Speeches by Glen.

“Mr Johnson, I know you well because we worked together in opposition 20 years ago—I should declare that. I do not think that LISA would have existed without you, but I understand your frustration, as it comes through, as I said, in your written evidence. Policy development has to interact with a legacy landscape and a …”

“It was Treasury officials, I suspect.”

“Is it not really a better supplementary vehicle for basic rate taxpayers?”

“We need to get on the record the fact that, in reality, with auto‑enrolment, and you have the employer contribution alongside the other, it does not really make them equivalent. It is very misleading to say that, surely.”

“Your extensive written evidence points out the fact that the LISA, as it evolved with the penalty and those other rules, is not what you put up.”

“Can I try to zone in on the possible differences? Mr Lewis has spoken about the fact that, under the auto-enrolment regime, you have this 3% employer contribution. Does that not mean that, in fact, it is not like-for-like? The pensions provision is much more underpinned with a sophisticated provision of non-cash produc…”

“I am grateful for the opportunity to make this case. This is a massive aspect of public spending—the NHS budget is £165 billion this year. The new Government have taken on lots of things, and lots of things are now under close scrutiny following the Lord Darzi report. The additional investment and the effectiveness of …”

“On your first question, absolutely. Securing a debate on health linked to both applications sounds like a reasonable compromise that I would be totally happy to make. Of the 15 supporters, I think there are two Labour MPs and one Liberal Democrat MP. There is more work to be done, but my assertion would be that if we h…”

“It is without doubt that enduring peace is achieved only if we have enduring security arrangements, so I warmly welcome the Prime Minister’s announcement on defence expenditure and the commitment to it. However, I reiterate my observation, and the observation of others, on the way that that money is spent. For a genera…”

“Families and businesses obviously operate in an environment with lots of different costs. When they see increases in their tax bills, the burdens of potential new regulation and additional energy costs, they are bound to challenge themselves on what they can afford to invest. The Minister is clear on the Government’s s…”

“I do have his proximity and support.”

“I think a member of the Public Accounts Committee would probably look at the issue from a narrower point of view, to do with efficiencies and previous PAC reports on the efficiency of the spend. There will be some of that in my contention but there is also the wider strategic direction of the NHS, looking at primary ca…”

“As a former Chief Secretary, I recognise four or five things. First, clearly, vast tracts of Whitehall and different Departments have no discretion over their spending because they are spending money that comes from benefits, pensioners or the NHS. Secondly, Departments guard their budgets institutionally. That defensi…”

“Does your structure replicate what we see in London?”

“I acknowledge the massive progress over the last four years, which Ms Russell has done a massive amount of work to achieve. Can I ask you about the connectivity to Ministers and policymaking? One of the concerns is about how many people here can serve as private secretary or assistant private secretary to Ministers—tha…”

“I was involved in the legislation setting up the UK Infrastructure Bank. The National Wealth Fund relies on the same CEO, the same staff, the same board, the same location. The mandate is the same. I notice, Ms Russell, you said about the relationship with local authorities and regional government. There was always pro…”

“It did.”

“Fusing the efficiency and the spending review point, we had OFSI before the Committee a few months ago, which has surged in numbers. We also have the Ukraine policy in the MOD and FCDO. I thought that might be an area of duplication. One of the classic challenges that I feel is worthy of comment is the challenge of bri…”

“I will just say thank you. I do not want to ask any more questions; I think you have given us good insight into the rationale for the process, so thank you again.”

“Do you create some meaningful qualifications on the delivery? The danger is that you attribute vast savings from mode of delivery to something that is unproven in reality.”