Speeches by Edwards.

“Chris and Zeki, could you describe a bit more the types of threat that we face and how over the last few years those threats from a cyber-security perspective have transformed or morphed? Are we able to chart the change? Where have we been? Where are we now? And where might we be going?”

“We have seen quite a lot in the news recently about the vulnerability of companies, particularly in the food sector. People are obviously falling foul of this; they may have been trying very hard not to, but it has happened. What do you think about the National Cyber Security Centre’s guidance? Is it good enough? Is it…”

“Do you think that there needs to be a much greater focus at board level as well? Ideally, you would have somebody with that expertise, but we know that this is an evolving, highly digitalised economy, and there are fewer and fewer people to go around as it becomes more important. What could be done to strengthen oversi…”

“Finally, on this level of risk—and the increased risk we are seeing, with many more companies becoming quite public victims—there are reports that some insurers are viewing cyber threats in the same way they view terrorism: that is, they will not insure if there is a breach and an obvious resulting detriment. What do y…”

“Do you think that the Government could be playing any more of a role in this area? Obviously, I am sure they could be providing certain amounts of support within the supply chains, as you mentioned, but is there anything in particular that you could cite that the Government could do more of in the light of that?”

“Can the Minister share with me, as chair of the reconstituted all-party parliamentary group on pensions and growth, any plans for how counties that are outside mayoral authorities, such as Staffordshire, could benefit from pension reforms to encourage more investment in the UK, to support infrastructure, jobs and local…”

“15. What steps she is taking to help increase returns on investment from pension savings.”

“LightSpeed Broadband has been installing infrastructure across my constituency. Disgracefully, it has falsely claimed in communications, including written letters to my constituents, that during a meeting I signed off on its works. That is a gross misrepresentation of the meeting I held with the company to raise compla…”

“Now SMEs can go in and bid for contracts and they do not have multiple accounts.”

“I am interested in asking about demand signals; you might want to build on this. We have heard about the Find a Tender scheme, pre-procurement notices and the reserved procurement space for SMEs. One of the things that I am interested in asking about is the difference between the national Government responsibility and …”

“Are regional hospitals now going to go back to procuring it or will that stay at a national level?”

“That is excellent progress.”

“Thank you very much for coming. Secretary of State, we heard last month on this Committee that the energy prices that businesses pay are 60% higher than the EU average and in some cases twice as much. We have heard that from steel. We have heard from Nissan that their Sunderland plant pays more for its energy than any …”

“We are very pleased to hear it.”

“It is.”

“Thank you very much and thank you to the Committee for inviting me to present my application. Happy anniversary! What anniversary? It is the anniversary of me dealing with a terrible incident on my high street last year. A microbusiness owner came to me in tears. Her energy supplier, E.ON Next, was threatening to cut o…”

“Yes.”

“No—that is what we are putting in for. I think what John is saying is that we have heard evidence that this is such a no. 1 issue that needs to be debated. We think it is big enough for it to be anywhere.”

“Energy and Net Zero.”

“I can certainly add more. I have the support of the Business and Trade Committee, so that is Conservative and Liberal Democrats, and there are many more. I was asked to present eight, so I presented eight—should you wish to have more, I can provide you many more. Do I need two more?”