Speeches by Aquarone.

“I am getting an indication that he will not do so, which is a shame. I support the development of more homes in North Norfolk; there are 2,400 households on our housing waiting list who demand that provision. I am delighted that new residents in Walcott and Bacton will be moving into dozens of new affordable homes in t…”

“I am pleased to speak today in full support of Lords amendments 38 and 40. I would also like to take the opportunity to press the Minister on the Government’s response in the other place to Lords amendment 32, which I will come to shortly. First, on Lords amendment 40, I am pleased that the Lords altered the uses of en…”

“Sarah Taylor, the Minister’s Labour colleague and Norfolk’s police and crime commissioner, has been turning things around in Norfolk, where PCCs have a very chequered history. She is taking real action on road safety. Under the Conservatives, PCCs sacked all the PCSOs, tried and failed to take over the fire service, an…”

“One way the Serious Fraud Office can be made more effective is through access to more registers of beneficial overseas interests. We know that fraudsters, tax dodgers and crooks are exploiting the financial secrecy in those territories to hide their ill-gotten gains. Does the Solicitor General agree that this would emp…”

“It is more about what you can do for the Government and which of the Government’s objectives transport takes on. It is less about how your spending priorities are aligned to your objectives. Is that a fair description?”

“To move on to the next question, it is sort of halfway. What you said makes sense: you bid for money from the Treasury to do the stuff that you wanted, and that allowed you to announce some big rail and road upgrade projects. In the not‑too‑distant future are some fairly big vulnerabilities in the operating model. I wi…”

“Let me be clear: I am not advocating a reduction in core staffing costs for the sake of it. I am interested in what the business plan is. How do those high-level objectives translate into team-based objectives? Are those teams held to account based on the right measures, given those objectives? There should not be anyo…”

“Just on one of those specific price points in particular, I accept the point you have made about not making an announcement about them, but when the outgoing chief executive of the DVSA was before us we put the case that the driving test was essentially too cheap to cancel. It is not worth cancelling it, because in som…”

“Is that a commitment to a longer-term strategic plan for fare policy, or is that just the amount of money that is available?”

“Thank you. That is very helpful. I will badger your departmental colleagues to listen to my constituency operators’ experiences in more detail. Is this a missed opportunity to plan for what comes next with fare caps overall?”

“It is great to hear about the possibility of a longer-term settlement for local transport authorities, because I was also on the Bus Services (No. 2) Bill Committee, and the painful absence of a money motion was felt. That is encouraging. On the issue of long-term sustainability of operators, you will know that the Dep…”

“Who should we be asking, and what should we be asking, as a Committee, if we want to understand how the Department is organising itself in respect of those objectives that you have just stated?”

“It all feels a bit high level, if you do not mind me saying. Since March, we have been asking, in different ways, for something to show us where that is translated into practical actions, such as a business plan, rather than big objectives.”

“We have got that. I am more interested in what the plan means.”

“This Committee is very interested in its scrutiny function in understanding the structure and operations of the Department, what it is trying to achieve and how it is configured to do that. Can I ask a couple of quick plain English questions? What is an outcome delivery plan?”

“Let me restate the question then: what steps have you taken to ensure alignment between your Department’s spending and its priorities?”

“Does my hon. Friend agree that the documentation often exists to prove ultimate beneficial ownership, where it suits the individuals concerned? In some cases, we have a perverse situation where respectable UK financial institutions obtain that information in confidence when carrying out their required “know your custom…”

“Yes, I am frighteningly aware, because I have tried to access these registers myself, and I have relied upon reports by other organisations to tell me what is really going on. When a country’s wealth in savings is a multi-hundred-times multiple of its GDP, that brings all this into sharp focus. But to get back to my fo…”

“I congratulate the hon. Member for Bolton West (Phil Brickell) on the way he has framed this discussion, because we are debating the impact of these tax arrangements in the overseas territories on UK communities. Every penny being shielded from paying the fair share in these places is a penny that is not getting into o…”

“Stalham, a beautiful market town in North Norfolk, is one of the places receiving support from the high streets taskforce to revitalise its high street, and local businesses are enthusiastically getting involved. However, to support businesses to thrive, we have to equip them with skills and expertise. Will she join me…”