Speeches by Cane.

“I congratulate the Government on recognising the state of Palestine. That recognition was long overdue, but a state needs territory, and its citizens need safety and security. The state of Palestine and its citizens do not have either. Gaza has been devastated by Prime Minister Netanyahu’s military action, which has wi…”

“I must declare some interests before I ask my question: I am a member of the pension scheme, a member of the Civil Service Pensioners’ Alliance and a retired member of the FDA. On the compensation issue, I have a small thing to suggest, but it is something that you could do straight away. I have noticed that when the c…”

“When you talked about making commitments to clear the backlog by September, you were careful to reference the workable cases you would clear. I think you said there are several hundred cases that are not workable. When will you clear those by?”

“My question is to the Minister. We have heard about how many people who are dependent on this scheme have been let down because the contract has not worked. We have heard that we are now seven months into the live contract and asking for a detailed plan of how they are going to deliver the IT and bringing in specialist…”

“Is the civil service struggling to provide Capita with the data it needs in a timely manner?”

“You have talked a lot about the complexity of a defined-benefit scheme, and how there are not many suppliers out there who can do that. This is a very unusual defined-benefit scheme because it is not funded. It is surely the funding—how you do the investments, how you manage them and how you do the actuarial assessment…”

“It is easier and it is cheaper?”

“And you are actively looking for that information.”

“Payroll I get. That goes through BACS because you are paying that monthly, and that is fine. But when you have delayed somebody getting their payment, can you commit now, going forward, to routinely pay them by CHAPS, so at least they get it straight away?”

“You must have a project plan and an estimate.”

“You talked at the beginning about how you were surprised by the complexity and size of the scheme. That surprised me because I believe that Capita managed the scheme until 2012 and had a two-year transition period as well, when you had a good chance to look at it all and understand it. We have heard about the fundament…”

“Going back to the BACS and CHAPS thing, why should they have to tell you that they are in hardship? They have been owed this money. It has taken months, maybe years, to resolve the case. Why do you not just pay the money as quickly as possible through CHAPS?”

“Why are you still making promises for deadlines and then not meeting them? Why do you not assess the case and give a deadline that you are confident you can meet? That would reduce some of the stress for people.”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mrs Harris. I congratulate the hon. Member for Spelthorne (Lincoln Jopp) on securing this debate. I refer Members to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests, where I detail hospitality received from the Jockey Club last July. I am also a member of the APP…”

“You have several times touched on the fact that your terms of reference allowed you to keep the inquiry open so that you could go back. Other inquiries may not have such wide terms of reference. Would it be wise for inquiries to produce interim reports and recommendations as a matter of course, so that they have a chan…”

“So it comes back to the terms of reference?”

“If this Committee took on scrutiny of how the recommendations are followed through, you are suggesting that we could, in fact, be looking at the recommendations from an inquiry for quite some years?”

“Good morning. In your report, you make the point that under the Act, inquiries end when the chairman notifies the Minister. When should scrutiny of implementation of an inquiry’s recommendations begin and end?”

“It should begin then, but when should it end?”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mrs Hobhouse. I congratulate the hon. Member for Meriden and Solihull East (Saqib Bhatti) on securing this debate. Ely and East Cambridgeshire is a very rural area, and in many of my villages the pub is the only place left for local people to gather, meet and socialise. A…”