Rachel Maclean: ...my county of Worcestershire, the total number of staff employed rose by almost 7% between August 2013 and August of this year, to over 5,000. [Interruption.] Sitting suspended for a Division in the House. On resuming—
Rachel Maclean: ...have had an excellent debate. Despite some of the comments I have just heard from the previous speaker, the hon. Member for Glasgow North East (Anne McLaughlin), there is more agreement across the House on the seriousness of these crimes and our determination to tackle them than there is disagreement. The aims of the modern slavery elements of the Bill are twofold: to provide clarity on...
Rachel Maclean: ...Liabilities and Space Industry Regulations once the consultations have concluded. Next steps The deadline for responses to the consultation is the 10 November. Following which I will update the House and publish the Government’s response to the consultation.
Rachel Maclean: ...across our United Kingdom. I am grateful to him, as ever. There is a broad consensus on the case for change. I want to reassure Members that the Government remain committed to creating a fairer housing system that works for everyone. We will introduce further reforms in this Parliament to address the historical imbalance in the leasehold system. As this debate has shown, the imbalance...
Rachel Maclean: ...that have been able to give her today, and the offer of further engagement from my noble Friend, I have been able to offer some reassurance to address her concerns. Question put and agreed to. House adjourned.
Rachel Maclean: ...(Mr Baker) for securing this debate, and also for the incredibly informative way he has laid out the case for the continuation of driving tests in High Wycombe, which has left no Members of the House in any doubt about his passion on the subject—we would expect nothing less from him, of course. I know that he has been engaging closely with the Transport Secretary and with our noble...
Rachel Maclean: ...the land, should those communities choose to put them in place. I put on record my thanks to my hon. Friend the Member for Somerton and Frome for his work as he has steered the Bill through the House. I thank everybody else who has spoken and the Minister, and I look forward to hearing his comments about how the Government will support the Bill and enable it to be enacted.
Rachel Maclean: My hon. Friend highlights an important point. No doubt he is drawing on his vast experience of housing and local government. I thank him for raising that point; he is absolutely right. I come on to other factors that lead to prisoners coming into the system. Many prisoners are without basic qualifications—many do not have English and maths skills beyond those of an 11-year-old. That is...
Rachel Maclean: ...with was the £800,000 that it spent on paving a yellow brick road on the high street. What good does that do in the face of all the challenges so eloquently outlined by Members in all parts of the House? What does it do to drive investment into our town centre? What does it say to the new business investors, the entrepreneurs who are putting their life savings at risk? There is, for...
Rachel Maclean: ...—to speak for people who cannot be here. And if I did not do it, who would? I am pleased to say that this campaign, as we have just seen, has been universally welcomed by Members from across this House, including in particular, my hon. Friend the Member for Walsall North (Eddie Hughes), my hon. Friend the Member for Banbury (Victoria Prentis), who has just left the Chamber, my hon....
Rachel Maclean: .... We need to send out a message that encourages people to take that risk and start businesses. That is why we need to strike the right balance. I speak from experience. Before I entered this House, I spent 25 years working in small businesses. I ran my own business and I was a human resources director in other businesses. I have worked for some small midlands manufacturing companies,...
Rachel Maclean: ...in Redditch. We have heard excellent contributions from all parties. The debate is very important and I am pleased we are having it today. My personal experience as an employer before I entered the House taught me how valuable it is to build diverse teams, not because of any altruistic reason but because it makes such a difference to the performance of the business. Like the hon. Member...
Rachel Maclean: ...place in Ireland, which still hosts many leading industry headquarters. I am a former tech entrepreneur, part of the founding team of one of the UK’s largest software publishers, and I assure the House that this forward-leaning legislation and regulation that requires innovation to solve compliance and user problems is exactly what drives the engineers to do what they do best: to solve...
Rachel Maclean: ...proposals to link the A4 to the A36 at Bathampton were rejected following a public inquiry. I am grateful to the hon. Lady for providing a lot more detail on the history associated with that to the House. Subsequent proposals to revisit the options at that location, promoted by the local authority in connection with proposals for an eastern park and ride site, have not resolved the issue....
Rachel Maclean: ...system are the work coaches, who offer tailored, individualised support to help people. Last week, I was privileged to open Redditch Nightstop, a centre for young people living in family-supported housing, where I did indeed meet claimants of the system, which the hon. Member for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey (Drew Hendry) asked about. I talked in depth with the local...
Rachel Maclean: ...’s stepping in and putting the lease up for auction. My hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent South may be aware that, on 27 March this year, the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities announced that £2 million would be made available by the antisocial behaviour action plan to support communities and businesses to bring such derelict properties back into use....
Rachel Maclean: ...hon. Members. I am determined to ensure that we confront these crimes wherever and whenever they occur and leave no stone unturned in our mission to keep children safe. Question put and agreed to. House adjourned.
Rachel Maclean: ...town hall. They took control this time last year, after eight years of Labour, when there was no positive vision for the future. They have taken control and set out how they will build more social housing and help to empower businesses and the local community to build a thriving town we can all be proud of. It is a positive aspiration for our future and I am completely behind the...
Rachel Maclean: ...they will have heard his advocacy on behalf of the residents. I am confident, therefore, that these continued efforts will lead to an appropriate solution being found. Question put and agreed to. House adjourned.
Rachel Maclean: ...it is only comparatively recently that women were accepted in the workplace. When I was growing up, my mum was unusual, because she worked outside the home as a GP. I had to let myself into the house when I came back from school and make my own meals, which forced me to become independent from an early age. I learned great life skills, including how to make a quick, nutritious meal for my...
