Speeches by Caliskan.

“I have a final question on risk, which you mentioned earlier. I just want to understand this a bit better. When you talk about the risk that exists in the organisation in terms of digital capacity and capability, is that cyber-risk or is there a risk to the business, so to speak, in terms of not being able to collect t…”

“In your view, the additional spend on digital infrastructure, for example, will allow the organisation to reduce the number of lower-paid staff to allow people to have contact via a digital service.”

“That is a really interesting answer. Just to slightly go back to my earlier questions around the £100 million spent on staff, a lot of the additional cost around compliance was spent on higher-paid staff. Compare that to the response you have just given, Sir Jim, around contact with the organisation, which is also a co…”

“You have spent an additional £100 million on staffing. Is that what those staff members are doing? Are they dealing with the upstream compliance or are they dealing with downstream compliance?”

“Is it on technology? That is what I am asking for reassurance on.”

“About £785 million is spent on what the report refers to as the digital business group. That has increased by 18%. It is £122 million additional cost. I just want to get a sense of this. Is that cost on digital infrastructure spend or is some of that money spent on consultants, for example?”

“On the point about the inability of ICBs sometimes to get things going, in my constituency it has taken the ICB nine months to procure something very similar. Does the hon. Lady agree that it is about not just their ability to pay, but their procurement processes?”

“I thank the Secretary of State for her statement. As a member of the Public Accounts Committee, I have recently heard details about the shocking state of disrepair in our courts in recent years. The most recent report identified the Nightingale courts set up under the previous Government as a way to deal with the covid…”

“I do not disagree with that, which is why the Government commitment around reform will be so critical. I sit on the Public Accounts Committee that produced the report that highlighted some of those gaps. As a Committee, we will be looking closely at the reforms that have come forward from the Government, and I would we…”

“I am very pleased to have accepted my hon. Friend’s intervention and I entirely agree with her. If we want to see an improvement in the estate of the NHS, we need to have money allocated to it. When the NHS was at breaking point, my constituents had to feel the pain of not being able to get appointments for their sickn…”

“I will not take any interventions at this point—actually, I will.”

“My hon. Friend makes an important point, because health inequalities are determined by a multitude of factors and the work that local authorities do on public health is crucial too. Compare the point I made about local authorities not being able to set deficit budgets with the situation in the NHS, where every year win…”

“May I take this opportunity to thank the Chair of the Public Accounts Committee, the hon. Member for North Cotswolds (Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown), for his work, as well as other Members who I sit on the Committee with? The financial sustainability of our national health service will have an impact on patients now and i…”

“I thank the Minister for his answer. As a member of the Public Accounts Committee, I see on a weekly basis the waste that existed under the previous Government, from the billions spent on badly procured covid contracts to a Rwanda scheme that delivered nothing. What steps will the Minister be taking to make sure that w…”

“9. What steps she is taking to help ensure value for money in public spending.”

“Is that not precisely the point? Our state system does not have the capacity or the means to support children with special educational needs. The additional £1 billion investment, which in part will be raised by getting rid of the VAT exemption, will help deliver not only 6,500 new teachers but the additional support f…”

“I absolutely support the principle of being able to use a mechanism to intervene in a market that is not working, and I think the Government’s approach is right. There is an immediate issue with high pricing, certainly, but the truth is that the Government have to be able to take decisions for the long run. I am consci…”

“The Government’s commitment on investment, whether through the wealth fund or the private sector combination of GB Energy, brings stability to the sector in the long term. The truth is there is an energy crisis that affects my constituents and people across the country. At this moment, efforts have to be taken to ensur…”

“I want to thank the Members who have spoken so far. I have great enthusiasm for the Finance Bill, and I thank the hon. Member for North West Norfolk (James Wild) for his contributions, alongside the Minister at the time, over the several days I sat through the Bill’s Committee stage. I speak in favour of the Finance Bi…”

“Ministers have provided an assurance of their assessment, and they do not believe that will be the case. The Government are taking a rounded approach to energy that, alongside our commitments to GB Energy and to a transfer to more renewable energy, will allow there to be a more mission-led approach. I take the right ho…”