Speeches by Hatton.

“To go back to an earlier point, how is this going to affect the longer-term way we procure military equipment in this country? This is a once-in-a-generation episode, in respect of how we have had to very quickly and innovatively acquire certain equipment; over the longer term, how will that change the way we do things…”

“I am also a member of a trade union, the GMB, which has local government workers in its membership as well.”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Lewell. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Derby South (Baggy Shanker) for securing this important and timely debate. Yesterday, a High Court judge rejected a statutory review into Powerfuel’s planning application for a proposed waste incinerator on Portland in my c…”

“Clive helpfully started asking questions around this important issue, but it would be helpful if you could, as concisely as possible, make clear to the Committee how much of the newly promised data collection and analysis system has been fully implemented by the Office of Government Property.”

“One of the things that struck me in the Report was that it was difficult to see how you could have consistency if all the Departments have such different starting points. Moving on to the last area from me, I want to touch on the way that maintenance for Government buildings is funded. The NAO Report is clear that curr…”

“Is the Treasury listening?”

“Good. Do you think it will be able to move towards an approach where there is greater certainty for Whitehall Departments on their funding for building maintenance?”

“One of the things I found difficult to fully comprehend when reading the Report was that the definitions behind the calculations for the maintenance backlog seem to vary between Departments. There was one that was referenced in relation to the MOD. It would be useful to understand to why that is the case and how we can…”

“Moving on slightly, could you outline for the Committee what work is being undertaken to support different Government Departments so that they have a better understanding of the scale of the maintenance backlog, particularly bearing in mind, as we have discussed, that there will be gaps in knowledge about the buildings…”

“Moving slightly on, the Chair very kindly started to investigate this point earlier, but it would be useful to get a bit more detail from the three of you about the RAAC crisis and to understand how destabilising, if at all, that crisis was to the work of the Office of Government Property and its ability to implement t…”

“That is useful to know. I appreciate that there is obviously that work within the civil service, which you mentioned, on making sure that Departments with higher risk publish that information. Again, there still seems to be a lack of information for Parliament and the public to be able to pore over and say, “There are …”

“The list that you have just given is all mentioned in the NAO Report. What would be useful for me, and hopefully for the Committee, would be a better understanding of the buildings that fall within scope where there are those gaps, rather than all the things that you have just told me that do not really count for the p…”

“In the meantime, what can the three of you share with the Committee about the condition of that 36% of buildings that are not currently reported on? We do not have a formal or official understanding of their condition. My concern, when reading the Report, was that they were likely to be the buildings that were in the w…”

“It would be useful to understand how we can get to a point where there is far greater transparency. I appreciate what you said about what does and does not fall in the scope of the NAO Report, but there is obviously a significant gap. How do we ensure greater transparency? It is very difficult for Parliament or the pub…”

“That is very helpful. Moving on, one of the things in the NAO Report that I was most struck by was the fact that, at the time of writing, we knew about the condition of only around two thirds of Government buildings. Could you explain in a bit of detail how we have got to the point where we have such a big gap in our k…”

“Thank you; that is helpful. It would be useful if the Committee could have some more detail on when that is going to happen so we can see that greater consistency.”

“1. What steps he is taking to shift care from major hospitals into community hospitals.”

“I, too, pass on my best wishes to the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon). In South Dorset we urgently need to restore clinics and shift services back into our community hospitals in Weymouth, Portland, Swanage and Wareham. Sadly, the previous Conservative Government hollowed out those community hospitals, meaning…”

“Q12. South Dorset is ready to play its part in making Britain a clean energy superpower, but after 14 years of Conservative failure, there are many untapped opportunities on our doorstep. Green investment opportunities such as Portwind, Morwind and a hydrogen storage hub are all coming down the track, so can the Prime …”

“T3. The previous Government failed to build much-needed new school buildings at Dorset studio school, and failed for years to open the proposed Osprey Quay special school for children with special educational needs. Dorset studio school urgently needs a new home, and families in my patch are hugely in need of a SEND sc…”