Speeches by Jermy.

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Christopher. I thank the hon. Member for Gordon and Buchan (Harriet Cross) for securing this important debate. I am very proud of the more than 500 farms in my constituency. Since I was elected, I have been delighted to meet with more than 100 of them. Many of them ar…”

“I thank my right hon. Friend for his leadership on this issue. One of the leading causes of disability, particularly for working-age adults, is stroke. It is a subject I know all too well; my dad had a life-altering stroke at 55, and 10 years later, just days after his 65th birthday, it was a stroke that killed him. Du…”

“Many independent pig producers, including smaller family farms in my South West Norfolk constituency, have been served notice on their contracts by processors. The National Pig Association anticipates that, by November, more than 10,000 pigs a week could be without an outlet to be sold. Will my hon. Friend therefore ag…”

“I think it is fair to say it is not just Thames Water that has concerned us as a Committee. Two evidence sessions that were particularly concerning were with South East Water. Is it close to the threshold for the performance SAR?”

“I do appreciate that, and the Committee probed quite heavily the compensation arrangement and made some recommendations on that. My point, though, is around the fact that we should be stopping it happening in the first place—the preventable aspect—and here we have South East Water with repeat incidents occurring that a…”

“I am pleased you recognise that with South East Water it was foreseeable and preventable. We established that very quickly as a Committee, and it was very clear. It was also clear it is not about individuals, and I am sure we would welcome the change in personnel but actually there was a more systemic issue within the …”

“I think we have established that we need reform of the water sector; I think there is probably complete agreement on that. Fairly early on, the Committee called for a full value-for-money assessment of different models for water companies. It seems Andy Burnham might be reading our Committee’s work, given some of his r…”

“What measures do you have if they do not keep to the spirit of the law?”

“Thank you very much for joining us this afternoon, Emma. As you will no doubt be aware, we have spent a lot of time as a Committee exploring the huge number of issues facing the water sector. Frankly, there have been times where we have been genuinely shocked by the evidence that we have heard. I think it is fair to sa…”

“That is fine, thank you. Just to complete my tour of various water companies, United Utilities is seeking, as we understand it, to pay its chief executive an annual allowance of £435,000. It has been suggested to us that this is in response to the Government’s clampdown on bonuses. Will the forthcoming Clean Water Bill…”

“We have heard fairly shocking testimony about repeated warnings from regulators being ignored by water companies, and the Government have chosen not to apply for the SAR in relation to performance, despite multiple licence conditions being broken. What do you think it would take for you to use that power?”

“I think it is probably reasonable to assume that, as time goes on, that SAR process is likely to happen one way or the other. Could you confirm what preparations your Department is making should Thames Water become insolvent?”

“I very much support the proposals that the Minister is outlining. One of the groups most impacted by waste crime is farmers. There is a farm in my constituency where more than 200 bales of DIY waste were dumped on the land, at an estimated cost of £250,000 to remove. I welcome the discussion on fines, but does she agre…”

“Good morning. We are very pleased to welcome you here to shine a bit of a spotlight on the work you do, so thank you very much for coming along. In your response to Henry Tufnell’s question, you spoke very openly about the challenges in working across two different regulatory regimes. I suspect that one of the main con…”

“Lastly, another piece of evidence that we have picked up is about how people might be able to get the medicine they need but not necessarily in the size they want so they are having to buy much bigger quantities, and obviously that has an impact on cash flow. Not everybody can afford to buy and store huge quantities. A…”

“Is there a risk that if farming continues to be unprofitable and if one natural reaction to that is intensification, it will drive towards a practice that would be counter to what we are trying to achieve through the VMD?”

“You mentioned the national action plan. Correct me if I am wrong, but it does not contain specific targets to reduce antimicrobial use. Is that a concern? Are we on track to get to the 2040 ambitions?”

“We are all aware of the cuts to the aid budget and the Fleming Fund. How is that affecting your work? Are you being sufficiently resourced to give this the attention it needs?”

“It is fair to say that there is industry-wide acceptance that we need to do better when it comes to AMR. Farmers, in my experience, want to do as much as they can within constraints of finance, normally. You sit within DEFRA, which has other issues supporting farmers with sustainability and profit. How do you see those…”

“I was pleased you mentioned stockpiling because that was certainly one of the anecdotal bits of evidence that we picked up as a Committee from a number of different sources. Do you expect that problems will emerge as supplies run down over the summer? It is very difficult to quantify how big the stockpiles are and when…”