Speeches by McDougall.

“But we have to do two things. We have to get HSSA working well, and we also have to make sure that the lessons from that are passed through into HSS so that fewer people get into the position of being unhappy.”

“I will turn to Carl for that, I think.”

“HSSA is a relatively new scheme, so we are working on that. To come back on something else that the Chair and others raised earlier on this, I know that the Chair, in particular, was concerned about the original claimants within HSS, and about those being transferred over to HSSA, which was raised by witnesses earlier.…”

“No. I think, as you say, that HSS as a system had not worked well. To pick up on something that was raised in evidence earlier, when HSSA do make payments that are significantly higher, we do a report back to the Post Office on the reasons for that, and the process behind that, which is about improving the process for …”

“I would agree that we inherited a broken system. Where I slightly depart from some of the evidence earlier is that I think it can be improved, and I think it is being improved. HSS, over the course of the last year, went from 47% of claims paid at the start of the year to 79% of the stock having been settled by the end…”

“It was, as I say, also reported to Sir Wyn, and we have taken on his recommendations.”

“If they do feel they are entitled to more, they can get that fully assessed claim. They then have that three months to revert to the £600,000 if they feel that that is better for them.”

“No, they can’t.”

“As recommended by Sir Wyn, claimants now have three months to revert to that £600,000 offer if they go down the full-assessment route, so we are trying to remove that pressure and the feeling of jeopardy that you described.”

“When I became Minister, I was surprised that there had not been an interim payment. My predecessor had pressed Fujitsu on this, and the position was restated earlier on. I asked about that in a meeting as well, and its position is obviously that it is waiting for Sir Wyn’s report.”

“It is for other Departments to be accountable for the contracts that they have run. When you look across Whitehall at the systems it runs, there are Home Office border control systems and systems for communicating with submarines—things that are absolutely critical to national security and national infrastructure. I ab…”

“To take the example of the Horizon extension, if we had not done that, every post office would have to close. That is a good example of the type of judgment we are trying to make.”

“I don’t think that I particularly want to dance on the head of a pin on that. We have out of necessity extended, for example, the contract for Horizon while the Post Office works on the successor system and seeks to procure on that later this year. We could get into a debate about whether that is a new contract or not,…”

“I am happy to join the hon. Lady in pressing for that action. It is a running theme that when we in this place vote to introduce more support, the money goes through to the Scottish Government but is not passed on to grassroots communities around the country. The question that she asks is the same as that asked by cons…”

“The hon. Lady intervened on me to make a similar point in yesterday’s debate. She and her party knew that the transitional covid relief was coming to end and that revaluation was coming, because that had been agreed when the Conservatives were in Government. The difference with this Government is that we have put in mo…”

“I, too, enjoyed small business Saturday; I got to return to Beveridge fishmongers in Giffnock in my constituency, where I used to work. According to Small Business Britain, the boost given by small business Saturday has been the biggest in six years, so there is real room for optimism for small businesses as we go into…”

“I thank Boutique Flowers for everything that it contributes to my hon. Friend’s local community. That sort of fraud is galling when someone is trying to keep a local business going, and colleagues in the Home Office and my Department are working on a new expanded fraud strategy to be published early next year. I will m…”

“I am very happy to meet my hon. Friend to discuss that issue, and I know that he is a constant campaigner for small businesses in his constituency. In addition to my answer a moment ago about the measures within the business strategy, it is important to note that this has to be a cross-Government effort, including tack…”

“I am envious of my hon. Friend’s meeting Lee Child. If I had known, I might have asked him to put in a word for me to be the next Jack Reacher —I think I have the build for the role. The Government continue to reach businesses through the West Yorkshire mayoral authority’s £1.4 billion investment over 30 years, includi…”

“On this, as on all things, my hon. Friend is a strong voice for the problems faced by her local people. I know that she raised those concerns about local services and resourcing challenges, particularly in Middleton, with Royal Mail. I understand that Royal Mail has recruited 17 more staff in the past few weeks, and th…”