Mr Luke Charters
MP for York Outer · Labour · United Kingdom
“When someone says, “It’s gone reyt,” you know it has gone properly well. Many of these words carry real history: “laiking”, “beck” and “fells” are all rooted in Old Norse. Long before Westminster caught up with the north, we were already shaping a language of our own.”
“Research shows that nearly a third of university students have been mocked because of their accent, and almost half of workers say that they face jokes or jibes about the way that they speak in workplace settings—including me, in my experience at the Bank of England. I felt it when I started doing national media as an MP, too.”
“Like many colleagues here today, I was not elected because I sounded polished; I was elected through hard graft and to represent the people who sent me here. I have done my best, though, to get a few Yorkshire phrases into Hansard , because that is how my constituents speak.”
“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Roger. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Leigh and Atherton (Jo Platt) on securing today’s debate.”
“I really appreciate that, and those producers know who they are. I am especially grateful to broadcasters such as Matt Chorley, who is helping to challenge some of the assumptions in national broadcasting and to get regional accents on air.”
“I do not want my two boys, Robin and Louis, to grow up believing that if they want to pass an interview or land a graduate job, the first thing that they have to do is to change how they speak. When a young person starts believing that they have to hide or change their accent, it chips away at their confidence.”
The complete record
Every one of 414 lines we hold for Mr Luke Charters, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 7 of 9.
“18. What steps his Department is taking to support the delivery of the funding plans outlined in the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s Mansion House speech.”
“The Chancellor of the Exchequer mentioned growth over 40 times in her superb Mansion House speech. York, Leeds and beyond will benefit from that. How will my hon. Friend ensure that the industrial strategy delivers for financial services so that we can achieve the growth this country desperately needs?”
“I hope Members will forgive that slightly unexpected reference, but the reason why those 14 homes were delayed for three to six months was that planning committee members from a certain party did not want to go ahead over a hedge. Families had been left waiting for months for housing—over a hedge. Let me move on from that harrowing tale and make a slightly bold suggestion: rather than just focusing on the responsibilities of housing developers, we must focus on the role of local councillors. If committee members are homeowners, they should have to declare it as an interest. It is easy to block the homes of the future when you have one yourself.”
“Let me tell hon. Members a story. New Earswick was the brainchild of Joseph Rowntree. For Members familiar with model villages, it is the Bournville or Saltaire of York—a place built on the principle that better housing can be provided for lower-income families. Recently, there was a proposal to build 14 new affordable houses. It was compliant with the national planning policy framework. No need to worry, right? Unfortunately, that was not the case. If Members want to know why, I will need to refer to one of my son’s favourite films, the 2006 animated comedy “Over the Hedge”. The plot, for those who may not know it, is about a group of woodland animals led by a cautious turtle named Verne. The problem is that Verne’s overly cautious approach has bled into the local authority’s cautious planning approach for too long.”
“It is an honour to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Pritchard— [Interruption] —in the company of the John Deere air horn orchestra. This debate is very important to me. I have met Persimmon, Oakgate, Banks Group, Joseph Rowntree, Taylor Wimpey, Barratt, David Wilson, McLaren and countless others. I thank the hon. Member for Keighley and Ilkley (Robbie Moore) for securing the debate. I greatly respect him as a fellow Yorkshire MP, so let me be Yorkshire, direct and bold and say that he forgets an important point: it was the last Government who oversaw the broken planning system. That brings me to the challenges we face in York. Housing developers have struggled to build good homes over the past 14 years, but it is not for lack of trying. I am afraid to say that some councillors in certain parties have been the blockers for too long.”
“They are desperately needed in York. Let me also touch on pre-application discussions. These are important to let developers get on and consider local need in the right way and at an early stage.”
“Absolutely not. The example I gave was—to go back to that 2006 movie—about a hedge. The power that planning committees have must be exercised with restraint. We must consider the opportunity costs. Disabled families and other families, my constituents, have been left waiting six months because of a landscape issue over a hedge. There are a couple of practical considerations I would like to raise. The future homes standard is great, and developers have a responsibility there, but we cannot just focus on air source heat pumps. We must have battery storage linked to photovoltaics as well—that should be the new home standard. We must also have extra planning committee resource so we can properly hold developers to account. I would really welcome the Minister updating us on when the 200 new planning officers are likely to be in place.”
