Speeches by Law.

“That is still quite a lot in a fund that is supposed to be recycling capital and making exits.”

“That is a very welcome step forward, but regarding some of those excess profits, particularly in asylum hotels, are there any attempts to claw back any of that and use the proceeds to increase spending abroad? What more can be done, beyond that move from your being saver and spender of last resort?”

“Okay, that is clear. With regard to spending by other Departments, Nick, have you made representations to those other Departments on making sure that unspent money comes back to the FCDO?”

“Going back to BII—I refer members of the Committee to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests—we heard that the strategy will be forthcoming quite soon. When exactly can BII expect to know how much funding it will receive?”

“As we have discussed, the FCDO’s ODA share has been reducing in recent years with the swing towards multilateral spending. Given that, do you think the Department still has enough control over how the budget is spent?”

“Should BII raise debt? If so, would that affect FCDO’s relationship with the organisation?”

“I will touch on this now because I don’t think it will come up later in the session: the elephant in the room is that shift from bilateral to multilateral programmes that keeps re-occurring. I find it a bit strange to use the northern Nigeria example and in the same breath make an argument for scaled multilateral progr…”

“Do you think it is taking enough risk?”

“Coming back to the return, it reflects a reasonably cautious approach in the past from BII, or at least one that is designed, even with different strategies, to yield a positive return overall. What assessment have you made of the impact of that approach on BII being able to get investment into some of the poorest coun…”

“If there is so much consensus among MPs and constituents, why is it that the members of the public who were more supportive of digital ID were more likely to be Liberal Democrat voters, at least when they were polled some time back?”

“I wholeheartedly agree. That is why it is important that in the months ahead and through the consultation, this scheme is introduced on a voluntary basis, just as we have set out, and remains that way. I know some might find this difficult to believe, but this really is no conspiracy. If we are not concerned about the …”

“I will turn the question back on the hon. Gentleman. What is the cost of not doing this? What is the cost of inaction? I have heard very little today from Opposition Members about how much a digital ID scheme will alleviate the costs currently associated with some processes, but I would welcome such input. On a persona…”

“Like many Members who have spoken today, I have received a lot of representations from constituents to speak in opposition to digital ID. It would have been easy enough, given my own personal level of comfort with digital ID, to have let today’s debate pass me by. As my constituents will know, this is a point of person…”

“The hon. Member makes an important point that such systems are by no means immune, but I argue that the systems that we have in place at the minute are hardly secure.”

“Will the hon. Lady give way on that point?”

“This scheme presents a much better opportunity to ensure that we have the correct security procedures in place, versus some of our current insecure measures.”

“I certainly hope that there are ways in which we can help to strengthen that. Evelyn, how do you think development partners such as the FCDO can help us better achieve that localisation and the kind of partnership at the local level that we have heard about from Mary?”

“I certainly hope that there are ways in which we can help to strengthen that. Evelyn, how do you think development partners such as the FCDO can help us better achieve that localisation and the kind of partnership at the local level that we have heard about from Mary?”

“Does the right hon. Member care to remind us how much the NHS strikes cost under his Government’s watch?”

“Turning back to Mary, what are the benefits of programming decisions being made at a local level?”