Speeches by Egan.

“I would like to ask about the recruitment freeze on civil service roles in the military. Will it change as a result of the publication of the DIP, and how are skills gaps to be addressed to limit pressure on military personnel?”

“I have one final question. If you had a question to Ministers, what would that question be?”

“I just want to ask a small one on the housing element. Does anyone who is in the private rented sector have experience of trying for local authority housing? Obviously, the housing waiting lists are longer and different in different places. I would be interested in that experience.”

“Where is the best place for support to come from? Maybe it depends on the type of support, but is it national Government, local authorities or advocacy groups? Could you reflect on the experiences of what worked well for you?”

“When I was growing up, they would take the average, so whatever the median was. In the late 2000s, they cut it down to the 30th, and then it got frozen from 2010.”

“If I may just ask the quickest follow-up, not to put words in your mouth, but what do you think would be a proper strategy? If there was confidence in the council house building programme nationally, would that make a difference in terms of child poverty and families on low incomes?”

“Ground-to-air missile defence is listed as one of the major long-term investments, but not until 2030 to 2035. Given how important missile defences are in modern warfare and NATO’s warning to be prepared by the end of this decade, is this not one example in which, to be war ready, funding should be brought forward, not…”

“Baroness Morris’s inquiry into white working-class children has identified how, from early years to future jobs, white British boys on free school meals are falling well behind. How will Ministers, with all the reviews going on and all the work under way, review and incorporate this inquiry’s findings into their work, …”

“I have some questions on the state pension and state pension age. First, we have this date of March ’29 for a review of the state pension. Are we still on track for that, and when do you expect to conduct that review?”

“On some of our visits, we have met groups of people in their 60s, so coming up to retirement age. We have also had evidence of the impact of the increase, mindful of the cost to the system and why the increase in the state pension age was brought in. There have been arguments that some of the poorest in those groups ne…”

“Suzy Morrissey has been asked to conduct a review in advance of your review. Will you allow that to be published? That did not happen when the previous Government made this transition: they published the Secretary of State’s review at the same time. Will we as a Committee have the opportunity to examine Suzy Morrissey’…”

“Thank you. Secretary of State, this might be more reflections on your trip to the Netherlands, but people have often talked about a lack of parity of esteem between the apprenticeship route and the degree route. I think there is a big shift in that, but it could go further. I would like your reflections on that and whe…”

“I have a couple of questions on apprenticeships. Sir Peter, the apprenticeship levy has evolved into the new growth and skills levy, which is welcome and more flexible. I feel it took a long time of industry and employers telling the Department what was not working for things to change. It is very welcome the new Gover…”

“Thank you. Rick, you have your hand up.”

“I have another question, and I will bring you in on this one, Rick. The Government have announced plans to move away from what they have called a “consultation culture”. I understand that desire to speed up decision making. When I knock on doors, people’s eyes tend to roll at the mention of consultation. How does that …”

“That is a very interesting point. Based on your thoughts about what co-production means, how encouraged are you by the Government’s assurances that the Timms review will be co-produced with disabled people?”

“Any other points from the panel? Michael?”

“Daphne, you said there were pockets where you see good practice.”

“The Timms review, yes.”

“Caroline, did you want to add anything?”