Speeches by Edwards.

“What other remedies were you considering? You ended up going with the nuclear option, as it was described earlier—the JR.”

“Good morning. I will talk a little about, or get your views on, implementation of your recommendations—there is one in particular. The Charity Commission has told us that it made improvements to its processes as a result of PHSO recommendations. The one I particularly highlight is, “to ensure greater transparency and c…”

“When you look at case studies or the scenario work you mentioned, is it specifically to do with understanding your role and the interactions, rather than saying, for example, “This is how safeguarding concerns are being dealt with in other public bodies, and they need to be reflected in the way you operate and the way …”

“You are confident that the commission has reflected that recommendation and changed its processes in such a way that you are now comfortable that your concern has been addressed.”

“When you were previously before the Committee, we discussed the health side of your work, about the balance of responding to complainants and doing preventive work with local health trusts, for example, to get them up to a better standard. Do you see the memorandum of understanding as part of that preventive work, or i…”

“That indicates to me a quite different understanding about how safeguarding concerns should be dealt with. How has their approach, particularly in the initial stages, differed from what you find with other public bodies dealing with safeguarding complaints? Was there a chasm in how they dealt with safeguarding complain…”

“Is there anything you want to add, Karl?”

“It is helpful to understand the statutory or legal gaps in respect of your powers. I want to briefly go back to board governance. It is helpful to understand that, Dame Julia, you said you had conducted a review, that the processes had been followed and that you had sought legal advice, although there is a question aro…”

“Is there anything you would like to add, Rebecca?”

“Do you know offhand what percentage of the board is still in existence from the time these issues were being dealt with versus the new people who have come on board?”

“Is it about 30%?”

“In my view the role of the board should be about challenging and being a place for debate. What challenge was happening on the board during this process in terms of, “Are we doing the right thing? Are we going down the right route in these actions we are taking?”, particularly from the independent members of the board?”

“I appreciate that the minutes will not necessarily capture all the discussions, but they should give an indication of areas of disagreement, challenge over legal advice or challenge over the way that complainants were being treated. What were the main points of debate among the board? It does not sound like there was n…”

“Can the Minister provide an update on the action plan to ensure that lessons are learned from the way that changes to the state pension age were communicated to women born in the 1950s?”

“Thank you. That is helpful. So the timely period would be around six weeks.”

“If as part of these reviews it is clear that statutory legislation is required, would the Government be prepared to act on that?”

“The Prime Minister has written to the EIC to carry out an inquiry into lobbying, disclosure, and access to Government. In a similar vein, this is an area that has been looked at by our Committee, by the Committee on Standards in Public Life and others and recommendations have been needed. Is it your expectation that th…”

“A lot of work has already been done in this space. You have talked about reviews wanting to have a look at things in the round. What is your response to the challenge that the Government are commissioning a lot of reviews and are not necessarily taking action?”

“The EIC is carrying on the Committee on Standards in Public Life’s function but I think it is certainly the view from a number of people that recent Governments have not really responded to its previous reports in a timely manner nor have they taken on its recommendations. How are this Government intending to change th…”

“For those who might not necessarily be aware, what is that timeframe?”