Speeches by Dollimore.

“That was also to pay some money to bonuses and dividends; the two are linked, so address the two together.”

“As the chairman of the company, if you think bonuses are so important to rewarding performance—”

“How can customers have any faith that you are committed to turning around the business and reducing sewage pollution incidents and water outages if these 100 vital projects—projects that you committed to the legal regulator you would do in 2019—were rowed back on?”

“Can customers have any faith now that what you have committed to do will be done if you row back on these commitments so easily?”

“You just said you do not think you rowed—”

“Just to be clear, these 100 projects were committed to be done in the 2019-24 period. Customers were charged on that basis for these works, but they were not done, so you have rowed back on those commitments.”

“Are you not aware of that figure?”

“On a similar but related topic, there has been a lot of discussion recently; we touched on it earlier in terms of the various trade deal conversations ongoing. The Government have previously said that chlorinated chicken and hormone-treated beef are no-go areas. Are you happy to confirm that to the Committee?”

“I am aware this has been a fairly long questioning session, so I will keep this brief. I just wanted to touch on animal welfare more broadly, which falls within your ministerial portfolio. Obviously, we all have many constituents who care deeply about animal welfare. We are a nation of animal lovers. The Government mad…”

“We saw someone whose van had been stopped and was being examined. I have never seen somebody so relaxed and chilled out about the fact that their van was being examined by Border Force and other officials. The more punishments and the more we can deter that, the better.”

“Does DEFRA have any insights on what the market is for this illegal meat? Where is it going? What is driving that here? Is there work that can be done here at the demand level? Can we do more work there to prevent that flow?”

“Part of what we picked up when we were there was that people wrongly feel that they can get off scot-free if they bring in meat illegally. What new steps can be taken by this Government? I know that there has been a discussion about crushing cars.”

“A film is played before your flight lands. I hear the commitment from you as the Minister on pushing as hard as you can, but perhaps it is a takeaway for us as a Committee as well that we need to ask the airlines.”

“On the topic of illegal meat imports, which is a huge issue and something that the Committee was able to see at first hand on our visit recently to Dover port, we know that this carries a huge risk to public health. Our farming community is also extremely worried about illegal meat imports coming in. As we have just he…”

“It is also important that we look at where we can learn from other countries that are doing this well. Some countries in Asia are very rigorous.”

“On the theme of fixing the roof while the sun is shining, and horizon scanning, something that I was very alarmed to hear about as a south coast Member of Parliament was the risk of mosquito-borne diseases in the future. Is that on your radar? Is it something that you are working on?”

“Gareth, as the person before us with probably the most institutional memory here, having been in post since July 2019, the year after Exercise Blackthorne was conducted, it just strikes me as a little unsettling that you cannot give the Committee an assurance that the serious recommendations since 2018 and 2019, when y…”

“Last month, I held a public meeting in my constituency with over 100 parents, carers and pupils to discuss our concerns about the quality of secondary education in my constituency. It is an absolute scandal that over 60% of young people leave school without a pass—level 4 or higher—in maths and English GCSE, a trend th…”

“I thank my right hon. Friend for giving way and for the record investment of this Labour Government in fixing potholes. I particularly welcome the £21 million for East Sussex to fix our roads. Does she share my frustration at the fact that Conservative-run East Sussex county council has told me that it will have a lowe…”

“As we build new homes, it is important that we make sure that existing homes are as safe as they can be. I recently met representatives of a leading fire safety business in my constituency, who told me of the unacceptably long delays that it faces from the Building Safety Regulator. Will the Minister meet me and my loc…”