Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Tom Gordon and Lindsay Hoyle

Tuesday 18th November 2025 Commons Chamber

[Tom Gordon]

I appreciate the response that the Minister has given. He will not be surprised to hear me banging on—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I say to Mr Easton, you are going to have to sit down, because you are standing in front of the Member who is speaking.

[Tom Gordon]

The Minister will not be surprised to hear me talking about spray foam insulation once again. One of the biggest frustrations that people have is that they do not have faith or trust in Government schemes because of the failure of the installation of spray foam insulation under the previous Government. What steps is the Minister taking to ensure that mortgage lenders do away with the blanket ban on providing mortgages to people with spray foam insulation, what steps has he taken to reform TrustMark, and what consideration has he given to fixing the problem once and for all?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Tom Gordon and Lindsay Hoyle

Monday 8th September 2025 Commons Chamber

[Tom Gordon (Harrogate and Knaresborough) (LD)]

8. What steps he is taking to improve recruitment and retention in the armed forces.

[Mr Speaker]

Minister, welcome.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence (Louise Sandher-Jones)]

It is a huge honour to be here, and I am very honoured.

We inherited a crisis in recruitment and retention. This Government are renewing the contract with those who serve by giving them the largest pay rise in 20 years, allocating an extra £1.5 billion to fix forces housing and establishing a new Armed Forces Commissioner. It is clear that our actions are having an effect. On recruitment, inflow continues to improve and is up 13% year on year, and applications to join the armed forces and intakes to basic training both remain high. On retention, morale had been falling year on year with more people leaving than joining, but we have started to reverse that decline, with an 11% reduction in outflow year on year.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Tom Gordon and Lindsay Hoyle

Thursday 10th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Could Members stand every time so that I know they want to ask a question? I call Tom Gordon.

[Tom Gordon (Harrogate and Knaresborough) (LD)]

Sorry, Mr Speaker. West Yorkshire borders my patch. Will the Minister ensure that a mass transit system in Leeds connects with places such as Harrogate just across the border, so that there is a combined approach for the entire region?