Contributions
562 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDNorth Sea Oil and Gas Licences: Economic GrowthMinisters across various Departments have repeatedly said that oil and gas is here to stay for many years. Issuing new North sea oil and gas licences would support tens of…04 Jun 2025HANSARD Swimming FacilitiesI agree that swimming is hugely important for young people and for the mental and physical health of the nation, for all these different reasons. We rely heavily on local…04 Jun 2025HANSARD Swimming FacilitiesAbsolutely. I also have a coastal constituency, and swimming is a life skill that, one day, someone may rely on to save a life. I agree with my hon. Friend on that. Councils are…04 Jun 2025HANSARDNorth Sea Oil and Gas Licences: Economic Growth1. What assessment he has made of the potential impact of not issuing new North sea oil and gas licences on levels of economic growth in Scotland.04 Jun 2025HANSARD Swimming FacilitiesI agree, and schools often also rely on public swimming pools. Wherever schools need those facilities, I ask the Government to provide support. There is no other obvious support,…04 Jun 2025HANSARD Swimming FacilitiesI agree with the hon. Gentleman. Sadly, his town will not be the only town in the United Kingdom with a pool unavailable for a period of time or possibly forever. I agree that…04 Jun 2025HANSARD Swimming FacilitiesI am grateful to Members for attending this important debate and making so many good contributions. There is plainly unanimous agreement about the importance of swimming for the…04 Jun 2025HANSARD Swimming FacilitiesI agree; swimming does all those things. As we are talking about Olympic champions, I have a quote from five-time Olympic swimmer Mark Foster, commenting on the support that the…04 Jun 2025HANSARD Swimming FacilitiesIt is very disappointing to hear about the situation in my hon. Friend’s constituency. Yes, I do think there is a role for the Government, and I will come to that in more detail.…04 Jun 2025HANSARD Swimming FacilitiesThe statistic provided by my right hon. Friend could get worse if the number of public swimming facilities declines any further, because of that lack of swimming skills. It seems…04 Jun 2025HANSARDFootball Governance Bill [ Lords ] (First sitting)The requirement for the regulator to be independent is clearly essential. I am sure that it is common ground on both sides of this Committee Room, and in the rest of the House,…03 Jun 2025HANSARDFootball Governance Bill [ Lords ] (Second sitting)I commend the hon. Member for Cheltenham for speaking to amendment 1 and new clause 1. He said that this may not be the right place or the right Bill to do so, and I probably…03 Jun 2025HANSARDFootball Governance Bill [ Lords ] (Second sitting)I offer the shadow Minister another example: on Select Committees, as mentioned by the Minister. There may be no formal record of how minority votes go in Select…03 Jun 2025HANSARDFootball Governance Bill [ Lords ] (Second sitting)I will not repeat what the shadow Minister has very ably said, but clearly the amendment goes back to the issue of costs spiralling out of control. Let us remember that the…03 Jun 2025HANSARDFootball Governance Bill [ Lords ] (Second sitting)I am going to stick my neck out here. I have little confidence in the Government curtailing the expenditure of money, but I do have confidence they would not let a football…03 Jun 2025HANSARDFootball Governance Bill [ Lords ] (Second sitting)Can the Minister give any indication of the sort of headcount she expects of this regulator?03 Jun 2025HANSARDFootball Governance Bill [ Lords ] (Second sitting)It is rather tempting to make a gibe about Liberal Democrats and back-of-a-fag-packet economic comments, but I will not. If it is as simple as the hon. Gentleman says, then let us…03 Jun 2025HANSARDFootball Governance Bill [ Lords ] (Second sitting)The shadow Minister puts it much more succinctly than I have, and I thank him. The rationale behind the amendment is to keep control over the costs. There will be a levy; it will…03 Jun 2025HANSARDFootball Governance Bill [ Lords ] (Second sitting)The cap is not a mandatory number. We are not saying that the regulator must have 50 people delivering a set of regulatory powers. It is about trying to impose some sort of…03 Jun 2025HANSARDFootball Governance Bill [ Lords ] (Second sitting)I am slightly worried that there are 42 people devoted to setting it up. That sounds like quite a lot to me; it gives me concern and supports my argument for a cap. In response,…03 Jun 2025