Speeches by Naish.

“Assuming you agree that it is stronger to have that as an independent voice, as opposed to one linked to Parliament, what are the advantages? Why do you think that ICAI should play the role that it is playing and that it is not a duplication of the work of this Committee, as an example?”

“rose—”

“Why do you think it is important that ICAI remains independent, acts independently and plays the role that it does, as opposed to it being a role that a parliamentary Committee or others could be strongly directing?”

“I recently met with my constituents Ally and Jemma, who founded We Are Repairs, an online community of 3,000 business members bringing repairers together to combat throwaway culture. Will the Leader of the House join me in commending them for that work and commit to ensuring that the House receives an update on the pro…”

“I thank the Minister for the update, especially on behalf of my constituent Robert, who lost his brother aged 31, and who has been in regular contact with me on this issue. The Government previously announced that they were allocating funding to charities; that was a recommendation of the inquiry. Will the Minister con…”

“But it is an extremely complex brief.”

“Yes, the next question is on your assessment of how the Government are doing. That is a very sensible list of things that you would expect to see, so I am interested in your assessment of how the Government are performing.”

“Yes. You worked through the first three—the political, the coherent whole-of-Government approach and the region—and you were getting on to the other aspects.”

“Starting to think about learnings from what you have seen, what do you think the UK needs to do and what lessons need to be learned about how it can effectively mobilise and co-ordinate in response to an international situation such as the one in Sudan?”

“Starting to think about learnings from what you have seen, what do you think the UK needs to do and what lessons need to be learned about how it can effectively mobilise and co-ordinate in response to an international situation such as the one in Sudan?”

“Yes. You worked through the first three—the political, the coherent whole-of-Government approach and the region—and you were getting on to the other aspects.”

“Yes, the next question is on your assessment of how the Government are doing. That is a very sensible list of things that you would expect to see, so I am interested in your assessment of how the Government are performing.”

“Thank you, Liz, for coming to give us evidence. As we have just been hearing, the Government have described the crisis in Sudan as a priority for the UK. What would you expect to see from the Government, given that formal commitment?”

“But it is an extremely complex brief.”

“In that case, how can we have confidence that you are able to do everything that you have just described?”

“At a party conference, I was part of a roundtable, and it was brought to my attention that you do not have a special adviser. Is that still the case?”

“I guess the fundamental question is how confident you are that we are currently using the most efficient mechanisms to get UK aid to the organisations and people who need it. Are you confident that that blend you describe is working, or are there areas that you have greater concerns about?”

“Are you suggesting that there is a cap on the amount of money and support that we could even provide, because of the very challenging circumstances that we are looking at?”

“Specifically thinking about the direct funding of aid groups, NGOs and things that you are referencing, are there plans to increase the level of funding for those groups, first in Sudan itself? Also, I asked you this last time you were here about Sudan: what is the thinking on funding for countries that are hosting the…”

“That was not what I was angling for, by the way.”