Speeches by Mundell.

“Just to be clear, you are saying that there were forces that did not want the facts to be put into the public domain.”

“Thank you; we all have to work with personalities.”

“Arjun, do you hold out any hope that the processes that Thierno and Camilla just spoke about could be simplified, streamlined or made more effective within a foreseeable period?”

“Is that your experience as well, Thierno?”

“Camilla, you answered the question I was going to ask you about institutional capacity, but one thing to draw out, which maybe has not come across as much in the evidence today as we discovered when we were in Nigeria, is the complex relationship between the federal Government, the governors and the individual states. …”

“You have touched on it already, but what impact do you feel the cuts in funding internationally have had?”

“Camilla, can I ask you about Nigeria’s capacity to meet the cost of its own humanitarian and development needs? Although there is great division in the country in wealth, it is a lower to middle-income country.”

“Just to clarify whether I am right in what I heard you say—this aligns with evidence that we heard when we were in Nigeria—it is the lack of food and the difficulties with farming conditions that drive a lot of people into the arms of the terrorist organisations.”

“Andrew, what is your assessment of the human and societal consequences if nutrition needs are not met?”

“Just to be clear, you are saying that there were forces that did not want the facts to be put into the public domain.”

“The child nutrition fund is one of the most effective ways to enhance the impact and value for money of official development assistance spending by mobilising domestic resources, with philanthropic and private capital having the potential to multiply UK ODA contributions as much as sixfold. In 2023, the UK Government c…”

“9. What recent progress the Future of TV Distribution stakeholder forum has made on its work.”

“Older people and those in rural constituencies such as mine, which unfortunately still have unreliable broadband, rely on terrestrial television. The excellent Westminster Hall debate that I led demonstrated cross-party concern about this issue. Will the Minister meet me and other concerned MPs to discuss how we can sa…”

“I was delighted when Eastriggs in my constituency was shortlisted for a new UK munitions factory. The Secretary of State will know about its long history in munitions and the fact that the Ministry of Defence already owns the site. Will the Scotland Office continue to promote the project and join me in facing down the …”

“Who do you think will drive that change? My view is that what is happening in the UK is just reactive. It is not that we have decided that there is a better way to do this, which helpfully costs less; we have just decided that we want to spend less money. Looking internationally, the US have a very clear agenda to focu…”

“I am glad to hear you say that you have had that wake-up call, because you do not always convey that. Even in your opening remarks, Gideon—with all due respect—you suggested that we were going to go back to an increased level of spending. We had a very good debate on ODA recently in Westminster Hall, and the general cr…”

“The Secretary of State will be aware that since the law change, the number of children who have received NHS prescriptions for medical cannabis for severe epilepsy has been pitifully low. Families and campaigners believe that part of the reason is that the Home Office still has large responsibility for those products. …”

“It is entirely consistent with Minister Malhotra’s response to the ODA Westminster Hall debate, when she did not set out any clear strategic objectives. In my view, it is obviously the former.”

“That is very important. I was very disappointed, because there was a proposal for the development of a UK Government campus in Greater Glasgow—a new building. When the Committee was in Glasgow, the feedback to us was that Abercrombie House requires significant upgrading for all—particularly higher—levels of work to be …”

“I was very pleased that the Prime Minister mentioned Sudan; we cannot be blind to Russia’s malign interest there or across the Sahel. What discussions has he had with Prime Minister Modi about his approach to Russian oil and what appear to be his overly friendly social media posts towards President Putin?”