Speeches by Hillier.

“Can I just ask the Treasury Officer of Accounts has your team now discussed with the Comptroller and Auditor General how this is dealt with in future? Do you now have a protocol going forward, were there to be any other such super-injunction or similar challenging legal issue to overcome?”

“As you are aware, there has been a lot of discussion in Parliament, and it got quite some traction at the end of the last Parliament, of having a special committee set up to look at the very few rare, sensitive issues in a very constrained environment. Is this one of those that could have been dealt with by such a comm…”

“Would you have applied to the court for it to be removed? You did eventually, because that is what happened.”

“We appreciate that it was an unusual situation, but, as you know, there is a well-worn route to brief the Chair of the Public Accounts Committee in confidence, if there is a reason why you cannot brief the Committee in confidence or in public. As you and I know, we have been round that circle a few times—sometimes beca…”

“Of all the people in this room, I absolutely get and understand that, and it is not something that I ever chose to have, but there were many times when I was called in to Government Departments to be told something very sensitive, usually well before it appeared in the accounts. Although during this time there was no C…”

“I welcome the Home Secretary’s statement. There is a lot to unpick, and we need more detail on this new appeals system. One of my key concerns when I was in the Home Office many years ago was the poor legal advice that people were getting early on. Lawyers were making them jump through many hopeless hoops to extend the…”

“The Foreign Secretary said that diplomacy fails until it succeeds. We have talked often in this House about the tragedy unfolding. As we approach the second anniversary, and as he goes to the UN to discuss and agree the recognition of a Palestinian state, can he explain to the House what threshold would need to be reac…”

“I commend my right hon. Friend for his work on reducing waiting lists, but at the Homerton in Hackney, because of a system-wide funding failure, deficit reduction money was removed three months into a 12-month agreement, which reduced the opportunity to drive down waiting lists still further. Will he or one of his coll…”

“I thank the Minister for the statement and look forward to the Treasury Committee talking to—or interrogating—her, and indeed the Chancellor, about the detail as it emerges. Since the election, one of the things the Government have been talking about, leading on from the previous Government, is the secondary remit lett…”

“I welcome the Secretary of State’s support for parliamentary transparency and for the work of the Committee corridor in this House. I have no doubt that my excellent colleagues who chair the various Committees that are responsible will do a thorough job of examining this matter, and I hope that the Secretary of State w…”

“My hon. Friend has referred to good opportunities. I think it was Islington council’s pension scheme that invested in social housing in its area. That gives a good return because, by and large, people pay their rent—it is a steady return over a long period of time. Given the desperate need for housing in this country, …”

“We all know why the Government want to keep their fiscal rules tight, because we know what happens when the markets go wrong, but a lot of things have rocked the country since the Labour Government were elected a year ago. Will the Chief Secretary explain to our constituents what the benefits of the fiscal rules are fo…”

“I share some of my hon. Friend’s concerns about mandation. I am happy that the Minister seems to be listening, and I hope that we will get some answers. I am interested in my hon. Friend’s thoughts about pulling forward the sunset clause. If these changes take place, they will have to happen over a long period of time,…”

“I was pleased to meet officials from my right hon. Friend’s Department at a centre in Hackney. I also met officials from the Department for Work and Pensions, and it was really apparent that the work being done to help parents get into work is critical. Could she expand on how that will fit into the Best Start centres?”

“I draw the House’s attention to the fact that I am a trustee of the parliamentary contributory pension fund. Consolidation is absolutely the right direction of travel so that pension funds have better experts who are better able to advise. I still have a slight concern, though, about mandation. There will have to be sc…”

“The hon. Gentleman is not wrong on this point. In fact, the Public Accounts Committee looked a number of years ago at enrolment in pension schemes and found that a lot of young people were not enrolling because of the cost of living, which his Government have to take responsibility for. There is no easy answer to this,…”

“I completely agree with my hon. Friend. That was one of the biggest concerns that I had with the Bill. It was also why so many hon. Members stood up and said that they did not want this to go ahead on those terms, and the Government listened. The Government are also introducing important employment support. That presen…”

“The Economic Secretary is reviewing the work of the Financial Ombudsman Service. We on the Treasury Committee recognise that there have been challenges with the service, but how will she make sure that the consumer voice is central to her review?”

“I am absolutely clear that government is about choices. When a party is in government, it has to make choices to run the country. Some 14 of my 20 years in this place have been served when other parties have been in government, and I have seen Conservative Prime Ministers pass through a revolving door, but I would alwa…”

“My hon. Friend raises an important point. Cost shunting can work both ways, so it is vital that the Timms review examines that. If this Government are serious about mission-led government and working across Departments, it is crucial that the Department of Health and Social Care and others are closely involved. We all …”