Speeches by Caliskan.

“I will make some progress and conclude in a moment. Politics is full of choices. The Government have to balance the books and take a decision to ensure that we close the black hole, so the choices they have made feel like the fairest ones. A long-term commitment to ensuring that we have stability in the energy markets,…”

“Thousands of my constituents are still dealing with the cost of living crisis, finding themselves in debt because energy prices hit record levels under the previous Government. Energy prices continuing to go up makes those constituents’ lives more difficult, so I welcome the Minister’s statement. Will she, however, pro…”

“It is my first time at the Committee, so here we go. The Chair of our Committee sends his apologies; he is on a pre-planned visit, as is the vice-Chair, so I am presenting the application for the debate. It is in the context of the Department of Health and Social Care being one of the high-spending Departments, as Memb…”

“Yes, certainly; I think so. The challenges around the NHS, and particularly spending, will not disappear. I would stress, however, that this is a real moment of opportunity to input into what will be important reforms, following the Darzi report. I urge the Committee to consider that with great interest.”

“Parents and teachers in my constituency will welcome the statement, as will, in particular, Monteagle and Richard Alibon primary schools, which are part of the early roll-out. The Secretary of State referred briefly to the evidence-based relationship between those who attend breakfast clubs and attainment; that is part…”

“On Mr Betts’ point, you went with PwC knowing that they are consultants and are not experts in this field. I understand the point that, as things progress, as senior officials you may want the scope of the work to widen. But is it not reasonable that you could have anticipated that the scope of that work would widen? T…”

“It is beyond just rectifying issues. There were additional things—”

“Which is what the additional £300,000 is delivering.”

“I thank the panel for their contributions and answers.”

“How much?”

“Has there been a further cost to that?”

“Led by PwC?”

“I ask that because the Report says that as of the start of December ’24, that work is yet to be agreed.”

“So, since June 2024, there have been no further improvements?”

“Can I come in on that point? The NAO Report talks about “further improvements to functionality”, so presumably the system is still not fully functional in the way that you would like?”

“An extra £300,000 to avoid organisations having to use spreadsheets is quite surprising, given it should have been part of the original scope.”

“Finally, obviously hindsight is a wonderful thing. You have helpfully outlined why the decision to go with PwC from the Department’s perspective was the right one at the time. As the scope widened, and it was not much of an iterative process, you increased the contractual spend, and we are where we are. Do you think it…”

“I ask if you are comfortable with that additional cost because, when the loan management system was launched in June 2024, it did not go well. Borrowers, for example, were still reporting that they were not able to log on to the platform. The Arts Council reported that the loan management system did not provide certain…”

“You are comfortable with the additional £1 million it cost?”

“It is just an addition to the sound in the room. I want to probe a bit more about the relationship with PwC. In February 2023, DCMS appointed PwC to develop the data collection, as you have outlined, and a storage solution for loan management. Then, during 2023, you decided to increase the scope of PwC’s work. It is no…”