Speeches by Turner.

“Yes, thank you. Mr McGookin, you mentioned that you worked at Austin and later MG Rover. I have a particular local interest: the site is in my constituency and the impacts and scars of that closure can still be seen to this day. Thinking about what happened to Austin and other transport manufacturers that have declined…”

“Yesterday, the hon. Gentleman said the Conservatives “will repeal those most damaging elements of the Employment Rights Bill”.—[Official Report, 4 November 2025; Vol. 774, c. 776.] Could he inform us which elements of the Bill they will retain?”

“T3. Dyspraxia is a common condition, but public awareness levels are still too low. Does the Minister agree that more needs to be done across Government and society to raise awareness of dyspraxia?”

“Is it not also the case that, within that graph, a number of the nations that the Resolution Foundation says have weaker protections actually have higher unemployment rates than our own? There is clearly not the relationship between the two that some in the Opposition have tried to suggest.”

“I did not realise that was a genuine offer. I do not have the ctrl+F function in front of me to do a word count, but, again, I would be interested in hearing an answer to the question I posed to the hon. Gentleman. All I will say is that, as his colleague the hon. Member for Mid Buckinghamshire (Greg Smith) said in Com…”

“I would like to draw the Committee’s attention to the fact that I worked for the Minister between 2012 and 2016. It is a question for the Minister, and Sarah, you may wish to comment. We have heard throughout this inquiry that there are generalised skills requirements within the transport sector that are subject to com…”

“Thank you, and you have given us your view on Government policy and regulatory policy. Throughout this inquiry we have heard that both the public and private sectors could be doing more. Thinking about private employers, are they doing enough?”

“Good morning. I have a follow-on question from the last point around technology and how that is changing the skills requirements. The broad end of the question is: what additional skill shortages are you seeing as a result of technological change? We are also interested in the age aspect. For young people coming into t…”

“May I invite the Minister to respond to two things? First, I was asked earlier how many times the word “maternity” appears in the Bill. The word “pregnancy” appears 16 times, “parental” 27 times, and “bereavement” 34 times, but we cannot restrict the debate to individual phrases. Secondly, this is not some abacus exerc…”

“Given that time is short, Madam Deputy Speaker, I will endeavour to keep my remarks brief. I intend to speak to specific amendments today, but I feel compelled to start with a general comment in respect of financial interests. Throughout the stages of the Bill, and again today, it has been suggested by the Opposition t…”

“I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for proving my point exactly. I will happily tell him that since becoming a Member of this House, I have not received a penny in political donations from trade unions. My constituency Labour party received a donation before the election, but that is an entirely different matter. I ha…”

“I was initially surprised to see this motion on the Order Paper, given that it is essentially a resubmission of a motion previous submitted by the Opposition and rejected by the House in February, but I should not have been. After all, they do say that culprits often return to the scene of the offence, and when it come…”

“I am grateful to the hon. Member for giving way; he is being generous with his time. I wonder if he could clarify his party’s position on the Employment Rights Bill. The shadow Secretary of State, the hon. Member for Arundel and South Downs (Andrew Griffith), said that a Conservative Government would seek to repeal wha…”

“I draw attention to my declaration in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests in respect of the GMB, a defence manufacturing trade union. Defence is an engine for growth, but skill shortages remain. What steps are being taken to increase the number of high-quality apprentices? If I may, Mr Speaker, can I also ask …”

“8. What steps he is taking to help ensure that the defence sector supports economic growth.”

“Harking back, we used to have industry training boards in many sectors, including transport, which set common competencies. Without suggesting that we wish to recreate that model, do you think there is a greater role for national bodies to set common skills profiles and passports? I know they have been looked at in the…”

“I have a question similar to one asked of the previous panel. Do you think we can make better use of overlapping skills within the transport manufacturing sector and, indeed, other sectors? If so, are there barriers within industry and Government that prevent this from being achieved?”

“If you have any written evidence on that, it would be helpful to have it.”

“Balaji, everyone has signed up to a principle of using these routes to attract people from a more diverse range of backgrounds into the sector. We have heard—to mark Ada Lovelace Day, for example—that engineering and computing are perhaps the courses where the gender divide is still stark. If you have anything to add o…”

“I have two quick follow-up questions, if I may. Mr Cater, I was glad you talked about secondaries because so far we have mostly talked about FE and HE. Local manufacturers often need to reach people before FE stage. An employer in my constituency—AGI Group—has a good pre-apprentice scheme. Do you think there is a case …”