Speeches by Gibson.

“It is probably easier in the city context than in the rural context that I was thinking of, where all those problems are multiplied by distance and fewer people.”

“Moving on, my next question is for Ms Cook and Mr Park. It follows on a little bit from Mr Park’s point about cyclists and people moving in. The seventh carbon budget assumes that there is a large modal shift away from cars. Certainly, I represent a rural constituency. The speculative development that we have seen is m…”

“Is there a massive cost difference between them all?”

“Is there more legislation in Europe that obliges them? I cannot imagine that the data centre owners will do this off their own back because it is just an added complication unless there is either legislation or economic benefit. Is there either of those things here?”

“A slight change of tack on that. I am aware that elsewhere in Europe, data centres, nuclear power stations, waste disposal and things often work very effectively with district heating systems. I am yet to see—correct me if I am wrong—that happen here in the UK with data centres. They are using huge amounts of water, hu…”

“As the Minister knows, in Wiltshire, speculative development is often approved without consideration of access to active travel routes, health provision, school places, and access to public transport, so that our residents can reach work or education. This leads to areas of extreme deprivation, caused, according to the…”

“In my constituency, there are two local village schools—one in Laycock and one in Lydiard Millicent—that provide a fantastic opportunity for working families. Without them, those children would not be able to get to school via public transport, because it is so poor. That would mean that the parents would have to give …”

“I represent a rural constituency in Wiltshire. Our local college has had to reduce the timetable for its 16 to 18-year-olds, given that they can no longer rely on trains that are constantly delayed. That causes issues related to deprivation, which was highlighted in recent Government statistics as being caused by lack …”

“On the subject of flooding, which is slightly off the point, I have just received information from the Environment Agency to say that Chippenham is flooding again this year. The Minister will remember that she and I spent some time mopping out in wellies, and we are at that point of flooding again. Does my hon. Friend …”

“My constituency is in Wiltshire, and the northern part is served by Thames Water. In Lyneham we seem to see outages almost every week. Thames Water is wasting water and pouring it down the streets of Royal Wootton Bassett, but cannot supply tap water to Lyneham or to parts of Bassett. On top of that, the company gives …”

“I will be very brief. My constituency is in rural Wiltshire, where a huge number of residents have taken part in this petition. Does the hon. Member agree that digital exclusion is a reality in areas like mine?”

“Following on from that, how do you plan to tackle the barriers that prevent existing energy sector workers from transitioning successfully, as recommended by the Energy Security and Net Zero Committee? I cannot help mentioning at this point that the cuts to level 7 apprenticeships, certainly in the built environment se…”

“If there is a delay in the gate 2 timeline, some of the contractual project milestones remain unchanged; is there an opportunity for those to slide as well, so that they were not being squeezed in the middle?”

“Is there any possibility that there is going to be an extension to contractual milestones when delays are caused by the queue, so they are not falling off the end, as it were?”

“You are definitely preaching to the converted in this room. Something else that I want to go on to is heat networks. I have to say that this is a personal question, as I have never understood why deployment is still so fragmented and low. I lived in northern Spain where the Ascó nuclear power station, which is huge, he…”

“The skills deficit comes up in everything we discuss. We mentioned high electricity prices being a major obstacle. What specifically is driving that imbalance? What reforms on levies, tariffs and flexible markets would quickly ensure that heat pumps are no more expensive to run than gas? Cheaper would be better.”

“Would balancing the network help that?”

“And it gets the process moving. To go back to the suggestions we should be making, how should the Government monitor some of the energy-supply emission reductions and shifts to the energy mix? If the progress lags, what action should be taken to ensure we remain on target? How are we monitoring it and what are we doing…”

“I am keen to see that and really pleased about that. I just wondered about situations where there might actually be a technical error. There did not seem to be any appeal process for that.”

“I will drill down into some specific challenges. We talked earlier about industry needing certainty of policy, and you talked about the physical connections. At the end of the day, you actually have to physically connect. I know that NESO’s current work on connection reform aims to speed up delivery, especially for low…”