Speeches by Dixon.

“To clarify, the funding rate is based on the number of hours. There is no differential in funding rates based on the cost of attracting tutors, for example, between IT and digital and, say, catering. I understand that that one is not going ahead, but you take my point. There are very different labour market costs out t…”

“What about the funding rate though? The industry exchange sounds like a good initiative, but what if the basic funding rate is not there to cover the cost of the tutors?”

“My constituency has Shipley college, which is offering T Levels. One challenge that it has raised with me is that part of the reason for having T Levels in these sectors is the sector shortages, but that also makes it extremely difficult to hire the tutors. I really wanted to probe on two elements to follow up what has…”

“There is a stop-start approach. To some extent, it is due to a lack of interest. Certain T Levels have either never made it to delivery or have been withdrawn even before getting going. Then you have these other ones such as healthcare science and onsite construction. Students have enrolled, but they have subsequently …”

“You are expecting that it will be higher for the longer-established ones. This was the second part of my question. What are you aiming at as a target?”

“Bill payers in my constituency of Shipley are facing an 18% hike in their bills. By 2030, the increase could be as high as 35%. About 19% of those bills already goes towards servicing the debt of the holding company that owns Yorkshire Water. Is it not the case that our customers are paying the price for the failure of…”

“I represent a very beautiful part of the Yorkshire dales, in Wharfedale, and Yorkshire Water has been responsible for hundreds of thousands of hours of sewage spills into the rivers. It was fined £47 million by Ofwat for its poor performance in 2023, only for that to be repeated in 2024. Will the hon. Gentleman welcome…”

“Does the Minister share my constituents’ anger at the failure of the Tories to back up any of their promises about new hospitals? Will he reassure me that my constituents who are served by Airedale general hospital will finally get a new hospital to deal with the RAAC in an affordable, deliverable timetable, unlike the…”

“Does the hon. Gentleman agree that schemes such as the Great Northern Railway trail, which provides a secure, segregated green cycleway and walkway linking towns, villages and local schools, are where active travel investment should be prioritised? As the hon. Member for Didcot and Wantage (Olly Glover) mentioned, we m…”

“Constituents of mine value the role of the credit union, and the Bradford credit union in particular, for small savers on low incomes. Does the Minister see a role for credit unions alongside building societies in helping to encourage not only saving, but making early steps into investment, as we have discussed in this…”

“I recently met representatives of Morrisons, the fifth largest supermarket chain in the country, which is headquartered in Bradford. Since 2021, it has been owned by a private equity firm. Does my hon. Friend agree that we need to ensure that we retain family-owned British companies? When they are sold to private equit…”

“My hon. Friend makes excellent points about the older generation and their decision making on what to invest in. At the moment older people are often over-saving, particularly in cash ISAs or very low-risk products, because of the lack of funded social care. They are having to hold on to a lot of cash just in case they…”

“I think there needs to be consistency across Government Departments and across areas of spend, so there are appropriate levels of accountability and assessment to give reassurance nationally, while recognising that there is local accountability.”

“Are there no ways in which you can give a guide as to what the intention was behind this exceptional funding and other things?”

“Can I press you a bit further? We heard from Professor Travers in the pre-panel that so much of the demand that local authorities are having to meet is effectively a result of national decisions and national policy setting. Whether that is in SEND, temporary accommodation for homelessness, adult social care or children…”

“And would the local audit office have a role in supporting that in future, in terms of transparency on what is being spent and on what outcomes are being delivered?”

“We have heard a lot about local government having less of these ringfenced pots of money and greater flexibility. Will you be extending such flexibilities to allow greater pooling of budgets and allocating of resources between health and care, as the NHS Confederation propose?”

“I welcome that we are at the beginning, and I pay tribute to the chief executive, the council leader and the head of children’s services for the progress they are making in extremely difficult circumstances to turn this around. It is really important to recognise that, while in some councils there is a history of finan…”

“On the longer term, this is a major reform and it is important there is stability in how it then beds in given the transition. We have recognised that, in parallel, there are other reform discussions on. I would like to pick up on one in particular, which is the Casey review of adult social care looking at a national c…”

“So you are reassuring us that the timelines for those can match up, and that your plans will accommodate any proposals coming out of that review.”