Speeches by Glen.

“Never trust them!”

“You will know that in the previous panel we heard evidence from the OBR on the presumptions about where spending will be towards the end of the period. For the unprotected Departments, I think it is a 4.4% cut. The IFS states that, for next year’s spending review, there is an assumption that day-to-day departmental bud…”

“Mental health?”

“Yes, but we are trying to understand that; we are trying to get to a better understanding of what is driving that. You have had a bit of a discussion about a number of factors. What answer would you give, the official answer from the OBR, as to why more young people are now unemployed?”

“I want to home in on this. You have acknowledged that youth unemployment is disproportionate to other levels of unemployment.”

“What, you don’t get the same productivity from a younger part of the workforce but you are obliged to pay them the same amount as everyone else?”

“5. Whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of the Office for Budget Responsibility's growth projections for 2026 on future departmental spending levels.”

“Given that the Chancellor has pencilled in 0.3% real-terms growth in public spending in 2029-30, and assuming that health spending is at its historical average, the special educational needs and disabilities spend is as per the proposals, and defence is at 3%, that will leave a 2.5% real-terms cut in unprotected Depart…”

“Given that it was promised at the start of June last year, when will the Chancellor sign off on the defence investment plan?”

“Given the progress made by the Infected Blood Compensation Authority, will the Paymaster General update the House? Over £140 million has been spent by the inquiry. Has he had any conversations with Sir Brian Langstaff on when will be the right time to close down that inquiry, and whether he has wider lessons about the …”

“Recently I have been meeting firefighters in Wilton, and last night I met Andy Cole, the chief fire officer for Wiltshire and Dorset. Eight of our 50 fire stations in those two counties face closure, despite them making £15 million of annual savings since 2016. At the core of the issue, it seems, are the assumptions ab…”

“The point is that it is quite obvious that you can find out more about your market and that your understanding of profitability will be enhanced. No one is saying that they expect insurance companies then to pick up an unaffordable number of people—you cannot afford to—but society needs to know who those people are and…”

“Mr Singh, how would you respond to that?”

“I think most people watching would understand that you have to price risk. In previous sessions, your representatives and peers talked about how AI and machine learning are being used in pricing and underwriting, with some controls, such as human, in the loop and pricing ethics oversight. However, there remains an anxi…”

“On that point, when you think about your lending criteria, how do you accommodate the insight that you have just given us with the imperative of finding a savings buffer with what you lend? Those two things are quite important to put together.”

“Isn’t there a contradiction here with the profit imperative? Maybe it is somewhat different at Nationwide. The members of your sector can sell credit. At the same time, the savings gap in this country—the lack of a savings buffer—has been bad for a long time. There will be some that look at this and think that, unless …”

“In principle, going back to the auto-enrolment of contents insurance, it is the obvious solution. It does not cost very much, because the housing association covers the building. If the insurers are prepared to offer the product, there must be a disconnect. I recognise that you do not want to reveal what is going on in…”

“To prove good behaviour.”

“Before I ask my question, Chair, let me say that I neglected to declare that I am a member of the Financial Inclusion Commission and I co-chair the APPG on financial education for young people—sorry about that. Can I turn to the issue of support for savings and what is going on? If we look at the strategy, it focuses o…”

“It seems like an obvious solution, though. Why was it not progressed?”