Speeches by Lewell.

“Thank you, Mr Speaker—I will do my best. I have listened carefully to my hon. Friend’s responses, but youth unemployment in South Shields continues to be higher than the national average. Hospitality is the absolute lifeblood of my small tourist town, and it typically employs our younger constituents. The local industr…”

“Please will my hon. Friend look at and speak to his colleagues about a VAT cut for the sector?”

“Please will my hon. Friend look at and speak to his colleagues about a VAT cut for the sector?”

“Thank you, Mr Speaker—I will do my best. I have listened carefully to my hon. Friend’s responses, but youth unemployment in South Shields continues to be higher than the national average. Hospitality is the absolute lifeblood of my small tourist town, and it typically employs our younger constituents. The local industr…”

“I thank my right hon. Friend for the package of support she has announced today. She knows at first hand that hospitality is what my little town does best. My hospitality industry, fairground and constituents will be very happy today. Can she clarify, as I am not sure, whether the 15% VAT cut applies to all restaurants…”

“For years now, I have been trying to help a constituent who has been the subject of repeated identity fraud via their NHS records. Meetings with Ministers have been cancelled or refused, and questions and letters to the Home Office, Ministry of Justice and Department of Health and Social Care always result in the same …”

“So you visited some of the hotels?”

“Minister, did you say you had visited some of the hotels?”

“One thing we picked up, which may not be for today but just something to take away, is, as you will have experienced, there are lots of families there who are distressed about their loved ones who are eligible and still stuck in Afghanistan or third countries. They were told they need to go through their MOD caseworker…”

“Sorry, Minister, can I just come on to that risk? We have heard evidence that the Rimmer review underestimated the danger to Afghans in that it did not take into account the extent of extrajudicial killings or reprisals. Do you think the Rimmer review was robust enough to rely on in deciding to close down the ARR immed…”

“It is coming up to a year since the super-injunction was lifted. In November last year, the MOD, we were told, was conducting an internal review into the super-injunction. Can you give us a progress report on that internal review, please?”

“Sorry, Minister. I think we are going to get on to the data control issues later. It is more about the super-injunction. What lessons were learned about the application of the super-injunction in the MOD’s internal review?”

“I was more interested in the MOD lessons learned. What lessons have been learned?”

“Minister, you said that the Rimmer review helped to inform. What else helped to inform? If it was not based purely on the Rimmer review, what else was the Secretary of State’s decision based on?”

“Although I understand that ARAP and ACRS were only meant to be time-limited schemes, why did you choose to close them to new applicants before the super-injunction was lifted?”

“The original ARR policy was for the route to remain open for six months after “break glass”, but it was closed immediately after the super-injunction was lifted. Was that decision based purely on the Rimmer review?”

“What were the other elements, though? You keep saying it was partly the Rimmer review, so what else was it?”

“Sorry for interrupting, but will that be made public?”

“It seems really simple to me. Can the MOD caseworker not just go and talk to them? When we were there, straightaway the main thing was that everybody was talking about additional family members. It struck me that there is lots of support in the accommodation for Afghans, but the main support they want isn’t there. They…”

“Thanks. That’s it, Chair.”