Speeches by German.

“I warmly welcome the second rise in the national minimum wage under this Government. Some 160,000 workers in Wales have already benefited since the rise in April. Many of them are younger workers, particularly in the retail and hospitality sector, which is so important to my constituency at Christmas and beyond. What a…”

“I came into this place driven to make life better for the struggling families I saw each and every day as a teacher, and as council lead for education. That purpose guides me every day. I have seen far too many families fighting to get by, so this Budget feels personal to me, because it makes fair, responsible choices,…”

“Q10. With miles of golden sand and a bucketful of memories, Rhyl has been attracting visitors for generations. After millions of pounds of Welsh Government investment, and a £20 million UK Government neighbourhood fund, Rhyl is on the up. Does the Prime Minister agree that only with two Labour Governments working toget…”

“You have answered part of my question already, but I would like to ask a little more about the poor health outcomes that you mentioned, Meirion. They obviously have an impact on driving out-of-work benefit claims. Can you elaborate on the factors underlying those health outcomes, and what you believe could be done to a…”

“Do you have anything to add, Michelle?”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dr Murrison. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Kettering (Rosie Wrighting) on bringing this debate to Westminster Hall. It is important, but it is also celebratory; I do not think we do enough of that in this House, so I am glad to see the subject debated today…”

“Ensuring that our town centres are safe, vibrant and welcoming is hugely important in Clwyd North. I warmly welcome the Government’s safer streets summer initiative in Rhyl and Colwyn Bay. From walkabouts I have done recently with local police, it is clear that a strong community police presence is crucial to tackling …”

“So that support network around bigger companies and universities is where you see the growth?”

“Thank you so much—that is really interesting. Sorry, Chair, I realise that I am taking up quite a patch, but just to finish on your points about the labour market and building a skills base, transport will be absolutely crucial to that. We know that there has been some good cross-border work on planning transport infra…”

“What are your thoughts on the microcluster model—lots of small SMEs working together to build a bigger product to offer? Does that have scope to develop in places that are more rural, or coastal like mine?”

“I am going to stay on the topic of SMEs. What are your opinions on how SMEs can be harnessed to create opportunities for inward investment into Wales? That could be directly through a microcluster—we have talked about a hub-and-spoke model—and also indirectly to feed the wider infrastructure around a particular cluster…”

“I am a Welsh MP. In Wales, there has been an awful lot of work to try to mitigate the impact of child poverty, including work on the cost of the school day, universal free school meals for primary school children, and our long-established breakfast clubs, which have been in place for, I believe, nearly two decades. Des…”

“Sir Charlie Mayfield has played a really important role and has talked about changing the landscape of support for disabled people in the workplace from an employer’s perspective. What kind of changes might we expect to see by the end of the Parliament, and which ones can we ramp up now to get the maximum benefit early…”

“Welcome, Secretary of State. You have talked about the employment support that we want to ramp up for disabled people. The “Pathways to Work” Green Paper discusses that and the investment put into it. Is that level of investment still possible given the changes to the original proposals on welfare reform?”

“We heard in a previous session that the deal was welcomed by the Farmers’ Union of Wales, which recognised that it would make a difference, so that is great. We want our Welsh exports to go far and wide.”

“Welcome to you all. I am going to move on to trade. Last week, we heard from the Wales Office Minister, who explained the significance of the UK-EU reset deal. I wondered what your assessment was of the impacts that the reset deal will have on Welsh agriculture, particularly in terms of improving access to EU markets f…”

“Will there be continued discussions with the Cabinet Secretaries in the devolved Administrations?”

“That is my greatest wish. Thank you.”

“Let’s hope we can see those figures coming down.”

“You have mentioned health and education. It is crucial to have joint working so that there is replication of what is happening in this place.”