Speeches by Hoare.

“I am not questioning that.”

“It sounds as if it is quite hard, notwithstanding possibly the best personal relationships on a professional level, to try to identify what is best, what good looks like, what cost-efficient looks like and what efficient looks like, as it is done board by board. Is that fair? It is not a criticism, but it is a reflecti…”

“The Committee has been told in written evidence that prison healthcare in Wales is “very disjointed”. I am tempted to say, not as a criticism, that your answers have understandably indicated that to be a true statement. Do you share the assessment that it is disjointed, and would you support bringing all prison healthc…”

“Okay. We will look forward to receiving some sort of written submission on that. Thank you.”

“So those figures exist, but you do not have them to hand, which is perfectly fine—or is it that those figures do not exist?”

“Do you think that is a data gap that might be worth filling?”

“I suppose Ms Thomas, and perhaps Rhys Jones may have a word or two on that.”

“None of us will have been surprised to hear from Ms Thomas about the issues of mental health and substance abuse and dependency. Those stark statistics stand out when comparing the non-prison and prison populations. Can we drill into those issues a little? It may well be that you need to provide an answer in writing. H…”

“I share the hon. Gentleman’s view on European co-operation. Does he agree that it would be more than helpful—particularly in the face of Russian aggression, and of the American retraction from European defence that he mentions—if the French Government took another look at how the United Kingdom could be involved in a s…”

“Do you see a role for your position? I see the role of a commissioner as twofold: first, to represent a constituency of interest, but also to report back, inform and “educate” that constituency of interest; it is a two-way street. Do you see your role as commissioner as being to try to help—as I caveated, I am not a la…”

“Is there a commonality view on the panel? I rather detect that there is. It would be useful—picking up on Mr McVey’s point—to capture the fact that it is hard to see how one could meaningfully cover those constituencies of interest with a cap of seven.”

“Thank you for that answer, and thank you for what you are doing.”

“There is obviously the risk of duplication of work and effort. Is there the potential of duplication of people? You have mentioned that there will be between three and seven, but if you have one group of people involved in your commission who meet the criteria and the skillset, it is not going to be the biggest of pond…”

“I hope I was clear: I was not suggesting that you had.”

“Can I just ask for your thoughts on this aspect? I will caveat it: I am not a lawyer. I sometimes become concerned when I hear people saying it is vexatious—I am slightly picking up the point that Ms Hanna was just making. I think most people understand that there are a number of hurdles that any potential case has to …”

“I would like to start with a question about the victims and survivors advisory group, and who better to start with than the commissioner himself? In your recent submission to us, you raised concerns about its size and possible composition, about the powers vested with the Secretary of State, and about the potential for…”

“I am not sure that this is particularly fruitful, given the time.”

“I have no further questions.”

“At the back of my question is this: I have always hoped, but have yet to be persuaded, that in the general political commentary, media assessment and general societal discourse, veterans will de facto be seen as also having the potential to be a victim and a survivor. They have often been siloed and trammelled as two m…”

“Anybody who ever dips a toe into Northern Irish affairs knows that precision of language is crucial. Mr Johnstone, you have been very clear that you are keen that the veteran community be seen as being protected by that umbrella of victims and survivors. If I heard you correctly, I think you said that in answer to Mr R…”