Speeches by Olney.

“Q Professor Whitty, the definition of “terminal illness” is attracting some attention. Some people say it is difficult to define a terminal illness. Would it improve the Bill if we had a specified list of illnesses that would apply? Is it possible to come up with a list of illnesses that are terminal that would qualify…”

“Q Can you talk a little bit more about whether you perceive any difficulties in having a definition of terminal illness in the Act? How do you think the medical profession will interpret that? Professor Whitty: At the extremes —most people are at the extremes—it is very clear what is going to happen. For most people, y…”

“Q Leading on from Dr Opher’s question about the “must refer” clause, you and Professor Whitty both stress the importance of the relationship between the doctor and the patient, yet there may be doctors who feel very strongly against mentioning assisted dying. Given the existence of clause 4(5) and the “must refer”, do …”

“indicated assent.”

“indicated dissent.”

“It is fair to say that costs have increased a lot. According to the Report, costs have increased between 80% and 93%. When we look at figure 4, we can see that the biggest cost increase is in the rapid deployment cells. Mr Barton, the specific cost increase here is between 247% and 259%. I think I am right in saying th…”

“So the challenges around asbestos and ground conditions.”

“Which of those three issues that you identified has been most relevant to the costs going up on the RDCs?”

“So you think that the original spec turned out not to be appropriate for what you needed.”

“Finally, Mr Barton, ISG, which was one of your main contractors, went into administration last September. To what extent is that going to delay delivery of some of your projects?”

“The collapse of ISG is going to impact the provision of prison places quite significantly, but it is not primarily due to not being able to build the new ones; it is about maintaining the older ones and the impact that that is going to have on the existing estate.”

“Without ISG, is there capacity in the market that you are contracting from to deliver the remaining project, or is that going to be a constraint?”

“Ms Rees, what will you do when the temporary accommodation that is currently being used to house prisoners reaches the end of its intended life?”

“Do you accept that the increasing urgency of the need for places has had an impact on the increase in cost?”

“Just the extent to which the need to provide places urgently was a standalone reason for driving costs upwards. If projects had not been delayed and, therefore, the need for the places was not so urgent, to what extent has that had an impact on costs?”

“Mr Gribbin, one of the issues identified by the report was the fact that, because places were needed so urgently, that, in itself, contributed to costs increasing, for example through needing to pay a larger margin to contractors to accept higher levels of risk. Do you have a sense of what additional costs you have inc…”

“I can understand, on that logic, there being a range, but there must surely be an upper edge at which you say, “This is now too expensive and we are not prepared to pursue this option”.”

“Dame Antonia, the Report highlights that there is now a very wide spread of cost per prison place. In some parts of the programme, the cost per place is only £200,000, but, in a small number of individual projects, it might cost up to £1 million. What is the maximum amount per place that the MOJ should be prepared to p…”

“The wholly inadequate deal with the EU negotiated by the previous Conservative Government has done enormous damage to British businesses, which have seen soaring import costs, increased workforce shortages, and reams of red tape creating huge barriers to growth. The return of a Trump Administration in Washington change…”

“Last year, the National Cyber Security Centre, located in the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Cheltenham (Max Wilkinson), said that the Government were almost certain that Russian actors had attempted to interfere in the 2019 general election. We are clearly in a new era of politics. Trust in politics is …”