Speeches by Clifton-Brown.

“Lord Hendy, the other day the Public Accounts Committee, which I have the honour to chair, had a hearing on major Government projects. We discussed Euston. The new chief executive of NISTA said it is possible that Euston is so complicated and large that it should be classed as a mega-project. My question to you is: ple…”

“For absolute clarity, I should have declared my interests. I am a fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.”

“The disagreement between the Department and HS2 Ltd over the total budget is large. The Department’s lower estimate is £45 billion. HS2’s upper estimate is £66 billion. I hope the range in price that you are talking about to get to the EAC will not be as big as that when we eventually get there.”

“I think I am hearing, Chair, from this morning on these key metrics that the reset of the civils contracts will be done by the autumn and the EAC will be done by the autumn. There is a third metric that I would like to ask you about. Stewart picks up on this. He says, “This disagreement has led to the inability to deve…”

“When will it be complete? I don’t mind which of the three of you answers.”

“We all need the baseline so that we can measure performance in the future. What I want to tie down is this. Stewart goes on to say, “A successful reset of the project is reliant on a resolution of the disagreement on the EAC.” When is your best estimate that we are going to be provided with a final cost?”

“Let’s dissect that answer a bit, to get from where we were to where we are. The original contracts were reset, because the risk could not be priced to, basically, a cost-plus system. The MOD proved years ago that if you are going to move to a cost-plus system and it is not to run away with itself, it has to be very car…”

“Thank you, Chair, and thank you for allowing me to guest on your Committee today. Mark, can we get on to the nitty-gritty of main work civils contracts, which are some of the most significant contributors to the overall cost increase? What caused those cost overruns?”

“Thank you very much. Stewart says that the ambition was to build the best and fastest high-speed railway in the world, connecting first London and the north of England, and subsequently Scotland. Do you think, with hindsight, that the whole concept was misconceived? Instead of being high-speed rail, should it have been…”

“I welcome the Minister for Defence Procurement’s announcement. This is welcome news for our country. Given that in-service dates for key pieces of military equipment are often later than predicted, has she given any thought to training our pilots in advance of delivery, either on a simulator or by embedding them into a…”

“I thank the Minister for that positive contribution. Twenty-five years ago, when we sat next to each other in the Public Accounts Committee, passing each other notes and holding the civil service to account, who would have thought that we would be in our respective positions now? I also thank my hon. Friend the Member …”

“My hon. Friend has made the case eloquently, and I have also made it. The Minister will have heard and, hopefully, she might have something positive to say when she responds to the debate.”

“Let me begin by thanking you, Madam Deputy Speaker, Mr Speaker and the Backbench Business Committee for selecting this debate, which, if I may say so, is particularly appropriate in Armed Forces Week. Let me also thank the Minister and my hon. Friend the Member for South Suffolk (James Cartlidge), who is sitting on the…”

“I deliberately included a little bit about recruitment and retention in my speech. There will, I think, be a tension between the armaments director and the Chief of the Defence Staff over recruitment versus the budget for equipment. It is not possible to suddenly turn on the tap and recruit more people; it takes time. …”

“I cannot tell what is on the Government’s mind, but maybe the Minister will be able to tell us. However, given that the SDR makes it perfectly clear that they want to increase the numbers of our armed forces considerably, we have to consider every aspect of recruiting and retaining more. We must make sure that they do …”

“My right hon. Friend must have read my mind; when I come on to submarines, I will mention that very factor of inflation in defence costs. The MOD is being reorganised into four sections: there will be a permanent secretary in charge of the Department; the chief of the defence organisation will be in charge of all perso…”

“I welcome the statement, and I do not disagree with a word of the Secretary of State’s analysis of what has gone wrong in the past. The Public Accounts Committee, which I have the honour of chairing, has produced eight comprehensive reports over the 13 years of this project, and there are some common themes throughout …”

“I rise to speak in support of new clause 41, which is in my name, and in the names of others. It is a very simple amendment that would require His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services to include firearms licencing in their PEEL—police effectiveness, efficiency and legitimacy—obligations. …”

“Chair, thank you for allowing me, on behalf of the Public Accounts Committee, with the informal support of the Defence Committee, to make this application for a debate on the defence estimates, preferably on Wednesday 25 June. I say with the informal support of the Defence Committee because the Committee is away on a v…”

“The billions of pounds that have been announced by the Chancellor are very big rises, and the Public Accounts Committee looks forward to scrutinising that expenditure—I am sure it will be welcomed by those who receive it—to ensure we are getting value for money, but can the Chancellor explain to the House how it will b…”