Speeches by Glen.

“Let us move on to the substance of your role and your impressions of the organisation. Perhaps you could give us your initial take, six or seven months in. What worries you? Perhaps you could set out what the priorities are that you have as a Minister in this new role.”

“Why would you not just say to the lead official for customer service that you are concerned that the rapidity of the transformation and the use of best practices that you are observing in the private sector are not being adopted quickly—“Could you write to me with a summary of what has happened and why we are doing it …”

“I know that it has only been seven months and I want to be realistic, but what do you think is going to be different to what you have seen from your predecessors, in terms of the actions that are going to be taken by the organisation with your hands-on approach, as specifically as you can, if possible?”

“My right hon. Friend is making a very clear case. Of course, there is massive agreement in the room. Does he recognise that with the uncertainty about the land use framework and the Government’s interventions and intentions on development of the work that we did on ELMS—the environmental land management scheme—farmers …”

“I draw the House’s attention to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. I welcome the Government’s ambition in this space, but one area of significant challenge to many tech companies that I have observed and invested in over 20 years has been the ecosystem of investment in the UK. May I urge the Secr…”

“When the Chancellor set the envelope for spending for this Parliament, and said to the Treasury Committee on 6 November that she would not come back for more tax increases or more borrowing, that was based on her assumptions about the cost of borrowing. Those are manifestly in significant doubt, to look at it in the mo…”

“I too had a number of representations from constituents who were concerned about the purpose behind these changes. What additional information do they elicit to the local authority when a proper education is being received? Does my hon. Friend agree that some clarity is required there, otherwise it just seems an unnece…”

“I would love to see a consensus evolve on social care. I welcome the Secretary of State’s appointment of Louise Casey and the talk about the balance between the individual family and the state. However, in every fiscal event that I was part of in the Treasury, more money was put into the NHS, so I respectfully ask the …”

“The £13 million investment in the Salisbury river park scheme is a fantastic intervention, but I urge the Minister to continue working with the Environment Agency to find mechanisms with which parishes can work collaboratively with it to develop smaller schemes. Beyond the crisis management that she and the Environment…”

“Last year I visited the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust’s Allerton project in Loddington. May I commend the contribution that it can make to defining sustainable intensification of agricultural food production? Perhaps it would be a suitable place for a DEFRA ministerial away day early in the new year, to help wit…”

“In the City of London, one of the big remaining challenges is to ensure that the maximum number of people from the widest socioeconomic backgrounds can get into that industry. Recently, I met people from Progress Together. Vincent Keaveny, a recent Lord Mayor of the City of London, has made massive progress to understa…”

“I would like to build on what Dame Harriet said, in terms of the transparency around costs and the apparent lack of regulatory oversight over those costs, versus what I believe you have said, which is that in the short term you want the regulators to take a more active role in scrutinising that and so on. But is there …”

“You could apply for one?”

“Does anyone else have anything to say about this? No. Earlier, Mr Wilson talked about the range of behaviours in different parts of the country, and mentioned the northern urban thing. I do not use cash at my market in Salisbury, and I wondered about the whole use of cards as actually driving up activity. In a populati…”

“I know this is delicate, but can we just get to the heart of what is going wrong with the Payment Systems Regulator’s oversight here? Can you tell us what is happening that is not suiting the sort of market realities that your members see, Mr Lowman?”

“It is quite instructive in terms of the Swedish experience, where it went down one route thinking that was the future, but it has not been. I visited Sweden in April, and it is concerned about all these different scenarios in terms of the legislation around civil contingency. How do you view the UK’s resilience in the …”

“What is impeding it from taking actions that suit your members and your interests?”

“Thank you for your answers.”

“Can we turn to the sufficiency of the electronic infrastructure that underpins payments? Mr Lowman, could I ask you how your members feel about the stability of those payments, and whether they have confidence in it?”

“Mr Borkett, if the Post Office goes offline, what happens? Do you have good contingency arrangements in place? I should imagine people would want some reassurance from you.”