Speeches by Dickson.

“On this issue of optimism bias, it does appear that, certainly recently, compared with the other forecasters that are out there for economic growth in the UK economy, the OBR has tended to be more optimistic than the Bank of England, the IMF and the OECD. Do you still see some optimism bias in the way in which the OBR …”

“For far too long, Dartford residents have put up with very poor performance and high water bills. It is extremely likely that Thames Water leaks contributed to the collapse of the Galley Hill road in 2023, as a result of which Swanscombe residents have been pretty much trapped in their town over the past three years. A…”

“I thank the Secretary of State for his update and welcome him to his place. I join him in paying tribute to the exceptional bravery and skill of those who carried out the recent operation on the shadow fleet. Does he agree that it is vital that we continue to squeeze the Russian economy in every way we can, including m…”

“One other idea—again, it is about the way the transaction that people engage in is described, but I think that it is still quite important—is that the Student Loans Company, when it provides its annual statements to people on their repayments and how much they still have to repay, could include a statement about how mu…”

“Certainly not on its own. If it was just a case of legislation, it presumably would not be that difficult to rename it in the legislation.”

“Something that came through in the evidence we had was the psychological pressure from the notion of repaying a loan that will be there for a long time, no matter what you earn. One thought, which has occurred to others before—Sir Philip Augar was clear on this—but which also came through in people’s suggestions for ho…”

“If there is a marginal case and there is consideration as to whether something has met the criteria and whether it can be scaled up, do you see your role as being to get involved in that argument and press for an outcome, or is it a case of just making sure it is all being done properly?”

“It is very good to hear that you are already taking a hands-on approach to some of the aspects of delivering the strategy, having one-to-one meetings with some of the key players. I am very interested in the pilots that Fair4All Finance is taking forward, among others the small sum lending pilot and the no interest loa…”

“That is excellent. We will obviously wait to see what happens on that. Finally, on “buy now, pay later” and the framework you are introducing in July, which is welcome on many levels, is there a risk that, by introducing the framework, we are going to reduce access to that product and thereby leave some consumers worse…”

“Excellent. Thank you. I just have a couple of other very quick areas. On the issue of referrals and referral pilots, clearly it is helpful sometimes for mainstream providers to refer to other providers that might be able to do a better job with particular types of consumers. Is there a possible problem here with buck-p…”

“If I could just press you, what would a successful pilot look like and what are you looking for around take-up, number of loans, ability to repay and all those sorts of things?”

“One of the most important products for people who are under financial stress is small sum loans of under £1,000. These are standard among community finance providers. Obviously, we are looking to get mainstream lenders to try to take that up now. You talked about the pilot that you got going under the leadership of Fai…”

“You will be reporting on how the framework is working, presumably, and we and you can make a judgment on whether people are being treated fairly.”

“9. What recent progress her Department has made on tackling antisocial behaviour.”

“Residents of Darenth and other parts of my constituency are facing persistent nuisance owing to the antisocial riding of motorbikes and quad bikes in local woodlands over the last few years. I know from my conversations with the new district commander for Dartford and Gravesham that the police are starting to use the p…”

“I thank the parents, teachers and young people in Dartford who came together with me at the end of last month to discuss how to take action against what social media companies are engaged in, which has been described as the great rewiring of our childhood. I was pleased to be able to provide a report to the Minister’s …”

“Last week during the hot weather, George Dalton, a young man in my constituency who was much loved and admired by family and friends, tragically lost his life in a small lake. He was one of about 15 people, many of them young, across the country who lost their lives in water-related incidents. I am sure that the though…”

“Residents in Dartford, like those across Kent, are experiencing poor service and increased bills—including residents in Ebbsfleet, who have to pay an additional sum for waste water to flow from their community into the Thames. That is charged for by the Port of London Authority; it is called dewatering, and it is incre…”

“Just to quickly pick up that issue, if you look across the Departments at which ones are reasonably successful at procuring on time, on budget and with successful delivery, the MOD seems very low. Is there something inherent about the way the MOD goes about this, to pick up Chris’s issue, or is it more to do with techn…”

“I thank my hon. Friend for the excellent speech that he is making on a really important debate. My constituency, similar to his, has a range of small towns with different access to modes of transport. One of them is Swanscombe, home to the collapsed Galley Hill Road, which I have mentioned several times. Its train stat…”