Speeches by Atkinson.

“We have heard evidence that the Bill is a bit vague about what socially necessary means. What do you think can be done to ensure that everyone knows what it means?”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Jeremy. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Battersea (Marsha De Cordova) on securing this important debate. Our churches and religious buildings are so much more than the stone and bricks and mortar that they are made from, but if their walls and roofs fall …”

“Violence in prisons escalated for years under the previous Government, who left our prisons at breaking point. What is the Minister doing to bring down levels of violence in our jails?”

“Some car parking firms still believe that their code of conduct is enough—the code of conduct that they decide and that they police. Does my hon. Friend agree that we need a statutory code of practice so that car parking is straightforward, convenient and fair?”

“Last week, this Labour Government announced the freezing of prescription charges, putting pounds back in the pockets of people in Derby. I have visited pharmacies, including the Littleover pharmacy, which provide essential care and support for their communities. The Conservatives underfunded pharmacies and more than 75…”

“I completely agree. Firms hand out more than 43,000 parking tickets to motorists every day—one every two seconds. In line with what my hon. Friend said, I acknowledge the important role that private car parking plays, especially in our city and town centres. I want people to shop in our brilliant independent shops, suc…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Efford. I thank my constituency neighbour, my hon. Friend the Member for Derby South (Baggy Shanker), and my hon. Friend the Member for Darlington (Lola McEvoy) for the work they have done on this issue. I am not the only Member to have people stop me in the street or …”

“In Derby, and up and down the country, we often see examples where it is the same roads that seem to be dug up time and time again. Co-ordination between local authorities and other companies is so important. What can be done to ensure that we get consistently good co-ordination to stop that happening?”

“How can we share that good practice? People will be the first to complain, although, usually, some areas will be first to also say when something is going really well. How can we try to ensure that we are driving standards upwards, so that we are sharing that good practice? Is there a role for Government in enabling th…”

“My next question might help with that.”

“There is definitely room for improvement on communication. I understand that, if you are co-ordinating multiple projects, you need the time and resource to acknowledge when something has finished early and to make sure that you have a rapid response to alter the traffic systems that might be put in place. That is why t…”

“There might be opportunities for greater flexibility within a permit that says that, if things can be done more quickly, they should be.”

“I can understand not wanting to work for really long hours over really long periods. The concern is often where nothing is happening, just because it sits with different teams, or because they have booked it in advance to say, “We will clear it up at the end”, but the work has being done much more quickly. There does n…”

“If I can follow up on that, you are right that people have a lot of sympathy if it is emergency works, or things that cannot have been planned well in advance. You are right that there is a lot of anecdotal evidence that really may need to be brought together. The concern comes that, when there does seem to be the oppo…”

“Commercial sensitivities.”

“Should forward planning notices be made mandatory?”

“Just getting them to turn up sounds like it would be a step in the right direction. It is great that you are willing to look at how that can be facilitated, encouraged or enforced.”

“The evidence we heard was that local authorities are required to hold meetings to co-ordinate, but that companies are not required to attend them. Does more need to be done to require companies to attend co-ordination meetings?”

“Pre-sentence reports, as the Minister has set out, are important in considering punishments that can address offending behaviour and help reduce the likelihood of reoffending. But, very often, probation is stretched so thin that officers do not have time to complete them. What will the Minister do to ensure that, where…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dr Murrison. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham Northfield (Laurence Turner) on securing this debate, and on his powerful and personal speech. It is an honour to follow the speech from my hon. Friend the Member for Warrington North (Charlotte Nichols)…”