Speeches by Cane.

“You said that in an ideal world it would have been good to have a recruitment process, and then went on to say “and have a job description.” Are you saying there was not a job description?”

“Did you not feel it would be useful to do a recruitment process to make sure you got the best person for that role?”

“You said normal civil service procedure, so would it not normally be necessary to run a recruitment process for a new role?”

“Ms Rourke, this is a question for you initially. The annual report for 2023-24 indicates that a new post—director of operations—was created a couple of years ago. Why was it felt necessary to create that post?”

“You gave this extra responsibility to someone who was responsible for HR because you felt it was to do with people. But we heard earlier that there seems to have been a culture of not wanting, or not feeling able, to pass problems up the chain, or maybe people up the chain not hearing it. So there clearly was a really …”

“Can I just ask one further question on that?”

“This brings us back to what the role of the board is.”

“It has been covered now.”

“You have pulled in more resource, which sounds good, but you have presumably taken that from elsewhere. We heard earlier that some has come from looking at getting comparative statistics between the devolved Administrations. Where else have you had to take resource from, and what are you doing to make sure that we do n…”

“What have you been able to put in place to address these people feeling rushed and hurried to make sure there is time for checking and reviewing throughout the system?”

“Are you using “robust” where you should be using “aggressive” in terms of the response?”

“I would have thought people in a statistics body would be very keen to make sure the statistics were accurate. Mrs Rourke, have you managed to get any sense of why people were so wary of passing on concerns?”

“Sorry; I have never worked anywhere, public sector or anywhere else, where a new senior role can be created without the board’s approval. I am amazed and shocked.”

“12. What assessment she has made of the adequacy of the personal independence payment application process.”

“Over 4,500 people in Ely and East Cambridgeshire claim PIP, and they are not just anxious, as you put it; they are seriously worried that they are going to lose the payments and, with them, their independence. Contrary to what you said—sorry, contrary to what the Minister said—the Government’s own data suggests that 85…”

“I have visited pharmacies across my constituency. They are all struggling to provide a service, but are all very keen to take on the new services that the NHS is suggesting. Will the Minister commit to ensuring that rural and community pharmacies are properly staffed and equipped to deliver those community services, su…”

“10. What steps his Department is taking to support community pharmacies.”

“Moving on to honours and life peerages, you said that you liaised with the relevant committees on that. What sort of feel do you have for how much influence that liaison has on their decisions?”

“You seemed to be suggesting earlier that the financial penalty should be quite high and for civil servants it should impact their redundancy.”

“Do you have any thoughts on how we could make sure people know they should be applying, and that the forms are such that they make sure they put everything on there that they should?”