Speeches by Murray.

“Mr Lakey, this is for you and Clearsprings: 15% of your properties are deemed uninhabitable and one in 50 is deemed unsafe. Just to come back to your earlier point, in response to the Member for Clapham you said the reason you had the highest numbers was because you had the highest volume, but that is not true. That is…”

“Okay. Does that make sense to you all?”

“The figure that I have heard is 3% of the time. Is that correct? That was in the National Audit Office report.”

“Sorry, we do not have much time, so if you could stick to that question I asked: how often are you penalised for missing your KPIs?”

“I will stay on the question of KPIs. It has been quite interesting to hear you say, Ms Sturt, that the performance has been outstandingly good but that does not bear any parallel with the reports that are out there. We hear about uninhabitable properties, one in 50 being deemed unsafe, suicide attempts, and real safegu…”

“That is hard to understand but thank you anyway.”

“Just clarify what a strategic service is again.”

“I want to ask a question about data sharing because we heard from a lot of local authorities and local organisations that are trying to cope when you open hotels in their areas. They have had real challenges in understanding and finding out what is going on. Why do you think they have those concerns? Do you get guidanc…”

“That Clearsprings Ready Homes is part of.”

“What are those services? Sorry, that was not clear.”

“One final question to you from Clearsprings. There have been reports of £17 million paid by Clearsprings to an offshore consultancy with links to your owner. I wonder if you could shed any light on that for us and give us any explanation.”

“That leads me to my next question: is the data that you get from the Home Office timely, accurate and in the way you would want it? I am thinking specifically of those who are coming post-arrival, so they have been triaged already by the Home Office and end up with you. We have heard a lot of stories about age disputes…”

“Would you both agree with that?”

“So, out of profits of £383 million in a total revenue system of £7 billion, for all the failures you are responsible for you have been fined £4 million. If, as is currently projected over the rest of this contract, the costs of this overall to the taxpayer were to double to £15 billion on current trends, you can expect…”

“According to the National Audit Office it adds up to £4 million. Does that sound right across the three of you?”

“Okay, and for the other ones?”

“Okay, so how much does that penalisation amount to? What is the number the Home Office gets back in response?”

“You do not know. Okay. One final point is that the money that the Home Office gives to your organisations actually qualifies as overseas development assistance. It is money the British taxpayer has given to send to the poorest people in the world. Does it cause you any ethical dilemma that this money is going into your…”

“You can just say no, that is all right.”

“Is it not an indicator that you are assessed against by the Home Office?”