Speeches by Kane.

“I am sorry, but I am conscious of the time. I just need the assurance that all of this feedback is actually being listened to and acted on, and it is not just read. I want the assurance that it is being ingested into the system and read.”

“Thank you for that; I appreciate the clarification. Moving on slightly, in my constituency, Stirling University, like all universities, is finding that our policies are having a negative impact on the desire to attract the best PhD students and researchers. Given how much value we place in this country on skills and in…”

“I am going to push this one more time; it is important, because words matter. When I am reading that Skills England is responsible for a coherent picture of skills gaps across the United Kingdom, it can be perceived as a tone-deaf name, Skills England, for what really is Skills UK. I want to make sure about that.”

“In paragraph 2.10, it says that the Government are launching Skills England, a new arm’s length body, “to form a coherent picture of skills gaps” across the United Kingdom. Is that correct that it is Skills England’s job to form a cohesive UK picture?”

“When I look at that integration between immigration and skills in the devolved nations, I want an assurance that, in terms of the policies, procedures and, Antonia, all the changes that you have suggested for getting the data and an assurance, these structures will be as strong for the devolved nations—so that you have…”

“You have; I am happy to ask a few more questions on the devolved approach to this. Listening to what you are saying on the devolved nature, while recognising that any variations are a Government decision, if that were to be the case, can you give me the assurance that, in terms of collecting the data and engaging with …”

“Thank you both for that. Can I now move on to paragraph 2.10 of the Report? This is about the Government’s plans, announced in July, to develop closer links between immigration policy and sectoral labour market policies, with all the intentions listed in that paragraph. Simon, how will improving the links between immig…”

“Recognising how new into the job you are, can you give us an indication of how long you think it will take to get these processes in place? I am not looking for a date.”

“I want to talk first about paragraphs 2.4 and 2.9 of the Report. Paragraph 2.4 says, “In considering entry requirements on the Skilled Worker visa route, the Home Office must balance government immigration policy with the priorities of other departments and the route’s objective to enable employers to recruit the skill…”

“If it is useful feedback to hear, I am hearing a lot of frustrated researchers and professors at universities say that it is not working for them. Their frustration is palpable when they are writing to me, but thank you for that. Antonia, you look like you want to say something.”

“Can I finally ask about paragraph 1.11 in the Report? This is about the additional charges that are levied. There is a section on the immigration skills charge where it says, “DfE does not directly receive this income, so it is unclear how the money is allocated by HM Treasury, or spent.” I do not know who wants to tak…”

“Let me ask it this way. Is there a curiosity being expressed by your Department as to what is happening with this? Are you engaging with the Treasury to get a better understanding of it?”

“I have one final point. In my constituency, Camphill Blair Drummond is a remarkable residential service for people with learning disabilities. It attracts volunteers from all over the world to work with residents. It is reporting to me that the high increase in, for example, the health surcharge is limiting who they ar…”

“Thank you. I can write you on that one, but certainly it is being caught up in that. It is reporting to me that the health surcharge is causing problems.”

“It is the concept of the impact it is having on volunteering. I think that volunteering helps to build the skilled workers of the future; it is something that they do prior to them becoming the skilled workers we want in 10 years’ time. I will happily take that up.”

“Can I quickly talk about customer experience? This is about paragraph 3.7 and 3.8. I am conscious of time, and I did want to get into this a little bit more. Given that figure 8 shows that you are getting good feedback from your customers on the bits of the process that they do not like or they are having difficulties …”

“As MPs, we can tell you from the casework that we have received that we do get some frustrated applicants coming in. We can certainly see that there is an issue. Your target is to have an 80% good feedback response. Can I suggest to you that your target should be 100%, and then we will measure against that? Aiming for …”

“I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Dunfermline and Dollar (Graeme Downie) for securing this important debate. Parkinson’s UK tells me that there are about 230 people living with the condition in my constituency of Stirling and Strathallan. Across Scotland, almost one in six people with Parkinson’s are under 65 and o…”

“As you know, Mr Speaker, the parliamentary archives are moving from Victoria tower to the National Archives. I was fortunate to be part of the final tour yesterday led by archivist Mari Takayanagi. In my constituency, our archives hold treasures such as letters from Bonnie Prince Charlie and King James VI, and they are…”

“Residents in Buchlyvie in my constituency are losing their only pub, which is being turned into holiday lets. This comes despite the objections of local residents and Stirling council’s planning panel refusing the change-of-use application. The Scottish Government’s planning reporter has stepped in and made what many l…”