Speeches by Moore.

“Moving on to identification processes, how well do individuals understand the national referral mechanism process, and what does being referred mean to a potential victim of modern slavery?”

“The common theme is always, quite rightly, wanting more collaboration across Government Departments because some Departments are a bit more siloed in their thinking. Just to push both of you, how do you feel that we can achieve that? Is there something where we need to go above and beyond to ensure that proper, true co…”

“Kathy, would you like to add anything?”

“I want to get an understanding of how you feel cross-Government working is happening, on the basis of the Act coming in. Maybe I could start with you, Emma. How effective has cross-Government working been since the Act came into force, in your opinion?”

“I feel for the hon. Member’s constituents. In Silsden, in my constituency of Keighley and Ilkley, Harron Homes carried out a development of 50 plus properties where my constituents faced exactly the same challenges and scenarios of snagging that she is quite rightly indicating. Alongside her, I reiterate my call to the…”

“I absolutely agree, and that point has been made by the hon. Members for Sherwood Forest and for Ashfield (Lee Anderson): once someone has purchased a property or is tied into a contractual relationship, dealing with those snagging issues is a huge challenge. Where can they go from there? They have been taken out of th…”

“The hon. Lady raises two points. I will take the second point on the director’s responsibility first. I absolutely agree that it should not be possible for a housing developer to move away from a scheme, leaving it unfinished, as happened in Long Lee, where Accent Housing effectively did not deliver, causing huge nuisa…”

“Will the hon. Lady give way?”

“I thank the hon. Member for Sherwood Forest (Michelle Welsh) for securing this important debate. As I said in my earlier intervention, it seems that we have both experienced the challenges of Harron Homes, and she has my full sympathy for having to deal with them. In my own constituency, I had the managing director com…”

“I would politely push back on that. My understanding is that local authorities do have the powers available to them throughout the planning process to challenge the planning application put before them and to have a robust level of negotiation with the developer, resulting in a section 106 obligation being firmly and r…”

“Or beyond that, to issues such as social implications, but start with finance.”

“You might both want to comment on this. What do you feel will be the cost implications of changing the identification process?”

“Do you think the Government or the Home Office are asking the right questions, or seeking the right indications of direction through the consultation?”

“On the same theme, we understand that the Government will announce further indications of how they want to change the identification process before the summer recess. How confident are you that the consultation that the Government have undertaken will result in changes to the identification process that you would want …”

“As you say, the strategy is rightly ambitious. I know you have had that interaction with the Home Office, but from the discussions that you have had so far, has it given any indication of reaching those ambitious goals that you have rightly set in the strategy?”

“I am keen to delve into the work of the commission. On the back of the strategy that was launched in January, what interactions or discussions have you had with the Home Office or the Government? Is there any indication of their response, in terms of going forward?”

“How have county lines—they were briefly mentioned earlier—affected the workload for both of you in terms of the complexities associated with that and victims understanding their access to the support that they can get?”

“Emma, do you have anything to add?”

“I absolutely agree. It is why the Government should be honest with the public that, far from strengthening environmental protections, the Bill creates a direct avenue for developers to pay to do environmental damage and get around otherwise more stringent protection laws.”

“There are so many points to address in the Bill, but I will keep my remarks to just a few. I have grave concerns that the Government’s agreeable aim of freeing up our planning system will be dragged further by this Bill into the bog of planning delay and indecision. There has been a lot of talk about whether the Bill w…”