Speeches by Hinds.

“Totally understanding and respecting that this is not your specialist area, I think VisitScotland leads the visitor levy expert group, is that right?”

“We know about Edinburgh, Glasgow, West Dunbartonshire, Aberdeen, Sterling, and there are some other consultations still outstanding.”

“I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his intervention, but we need quality apprenticeships. That is why I regret the fact that the independent Institute for Apprenticeships is being dissolved to be replaced by Skills England, which is not independent, does not have guaranteed business involvement in setting standard…”

“I will, but I will start by telling my hon. Friend about the lack of quality in some previous apprenticeships. I draw the House’s attention to the 2012 National Audit Office report on adult apprenticeships. I have time for only a couple of very short excerpts. The number of apprenticeships had increased dramatically in…”

“It is an honour to be the final Back-Bench speaker in this debate. I do not feel like I am at the back of the queue; I am just not at the front. It is good to see some Liberal Democrats with us today. We know that student finance is a particularly important subject for debate in the Liberal Democrat party. In fairness,…”

“Perhaps that is what happens when you have 48 directors. They all need some reading material. A spreadsheet is better than a—”

“In most sectors of business there are metrics that are commonly used. I worked in the travel trade and there are standard ways that you measure hotel occupancy, revenue per passenger kilometre on a plane, and this, that and the other. Are there common bits of data that you might expect Government Departments, the Arts …”

“Margaret, for the avoidance of doubt, culture has never left the education system. You can have debates about aspects of it. As you say, let us get the Education Minister in, and we will hear about those plans. One of the themes in your report is for better data. It sounds as though there is pointless data collection g…”

“A massive organisation.”

“It is the buses.”

“No, you are absolutely right, and it rarely gets talked about. The cost of coach travel has changed so much.”

“A lot of us are probably struck by your 48 directors stat. At some point we will have the opportunity to go to the Arts Council directly and put some challenging questions to some of this stuff. Is it one of your recommendations that there just should not be anything like that number of senior management positions in t…”

“It is not today’s subject.”

“You said projects that take public money and then go on to be commercially successful should return some of that money to the Arts Council. How would that work in practice? There would presumably be an agreement in advance that if you are in receipt of funds, and you trip over some threshold level, you give some money …”

“Really? Why do you think it has not happened before now?”

“It could form the equivalent of BBC Studios or—”

“That is a failing.”

“Thousands of households in East Hampshire are off grid. They face much bigger swings in energy prices, and of course when their tank happens to run out is a matter of chance. For them, the statement will be good news, but how will the Government ensure that take-up is maximised among vulnerable and low-income customers…”

“But do we know—sorry, I am being slightly flippant, obviously, in the way I word it.”

“I think you just said “looking for bad content”, which sounded like things to knock out rather than a positive seal of approval. Can you talk us through how that process works and the extent of automation or active human involvement? Does everything that says Made for Kids have to have been watched in full by a YouTube…”