Speeches by McEvoy.

“That is fine. In terms of further restrictions, if the Government came in tomorrow and said to the new CEO, “We want you to make sure that every job is paid a certain amount and is local, and that you are training up this amount of NEET young people,” how many of these restrictions do you think you could tolerate withi…”

“I have a final point on this place-based approach. The Government are looking at procurement as a lever. As you have said, now that money is tight, we are not able just to give out the grant funding. For procurement and doing deals with the public sector, spending public money well, you can put stipulations on how that…”

“How long does that take? That seems like the crux of the matter, because lots of people have said the same thing: that there is no pipeline of projects to invest in that are suitable and ready. How long does that take, realistically, from where we are today?”

“Which one?”

“We heard a couple of weeks ago about the reforms to the Green Book. The Treasury reforms to the Green Book are going to be, among other things, introducing place-based pilots to see how we get more investment rooted in place. I am pitching, for anyone who is listening, to put Darlington as one of those place-based pilo…”

“Is it a job or a gig?”

“I have one final question, and I know I have taken a lot of your time. There were challenges with the UK Infrastructure Bank. In my area, in the north-east, in Darlington, we are part of the Tees Valley and we know that £107 million went to South Bank Quay development at Teesworks in Teesside. What was the learning fro…”

“Have you explored the model of doing funding rounds, so that it is a bit more transparent? We heard quite a lot of criticism about lots of different bodies that people can go to for advice. They are not sure exactly which door to go through. We will obviously ask the Government Minister about this, but what about the r…”

“The final thing is about the process, which businesses have raised with us. It can take a lot longer. In the American system they can often get conversations with American investors much quicker and get answers, or at least answers on a decision on whether people are going to invest, much quicker than the National Weal…”

“Obviously, the UK has fared worse than other economies in terms of its covid bounce-back. It is quite timely today, given that welfare is on the agenda. As the growth lead for the Government, if you had a magic wand, what would turbocharge the country’s growth figures and GDP growth?”

“Innovators tell us that when they have their product and are ready to go to market, they are absolutely desperate for the National Wealth Fund stamp of approval. They have said to us in Committee, but also to many of us in lots of different meetings, that the approval of the National Wealth Fund is as much about cash a…”

“On the skills point, you said that you have these 20 new jobs coming in and talked about whether they should be project management jobs. Surely they should be 20 new dragons or Alan Sugars who can come into local authorities and say, “This is how you make a deal. This is how you broker it. This is how you drill down. A…”

“On the market positioning, when we hear from the big pension funds, they say that they want to invest, but there is a criticism that the National Wealth Fund siphons off all the cream from the top on the good things to invest in that are easy and a reward for the taxpayer, and that they are left with big risk or no pip…”

“Those are the personal attributes. What about as a project, to make sure that we get the money out? Under the last Government it was not fully spent. We want to get the money out the door, but we want to get a return for the taxpayer. You have these two objectives of getting a return for the taxpayer but also solving t…”

“If you have more, please feel free to be candid.”

“Following on from the Chair’s point about your imminent departure as CEO, seeing as you are not involved in the recruitment process, you can be a little more candid because it is probably your last appearance in front of the Committee in this role. What would you say to your successor is the single most important thing…”

“Obviously, the UK has fared worse than other economies in terms of its covid bounce-back. It is quite timely today, given that welfare is on the agenda. As the growth lead for the Government, if you had a magic wand, what would turbocharge the country’s growth figures and GDP growth?”

“The previous panellist, the CEO of the National Wealth Fund, said he thinks the risk appetite from the private sector and the growth statistics are going hand in hand. Do you have any thoughts on how we could sort out productivity as another piece of that puzzle? What are your thoughts on the analysis that the level of…”

“We are now going to move on to the country’s productivity puzzle, in which the Committee is quite interested. What are the underlying reasons for the UK’s productivity problem?”

“On that point, I know the Green Book is not directly relevant to the National Wealth Fund’s remit, but, if the place-based pilots are a success, in the future you might think about how to mirror the learnings from that in how the National Wealth Fund, given that it is public money, invests in the regions. Is it working…”