“I would welcome the chance to meet the Minister to discuss some of these ideas further. York Outer is a unique place in terms of the concept of grey belt. I welcome recent NPPF statements. I really believe that we will be turning Tory stumbling blocks into Labour’s building blocks.”
“Forgive me, Mr Pritchard, but I thought that the intervention was on my point about the pre-application process, which should be welcomed on all sides. It can be really helpful to developers and local authorities, because additional resource—an independent resource that the local authority agrees to—can be brought in to provide support, enabling things to be scrutinised more closely and in due time. I hear so much from developers about statutory consultees, and orchestrating them—landscaping, drainage, water, highways and so on—is a critical part of the planning process. But so often in the planning process, when one respondent is late, it has a knock-on effect on everyone else. We realistically must ensure that planning authorities are better at orchestrating those statutory consultees.”
“However, I warmly offer Ministers the opportunity to talk about what I have set out in much more detail. I look forward to meeting Baroness Hayman, the Lords Minister responsible for biosecurity, soon. The recent announcement of funding to the Weybridge lab shows that the Government take biosecurity extremely seriously. I look forward to supporting the Government in that critical work. A good biosecurity system is a bit like a well-built Yorkshire dry stone wall: solid, reliable and it keeps the wrong things out.”
“DEFRA should provide an update on the medium-term implementation and status of the border target operating model. Ensuring that the system is effective is critical to trade and health. I am sure we could have an even more specific and niche Westminster Hall debate on that topic, but I will leave BTOM there and invite the Government to provide further updates in due course. Finally, I will take us back to the meetings I have had with farmers in my constituency of York Outer—be they the Hobsons or the Wilsons. They depend on a biosecure economy to trade—it is their livelihood. They depend on us getting biosecurity right. From my meetings with APHA, DPHA, the APPG and the NFU, and producer groups such as the BPC and the NPA—the British Poultry Council and the National Pig Association—we have quite the alphabet soup.”
“There is also a significant biosecurity risk of African swine fever coming into the UK via that point of entry and entering into commercial pig production. To underline the point, I am not one for scaremongering, but the National Audit Office estimated that the 2001 foot and mouth outbreak cost the UK economy £8 billion, which is equivalent to almost double that amount today. As such, I urge Ministers to consider granting the DPHA a multi-year funding settlement, much like our approach to local government, to support its work on an ongoing basis. As I heard from the DPHA, the intensity, complexity and volume of its work is increasing, and a multi-year settlement, rather than the current periodic rolling arrangement, would give it the opportunity to plan for the future.”
“We must continually keep APHA’s resources under review. From what I saw on the ground. if there were a black swan event, or multiple complex disease outbreaks simultaneously, APHA may need additional support. I suppose it is not that dissimilar to what we experienced during the pandemic. I recently had a meeting with the Dover Port Health Authority. I commend Bev Edmonson, the port health and public protection manager, whose dedication and commitment to public health really stood out. The amount of meat seized by Border Force officials has doubled in a year. The APPG was briefed on cases of illegal meat entering the UK—a risk to human and public health because of Trichinella, for example.”
“I saw laboratories undertaking thousands of genomic sequencings, the infrastructure to ensure surveillance of new emerging disease, how outbreaks are modelled, and the agency’s work as an international reference laboratory for many animal diseases. But for all its kit, it was the people who stood out, under the steadfast leadership of Jenny Stewart, the APHA interim chief executive. The people who do that work to keep the UK safe and ultimately protect trade and our food production do it out of vocation, so I thank them. I hugely welcome the Government’s £200 million investment to support the transformation of APHA’s facilities at Weybridge. That will enhance its ability to respond to the threat that disease outbreaks pose to health, farming, food security, trade and the economy. However, in my typical Yorkshire style, may I be direct?”
“Along that journey, I have heard about everything, including the threat posed by certain midges around bluetongue, illegal raw meat creating the risk of African swine fever, and poultry in ports creating a risk of avian influenza. We have seen that two of those diseases are present in the UK. Thankfully, bluetongue controls are working, and there has been only one very isolated case of an avian influenza outbreak in East Yorkshire. However, I digress, so let me return to the biosecurity journey I have been on in the past few months. I recently visited the Animal and Plant Health Agency in Weybridge and saw its critical work to safeguard animal and plant health for the benefit of people, the environment and the economy.”
