Oral Answers to Questions
Andrew Ranger Excerpts(3 days, 22 hours ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Nick Thomas-Symonds
I am very grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for his work as Paymaster General. Indeed, I was pleased to facilitate his recent visit to IBCA and am grateful to him for the constructive approach that he continues to take. On the specific issue that he raises around the contracts that IBCA has entered into, I can say that I entirely agree with him about the need for transparency, and that is something that I am re-emphasising to IBCA.
Andrew Ranger (Wrexham) (Lab)
The Minister for Trade Policy and Economic Security (Mr Douglas Alexander)
Since entering government, we have reset working relations with the devolved Governments and I am now working to support those efforts. All three tiers of the intergovernmental structures are in operation. Several of the portfolio-level inter-ministerial groups have met, while the middle tier inter-ministerial Standing Committee and finance inter-ministerial Standing Committee both met last Thursday. The top-tier meeting between the Prime Minister and the Heads of the devolved Governments also met alongside the Council of the Nations and Regions in October. Of course those formal structures are not the sum total of our engagement, as we continue to collaborate closely on issues affecting citizens in all parts of the country.
Andrew Ranger
Although much of public service delivery is devolved, all four nations face a shared challenge of reforming these services in a tight fiscal environment. What can the nations learn from one another about reforming these services, and does the Minister agree that it is important that they do learn from one another?
Mr Alexander
My hon. Friend raises a key and important challenge. In every part of these islands, public services need both resources and reform given the Government�s inheritance back in July. The UK Health Secretary has set out ambitious plans to roll out new AI technologies, upgrade the NHS app and reform the healthcare system to bring down waiting lists. Last week, my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster met devolved Government Ministers to discuss public service reform, data sharing and harnessing work on public service reform across these islands.
Oral Answers to Questions
Andrew Ranger Excerpts(3 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Watch Debate Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Melanie Onn (Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes) (Lab)
Andrew Ranger (Wrexham) (Lab)
The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Pat McFadden)
The Government’s five missions offer real benefits to people living in every part of the country: higher living standards, more energy security, safer streets, lower waiting lists, and a renewed confidence that the future will be better for our children. We have already made progress, including launching a national wealth fund, providing an additional £22.6 billion for the NHS over the next couple of years, launching a new border security command, providing £1.4 billion more for school rebuilding and removing the de facto ban on onshore wind farms. The Prime Minister will unveil his plan for change later this morning, which sets out how we will deliver further on our missions over the next few years, and I am due to give a statement to the House on that matter later this morning.
Pat McFadden
In just five months, the Government have made progress in setting up Great British Energy. We have announced £25 million to establish the company, with a further £100 million of capital funding to spend in the next financial year. We have announced the partnership with the Crown Estate and selected the chair, Juergen Maier. As I said a moment ago, we have chosen Aberdeen as the location for the headquarters.
As for the next steps, more information on Great British Energy’s early priorities will come in the new year from the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero. That will support skills development across the country, including in the Humber, which is at the absolute forefront of the UK’s net zero ambitions and is home, I am pleased to say, to several groundbreaking renewable energy projects, which we support.
Andrew Ranger
A recent report by the Social Mobility Foundation showed that on average people from working-class backgrounds are paid an incredible £6,000 less than their privileged peers. Does my right hon. Friend agree that Labour’s opportunity mission will be critical to ending that damning statistic and finally smashing the class ceiling that enables it?
Pat McFadden
We firmly believe that, whoever someone is and wherever they come from, Britain should be a country where hard work means they can get on in life, and that their circumstances of birth should never dictate their future. The reality for too many children in Britain today is that that can be the case—that opportunity can be limited—and our opportunity mission is aimed at breaking that link. We will roll out Government-funded childcare to support improved access, delivering on the funded hours expansion and on the Government’s manifesto commitment to create 3,000 more school-based nurseries, increasing the availability of childcare places where they are needed most. As I said, we want to get a greater proportion of children ready to start school when they walk into primary school for the first time.