Speeches by Olney.

“Chris, I was interested to see in the Report that Ofwat has not been monitoring for very long at all the amount that customers owe to water companies—only since 2023-24. Yet by 2025, customer debt to water companies totalled £2.9 billion, which is an extremely significant sum. Just over 4 million household accounts wer…”

“Specifically the use of AI, or how they are responding more broadly?”

“My question was about what causes customers to get into debt with their water companies.”

“In your earlier answer, you said that only one in three customers who were in arrears were on a repayment plan, and that, where customers are on a repayment plan, their arrears are lower. What are you doing to work with the water companies to make sure that more people get on to those repayment plans, and does the regu…”

“I am here; I came in at the right time. From the cases you encounter, Ali, what are the most prominent barriers that consumers in vulnerable circumstances face when they are engaging with water, energy and broadband services?”

“Anne, what do you think the regulators can do to encourage the utilities to bring down barriers for their vulnerable customers?”

“So there is no water-specific reason?”

“Can I give a particular example of an incident that we heard about in our pre-panel. I am sure that I need not remind you that a big water outage occurred in Tunbridge Wells before Christmas. We heard about water companies delivering water, presumably in large plastic bottles, to people in vulnerable situations and on …”

“Sorry to interrupt you, but you mentioned earlier that you have issued guidance to water companies about PSRs. Does that particular example highlighted to us go against the guidance that you have issued?”

“T4. One in 50 Londoners, including one in 21 children, are homeless and living in temporary accommodation. London boroughs are spending £5 million a day on temporary accommodation. Although housing costs have skyrocketed in the past 15 years, the temporary accommodation subsidy gap has remained frozen since 2011. Some …”

“In this place, we have recently changed the voting system for metropolitan mayors. Can the Minister comment on whether the voting system for the London Mayor will be changed before the 2028 London mayoral election?”

“Thank you for your chairing the debate, Mr Turner. It is interesting that the majority of voices in the room have argued against first past the post, when all of us are here because we were elected under that system. That shows how even those of us who have—dare I say—benefited from the system recognise its flaws and a…”

“I beg to move, That this House has considered the use of first-past-the-post in general and local elections. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Turner, and to be in an environment with such great air conditioning. “I am committed to proportional representation…I think it would change the political cu…”

“Sitting suspended.”

“T5. Today marks 10 years since the Brexit referendum. Since that date, we have had 10 Home Secretaries, nine Foreign Secretaries, eight Chancellors, seven Defence Secretaries and 6 Prime Ministers. Does the Chancellor agree that such instability has acted as a break on growth in this country and can she set out what sh…”

“9. What steps she is taking to recruit and retain teachers.”

“A Public Accounts Committee report published last summer found that the Department for Education not only lacked a plan for recruiting the additional teachers that Labour pledged in its manifesto, but did not understand why teachers are leaving the sector. Despite the Secretary of State’s saying that the Department is …”

“I thank my hon. Friend for that excellent intervention and for all his work. He speaks so powerfully for the victims of domestic abuse, and I thank him for taking this opportunity to raise the issue. I hope that the Minister has heard what he said, because it is an extremely serious point. We should have the victims of…”

“I thank my hon. Friend for that excellent point. We could be doing so much more, not just through the police but across society in different ways, to increase safety on our high streets. People need to know that they are backed up by the police, and that they have a strong and effective police presence to turn to when …”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Hobhouse. I congratulate the hon. Member for Caerphilly (Chris Evans) on securing this debate and on his excellent opening remarks. Abuse against people in customer-facing roles is always unacceptable. No one should ever have to face abuse in their place of work. T…”