Speeches by Murphy.

“On how you assess the impact of public investment, there has been criticism by bodies such as the IPPR that you do not capture second-round dynamic impacts in the way their modelling does, regarding how public capital crowds in private investment. I should declare that I used to work for the IPPR. How do you respond to…”

“In the forecast period? What about in the longer-term period?”

“I am not suggesting that the OBR should not do it. Reflecting on the period in which you were in charge of the OBR, do you think that that has happened? Have you observed that Chancellors have been incentivised to do something different that is not good for long-term policymaking? This is not about picking on the OBR, …”

“I want to ask about measuring the growth impact of supply-side measures. As you alluded to in the previous discussion, Andy King said that the forecasting of the OBR acts as a guard against “politically motivated wishful thinking”. I wonder whether you think we have a new problem of process-driven, short-term thinking,…”

“I want to pick up on the point Sir Robert made a moment ago about the comparison with how this is done elsewhere and who does the analysis. I think you were suggesting that we should be wary of the other model, because of the friction it could create and the relational problems, but what about the policy outcomes? Your…”

“Stepping back and thinking about the broader reforms, successive Governments have made quite big statements in opposition about reforming business rates. Eighteen months into the Government—a few months into your time in your position—I wonder whether you have any reflections on the challenges of reforming the system m…”

“With the new procedures, how confident can you be that the person who leaked it this time to the FT would be caught under the rules?”

“Obviously we know about this one because it appeared in the FT and was leaked to a journalist, but with what confidence can you say that it has not happened every year? How do we know that it has not been leaked to someone using it for manipulative purposes or making money from it, as opposed to being leaked to the FT?…”

“Beyond the media, there is still a risk of someone quietly leaking sensitive information for gain. Is there any additional monitoring that you do to identify that? It is quite obvious when someone leaks to a journalist, because it appears in the newspaper.”

“Many high street businesses, including in my constituency of Basingstoke, are looking at pubs and thinking, “What about us?” They are already struggling with a number of pressures and feel that they have been affected by the rateable values. There is clearly a different methodology for pubs—that has been explained prev…”

“You say that the Government are trying to move towards giving more long-term certainty to business. However, by having such a long period over which the Government are seeking to reform business rates, do you not think that in the short to medium term it is creating more uncertainty for business? Are you concerned abou…”

“In a future Budget, will the new sensitivity label that is going to be introduced sit over the information that was leaked to the FT?”

“Are there any grey areas in what you are going to view as market-sensitive?”

“One of the issues raised is the absence of what they say is a first-time buyer scheme for the first time in 60 years. How much do you think that is true, and what is the rationale for not having one? Is it because you believe it will feed into higher prices?”

“You mentioned your Financial Times interview, in which you criticised the current business model of housing developers. You said that it “does constrain supply” because they “can’t afford to build and sell homes too quickly”. Do you want to expand on that point? How much of a problem is their business model, and how do…”

“Specifically, will shared owners be able to embrace commonhold? What about mixed developments?”

“I have two questions on commonhold. More broadly, Minister Pennycook, I was interested in your view. From my perspective, the Government are making the right decisions on ending leasehold for new flats, making it easier to transfer to commonhold, and the discussion around ground rent. What interaction does that have? B…”

“Maybe you want to add, Ms Williams, but finally, I had a question about income maximisation. There is only one reference in the strategy to that, and that is in relation to the provision of credit, and if consumers are unable to get credit, perhaps they could be directed to income maximisation. I was surprised that it …”

“You recommend that MaPS should evolve into a national financial advice service.”

“Is there anything you want to add on the strategy?”