“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dame Siobhain. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for South Norfolk (Ben Goldsborough) on securing today’s debate on biosecurity. It is great that he is continuing the fine tradition of Members for South Norfolk advocating for pork markets. I am proud to chair the APPG on UK food security—I thank the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) for his warm words about that. As colleagues will be getting to know, I am a proud Yorkshireman who will always promote at every turn our region, and the rural communities I represent. However, nothing is more critical than biosecurity, because, as Members have said, biosecurity is national security. Let me take you on a journey this morning, Dame Siobhain, from DEFRA laboratories and the port of Dover to farms in York Outer.”
“I recently heard from a constituent with three young children who has applied for over 80 properties, but is still waiting for social housing. What steps will my right hon. Friend take to speed up the planning process specifically for social housing?”
“I recently held a public meeting about the concerning rise of antisocial behaviour in Haxby, and I want to thank the deputy mayor of York and North Yorkshire, Jo Coles, Haxby town council, the police and the local community for their efforts. Does my right hon. Friend agree that respect orders could play a key role in reducing antisocial behaviour in the town, and will she meet me to discuss this in more detail?”
“The hon. Gentleman knows that I hold him in high regard, but I am slightly perplexed because he welcomes this Government’s investment in public services, the NHS and so forth, yet his colleagues oppose many of the revenue raisers in this Finance Bill—and perhaps he does, too. Can he help me square that circle?”
“As we discussed on Second Reading of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill yesterday, the tobacco duty increase will act as a deterrent to smoking, and it will save lives. Taken together, these measures are important to changing habits, but the tobacco duty increase will also raise extra cash to fund our NHS. Primary care services such as the York Medical Group, which I recently visited, and York hospital will undoubtedly welcome extra investment. I certainly welcome it, as a parent who recently had to wait many hours in York A&E with a screaming toddler after a trapped finger. It is vital that we get the NHS back up and running for constituents like mine. One constituent has been waiting seven years for surgery. Let that sink in: it is half the time that the Tories were in power.”
“It is just a shame that he is not quite on planet Earth when it comes to recognising that we need to not only invest in public services but pay for them—the vehicle for that being this very Finance Bill. Even while this Government are tackling the Tories’ toxic inheritance, we are, through this Finance Bill, protecting payslips, when it comes to income tax and employee national insurance. Let me get on to other key measures in the Bill that I welcome. Measures on tobacco duty, non-dom tax status and the oil and gas windfall mean that public services in my constituency of York Outer will be all the better off. Let me start by talking about the NHS. This week, I met Yorkshire Cancer Research to talk about the vital work that it does.”
“My hon. Friend the Member for South Derbyshire (Samantha Niblett) has left the Chamber, but I praise her for her maiden speech. I am pleased to speak on this Finance Bill. It underpins the first Labour Budget in 14 years. It also raises the revenue that this country needs in order to recover, rebuild and renew. I will not spend ages talking about the Conservatives and the mess they have made, but—cue groans from Conservative Members—we all know about the £22 billion black hole, the mini-Budget and their reprehensible record on public finances. However, I want to take a moment to praise the shadow Chancellor, the right hon. Member for Central Devon (Mel Stride), because I genuinely enjoyed his astronomy references.”
“Conservative Members do not seem to think that economic stability matters when it comes to investing in public services; they certainly know quite a lot about economic instability. This Government have been tasked with ripping out the rot following 14 years of chaos. The Bill helps to fix the foundations by providing the revenue to restore public services in York Outer and beyond.”
“For all the Conservatives’ obfuscation, we have actually kept so many of our manifesto promises, one of which was to deliver a windfall tax on oil and gas companies—a policy so good that the Conservatives stole it when they were in government. The additional revenue raised by the EPL will help us to set up GB Energy, which will deliver for the British people by delivering the green jobs of the future. May I briefly refer to the first Bill I ever spoke on in this House, which is now the Budget Responsibility Act 2024? I said the Bill was important because it was “the only way we can grow those public services with a stable economy.” —[ Official Report , 30 July 2024; Vol. 752, c. 1253.] That is as true now as it was back then— [ Interruption. ] I hear grumbles from the Opposition Benches.”
