Speeches by Wheeler.

“I completely accept and understand that. I was going to ask you to compare us to members of the public, but if it is requester-blind, that would not necessarily be possible. More widely, are there any particular trends across the whole of the piece that you have observed in terms of use of FOI?”

“We are seeing what appears to be an increased use of AI, for both asking and answering WPQs. From your work across FOI, have you seen any evidence of AI being used by people to access the system in relation to FOI requests?”

“2. What steps she has taken to help support people with the cost of living in Worsley and Eccles constituency.”

“T9. This Labour Government have ensured that, as of this month, workers in Worsley and Eccles and across the country get sick pay from day one, including low-paid workers. As chair of the USDAW parliamentary group, and having campaigned for this, I welcome this so much. Does the Chancellor agree that it is only Labour,…”

“I strongly welcome the steps that the Government have taken to bring down my constituents’ energy bills from the start of this month. However, the effects of the war in Iran are now beginning to feed through into higher food prices. Pressures on oil and fertiliser costs are likely to intensify, and I am concerned about…”

“To press a little further, I accept that those might be part of it, but we are looking at a comparison over time. In this Session, we saw an uptick in WPQs as we got into it, rather than at the beginning, which might run counter to the point about asking questions of the new Government. I also would gently push the vie…”

“You both alluded to the issue and potential reasons for it, but we have obviously seen a significant increase in the total number of WPQs submitted in this parliamentary Session compared with recent Sessions. I invite you to go a little further on what you think the reasons behind that are.”

“T3. I welcome the upcoming drop next week in the energy price cap, which I know will help my constituents. With the Government’s focus on the cost of living, we are all concerned that events in the middle east will trigger a price shock in the market, making that work more difficult. Can the Minister outline what furth…”

“While cost of living pressures are affecting people across my constituency of Worsley and Eccles, young families face a perfect storm. Whether it is housing costs, expensive childcare or student loans, many young families are struggling, and research shows that the cost of living crisis is holding people back from even…”

“9. What fiscal steps she has taken to help reduce the cost of living for families.”

“In my constituency of Worsley and Eccles, residents of Peel Green and the surrounding area, including the enthusiastic pupils of Salford City academy, are looking to get their hands on the Pride in Place money. What steps are the Government taking to ensure that they are at the forefront, they take the lead, and they d…”

“I thank my hon. Friend for another valuable intervention. I agree with her. The Government’s strategy contains a range of positive measures, such as increasing funding for human-specific technologies, but we can move faster—more, we have an opportunity to grow the strategy by supporting cutting-edge, world-leading new …”

“I think it will come as no surprise to my hon. Friend that I do agree with him, and I will be making that very call. We are in a good place when it comes to the development of alternatives. I therefore welcome the publication of the Government’s “Replacing animals in science” strategy in November.”

“I thank my hon. Friend for her intervention, and of course I agree. ASRU is tasked with licensing animal experiments and, importantly, ensuring compliance with the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986. The reason for the Act is to protect animals and to require the use of non-animal alternatives wherever scientific…”

“I beg to move, That this House has considered non-compliance animal testing incidents in laboratories. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Western. The uncomfortable backdrop of today’s debate is that animal experimentation results in legally sanctioned animal suffering. That is the fact that we must kee…”

“Of course. It will surprise my hon. Friend not at all that I agree. I will come to the wider context and wider solutions, but at this time, although we can look to improve the situation, we must absolutely look to make sure that current regulations are enforced as we speak, and not let slide, because there have been hu…”

“I of course agree, and I have some information that will illustrate the point and the importance of inspections. In 2024, just 68 establishments were audited across Great Britain. Only 10 of the inspections were unannounced. That represents just 15% of inspections, which is down from 63% of inspections in 2018. The iss…”

“I want to dig a little deeper on that and separate the different types of arm’s length bodies and regulators. I appreciate that this will not have been done, but how easy or difficult would it be to define the different types of bodies and put them into buckets that might or might not be answerable, if we were to go do…”

“I am not asking that.”

“Do you think that all the decisions that attract ministerial responsibility, including those of arm’s length bodies or regulators, should be exempt from the sub judice resolution so that they can be discussed in Parliament without parliamentarians falling foul of the resolution?”