Speeches by Chamberlain.

“Hospitality businesses in North East Fife support the Lib Dem call for a VAT cut for hospitality, but the Government do not seem to be moving on it. Will the Minister consult with businesses on a lower national insurance contribution band for part-time workers? Part-time opportunities are so important to hospitality an…”

“The Government have repeatedly pointed to the fuel finder website as the best way to keep prices low through competition. Yet in my constituency costs have gone up so much that there is basically no variation between the pumps. Those high prices are crippling for everyone, but particularly for local businesses such as …”

“My hon. Friend the Member for Carshalton and Wallington (Bobby Dean), who is usually here for business questions, is probably very glad not to be here, given Arsenal’s success. It has been very good to see teams succeed in English football who have not succeeded for some time, but it was a different case in Scotland at…”

“My constituent Antonis Vradis is a much-valued and loved professor at the University of St Andrews. He is one of a number of British citizens who have been detained by the Israeli authorities in international waters and taken to Israel for processing. I have been in touch with his family, friends, colleagues and studen…”

“The Minister has so far given us two reasons why the statement he has just given at the Dispatch Box is different from the one that was sent, embargoed, an hour ago. If it is the same as the written statement, why was it sent out as embargoed? I should also say, dare I say it, that transparency should not be trumped by…”

“A recent petition in Cupar calling for face-to-face banking services has now been signed by 585 local residents—a sign that there is a real strength of feeling in Cupar about its banking services. The petition “Declares that everyone should be able to access cash and banking advice when they need it…that this should no…”

“May I start by associating myself with the remarks of the Leader of the House in relation to Brighton and the elections? It is not easy to stand for elected office, particularly if you are not successful, and it does take a toll, so I thank him for those remarks. I also thank the Leader of the House for providing us wi…”

“The Minister talks about profitability, but there is no doubt that the Government’s failed family farm tax has had a huge impact. She also talks about building resilience for the future with schemes, but does she accept that we need next generation schemes to attract young people into the industry, because from a famil…”

“I agree with my hon. Friend about sustainability. We are in a cost of living crisis, but also a cost of producing food crisis. It took the Government seven weeks to respond to my written question about fertiliser costs. Does he agree that the Government need to be much more on the front foot on these issues?”

“My hon. Friend is illustrating the challenges really well. I look forward to the Minister’s response, because I think, given the nods I have seen, that Government Members agree. I have a constituent—a councillor, in fact—who wants to be a driving instructor, and he has experienced the same delays. Does my hon. Friend a…”

“First, I am grateful to the Leader of the House for bringing my previous concerns about the management of visa cases in the Home Office to the Department’s attention. However, at the moment I have a very acute issue with immediate support needs. A constituent of mine is in the USA, where his baby was born through surro…”

“I am conscious that this debate is on a devolved matter, but I thought it worth mentioning that the Allied Health Professions Federation held a hustings for the Scottish Parliament elections earlier today. Topics included having input from health professionals during primary care and the crisis in vacancies. On rehab, …”

“From a personal perspective, no, but people are always looking for qualitative and quantitative data to rank MPs. Our performance as MPs will always be, ultimately, entirely subjective and, rightly, our constituents will decide accordingly. But there is no doubt that some of that more quantitative stuff will have an im…”

“I would say that the Procedure Committee’s inquiry is part of Parliament’s response to the poor value that we are seeing from written parliamentary questions. I think we said last week, and I am sure Alex agreed, that we often found that the answers we were being given were pretty vague. That actually just meant that m…”

“I do not think that there is anything else. We have covered the main themes. It is very good that the Procedure Committee is also reaching out to Back Benchers to get their input on written parliamentary questions. Alex has just mentioned political games, which may be too strong a term. The Opposition, whether that be …”

“In my response before we suspended, I was talking about the different types of written parliamentary questions and categorising them as Front-Bench, departmentally focused questions and, potentially, Back-Bench, more constituency-focused questions. My view is that a lot of the time we are asking written parliamentary q…”

“When I think about written parliamentary questions, there are two distinct types. There are the questions that Front Benchers—I am sitting here as the Chief Whip for the third party—ask in relation to their portfolio, and there is a political campaigning aspect to that. The other piece is Back Benchers, who might have …”

“I think we have been quite clear to the Committee already that we are not. We believe that the volume of written parliamentary questions, which is one of the things that this Committee is considering, has been driven by the delays in responses. I think we have all been in the Chamber when points of order have been made…”

“This is where the role of the House in educating the wider public is very important. I found it interesting that in the last Parliament there were a number of newspaper articles that asked, “How hard is your MP working?”, and written parliamentary questions were part of that. Dare I say it, I was very happy to do well …”

“I think so, generally. I think that last week I alluded to other concerns that I have about resources in the Table Office, particularly in relation to Opposition days and ensuring that we respond appropriately to amendments. But it is always about making reviews on a regular basis. If we see a huge increase in written …”