“The Budget announced a £1 billion uplift for SEN provision and a £2.3 billion increase in the schools budget, which will make a huge difference to places like Applefields school and Manor Church of England academy. I have also visited Askham Bryan college, a fantastic agricultural college in York Outer. Its great students, who are studying T-levels, will benefit from £300 million of extra funding for colleges, directly stemming from this Finance Bill. While making some proportionate tax rises in the Budget, we have maintained our position of having the lowest capital gains tax in Europe. We have struck the right balance, because we will have extra cash for our schools, and it is a real lifeline.”
“I will soon be having my office Christmas do. I am sure there is a joke to be made about liquid assets, but I recently visited Elvington brewery, and this Bill rightly cuts alcohol duty on draught products. That is wonderful news for our Yorkshire pubs. I need to declare an interest for myself and my hard-working team, because these measures mean that we are looking forward to enjoying a cheaper pint of the wonderfully named Fairytale of Brew York, which will be launched by Brew York over the festive period. Conservative Members back investment in our public services, but they do not support the revenue raised by this Bill. Perhaps they have been having too many fairytale economic pints. The VAT increase on private school fees will bring in £1.7 billion a year, which will go directly to schools like those in York Outer.”
“That is slightly laughable, if I may say so as an affable Yorkshireman. Things like the national planning policy framework will drive growth, and some of these measures were not included in the OBR blue book. This pro-growth Government are doing so much for growth, so I find the hon. Gentleman’s question slightly perplexing. The Bill will abolish the non-dom tax loophole and replace it with a residence-based regime. I had a look, and this change will raise £12.7 billion. Just last week, the Transport Secretary kindly visited me and the Mayor of York and North Yorkshire to announce £12.7 million of funding for our buses, which will transform our region. My quick maths shows that closing the non-dom tax loophole will pay 1,000 times more than that sum, which is the difference this Bill will make.”
“I am hopeful that Project Gigabit and the Government’s work on the internet roll-out more broadly can help my constituents, something I would like to discuss in detail another time. I am supportive of the Government’s work to roll out Project Gigabit, and my case studies hopefully illustrate a glimpse of why it is so important. Finally, I thank the hon. Member for Farnham and Bordon (Gregory Stafford) for securing this debate, allowing me to raise those important constituency cases.”
“I am not sure whether it is the Defence Infrastructure Organisation or Openreach that is responsible for the project, but I would love to get it fixed, if possible, with the Minister’s help. If I could meet him, that would be brilliant. I will draw on another case study. I have heard from residents in Haxby about Project Lightning, a 2019 initiative to bring full-fibre to the village. Although the work was completed, unfortunately some houses were missed out. The cost of that is felt by one couple who recently told me that they work from home, but are now struggling to join calls with clients. They cannot both go on calls with clients at the same time, and that is affecting their fantastic small business. I have also had constituents write to me about the need for upgrades in Hopgrove, just four miles from York city centre.”
“However, the focus of my remarks is to feed back on an important experience for one of my constituents, and on why an important upgrade in York Outer is needed. I start on a specific issue that I would like to pick up with the Minister separately, if he would be so kind as to meet me. I have a Ministry of Defence site in my constituency, in the area of Strensall, that recently missed out on a roll-out of hyperfast connectivity. There are nearly 100 military houses on that site that need an upgrade, and they need it badly. For context, some of the people there are suffering with speeds of less than 10 megabytes per second on copper cables, compared with some residential houses opposite that now have speeds of up to 1,200 megabits per second, and—colleagues, wait for this—at the same cost! Serving families deserve so much better.”
“Those unique perplexities do not just extend to the constituency’s map; there are cases within it. Take Haxby and Huntington. Forgive me the pun: because of the way my constituency is wired, quite literally, there are roads where a house on one side has fantastic connectivity, but on the other side the internet is terribly slow, and the last time that side got an update, Teletext was on the TV. A quick roll-out of good internet really matters for our mission of economic growth, so I welcome the more than £500 million in the Budget, committed for 2025-26, to deliver Project Gigabit and the shared rural network. It will play a pivotal role in delivering full gigabit broadband coverage by 2030.”
