Speeches by Khan.

“I have a slightly different question. Does the panel have any views on whether local government reorganisation could help to address this? Could some of those areas where you have potential pockets of poverty that might be a bit hidden when you look at this be addressed through a reshaping of local government? Or would…”

“That probably leads into a bit of what I was going to ask next, which is around the cost pressures. You have alluded to a couple already, but what are the most significant cost pressures that local authorities are currently facing?”

“One final question, going back to donations—and, Vijay, I know that you did touch on this in previous comments. How urgent do you think it is that we close that gap, that the Government take action to close that gap, particularly for unincorporated associations and the potential threat of foreign donations that we migh…”

“You have picked out a few things, hostile states and the use of social media. Do you think that the UK Government are suitably equipped at this point, and is there legislation in place to deal with that? How can we close that gap? What more should we be doing for future elections?”

“Two very quick questions from me. The first one, John, I think you mentioned some of your recommendations that are going to be coming forward, which include, for example, looking at unemployed people who are less likely to have that type of ID. Has there been any further work done on socioeconomic background and the co…”

“Naushabah Khan, Gillingham and Rainham.”

“We have had a conversation today about people feeling disenfranchised or feeling that they do not have a say in the political system and wanting to increase the number of people voting, particularly people from particular backgrounds for example, ensuring that we involve them. Do you think that voter ID is helping or h…”

“We heard from the previous panel in quite some detail about the potential influence of foreign individuals and organisations in UK elections, particularly around finance. I know, Vijay, you just referenced it as well. What are the main challenges that you face in monitoring and regulating the threat of interference fro…”

“In summary, I would be interested to hear from the panel whether you think that, given the current new structures proposed by the devolution paper, residents will be able to effectively engage with their local leaders.”

“Moving on to a look at overview and scrutiny: what challenges do you foresee in ensuring that overview and scrutiny committees have the resources and the authority to hold local decision makers to account, in effect, in this changing model?”

“This is a question for you again, Tracy. Do you think that the integrated settlements go far enough in consolidating funding?”

“Thank you very much for that. I speak as somebody who came from a unitary authority that is only 20 years old, represented 280,000 people and went through that change; you can still have connections to the local community.”

“I am Member of Parliament for Gillingham and Rainham.”

“Some of the panel have already touched upon this, but just to push it a little further and see if any of the other panellists have views as well: what specific measures do you think could enhance the effectiveness of overview and scrutiny? Especially as we see the revolving nature of responsibilities within local gover…”

“I am MP for Gillingham and Rainham and I was a councillor until November last year.”

“You have touched upon some of my other questions. In terms of that additional flexibility, to be clear, what would you and other combined authorities like to see over that funding? What additional flexibility do you think would be useful? You have already mentioned a couple of areas.”

“Final question from me: in terms of receiving that flexible single pot of money in 2026, what impact does it have on your combined authority?”

“I just wanted to come back on the point that was made there and unpick that slightly further. There have been examples of how this is interpreted. I appreciate that the guidance is set by the Department and then it comes down to interpretation, but is there any review of how it is being interpreted across authorities? …”

“Is there any work happening to ensure, where this is already happening, that they are being allowed to scale that up and that Government are providing the support needed in order for them to do this in the right way? I really want to understand how we are going to use the pilot that we have done.”

“Housing First has been looked at in other countries as well and it is seen as a model that works. Our own pilot is showing those positive results, which is great to see. I appreciate what you said about the spending review but, given that some authorities are already trialling this and using it in certain capacities, a…”