Former Labour MP for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich
I thank the Minister for giving way. I draw the attention of the House to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests as a practising NHS consultant addiction psychiatrist. Does my right hon. Friend share my concern that what we have heard from the libertarian right today is a false equivalence between alcohol and bad dietary choices, and smoking, and that moderate alcohol and...
Whether she plans to support offshore energy grids.
The Minister will be aware of the Norwich to Tilbury pylon proposals, which will put 50-metre pylons through swathes of the Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex countryside. He will also be aware that the recent electricity system operator review indicated that it will soon be cost-neutral to have an offshore option for that same energy transition, and that multiple points for connecting offshore wind...
I congratulate the hon. Lady on securing the debate. I agree entirely that if we are to protect the consumer, we also have an interest in supporting and protecting the long-term sustainability of our food producers. On the point of planning, one of the biggest challenges we face is that, although we welcome the ability of farmers to diversify with farm shops or support renewable energy...
I do not disagree with a number of my right hon. Friend’s points. One concern that people have at a local level in Suffolk, and more generally, about additional house building is that it very rarely comes with the additional infrastructure that he mentions. More houses are built, but more pressure is put on the local infrastructure—on schools, hospitals, GP surgeries and the roads. What...
I am sympathetic to a lot of the points the hon. Gentleman is making, but does he not think that authorisation every year is a fairly reasonable position to get to in the absence of an alternative to neonics? One important thing that has not been discussed in this debate is that there is currently no viable alternative to neonics when the threshold has been met. Until we are in that position,...
I will give the hon. Gentleman a medical analogy—I am a practising doctor, as he may be aware. I may prefer certain medications over others and recognise that a medication I prescribe may have unpleasant side effects. Although I may wish that there was an alternative to that medication in development, at this moment it may be the only option available to me in my prescription repertoire to...
I congratulate the hon. Member on securing this debate, and I very much agree with all the points that he has made. He will be aware that in much of East Anglia, just as in Wales, one in eight jobs in rural communities are linked to agriculture, food and drink, and the wider supply chain. I wonder whether more can be done to support the agricultural sector through public sector procurement,...
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many full-time equivalent GPs worked in the NHS in England in each financial year since 2009-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many full-time equivalent district nurses worked in the NHS in England in each financial year since 2009-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to commission the Independent Drainage Board to oversee the maintenance of the River Deben in Suffolk.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will require the Environment Agency to commission the Independent Drainage Board to oversee the maintenance of the River Deben in Suffolk.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will increase funding to the Environment Agency to clean the tidal stretch of the River Deben in Suffolk to reduce the risk of flooding.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans he has to support landowners to maintain their own stretches of river along the River Deben in Suffolk to help reduce future flooding risk.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of Ofgem's role in enforcing the use of the Treasury Green Book guidance in relation to the development of the Norwich to Tilbury proposals by the National Grid.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if she will have discussions with National Grid on ensuring that energy infrastructure projects comply with HM Treasury's publication entitled The Green Book, published in March 2022.
