Speeches by Turner.

“I thank the hon. Gentleman for giving way a second time. He describes a picture of extraordinary success. Classroom-based support staff spend the majority of their time supporting SEND learners. Does he regard the SEND system as a success?”

“Why does the hon. Gentleman’s argument against central direction-setting not apply to teachers? Is he arguing for the abolition of the School Teachers Review Body?”

“That is fine—I think that applies to both the intervention and the response. A direct question had been put about whether there is an alternative proposition on pay and terms and conditions, which is the matter we are considering today. I hope we will have an opportunity to talk in much more detail about the matters th…”

“That is a direct question. We could talk about the way the PISA rankings are constructed.”

“I doubt I am going to do it personally; as with all these things, it is a collective endeavour. The hon. Member asked whether the Government are going to do this, but they are doing this—it is in the Bill. I ask again: what is the Opposition’s alternative? We are yet to hear it. It is worth reflecting on the nature of …”

“I think we have it there: the Opposition do not see this as a political priority. They chose not to take steps or to put forward meaningful proposals to raise the employment standards of school support staff. My challenge was: do they have any proposals for this group of workers, particularly in light of the Low Pay Co…”

“In addition to the interest to which I drew attention earlier, my partner is a trustee of a multi-academy trust. The reinstatement of the school support staff negotiating body is a hugely welcome measure and long overdue. It is a real shame to hear that there will be cross-party division on this question, because the c…”

“I will pick up the point just made about the changes made in 2017. Some of the opposition at that time came from the august institution of the Institute of Economic Affairs, which said that, if the regulations were introduced, “they may encourage outsourcing of lower-paid jobs which happen to be taken by women (to avoi…”

“I thank the Minister for giving way at the death. Does he also recognise that one example of a council that tried to go down the wholesale outsourcing route was Northamptonshire? We all know how that story ended, and Eddie Martin, the Conservative former leader of Cumbria county council, stated that the then Government…”

“I would say better, having had some experience. The hon. Gentleman might want to return to that point. On the substance of the clause, there were some concerns about the original incarnation of the two-tier code. It was purely voluntary and did not contain meaningful provisions for redress where an employer who had sig…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Mundell. Merry Christmas, everyone. In that spirit of glad tidings, I draw the Committee’s attention to my declarations in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests and my membership of the GMB and Unite trade unions. Clause 25 enables the reinstatement of one of…”

“That was quite a generous amount of time for an intervention. The hon. Member may wish to go back to the record, because the point I made was that the experiment over pay and terms and conditions has failed. The challenge to the Opposition was: do they recognise that there is a serious problem with school support staff…”

“It is Christmas.”

“I will not speak for long, because most of the points have been made in the debate, but I want to come back to the point made by the shadow Minister and the hon. Member for Bridgwater. There is perhaps a legitimate difference in principle between the two sides: when there are extreme examples, should there or should th…”

“I want to continue on the shadow Minister’s theme of milk. It used to be common in factories where there were particulates in the air to include a clause in someone’s contract that said they were entitled to a glass of milk during the day, because it was believed at the time that a glass of milk would remove those part…”

“Like my hon. Friend, I have intense sympathy with many of the arguments put forward by the hon. Member for Dundee Central, but the “Make Work Pay” document published earlier this year, which was subsequently endorsed in the Labour manifesto, stated: “It is important that businesses can restructure to remain viable, to …”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Vaz. I draw attention to my declarations in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests and to my membership of the GMB and Unite trade unions. Before we move past the hon. Gentleman’s point about information, which we have talked about a lot, is the core problem not …”

“I want to pick up the thread from Baggy’s questions about the forthcoming legislation. Obviously, we have the previous Government’s draft rail reform Bill in the public domain. How much of the new legislation is likely to be carried over from the previous work by the former Government, and how much material should we e…”

“I want to follow up on the comments you made, Minister, about wanting the new body to be arm’s length. Perhaps the last deliberate attempt to set up an arm’s length structure was the Strategic Rail Authority. It is fair to say that that independence, because circumstances changed, came to be seen as a problem in Westmi…”

“Yes, I want to follow up on the earlier discussion about an accessible railway. The minutes of the May board meeting of Network Rail stated that the lack of traction on the Access for All programme which had significantly underperformed in CP6 now created challenges in the transition to CP7. Earlier this week, the Mini…”