Speeches by George.

“5. What assessment he has made of the adequacy of the level of readiness of UK defences to respond to remotely piloted aircraft systems.”

“As welcome as that is, and I am not crying wolf, the hospitality sector faces a very high risk of substantial business failure in the next 12 months as a result of the tax burdens that it has to face simply for attempting to survive, rather than a tax burden to help it succeed—in other words, shifting from VAT and busi…”

“10. What steps he is taking to support the hospitality sector.”

“I do know my right hon. Friend too well. I also warmly congratulate the hon. Member for Arbroath and Broughty Ferry (Lara Bird) on an excellent first contribution to a Westminster Hall debate. The coastguard service is clearly critical to a constituency like mine, with more than 150 miles of coastline across west Cornw…”

“Okay, but I am not talking just about LIFTCo; I am talking about the community interest companies—not-for-profit organisations—that are delivering those projects. On all the accounting and procurement rules within which you have to operate, I think you are saying, Bill, that it is preferable to work within those rules,…”

“I warmly congratulate my right hon. Friend the Member for Orkney and Shetland (Mr Carmichael), not only on securing the debate and making a first-class case, but on managing to contain his deep irritation at the way this matter has been handled.”

“To take one example, we saw in the HSJ that your cluster pulled out of a £33 million neighbourhood fund. Presumably that was something that was desired. What was the basis of that decision? Had the estimates simply changed, or the valuations, or had the accounting rules caused it to trip up?”

“My hon. Friend is right, and I will come to that in a second. I want to share quotes from some of many CROs who have been in contact we me. One said, “Many CROs…make considerable personal financial sacrifices in order to respond to incidents. Whilst nobody joins the coastguard for financial gain, the current remunerati…”

“I am grateful to my hon. Friend for making that point. Had we secured control between the 6-mile and 12-mile limits, as was promised at the time but has not been delivered, one could see circumstances in which local IFCAs, local management and indeed the Government would agree that there would be an opportunity to achi…”

“You are required to use it, but can you see the sense in doing that?”

“When we were in Cornwall—in my constituency—we saw a range of creative community methods of delivering neighbourhood health facilities, which achieved very substantial value for money. They worked to an extent outside the procurement rules, because they used, for example, community interest companies to deliver project…”

“Are you supporting IFRS 16? Sorry, I am not an accountant; I find all these terms rather arcane. Are you supporting the use of that particular rule?”

“Explain it in the simpleton terms in which I require it, because I am not an accountant. You are saying that the IFRS 16 rule protects the public interest in some manner, but creates an inflexibility that means that you can do less and it might end up being more expensive. As I understand it, it brings the value of the…”

“All the Minister’s points apply to retained firefighters. He cannot say that we cannot appropriately transpose that framework agreement between the MCA and CROs simply because they have to be called out within five to seven minutes. Those kinds of details can be altered simply by using the framework. If it is possible …”

“Okay—so you want more flexibility in that area as well. I think that that that covers it.”

“Briefly, as I do not want to test Sir Alec’s patience.”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Alec. I congratulate the hon. Member for Aberdeenshire North and Moray East (Seamus Logan) on securing the debate and making a strong case on behalf of his region in Scotland. He focused on the fishing and coastal growth fund, which is £360 million over 12 years, a…”

“What do you think about the financial reforms announced in the 10-year plan, in particular the setting of five-year capital budgets? You mentioned earlier the constraint of having to work within annual budgets while construction—the whole planning, pre-planning, predevelopment, development and aftermath—is clearly goin…”

“Like others, I welcome this report. The Secretary of State referred to Dr Bill Kirkup, who resigned from the Amos review as an adviser because he felt that it was skirting around certain birthing ideologies and caesarean targets. The Secretary of State said that “staff shortages can have a dangerous impact”, and indeed…”

“It is a pleasure to follow my hon. Friend. I declare an interest as the former chief executive of a registered provider, the Cornwall Community Land Trust. I am now a volunteer on its board. I have therefore worked in the sector for some time. First, I congratulate my hon. Friend and his Committee on an excellent repor…”