Speeches by Hoare.

“The weight of public and business opinion is not with the Minister on this issue, and the body of expert opinion speaking out against this tax proposal is now overwhelming. The Minister is a kindly man, so I wonder if he will indulge me. What would he be saying if he were in opposition and that weight of opinion was be…”

“I thank the Leader of the House for her statement. Lib Dem-controlled Dorset council is proposing to introduce night-time car parking charges. That would have a devastating impact on the market towns of Verwood, Blandford Forum, Gillingham, Shaftesbury and Sturminster Newton in my constituency, bringing into doubt the …”

“I welcome the announcement on the judicial review proposals. The Government’s plan for change is an important endeavour, which will need not just Cabinet colleagues but civil servants to row in behind it. Is the Minister able to tell the House how he is marshalling and co-ordinating political and official activities to…”

“I have a final follow‑up. I readily accept your analysis that the public were calling for this transformation, saying, “For heaven’s sake, get on and do it. We have had too much hiatus over the years”. To pick up on David Smith’s latter question, is that appetite now spilling over into ideas on which the parties…”

“I am a Welshman.”

“Yes, indeed.”

“It was more about things at the political level, at the commissioning level, at the design level rather than, “Have you tried this new type of bandage because it is much better than the last one?””

“They do not like sharing failure.”

“Yes, that is always the problem.”

“I think we all recognise that data is king in all this. Most normal people out there would put their heads in their hands if they thought that such a very core and basic thing about the ability of institutions to share data to improve outcomes is not readily done and available, but we are where we are. That is understo…”

“I do not mind. They can toss a coin if they like but I am interested to hear, maybe from our commissioner first.”

“I am sorry to interject, Ms Taylor. Those are hurdles but they are not insurmountable hurdles. My genuine experience is that it may be missed but unless some sort of deadline and a pathway that can be tracked is set, things often go into the slightly tricky in-tray and never get the resolute attention that they require…”

“Carol is itching to come in. She is almost leaping out of the screen at us.”

“I have a very quick question back to the Minister, following up from Mr Robinson’s line of questioning. When you and the Secretary of State had that magic word “shadow” before your positions, you were vocal in your criticism of the stance of the previous Government on this issue, therefore, I suppose, leading legitimat…”

“The temporary use of top-ups to plug gaps is a perennial problem when it comes to relationships between Treasury, the Northern Ireland Office, the Executive and the whole of Northern Ireland. It does not address the fundamental issue alluded to by Gavin about the base core assessment of need; the foundation is wrong, h…”

“That is music to my ears as a keen devolutionist, but I have always had a concern that the devolveds are often inclined to trade in splendid isolation of operation and never think to reach out and ask questions of each other and back to Westminster. It is good to hear that you are driving forward this sharing of best p…”

“In an earlier answer to a question, you told the Committee that you were convinced that the local political will was there to deliver transformation. You are absolutely right to point to the unhealthily long time that the Executive has not been sitting, and the backlog of transformation is artificially distorted, is it…”

“It is encouraging to hear that. Can I press upon you the importance of delivering that strategy and stability of funding, particularly for those organisations in the community working with young people? Very often, they are stopping people getting into criminality, antisocial behaviour and so on. When they finally buil…”

“Good morning, witnesses. Minister, could I ask you this? I am becoming increasingly encouraged, I have to say, that there seems to be a step change in the MO of the Executive, which is building on mutual trust and collaborative working to face into those difficult and challenging political decisions that need to be tak…”

“I have a final follow‑up. I readily accept your analysis that the public were calling for this transformation, saying, “For heaven’s sake, get on and do it. We have had too much hiatus over the years”. To pick up on David Smith’s latter question, is that appetite now spilling over into ideas on which the parties…”