Speeches by Aquarone.

“You alluded to the Staffordshire example; are there any initiatives that help to showcase careers in transport manufacturing in particular? It sounds like transport museums might be one, but is there anything else that helps to showcase careers in transport?”

“Stepping aside from initiatives that you as employers undertake, how good are we generally at attracting young people into manufacturing careers in this country?”

“I believe one of my colleagues will come back to gender balance in a moment. Benjamin, you said you would not want to fix my car, but you might have been able to fix my tractor at some point in your past career. Clearly, losing Massey to the French was unhelpful in encouraging automotive careers in Coventry, but are we…”

“But if you have 15 years’ worth of stuff that you could bring forward, in my maths that is a pretty good way of delivering economic growth. Is there another problem caused if you solve the skills problem, or is this an easy win?”

“Scientists at the Norwich research park and Quadram Institute are doing incredible work in the field of agri-science, which could transform the future of food for the better; in fact, the Quadram Institute will be visiting Parliament and briefing MPs during evidence week next month about this work. This research is per…”

“I refer the House to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests: I am a serving Norfolk county councillor. It is two years since the Conservatives in Norfolk oversaw the closure of two convalescence facilities: Benjamin Court in Cromer and Grays Fair Court in Costessey, in the constituency of the hon. Mem…”

“You talk about price transparency, which is only ever applied to taxis; of course we have never had regulated pricing for private hire. I think what you are saying is that the difference with the newer operating models is that they are preventing the driver from discussing price with the passenger, which of course has …”

“If there was a way of doing this with data—Helen, I noticed you have been asking for statutory powers to require operators to supply quite detailed passenger and operator data—what impact would that have on your ability to uphold the regulations and standards, and on passenger safety? Do the rest of the panel share the…”

“Do the others agree with that?”

“Could I come to Andy and Eamon on the broader point about whether the current regime accommodates both traditional and more digitally native operating models?”

“Just stepping back a bit to the question of operating models, how well do you think the current legislation and operating regulatory framework accommodate both what we might describe as the traditional taxi model—I appreciate that many traditional taxi firms also use apps—and the pure, native, digital app-based model?”

“Very briefly, because you have both given different answers to the same problem, is the flooding a problem based upon the operating model simply because the digital native operators are just broadly more available across the whole country?”

“In a way, that would have existed, and still exists, regardless of the operating model that we have seen emerging in the market since 2015, but I appreciate the points. Can I come on to Eamon on the point about the different operating models and whether the framework caters for them both adequately?”

“For almost two years now, the people of Sheringham have been suffering from completely unacceptable service from our local branch of Jhoots. Shortages of drugs, shortages of pharmacists, issues with paying staff and a litany of other issues have caused chaos, including one resident sent by NHS 111 to secure emergency a…”

“In other words, it is go with the flow.”

“I do not want to open a can of worms, but although I understand what you are saying about the DfT not quite taking a hands-off approach but being comfortable with the private sector approach, that is about capacity management and not about looking at the broader strategic role of sea-bound or sea-based freight in the U…”

“My colleagues may want to ask about harbours and marine licences later in the session, so I will leave it there.”

“Minister, you mentioned being interested in what we had heard from our consultation so far, and we have a couple of questions about that. One is about the view that the Government should provide an overall strategy for ports to make sure that developments are planned in accordance with where the Government want to lead…”

“I was not intending to be facetious in saying go with the flow; the flow of goods is clearly of paramount importance. We have also heard the view that the revised NPS is a little unclear about how it can be applied to non-strategic infrastructure projects under section 35 of the Planning Act. Philip, do you expect to m…”

“5. What steps he is taking to support rehabilitative programmes in prisons.”