Speeches by Newbury.

“I thank the Minister for setting out the measures the Government are taking, which are very welcome. Returning to the conversations I had with my social worker, one of the suggestions she had was to have a designated lead within local authorities and adoption agencies, to ensure that support is there for adoptive famil…”

“The announcement of a new school-based nursery at the Heath Hayes primary academy in my Cannock Chase constituency is very welcome, and shows that this Labour Government are keeping their promises and delivering for parents and children. As capacity is very stretched at Heath Hayes, this capital investment is very welc…”

“What we are hearing from a lot of farmers is that they feel like it is a real David and Goliath situation with the supermarkets, right? They do not feel that they have enough backing on their side to give them the voice to stand up to bad practices, essentially. That is a massive part of the concerns around fairness in…”

“Thank you; I appreciate that. A lot of us feel that when we are trying to raise this, it very much affects DEFRA and DEFRA’s functions, but it sits with the DBT, as you said. The DBT keeps saying it is a matter for the CMA but, as I said, I do not think the CMA are going to be making major decisions around a potential …”

“That is what I wanted to come on to really with my final question. As you said, while the code covers most retailers, there are several individual players who also have got a direct relationship with farmers, aside from retailers, but who are outside the remit of the adjudicator currently—in particular, the food servic…”

“Another point of debate in the sector is the scope of the adjudicator. Currently it only covers the big players with turnovers of a £1 billion or more. There are lots of views on this, but evidence that we and previous Committees have had clearly suggests that there is merit in the Government lowering the threshold to …”

“Often farmers feel that they are still identifiable, so the call from the sector is for a more proactive adjudicator, which would enable these things to be looked into in the round, without people needing to effectively stick their neck out and risk their income. I hope that is something that the Government are going t…”

“That is useful for us to know and maybe something for us to pick up. We have heard from some farmers—this was featured a “Countryfile” episode on Sunday—that they are afraid to complain about breaches in the code for fear of being delisted and therefore losing their income. That is despite the fact that the adjudicator…”

“Yes, thank you, Chair. The Groceries Code Adjudicator obviously exists to uphold standards in the supply chain and to tackle bad practices such as changing supply agreements retrospectively, late payments, and stopping or significantly cutting the volume of goods being sold without a genuine commercial reason and reaso…”

“I, too, thank the hon. Member for Twickenham (Munira Wilson) for raising this matter. I declare that I am an adoptive parent and a foster carer. My family is currently accessing post-adoption support, with a view to potentially applying for therapy. I have also had fellow adoptive parents in my constituency get in touc…”

“I wanted to come in briefly on TODCOF. This is one of the things that we discussed when we went to Sevington last week. The impression we got was certainly that they could not tell us to what extent TODCOF was being used. Anecdotally, we have heard that it is being used quite routinely to keep movement flowing through …”

“As we know, Ofwat examines many areas of water companies’ operations, and Yorkshire Water’s financial resilience has concerned Ofwat for a number of years now. Why do you think the regulator has cause for concern, and what are you doing to improve that financial position?”

“Yorkshire Water is privately owned by several overseas investors. It is financed under a whole business securitisation model which I think anybody would look at and call complex. What do you see as the strengths and weaknesses of that particular model?”

“Previously, Ofwat has investigated Yorkshire Water for the misuse of intercompany loans. They went as far as reprimanding you for making loans within this complex business structure without their consent, as was required. Do you understand why Ofwat and your customers would have been concerned by that?”

“Are you on track to meet that target in two years’ time?”

“In the previous Parliament, this Committee took evidence on financing models of water companies and some witnesses suggested that this WBS model allows water companies to take on a higher level of debt gearing—which you mentioned—without damaging their credit scores. It could be said that that is essentially gaming the…”

“Ofwat recommends that you hold the gearing at around 70%. Why would you not reduce it lower than that?”

“In terms of raising that equity, we have heard from other water companies that their owners were looking at the determination from a priority view and, on that basis, deciding whether they were going to inject cash into the business or not. Is Yorkshire Water in that position, or are you confident that you will get the…”

“Turning from raising money to spending it. Like most water companies over the last four years or so, Yorkshire Water has overspent on its wastewater and water allowances—your everyday expenditure. What is particularly concerning is that you have underspent your allowances for enhancement by 31%. Does that not expose an…”

“Are you confident that you will not see the same underinvestment in the following five-year period?”