Speeches by Munt.

“The Secretary of State will know about the planned engineering works between Didcot Parkway and Swindon and in the Paddington area, which will cause significant disruption between London and Bristol and in south Wales this Sunday and next Sunday. Disruption on major routes causes massive chaos on the rural routes that …”

“Will the Leader of the House ask her colleagues in the Department of Health and Social Care for a statement explaining the rationale behind a decision last month to alter the eligibility criteria for additional compensation in the infected blood compensation scheme? The special category mechanism was replaced with the …”

“Could the Minister just clarify whether that group will consider the benefits of using natural remedies, or a combination of natural remedies, and of ensuring that people are fully aware of the benefits of that, and that that will be in some way quantified, as my hon. Friend the Member for Tiverton and Minehead (Rachel…”

“rose—”

“I thank the hon. Lady for securing the debate. I am sorry that my British Sign Language is incredibly rusty, having learned it 30 years ago and not having practised diligently. I want to pick up on what she said about access to learning British Sign Language. Having worked in a council as a lead member for children, fa…”

“I recognise your request for brevity, Madam Deputy Speaker, but I offer my condolences and say how much I identify with the maxim “turn up at the finishing line”, having stood eight times to get here and having been successful twice. Given the countless families in my part of Somerset who have adopted or are special gu…”

“Fewer?”

“Our local courts are not terribly local for most of the impoverished population.”

“You were talking about the array of cases, and in your evidence you gave us a non-exhaustive list, as you described it, of the 37 most common types of dispute resolved in the county court. Could I ask you to consider whether the role of the county court within the civil justice system should have been reformed before a…”

“Thanks for your tolerance. You talked about the relationship between judges and their staff. I wondered about the impact of having staff who are agency or who are just inexperienced, because there may be a relatively high turnover. What impact does that have on the operations? This came up in the judicial attitude surv…”

“We have highlighted the matter of late adjournments. What is the ideal time for someone to be informed of an adjournment?”

“What are your views on block listing in certain courts as a way of addressing the backlogs?”

“I am the Member for Wells and Mendip Hills in Somerset. Everything is declared on the register, but I would just add the fact that I am a director of WhistleblowersUK, which is a not-for-profit organisation.”

“Indeed.”

“I am afraid we do not even have horses.”

“To pick up on what you said, I would gently challenge that. I live in Somerset. If I want to access specialist health facilities, generally I have to travel to Bristol, or sometimes to Birmingham, depending on what sort of specialism I am looking for, because that is where the specialists are. Having worked within lega…”

“First, I should declare that my partner is a conservation farmer in Somerset. Having been Parliamentary Private Secretary to Vince Cable, the then Business Secretary who set up the Groceries Code Adjudicator, I recall his frustrations that the then Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer refused to grant the adj…”

“I really welcome the Secretary of State’s statement, and I am particularly keen that he looks at the multiple layers of sign-off and the bureaucracy that sometimes forgets patients are at the other end of it. Hospitals in England have had to rely on charitable fundraising to buy some of the most cutting-edge radiothera…”

“My constituent Jennifer, an American citizen, came here in 2018 on a spousal visa, which was renewed in 2022. She applied for indefinite leave to remain in May last year. The Government website says: “you’ll usually be told whether your application has been successful within 6 months.” It has been 10 months. Jennifer’s…”

“I am the Member for Wells and Mendip Hills in Somerset, and all my declarations are on the website.”