Dame Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of High Speed Two, Phase 1 at today's prices.
Dame Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when the next review of High Speed 2 Phase One by the Infrastructure and Projects Authority is planned be undertaken.
Dame Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the timetable is for the details of the review of High Speed 2 Phase One to be agreed with the Infrastructure and Projects Authority; and if he will publish those details once so agreed.
Dame Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, which posts have been filled at HS2 Ltd since the start of 2018; and what the (a) job title and (b) salary range is for each post.
Dame Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many officials in his Department are working (a) full-time and (b) part-time on High Speed Two; and what the (i) grade and (ii) salary range is of those officials.
Dame Cheryl Gillan: May I associate myself with the remarks about Sir David? It is a welcome recognition of his distinguished service to the House. May I also say what a privilege it was to stand here and mark the deep sorrow we all feel about Grenfell? It sends a wider message to the wider world. May I ask the Leader of the House for a debate on emissions reductions? If we were to be granted one, it might be...
Dame Cheryl Gillan: I thank the Secretary of State for what he said about Rolls-Royce, but is it not true that it announced its restructuring programme in January and that that was followed by very good year-end results in March? Is it not absolutely necessary that as Rolls-Royce has growing revenues, it must now restructure itself so that it is simplified and has the agility and pace of production to remain one...
Dame Cheryl Gillan: The Chancellor is reported to have said that if we fail to continue in the Galileo programme we will build our own GPS system. Does the Minister have any idea of the cost and the timescale?
Dame Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her Department plans to include in the autism module that will be included in initial teacher training; and when delivery of that module will be commenced.
Dame Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will publish the correspondence on the costs of High Speed Two between (a) himself, (b) Ministers in his Department and (c) officials in his Department and Mark Thurston, Chief Executive of High Speed Two since Mr Thurston's appointment as Chief Executive.
Dame Cheryl Gillan: It is always a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon). I bow to his great skill; he gets more words into a minute than any other human being I have ever met. The speed with which he speaks is quite enviable. Before the Front-Benchers start to speak, it might be useful if I touch on what is happening with the Council of Europe election observer mission, because it has...
Dame Cheryl Gillan: I put on record the esteem in which my hon. Friend is held in the Council of Europe by many of our colleagues in the 47 member countries as a result of his numerous and valuable contributions to our debates during the plenary sessions. Does he agree that one of the Council’s most important missions has been to bring about the abolition of the death penalty, which was mentioned by the...
Dame Cheryl Gillan: I congratulate the right hon. Lady on securing this timely debate. I sit on the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, and I will be going on an observer mission to scrutinise the elections in Turkey, which I agree need to be free, fair, transparent and in line with international standards so that people in Turkey can have confidence in the results. What should the people going to...
Dame Cheryl Gillan: Does the right hon. Lady also appreciate that if Turkey re-imposed the death penalty, that would put its Council of Europe membership in total jeopardy?
Dame Cheryl Gillan: May I start by congratulating my right hon. Friend the Member for Arundel and South Downs (Nick Herbert) on not only his excellent speech but the way in which he has pursued this matter relentlessly across an international audience? He is renowned on an international basis, as I know myself. I am proud to represent the UK at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe with many other...
Dame Cheryl Gillan: I am hoping to speak later in the debate, but my right hon. Friend is already making a powerful case. Has he had any indication from the Prime Minister on whether she intends to attend that high-level meeting, because it would seem to be of great significance that she does?
Dame Cheryl Gillan: I am most grateful to my hon. Friend for giving way. I was pleased to see this motion on the Order Paper today. I serve on the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee and we have often had to call witnesses before us who were perhaps not quite as enthusiastic about attending as they should have been. Does she agree that there is some deficiency in this, because the motion...
Dame Cheryl Gillan: May we have an urgent debate on the national parks review, so that we can give a warm welcome to the appointed chair, Mr Julian Glover, who I know will do an excellent job? More importantly, we can also find out who has been appointed to the advisory panel, when the review will start, and when those results will be published.
Dame Cheryl Gillan: We have dithered over airport expansion for far too long, and it really has had a damaging effect on our economy. Unlike HS2, which delivers no benefits to my constituency and is an open-ended commitment from the taxpayer of billions and billions of pounds—a subject on which the Labour Front-Bench team is always so quiet—we are here making something out of nothing. Heathrow...