Speeches by Naish.

“How is the investigation progressing at this point?”

“I share your view, Chair, that, if I knew that there was potential revenue that could be coming to me and my Department, I would be wanting to monitor that very closely and make sure that it is on its way and I understand how much is coming. It sounds like quite a trusting relationship that you are having with the Home…”

“You mentioned the £200 million to £300 million uplift for spending. When did you hear about that, if you are not getting ongoing insights into what money might come, and when will the next time be that you might hear about an extra increase?”

“Finally, what is your overall sense? You have come into the Department. What is your view of the overall impact of the amount of money that is being spent on in-donor refugee costs and the efficacy of your Department now?”

“We spoke to the officials beforehand. The Committee was surprised to hear that they were not really tracking the impact of the changes. They have had that £200 million to £300 million extra uplift in funds, which is a good thing, which is going towards extra projects and programmes. If that was me, and that is my Depar…”

“Thank you, Minister. I just want to turn attention to in-donor refugee costs. As you will know, they have increased from £0.6 billion in 2019 to £4.3 billion in 2023. A significant part of your Department’s budget is heading in that direction. We have not seen any specific plans yet about how that is going to be reduce…”

“My general sense is that, if you have gone from £0.6 billion to £4.3 billion and you are bringing that down, there should be a lot of extra money coming into your Department and, therefore, there should be an anticipation of when that is coming in. As long as officials are doing that, I think that is fine. What will yo…”

“Would you share the latest compliance data with us?”

“Are you are satisfied that we are making progress overall?”

“Yes, we have seen that letter. Is there a concern that there is a pattern of this happening in overseas jurisdictions? What steps are being taken to try to prevent such instances?”

“There was a similar amount in terms of fraud in the 2022‑23 annual accounts related to Sierra Leone.”

“It definitely will not.”

“Does that come from the aid budget, then? Does that mean there is less being spent on other funds?”

“Are we expecting to recover those funds?”

“When will we know more on that?”

“How is the investigation progressing at this point?”

“I share your view, Chair, that, if I knew that there was potential revenue that could be coming to me and my Department, I would be wanting to monitor that very closely and make sure that it is on its way and I understand how much is coming. It sounds like quite a trusting relationship that you are having with the Home…”

“You mentioned the £200 million to £300 million uplift for spending. When did you hear about that, if you are not getting ongoing insights into what money might come, and when will the next time be that you might hear about an extra increase?”

“I just wanted to move specifically on to the 2023-24 annual accounts. In there, there is a £1.1 million fraud case in south-east Asia relating to procurement. I just wondered if you could explain what that fraud related to.”

“I just wanted to move specifically on to the 2023-24 annual accounts. In there, there is a £1.1 million fraud case in south-east Asia relating to procurement. I just wondered if you could explain what that fraud related to.”