Speeches by Aquarone.

“You cannot see it—right, understood. Thank you.”

“They would not be checking because someone drove across the county border?”

“If there were to be greater access to NR3S—the big list of banned and suspended licences—for operators, what would the downside potentially be?”

“You do not fear a construction industry blacklist type situation where drivers find themselves unable to work anywhere suddenly because of a complaint that they have had very limited right to respond to, for instance?”

“Is it a danger that the statistics you quoted earlier might not be fully representative of the reality if data is not flowing between the operators and the licensing authorities in the same way that you have described it flowing in London?”

“Do you think it is used consistently at the moment?”

“So you can see the whole country but you cannot see whether you feel as though on balance the system is being consistently used by different licensing authorities?”

“The real-world experience in North Norfolk is very much like that. It is a struggle to secure the care that people need. We have a shortage of specialist care and Parkinson’s nurses, and those are just some of the things that our rural health system struggles with. Does the hon. Member agree that those living with Park…”

“One way the Serious Fraud Office can be made more effective is through access to more registers of beneficial overseas interests. We know that fraudsters, tax dodgers and crooks are exploiting the financial secrecy in those territories to hide their ill-gotten gains. Does the Solicitor General agree that this would emp…”

“I am getting an indication that he will not do so, which is a shame. I support the development of more homes in North Norfolk; there are 2,400 households on our housing waiting list who demand that provision. I am delighted that new residents in Walcott and Bacton will be moving into dozens of new affordable homes in t…”

“I am pleased to speak today in full support of Lords amendments 38 and 40. I would also like to take the opportunity to press the Minister on the Government’s response in the other place to Lords amendment 32, which I will come to shortly. First, on Lords amendment 40, I am pleased that the Lords altered the uses of en…”

“Sarah Taylor, the Minister’s Labour colleague and Norfolk’s police and crime commissioner, has been turning things around in Norfolk, where PCCs have a very chequered history. She is taking real action on road safety. Under the Conservatives, PCCs sacked all the PCSOs, tried and failed to take over the fire service, an…”

“Is that a commitment to a longer-term strategic plan for fare policy, or is that just the amount of money that is available?”

“Thank you. That is very helpful. I will badger your departmental colleagues to listen to my constituency operators’ experiences in more detail. Is this a missed opportunity to plan for what comes next with fare caps overall?”

“Just on one of those specific price points in particular, I accept the point you have made about not making an announcement about them, but when the outgoing chief executive of the DVSA was before us we put the case that the driving test was essentially too cheap to cancel. It is not worth cancelling it, because in som…”

“It is great to hear about the possibility of a longer-term settlement for local transport authorities, because I was also on the Bus Services (No. 2) Bill Committee, and the painful absence of a money motion was felt. That is encouraging. On the issue of long-term sustainability of operators, you will know that the Dep…”

“It is more about what you can do for the Government and which of the Government’s objectives transport takes on. It is less about how your spending priorities are aligned to your objectives. Is that a fair description?”

“To move on to the next question, it is sort of halfway. What you said makes sense: you bid for money from the Treasury to do the stuff that you wanted, and that allowed you to announce some big rail and road upgrade projects. In the not‑too‑distant future are some fairly big vulnerabilities in the operating model. I wi…”

“Let me be clear: I am not advocating a reduction in core staffing costs for the sake of it. I am interested in what the business plan is. How do those high-level objectives translate into team-based objectives? Are those teams held to account based on the right measures, given those objectives? There should not be anyo…”

“We have got that. I am more interested in what the plan means.”