Speeches by Payne.

“I congratulate the Golden Smog on its initiative. I look forward to having a pint there with my hon. Friend next time I am in his constituency. Gedling has nearly 3,000 businesses, 98% of which are small or micro. Retail and hospitality alone support over a quarter of the jobs in my constituency. Those are not just num…”

“The hospitality businesses across Gedling are more than just places to eat and drink; they are the backbone of our community and the beating heart of our high streets. From Carlton to Arnold, Mapperley to Netherfield and Burton Joyce to Bestwood Village, those businesses make Gedling a great place to live, work and soc…”

“With the greatest respect to the hon. Gentleman, the businesses did a grand job of telling the Minister their views directly. I do not think that they need any lectures from him on how to run their businesses. While café, pubs and shops fought to stay open, the Conservatives were too busy fighting among themselves to h…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Jardine. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Milton Keynes Central (Emily Darlington) for securing this crucial debate. I am proud to be the co-chair of the APPG on HIV, AIDS and sexual health, a role the Minister held and carried out with distinction for more tha…”

“I am completely aware of the incident, what action Ofqual took and why it took it. My broader point was just about how you try to ensure, if you can, a mitigation against that being repeated, because, clearly, Ofqual touched on, as you said, not-fit-for-purpose questions, inadequate training for assessors and a wide ra…”

“That is a helpful segue. The permanent secretary and yourself, Ms Grant, touched on the second phase. Just in terms of the second phase, I have a question around why the second-phase contracts are so much more expensive than the first-phase contracts, which is drawn out in the NAO Report and you will recognise. I do no…”

“Thank you. I appreciate your candour. If I may, Chair, I will turn to the awarding of contracts as a general subject. Perhaps this is a question to the permanent secretary and Ms Grant. If we turn to figure 11 in the NAO Report, this highlights the actual student numbers. I accept that these figures are from September …”

“I suppose what I was probing, before moving on to my substantive questions, is that there has been this reprieve announced by the Secretary of State in relation to BTECs. I understand that some of these are ministerial decisions and policy decisions. You will know that there is noise in the sector about the future of t…”

“Thank you to our guests. I have a few questions to ask, but, just before I do, Ms Kinniburgh, you said we should be shouting louder about the positive outcomes. Everybody on this Committee and around the country would agree with that, but, on the flip side, it also requires you to be honest about the candid failings th…”

“My hon. Friend is a good friend and a powerful advocate for his constituents. He is right that devolution in the east midlands needs to go further and faster, because areas such as Greater Manchester and the west midlands are much further ahead on their journey. Giving the East Midlands mayoral authority trailblazer st…”

“I thank my hon. Friend for making that powerful argument on behalf of her Derby North constituents. Having a Conservative-run county council is something we have in common, and in less than a month’s time, the residents of our respective constituencies will have a chance to turn the page on that failure and elect Labou…”

“I thank the hon. Member for sharing his view with me, but I must say that it is not a view we share in the east midlands. We have a partnership approach with our Labour Mayor of the East Midlands, Claire Ward, working with brilliant local Labour councils. I would have a slight degree of sympathy for him if he had not b…”

“The hon. Gentleman is right to pay testament to the Chancellor and the Labour Mayor of the East Midlands, Claire Ward, for unlocking nearly £1 billion in growth and investment from the freeport at East Midlands airport. He knows Northern Ireland politics far better than I do, but I think my hon. Friend on the Treasury …”

“Thank you for the opportunity to speak in this evening’s debate, Madam Deputy Speaker. I thank my hon. Friend the Minister for being here to respond to the debate. As my constituency neighbour, I know he is as passionate about Nottingham, Nottinghamshire and the east midlands as I am. I refer hon. Members to my entry i…”

“I have a follow-up for Tony and Iain. You touched, Iain, on the exceptional financial support regime. I think there have been 42 councils since 2020-21 that have been in need of exceptional financial support in terms of a capitalisation order. What else do you think the Government should be doing immediately to support…”

“Returning to the point about local government reorganisation, do you think there is a risk that this becomes a huge distraction? So we are instructing local government to reorganise, but actually, people know that potentially by the end of this Parliament many of the existing councils are still going to be in place. I …”

“Could you perhaps write to us and share some examples?”

“It would be helpful to see some examples.”

“I have one final question, which is for Sarah. Each year, in the provisional local government finance settlement, there is an envelope set out by the Minister and then there is a consultation period. Each Government Department holds consultations. However, for your Government Department, the trust and partnerships with…”

“Are you satisfied that the Department is getting value for money in the spend that it is making across local government?”