Speeches by Osborne.

“I have one or two points on some of those lessons, but I am happy to hear the wider overview first.”

“I will ask some questions about the lessons for the Bank’s wider programmes. I will reflect on some of the lessons of this project and where we are going in future, in the light of some of the NAO Report. Broadly, paragraph 3.14 talks about “19 high-level lessons from the Programme that could be applied more widely to …”

“Lastly, looking for forward programmes, in paragraph 2.6 there is a sentence at the end, which I think is quite general, but, in relation to the timeline on this programme, it says, “The Renewal Programme delay is at the lower end of the range of delays we have observed in our work on government digital change programm…”

“My follow-up before I move on is that when you did have those resource challenges, was that flagged within your three lines of defence risk framework? Were audit, assurance and control aware of that?”

“Thank you for that answer. I appreciate your candour on the contingency level in hindsight, because that is part of what we are trying to get to the detail on. My other question concerns resource risk. It was highlighted in the Report, in paragraphs 2.11 and 2.12, that this did have an impact on other Bank technology o…”

“I want to focus on one or two elements that have come out of the Report and I would appreciate your answers to them. One of those things is referred to in paragraph 2.7 and is specifically about contingency risk. It was identified at the start of this project that the “final business case budget of £375 million include…”

“I have a series of questions concerning data and information and the IT platforms. Paragraph 10 of the NAO Report indicates that each of you is going through a process of transformation. I think the EA is ahead of the curve, in the sense of the Report that we have seen. DEFRA has a series of legacy IT platforms, which …”

“Yes. The question is, are we going to move to a position where the infrastructure board is more transparent so that people can see some of the thoughts behind the decision processes?”

“I am conscious of time, but I have some follow-up questions. I ask you to keep your answers a bit shorter, otherwise no one else will get the opportunity. You referenced the water reforms. We had Ofwat in a few weeks ago, and I specifically asked them about the SPSs, of which they have 59. They indicated that they are …”

“My questions link to the regulatory environment and whether you are giving sufficient flexibility. My overarching question is about federalism versus centralisation. The UK operates quite a centralised structure. If you compare that with other countries—specifically the US—we have a precautionary approach, which effect…”

“The recent National Audit Office report into police productivity highlights inconsistency in the operational and financial resilience of police forces, which suffered after the criminal inaction of the Conservative party. Will the Home Secretary set out how the National Police Service will enhance collaboration, while …”

“Lastly, financial resilience is critical—and I understand that my colleagues will pick up on other aspects of this. Ofwat has presided over a period when a significant number of companies have been financially distressed, and their ratings have also decreased. There is a crisis of confidence in this sector at the momen…”

“I thank the Minister for that answer. Under the last Government, social enterprises were decimated by cuts to their budgets during austerity. We have many good social enterprises in my constituency, such as Medway Community Healthcare, Emmaus and Medway Voluntary Action. What more can be done to support social enterpri…”

“10. What steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to enable local authorities to invest in local businesses.”

“I want to probe on those reforms. If I look at investor sentiment, they are concerned that yesterday’s White Paper does not have enough clarity on some of those reforms. If I might push back on what you have just said, you have clarified that the transition plan will be published within months, but it would be helpful …”

“I appreciate those answers. One of the other concerns from investors’ perspective is that Ofwat had too many strategic policy statements. As I understand it, you had 59 of those. As Rupert Lowe rightly raised, you had a dearth of regulation, but where was the focus in those SPSs? Again, from an investor-confidence pers…”

“I asked those questions because investor confidence is critical. If we lose that—and there is still uncertainty with investors around where we are heading—it will add to people’s bills. Oxera Consulting has calculated that £27 a year will be added through the regulatory burden if we do not have clarity on where we are.…”

“I have one very last question. Part of the reason why we are here is that after the general election it was very clear that the regulator, in the public’s view, was not working. Sir Jon Cunliffe also concluded that many elements were not working. So it is a surprise, when we look at your non-executive appointments, tha…”

“My questions are linked to the IWC’s concerns around financial resilience and investor confidence. I suspect that one of my colleagues will pick up on some of my points. I was surprised when you said earlier that you felt there was investor confidence in the sector. The credit rating agencies have done numerous reports…”

“Absolutely, there are challenges in the industry and I will raise a number of them in a moment, but first I want to offer an overview of the success of the sector. There are a lot of hard-working wine growers and merchants. Despite some of the challenges, the industry is already showing real success and we need to supp…”