“While it is a pleasure to speak in the debate today, I am hoping it is one that we do not need to keep having. Like many of us, I represent a rural community, and if there is one thing I am desperate to fix, it is sorting out t’internet for my constituents. I make no apologies for my local dialect because up north, we all joke about the rubbish internet signal in rural Yorkshire. It is a huge barrier for many. There are unique perplexities in the geography of my constituency of York Outer; anyone who has seen it on a map will know that. Some call it a doughnut and some call it a Polo mint. Effectively, it is sweeping Yorkshire countryside with vibrant villages and closely knit communities. However, we see one challenge, and that is the focus of today’s debate: broadband.”
“My constituency is home to a wonderful retirement community at Hartrigg Oaks. However, residents living there have told me that they worry, every single time there is a storm, about how the River Foss may overflow on to their property. There is a fix: a water pump to alleviate flooding, but that was removed, shamefully, by Yorkshire Water three years ago. Does my right hon. Friend agree with me that Yorkshire Water should fix that urgently, following Storm Bert?”
“I recently met two constituents who are yet to receive compensation as former sub-postmasters. I felt their pain, and I felt that their pain was being compounded by the long-drawn-out process, driving mental anguish for them on a daily basis. Can my hon. Friend update the House on when the appeal system for the Horizon shortfall scheme will be up and running?”
“They say that money doesn’t grow on trees, but apparently it flies out the window for £100 million bat caves. Does my right hon. Friend agree that HS2 should apologise for its fur-brained scheme? How can we quickly learn the lessons to ensure good taxpayer value for money as HS2 continues?”
“Friend the Member for Whitehaven and Workington (Josh MacAlister) invited the Minister for Food Security and Rural Affairs to Cumbria; I invite him to stop at York along the way to discuss some of these hugely important topics. I will always be a champion for our rural communities, and I will work cross-party on many of the issues that I have mentioned.”
“Member for Chester South and Eddisbury (Aphra Brandreth) on securing tonight’s Adjournment debate on farmers’ mental health. When considering the future of the NHS, it is so important that we not only fix the waiting lists and implement the reforms needed but always think of our cherished rural communities. Food security is national security, and mental health is just as important as physical health. That is why I am always willing, as all of us in this place are, to talk to farmers about what they are going through. Rural communities voted for change earlier this year. That is why there are many Labour MPs who are hard-working advocates for their rural communities—as passionate as I am. Thankfully, the Government have had a strong start. These topics have a big impact on my constituents. My hon.”
“That matters to me too, not least with recent avian influenza cases reported in Yorkshire. I had a wonderful bacon sarnie at Wilson’s farm. From the butter to the bap to the bacon, it was all locally produced, and that sent me an important message. The Government must buy local when it comes to procurement. School dinners must be local. We must promote British farming, including in this place where we could purchase more British farming products. We also need to do more to end farmwashing. Some of the farmers in my patch were telling me about quite deceptive food packaging, with red, white and blue, and tractor logos that narrowly get through advertising regulations, only for customers to turn the back of the packet and see that the product came from a farm in Spain, Ireland or elsewhere. We have to sort that. I congratulate the hon.”
“Our Government are doing good work on flooding. I welcome the £60 million that the Secretary of State rapidly released for communities last month, and the investment of more than £2.4 billion over two years in flood resilience. The issue with flooding in the past is that we have needed a quicker release of funds, and I hope that will be a priority for the Government. The biggest issue for me nationally is biosecurity. This week, I will visit the Animal and Plant Health Agency in my capacity as chair of the all-party parliamentary group for food security. Whether it is the new H5N5 variant of avian influenza—which is incredibly contagious —the recent outbreak of bluetongue or African swine fever, these are all real risks that our farmers tell me they are worrying about.”
“That is why I will focus my comments on flooding, biosecurity and mental health—three vital cross-party issues that we can tackle together. It is well known that we suffer from flooding in York, with two rivers—the Foss and the Ouse—in our city. When they overflow, they devastate communities and crops. The use of agricultural land is a hot topic in the House, but in York persistent flooding is a big driver of the loss of land. I will depart from party politics for a second, because I know that my predecessors in York from all parties have done a good job locally on flooding, and I intend to do the same. That is why I have already had some positive chats with the Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Kingston upon Hull West and Haltemprice (Emma Hardy).”
