Speeches by Hatton.

“So you are accepting that it is partial.”

“Surely, you can understand our concern. Sitting alongside what the common reporting standard sets out, we have seen a litany of offshore tax leaks, such as the Panama papers and the Pandora papers, which expose the scale of tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance. For instance, the Panama papers pointed out that 100 U…”

“My objective rests on you having an accurate figure for what the offshore tax gap is.”

“Since your predecessor last came here, the Government have agreed with the PAC’s recommendation that HMRC should develop a stand-alone strategy to reduce the offshore tax gap, so government Ministers also understand the scale of the problem here. With that in mind, can you illuminate the Committee today as to when you …”

“Will there be a publication date for the strategy to be put in one place?”

“The Chair raises a really important point here. Following our session with your predecessor, JP, the Government agreed with this Committee’s recommendation that HMRC research which interventions are most effective in achieving that strong deterrent effect for tax evaders and other organised criminals. What progress has…”

“I have one final question, if that is all right, Chair, just to park this issue. In 2023-24, HMRC prosecuted only 25 wealthy taxpayers, as set out in the NAO Report. I am concerned that that does undermine the rule of law if offences were not pursued in the courts. There is a serious risk that some very wealthy individ…”

“That would only get you to 30 prosecutions, though, would it not?”

“As many right hon. and hon. Members have outlined, there is no doubt that there is a crisis in our SEND system in this country—a crisis that we inherited from the previous Government. However, funding is still too low to keep pace with the rate at which children are being diagnosed with SEND, and many families and teac…”

“I completely agree with my hon. Friend, and we really feel that in South Dorset. There are simply not the places needed to support every child with SEND. We urgently need the Government to move further, faster, to ensure that every child with SEND gets the education, and the school setting, that they deserve. I once ag…”

“I thank my hon. Friend for bringing up long covid. The organisation Long Covid Kids, which was founded by my constituent Sammie McFarland, highlights the experience of young people with long covid. Does he agree that we must ensure we give long covid the consideration it needs alongside other illnesses when we develop …”

“I will be brief. This is Diabetes Week, and we are rightly looking at the impact that diabetes has on children. Does the right hon. Member agree that a similar approach must be taken for long covid? We must look at the unique impact it has on children and young people, so that we can better understand it.”

“I thank my hon. Friend for giving way, and for setting out so clearly the work this Labour Government are doing to fix our NHS. Will he take the opportunity to welcome the investment of some £100 million being delivered by this Labour Government that will totally rebuild the emergency department and critical care unit …”

“Are you confident that Ofwat can do that in the majority of circumstances? At the moment, it feels like there are only a few success stories, if you like, where the Environment Agency and Ofwat are able to leap into action and demand improvements. An example where there has not been any such action is the one in my con…”

“Looking across the board, can you reassure the Committee that Ofwat is in a position to deal with repeated problems, whether leaks, burst pipes or pollution and sewage? I will be brief, but there is one particularly worrying example in my constituency, where for 10 years inadequate sewerage capacity has meant that a ro…”

“On that point about working with the water industry, I am looking at it from the position of my constituents. They will say, “Nineteen per cent of the bills I pay just goes on servicing debt. Every hour that sewage is dumped by Wessex Water, £188 is given to shareholders.” That gives an idea of what Wessex Water are do…”

“To draw together many of the points that have been covered this afternoon, can you offer us further reassurance that the water sector and the big water companies are even remotely aware of the work that needs to be done to win back the trust of the billpayer? Dame Tamara Finkelstein: Some of the action was taken last J…”

“I appreciate that, but there is a fairly wide understanding that, actually, the levels of debt in water companies are not purely down to good capital borrowing to invest in crumbling infrastructure. A lot of those high debt levels are because of poor, poor financial management. Dame Tamara Finkelstein: And that impacts…”

“It is a small reduction from a very bad starting point.”

“Some of which are hugely debt laden.”