Speeches by Yang.

“On that theme, have any members of the panel had discussions with the FCA or other financial regulators on tackling discrimination?”

“Professor Andreeva, you mentioned that some banks have been so frightened by the accusation of discrimination that they have stopped collecting data on protected characteristics, which means they cannot effectively monitor whether their outcomes are discriminatory. Do you see any role for the regulator in monitoring th…”

“Professor Andreeva, Professor Wachter mentioned redlining; have you come across any other examples of discrimination from the use of AI in financial services?”

“Thank you, Professor. I will return to our main theme of AI and financial services, and in particular on bias in AI. A lot of writing about AI risks focuses on medium or long-term risks that have not yet occurred, but Professor Andreeva and Professor Wachter have argued that the growing use of AI in decision making inc…”

“Professor Lawrence, I want to come back on your point about the ONS data. This Committee has heard from the ONS and interrogated the ONS about the problems with the labour force survey and other national statistics. There is currently a Cabinet Office investigation into the ONS. Do you have any advice for how the ONS c…”

“I would welcome you to visit our local tech and biotech companies in Reading.”

“I want to go back to the question about risk appetite. It seems to be something that many on this Committee are concerned about—that the National Wealth Fund will have a sufficient risk appetite, rather than simply delivering things the private sector could already deliver. How much of this comes down to institutional …”

“Is there a clear economic shield in the current policy for the National Wealth Fund, if it makes bad bets?”

“I want to go back to the theme that you raised, Mr Davidson, about the current layout being too complicated, with too many different inroads and not really a one-stop shop or portal that could make things simpler. From our panel of academics earlier, we heard about the importance of the National Wealth Fund institution…”

“I have a few questions on the theme of natural capital. One of the top questions I get when I go to primary school assemblies is about what the Government are doing to preserve nature. I also hear that from my constituents, who live by, walk along and enjoy the Thames and its various waterways. Mr Spiers, could you bre…”

“For listeners who are not familiar with the terms, Mr Spiers, could you break down by what you mean by natural capital and nature markets? Could you give some examples of tangible benefits that the National Wealth Fund could create by investing in those areas?”

“How would you like to see the National Wealth Fund take those issues into account?”

“One last question on this theme. Mr Spiers, you mentioned that, on the one hand, there is the negative impact—the unintended consequences—of other National Wealth Fund activity on nature. The conversation on natural capital investments that are more beneficial is about investing in nature services can support the overa…”

“I have some questions about the winners and losers of the spending review. The IFS predicted that the biggest winners would be health and defence. Ms Miller, in terms of the overall spread of winners and losers, are there any surprises when it comes to your analysis?”

“When you look at the landscape from the perspective of unmet needs, rather than just in cash terms, in which Departments and areas do you see the biggest gaps?”

“I know that SEND pressure very well: one of my local councils is Woking borough council, which is in the statutory override situation you described. The Local Government Association has mentioned that the IFS’s projection of spending power for councils relies on quite large increases in council tax over this Parliament…”

“Thank you very much. Dr Tetlow, we have just heard Ms Miller describe the unmet needs gap. Do you want to highlight any areas where you feel, from the perspective of residents and service users, there will be large gaps? What might that feel like over the next few years of the Parliament?”

“I have a couple of quick questions on the healthcare productivity issues that my colleague Bobby Dean brought up. The first is about the causes of this quite dramatic decrease in health sector productivity, which is about a fifth lower than pre-covid. How much of this can we put down to the lack of labour-augmenting ca…”

“I see the investment constraints in my local hospital—the Royal Berkshire hospital—which definitely needs to be rebuilt very soon. I have a statistical question for you, Dr Tetlow, in your capacity as an ONS fellow. We had Andrew Bailey, the Governor of the Bank of England, before us a few months ago, and we discussed …”

“Dr Jeevun Sandher mentioned the long-run impacts of cutting back preventive services, and Dr Tetlow, you mentioned when you answered my first question that there is also risk in this current spending review that, for example, non-statutory functions of councils such as youth clubs, parent groups and so on are cut back …”