Speeches by Aquarone.

“Forgive me, but there is no penalty in that. It is a few hundred quid if you add everything together. The cost of finding this workforce in a scarce market and making sure that the quality is good in the first place is outweighed, or underweighed, by the small penalty. Even if you go all the way through the escalator, …”

“I am deeply concerned by the ongoing conflict in Sudan and in particular the sexual violence that was brought to light so shockingly by the hon. Member for Norwich North (Alice Macdonald). When the Minister next engages with his counterparts in South Sudan, will he raise the case of Dr Ding Col Dau Ding? He travelled f…”

“Families in Holt have been promised for years a new primary school to replace the current building, which is too old and too small to cater for this growing market town. However, the Conservative-led county council has broken promises and dithered and delayed, pointing to minor fluctuations in the birth rate as a pathe…”

“4. What assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the use of data by Government Departments.”

“I am glad the Minister mentioned the Government’s state of digital government review and its fairly excoriating conclusions. It is clear that the public sector is not using data well enough. It detailed the challenges, barriers and reluctance in getting the best out of the data available to Departments—some cannot even…”

“When will the road safety strategy be published? We have been waiting for it for some time, but you have had other priorities. Can you give us a date?”

“Me again—sorry. The Committee is very interested in your Department’s submission to the spending review. When it comes to your organisational structure, in particular staffing resource, now seems a good opportunity to reflect on what job the Department is trying to do—in particular with big decisions on rail and buses—…”

“I have consulted with somebody with great expertise in this area, who happens to be the police and crime commissioner for Norfolk, and sees this as a deep-rooted issue. It is not just about policy or agency action; it is a fundamental oversight in both the design and maintenance of our road networks at both levels but …”

“You touched on the agencies. Without being distracted by consultancy debates, those arm’s length agencies are an important part of the overall remit of the Department. Do you see many structural changes happening, other than the obvious ones with GBR?”

“Can I press you on one of the many points that the Chair raised about the cost of the driving test? I am conscious that it is pretty unpopular for politicians to suggest that Government should put up their prices, but, with regard to the behaviour that you alluded to about booking earlier, I have learned anecdotally fr…”

“That is very comforting. While that strategy is developed, it looks likely that National Highways will not meet its KSI reduction targets. Are you minded to make a specific direction to it in the meantime so that it can course-correct by the end of this year?”

“Our Chair was on the radio over the Easter weekend in response to coverage of not the driving test per se, but testing for people with eyesight deterioration in later years. Is that one of the things you are considering changing? It is a bit of an outlier compared with other countries. Is that in scope for your review?”

“Is there a particular critical path of events leading up to that, or is it just an estimate at the moment?”

“Just that 50% of the country live in a rural or coastal community. This Committee saw fit to grant a debate, which I was very grateful for the chance to lead, on coastal communities. It was very popular. Many of our Transport Committee colleagues have supported this application because they too see the regional inequal…”

“There are so many ridiculous things about modern housing developments, but chief among them is the fact that they are still designed around car usage as the primary mode of transport. An obsession with winding roads to the depths of rabbit-warren estates will never encourage people to use active travel. Instead, we nee…”

“6. What steps she is taking to increase access to legal aid in rural areas.”

“North Norfolk is a legal aid desert. My residents have precious little access to family, criminal and housing legal assistance, despite the best efforts of local organisations such as the Norfolk Community Law Service. We face huge barriers to recruitment and retention in rural areas, such as the cost of housing, poor …”

“Alice, none of that national infrastructure investment was specifically spent at this transmission site.”

“None of that money was spent at that transmission site.”

“Eliane, it is the same question for you. Thomas is paying you £135 million a year. Some of that is for juice, but some of that is also for the stuff you have to do to keep the lights on. How does that work? How much are you spending in that area?”