Speeches by Darling.

“What you just shared was really inspiring; thank you for all your work in this area. Understanding future skills need is a leading light in your world. The Government have made significant changes to their focus on apprenticeships. Have you done a risk or equality impact assessment of those changes? Are there any red f…”

“Is there anything we could learn from similar economies in Europe, Canada or Australia in terms of boosting funding appropriately?”

“The Liberal Democrats broadly support the proposals before us in the Bill as a whole. I know from conversations with residents in Torbay that there are some challenges within the pensions market, and the Bill as a whole addresses an awful lot of them. However, I suggest that the Minister has been studying his Greek his…”

“This is the main question I want to explore with you. Clearly, as John as alluded to, you do not have a dedicated element focusing on youth and getting young people into work, so you need to ensure that it goes through your organisation like Torquay through a stick of rock. How do we achieve that? There is another elem…”

“That would be really helpful. Would you recommend that the Government’s pivot towards the lower end is a short-term move for two to three years, to try to tackle the NEETs challenge at the moment, which can then be recalibrated in the longer term back towards level 7, so that there is the opportunity to develop people …”

“Is the evidence that you have shared publicly available, or can you point us towards it?”

“You have said warm words about it. How do you evidence that? Is it set within people’s targets in your organisation and their personal priorities? Is it set in the priorities of your personal performance management? What is in your personal performance management plan over the next 12 months to do with young people?”

“Before I go to my main question, I want to understand whether you are alive to a ticking time bomb that I am concerned about: the doubling in the number of youngsters who are now educated at home. Is that beginning to feed into your world yet, or is it too early doors for that?”

“Are you considering ensuring there is a pipeline of opportunities for skills training? Are you at that stage yet, or is it just over the horizon? Equally, have you undertaken any assessment of the defunding of level 7—that leadership and management approach—and what impact that may have on productivity and growth in ou…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Hobhouse. The Liberal Democrats broadly welcome the draft regulations, but I wish to build on what the shadow Minister alluded to. The Minister talked about a one-year delay, but is she confident that it will be only one year? Does she believe that it may be pushed…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Alec. Although my constituency is almost as far as it possible to get from Glasgow, I know that my constituents will enjoy the games. As the Exchequer Secretary said, they should be an inspiration to us all, especially young people, and a celebration of the Commonw…”

“For many people, a pension is their second largest investment, after their home, but we must bear in mind that many others can only dream of having a private pension, as they face the challenges of the cost of living crisis. We Liberal Democrats want to make sure that pensions work effectively for those who invest in t…”

“With the Russian navy now escorting shadow fleet vessels down through the English channel, could a mitigation or a blocker for interdicting one of those vessels be a naval vessel with them? Was it an error of judgment by the Government to put them on notice that we were about to start those interdictions?”

“It is important to reflect that in the United Kingdom tourists face a VAT rate of 20% on their spend, whereas in Germany it is only 7% and in Spain, France and Italy it is 10%. Does the right hon. Gentleman agree that the Labour Government need to reverse their job-killing national insurance contribution hikes, which h…”

“The Secretary of State is correct to suggest that the Government inherited a crisis around youth unemployment. However, by introducing the hikes in national insurance contributions, the Government made that crisis into a catastrophe for young people, and supercharged the pressure on our youth across the United Kingdom.…”

“I am delighted to welcome that, but we need to drive harder. We need only look at the massive impact on our economy of the incredibly foolish war that has been launched by Donald Trump. Uncoupling ourselves from the oil and gas industry will be a good way of protecting ourselves from such impacts in the future. The sec…”

“Yes. Let me reflect on the three areas that we need to be driving in particular. The first is our green energy approach, which the Government have made significant steps on. I am disappointed that the previous Government had a policy that did not prioritise the new schemes. A number of zombie schemes were sticking in t…”

“Sadly, the investment that I had hoped to see in my hospital in Torbay has been kicked into the long grass. We still have hundreds of sewage leaks across the hospital, 85% of which is not fit for purpose. However, let me go back to discussing the east midlands, which is what we are really here to do. As I was saying, S…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Dr Huq. I congratulate the hon. Member for Rushcliffe (James Naish) on his incredibly powerful speech and other colleagues from across the east midlands and nearby on the love they have shown for this part of the United Kingdom. We could almost say that we are under th…”

“GPs truly are the frontline of our NHS. I recently had the pleasure of meeting representatives from the Chilcote practice in Torquay. They shared with me their concerns about the global sum payment. Their calculations suggest that it should be a little in excess of £200, yet the recently announced payment is £128 a yea…”