State of Climate and Nature
Debate between Jacob Collier and Ed Miliband(1 week, 4 days ago)
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Jacob Collier (Burton and Uttoxeter) (Lab)
I welcome the Secretary of State’s statement and the fact that my local hospital will have solar panels on it thanks to this Labour Government, saving thousands of pounds that can go directly back into frontline services. What more can he do to ensure that public buildings like hospitals and prisons have solar panels fitted so that we can lower costs and contribute to our climate goals?
Ed Miliband
My hon. Friend is completely right, and it is a scheme that we want to expand. It has been incredibly successful, and it is a no-brainer—using the natural resources of the sun to cut energy bills and release money for frontline services.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Jacob Collier and Ed Miliband(7 months, 1 week ago)
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Ed Miliband
I know from my constituency that there is a strong feeling about the BCSSS. That is why my hon. Friend the Minister for Industry has moved at speed to meet the trustees. The schemes are not exactly the same in some of their arrangements, but my hon. Friend the Member for Dunfermline and (Graeme Downie) is right to say that there is certainly a read-across from some of the injustices in the MPS, and I know that the Minister for Industry is looking at that.
Jacob Collier
As a Collier, I welcome the Government’s announcement on the mineworkers’ pension scheme. However, as the Secretary of State has heard, the BCSSS members, including my constituent Mitch Wainwright, have raised concerns about unequal treatment, given the similarities between the schemes. What steps are the Secretary of State and the Minister taking to ensure that those former British Coal employees are treated as equitably as those in the MPS?
Ed Miliband
My hon. Friend is right about the read-across and the sense that the injustice that has been remedied in the MPS needs to be remedied in the BCSSS. There is also a real need for speed. That is why my hon. Friend the Minister for Industry is on the case, as she was so brilliantly on the MPS, delivering in less than five months the justice that the Conservative Government never delivered in 14 years.