Speeches by Norris.

“This is a live conversation at the moment, and you will know that we did open expressions of interest for local authority pilots. I want to be clear with the Committee. I believe that the end state for the next contract and where that gets us to is a much more mixed economy. I am an avowed municipalist. Virtually no as…”

“That is something in consideration. In many cases, that could be the local authority stock being managed at arm’s length by a company. I do think there would be value in a more mixed economy. Holding financial benefits locally is a better way of winning consent in the public as well, so I think there is something in th…”

“This is an important point I said just before you returned, Ms Reid, that the large site does not contribute to the service user demand plan number. I appreciate, and colleagues have raised, that that is a challenge. As we do more, we will hold that under review. The basis for that is that dispersed accommodation is in…”

“That was not the decision we took, no.”

“No, no, that is not what we mean here. If you are talking about people who have the right to work because they have not had their case assessed within 12 months, that would not be how this worked. There is a small cohort of people who enter our supported accommodation with the right to work because they have overstayed…”

“Absolutely, yes.”

“This is difficult because it is trying to make significant changes to huge contracts that are a long way down their lifespan. We would always want to look at KPIs and make changes there. We have to do that in consultation and in bilateral agreement with our contractors. We have not made that change. I am not saying we …”

“Granted that I have come in late in this journey, Wethersfield is different to what it was at the beginning. We have learnt a lot from that experience and our management is in line with that. We have now been at that for a few months and we believe that has stood up and done what we were seeking for it to do.”

“We have clawed back £74 million across profit share and service credits. That relates to the previous financial year—the one before, but done in the previous financial year. We are starting the process of interrogating other contracts to see what might be done there, too, but it is an important part of the work we are …”

“There is a lot in that. The appeals piece is a result of reducing the backlog in initial decisions that was built up by the previous Government stopping making decisions. That, of course, had to be done. We have had significant success in doing so. That has created a backlog in appeals. As I said earlier, we are workin…”

“No, no, that is not my view. I cannot say more strongly than I have said earlier in the Committee. I want local authority involvement in future contracts. I think that will be the process, rather than the pilot process, by which that activity takes place. I want local authorities involved in this. I think that is a str…”

“Again, the backlog takes a number of forms, principally in appeals, and you have heard the changes we are making there. Secondly, it is in the fact that we have a significant cohort of failed asylum seekers, particularly families. You will know the consultation we have done now on removal there. In all these, removal f…”

“The intellectual basis for that is that we have a fundamental question as a Government to answer—and as a Parliament, I might venture to say. We know the global patterns. We know the challenges around climate and conflict, but we assume there is a degree of constancy across certainly ourselves and our European neighbou…”

“It is reliant on the data I have just posited. We all have access to that data, we will all make our own judgments, and that is ours. That is the basis of our theory for change.”

“You will have seen what the Prime Minister has previously said. Yes. I do not have an update for the Committee. It will not surprise the Committee to hear that I talk to European partners.”

“No, no, but it is exceptionally important. All European countries are looking at this in some way. You will have seen what the Italians have been up to. We have those conversations, but that would be announced in the usual way.”

“It is across all contracts, yes.”

“Yes, and I accept that. I do think the work of the independent inspector is important, not least for our accountability, but also for public confidence. We have a challenge with two reports because of the data. Colleagues will know we are doing a big piece of work across the Department on data. The information that goe…”

“It depends on how quickly we can stand them up because it takes a little while to get some learning from that. As I say, I think the longer answer is a fuller involvement in local authorities rather than piecemeal.”

“No. As I say, we are where we are with the contract. We are on a journey to a new contracting arrangement, but this worked within that process.”