Speeches by Curtis.

“I beg to move, That this House has considered the matter of woodland creation. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Lewell. I am grateful for the opportunity to open this debate on woodland creation, which my hon. Friend the Minister just described as the most wholesome debate we are going to have this…”

“I thank everyone who has contributed, including my hon. Friends the Members for Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard (Alex Mayer), for Cannock Chase (Josh Newbury), for Thurrock (Jen Craft), for North East Hertfordshire (Chris Hinchliff), for Camborne and Redruth (Perran Moon) and for Paisley and Renfrewshire North (Alison T…”

“I have a quick question. Jumping back to the point on social housing mix, Minister Pennycook, you made the point that you could spend those S106 contributions, or all the contributions that you have for social housing, on a smaller number of units with more subsidy, or a larger number of units with less subsidy. It sou…”

“We are now in an era where a lot of the people who would normally be expecting to buy their first homes are also repaying their Plan 2 loans, their student loans, and often at quite high rates. Has the Department looked at what impact the student loan system has on affordability for people buying their first homes in t…”

“The parent company has an insurance company, which you use. It would be good to know if it looks like FirstPort customers are more likely to get services from companies that are also owned by your parent company. If it is operating free market, then you would assume that it is the same across the industry, so FirstPort…”

“It would be an incentive in the sense that if this happened multiple times, then a new company would be more resistant to taking on a FirstPort property in future transactions because they would know that that is a faffy and difficult process and that leads to complications that could then upset the whole market.”

“The point is that KSI made £1.8 million in profit in 2024, for example.”

“I am Chris Curtis. I am the Labour MP for Milton Keynes North.”

“Your parent company also has an insurance company?”

“I also declare that I live on an estate managed by Rendall and Rittner.”

“Mr King, you have seen suspension, do you think that you are now meeting good practice for that handover process?”

“I have a very specific question on that point. You will say that every project goes through a very specific bidding process, in which case you would assume that you use an insurance company. I think the parent company also has an insurance company.”

“The Waterways estate in Milton Keynes was handed over to Neil Douglas on 1 September 2025. As part of that takeover process, the new management company has described it as, “a shambles”. It says it was not given any information when it took over from FirstPort. FirstPort stated it could not release any money as account…”

“Yes. Fairfields estate in Milton Keynes was also handed over from FirstPort. It went over to another estate management company in September 2023. That company has still not received accounts from 2021 and 2022. Is that an acceptable length of time?”

“I think the point that my committee colleague was getting at was that this is arguably an anti-competition policy. Ultimately, if residents have gone through that process of trying to move to another company and the former company is making it very difficult for that transition process to happen—intentionally or uninte…”

“In one constituency.”

“Mr Bulmer, do you think those stories are acceptable? If they are still occurring, do you think that FirstPort is meeting its requirements to be a member of the TPI?”

“Mr Bulmer, I think you have implied the answer to this already, but we have the draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill going through, the draft legislation of which this Committee will be looking at. Do you think that legislation should include measures for proper regulation of this industry and a statutory regulat…”

“Do you think a new organisation should be set up, or is it something that TPI or another current organisation should have the responsibility for taking on?”

“What punishments or disciplinary actions should be in place for companies that fail to meet the requirements that should be expected of the industry?”