John Lamont: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what discussions he has had with the Scottish Government to encourage a UK-wide covid-19 vaccine certification mobile app.
John Lamont: It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Mrs Miller. It is also a pleasure to participate in this debate this afternoon and, as others have done, I congratulate the hon. Member for Pontypridd (Alex Davies-Jones) on securing it. The debate is on a topic that comes up very frequently in conversations I have with local residents in surgeries in my constituency. In a rural area such as...
John Lamont: I am grateful for that important point, with which I absolutely agree. It is important for local business that hosting cashpoints is cost effective. I am aware of a number of businesses that have tried to host cash machines, but it has turned out not to be a financially viable option for them. Although cash use understandably decreased during the pandemic, that should not be a reason to move...
John Lamont: I am very pleased that my hon. Friend enjoyed his trip to Scotland. Many businesses in my constituency are facing the challenges imposed by the Scottish Government because of their policy on business rates, but does he agree that the particular challenge they are facing is the continued uncertainty around another independence referendum, which is putting huge pressure on their plans and their...
John Lamont: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the financial total of Start Up Loans issued in the Scottish Borders is as at 14 September 2021.
John Lamont: What steps the Government are taking to help Wales achieve the net zero emissions target.
John Lamont: I am grateful for that response. Many parts of Wales are rural like my own constituency in the Scottish borders. These rural areas need a plentiful supply of electric car charging points to encourage people to make the switch to electric cars. How are the UK Government supporting the switch across the four nations of the United Kingdom?
John Lamont: I very much welcome the fact that the Government are taking action to properly fund social care and the NHS in this country. As my right hon. Friend the Member for Hemel Hempstead (Sir Mike Penning) said, previous Governments and previous Prime Ministers have recognised the challenge of funding social care and the NHS, but it is this Prime Minister and this Government who are taking the...
John Lamont: I am happy to hear from the hon. Member why she has made that choice.
John Lamont: These proposals will result in Scotland’s NHS and services that our constituents use getting a billion pounds extra each year to help deal with the backlog of treatment, the GP shortages and the whole catalogue of other issues that Scotland’s NHS is dealing with. It is nonsense to pretend that social care is not an issue in Scotland as much as it is in the rest of the United Kingdom....
John Lamont: Nothing in this plan undermines the devolution settlement. This plan provides our constituents with more investment for NHS services across Scotland. What the hon. Lady seems most upset about is this United Kingdom Government delivering that resource for something that the Scottish Government had previously asked for, and she admits that, which is frankly astonishing. It is beyond belief that...
John Lamont: The hon. Lady says “rubbish”. Should I say “rubbish” to my constituents who have had their operations delayed time and again and those who cannot get access to a GP in their surgery because of decisions made by the Scottish Government, who blame a lack of resource and repeatedly blame the UK Government for not funding them enough? Here we have it: £1 billion more coming to Scotland...
John Lamont: Will the hon. Lady give way?
John Lamont: The hon. Lady made reference to the IFS. She will know that the IFS has noted that over the past 10 years the health spend in Scotland has grown by 1.2%, whereas in England it has grown by 3.6% on a like-for-like basis. Surely it is astonishing that she would vote against £1 billion of extra investment for Scotland’s NHS.
John Lamont: Over the summer, new data published by the SNP Scottish Government showed the Union dividend to be worth £2,210 a person in Scotland. Does the Minister agree that those figures simply confirm the benefit of Scotland remaining at the heart of a strong United Kingdom?
John Lamont: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the IAEA report, Verification and monitoring in the Islamic Republic of Iran in light of United Nations Security Council resolution 2231 (2015), what recent assessment his Department has made of whether Iran's uranium enrichment programme is now at levels only countries seeking to make atomic...
John Lamont: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of Hamas's military capabilities.
John Lamont: What steps are the Government taking to promote the Turing student exchange scheme in Scotland?
John Lamont: What steps he is taking to increase animal welfare standards.
John Lamont: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what recent discussions she has had with the National Farmers Union of Scotland on the free trade agreement with Australia.