Speeches by Hobhouse.

“The Chair is keen to move on, so a big yes to both questions.”

“Okay, there seems to be agreement with the panel so I will move on. To encourage investment and increase public awareness of community energy, should the Government consider an information campaign combined with a guarantee scheme for investment of up to £10,000?”

“To improve the liquidity of investment in community energy, what do you think of the idea of a credit facility provided to projects by the net zero hubs to buy withdrawn shares temporarily?”

“It is a very technical problem. You talked about the regulatory changes, and I would be interested in that because that regulatory change seems to be at the bottom of a lot of the costs that make community energy very high, when it could be quite low—but I understand we are coming maybe to this at a different point. Ca…”

“Yes, but it should still be a proportional cost, if you are a community energy provider.”

“Since we were discussing this issue for the best part of the previous Parliament, can I ask the shadow Minister whether there is a misunderstanding about what this part of the Bill does? It is about a preventive duty, not predicting everything that could happen in the hospitality sector, for example. The guidance is to…”

“Will the shadow Minister give way?”

“rose—”

“It was of course my private Member’s Bill that the previous Government supported, but only partly, because third-party harassment was scrubbed out of the Bill; I am very pleased that the new Government are reintroducing that bit. The question is: why does the hon. Gentleman support the idea that employers should preven…”

“I rise to speak in support of new clause 74, which appears in the name of the right hon. Member for Sheffield Heeley (Louise Haigh). I pay tribute to her and to my hon. Friend the Member for Oxford West and Abingdon (Layla Moran) who have campaigned on these issues for a long time. New clause 74 seeks to ban non-disclo…”

“The hon. Member is speaking powerfully. Does she agree that this amendment is being used by the Conservative party to condone something offensive and despicable, and that they are trying to defend the indefensible?”

“The attainment gaps in the south-west are the largest in England, across the primary and secondary sectors. In the past, local authorities have played a big role in improving education. What plans do the Government have for local authorities to be involved in closing that attainment gap?”

“19. What steps he is taking to ensure the security of democratic processes from foreign interference.”

“As well as addressing foreign interference, will the Minister update us on how we can protect our own election infrastructure to safeguard against misinformation, voter suppression and cyber-attacks?”

“Do you mean for transferrable skills?”

“I think we can all agree that having a well-trained workforce is in all our benefit. I sometimes worry that maybe employers feel that you spend all your time and investment on a person and then they move on to other things. That is probably about looking at the interest of an employer: “What do you get out of it for th…”

“Could you give us a real-life example, since we are talking about real-life competencies?”

“How might a balance be struck between regulating high standards and competencies and ensuring that the jobs market is accessible and able to fill skills shortages in time?”

“My next question leads into that. Is there scope for improving the framework of relevant bodies so that it is clearer to workers and consumers who is responsible and accountable for training, accreditation and delivery? Would that also be part of that bigger system thinking?”

“Yes, we know; we had a session on retrofits.”