Speeches by Johnson.

“The Minister says that it is similar in Scotland—I would be grateful if he could confirm whether that is related to individual cases or to a wider takeover of a failing Department. The Minister has talked a lot about the proportionality of the offences, fines, and punishments that can be chosen by trading standards, an…”

“Has the Minister discussed it with his Scottish and Northern Irish counterparts, and can he say whether they have a similar provision? If they do not have it, why do they feel that they do not need it?”

“With respect, if the clause said that the Secretary of State reserves the right to take over proceedings or the duty to enforce for more multiple cases in the same area, or take over the whole job of the local authority, that would perhaps make some sense, if the local authority was underperforming in its duties. Howev…”

“Ministers intervening in a particular case is obviously quite a sensitive issue, particularly where that is the prosecution of a single individual or the duty to enforce regarding a single shop. I can understand that there may be a conflict of interest, and the Secretary of State may be asked to choose a different auth…”

“Clauses 35 and 36 provide ministerial powers. In clause 35, Ministers can decide that they will take over a duty to enforce part 1 of the Bill or regulations under clause 13 in relation to a particular case in England. Subsection (2) of the same clause provides for Welsh Ministers to do the same. Clause 36 gives a simi…”

“I thank the Minister for outlining what these clauses do. I will not repeat his summary, but I will ask him one question: could he confirm what provisions are made for Scotland, please?”

“I asked about online sale and collection versus sale on premises. Finally, if an individual person is a repeat offender under clause 28 because they have sold tobacco three times, that would be fairly clear. If they have sold tobacco on one occasion, vapes on another and cigarette papers on another, does that still cou…”

“I had another question on restricted sale orders. Why has the Minister chosen to include particular clauses and not others? I believe he will write to the Committee on that question.”

“I thank the Minister for answering some of my questions. Another question related to clause 29 and appeal to the Crown court. How much does he anticipate that the average cost to interested parties will be? If he does not know, perhaps he could write to us. On clause 28, the relevant offences do not include offences in…”

“As the Minister has already described these clauses, I will not repeat that information, but I encourage him to answer my questions on the previous clauses, as they apply similarly to this group. The others were related to restricted premises; these clauses relate to restricted sales applying to people, but the questio…”

“When the interested parties are informed, could the landlord step in at that stage, as an interested party, to appeal the restricted premises order, on the basis that they are in any case ending the tenancy of the individual company or person that caused the offence in the first place?”

“Given that is what the Act does, it will be important for the Minister to consider the timing of the repeal. There are comprehensive powers under those provisions, and it will be important to ensure that Welsh Ministers are given ample opportunity and time to put in place new provisions to replace them, before the meas…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Dowd. Clauses 23 to 27 relate to restricted premises orders. Restricted premises orders stop sales on a premises whereon a relevant offence has taken place “whether made— (a) by the offender or any other person, or (b) by means of any machine”, and the orders prohib…”

“If I could interrupt the Secretary of State to come back to the question, I also grew up in the 1980s and 1990s in the north-east of England as she did and went to a state comprehensive school until 16, so I understand the system as it was then. That is a long time ago. What I am interested in now is how cancelling the…”

“Thank you, Secretary of State. I also learnt Latin at a state school to GCSE in the north-east of England, so we have more in common than we think. I wanted to ask you about the effects of the VAT. We have heard about children having to move schools, including some children having to move schools during their GCSE or A…”

“I am not sure that answered the question, Chair, which was—”

“I am not sure she has answered the question.”

“I have two questions, Chair. The first is just going back to what we were saying earlier about children moving schools midterm and children being disrupted midyear. You have talked quite powerfully about this being about every child in the country and your responsibility for every child, and that is good to hear. Some …”

“Thank you, Secretary of State. I should say I have three children who are at independent schools. In the explanatory notes for the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill it says the primary aim is that the educational system should be more consistent, which is interesting because “consistent” can be consistently good as…”

“Thank you for the answer to the question. I appreciate that. My second question was about degree apprenticeships. The degree apprenticeships offer young people the opportunity to learn and work at the same time, which can be a financially advantageous as well as an educationally advantageous programme. Does the Secreta…”