Speeches by Green.

“I welcome today’s debate and congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Mid Dorset and North Poole (Vikki Slade) on securing it. I too wish to focus on the experience of those navigating the medical licence renewal process, but I begin by acknowledging that the DVLA is aware of its shortcomings in that area. When the c…”

“Thank you. When this first came to light for our Committee, it raised real issues of accountability to Parliament, this Committee and the Comptroller and Auditor General. Permanent Secretary, have you given any thought to how the MOD would secure parliamentary budgetary approval if a similar situation occurred—not a da…”

“Not at all.”

“No offence taken, Chair. Returning to the impact of the super-injunction: Permanent Secretary, what impact did the super-injunction itself have on the Department’s understating of the potential Afghan compensation and resettlement costs?”

“So it was not treated differently?”

“It is not lost information.”

“Is that not currently happening?”

“Just to follow up on what you are saying, paragraph 4.8 says that the NAO was told that “if the police look into a potential fraud and decide not to pursue a case criminally, there are no clear mechanisms for other parts of the MoD to continue looking at a case to see if non-criminal routes would be appropriate.” Can y…”

“I want to move us on to triage and how the allegations are triaged at the moment. At the end of paragraph 4.7 of the NAO Report, it states, “different teams are not aware of the criteria or thresholds different parts of the MoD use when deciding to pursue or prioritise a case.” I am keen to understand—this is a questio…”

“How many regional teams are there? You said you do it by area.”

“Thank you. Sorry, Aneen, I think I cut across you as you were trying to say something.”

“What is preventing that from happening at the moment?”

“Forgive me, but on operational independence it seems from the Report that, with a little bit of knowledge, I could fall through the cracks and get away with something that is costing taxpayers a lot of money. Are you confident that will not be the case going forward?”

“How long has it been in place?”

“Do you mind me asking how new that is? Is it already in place?”

“What change would you request to help you to achieve more criminal outcomes? You mentioned that there are seven dedicated staff; is that an area you would request more investment in? The permanent secretary said a great deal about technology earlier, but you talked specifically about the seven team members. Would somet…”

“My question is for Aneen and Simon. The permanent secretary, in his answer to Catherine, said that the Department has a zero-tolerance approach to fraud and economic crime. I am curious to understand why so few investigations result in criminal action or service justice action or, indeed, moneys recovered.”

“That is really helpful.”

“Forgive me, but how big is the team we are talking about?”

“With those replans in mind, what was the biggest change to your approach or mindset that you had to make in order to get this programme delivered?”