Speeches by Milne.

“This Bill’s support for domestic abuse survivors is very welcome, but it is only half the story. In Horsham, one of my constituents arrived at court to see her abuser stand trial, only to be told at the courthouse door that the case had been pulled due to a lack of capacity. That trial was delayed for two years, by whi…”

“That is as far as you are going to go. Okay, I will move on to another issue: surplus extraction. Our predecessor Committee concluded that strong governance would be essential to protect scheme benefits if surplus extraction was made easier. What assessment have you made of the strengths and weaknesses in governance ac…”

“We know that successive Governments have ruled out statutory requirements over a very long period. We have heard what some campaigners would like to happen. What do you as a regulator think would be effective as an alternative?”

“Thank you. Do you think particular governance arrangements carry higher risks?”

“I have a supplementary question. Do you not think that there is in the Pension Schemes Bill an incentive to make things a bit worse for pre-1997 pensioners because it does encourage surplus extraction or, as you say, delaying it until buy-out or reducing contributions, any of those things, all of which are incentives n…”

“Over the course of this morning we have heard lots of ideas and suggestions for remedies and campaigns and so on, but it does feel as if there is no way through. The problem has not been solved over a long period. I am not feeling that I have heard anything today that suggests that the problem will be solved now. Yet p…”

“Do you think that you have sufficient powers as a regulator to oversee decisions here and make the necessary interventions?”

“In cases where discretionary payments have been refused, are there, in your view, meaningful routes for scheme members to challenge decisions, bearing in mind what has happened over the last 20 years?”

“You say all trustees have that obligation to all members and yet there is clearly a group of members, the pre-1997 pensioners, who were not treated fairly. I think we can all agree on that. How has that happened if that is the obligation and all trustees are subject to it?”

“You will have heard the previous panel answer this question. How would you describe the respective roles of employers and trustees in decision making on discretionary payments and how has this changed over time?”

“We would all like to see an end to the use of hotels, which is both wasteful and very unpopular in local communities. However, would the hon. and learned Member agree that the long-term solution to that, releasing pressure across the entire system, is a proper returns agreement with as many countries as possible, but d…”

“What is your definition?”

“The recent Welfare Bill had a rough passage through Parliament, to put it mildly. One of the biggest issues or controversies that it raised was that disability groups felt they were not consulted, yet they were the people most affected. They felt very cut out of the whole process. The Timms review is the outcome of tha…”

“Is there not a fundamental challenge in co-production—you were talking earlier about intentions and objectives—in that the objective is to save money by whatever percentage? It is a big ask to expect disabled people to go in there and come up with ways to cut their own benefit.”

“One would certainly hope that they did that before they proposed the policy in the first place. Anyway, moving on to winter fuel. In correspondence on the updated winter fuel payment regulations you express disappointment that DWP’s approach to impact assessments remains “narrowly analytical and data-driven, failing to…”

“But at the moment they are sticking with that term?”

“To probe a little further on that, this very variable response you are talking about sounds as if it is almost arbitrary, depending on which official is involved. Is it just a random thing or is there, let’s say, a Minister wanting not to delve too deeply into the impacts on occasion?”

“Good morning. In your 2022-23 annual report, you raised questions about the variable quality of the DWP’s impact assessments. Can you give us a bit of background on that observation?”

“As my hon. Friend says, sustainable aviation fuels are being used by the Government to justify major airport expansions. One such expansion would be at Gatwick, adjacent to my constituency. A target of 10% SAF by 2030 is optimistic in the extreme, as the Climate Change Committee said. If the Government’s own advisers d…”

“In my constituency, we have seen promises of new schools and clinics repeatedly broken, but in every case it was not the developer or local council that let people down but national bodies such as the Department for Education and integrated care boards. They do it to save money by cramming more kids into existing schoo…”