Speeches by Cane.

“The current Registrar has highlighted a number of areas where lobbying transparency needs to be improved, but it does not look as if the Government are in a hurry to address them. How would you try to deal with those weaknesses?”

“Sunnica solar farm, which runs through my constituency, was given permission by this Government, and there are more solar farm applications in the pipeline. My constituents are concerned that these applications are being made without a land use framework, which would have provided reassurance that the competing demands…”

“I rise to speak in support of new clause 2, which was tabled by my hon. Friend the Member for Harrogate and Knaresborough (Tom Gordon) and has cross-party support. I really hope that that cross-party support holds up in the vote. As we have heard, disability does not stop at peak times. I represent a rural constituency…”

“This Committee is clearly of the view that the HR function was not working particularly well. You have said that colleagues of yours raised concerns with you about HR and how things were operating. You were aware of the problems, and yet you effectively promoted the leader of the HR operation to be a director of operat…”

“When did colleagues first raise concerns with you about HR?”

“So not until late 2024?”

“I just want to pick up on the way that the director of operations post was appointed. You said it was within the civil service rules. Your chair seemed to be concerned about the way it was done, yet you did it anyway. Why was that?”

“Okay, thank you.”

“You were trying to deliver quite a lot of change in the organisation, and you were under quite a lot of financial pressure. How much messaging did you get back about how the change was being delivered, how people felt part of the process, and how well they thought it was going?”

“Did none of your direct reports report any concerns or issues about staff morale, either that they had or that had been raised with them by their direct reports?”

“You seem to be saying that it was a function that was actually doing a pretty good job, but there were mitigating reasons why people felt unhappy with it. In the time that you were at the ONS, did you really feel that the staff culture and staff morale were good?”

“I am going to ask mainly about the culture of the organisation. We have heard from other witnesses, and it came out of Sir Robert Devereux’s review, that there is a culture where open discussions regarding challenges are not welcomed. Do you recognise that description?”

“In your answer to the Chair’s question at the beginning, you talked quite a bit about having open meetings, but you talked about those meetings being quite large—in one case, you said it could have been 1,000 people. You also talked about trying to get your managers to cascade down. How well do you feel that that worke…”

“You have talked about systems for getting your message out and for cascading messages down—systems that may not, in themselves, have worked as well as you liked. What systems were there in place, other than the questions, for cascading things back up again?”

“You said that quite a few people came to you in 2021.”

“Did that continue? Did people continue coming to you? Do you have any idea why that might be?”

“I agree with my hon. Friend that recognising neurodivergence in school and giving support at an early stage is incredibly important. As I said, I want to make the distinction and recognise that neurodivergent people and those with learning disabilities are distinguishable groups, both of which I will speak about. Over …”

“I thank the hon. Member for Mansfield (Steve Yemm) for his intervention and I congratulate the college that he mentioned. He is absolutely right—one size fits all does not fit anybody, but particularly not neurodivergent people.”

“I thank everyone who spoke in the debate. It is good to see that across parties we are all agreed on this issue. We have heard about the many barriers that people face, but we have also heard about some really good employers and opportunities. I welcome the Minister’s commitment to build on the Buckland review and to w…”

“We have heard there is a problem with young people being assessed in school; we cannot then cut off the backstop of being assessed in adulthood. Can the Minister update us on the Buckland review’s recommendations and when they intend to publish the conclusions of their expert panel on employment prospects for neurodive…”