Speeches by McEvoy.

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Stringer. I thank my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Folkestone and Hythe (Tony Vaughan) and the petitioner for bringing this vital debate. Since being elected to this place in July, I have spoken about children’s safety online several times, including in thi…”

“A final one from me on that. On the jobs created, I am always interested in the double counting of jobs and whether it is an existing job or a gig. If you are a construction worker, you work in gigs. You do six months on the site and then you go to another gig, but that is the same person doing that same job. I am inte…”

“That is brilliant. Obviously, this is the Treasury Committee, but with the wider Darlington Economic Campus, outsourcing the facilities management staff is a cause for concern. When you outsource facilities management staff, they do not have the same terms and conditions as the civil servant staff who are here. I wonde…”

“Thank you. Here we are today at the Darlington Economic Campus, a flagship of devolution from Whitehall to the regions outside London. The Chancellor says that it is her second office and the second base of the Treasury. Could you give us some indications of what success looks like for this for this project?”

“Thank you for that answer. It is clearly a source of great pride for you and the Government more widely. I just wanted to probe a bit into the recruitment of the people who are working here. Can you tell us a bit about the breakdown of where they are from?”

“That’s great. You said that about 85% were recruited from the region. Is that the north-east? Can you give a bit more clarity on that?”

“So do you think it would be fair to say that this is really the northern hub of the civil service in the country?”

“I do not want to jump the gun, but is the ambition to have representation from the senior levels of every Department in Darlington when you open the Brunswick site?”

“The spending review certainly suggests that.”

“You mentioned the crucial word growth there. Can you give us a little bit of an outline of the impact the Darlington Economic Campus has on growth in our town?”

“Is there a plan to align those terms and conditions for the facilities staff at the DEC with the civil service terms and conditions?”

“Great. When those decisions are being made on the new expansion and the new property, has any thought gone into ensuring that the jobs in every tier of the new opportunities are good, skilled, well-paid jobs?”

“I am very glad to hear that, given the power of public procurement as a lever for growth.”

“Mr Smewing, I just wanted to take you back to the challenge panel of experts. You said that some Departments had not got them yet. How many Departments do not have challenge panel experts set up, and is that a cause for concern, given the timeframe that we are looking at?”

“On the National Wealth Fund investments, we were previously talking about the scrutiny of public departmental spending. Through what lens of value for money should we look at the National Wealth Fund? Are we applying the same value for money tests on these investments? How are we testing the impact socially on the area…”

“When you are thinking about the National Wealth Fund and the success stories, have you got any examples of the projects that are particularly good for value for money, or that you are particularly proud of as a Department?”

“A number of us on the Committee are interested in the National Wealth Fund. A recent Treasury press release states that, “The National Wealth Fund has fuelled 8,600 jobs in the last six months, unlocking almost £1.6 billion of private investment”. Can you elaborate on what happened there, how you quantified those jobs,…”

“I have a question for Beth Russell. How do you think your experience of becoming a fellow Darlingtonian has changed your contribution in your role to things like the levers for growth? I want to know how your experience of the brilliance of Darlington has diversified your views, as you will be contributing to growth fo…”

“I thank the hon. Member for giving way and thank my hon. Friend the Member for Aylesbury (Laura Kyrke-Smith) for securing the debate. Does the hon. Member agree that, given the scale of the problem and the barriers to new parents and new mothers asking for help, it is important that this Government focus on pre-emptive…”

“I just wanted to pick up on your confidence around the data on inactivity. There have been a lot of concerns across every quarter, not least for those in Government, around how to tackle this problem that has come out of your statistics. I just wanted you to explain a bit more your understanding of how accurate that da…”