Speeches by Smith.

“Clearly, how antisemitism is tackled by the police in our communities is key, so I would be interested to hear from the Home Secretary what specialist training our police forces and the Crown Prosecution Service—I appreciate that this is a bit off-piste; maybe she might put on her Justice hat for a moment—are receiving…”

“Further to a similar online petition of just under 1,800 signatures, I present this petition. The petition states: The petition of residents of the United Kingdom, Declares that Plymouth City Council’s proposed expansion into 13 parishes in the South Hams is strongly opposed by local residents; further declares that Pl…”

“I have a query off the back of the comments of the hon. Member for Aberdeen North. We heard in the evidence sessions that there is a danger that overdoing the requirements for marketing will get in the way of providing guidance. That came up directly in the response to some of our questions, I think specifically from L…”

“Previous Conservative Governments were committed to repairing the railway line at Dawlish, which is vital to Devon and Cornwall’s economic growth, yet this Labour Government have said that they will complete the rail resilience programme only if and when survey work shows that it is needed. Given the likelihood that th…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms McVey. I want to add a few things to what my hon. Friends have said, and to reflect on the Minister’s rejection of our new clause as a significant administrative burden. I think we are talking about two sides of the same coin, because to have to keep hunting out sma…”

“I want to build on what the hon. Member for Torbay asked. As a former local councillor myself—I am not part of the pension scheme, I hasten to add, so I do not have an interest to declare—the bit from the evidence session that came out for me, thinking through this bit of the Bill, relates to the equivalent in treasury…”

“In line with what has been said already, my thought is that plenty of financial education is a good thing; to say that some is worth pursuing and some is not seems a bit at odds with what we have been debating. I echo what colleagues have said about workers who come from a DC scheme into a DB scheme and need that educa…”

“My hon. Friend is making an excellent speech with a very good historical analysis of what has happened over the last 30 or 40 years. It is worth reflecting on the risk point, particularly for the wide age range of people who hold pensions. This came up during the evidence session: if we end up avoiding risk, the people…”

“How will members know that they have that opt-out? Will that be clear enough, given all the comments we have been making on financial education? People have got to be pretty engaged, and we know from the history that they are not always that engaged in their future.”

“I will come on to that exact point in my remaining few minutes, but absolutely, they are a crucial part of our community. Why does that all matter? As hospitality businesses across the country bring financial and social value to our communities, they are critical to a thriving tourism sector. They are also a key part o…”

“There are over 300 hospitality businesses in South West Devon, and even though that may not be the highest number in a single constituency, considering the areas of countryside in mine, where the only residents are cattle and sheep, it is a hefty number. There are 316 venues, including the Woolwell Centre, the Who’d Ha…”

“Q Obviously, a big part of the Bill is the assumption that mandation is a good idea. I would be interested to know to what extent you agree with the Bank of England Governor, Andrew Bailey, that mandating pension scheme investments is not appropriate? Charlotte Clark: Following on from Zoe and Rob—I think they have art…”

“Q We are not all Government Members in this room, so we are quite keen to hear what bits you think might work and what bits might not work. That is where the question came from. As a supplementary question, do you think trustees and scheme managers should be provided with a safe harbour if they are required to invest i…”

“The privacy piece came up earlier this morning as well, so that needs looking at. Dale Critchley: If we deliver something that looks towards targeted support, where instead of just saying, “This is the solution you will go in if you make no choice,” we say, “This is the solution we think is best for you, and you will g…”

“Q Are you effectively saying that if you put the customer first, which is ultimately what this entire piece of legislation is trying to do, then, at the moment, other regulations will stop that from happening, so we might want to look at that? Dale Critchley: Yes.”

“Q This builds on something that was mentioned in the previous panel by Age UK—that a lot of the education that will need to be done to ensure that people understand what is going on, particularly with the small pots consolidation, could fall on Government, charities or providers. As pension provider representatives, wh…”

“Q Are there not going to be too many hoops to jump through to prove that the trustee is correct, if they have to prove it to a regulator? I suppose that is what the safe harbour means. Will the trustees have the benefit of the doubt, or are they going to have to be watertight in their belief that they are right, to mak…”

“Q Given the international experience that both of you have in this realm, I am interested to know whether there is either anything in the Bill that you think is a red flag or anything that you think is a missed opportunity and not in the legislation in front of us today. Michelle Ostermann: That is fascinating. I came …”

“Both the Secretary of State in her statement last week and you, Lord Hendy, have said that Network North was not funded because there was no money. In the same answer you have just talked about HS2 2a, which was very clearly what the last Government said was going to fund Network North. Help me to understand how HS2 2a…”

“There is no doubt that that is what happened, and that is welcome. On what Lord Hendy and you are saying, Alex, it is the reassurance needed that should something happen that is unexpected, the money is there. They are monitoring the cliffs because of climate change, and something extraordinary could happen that is not…”