Speeches by Aquarone.

“You touched on the agencies. Without being distracted by consultancy debates, those arm’s length agencies are an important part of the overall remit of the Department. Do you see many structural changes happening, other than the obvious ones with GBR?”

“Is there a particular critical path of events leading up to that, or is it just an estimate at the moment?”

“Our Chair was on the radio over the Easter weekend in response to coverage of not the driving test per se, but testing for people with eyesight deterioration in later years. Is that one of the things you are considering changing? It is a bit of an outlier compared with other countries. Is that in scope for your review?”

“That is very comforting. While that strategy is developed, it looks likely that National Highways will not meet its KSI reduction targets. Are you minded to make a specific direction to it in the meantime so that it can course-correct by the end of this year?”

“I have consulted with somebody with great expertise in this area, who happens to be the police and crime commissioner for Norfolk, and sees this as a deep-rooted issue. It is not just about policy or agency action; it is a fundamental oversight in both the design and maintenance of our road networks at both levels but …”

“Just that 50% of the country live in a rural or coastal community. This Committee saw fit to grant a debate, which I was very grateful for the chance to lead, on coastal communities. It was very popular. Many of our Transport Committee colleagues have supported this application because they too see the regional inequal…”

“There are so many ridiculous things about modern housing developments, but chief among them is the fact that they are still designed around car usage as the primary mode of transport. An obsession with winding roads to the depths of rabbit-warren estates will never encourage people to use active travel. Instead, we nee…”

“North Norfolk is a legal aid desert. My residents have precious little access to family, criminal and housing legal assistance, despite the best efforts of local organisations such as the Norfolk Community Law Service. We face huge barriers to recruitment and retention in rural areas, such as the cost of housing, poor …”

“6. What steps she is taking to increase access to legal aid in rural areas.”

“Alice, none of that national infrastructure investment was specifically spent at this transmission site.”

“Eliane, it is the same question for you. Thomas is paying you £135 million a year. Some of that is for juice, but some of that is also for the stuff you have to do to keep the lights on. How does that work? How much are you spending in that area?”

“I understand that is highly regulated. It is part of a cycle that is approved by the Departments and scrutinised by Bill’s committee. I am interested in what you get if you are paying for enhanced resilience at that site. There is an argument that says—I am sure this will be brought out in the fullness of time—that tha…”

“That would be very helpful, thank you. Can I just add a supplementary to my own question? Alice and Eliane, you have a service level arrangement and you have resilience, which unfortunately failed in this instance because of the unique nature of this fire and the consequences on that one site. What proportion of the am…”

“Have you done anything else in particular and specifically invested in any other areas to mitigate that risk of, essentially, a total airport shutdown since that 2014 report? Let us accept for a moment that that was a known risk.”

“The £1 billion on-site ring main thing is a very large investment, but it is not logarithmically out of step with what you are spending, for example, in a typical year on this sort of thing?”

“We all appreciate the elucidation you have given, particularly Thomas, as to the approach to risk management. We accept that risk management is about balancing convenience, cost, risk and safety. I just wanted to put on record that the fact that we are having this type of discussion has clearly relied upon the operatio…”

“In terms of the practical management of site security, I appreciate you cannot go into details. I am not privy to the details of the provision at Bacton gas terminal, for instance, but I am aware that that is a site of national security. It has multiple stakeholders, including military police on patrol at all times. It…”

“Just to build on that point about west London expansion and the potential need for significantly more power, I am interested in who is going to be responsible, and who is responsible now, for the security at those substations. There is a question about exactly which part of the apparatus is critical infrastructure and …”

“None of that money was spent at that transmission site.”

“My hon. Friend talks about the need for investment, and much of that will be in training new dentists. Does she therefore agree that it is baffling that a brand-new dental school at the University of East Anglia could be delayed by a full year because the Treasury refuses to release funding until a month after the dead…”