William Wragg: To ask the hon. Member for Broxbourne, representing the House of Commons Commission, what estimate the House Service has made of the number of potential redundancies among parliamentary staff which are consequential to (a) the closure of catering and hospitality venues and (b) restrictions placed on the number of visitors to the parliamentary estate.
William Wragg: To ask the hon. Member for Broxbourne, representing the House of Commons Commission, what assessment the Commission has made of the mental health implications of requiring Members' and House staff to work from home.
William Wragg: To ask the hon. Member for Broxbourne, representing the House of Commons Commission, with reference to the Covid-19 Member Bulletin of 2 November 2021, whether all members of the Commission were consulted on the measures it contained; and whether all those members were in agreement.
William Wragg: To ask the hon. Member for Broxbourne, representing the House of Commons Commission, whether House of Commons employees and lay members of the House of Commons Commission have the same voting rights as Members of Parliament on the House of Commons Commission.
William Wragg: To ask the hon. Member for Broxbourne, representing the House of Commons Commission, whether the House of Commons Commission has the power to make decisions outside of its formal meetings.
William Wragg: Further to that point of order, Mr Speaker. With reference to the announcements, I deprecate the announcement of things outside of this Chamber and have been known to criticise the Government for that, so it would be churlish of me not to be surprised by what appeared in the press last night. You mentioned the UK Health Security Agency’s advice. Are you aware of that agency giving any...
William Wragg: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to support SMEs operating in the UK to transition to net zero.
William Wragg: It is impossible to resist any campaign spearheaded by the hon. Lady and this is one I am very proud indeed to be able to support. I look forward to the Second Reading of her private Member’s Bill next week, which I will be here to support. What would she say to the men out there as to how they can be supportive and better understand the menopause, rather than treat it as a taboo subject?
William Wragg: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to identify potential failures in the insolvency industry; and whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a single regulator and ombudsman to oversee that industry.
William Wragg: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of an exclusion order for regional mutual banks to allow those banks to scale up their offerings.
William Wragg: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has plans to extend the Term Funding Scheme to non-bank lenders to improve alternative financing options.
William Wragg: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the British Business Bank's regional angels programme will be extended with funding from his Department.
William Wragg: I welcome the new ministerial team, and look forward to working with them constructively in the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee. I am sure that they share that enthusiasm ahead of any forthcoming appearances. May I reiterate to my right hon. Friend—whom I congratulate on his appointment—that vaccine certification is useless now and will no doubt be useless then?...
William Wragg: The hon. Gentleman is extremely kind in giving way, although perhaps not quite accurate in describing my condition. On the question of Prorogation, would he mind turning his thoughts briefly to whether that was contained or referenced in the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 and how that Act relates to this Bill?
William Wragg: indicated dissent.
William Wragg: My hon. Friend the estimable rail Minister—the antidote to Dr Beeching—is doing sterling work with the restoring your railway schemes. Perhaps he can provide an update on the bid to reconnect Rose Hill Marple, Romiley and Bredbury with Stockport. This is a cross-party effort with diverse support from me, from the hon. Members for Denton and Reddish (Andrew Gwynne) and for Stockport...
William Wragg: What a load of rubbish. I do not believe that my hon. Friend believes a word he just uttered, because I remember him stating very persuasively my position, which we shared at the time, that this measure would be discriminatory. Yet he is sent to the Dispatch Box to defend the indefensible. We in this House seem prepared to have a needless fight over this issue. It is completely unnecessary....
William Wragg: As ever, I will seek to calm the House, if I can, as I perambulate around a few of the issues that the Bill presents. I suggest to the Minister, as an early judgment, that it is perhaps a curate’s egg of a Bill. I will explain why I have come to that assessment, but we must understand at the outset why these matters are important. They are important to protect everybody—democracy itself...
William Wragg: Given the overwhelming evidence, both moral and practical, against covid vaccine passports, will my hon. Friend rediscover the courage of his own convictions, as he once described the proposal as “discriminatory”? If the idea behind the scheme is not his own, will he kindly convey a message to our right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster to desist from his machinations?