Speeches by Naish.

“I spoke to dozens of people on the doorstep over the weekend who welcomed the significant steps that the Prime Minister has taken to protect Europe’s borders and genuinely valued his leadership on this extremely important matter, so I thank him on behalf of my constituents. He will be aware that over the past week, Rus…”

“Although I welcome banking hubs, I am increasingly concerned that banks see them as an excuse to accelerate the closure of core services. Does the hon. Gentleman agree that pressure needs to be applied, first and foremost, to the banks to keep branches open on the high street, and that banking hubs should remain as an …”

“Just this morning, the CBI has said that Britain’s net zero economy is booming. The sector is growing three times faster than the overall UK economy, the average salary in the net zero sector is £5,600 higher than the national average and productivity in the sector is nearly 40% higher than in the wider economy. Does m…”

“My hon. Friend referenced a very high percentage—I think 40%. In Nottinghamshire, each month over the past 12 months we have seen a 50% increase in SEND diagnoses in comparison to the year before. Does he agree that more research must be done to understand the relative growth in special educational needs, so we can get…”

“I thank the Minister for speaking so clearly on this important issue. On the intervention I made earlier about empty classrooms, we are seeing in Nottinghamshire that there is not the demand for nursery places that there desperately is in other parts of the country. Does the Department have any appetite to think about …”

“This Government have made a very clear and welcome commitment to turn 3,000 spare classrooms into nurseries. Does my hon. Friend agree that where demand for nursery support is lower, we could look at alternative ways of using those classrooms to enhance SEND provision at a local level?”

“As my hon. Friend knows, I represent the nearby constituency of Rushcliffe in Nottinghamshire, where the average waiting time for neurodevelopmental assessments is 54 weeks. That is actually an improvement from a year ago, when it was 68 weeks. Does my hon. Friend agree that a lot of what she is describing is systemic,…”

“So if you just flip that then, those are the strengths of the multilateral organisations. What should we be achieving through bilateral aid that the multilateral approach cannot achieve?”

“Enhancing, yes. Jennifer, Abdou, do you have thoughts on that?”

“Have you seen other countries choosing to do that as opposed to going down the grant route?”

“I am not sure who wants to take this one. The FCDO has also started to use different types of financial products as well, so use of financial guarantees, for example. I think it is also using more British investment partnerships. What are your views on those other avenues for delivering support for different parts of t…”

“What you are saying there about DFID almost being inherited into FCDO—I am not sure that we have quite the same confidence as you that those reporting levels are as strong as they used to be. I will just put that on record. You mentioned a word earlier, which was sustainability, which is not really baked into a lot of …”

“By leaders but not the average person on the ground.”

“A British flag. It is very crude but—”

“When we talk about soft power for the UK, which is something that people do value coming out of this type of spend, for the people on the ground they would not necessarily see the UK. Would that be fair to say?”

“From the UK’s perspective those are incredible things. How is the role of the UK seen by those who are benefiting from the investment that is obviously being made by UK taxpayers? Is there anything to show and to see or are these just programmes that are being delivered through the Global Fund?”

“Sorry, Jennifer, but can I just jump in and ask, you mentioned there the multi-bis. What do you think the perception is of that approach where money gets tied up within an organisation for a particular country? Is that generally perceived to be a good thing or are there disadvantages to that for those larger organisati…”

“A final question from me. You mentioned trends going more and more towards multilateral over bilateral. I think that is what we are seeing here as well. I think the FCDO has us up at around 42% of the Department’s ODA budget now being spent through multilateral channels and 33% through bilateral spending. Does that bal…”

“Finally, Jennifer, anything that you would add?”

“I will start with Abdoulaye, if you do not mind. We talk a lot about bilateral and multilateral aid and the appropriate balance between the two. From the OECD’s perspective, how do you see the importance of multilateral aid and the effectiveness of it?”