Speeches by Newbury.

“Thank you for coming before us, Secretary of State. The road map sets out a vision for a growing role for private finance, nature markets and supply chain standards in farm support, while public funding would become more targeted. That is potentially a big gamble. If the market does not respond accordingly, that plan m…”

“Okay, thank you. Mike Wood made representations.”

“Does that not potentially introduce a huge amount of complexity to the scheme? We have just been through a process where the number of measures under SFI have been reduced quite a bit, which is welcome, I think, for a lot of farmers. Does that not add in another layer of complexity, where you are saying to farmers, “Th…”

“How do you see that working in terms of checking compliance? We know that DEFRA’s arm’s length bodies are under a lot of strain. Natural England has just shed 250 staff through voluntary redundancy. How will you make sure that the book is not thrown at people who are doing their best, not trying to game the system, whi…”

“A constituent of mine who served for 44 years in the civil service contacted me in May and said that, despite assurances given to Ministers that call wait times were down to a couple of minutes, she had waited that day for an hour and 40 minutes before giving up. Does the Paymaster General agree that civil servants who…”

“Cannock Chase knows all too well the impact of waste crime, and especially that of fly-tipping. Residents of Norton Canes and Little Wyrley in particular find that our country lanes, easily accessible from Walsall and Wolverhampton, are blighted by illegal dumps that are often huge and dangerous. I know that the Minist…”

“On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. I seek your guidance on how we can ensure that all Members of this House observe the courtesy of letting other Members know when they will be in their constituency. Last Friday, the hon. Member for Ashfield (Lee Anderson) was a keynote speaker at a Reform UK fundraiser in my c…”

“One concern that we did note in your consultation response was that vets might feel a pressure to prescribe cheaper medications, even if they are not the most clinically appropriate medications, because of this widespread perception now that the CMA remedies are going to result in lower medical costs overall. How big o…”

“Are you concerned that there will be that pressure—that vets will feel that they need to prescribe something, that they are almost cascading themselves in a way and, if something is too expensive or there is pushback from a customer, they might recommend something else? Your view is still that that is not appropriate—t…”

“That is a challenge. I have tried to do that before. It is not a good idea.”

“Like the hon. Gentleman, I have previously been a local councillor, so I understand the importance of planning committees and of local democracy around planning decisions, but I find the idea that local councillors will have no ability to have any say or influence over officers’ delegated decisions a bit ludicrous. If …”

“Lastly, another issue you raised in your consultation response was that changes to written prescriptions could potentially weaken safeguards against fraud or misuse. Do you think that those concerns have been adequately addressed in the final proposals, or do those concerns still remain for you?”

“I appreciate that you are still working through this, but we have noticed that the BVA has updated its guidance to suggest a move from a blanket treatment to a more risk-based approach. Are you considering that as well?”

“In making all those judgments of balance, do you think that is going to require greater resource within the VMD, or do you think it is something that you can cope with, with the numbers you already have working for you?”

“A lot of work is already being done on this, but it is a long, iterative process. It will not be a quick fix to move to something else or completely change guidance overnight. You have to work through a lot of issues.”

“Yes, I agree that that is important. If different practices in different parts of the country are taking a different approach, you will see the effects on waterways inevitably being quite different as well. That is a concern for us in other areas of water quality. It is good to know that work is being done to benchmark…”

“One of the things that we, the Committee, have heard is that when people look at this from a broad view, they assume that if people have the option of online retailers that is increasing competition and therefore prices will be driven down. At the same time, a lot of those online retailers are owned by the big groups t…”

“As you will all be more aware than I am, the most headline-grabbing story that we have had in recent months on veterinary practice has been the CMA’s proposals around reforms, which some have heralded as a major step forward for customers, but we know that in some of your responses to the proposals you had some reserva…”

“Touching on unintended consequences, we picked up on a few, too. From your perspective, with your regulatory hat on, what are the main risks that you foresee as we move towards implementing these remedies? What are you concerned about, even with the final decision, that you want to be wary of?”

“Yes. Is the advice to not wash your pet or let them swim for a week after they have the treatment? Is that the best way to prevent it?”