Speeches by Green.

“I would like to follow up on your observation around local authorities’ maturity and ability to deliver projects. We have local authority restructures and new mayoral authorities on the horizon. I am keen to understand the panel’s confidence in the capacity of new local Government structures to deliver projects, and wh…”

“Understood. It sounds like money has already been unlocked and has already started flowing. Have I understood that correctly? Amy Rees indicated assent. Dame Sarah Healey indicated assent.”

“Could you send a note to the Committee to clarify that for us? We do not mean to put you on the spot.”

“Are they bespoke to each authority?”

“What progress have you made with the national housing development fund, which was launched at the end of March? It was only a short while ago, but I am sure you have progress that you want to report.”

“You are trying not to restrict yourselves.”

“Do you mind sharing a bit more about them?”

“That is really helpful; thank you, Cathy. Alison, you mentioned the 10 strategic place partnerships. Have I understood that they are very specifically connected to mayoral strategic authorities?”

“Just to be very selfish for a second, I represent a constituency in Buckinghamshire, which is a unitary authority, not a strategic mayoral authority. How will places that are not part of strategic mayoral authorities benefit from the fund we are talking about?”

“How do you ensure that the partners you work with are delivering the national housing delivery funding in line with your priorities? How are you keeping track of that?”

“I would like to turn to how you are prioritising locations to maximise the impact of the national housing delivery fund—I keep getting the acronym wrong.”

“That is really helpful; thank you very much.”

“How are you prioritising where to invest that money?”

“How much of the £21 billion will be available for new unlocking land investments?”

“My constituents did not want HS2, and they have been putting up with the disruption of construction for years. Some of them warned that this would be a colossal waste of money, and they were right. This railway is costing nearly a billion pounds a mile. Every pound of cost overrun is a pound not spent on the local infr…”

“Thank you.”

“I may have misheard you. Did you say that you were going to write to all those with unclaimed— John-Paul Marks indicated assent.”

“Is there a wider comms plan beyond writing to them?”

“I declare an interest as a member of the all-party parliamentary group on the loan charge. My colleague said that you are spending £31 million a year on loan charge compliance. To date you have settled only £52 million of a total £1.7 billion tax liability, so how can you give us assurance that the approach you are tak…”

“Thank you for clarifying that.”