Speeches by Olney.

“A further question for Dax: if you have not yet got this accepted and agreed plan—and we know that there is still work to do in the first quarter of next year to figure out how you are going to deliver it in time—how can you be confident that you have planned and costed all of the necessary resources?”

“Are you confident that you will find a solution to bring the date back within the original scope of the 2028 date?”

“If NS&I comes back to you in March and April next year and says to you, “We cannot deliver successfully within the agreed budget,” is it then your decision whether to increase the budget or to threaten delivery? That is what I am asking.”

“That is fair.”

“In answer to the opening questions you talked about the challenges with procurement and with recruitment of the right skills. Are you confident that those problems have now been solved, and that there will not be renewed challenges further down the line?”

“Thank you, but to come back to you, Matthew, you mentioned commercial realignment and talked about higher headcount. That all suggests to me increased cost.”

“That was going to be my next question to James. There is a fixed budget and yet we are not yet sure of how we are going to deliver the outcome. How do those things reconcile?”

“So are the options looking at how to bring that date forward to make sure it is within the 2028 end date?”

“So you are confident that you will have all the resources and budget that you need whatever the final plan ends up looking like.”

“As I understand it, what you are saying is that Treasury financial control is it saying, “This is the budget; you have to deliver within this budget.” But if the plan comes out at higher than that budget, you are then saying that they must stick to the budget, even if that then threatens delivery?”

“Sorry to interrupt you. Eventually, there is a decision to be made.”

“I thank the Minister for advance sight of the statement. I welcome the Government’s announcement that they are stepping in to offer support and protect jobs in this vital industry. We have a duty to safeguard our national security and economic prosperity, and to ensure a fair transition to clean energy. This statement …”

“I am really concerned that the Government’s fair funding formula sells many London councils short, such as Richmond and Kingston in the area that I represent. The majority of London boroughs already have lower core spending power per capita than the England average, and several are among the lowest funded councils per …”

“On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. I think that is disgraceful. The hon. Gentleman is literally implying corruption. I made it very clear in my speech what the basis of our change in support in the Lords was for, and I think it is intolerable that we are being accused.”

“It is so revealing of Conservative Members’ mindset that they cannot believe what I am actually saying is the reason for our change, and that they assume instead that we must have sought some benefit for ourselves. It is so revealing that that is what the Tories think. It beggars belief that the Conservatives, having h…”

“I am glad that the hon. Member has raised that. I was coming to that in my speech. Perhaps he could listen with a little more attention. Employers have finally been given the necessary clarity to make hiring decisions with confidence, and we have avoided the danger of unnecessarily slowing down the labour market even f…”

“Good afternoon, Ms Little. I just want to start by asking about workforce planning, and what the Cabinet Office is doing to ensure that Departments and arm’s length bodies are properly carrying out their strategic workforce planning so that they can identify potential skills gaps in the pipeline.”

“I have two questions about that. First, in terms of halving consultancy spend, what we have seen in this Report is that the Government find it difficult to say how much they are currently spending on consultants. First, why is it so hard to have an accurate estimate of current consultancy spend? Secondly, if you do not…”

“Today we are debating the fourth round of consideration of Lords amendments to this Bill, and this long and protracted process says a lot about the way the Government have approached this legislation. The Bill was initially put together at great speed, missing much of the detail; there was a long series of Government a…”

“How successful is DESNZ in terms of strategic workforce planning? How much of a forward look do you feel able to do to get a better view of what your skills needs are going to be before you get to the point where you are having to hire a consultant?”