Speeches by Dickson.

“I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for South East Cornwall (Anna Gelderd) on her great speech and on securing this debate. On the Government’s spend on transport infrastructure, those present and the Minister may know that I remain a very strong supporter of the lower Thames crossing project, which will, when bui…”

“In my constituency and across Kent we are pleased to be one of the trailblazer areas for the Connect to Work programme, which started under this Government, not the last Government. It gives people personalised support to stay in work and to get jobs in the first place, ensuring that they have a long-term future in the…”

“I have a final quick question: was there anything that was not in the Financial Inclusion Strategy, which you would like to see in it, that we should we question the Government on? Are there things that would have supported the building society or the credit union sector that you still wish to see?”

“On the same theme, the Financial Inclusion Strategy says that the community finance sector can serve underserved communities. In my area, I have an excellent credit union, Greenwich and Bexley, which, despite its name, covers Dartford, my constituency. Since its formation, it has helped 17,000 residents. Currently, onl…”

“Obviously, it is a national investment, but these will be quite significant extra elements of investment for a credit union that may be relatively small. Is there enough business acumen in the sector? Mr Glen reminded us that previous efforts did not always go as well as they should have. Can we have certainty or certa…”

“I am a member of a credit union in south London.”

“Chair, I should add that I am also a member of the Co-op Party.”

“I welcome the statement and the Minister’s great work. Leaseholders and freeholders across my constituency, in places like Greenhithe, Ebbsfleet and Stone, will hugely welcome the cap on ground rents and the rest of the detail on the draft Bill. May I impress on the Minister the need for us to go further on supporting …”

“I thank the Minister for his statement. The pubs in my constituency, from the Growler Stop and Ivy Leaf in Dartford to the Bull in Stone and the Spring River in Ebbsfleet, are the heart of our community. Does the Minister agree that it is crucial that we find ways to protect them as places for people to come together a…”

“Communities in Kent are pleased to see that funding for police next year will be 20% higher than in the final year of the previous Government, with a target for 43 new neighbourhood police officers across the county to police our streets and rebuild community policing after years of neglect. Does the Home Secretary agr…”

“T8. Residents in Dartford regularly tell me that they want every pound of public spending used to best effect. Will the Minister update the House on the progress that is being made on cracking down on fraudsters and ensuring that UK taxpayers get back the money they are owed?”

“I want to ask a couple of questions about loan-to-income flow limits. As you will know, you have recently increased the threshold for mortgage lenders from £100 million to £150 million. Is that enough? Does that really support growth and competitiveness in the marketplace? It only increases the number of lenders by abo…”

“I have a quick question on pension regulation. We are now coming up to the three-year anniversary of the FPC recommending that The Pensions Regulator should include financial stability considerations in the way it supervises the industry. Thus far, this has not happened, and it is not implementing the recommendation. C…”

“Just returning to the US for a second, we talked about political instability in the US and how things like that leading to issues around tariffs and trade could potentially pose a risk to us. On the aspect of public debt rising that we see in the US, how do you assess that risk to the UK? For instance, is there a possi…”

“Is there a world in which reduction in demand for US Government debt could be helpful because it might increase the demand for UK Government debt and therefore shore up the price of gilts?”

“I thank the hon. Gentleman for his great speech and for the excellent way in which he is taking all the interventions. As someone who lives with a cat—I hesitate to say that I own one; it usually seems the other way round—I can see for myself, and from the emails I have had from Dartford residents concerned about their…”

“T8. As in many communities across the country, in Dartford there is a real need to improve access to places and spaces where people, especially children, can be physically active, including through play and sport. What plans are there to increase the use of facilities on school sites, including through enrichment and i…”

“My hon. Friend raises an extremely tragic case, which I will deal with later in my speech. She also makes that link between sport, gambling and addiction, which is so pernicious, and which we need to see action on to ensure that we create an environment in which people are prevented from becoming addicted, rather than …”

“9. What steps her Department is taking to improve access to youth activities for young people.”

“In Swanscombe and in much of my constituency, less than 50% of young people are physically active. That is only slightly lower than the national average, which is highly alarming. Under the previous Government, community sports facilities such as Swanscombe Pavilion in my constituency crumbled, with no resources to bri…”