Speeches by Dixon.

“Sorry, but can you explain the acronym, for my benefit as well as the benefit of listeners?”

“I am interested in a couple of your high-profile projects that have been both behind schedule and—I was also going to say—somewhat over budget. Ottawa is £10 million over its £30 million original budget—that is a pretty significant percentage, with an overrun of a third on costs—and 18 months behind. The Washington emb…”

“I think that is a common theme from a number of the projects that this Committee has looked into, such as HS2 and Sellafield, but we did have the benefit of going to Buckingham Palace and seeing its restoration and renewal project, which we were impressed with. Obviously, with heritage properties such as the one you de…”

“Or two—sooner rather than later! I went to Zimbabwe and there are some wonderful colonial heritage properties that have obviously been in the ownership of the British state for a very long time. How are you balancing the needs and deciding, in these big projects, between selling up some of what might appear to be herit…”

“So you will be monitoring specifically and evaluating whether there is a change in terms of the outcomes and impacts?”

“And publishing?”

“On mainstreaming women and girls, which has been a policy moving away from dedicated programmes, all the evidence is that it offers huge value for money to invest in development support specifically targeted at women and girls, and gender equality. How are you ensuring that, both now and through the cuts, you are going…”

“It would be very good in your next publication to make transparent the different impact of allocations on protected characteristics, if you are monitoring that data.”

“The basic point you started with is that the humanitarian need is overwhelming the global humanitarian response.”

“I guess that is why we also need to invest in defence, to bring some security to the world—but we won’t go there. You have committed that you will publish the equality impact assessment, showing the impacts of the cuts on different protected groups. Will that include age and, in particular, children? I have received ev…”

“Older people and children are often overlooked in a lot of the development programmes.”

“We discussed earlier the spending review settlement for the FCDO, including the reduced amount of ODA. In the context of the spending review settlement that you received—we have talked about efficiency savings so you may feel that you have already addressed this—are you confident that you are going to be able to delive…”

“Could you give me and the public a sense of what happens if you do not get it right? You have some confidence intervals and a fixed allocation. If you do not make the necessary efficiency savings, the sales at the values you need and all the other things, will you trade off and have to raid other budgets outside estate…”

“Do you have a view at this point about what proportion of your total expenditure would be operational? Given that it is a shrinking budget, are you aiming to maintain the operational spend as a proportion of that—i.e. for it not to grow?”

“I congratulate my right hon. Friend on showing great leadership when he came into office to get those doctors back to work and end the strikes. The result of that has been falling waiting times and waiting lists, and I have seen the benefit of that for my constituents in Shipley; they are not having to wait for operati…”

“I am sure that the hon. Lady is familiar with the terms of reference for the Timms review, which clearly set out that its purpose is to ensure that PIP assessment is “fair and fit for the future…and helps support disabled people to achieve better health, higher living standards and greater independence.” I hope that sh…”

“I commend my hon. Friend for her excellent speeches, both today and on Second Reading, and for all the work I know she has done behind the scenes to get us to where we are today. I fully support her new clause 11, which would guarantee meaningful engagement with disabled people before any changes are made to PIP. As sh…”

“Does the hon. Gentleman recognise that the concessions that the Government have brought forward and the amendments that are before us today ensure that we are getting it the right way around? It is explicit in the terms of reference that the changes are about a fair and fit-for-the-future assessment, rather than to gen…”

“In my Shipley constituency, the highly valued Bingley arts centre has made great strides in improving accessibility for disabled people. However, with 78% of arts centres behind schedule on essential building maintenance, it is clear that more investment is needed. I welcome the Secretary of State’s announcement of the…”

“The Bumble Bees rugby union football club, based at the Bradford and Bingley sports club in my constituency, is England’s first mixed ability contact rugby union. It was founded in 2009 by a determined young man with cerebral palsy and learning difficulties. Will the Leader of the House join me in congratulating the Bu…”