Speeches by McKinnell.

“Yes. How many requests for lump sum payments have not been paid yet?”

“Do you expect, in terms of the timeframe, that they will still be required?”

“I have to say that it is not clear at all. I have some figures here that were, I believe, correct up to 23 February 2026. They say that you received 1,804 hardship cases: 798 were from active retirees in the last 12 months, 923 deferred for longer than 12 months, and 864 have had a lump sum paid. That could be the whol…”

“Okay. As long as all the information is correct when it comes to you, you will pay out a lump sum. But obviously that is not going to be the case for quite a lot of people. Therefore, you defer that to the Cabinet Office for a hardship loan?”

“I am pleased to chair the newly formed all-party parliamentary group for warm homes. Newcastle is leading the way with its hugely impactful warm homes local grant scheme run by Warmworks in conjunction with Newcastle city council. Does the Secretary of State agree that we need to see more of these locally led grant sch…”

“Thank you. That is a really thorough response and is very helpful in the circumstances. I want to clarify one further thing, following the earlier discussion around the Defence Nuclear Enterprise—I think it was you, Permanent Secretary, who responded on it—because, as the Chair noted, the increases in spending detailed…”

“Obviously it is reassuring that it is not stopping progress as it needs to happen, but as you say, there is great parliamentary interest. There is also obviously a huge interest from businesses that want to make plans, invest in the UK, create jobs and opportunities and add to our resilience and security. One of the ch…”

“This is probably one for you, Jeremy. Why have you not yet published the defence investment plan?”

“It sounds from your response as though, in the six months of delay since it was initially promised, the context has changed. Does that mean that it will take significantly longer to produce the plan, given that in the time since it should have been produced, the context has changed?”

“Presumably outcome level 4, which you have chosen, is at a level that will make the building safe and functional? What Members and the public would probably like to understand is what we are missing out on from levels 5 and 6, so that it is clear what choices are being made in terms of compromise of historical preserva…”

“For level 5 or for level 6?”

“So it was 2.6% of what?”

“Okay. Just to be clear, when you are covering atriums with glass, for example, has there been an assessment of whether those atriums are for public use or for Members’ use? To what extent does that compromise the utilisation of the Palace?”

“That is helpful to understand—thank you. I understand that you have looked at a scale of six outcome levels. What are the differences in costs between the outcome levels being considered?”

“Okay. I guess the question is: how much of it is driven by cost?”

“It is difficult to move into percentages when we have been talking about actual figures. Are you able to put a figure on that?”

“Okay. I guess we need some clarity on all of that. Obviously, where you are making such a large and long-term decision, to be clear that the level 4 outcome is the right level to pitch it at, there would need to be quite clear information around what is being compromised, so that there is clarity about the decisions th…”

“I wanted to ask about the outcome levels that are being looked at, but it is hard to understand the parameters without fully understanding the issues that have just been raised in relation to the options. I just want to be clear about the additional programme spend that you anticipate from having two options rather tha…”

“So having to do that for two?”

“Okay, fine. It is just helpful to understand how we have got where we are in order to understand where we are going forward.”