufficient provision in the Bill for scrutiny and input from stakeholders to the access and use and infrastructure capacity policies? Will you have a formal role in producing those documents? Finally, will that be something that the Bill Committee gets to see as the…”

“But none of that is going to be clear until you actually see the licence.”

“Before I ask my main question, I want to focus on what you have just said about your changed role. It is coming across quite clearly that your role is going to change quite significantly. That is allowing you to give advice and have binding powers in some scenarios. Could you set out what some of those scenarios are wh…”

“There is a passenger watchdog as well?”

“On that funding piece, do you think that there should be measures in the Bill to ensure that the private sector still has confidence in investing in open access or across the wider rail network?”

“What I think is really interesting, and will be a theme that we see over the course of the Bill—this goes back to Baggy’s point about what difference passengers will see—is that, even in the way you talk about GBR as separate from the Secretary of State, from the passengers’ perspective, they are going to think that GB…”

“How do you foresee the duty being used in practice? You have just alluded to the fact that you think the guidance might be more detailed. What happens if that level of detail stops you from being able to do your job going forward?”

“It is important that we take account of the hard-working families who will be affected by Labour’s economic mismanagement, and that their voices are not drowned out by the political drama surrounding the Budget. To ensure that I heard directly from those I represent in South West Devon, I launched a survey ahead of the…”

“Absolutely. Of course financial education in schools is important, as is a whole lot of education about life, budgeting and other things, but I am talking specifically about financial education for people in their professional years—in their 20s, 30s and 40s—who will be affected by changes to the ISA rules. They will p…”

“The Bill also places a duty on the ORR to have regard to guidance given to it by the Secretary of State. Will that duty inhibit your independence?”