Speeches by Sollom.

“Employers across the construction, care and manufacturing sectors have warned that Skills England’s dumbed down reforms mean that apprenticeships will not be recognised by professional bodies. Today’s announcement of 50,000 apprenticeships is meaningless if employers will not recognise those standards, so will the Secr…”

“It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Sir Jeremy. I congratulate the hon. Member for Cambridge (Daniel Zeichner) on securing the debate. The Oxford-Cambridge growth corridor has had something of a tortured history. For nearly two decades, various iterations of the vision have promised transformational change…”

“We found out last week that the international student levy will raise £445 million from our universities, but only 1% of that will go to the maintenance grants that Ministers have claimed to justify this damaging tax on our universities. Worse still, the flat fee design hits hardest the universities doing the most to s…”

“6. What the infrastructure requirements are for supporting the proposed new town at Tempsford.”

“I thank the Minister for his answer. St Neots is the nearest town to the proposed east coast main line and East West Rail interchange station that would be central to any new town development at Tempsford. Many recognise the opportunities of our area, but my constituents also need clarity, particularly on health and ed…”

“I am sure my hon. Friends will be relieved to hear that I will be making a very focused speech. My new clauses 7, 8 and 9 address missed opportunities in the skills devolution elements of this Bill. Skills are the foundation of economic growth, which is supposedly this Government’s overriding mission. We have 1 million…”

“1. What steps her Department is taking with universities to develop its research and development policies.”

“I thank the Secretary of State for her answer. The UK’s universities do indeed produce world-class research, but I would suggest that we are still missing too many opportunities in commercialisation. The Government’s proof of concept fund is really quite inadequate—from the figures, it is 30 times oversubscribed—and eq…”

“In July 2024, inspectors rated Cambridgeshire and Peterborough probation service inadequate, with major leadership failures and child safeguarding assessed as adequate in just 28% of cases. The action plan committed to increasing probation officer staffing by 87% by March 2026, but the National Audit Office has now rev…”

“3. What steps he is taking to support the Probation Service.”

“I join the Home Secretary and my constituency neighbour, the hon. Member for Huntingdon (Ben Obese-Jecty), in sending my thoughts to the victims and their families. I pay tribute to Cambridgeshire police, Cambridgeshire fire and rescue service, the East of England ambulance service, the staff at Addenbrooke’s hospital,…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Roger. I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Didcot and Wantage (Olly Glover) for securing this debate about a decision that demonstrates at the very least a profoundly flawed approach to policymaking and at worst a wilful dismantling of excellence in stat…”

“T3. The Arthur Rank hospice in Cambridgeshire is losing £829,000 in NHS funding, which is forcing the closure of nine beds—40% of its capacity. Does the Minister believe that dying patients are cared for better in overstretched hospital wards than in specialist hospices, and will he please not fob me off with talk of c…”

“I too thank the Secretary of State for advance sight of her statement. There is far too much in this White Paper to respond to comprehensively in two minutes, so let me focus on three critical issues. The first issue is V-levels. The Secretary of State talks about ending confusion, yet she is introducing a new qualific…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Furniss. I congratulate the hon. Member for Morecambe and Lunesdale (Lizzi Collinge) on securing this important debate. Some Members may remember a debate that I held a few months ago on the contribution of maths to the UK. There was, I think, cross-party agreement …”

“I certainly support the increase in apprenticeships; getting more young people on to any course that offers opportunity is ultimately what it is all about, and I look forward to scrutinising the Government’s White Paper on post-16 education when it comes out—in the near term, I believe. Lifelong opportunities are impor…”

“I agree that resources need to be put in place to support the many good measures in the Bill and in many of the proposed amendments. In Declan’s case, services were created in the wake of tragedy and funding was found, but too often such services disappear when attention moves elsewhere. I recognise that the implementa…”

“I will speak to amendments 24 to 28 and 36 to 38 in my name, which address gaps in crisis provision and accountability for autistic people and people with learning disabilities. On Second Reading, I told this House about Declan Morrison, my constituent who died aged just 26 after spending 10 days in a section 136 suite…”

“T4. Rail commuters in St Neots face a rise of nearly £400 for an annual season ticket to London next year, paying over £7,000 for the first time for services plagued by delays and cancellations. How does the Secretary of State justify that policy to my constituents?”

“I welcome the Minister to his place. It is incredibly disappointing that MSD has pulled out of this billion-pound investment in the UK, including the loss of more than 100 jobs in important life sciences infrastructure. However, this has been on the cards for some time, and the warnings to Government have fallen on dea…”