Speeches by George.

“I warmly congratulate the hon. Member for Vauxhall and Camberwell Green (Florence Eshalomi) on the way in which she introduced the debate, and I strongly support everything she said. Indeed, I support the sentiment and ambition of the Government’s announcement of £39 billion in investment. However, the Government must …”

“Will the Government let us know what assessment they have made of Israel’s stockpile of nuclear weapons?”

“On that last point, you heard the exchange between me and the panel earlier. There was an expression of frustration on their part that this workforce planning tool has been sitting within the Department, effectively, or NHS England, for some time. From what I have just heard from you, Kate, it sounds like there is a pl…”

“We have notified the Minister of a question we may ask in a moment.”

“Moving on to the workforce tool that you have been working on for some time, where are you with that? To give a little more background, as I understand it, there is a 12% attrition within three years, which is a very high level. That shows that there is a tremendous amount of pressure within the specialty itself, which…”

“Hassan, I will direct questions at you in view of the time pressures. Your specialty clearly does not, these days at least, exist in the shadows. Yesterday we were debating your subject in a rather different context, very heavily in a very acute manner within the Chamber itself, as you are aware. Also, such brilliant d…”

“Yes, as dramas often are. Thank you for that. Leading into that, earlier you were mentioning—I think you used the expression—the old boys’ network and certainly the sense of club-ability, as it were, within the profession, in terms of one’s career development, being selected and those who rise to the top on that basis.…”

“To what extent are those conversations public, or do you have to work in the shadows within the profession? Clearly, you are in the public arena here, so you are speaking openly, but to what extent do you feel that you can speak openly within the royal college?”

“And to NHS England before they are merged as well. I am sure that the Committee is listening to this. In terms of the detail of the tool itself, are there proposals within it for mandation of certain safe staffing levels? It seems to me that having guidance is all very well, but we all know that guidance is merely guid…”

“The conversation has stopped. You are not getting answers when you ask. We have all heard what you have said and we will be speaking to Ministers, who are sitting behind you—”

“Of course we should uphold the right of every state to live in peace, but in what way is the UK military involved in this? We have just heard that IDF soldiers have been trained on UK soil. Is this the same IDF that has been engaged in atrocities, including the murder of UK aid workers in Gaza?”

“Our farmers and growers can survive only if there is a functioning supply chain, but since the creation of the Groceries Code Adjudicator, they complain bitterly about continuing poor practice and the risk of de-listing. Does the Minister not agree that it is time to beef up this organisation, and to amalgamate it with…”

“Of course I agree. Clearly, the stronger the links made internationally, the more they will benefit the UK economy. Having seamless relationships with other countries is important. My hon. Friend mentions the Galileo programme, but also relevant is US GPS. All these connections clearly need to be maintained and fostere…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Betts. I congratulate the hon. Member for Wyre Forest (Mark Garnier) on setting out the important case for the role of the space sector in the UK economy. It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Congleton (Sarah Russell), who outlined the importance and signi…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Dr Huq. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Torbay (Steve Darling) on the debate. I will try, in my remaining two minutes, to cover four subjects very quickly. The first is about the fair funding question or whether the funding to an area is sufficient. The ho…”

“The Minister mentions the importance of international partnerships. In the context of the unpredictable environment in which negotiations take place, particularly with regard to trade with the US, what conversations have taken place between the UK Government and NASA? It is clear that a lot of UK companies, large or sm…”

“The two sanctioned Ministers have been enabled by Prime Minister Netanyahu, who is himself subject to an International Criminal Court arrest warrant, and I wonder what the Government will do to make sure that that is properly pursued. When I was in the west bank only a week after the two Labour Members were shamefully …”

“It is clear that we are today debating methodologies, rather than values. Certainly, I do not dispute the Minister’s values at all; we all want to see growth, need met, and the environment protected. The question that we are debating today is the best methodologies for achieving those outcomes. I have submitted a numbe…”

“My hon. Friend is right about that. Affordability is defined for rented accommodation—either 80% of market rent or the local housing allowance, whichever is lower—but it is not sufficiently defined for the intermediate market in rural areas, which includes shared ownership and discounted sale. There are ways that affor…”

“Is the Minister not concerned that he has lost the audience among wildlife organisations and trusts that say they are offended by Ministers’ portraying nature as a blocker to development rather than an enhancement to life and the economy, and are now asking for part 3 of the Bill to be scrapped?”