Speeches by Edwards.

“I thank the Secretary of State for his statement. As someone who represents an area where more than 90% of businesses are SMEs, I particularly welcome the financial incentives for SMEs to take on young apprentices in the key industries of hospitality and retail. Demand for apprenticeships has been high for some time, s…”

“I add my voice to that of my hon. Friend the Member for Bexleyheath and Crayford (Daniel Francis) in calling on the Government to publish the review of market access for small breweries as soon as possible. I was delighted that Moot Brew brewery from Halling in my constituency produced the guest ale for the Strangers’ …”

“May we have a debate on the recent Valuation Office Agency changes to business rate classifications for flexible and co-working spaces? The agency says that it is just following case law, but the changes could have significant implications for businesses, some of which will face big backdated bills. Flexible working sp…”

“Before I became a Member of Parliament, I worked for the CWU at the time of Royal Mail’s privatisation, and I am sad to say that much of what we feared would happen has come true. Residents in Grain in my constituency reported receiving no first-class or second-class mail for weeks, similar to the reports of other Memb…”

“The Government’s business rate relief package for pubs has been hugely welcome, but other high street businesses in the retail, leisure and hospitality sectors are struggling. Will the Minister consider increasing the small business rate relief threshold to encourage growth and hiring? Over half the high street small b…”

“To your knowledge, are any expectations set for new Ministers when they come into role around how they will be engaging with and overseeing arm’s length bodies?”

“Thinking back to your time, was there any particular arm’s length body or Department that, despite experience being varied across government, was a really good example of best practice? If you were somebody in the Cabinet Office, is there anything about which you would be thinking, “That worked really well. We need to …”

“Do you think the Cabinet Office should be doing more to improve in this space?”

“You mentioned in some of your recommendations that departmental boards are not really abreast of their arm’s length bodies’ performance, and also their risk exposure, which is quite important. Are there any cases where that lack of oversight has led to adverse consequences?”

“Do you know why that is?”

“You talked earlier about ministerial oversight of arm’s length bodies, and we have certainly heard evidence throughout this inquiry of that varying across Departments. How seriously do Departments and civil servants take oversight of their ALBs?”

“After you made those recommendations, which all seem very sensible and born out of direct experience, do you get the sense that much has changed?”

“Net migration has fallen to the lowest level since 2021, which will have a significant impact on our labour market and economy if we do not train and support unemployed people in the UK into jobs in key sectors. What steps is the Secretary of State taking to target back-to-work programmes, especially those for young pe…”

“Earlier this week, those of us on the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee took evidence from the Cabinet Office on the significant issues with the administration of the civil service pension scheme—issues that are plaguing many of our constituents. It was quite clear that poor contract management…”

“I thank the Chair of the Defence Committee for securing this debate. There was a lot of focus in the House on the percentage of GDP that we spend on defence, and it is important to meet our NATO obligations. I welcome the Prime Minister’s statement that the Government will reach at least 4.1% of GDP being spent on defe…”

“We are all deeply concerned about the escalating situation in the Gulf. Following the Prime Minister’s statement yesterday, has the Secretary of State had any discussions with her counterparts in the US, Europe or Israel about measures to secure any nuclear or radiological material in Iran, in the light of the possibil…”

“T1. If she will make a statement on her departmental responsibilities.”

“You spoke earlier about a shared agreement—that the taxpayers should not have to bear the burden of paying for this debacle. You mentioned potential fines for Capita, but from what you said earlier, it sounds as though there were significant issues in terms of the size of the backlog that you were dealing with from MyC…”

“You discussed with the Public Accounts Committee the robust contingency plans that would be in place in the event that Capita was not ready by December. Were there any contingency plans for the issues we are now seeing associated with the transfer that you were able to put into place when it was quite evident that thin…”

“Ultimately, then, you had to choose the least worst option of those that were presented to the Cabinet Office Minister. Obviously, there was progress made towards those milestones just before the go/no go decision. It sounds as though assurances were given by Capita senior leadership, but they do not seem to have been …”