Speeches by Edwards.

“I absolutely agree. This industrial strategy is essential in making sure we have the focus to support our businesses right across the region, and in making sure that they are successful. The upcoming defence industrial strategy must prioritise British businesses, including SMEs, ensuring that investment creates jobs an…”

“I beg to move, That this House has considered defence industries in the West Midlands. It is an honour to serve under your chairship, Dr Murrison. Global threats are evolving, making defence investment more critical than ever. A strong defence underpins our security and sovereignty, but we must scale up to meet the mod…”

“Mr Swain, the last time you gave evidence, you said that you could not quite give us a clear estimate of the percentage of companies on the register that contained false information. Have you got any further in being able to give any figures on that?”

“Have you developed a model? These flags are going up and pinging. Do you have, or are you creating, software based on the analysis that you are doing?”

“In terms of your new powers and responsibilities, what Mr Swain has to look after, and making sure that there is compliance and that the ID checks being done, that surely incurs a cost to you as an organisation. Have you looked at what that cost actually is going forward, when you are introducing all these new elements…”

“Ms Smyth, you said in your strategic intelligence assessment that the £50 fee to incorporate a company is “highly unlikely” to deter fraudulent mass incorporations. Is there a level of fee that would stop that? Is that the way that it could be worked?”

“I absolutely agree, particularly with my hon. Friend’s shout out to his constituency and, of course, Staffordshire, which plays an important role. As hon. Members have said, we have a concentration of hard-working companies, and there is a benefit to their dual-use aspects. That is something we should push as a nation …”

“6. What discussions he has had with energy suppliers on support for consumers.”

“It was close to the election, but I was trying to understand how much due diligence they might have done so that the civil servants working on it would then have known about this August deadline that was so critical to the project. I am interested. At what point did they say, “Yes, we will give you that”, versus lookin…”

“Following on from that piece, Mr Bell, could you perhaps provide a bit more information on where you might be in regard to securing a deal with the Government over the future of Scunthorpe and if there are any issues outstanding that you can share with the Committee?”

“Did you receive the first notification of an offer for the £90 million through a text message or through an official email?”

“Picking up on that point around procurement and where we want that to go, what direction that might take, the Committee visited Scotland yesterday to look at our defence industry partners. We had a fantastic visit to BAE and some of the supply chain. Can you comment on how you think the procurement by the MOD might nee…”

“When did you get that first confirmation of the initial idea that it would be £90 million that they would put in?”

“In my constituency, a local hospitality business’s energy provider, E.ON, has behaved appallingly by back-billing and incorrectly billing, leaving that business nearly bankrupt. While I welcome the new expanded remit of the Energy Ombudsman, we need to ensure that it has the capacity and powers that it needs to protect…”

“One of the areas that we have also heard about, if we cannot go into some of that detail, was the challenges around securing a grid connection for the furnaces. One of the things that Jon Bolton mentioned earlier was that you need two to make it commercially viable. Mr Bell, could you comment on that situation alongsid…”

“Can you just about cope with three years, or do you need greater certainty? If you could have greater certainty what would be your preferred time limit to get some clarity for the business?”

“I want to come back to part of the timeline that we were trying to construct with you a few moments ago. When you first had the offer under the previous Government, how did you hear about that? We have had reports that the Chancellor of the Exchequer notified the company through WhatsApp. Is that true?”

“As a member of the Business and Trade Committee, I am pleased to share the Committee’s priorities for this Parliament, and the way in which the evidence that we have gathered has shaped our work plan. I recently hosted a roundtable in Tamworth with local businesses and, given our close relationship with West Midlands c…”

“That leads me into one of my other questions. I wonder, Audrey, whether I could come to you. We have just heard the ballpark figure of £500 million. The Government have allocated £520 million—you can have an extra £20 million—to support manufacturing in the life sciences sector over the course of the Parliament. Is tha…”

“The Committee has heard how challenging it can be to access finance. I wonder whether I could start with you, Mr Bates, and ask what challenges start-ups face in accessing finance and the ability to scale up. We talked earlier about there being a medtech ecosystem in the west midlands. Companies want to know how they c…”