Speeches by Green.

“The guidance for complaints in children’s social care was issued 20 years ago and has not been updated since. Those who work in the system say that it is out of date, and the ombudsman echoes their concerns. Will the Minister outline what steps the Department is taking to ensure that the guidance is up to date? Will he…”

“It is page 27, paragraph 2.12. Effectively, the NAO had to pull together a sample to try to understand better and dig a little deeper. I am curious to know whether you have a number that you are able to furnish the Committee with for how many people are currently effectively in limbo.”

“Is that today?”

“Moving on to unresolved cases and prolonged delays, the NAO Report showed that more than a third—41%—of asylum cases looked at in its sample were effectively stuck in limbo, with no action taken and no progress made on their claims, and they were not being removed from the UK either. That is a sample size of 5,000. Wha…”

“So it is not those individuals that the NAO is referencing?”

“Can you share one with us in a note?”

“The definition that the Report uses, at the bottom of paragraph 2.12 on page 27, is that the cases “remain open but are not awaiting an appeal decision or the outcome of further submissions to the Home Office. These claims are not being progressed, and the individuals involved have not been removed from the UK.””

“You mentioned earlier the changes that are being introduced, and the new board. How long will it take for those changes to impact that group of people who I would refer to as effectively in limbo? How long will it take for you to unlock some of those cases?”

“I don’t think I asked my question correctly, so I will ask it again in a different way—my apologies. I am keen to understand how that tool, or that data, can be used innovatively. Where best practice or an innovative new way of using that data has been identified by a public body, how can that be scaled up and rectifie…”

“Are you comfortable that, at the present moment, broadly we have the balance right?”

“How do you do that?”

“I am keen to understand how you will make it easier for public bodies to fund and use innovative data analytics. We have talked about the road map, which we look forward to seeing, and the platform that you mentioned earlier, but I am keen to understand how their use will be funded and then how they are actually used.”

“Do we currently strike the right balance between protecting individuals and allowing public bodies to identify fraudulent behaviour? Do you think that anything needs to change?”

“But the ultimate responsibility for that hub rests with your Department?”

“I would like to look at the barriers that public bodies face in trying to tackle fraud using data analytics. If, for the sake of argument, we say there is a set of targets, what needs to happen to enable public bodies to meet those targets? Mark, what barriers can you identify that public bodies currently face? Why is …”

“Who makes that decision? Do they make that decision themselves?”

“That is really helpful; thank you. And thank you for using legal aid as an illustration, because—I won’t lie—I am finding this quite difficult to follow because we are talking in the abstract, so a concrete example really helps. One thing that the Report refers to is that, quite often, data-sharing agreements are betwe…”

“Is that an active piece of work taking place at the moment and are you working to a specific timeframe, or is it a never-ending project because tools constantly—”

“So they now exist?”

“It is not yet a complete list.”