Speeches by Aquarone.

“This is sort of the same question that Olly asked but about the Department’s integrated transport strategy. Just to do my little rant, as I trailed earlier, I remember in a previous life appealing to planners about a development where there were lots of different red line boundary settlements, 1,800 houses, the absolut…”

“Would it be fair to say that, if the infrastructure and the safe routes were there, there would be a commercial imperative for employers to encourage it? If you have a fleet of people cleaning public toilets, for example, going by bike rather than van would happen as a natural extension of having the operations and inf…”

“Thanks for what you have offered us so far. I totally support what Olly said; it is very refreshing. I am also left feeling insanely frustrated about the last few decades of failure in this country and the general inability, it seems, to think strategically, particularly when it comes to rural areas, as has been descri…”

“Yes, that’s right. And the issue of possibly using active travel to carry out work?”

“Right. Go ahead and fix the health service.”

“It is not a sort of arm’s length scrutiny function. It is you in the room talking about it.”

“And if it doesn’t in your opinion, who do you go to then?”

“We talked a bit about what shadow GBR is doing now. There is going to come a point when it is time to set up GBR proper. I imagine that setting up Great British Railways has quite a big to-do list attached to it. There will be hiring a chief exec and senior managers; there will be answering the question about the opera…”

“Thank you.”

“This is very much related to what you have just said. To me, the scale and complexity of this organisational change programme is fascinating. I know that both the Secretary of State and you have mentioned culture change. It is one of those concepts that risks staying up in the clouds and nobody understands what it mean…”

“I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Chelmsford (Marie Goldman) and refer hon. Members to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. Conservative-controlled Norfolk county council is failing too many SEND children—moreover, the Conservative Government failed SEND children—but the system is also failing …”

“Forgive the clumsy metaphor, but when all the bright lights come on and GBR exists, the shadow disappears.”

“The Government’s housing targets mean that my area needs 9,500 new homes over the next 20 years, which thousands of my constituents are very worried about. Many of them would be far happier if they knew that the properties being built would meet the needs of local people, by being affordable to buy and cheap to run. Do…”

“Local Liberal Democrat councillors and I have spoken to hundreds of people in Roughton and the surrounding villages who are furious about the prospect of losing post office services in their area. For the older population in North Norfolk, they are a vital lifeline not just for post but for banking, cash access and mor…”

“We have a housing shortage in North Norfolk. In in particular, we need to build houses that are affordable to buy and cheap to run. Most of my constituents would be far happier with the current growth in house building if they knew that the properties were being built to meet the needs of local families, and that can b…”

“May I ask about the specifics of the Government’s response to module 1? I was interested to hear about the national vulnerability map, which could help with a range of matters including digital exclusion as well as public health, but let me ask the Minister two questions. First, has he taken into consideration the find…”

“I refer the House to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. There is a strong case for devolution in Norfolk. However, can the Minister confirm that holding elections in May does not prevent devolution for Norfolk, and would he agree that Norfolk’s voters should be allowed to have their say on who is…”

“On that point, my constituent Lauraine took early retirement from the NHS in 2014 to care for her husband. She believed that her state pension would kick in in 2015 and support her in her caring responsibilities, since she never received any notification from the DWP to tell her that it would not. She feels angry and l…”

“Happy Christmas, everyone. Patricia is a young, intelligent woman with a severe eating disorder. Despite the tireless work of professionals involved in her care, her mental health treatment needs are not being met, and her progress has stalled. The east of England provider collaborative, which is responsible for referr…”

“I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on securing a debate on this topic, which has caused great concern to residents of our neighbouring constituencies. In this case there appears to have been a total information vacuum for local people and representatives, which has fuelled fear and speculation. A number of my constituen…”