Parliament

Michael Fabricant: I join the Prime Minister in his comments about the Hillsborough families. It is thanks to Margaret Thatcher and her robust treatment of militant trade unions in the west midlands, and to her contribution of £10 billion at today’s prices to the motor industry in the west midlands that iconic names such as Jaguar and Land Rover still exist. Does the Prime Minister share my boundless joy...

Michael Fabricant: Whether he has had recent discussions with the Mayor of the West Midlands on economic growth in that region.

Michael Fabricant: First, I welcome my hon. Friend to the Dispatch Box; it is a pleasure to see her there. A little while back, a friend of mine from Rouen, Thierry Fontenay, came over to Tywyn in Gwynedd. I asked myself, “How can I amuse him?” I took him on the Talyllyn railway, and we went from Tywyn to Abergynolwyn. He was over the moon—he took photographs of the engine and went on to the footplate. He...

Michael Fabricant: Whether he has had discussions with the Welsh Government on promoting and supporting narrow gauge railway tourism in Wales.

Michael Fabricant: My hon. Friend may have heard that news is emerging from China of yet another respiratory disease spreading through that country. What mechanisms are in place to learn from the covid inquiry when it finishes its work, so that if mistakes were made, we do not make them again in the event that, God forbid, we have another pandemic?

Michael Fabricant: What recent steps she has taken to help prepare for a future pandemic.

Michael Fabricant: If the Church Commissioners will take steps to share good practice from the work of the Lichfield cathedral summer school.

Michael Fabricant: My question is: what provisions are in place, if any, to ensure that if I do say those things, I get GB News radio, not another channel, and I am not charged for it?

Michael Fabricant: If I were to say, “Hey, Siri, can I have GB News radio?” or “Alexa, play GB News radio”—[Interruption.] Of course I would say GB News radio. It is the most successful news channel now, pulling in a bigger audience at most times of the day than either the BBC News channel or Sky—TalkTV cannot even be measured. Anyway, I am going off the subject.

Michael Fabricant: What steps her Department is taking to support commercial radio and television in the context of the development of new transmission platforms.

Michael Fabricant: I thank my hon. Friend for his answer. It is the 20th anniversary of MusicShare, which started in Lichfield. Over 150 schools are engaged each year. I went to the anniversary concert in Lichfield cathedral last Saturday and saw “Noye’s Fludde”, which was written by Benjamin Britten. It was a spectacular occasion, with all the schoolchildren taking part. What more could Lichfield do to...

Michael Fabricant: I thank my right hon. Friend for that encouraging answer. On behalf of my constituents in Lichfield, may I thank him for having the guts to stop HS2? May I ask that, for the area in the north of my constituency where construction is still going on, that happens swiftly, and that in areas that will not have HS2, compensation is given swiftly to those people who are expecting it?

Michael Fabricant: What assessment he has made of recent trends in economic growth in the west midlands.

Michael Fabricant: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, whether she has made an assessment of the effectiveness of legislation to ban conversion practices in Spain.

Michael Fabricant: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 on the use of conversion practices with LGBT people.

Michael Fabricant: When I was a student—and a bit of a surfer dude—at the University of Southern California, I was struck by the fact that Americans, when they go to university, do not have to make the choice when they are 16 or 17 between arts and sciences. Will the initiative announced by the Secretary of State in Manchester mean that, in future, British students will not have to make that early choice?

Michael Fabricant: Whether her Department is taking steps to increase the number of multi-disciplinary subjects taught to students before university.

Michael Fabricant: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans to publish guidance for schools on supporting trans pupils.

Michael Fabricant: What recent steps she has taken to establish international accountability for Russia’s actions against Ukraine; and if she will make a statement.

Michael Fabricant: Thank you, Mr Speaker. As chairman of the all-party parliamentary group for the waterways, I share concerns about the future of our canal network, but I am conscious of the fact that 15 years ago when the trust was set up, the aim was for it to be self-financing. Richard Parry, the chief executive, has discussed with me and Ministers in the past the possibility of receiving a lump sum,...