Speeches by Sullivan.

“Susie, how do you ensure the voices of military veterans in Scotland reach the UK and Scottish Government Ministers?”

“I thank the Secretary of State for her statement, and for the recent move to protect existing claimants. I appreciate that the adult disability payment is devolved to the Scottish Government. However, my constituents are really concerned about the potential for different qualifying criteria across the nations, which ma…”

“Almost 300 residents in West Lothian, which covers a large part of my constituency, and many others around the country will be affected by the shortage of galantamine capsules, which are used to treat Alzheimer’s. As a result of the shortage, local pharmacies are scrambling for provision, and some patients rely on twic…”

“I thank my right hon. Friend for his very welcome statement. In my constituency of Bathgate and Linlithgow, we have the Avon gorge, which is unsuitable for the volume of heavy goods vehicles that traverse it every day; a motorway junction at Burghmuir only for traffic going east, not west; and, of course, the long-awai…”

“You touched on the fact that you had to obtain workers from overseas to plug skills gaps. To what extent is current immigration policy impacting your ability to do that?”

“I understand that the Type 32 frigate was announced by former Prime Minister Johnson in November 2020, and there was a further announcement in September 2023 by the then Minister for Defence Procurement suggesting that the Type 32 would enter into service in the 2030s, but that did not feature in the strategic defence …”

“Thank you for that response, but Type 31 does not feature in the strategic defence review either. Do you have any comments on that? I understand they are currently being built in Fife.”

“In recent evidence to the Business and Trade Committee, it was indicated that skills shortages are no longer a significant challenge for BAE and Babcock, which was a shift from the evidence to the predecessor Committee in 2022. However, you have said this morning that skills remain the biggest challenge. Can you give m…”

“That point about retirement and perhaps changing the roles to support people to work longer leads nicely into my next question. How prepared is your organisation to manage the anticipated wave of retirements over the next five to 10 years?”

“Does it also give a bit more impetus to the drive to upskill, retrain and reskill our local workforce and build those pathways?”

“Does my hon. Friend agree that across all aspects of the Bill we cannot legislate only for those with good mental health, or for those who are loved, supported and protected? We must have at heart the best interests of the most vulnerable and those without a voice or without loved ones, to ensure that they are protecte…”

“Largely, you are looking at the operational costs in the context of the cost restructure and the quality of service improving. On that latter point, are you taking into account the consumer experience? I know concerns have been expressed by the communications consumer panel that the pilots have been mostly looking at t…”

“You both touched on ways that you have reached out to get greater uptake in consultation responses from various bodies. We know that in rural communities community organisations and groups such as community development trusts and community councils can often play a very active role in the daily life of local residents.…”

“Do you feel that there is a gap that still exists there with feedback from more rural communities? You mentioned local authorities, but as we saw on our recent trip to Stornoway, some people can live two or three hours’ travel from the centre of those local authorities, so it is important to get to communities at a ver…”

“Ricky, you touched on the pilots. How will the pilot sites evaluate the impact of Ofcom’s proposals in remote and rural communities?”

“That narrows it down slightly. Thank you very much.”

“Would summer be a fair—”

“If you are unable to share any of them with us today, I have to ask you when the conclusions of the pilots are likely to be published.”

“I do appreciate, Ricky, you said that you did not want to provide a running commentary, but I am going to ask you if you are able to share any key learnings from the pilots to date.”

“Can you give us an idea of the metrics that you are using to measure the pilots’ successes or otherwise?”