Speeches by Carling.

“I really welcome this Government’s move to restrict the access of abusers to their children, in order to protect them. All too often, however, victims who are members of tightly knit, small religious groups are pressured to interact with their abuser when they get out of prison. Some religious leaders and organisations…”

“I ran a constitution review for Cambridge city council while I was a councillor there, and we spent a lot of time talking about the committee system versus the cabinet system. Does the hon. Member not agree that what she has just described is an example of really positive culture in a council, which can be had regardle…”

“I have been thinking about the cost of software licensing in the public sector, because North West Anglia NHS foundation trust is trying to move to an electronic patient record and one of the biggest ongoing costs of that is third-party payments for software. Other trusts are in the same position, as are many schools p…”

“I agree with my hon. Friend the Member for Hastings and Rye (Helena Dollimore) about the delays to the Bill. I served on the Bill Committee more than a year ago now, and since then, so many tenants have experienced no-fault evictions. I encourage the Minister to move as quickly as possible to implement the Bill, so tha…”

“PwC analysis has shown that one in three adults in the UK struggle to access mainstream credit, largely due to poor or just thin credit files. That is causing a huge financial inclusion problem, especially for young people trying to get a mortgage. Will the Minister meet me to discuss ways we can improve that situation…”

“I am back in Bill Committee later today. I have half an hour for lunch.”

“Yes.”

“The Government has indicated that it would like to see a number of public bodies close—most Governments tend to make that indication. Is there any evidence on the effect that abolishing arm’s length bodies and either merging them or bringing their functions into a Department has on the carrying out of those functions?”

“Apologies for my lateness; I was in a Bill Committee meeting.”

“Thank you for that. That is a really helpful perspective. I just want to move on to public body review and closures. Public bodies have been subjected to a whole series of review programmes over the years—tailored reviews, triennial reviews and so on. What effect, if any, have they had on the public bodies landscape?”

“Thank you; that is helpful. We hear anecdotal evidence that sponsor teams are generally becoming a bit more interventionist and are seeking closer monitoring of arm’s length bodies’ day-to-day activities. Does that chime with your perspective? If it does, is that an inherently good or bad thing?”

“I just want to pick up a couple of points from Ms Cane’s questions. When there are serious performance problems in arm’s length bodies, are sponsor Departments properly equipped to step in? We have seen some real issues at the Office for National Statistics on that front.”

“The hon. Gentleman moved an amendment specifically to rule out trade unions. The Bill does not rule them in, in any way. I am slightly concerned that he might be misleading us—inadvertently.”

“I say to Opposition Members that their relentless politicisation of the issue is no doubt making it much harder to find a chair because it will be putting candidates off. As the inquiry gets under way, we must keep up progress on implementing the recommendations of the Jay IICSA inquiry. I raised concerns on Report dur…”

“A constituent has written to me to highlight that they have successfully completed a level 3 BTEC diploma in musical theatre. To go on to university, they need an extended diploma—a third year—but their college will not let them do it because they have not achieved a grade 4 in GCSE maths, which their university course…”

“On the subject of local partners, could the Minister confirm that the intention here is to include private sector organisations as local partners? I am keen to see mayors make the most of this power, being able to use it to ensure that conversations can take place with, for example, large local employers or anchor comp…”

“The schedule contains comprehensive provisions around the designation of key route network roads, but I am conscious that we have not defined key route networks in statute. I am a little worried, therefore, about the potential for mayors to designate inappropriate roads as key route networks for political purposes. I w…”

“I have a brief, technical question. I might be mistaken in my reading of the provision, but I seek clarification about the arrangements for local transport plans. On Tuesday, the Committee agreed to clause 6, which amended the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 and the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Cons…”

“I wonder whether the Minister has the same experience as I do. When I speak to employers in North West Cambridgeshire, I hear time and again that young people do not have the skills for the workplace and that the education system has not left them with the right mindset and abilities. Is something going direly wrong wi…”

“Before the summer recess, I hosted a “Truth about SATs” parliamentary drop-in with educational reform group More Than a Score. It was a great event, with MPs from all sides of the House sitting down to take some mock SATs exams themselves. Lots of colleagues sat there quite relaxed, chatting to others and evidently fai…”