Speeches by Buckley.

“I am going to push you again, because we are looking for an actual example. We are moving out of the theory into the real world of our Treasury in this country and where it has applied this to either risk or opportunity. We need to understand. Do you have an example that has come out of the end of the sausage machine?”

“There is still a cost to the Treasury. They are sat there today, wondering what to do with Thames Water. They are weighing up how they set the rules of the game. How do they involve the private sector? How much is it going to cost us and what can we afford? There is still a cost to Government, even if they are playing …”

“It is very interesting for us to hear your expertise and some of the theories about different ways that this could be approached. Leaning into the experience you both have with the current Treasury, our key question is how far you think those approaches are being taken. How much of the long-term risks and opportunities…”

“On that, you both referred to risks and opportunities of that being a future model. You gave some examples of what those could be. Are you able to give us any examples? Everything we have heard so far feels as though most of the Green Book is about reducing risk. Where we can highlight the cost of a risk, so a cost to …”

“Building on what we just heard—that there is effectively a postcode lottery and that where you live in the country and which council you have determines whether you are lucky enough to have some of this infrastructure—is there any appetite from the Government to look at introducing not targets, but a clear statutory du…”

“Would it help to depoliticise some of this space if the funding and resources that would flow with a statutory duty were a given, rather than an option?”

“Get them locked into that one.”

“Can you assure us that when you meet the LGA, you will have colleagues from MHCLG in the room to make sure you have that join-up?”

“I thank the Ministers both here and in the other place for their hard work and engagement on this important Bill. I will focus my comments in favour of new clause 16. Great British Railways cannot come soon enough for my constituency of Shrewsbury. Under privatisation, our geography has penalised us, as we sit on the e…”

“It is also interesting that one of the recommendations was around nature-based solutions. There are lots of examples of joined-up working around flood mitigation and drainage projects through the Greater Manchester combined authority. It is interesting to run those sessions in areas with devolved powers, where they are…”

“We were intrigued to see that you ran a citizens’ panel with 30 members of the public to inform your report. What are the key findings that came through from the citizens’ side?”

“It is interesting that you say the participants came from all over the UK, because it looks as though the majority—22 out of 30—were recruited from Greater Manchester, where the workshops took place. You could argue that lots of national politicians are giving a lot of attention to Greater Manchester at the moment, and…”

“I want to pick up on some points that you have each made about funding issues and how the changing funding landscape for councils has put pressure on their ability to tackle this. Councillor Porter, you just touched on some capital funding around EV chargers and private investment, but you talked earlier about the stru…”

“That is really interesting—thank you. Tom Parkes, do you have any thoughts on cross-departmental savings or joint-funded initiatives?”

“Shropshire is the only county in England without a direct train service connecting it to London. I stand here today alongside my neighbours from Wrexham, Ruabon, Wolverhampton, South Shropshire, The Wrekin and Nuneaton, who share my request to reinstate the line that connects six underserved towns back to the capital. …”

“The Cabinet Office would say that if you could show the cross-departmental saving, you can then transfer across the budget line. I think you are talking about mainstreaming these roles under the public health function in a council, which is then back-funded through the Department of Health. Your suggestions will be rea…”

“That is really helpful. Ms Chandler, you made a powerful point about how moving the framing into the security sphere escalated it in a different arena, so why do you think that so few assessments have been published in this area?”

“That is really interesting.”

“Dr Redicker, do you agree with the assessment that this has been a collaborative exercise and that, by moving this into the security sphere, we are understanding greater impacts through a different lens?”

“Mr Laybourn, I was interested in your delayed disclosure comment. I know that you have been involved in some other reports in this area. Could you help us to understand what similar pieces of work exist around the world, whether published or not?”