Speeches by Hurley.

“Q9. I thank the Prime Minister for his words in relation to the horrific attack in my constituency, and for the work that the Government are doing as a result. The families affected do not want their lives to be defined by the attack, and we must not allow my great town to be defined by it either. That is why I am aski…”

“T10. What more can the Government do to ensure that social enterprises delivering NHS services get the same support as internal NHS trusts, and play a bigger role in NHS reform?”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir John. My hon. Friend the Member for Leigh and Atherton (Jo Platt) said that ownership matters. She is spot on. Ownership affects who makes decisions and who benefits from those decisions. For too long, we have had too little ownership of commercial and community asset…”

“I neglected to declare an interest in my capacity as the chair of the all-party parliamentary group on the social, co-operative and community economy. Does my hon. Friend agree that all Members at this debate should attend the annual general meeting of the all-party group on Wednesday 25 March at 5.30 pm? Sadly, it wil…”

“Under the previous Government, as the Secretary of State mentioned in his statement, youth employment never reached pre-financial crash levels in any single year, so the country had suffered a long period of stagnation. Crucially, some young people, unlike a bloke my age, have never known what an active Government can …”

“4. What steps he is taking to increase air defence support to Ukraine.”

“The Prime Minister’s leadership on Ukraine has been exemplary. Does the Minister agree that that leadership has helped to secure US commitments on security for Ukraine, and that this demonstrates the importance of the US-UK defence relationship to international security?”

“Given the Government’s commitment to growing the co-operative sector, will the Minister commit to working across Government, specifically with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, so that high street rental auctions actively prioritise community-owned and co-operative models, and ensure that the O…”

“7. What steps he is taking through the Office for the Impact Economy to help increase the size of the co-operative sector.”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Roger. In the interests of time, and given your advice, I have cut a huge chunk from my speech, in the hope that we can get more colleagues in. I wish to commend two charities in my constituency, and then make two requests of the Minister. First, I commend Greta an…”

“There is much in the Bill to welcome. Extending participation, improving voter registration and strengthening the integrity of our elections are all steps in the right direction, but in the time available, I want to concentrate on one thing that this Bill could do but does not. While it improves aspects of participatio…”

“The hon. Member makes a valid point, and I hope the House listens. It is not healthy for our democracy to be like this. I am not suggesting that individual Members lack legitimacy, but that the system itself is losing the confidence of the people we represent. It is for those reasons that there is a strong case for ser…”

“The hon. Member for Tunbridge Wells (Mike Martin) talked about poisoning the well of politics, and that was a great example of making a partisan point when it was unnecessary to do so. The alternative vote would also allow voters to express their genuine preferences. It would strengthen the mandate on which we are all …”

“That pinpoints exactly why place-based schemes are so important. What is useful and necessary for my part of the country will not be useful elsewhere. That difference can have a positive impact on local people’s lives. I have talked about the good things that JobsPlus can do, but despite that evidence, too many of the …”

“That is one in a long line of things that place-based employment initiatives can do well, so I thank the hon. Member for his intervention. The Recruitment Junction, which works up in the north-east, mainly in Newcastle, places people with criminal convictions into paid work. It works with local employers to identify sk…”

“Indeed. I promise Members that I did not give my hon. Friend advance sight of my speech, but I will be talking about JobsPlus in due course. It is an amazing system and an amazing scheme. I have touched on some of my own experiences as a young man, but it is worth going back to them, because I want to put Members in th…”

“I beg to move, That this House has considered place-based employment support programmes. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dr Murrison. I am very pleased to have secured this debate. Discussions of employment policy can sometimes feel very abstract in this place; we talk about things like rates, targets a…”

“I thank you, Dr Murrison, for your exemplary chairing of the debate. I also thank hon. Members who have contributed to the debate. What has come through really clearly is that employment policy works when it starts with the reality of people’s lives and that, for people furthest from the labour market, progress works b…”

“I agree wholeheartedly with my hon. Friend. Not only can we scale and roll out those programmes, but we can do peer-to-peer learning, so that the best of what works in one part of the country might be applied elsewhere. I hope the Minister will reflect on some of what I have mentioned this afternoon and on how future e…”

“I take this opportunity to commend the outstanding work of the team behind Coopers bar in Southport for all the work they do to support the grassroots music scene in the town. They are now further strengthening their contribution by expanding their offering, with a new venue on West Street due to open later in the spri…”