Speeches by Stephenson.

“Like quite a few members of the Committee, I represent a rural constituency. We have a lot of villages that are not connected to our towns, and a lot of elderly people who need to get to appointments. There are also a lot of children with special education needs and disabilities who get to school via taxis. Does my hon…”

“The Minister says that the measures that the Government are using are appropriate, but can he explain, in response to the question from my hon. Friend the Member for North West Norfolk, why adjusted income was not used and why it is not appropriate?”

“DEFRA has been mentioned quite a few times today, including that it is the “worst offender”, which does not surprise me because I also sit on the Public Accounts Committee and there was an NAO report that has just been released, which you may not be aware of, which says, “DEFRA has one of the most significant legacy IT…”

“My final question is that you have been quoted as saying that resource issues are preventing you from filling your statutory role, the OEP. Could you talk us through that? What further resources do you require? If you were to have those resources, what more would you deliver, given the dependency for you to have the da…”

“In the report there are eight out of 59 trends that could not be assessed for these reasons. When you engage with Government Departments and describe to them the impact of that and give them examples of data that would be helpful to enable you to make these assessments, do the Departments think about how they can plug …”

“We have touched on my questions as we have been going through this session, so this should not take too long. Does the OEP have information needed to make reliable assessments? From my experience of asking the Government, since being elected, 1,451 questions, many of which require data for them to respond in a meaningf…”

“I will speak to amendments 1 and 2 in the name of my hon. Friend the Member for Windsor. The Government and those of us supporting the amendments are trying to achieve the same outcome. The aim of the amendments is simple: to enable the Government to achieve their goal of raising billions in tax revenues from former no…”

“I thank my hon. Friend for securing the debate. He is making a thoughtful and important speech. He has spoken eloquently about the cumulative development in both our constituencies, which is putting central Bedfordshire and Bedford borough under significant strain from a planning perspective. Does he agree that it is i…”

“If I can wrap that question up, for these seven organisations, where there are errors and fraud—or other misdemeanours—where does the buck stop? What oversight does the Ministry of Justice have over those organisations? Going back to a point Rupert made before we went into a public session, these small bodies are accou…”

“That was very helpful, because you answered the question that I was going to ask. It seems that everyone is ahead of me, which is fantastic. A final question from me: if you are, in a more informal way, allowing a proportionate case-by-case approach for these small bodies, how confident are you in the centre that you a…”

“That would be helpful, because it would be interesting to know the extent to which these small bodies can stand on their own two feet versus requiring support from the MOJ, and what the cost is to the taxpayer. Are there examples where the MOJ has had to step in to support small bodies because they are way off the mark…”

“You say that it is worth looking at. Is any work actively under way to look at it? I ask because in your response there are quite a few assumptions about what the savings might be. Is it not a valuable piece of work to do, so you know whether there would be savings and so you can balance value for money against levels …”

“Are you looking at international comparisons? Are there other countries that differentiate? If so, do they do it well and are there lessons we could learn?”

“For those seven organisations that you provide support to from the centre, how many people from the MOJ are involved, and how much does it cost?”

“In recent hearings, we have heard about the vast waste through fraud and error. Some of that will be attributed to the MOJ, although I do not know how much. With fraud and error, would you say that the MOJ is ultimately responsible, or these small bodies?”

“My questions are for Farhad. How many small bodies do you have at the Ministry of Justice, and how do you support them to comply with the financial reporting arrangements?”

“We have large organisations within Government, such as HM Prison and Probation Service, spending about £6 billion. Then, at the other end, we have organisations such as the Office of the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists—I have no idea what that is—spending around £326,000. As you said earlier, Conrad, we have exactly …”

“I thank the Minister for his response. A recent Yale University report ranked Mauritius last out of 131 states for stringency in relation to its marine protected areas, and a woeful 173th out of 180 for the protection of biodiversity. Mauritius has even admitted that it does not have the capacity to patrol the area, an…”

“6. What assessment she has made of whether the Mauritian Government are able to effectively protect Chagos’ marine environment.”

“I have some questions on capacity at the appeals stage. The Government’s commitment to clear the backlog has ended up shifting the pressure to the appeals stage. Ms Churchill, could you walk the Committee through the actions you are taking to improve judicial availability and capacity?”