Speeches by McKinnell.

“Has this proposal brought sufficient streamlining for developers of the interaction with regulators? We know that the Government are very ambitious about seeing more housing development, but is it sufficient to streamline that interaction, or do we need to do more?”

“Could I put a challenge in there? I appreciate that smaller developers may not have the capacity to deliver on the environmental requirements of undertaking a development, but there is a balance to strike if we are not to price them out of the market. Has that balance been struck correctly? Otherwise, only larger devel…”

“Philip, are there impacts from the Act on the Environment Agency’s obligations?”

“Do you mind if I just ask one specific thing on that? Is it targeted towards large developers, or is it equally accessible to smaller developers?”

“I also want to touch on the complexity of the regulatory environment. I think the statement in the National Audit Office Report, which is from DEFRA’s independent review, is quite striking. It is that “our regulatory system is not working as well as it should to support either nature recovery or economic growth”. The f…”

“Since I was first elected in 2010, I have seen the misery caused for constituents in Great Park, Moorfields and Grove Park, who suffer high ground rents, hikes in service charges, threats of forfeiture and a total lack of accountability of the maintenance companies. I therefore strongly welcome today’s announcements an…”

“I have two follow-up questions. They are quite chunky, but I will give you both. One is in relation to what you just said there, Chris, about penalties and enforcement. Do we have sufficient capacity to actually enforce these penalties? Do we have the investigative capacity? Do we have the ability to make sure that tha…”

“Thank you. Do we have sufficient oversight of the state of the assets?”

“Is the intention that it should come off the profits that the companies are making and the bonuses that may in some way be paid?”

“Are there efforts to bring about more transparency as well? You have referred a few times to “as much transparency as possible”, but I would suggest that the phrasing should be “as much transparency as is needed”. There do not appear to be common standards for water companies; there are huge differences across the coun…”

“Who will meet the cost of those penalties? The concern is that cost is then just passed back to the ratepayer or the taxpayer.”

“The other side of that frustration is the frustration of the experience that customers have while that is going on. Helen, what incentives are in place to make sure that companies are minimising supply interruptions and maintaining the quality of the water network?”

“I thank the Secretary of State for this statement, acknowledging the real harm that social media is causing for children. As a former Schools Minister, I know how welcome these announcements will be for teachers and parents, who are contacting us in droves. However, as she knows, time is of the essence. All the time we…”

“Just listening to the opening comments from Simon and Jo, there does seem to be great store set by the new asylum group and what it will be able to achieve. It would be really helpful to understand in a bit more detail what that group’s specific role and responsibilities are. How big a group are we talking about? What …”

“Yes, but it is hard to understand exactly what this group is going to do. Rannia, can you explain?”

“That is really helpful. Q12        [1]Mr Betts: I think this question is probably to Jo Farrar, but you will no doubt tell me if that is the right person to go to. There have been a lot of concerns about the efforts to reduce the number of people in the asylum system, particularly at …”

“I am hoping that Rannia will be able to paint a clearer picture, because it sounds like a whole Government Department from what you have just described.”

“That is really helpful; thank you. That created a clearer picture, but clearly there are big challenges for the Home Office, which makes up the vast majority of the group. The job of co-ordinating with the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is really important and one of t…”

“Will the road map, which you said is to be published shortly, have clear accountabilities within it and clear timelines and timeframes for when we are going to see the changes coming to fruition?”

“In overseeing this from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, do you feel you have the means and the levers to get the maximum impact across Government Departments?”