Speeches by Stephenson.

“From the recruitment that you have done, have you modelled what that does to the appeals backlog? For example, do you know where that backlog will be in a year or two?”

“T1. If she will make a statement on her departmental responsibilities.”

“Yes.”

“The western world must remain united to keep us all safe from both Russia and China. Regrettably, we are far from united right now, and many of our constituents will be concerned about the risk to our country and critical infrastructure. At the same time as trying to reinvigorate our relationships with our NATO partner…”

“On the recruitment, it sounds like you have been reasonably successful in hiring more paid judges. In figure 6 of the NAO Report, we are told that one of the issues is poor incentives compared with competing tribunals. Have you had to do something differently to attract judges to these jobs, and away from competing tri…”

“Would you be able to walk us through what implications you think there are for judges of the new asylum model?”

“Following the curriculum review, will the Secretary of State outline how the Government will support teachers to deliver financial education in the constituency of Mid Bedfordshire and, of course, right across the country? Will financial education form part of initial teacher training?”

“One follow-up: if we were to fix all those limitations, how much more of this error and fraud do you think will be detectable, which of course would then limit the need for the Chancellor to raise taxes in the future?”

“I think it would be helpful if you gave some thought to that and maybe wrote to the Committee, because there could be some really practical recommendations that we could make, in terms of changing legislation, which would help you to bear down on error and fraud, and in turn reduce the burden on our constituents throug…”

“I am interested in asking some questions about the legislative framework; some of the responses to questions that Sarah asked piqued my interest. My constituents—all our constituents—would be horrified to know that in 2023, £55 billion to £81 billion of their hard-earned money was lost to fraud and error. They might al…”

“Will the Secretary of State support Conservative calls for funding for the listed places of worship scheme to be restored? That would give places of worship such as All Saints in Shillington in Mid Bedfordshire the certainty they need to protect our heritage and continue serving all our communities.”

“I am sure it would.”

“When the Prime Minister first announced digital ID, it was to stop illegal working. It took most of us about a minute to work out that that was total nonsense. Flapping in the wind, the Government are now desperately trying to sell the benefits of limiting liberty and freedom for all our constituents. One thing the Gov…”

“Can the Secretary of State give a clear assurance that not a single offshore wind project procured in this round will be built with technology made by Chinese slaves?”

“Constituents of mine have been reporting that they have been directed to hospital for regular blood tests, rather than having them at their GP surgery. Will the Secretary of State outline how he will ensure that blood tests are done in a community setting, which surely must be much better value for the taxpayer and muc…”

“London is a critical global financial centre; we all rely on it, as do all of our constituents. Does the Minister recognise the very serious risk that approving this Chinese super-embassy could, as my hon. Friend the shadow Minister said, pave the way for economic war—not just on our country, but on the western world, …”

“I start by saying how extraordinary it was to hear the Minister of State for Courts and Legal Services say earlier that she would be pursuing this policy even if there were not a backlog to deal with. That suggests that it was planned all along, but it is nowhere in the Labour party manifesto. Will the Under-Secretary …”

“With two dangerous offenders on the run, many of our constituents will rightly be very concerned and worried. Will the Minister explain what resources are being deployed to capture those offenders as soon as possible?”

“In response to the question from my hon. and gallant Friend the Member for Spelthorne (Lincoln Jopp), the Minister said that he respected the views of the officers who had shared their concerns—so why does he think they are wrong?”

“Nearly 17,000 companies licensed to sponsor worker visas have five or fewer employees, and over 3,000 of these have just one employee. Ministers have been unable to tell me how many inspections have been made of companies since the general election. How sure is the Home Secretary that these are not bogus companies offe…”