Speeches by Lamb.

“An arm’s-length body.”

“What you are saying is very interesting. Fundamentally, the question seems to be not whether an arm’s-length body should exist, but how we undertake these processes that they are currently tasked to do. Once they are already established—as has already been covered—there is a level of tendency to forget about their exis…”

“We will get into the question of taxonomy and definitions later. It seems like you have set out a very broad potential definition, and we have to accept that there is potentially a greater range of reasons as to why an arm’s-length body might exist. In terms of the much narrower perception, so bodies directly reporting…”

“Excellent, I am glad we agree.”

“Behind the veil of ignorance thing, we would all agree to these concepts heading in and the outcomes, unfortunate as they are for the particular area, as beneficial overall.”

“We should take a moment just to reflect on the fact that there are many people who work for this Government in those roles who are doing fantastic work on behalf of the public. The challenge here is how that interfaces with the Government in general, particularly with democratic oversight, and this idea that Ministers …”

“Should there be a bit of standardisation or some guidance around how Departments should be relating to their arm’s-length bodies?”

“One last question from me. How effective is departmental oversight over the public bodies they sponsor?”

“In the debate, any number of challenges relating to practicality and principle have been raised about the Bill, and we have repeatedly had SNP Members shouting out, “Put the Bill to a vote, then!” Every time they say that, everyone else in the Chamber hears, “We don’t have any answers to the questions and points that y…”

“My hon. Friend, by talking about the minutiae, is doing a fantastic job of showing the vast complexity of one aspect of the SNP trying to cut off the connection between Scotland and the rest of the UK. Does she accept that this is an existential problem for the SNP? Every time they make an argument about the damage cau…”

“The issue is not necessarily about having a border between Northern Ireland and southern Ireland; a border has in effect been put in the Irish sea by the Windsor framework. However, the SNP appears to be calling for a border between Scotland and England, without Scotland re-entering the European Union, leaving Scotland…”

“We have talked a lot about demographic challenges in Scotland over the course of the debate, and I do not doubt the concerns about the demography—I have a lot of concerns myself about it. But the biggest factors that affect having children—many couples desperately do want to have more children—are lack of housing, lack…”

“5. What steps he is taking to reform the civil service.”

“I thank the Minister for his response and I am perfectly happy to accept the diligence of the civil service. Regardless, every two years a third of the civil service change their Department and countless more change to unrelated policy roles within each Department. Under the previous Government, policy expertise was co…”

“You will be aware of the various interactions between the PHSO and the Government over the last couple of years relating to WASPI. I believe there was a general problem with trying to get the DWP to engage with the ombudsman to start with. The final report was put down before Parliament. I am not aware of any other occ…”

“Do you have any concerns about resourcing any of the initial tasks?”

“What could be done to maximise the PHSO’s impact across the organisations being investigated, particularly in areas like spreading best practice and compliance?”

“Clearly, the PHSO relies upon organisations choosing to accept its findings. Government is highly visible, and this is a highly visible case. Do you have any concerns about the potential wider impacts of non-compliance in this case upon PHSO recommendations?”

“Can the Minister give an assessment of the potential merits of restricting triable either-way offences to summary trial, except for sentencing?”

“I am very grateful to the Minister for outlining the investment made in the line historically. Indeed, in Gatwick’s case, a very large portion of the investment was made directly by the airport, rather than by the Department for Transport. This debate is about the fact that in shortly over a decade, the line will be co…”