Speeches by Mullan.

“On that basis, the Minister should not have any objection to the amendment, because it would confirm that position more explicitly. We will therefore push it to a vote. Question put, That the amendment be made.”

“On amendment 1, I accept the Government’s intention to clarify further how these things will operate. On panels and non-statutory inquiries, although there is sometimes in Government a resistance to public inquiries for the wrong reasons, sometimes it is because they are expensive and time-consuming. The real opportuni…”

“I beg to move amendment 3, in schedule 1, page 26, line 30, at end insert— “(1A) Inquiries under subsection (1) include those designated by the Secretary of State as local inquiries into grooming gangs.” This amendment would apply the Duty of Candour to the five local grooming gangs’ inquiries announced by the Governme…”

“I emphasise that we need clarity on this. Those of us who were able to attend the meeting with the intelligence services will know that they seemed to provide quite a clear account of their individual personal responsibility and all the ways in which they thought the Bill would affect them. That was quite clearly contr…”

“The Minister rightly describes how tightly the courts consider these matters in detail. As the Bill puts a whole range of very junior civil servants in the firing line, does she at least accept that guidance or materials might be helpful to assist a broader audience in how they approach these issues in their day-to-day…”

“Thank you for that further clarification, Sir Roger. These issues are absolutely live and happening all the time—this week alone, we have seen examples of it—and we need to understand the implications of the Bill. I am far from alone in recognising the difficulty in defining terms such as “candour” and “public interest…”

“Absolutely. The Bill is focused on those examples that are clear and egregious, where it is easy to say that there has been a failure of candour or a deliberate attempt to cover up. The legislation will cover many other situations, however, including Members of Parliament. As Members of Parliament, we are expected to o…”

“Thank you, Sir Roger. Committee members have been fiercely disagreeing on something that relates directly to the matters that we are considering today on frankness and candour. I think that demonstrates just how challenging these things will be. We are the politicians who are putting forward this legislation.”

“On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. During the questioning, the Justice Secretary referred to the Victims’ Commissioner supporting these proposals. For the record, will he make it clear that, sadly, the Victims’ Commissioner passed away a number of weeks ago and cannot possibly have seen these proposals? He may …”

“I feel I should declare at the start of this question that I am one of the few people in the Chamber who apparently is not shocked at what has been going on this week. I am also not shocked that a Labour Cabinet member has said: “The handling of this Budget has been a disaster from start to finish”. Can the Chief Secre…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir John. As the Minister outlined, these regulations make modest and technical changes to the Judicial Appointments Commission—an additional professional commissioner and some tidying up of the eligibility for the senior tribunal commissioner. Even technical changes, …”

“Q Hello, all. I am the shadow Justice Minister. Thank you for coming and giving evidence to us today. Mr Warmington, in your view, what material difference would have been made to the Horizon scenario had the provisions in the Bill in relation to a duty of candour already been in place? Ron Warmington: Thank you for th…”

“Q I hope we can have a sensible discussion about the fact that, while a lot of what we have heard has been about good faith whistleblowers, people raising legitimate concerns that go on to be proved to be accurate, there are also people who operate in that space who fit other categories. There are good faith whistleblo…”

“Q Do we take it from that that you think most organisations do attempt to behave appropriately and admit it when they have done the wrong thing? Ron Warmington: I do not deal with most organisations, but the Post Office was exceptionally bad in its behaviour. I think it originally intended to work with my company to se…”

“Q Professor Fowler, does NHS England do anything to fulfil that function—look at all the reports in aggregate and summarise and share them? Professor Fowler: We certainly look at all the reports that are sent to us in a themed way, and look at the themes from that. In fact, I met the chief coroner this week, and we hav…”

“Q Do you think that the fact that there will be criminal sanctions at the end of the process will be enough to put people off engaging in that sort of behaviour again in the future? Ron Warmington: I would hope so. Every board—I have been on a lot of them—is, every now and then, trying to deal with something that has b…”

“Q You mentioned what the coroner might choose to ask or not ask. What is your experience of the variability in the way in which coroners approach these issues? Deborah Coles: There is a lot to be said about the inconsistency of the coronial system. Different coroners approach their roles in very different ways. It is q…”

“Q I have questions for Ms Page from WhistleblowersUK. We have had a lot of discussion today about whistleblowers in relation to other incidents. What are your reflections on the Bill, and what impact do you think it will make for people within organisations who think that there is wrongdoing, but do not necessarily fee…”

“Q Sorry—the point was more that an individual officer might know about a certain set of circumstances, but they will not know all the circumstances, and they will have only a limited perspective because of the need-to-know principles that they operate on. Daniel De Simone: There are ways of dealing with that. You could…”

“Q As MI5 will not be here to give evidence, it is important to articulate the points they made to us for you to hear. Their account was that there is a difference between one part of the organisation not knowing what another part of the organisation knows, and a deliberate attempt to keep something from a coroner or in…”