Speeches by McDougall.

“The hon. Member is right to highlight the Government’s commitment to tackling inadequacies in the way rates are calculated, and that is exactly what my hon. Friend the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury spoke about from the Dispatch Box the other day. Beyond the rates issue, we are protecting high street businesses fr…”

“Yes, I can assure my hon. Friend of that. The industrial strategy recognises the great strengths of the north-east, for which he is such a strong champion. As part of the North East combined authority, County Durham is benefiting from targeted measures, including at least £30 million from the local innovation partnersh…”

“I had a fantastic family holiday in Northern Ireland, driven by my son’s obsession with the Titanic—I had a very moving visit there. I have met my opposite number with responsibility for small businesses in Northern Ireland, and I am happy to have the discussion that the hon. Member suggests.”

“I congratulate the hon. Member for Chester South and Eddisbury (Aphra Brandreth) on securing the debate. In my previous role, she and I travelled the world with the Foreign Affairs Committee, so it is good to be dealing with matters that are closer to home. As she so eloquently argued, no matter is closer to home than …”

“On this matter, as on all matters in Macclesfield, my hon. Friend is a constant campaigner on behalf of his local community. I will absolutely raise that branch with Post Office management. The hon. Member for Chester South and Eddisbury mentioned Sandra and Tony, the local sub-postmasters in her area. In my community,…”

“It is for other Departments to be accountable for the contracts that they have run. When you look across Whitehall at the systems it runs, there are Home Office border control systems and systems for communicating with submarines—things that are absolutely critical to national security and national infrastructure. I ab…”

“To take the example of the Horizon extension, if we had not done that, every post office would have to close. That is a good example of the type of judgment we are trying to make.”

“I don’t think that I particularly want to dance on the head of a pin on that. We have out of necessity extended, for example, the contract for Horizon while the Post Office works on the successor system and seeks to procure on that later this year. We could get into a debate about whether that is a new contract or not,…”

“The working number within the Department is around £2 billion, but as you know, the Treasury has been at pains to make sure it is clear that the amounts budgeted for this are not a ceiling—that we are going to make sure that people get full and fair redress, and that is not the ceiling on it.”

“That certainly is the starting point for thinking about the costs of things. In terms of the figures, there is the £1.8 billion figure. I think I am right that in the Budget there was an additional approximately £250 million, which is covering Capture and other legal costs in terms of the running and establishment of s…”

“We are in constant discussions about that, but I think it would be very difficult to put a precise metric on it.”

“The short answer is no. I would not expect Sir Wyn to have a table with percentages of blame apportioned, but I think we will have to properly digest what he concludes in terms of individuals and institutions that have responsibility for this.”

“We do not know. We will have to wait and see. Just to follow on from Fujitsu earlier on, we had a constructive conversation but left them in no doubt about the need for a substantial and significant contribution, and reinforced that their reputation as a company, both within Parliament and among the wider public, would…”

“I think it is a very good point that is well made. It is one of the things I feel a sense of responsibility for, as someone who will likely be Minister for the Post Office for Sir Wyn’s next report, which will look at issues of accountability and how to institutionalise lessons on this—that will be my responsibility. I…”

“It is a new scheme, and we are constantly learning lessons from it. In fairness, as the lawyers indicated earlier on, this is a step change in the culture and feel of redress schemes, compared with what has gone before.”

“Well, we are working very hard on that.”

“My mind is not closed. We are constantly working with the advisory board and others to make sure that this works.”

“Yes.”

“As I say, we have Sir Gary there as a troubleshooter. Within Sir Wyn’s inquiry recommendations, that was the single thing that he thought would make a difference. Having looked at similar roles in other schemes, they were what made the difference with the contentious cases. On top of that, the other thing that has got …”

“The complex cases, as I say, are coming through to us through HSSA anyway. That is helpful. We are taking a whole lot of other measures to make sure that HSS works better. The most significant one—identified by Sir Wyn and by the Committee—is around Sir Gary’s new role as a troubleshooter to make sure that, as happens …”