Speeches by Dyke.

“I thank the hon. Member for Poplar and Limehouse (Apsana Begum) for securing this incredibly important debate. Violence against women and girls on trains has risen by 50%, and figures from the British Transport police show that over a third of women using the rail system are likely to be assaulted. That is clearly unac…”

“Moving on to pollution incidents being at an unacceptable level, do Ofwat and the Environment Agency need to work more closely together to ensure that companies take these incidents seriously enough to tackle them?”

“I thank the Secretary of State for her statement. Some 13% of jobs in Somerset are in manufacturing, and many of them are in the defence industry—in Thales in Templecombe, RNAS Yeovilton in my constituency, or Leonardo nearby. The manufacturing industry contributes £1.87 billion to our local economy, which is more than…”

“I thank the Secretary of State for his statement and agree that the UK must show global leadership on climate action. Peatlands are the largest natural terrestrial carbon store, yet damaged peatlands are responsible for almost 5% of global anthropogenic CO2 emissions. The UK imports 60% of peat used in horticulture, of…”

“I have a specifically Somerset question. In May 2023, Natural England changed the condition status of the Somerset Levels’ SSSIs to unfavourable and declining due to poor water quality from a combination of domestic, agricultural and sewage waste in rivers. That was on top of the letter that we received in August 2020,…”

“How are you looking to improve the transparency of the data that is provided by water companies, given that Thames Water has recently been fined £3.3 million after a deliberate attempt to mislead the Environment Agency?”

“Do you think that the use of self-reporting by water companies undermines the robustness of the data that you are getting back in?”

“There are 27 former Ofwat directors, managers and consultants who are now working in the water industry, creating a potential concern around conflict of interest. Do you do you share that?”

“You mentioned that customer satisfaction is low and that there are enforcement issues around that. Why have the regulators failed to address weak performance?”

“Moving on to pollution incidents being at an unacceptable level, do Ofwat and the Environment Agency need to work more closely together to ensure that companies take these incidents seriously enough to tackle them?”

“Do you think that the use of self-reporting by water companies undermines the robustness of the data that you are getting back in?”

“How are you looking to improve the transparency of the data that is provided by water companies, given that Thames Water has recently been fined £3.3 million after a deliberate attempt to mislead the Environment Agency?”

“I have a specifically Somerset question. In May 2023, Natural England changed the condition status of the Somerset Levels’ SSSIs to unfavourable and declining due to poor water quality from a combination of domestic, agricultural and sewage waste in rivers. That was on top of the letter that we received in August 2020,…”

“There are 27 former Ofwat directors, managers and consultants who are now working in the water industry, creating a potential concern around conflict of interest. Do you do you share that?”

“You mentioned that customer satisfaction is low and that there are enforcement issues around that. Why have the regulators failed to address weak performance?”

“There is a significant disparity in sentencing for murder based on whether a weapon was taken to the scene of a domestic crime or was already present. Sentences for murderers who used a weapon already available at the crime scene start 10 years lower than sentences for those who brought a weapon with them. Does the Min…”

“Residents across Somerset are once again feeling incredibly anxious. Parts of Glastonbury and Somerton saw 130 mm of rain during Storm Bert over the weekend, which has placed additional strain on our ageing flood defence network. Does the Secretary of State agree that, because of the increasing frequency and severity o…”

“My constituent Catherine Conway is the founder of GoUnpackaged, the world’s first modern zero-waste shop, which is hugely reducing the use of single-use plastics. She is also part of the Refill Coalition, which is developing and testing a standardised solution to deliver refills at scale in store and online. Does the h…”

“I thank the right hon. Member for securing this important debate. Some 6.9% of young people in Somerset are believed to be not in education, employment or training, which is higher than the national average of 5.5%. Does he agree that the Government should not only improve the quality of vocational education, but stren…”

“I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing this important debate. I also live far away from Norfolk, but Somerset obviously has a record of flooding—in fact, it is named Somerset because it was the county where people lived in summer. Environment Agency data shows that 2,692 properties in my constituency are at risk of …”