Speeches by Ryan.

“I understand that. A note would be great.”

“Yes, you can send us a note afterwards. That is fine.”

“And Burnley. I just want to ask this quickly: do you know how many cases were dealt with through the Nightingale courts programme? Do you have a number for that?”

“If I can touch on a slightly broader point, you mentioned that there is no silver bullet for some of these problems. I understand that you are dealing with a capacity problem. Despite running at full pelt and doing a good job, you are just not managing to get through the backlog. There has been a lot of mention of Leve…”

“That is the answer I am looking for. That is good. Do you mind if I spread out slightly on that question?”

“The contribution that Mr Flury has just made touches on my point. My question, Dame Antonia—perhaps with specific reference to London, the midlands and the south-east—is whether you have enough judges. My worry is that we have heard that there are not enough solicitors or barristers and that there is no capacity in the…”

“So the rate is improving.”

“That is down from the 27% that we have in the Report.”

“I do not want to take too much time on this, because I am cautious that I have probably overstepped the first question—but, Dan, can I just check that you said the figure is currently 23%?”

“Right, okay—it will be higher again. It is a worry. People will get into this as we go through, but it is the wait for victims and the wait for justice that concerns us most. It is almost not about the procedure of the legal process. It is about the really harrowing stories that we have had in written evidence to the C…”

“Do you know, as we sit here today, the current backlog figure? We have the 73,000 figure for, I think, September last year. What is it as of now?”

“Dame Antonia, you have sort of answered this question in your opening statement. In 2021, you assured us, as you said, that you would get the backlog down to 53,000 by March this year. You have mentioned the pandemic, industrial action, demand and additional complexity. As a kind of second layer, to build on the questi…”

“I thank the Home Secretary for her statement. Under this Government, no matter an abuser’s race and where they are, they will have nowhere to hide. The job in hand is action, implementation and change. I am glad to hear that she will set up a new victims panel, because the victims of sexual abuse—women and children—are…”

“As a great supporter of the British-American alliance, I am disappointed to have to ask this question, but, given some of the recent tweets from people associated with the incoming US Administration, what assessment has the Secretary of State made of the UK’s exposure of our defence capabilities, given that there may b…”

“I thank the Minister for his White Paper. At the back of it, there are five pages of powers that are not currently enjoyed by Lancashire, as a foundation authority. Will he agree to work with partners in Lancashire to ensure that we can get a deal done and over the line for a mayoral and a reorganisation package? Lanca…”

“And specifically for the revenue support agreement?”

“On the reasonable worst-case scenario for the revenue support agreement, which you just referenced in connection with transport and storage, is that relevant just to transport and storage or to the whole-scheme cost or the potential liability?”

“Which you feel you can do because you can move supply elsewhere.”

“It reinforces my view that this is an offset like when you buy a ticket on a budget airline—you pay a cost and you realise that you may not get much out of it, but you have paid it because you feel like you need to offset the carbon somewhere. You have bought a pack of loo roll and you need to pay to plant the tree; th…”

“Ms Konar, when you answered the Chair’s question, I think the answer was generally, “No, we do not take a stake, but it would be one to look at in the future.” That was an interesting conversation, and I would like to see us look at that in the future. You said that it is in essence because we get the benefit of carbon…”