"It is a pleasure to respond on behalf of the Government to such a constructive and heartfelt debate. I thank everybody for their contributions, and I particularly thank the hon. Member for Edinburgh West (Christine Jardine) for securing it and for her opening speech, in which she reflected not only …..." Josh MacAlister - View Speech
"It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Lewell. I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Ilford South (Jas Athwal) for securing today’s important debate on student loan repayments.
I would like to take a moment to collectively celebrate higher education and the transformational impact …..." Josh MacAlister - View Speech
"I can confirm, as the Secretary of State for Education said earlier this week, this is an issue that we will, of course, look at. The plan 2 system was introduced in 2012 by the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats in coalition. At the time, my party raised concerns about …..." Josh MacAlister - View Speech
"That is a very timely intervention, because when we were elected we recognised the pressures and acted. In this Parliament, the Government are lifting the plan 2 repayment threshold to £29,385, ending a four-year freeze. We have acted to ensure that the threshold rises to above average graduate salaries, because …..." Josh MacAlister - View Speech
"As the Secretary of State said earlier this week, we will look at these issues.
Across the board, we are acting as a Government to support people with the cost of living: investing in free childcare, freezing rail fares, cutting energy bills—there is welcome news on that today—and introducing measures …..." Josh MacAlister - View Speech
"It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Jeremy. I thank both the hon. Member for South West Devon (Rebecca Smith) for securing the debate and other Members for their interventions. This is my first opportunity to talk about the fostering action plan in Parliament, so I thank …..." Josh MacAlister - View Speech
"My hon. Friend is at risk of taking me off down two very important subjects that I would love to spend an entire Westminster Hall debate talking about. Briefly, I want to see the fostering approval system change so that it is sensitive to the differences between approving, for example, …..." Josh MacAlister - View Speech
"I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Worcester (Tom Collins) for securing a debate on this important matter. Like him, I recognise the enormous contribution that kinship carers make to children’s lives. This Government are committed to helping more children grow up in safe, stable and loving homes within …..." Josh MacAlister - View Speech
"I thank my hon. Friend for mentioning that. The tireless campaigning of so many kinship families over the years has led the Government to the point of setting in train these changes, which will be announced in full very soon. The fantastic work done by the all-party parliamentary group on …..." Josh MacAlister - View Speech
"I would be absolutely delighted to recognise Sue Nash and the amazing work that she and so many others are doing across the country through kinship support groups.
The Government have supported the charity Kinship to run 140 peer support groups and training packages across England so that kinship carers …..." Josh MacAlister - View Speech