Topical Questions

Question

I am concerned about the NHS infected blood scandal being the biggest treatment disaster in the history of the NHS, and with over 135,000 deaths during the covid pandemic, I ask if frontline staff will be involved in setting the terms of reference for the upcoming inquiry into the response to the pandemic.

Question

Businesses in Warrington and across the country are trying to secure government contracts but have had no responses. Can you advise on how best to approach the Government for these opportunities?

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We need to learn from this pandemic, especially from the recommendations of the covid-19 national foresight group which has been gathering dust for nine months. Will you commit to implementing its recommendations?

Question

The latest allegations about the Home Secretary's meeting raise concerns. Will the new Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster hold an investigation into these allegations?

Question

I welcome the Government's response in restarting CO2 production but ask for reassurance that everything is being done to safeguard against global gas price increases.

Question

Further to the debate on the levelling-up fund, will the Minister discuss with ministerial colleagues the need to extend the delivery date and the first phase of the scheme beyond the end of the current financial year, due to the delay in announcing successful bids?

Question

People in fishing communities will have been interested to hear the Paymaster General assert earlier that we are taking back control of our territorial waters. May I invite him to clarify that? When he says territorial waters, does he mean water up to the 6-mile, 12-mile or 200-mile limit?

Question

Will the Minister agree to meet me and my constituent Thomas Leigh, a veteran who was seriously injured during his service in the armed forces, to discuss Mr Leigh's very serious concerns about the inadequacy of the compensation available for long-term back injuries sustained by servicemen?

Question

I listened with interest to the non-answers given to my hon. Friends earlier, and I wonder whether any more light could be shed on why this Government are so intent on applying a pre-crime approach, on thinking that people might try to commit voter identity fraud, and on suppressing millions, yet ignoring the actual evidence of dark money and large donations to political parties. Can more light be shed on exactly why they are taking that approach?

Question

May I commend the Government on their plans to move civil service jobs out of London? In welcoming my right hon. Friend to his position, may I invite him to visit Darlington and see the progress that has been made with the delivery of jobs in the Treasury, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and other Departments, which is real evidence of our levelling-up agenda?

Question

I have been contacted by bereaved constituents who have lost their loved ones to covid-19, and I would like to pay tribute to all those families in Liverpool, West Derby today in this Chamber. My constituents want answers, and they should not have had to battle with the Government at every stage to secure the covid-19 inquiry. In his new role, will the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster make a commitment, here and now, to prioritising the bereaved families, meeting Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice as a matter of urgency to discuss the terms of reference of the inquiry, and ensuring that the families get the truth and justice they deserve?

Question

In 2014, the no campaign warned that, if Scotland voted for independence, it would lead to higher energy prices, an end to freedom of movement and empty supermarket shelves. Can the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster tell us what the result of the 2014 independence referendum was?

Question

Last week, a High Court judge refused the Cabinet Office permission to appeal against a first-tier tribunal decision that it should release information to me, under freedom of information legislation, in relation to the work it had been doing on opinion research in Scotland with regard to attitudes to the Union. Will the Cabinet Office now comply with that ruling and finally release the information that it has paid for with taxpayers' money?