Speeches by Glover.

“Accepted. Matthew Pennycook: In terms of the top-up, we have already allocated £800 million to the affordable homes programme since coming into office. We have also pulled forward £2 billion as a down payment. A significant proportion of the homes coming through those funding routes are social rented homes—almost half,…”

“Q I feel it would be a shame for Carol Hawkey and Mike Seddon to visit this wonderful building without making a contribution to our understanding. We have had a lot of discussion about what Natural England’s chief executive said earlier. In her testimony, she was very clear that she feels that the provisions in the Bil…”

“Q Recent Government announcements on housing targets—around 1.5 million, but only 18,000 will be social homes—have led some to ask whether the Government are doing enough to promote affordable and social housing. Does the Bill go far enough, particularly in relation to spatial development strategies, to mandate more af…”

“Secretary of State, we had an excellent session at this Select Committee in January with Chris Boardman, the Commissioner for Active Travel England. However, certainly at that time, he expressed concern that the funding being offered would not be sufficient to achieve the Government’s active travel goals. I appreciate …”

“The Government have stated that, given a constrained carbon budget, “where emissions rise in one sector, the UK will have to achieve corresponding falls in another”. Given the commitment to aviation expansion and the fact that sustainable aviation fuels, at the moment, I believe, account for just 0.2% of global fuels, …”

“Thinking about other forms of transport, you have mentioned cars and vans and so forth. Turning to railways, the new German coalition Government agreement includes the following commitment, as published in Railway Gazette International last month: “The coalition now defines rail electrification as a measure to address …”

“Sure. Hopefully, as was mentioned earlier with rail freight, there is an opportunity to do far more in rail freight. I was told recently at a conference that we only have 9% of our freight on railways, compared to 31% in Switzerland, for example. We are going to have to decarbonise the railways, maybe to help decarboni…”

“We have some more questions about that coming up a bit later. This is the last one from me on this section. We have talked about electrification and battery trains and tri-mode, and however many other modes, but what is your view on the role of hydrogen in decarbonising the rail sector? There are parts of the rail indu…”

“On the subject of walking and cycling to and from school, we had a Westminster Hall debate on that yesterday, which was very well attended. Many colleagues across the House would very much agree with your sentiments there. Moving on to rail, Chair, if that is all right. South Western Railway, c2c and Greater Anglia wil…”

“On the subject of improving what there already is, the operators that are being taken in-house first are quite an interesting mix. Obviously, South Western Railway has many challenges, but c2c and Greater Anglia are generally high performing. You have previously said that you “will not hesitate to take decisive action”…”

“Given those contracts that you inherited and their terms.”

“Yes. My colleague, Rebecca, has a question about contracts and money.”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Stuart. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for South Devon (Caroline Voaden) for her excellent and comprehensive speech, as well as for securing the debate. My constituency of Didcot and Wantage in Oxfordshire has seen enormous population growth. New estates affected…”

“My hon. Friend gives an excellent example of the benefits of Bikeability. Since 2007, Bikeability cycle training has been delivered to over 5 million children in England. In my Oxfordshire constituency of Didcot and Wantage, 61% of year 6 pupils were booked on a Bikeability level 2 course in 2023-24; we aim for three q…”

“Yes, tackling pavement parking is essential, because three quarters of children support stopping cars parking on the pavement, as do 58% of parents and guardians. Councils in Wales and in most of England have limited pavement parking powers, relying on cumbersome street-by-street traffic regulation orders. In contrast,…”

“The hon. Lady is absolutely right. This is not one size fits all, and we need to recognise the different characters and characteristics of our areas. However, in the Netherlands there would always be this thing called a cycle path next to rural roads, so there is that segregation and people have confidence. That is the…”

“The hon. Member gives a really strong example of how, when we plan new developments and new areas, there is no excuse for not getting the infrastructure right from the off. Milton, a village where I recently lived, is split in two by the A34 and the enormous Milton interchange roundabout. The St Blaise school on the so…”

“That is a very good example of how spending money well can lead to a big difference. I have already mentioned the Netherlands, but my hon. Friends on the Lib Dem Benches would be disappointed were I not to bore them to tears by wanging on about the Netherlands at greater length. If I might plug an opportunity for hon. …”

“The example my hon. Friend gives from her constituency shows what dedicated infrastructure can achieve in getting more people walking and cycling. What needs to change, and how? First, as my hon. Friend just said, infrastructure and street design are incredibly important. We know from countries with high rates of walki…”

“I beg to move, That this House has considered road safety and supporting active travel to school. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mrs Hobhouse. I am pleased to introduce this topic, not least in my role as Lib Dem vice-chair of the all-party parliamentary group for cycling and walking. Walking and cycli…”