“I will never get tired of saying how proud I am to represent rural communities in York Outer, especially when it comes to food production. From carrots to chicken, or parsnips to pigs, if there is a perfect place in the country to see your dinner go from farm to fork, look no further than York. Now then, on the topic of Yorkshire folk, we are a hard-working bunch. I am a prime example, trying to squeeze my Yorkshire dialect into Hansard . In all seriousness, there are few harder workers than our farmers, famed for hard graft, which is why I have been spending so much time engaging with them across York Outer. I have been to several farms in my constituency, and I have met my local NFU, but I know that supporting rural communities means focusing on the longer term, not just the here and now.”
“I am proud to represent many wonderful farming communities. The young farmers I meet tell me that one of their biggest challenges is accessing rural mental health services. Does my hon. Friend welcome the record £22 billion extra going into the NHS, which will support access to rural mental health services?”
“I am proud that the Government are making the most of a tough economic inheritance and meeting the needs of my constituents. I do, however, welcome the previous comments of the right hon. Member for North West Essex (Mrs Badenoch) on Budgets. She praised fuel duty freezes, backed building more homes, welcomed extra pothole funding and supported increasing the national living wage, so I presume that during her first appearance at the Dispatch Box as Leader of the Opposition on Wednesday, she will welcome this Budget. Our Budget is a downpayment to get our future back; it will protect working people, and we should be proud of it.”
“Due to the crisis in special educational needs and disabilities funding, as every day goes by that child loses crucial opportunities to develop key social skills, but the extra £1 billion of funding—a 6% real-terms increase—that we have committed to will change that. Our schools will get the support they need under this Labour Government. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions opened today’s debate, and I know that the Labour Government, as they did from 1997 to 2010, will do everything in their power to bring down poverty. I am also delighted that extra resource will be dedicated to tackling fraudsters, after the Crown Prosecution Service recently prosecuted an advanced organised crime group that defrauded taxpayers in an industrial-scale benefits fraud. I welcome the anti-fraud funding announcement.”
“We said that we would protect working people’s payslips, and that is exactly what we did. Let me start with education. I know the pressure that schools faced under the Tories, not least because my wife is a genuinely inspirational teacher, so I am pleased that we have turned the page, with a £2.3 billion increase in the core schools budget, the recruitment of new teachers and action on the reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete crisis. A constituent recently wrote to me about their child, who has been unable to attend full school full time since the start of 2023 due to insufficient funding to support their additional needs.”
“This weekend I held a surgery at a great place called the St Giles’ centre in Copmanthorpe. The day started with a coffee morning and ended with a beer festival. Thankfully, I was not misunderstood when requesting a strong brew, but sadly I heard some sobering stories from my constituents. I met one constituent stuck in housing full of damp, another battling for an education, health and care plan, and a sub-postmaster yet to receive compensation; these are the everyday tragedies that our constituents face after 14 years of failure. The Budget mattered to them because they have been let down for far too long, and this historic Budget—the first ever delivered by a woman—rose to the challenge. Working people want the Government to give them bang for their buck.”
“York Outer has a vibrant community of Hongkongers who want to secure Jimmy Lai’s release. Can my right hon. Friend confirm that he will raise the issue of Jimmy Lai every single time he meets Chinese officials, until he is safely released?”
“Iran’s monstrous state sponsorship of Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis is a fundamental driver of the conflict we see in Gaza, Lebanon and the Red sea respectively. Can my right hon. Friend confirm what steps the Government are taking to undermine Iran’s financial, military and logistical support for those terrorist proxies?”
“Following the disastrous mini-Budget, the Bank of England was forced to undertake emergency liquidity operations to reduce volatility in markets. Does my right hon. Friend agree that the investment summit’s record £63 billion shows that this Government are creating stable conditions for long-term investment, after years of political chaos from the Conservative party?”
“Brew York and Piglets Adventure Farm are just two examples of highly innovative businesses in my constituency. Does my hon. Friend agree that, from lager to lambing, businesses will play a critical role in delivering the five missions, so business engagement is key?”