Speeches by Stephenson.

“I have a few questions on the police funding model. Before I get to that, can I ask a quick supplementary to the Deputy Chair’s questions earlier about abolishing PCCs? From my recollection of that announcement, there is an expected £100 million saving from that. Would you be able to describe to the Committee how that …”

“T7. The Government have said that they want to improve standards in public life, which I entirely agree with. At a recent council meeting, the leader of Milton Keynes council swore and was abusive following the speech of a 16-year-old resident. Does the Secretary of State agree that that behaviour is totally unacceptab…”

“Stamp duty is the worst kind of tax; there seems to be cross-party consensus on that point today. It stands in the way of the aspiring young couple who want to buy their first home, or move on and bring up a family. It punishes the older couple who want to downsize to a more suitable home once their family have flown t…”

“Does my hon. Friend agree that it would be helpful if the Government were much more ambitious in finding the savings in their Budget, in order to deliver this ambitious policy that would support young people up and down our country?”

“The hon. Member is making a powerful argument. I just wonder whether he has reflected on the size of the welfare budget. Is he making the argument that welfare spending should not come down at all?”

“The hon. Member is making a powerful point in support of our motion. Does he intend to support it this afternoon?”

“I was going to ask the same question. There are some very big numbers here. What is the all-in cost per year to keep this prison empty? I think our constituents would be horrified to learn that we are paying all this money for an empty prison. I understand the context, the reasons and the background, but what is the al…”

“It helped you identify it, as well.”

“I appreciate that you will, I am sure, be doing everything you possibly can to minimise those costs. Chair, it would be really helpful to get that high-level number to this Committee in writing. It is extraordinary that we cannot have that number.”

“I will not take up too much time. I just want to ask a few questions about the risk register and the entry of this on the risk register back in 2021, and then lead into how much money is being spent on cyber-risk and the adequacy of that. It is good to hear that this was on the risk register in 2021. I think it has bee…”

“And that’s it? Nothing else? Just add those two numbers together, and that is what it is costing us?”

“To be clear, this was before the breach.”

“Earlier in the session, someone mentioned £32 million having been spent since it was added to the risk register. I think that relates to the numbers that you just ran through—it’s not doubling up, right?”

“So it’s additional.”

“How much taxpayers’ money in total—I do not need it to be itemised—is being spent on this prison every year for no prisoners to be in those cells?”

“But you are doing all sorts of work on it as well.”

“Clement, I do not know if you want to say some final words on that point before I close my questions.”

“Recognising that all countries are at a different place and in a different space, and recognising the UK as at the leading edge, is there anything further the UK needs to do specifically to improve clarity?”

“My final question is for Rachel. To come back to private finance for a moment, successful financial products are underpinned by confidence, clarity and certainty around the public policy framework. What additional certainty is required to unlock—I will use that because I cannot think of another one—private finance so t…”

“Interesting. From a COP30 perspective, do you want the UK Government to go into COP30 looking to achieve these things?”