Speeches by Perteghella.

“I beg to move, That this House has considered financial support for small businesses and individuals during the covid-19 pandemic. I would like to thank the Backbench Business Committee for allowing us time to debate this important issue. I also thank colleagues across the House for their tremendous support when I appl…”

“I fully agree with the hon. Member. I hope that the new Labour Government will reflect on what went on, and will engage with all those who were excluded, so I look forward to the response from the Minister. Next time, inclusion must be the starting point, not an afterthought. Preparing for the future is not only about …”

“I thank the hon. Lady for highlighting that issue. I agree with her. As we have heard, the figures are horrendous: thousands of incidents involving horses result in injury and death. These incidents are widely under-reported, but the harm they cause is very real. Most concerning of all is that more than four in five of…”

“I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Newbury (Mr Dillon) for securing this important debate in support of the equestrian community. Stratford-on-Avon is a deeply rural constituency with fast-moving country roads and narrow lanes. For many riders, using public roads is not a choice but a necessity, and too oft…”

“I want to talk a little about exam boards. Ofqual has issued a number of significant fines to awarding bodies this year for breaching regulations regarding exams. Why do these problems occur, and what more can be done to prevent future breaches?”

“Lastly, it was reported in the summer that you were scrutinising Pearson's approach to A-level maths, following concerns about this year's replacement papers. What updates can you give us about the results of this scrutiny?”

“Can an exam board or an awarding body that is making the same mistakes year after year be disqualified?”

“How has the backlog formed?”

“Many of these breaches occurred several years ago—2016, 2017, 2019—so is the delay in Ofqual issuing fines because of this backlog?”

“That takes me to my last question to you, which is about funding. To what extent do local authorities currently have the powers, skills and sustained funding to deliver behaviour change at the scale that CB7 assumes?”

“My next question is for Ms Cook and Mr Park. Ms Cook has already mentioned consistency at national level. Many of the levels that shape everyday behaviour, such as electricity pricing, fuel duty, building standards and regulations and rail fares sit at national level rather than local level. How do areas of misalignmen…”

“Thank you, panel. My first question is for Professor Whitmarsh and Ms Cook. In your experience, how does the degree of ownership of policy and delivery at local level influence sustainable behaviour change? In your response, Ms Cook, could you address the role of public engagement, which you mentioned, in the ability o…”

“My hon. Friend is making a very powerful case. Does she agree that jury trials are not responsible for the backlog in Crown court cases piling up to nearly 80,000, and that the real causes are staff shortages, a broken estate, and 10 years of Conservative complacency that hollowed out the justice system and left victim…”

“In my constituency, car thefts and related burglaries continue to rise. Nationally, almost four in five car thefts go unsolved. This is not low-level rural crime; it is organised, highly profitable, and deeply disruptive and upsetting for families and businesses reliant on vehicles. Will the Minister set out what steps…”

“I welcome the revised threshold change; it is a first step in the right direction. I thank the local farming community in South Warwickshire and the National Farmer’s Union in Warwickshire for their tireless campaigning. However, farmers across my constituency tell me that the changes to agricultural property relief ha…”

“I want to put on the record that I am a member of the APPG on woods and trees. My question is about best practice elsewhere. Can the UK learn from other countries about protecting, restoring, and managing peatlands and ancient woodlands? Do you have any examples that you can share with us today?”

“I should just put it on the record that I was a school governor of a rural school for many years. Following on from Darren’s questions, the National Audit Office and Public Accounts Committee raised concerns earlier this year about the lack of detail surrounding the 6,500 teacher target/pledge. Do you share these conce…”

“My question is for Jack. How effective are financial incentives—such as bursaries, scholarships and retention payments—in improving teacher recruitment and retention? We know that some bursaries have been reduced quite a lot in certain subjects, so that might be an issue for concern.”

“In fact, my next question was about how the Government should monitor progress on this target. Does the panel have any suggestions on what measures or data sources the Government should use to inform the monitoring of the target?”

“Will you be monitoring the impact of any reduction in bursaries? For example, biology was reduced by 80%.”