Speeches by Hillier.

“I congratulate the new team and welcome them to the Government Front Bench. A week is a long time, but I had a promise to meet the previous Minister to discuss the immigration system, because one of the challenges that the Home Secretary has inherited is a broken processing system. As one of the Home Office’s largest c…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Dr Allin-Khan, and I congratulate the hon. Member for South Cotswolds (Dr Savage) and other colleagues on setting out the case so clearly. I want to focus on solutions and some asks for the Minister. I also want to highlight some of the work done in Hackney, where we h…”

“I hope that the Intelligence and Security Committee will get a good chance to dig into what has happened in this place, because we are hampered in the Chamber by not being able to look at sensitive issues. I also hope that the Minister will lend his weight to the approval of many senior Members of this House, prior to …”

“I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Warwick and Leamington (Matt Western) on securing this important debate. I extend my congratulations to my hon. Friend the Member for East Renfrewshire (Blair McDougall) on his elevation to His Majesty’s Government. It is an honour and a privilege to be a Government Minister…”

“I welcome my right hon. Friend’s commitment to the hope of decent homes. In my constituency, children and families are leaving in droves and schools are closing because of a lack of properly affordable housing. She knows, as I do, that whatever we do in planning, without the skills that we need to build those homes, th…”

“Constitutionally, the Comptroller and Auditor General is responsible for oversight of this very important role. Why did you not think it appropriate, or did you try to inform him?”

“You thought it would be into the full public domain at that point.”

“Was that something that was on your radar as a possibility through your legal advisers?”

“It was the court, was it, that decided to put in a super-injunction?”

“We would understand that you would not necessarily expect a super-injunction. Just to be clear, the Report talks about how you did not originally apply for a super-injunction. You applied for an injunction.”

“Thank you very much, Chair, and can I thank the Committee very much for the invitation to guest today? Mr Williams, why did you decide not to tell the Public Accounts Committee about this breach?”

“At the beginning, it was not a super-injunction. On 14 August, you discovered the breach. At that point, you have a responsibility to inform Parliament, usually through this Committee and sometimes through the Defence Committee, about important issues.”

“We will look at the accounts with interest.”

“Will you be doing that in future sets of accounts?”

“Will you defend every case robustly, even if there is known harm done to somebody?”

“We will look for that line in the accounts.”

“So the decision was taken at that ministerial level. The Osmotherly rules say that Parliament should be informed, and you may be aware that the Public Accounts Committee had an issue about the Rwanda scheme, where we were requesting information. The Treasury Officer of Accounts very helpfully wrote round to colleagues,…”

“I am sure that we will be looking at that.”

“What contingent liability have you set aside for compensation for this data breach?”

“While I am not a member of this Committee, Chair, I hope that you might consider those points in your recommendations.”