Speeches by Brewer.

“I have one more question, if I may. Alex, I am going to come back to you. You have talked about cultural changes that are needed to help drive uptake in paternal leave. Do you think the changes we have talked about, in terms of ring-fenced leave and a higher rate of pay, would be sufficient to drive those cultural chan…”

“Does anyone else have anything to add on that?”

“You would then have a double whammy as well.”

“Do you think that families are finding men taking parental leave harder than women taking leave, in part because of a pre-existing gender pay gap?”

“A lot of the reasons people give for not taking this up are things like affordability and the application process. Do you think that simplifying the eligibility criteria and increasing the rate of statutory pay would contribute to some substantial change? If not, why not?”

“It speaks volumes that you are saying that men are fearful of the same kind of discrimination that women have been experiencing for generations on this topic. I feel like that is exactly the point. Alex, if I can start with you, The Dad Shift says that the evidence is clear that shared parental leave cannot, on its own…”

“Does anyone else have any thoughts on that?”

“Q15. Basingstoke hospital, which is used by residents of half of my North East Hampshire constituency, has had its rebuild delayed by 15 years, despite no ministerial visit to see the worsening conditions. It is estimated that maintaining the hospital for those 15 will cost almost as much as the rebuild itself. Will th…”

“Is that the gap that you think could be filled with an office of social cohesion and democratic resilience that you have talked about? Is that where you see that fitting in?”

“Do you think mechanisms such as the national resilience framework, the National Risk Register and Defending Democracy Taskforce can be utilised to help identify and address threats to community cohesion?”

“How good you think the Government are at identifying and mitigating potential risks to community cohesion?”

“I just want to follow up quickly on the language around, “Someone has to be pregnant or die,” and the finality of that. How much did that comparison with the end of a career weigh on you in terms of causing you to feel pressured in coming back to those early concerts soon after your baby was born?”

“This question is for everyone, and whoever would like to can go first. This might be a really long list. What steps could be taken to improve support for mothers in the music sector? Obviously, the classical sector from your experience, Lucy, but the other sectors as well.”

“Lucy, I am going to ask you first, and just for the record declare that we are distantly related. Could you tell me how well supported women are in the industry around maternity and returning to work after having a child?”

“People in my constituency are passionate about protecting our environment, and they know that if we are to do that, we need to produce more renewable energy. However, in North East Hampshire, as in many other areas of the UK, we are also protective of our arable farming land, which is so essential for our food security…”

“My hon. Friend is of course correct. This should not be just about cost savings for those who can afford installation in the first place. In North East Hampshire, we have some fantastic examples of community investment in renewables. Hart district council has installed 121 photovoltaic panels on the roof of its offices…”

“People in North East Hampshire have told me loud and clear that they want their democratic right to vote in May. Given that councillors up for re-election were elected in May 2021, does the Minister think they still have a mandate to make decisions for their local communities?”

“Are we missing a piece of the picture then, in terms of reporting statistics in newly arrived communities? Is there a gap in our evidence there?”

“Thank you, that is really interesting on the intersectionality aspect, and a little disheartening but I am not overly surprised. I just want to dig a little more into some other aspects. Do you find that there is a different picture in different parts of the UK, or that recently arrived migrants have more or less abuse…”

“Irene, I wonder if you could tell me, are women from some Muslim communities more likely to experience Islamophobic abuse than others?”