Speeches by Olney.

“The Liberal Democrats welcome the publication of the Government’s national security strategy, because we recognise that we are living in a world that is less stable and more insecure now than at any time since the end of the cold war. Putin’s forces continue to wage their war in Ukraine, the middle east is teetering on…”

“Fran, just quickly, do you want to bring in the family group meetings as well? I know they are slightly different from mediation.”

“I can skip through quite a lot of what I was going to ask. As a London MP, I am obviously very interested in why it takes so much longer to get through family court cases in London, but we have already covered quite a lot of that quite extensively. I wanted to follow up. Mr Goodwin, we have talked about capacity constr…”

“I also want to ask about the increase in litigants in person, because that has been highlighted in the Report. To what extent is that increasing the pressure on court resources and contributing to delays?”

“Ms Rees, we are still seeing backlogs in the family court, although not as bad as it has been in other parts of the justice system. What do you think are the biggest factors contributing to the fact that we still have a large number of outstanding cases in the family courts?”

“Just quickly going back to the mediation point, do you think that it is a risk in terms of good outcomes for more cases to be encouraged to go through mediation, rather than going through the court process? If you do, what mitigation can you put in place around that risk?”

“Is that because there are more private law cases in London—just picking up on what Mr Taylor was saying?”

“Various responses have talked about Pathfinder. Do we think that rolling out Pathfinder in London is going to be part of that improving picture of productivity?”

“Mr Goodwin, why is it that the average length of time to resolve each case is still so high?”

“The Liberal Democrats have long been champions of the industrial strategy. We are proud that the strategy we introduced in government set out the Green Investment Bank, the British Business Bank and the regional growth fund, and we strongly opposed the Conservative Government’s damaging decision to scrap our country’s …”

“I am not giving way. By contrast, many decisions are expressly reserved for politicians. Should the limited resources of the NHS be used to deliver an assisted dying service, or should it be possible to offer the service as a profit-making enterprise? What information should be collected and reported about assisted dyi…”

“I am not giving way. Will there be sufficient psychiatrists prepared to implement the provisions of this legislation, against the advice of their professional body, to ensure that enough panels can be convened for the purpose of facilitating assisted dying? It is hard to see how there could be.”

“I will not give way, sorry. Assisted dying under this legislation cannot be implemented without psychiatrists, but they would be acting outside the advice and guidance of their professional body.”

“I am sorry, but I will make progress. We would all have been better served by asking a team of experts to evaluate the evidence, draw on their professional experience and come to a settled consensus among themselves on this point about mental capacity and, likewise, the questions we had about how best to approach anore…”

“Many Members present will look forward to the day when it is possible for people in this country to die in peace, with dignity and at a time of their choosing. The opportunity to bring that about is closer than ever before, but it can happen only if Members vote against the Bill today. The express will of the House, as…”

“Last week, the Liberal Democrats welcomed the announcement of investment in public infrastructure and transport projects, which we have long called for. We are glad that today the Government are setting out a 10-year infrastructure plan to realise those projects, and the Liberal Democrats will be closely scrutinising i…”

“My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The way that some of the infrastructure and transport investment moneys have been distributed in the recent spending review has raised some eyebrows. Investing in rural bus services would certainly boost our struggling town centres and high streets, which would lead to economic growt…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Western. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for North Norfolk (Steff Aquarone) for securing this debate and his excellent opening speech, which touched on Liberal Democrat enthusiasms such as buses and microbreweries, but also his characteristic interest and enthusia…”

“My hon. Friend is absolutely right. There is always the danger that we get into a vicious circle of declining transport provision leading to declining demand for services, which then lose viability and are withdrawn. The point about investment in public transport that my hon. Friend the Member for North Norfolk made so…”

“It is a privilege to be called at this stage in the debate. My principal reason for voting against the Bill on Second Reading was my concern that vulnerable people would be put at risk. I agreed to serve on the Bill Committee to do what I could to allay my concerns about that issue and address some of the issues raised…”