Speeches by Rushworth.

“I welcome that intervention. There are two areas in particular on which I think farmers in my constituency would like some answers. One is thresholds. Because the policy still keeps the 50% agricultural property relief, it does not actually close a tax loophole at all for the very wealthiest. My constituents would like…”

“There is absolutely nothing timid about what I am telling the right hon. Gentleman: farmers in my community were massively let down by the previous Government.”

“There are a variety of things that could be looked at. I met the NFU this morning and we discussed various points. I feel that these are all things that should be considered. I reiterate that I believe that the community I represent still has good will toward this Government and the intentions of this Government, but t…”

“One of the biggest cost savings for children’s social care is kinship carers. These unsung heroes do a great deal to care for children, often in very difficult circumstances, but they often feel that the state is not there to support them in that work. Does my hon. Friend agree that more needs to be done to properly re…”

“I thank the Minister for highlighting the rise in the number of children in care. Will she acknowledge the link between the growing number of children in care and the effects of 14 years of austerity?”

“T5. Working-class boys in the north-east are being held back by an attainment gap, based on gender and income. The previous Government had no strategy for dealing with such attainment gaps. What will this Government do? Will the Minister commit to a strategy on this issue?”

“This is a slight departure from nutrition, but nutrition has a close relationship with immunisation. We know that children who are not immunised are more susceptible to disease, but so are children who are malnourished. There is concern in the donor community about the replenishment of Gavi. The understanding seems to …”

“Where does that leave us in March?”

“With other Departments, there is an assumption that budgets will stay more or less the same until the spending review. Are we in a position with Gavi where we will be walking into that meeting in March unable to commit any funding?”

“I have two questions. The first is about the degree to which centrally managed programmes are making use of the knowledge of in-country staff. What do you do to ensure that that knowledge is being shared?”

“I have visited more than a dozen schools in my constituency since being elected, and I am always overwhelmed by the passion of the teachers who have to work in really trying circumstances. They are often very under-resourced to deal with children who are ill-prepared for school and a growing caseload of children with s…”

“People from primary schools in rural areas of my constituency have come to me, and one of the challenges they face is a falling population because of the declining number of jobs. Although they have both fixed and variable costs, they lose per pupil funding as a result, and some of those primary schools are becoming un…”

“I welcome the Government’s tripling of the emergency housing budget, but one of my constituents is about to be made homeless because debt incurred as a teenager means that she is not eligible for social housing. Are the Government willing to look at that? I am sure that they do not think that debt should be a reason fo…”

“I thank the Home Secretary for her answers, which have clarified a number of the questions I would have wanted to raise with her. I am also grateful for her victim-centred approach. One of the challenges is that, when a child is being groomed for sexual exploitation, they do not always know that they are a victim until…”

“I thank the hon. Gentleman for that example. Another example comes not from my own life but from Liberia, where women became so fed up of conflict that women on all sides decided to unite behind a woman—Ellen Johnson Sirleaf—for the presidency, while many men in the country voted along factional lines. The experience I…”

“I thank everyone who has spoken today. I have been very moved by Members telling quite harrowing accounts of the way that women are affected by conflict around the world, some of which has brought back difficult memories of my previous life before being in this place, when I worked in conflict zones, predominantly with…”

“Q6. Feeling safe in our communities is among the most basic of human needs, but after 14 years of Tory cuts to Durham’s frontline police—[Interruption.] After breaking the criminal justice system, too many of my constituents are victims of violence, theft and antisocial behaviour and those crimes too often go unpunishe…”

“This is mainly addressed to you, Sir Philip, based on your tenure as the first permanent under-secretary. What do you consider to be the primary benefits and costs of the merger with DFID and the Foreign Office?”

“Having listened to evidence on Gaza as a member of the International Development Committee, it is clear to me that there have been egregious breaches of international law. While I do not doubt the integrity and sincerity of my hon. Friend, it is clear that the actions taken so far by the Government have either not shif…”

“I appreciate your comment on the cuts. What sort of damage do you think that that did to the UK’s global brand, not only the cuts but also the loss of DFID, which I think it is fair to say was the envy of the world? I have previously worked in international development. I have visited foreign embassies all over the wor…”