Speeches by Kane.

“Lots of little things.”

“It sounds fabulous, but it almost sounds very basic. It sounds like the sort of thing that we always want to do. Looking down on that, Sir Dave, why do you think it was successful? What do you think, strategically, made all that come together?”

“Victoria, do you want to add anything?”

“I had a number of questions about governance, but you have covered them all very well, Chair, so I will move on and ask about culture. Nathan, you were talking about the co-location aspect of fostering good culture. I wonder whether we can go into that a little more and talk about how you went about creating that cultu…”

“In terms of that migration of people who have come through the system and are presenting as homeless, they can go to Scotland in a different way than in England. Glasgow has been pretty vocal over the last few months about how it faces a disproportionate share of people who are presenting as homeless after they have be…”

“It is the ownership part. I am trying to ensure that you are sorting out this problem at a UK-wide level, with robust interactions and connections with the devolved nations as you are setting up within England. It is about giving me a sense that you are looking at this as a UK-wide problem in the way you are tackling i…”

“Is it not incumbent upon you to understand that burden without giving local authorities the additional burden of reporting? You talk about the burden of reporting; why do we not talk about the burden of gathering information?”

“As a Scottish MP, I am always interested in how we talk about taking ownership of this when there are devolved nations involved. Perhaps this is more of a question for Simon than for Josh. How are you ensuring that the joined-up approach—the joint ownership of the problem that we heard Jo talk about with justice—is UK-…”

“As a former local council leader—not having direct experience of this, but having spoken to councillors who have—I know that sometimes it is not just that it is not early; it is that it is ridiculously late before they hear what is happening. Do you think that there is an understanding in the Home Office that even if i…”

“I will move on. We have the costs of dealing with people when they are going through the system, but when they have left the system and have had a response, how are you ensuring that local authorities have adequate information and resources to manage the impact on homelessness in their areas of people being granted asy…”

“Giving them more money to employ people to do the reporting burden. The reporting burden is left to be delivered by an increasingly dwindling number of people who can deliver it. You could fund the reporting burden itself with additional people. Could you not do that?”

“Simon, can I ask you a quick question? You mentioned a few minutes ago that when you are engaging with local authorities, it is definitely not as early as they would like, and I suspect that there is a bit of tension when you do. When you say that it is definitely not as early as they would like, do you think there is …”

“Thank you for that, Chair. My question is specifically about immigration—”

“Sometimes they can get surprised. They can get very late notice. It isn’t just not quite as early as they would like it; it is sometimes incredibly late in the process when they get knowledge of it.”

“The question is this. In effect, you are giving them something to do—to deal with the asylum system—but you do not understand how much it is costing them to deliver all the associated services. You think you have an idea, and you have a broad idea. But, as the Report says, when you start interrogating that, you realise…”

“Why is it that the burden always has to rest with local authorities? Why can the burden not rest with you to get that information? In terms of what is happening with education, language support, integration services and social care—the Report goes into this—you used the language “reporting burden,” but the burden rests…”

“I am not necessarily saying that they will get additional grants. I am looking for assurance and I am not quite getting it. You are pushing this, and the Chair wants to move on, so let me try one last time. Do you think that the Home Office, and indeed all of this joined-up approach that you are trying to look at, shou…”

“My experience of working in local government is that national Government are very good at placing burdens and responsibilities on local government, but not at following that up with the resources to deliver on those burdens. The disconnect between what you are asking them to do and what you are giving them the funding …”

“There is a disproportionate number of people arriving in Glasgow to present their homelessness claims, compared with other local authorities in the UK. Are you looking at Glasgow and Scottish cities to ensure you are giving them additional resources to offset the difference in legislation, which is perfectly permissibl…”

“Josh, can I ask you a couple of questions? Paragraph 1.13 in the NAO Report says, “Actual spending by local authorities on supporting people seeking asylum is poorly understood.” Again, with my former council leader hat on, I think that is a very good and accurate statement. What are you doing to improve the visibility…”