Speeches by McEvoy.

“Because of the powerful testimony that we have heard over the course of this inquiry, it would be remiss of us not to stress the point of the need for cash, especially for those fleeing very abusive domestic abuse situations. Minister, we appreciate you are new to post. We are all on board with hurtling toward digitisa…”

“It sounds to me from both of your responses—forgive me if this is too direct—that you think that, in the balance of growth and progress, a cashless society might fall naturally in place with that. Would you agree with that statement?”

“Thank you, Minister, for that answer and I will download the app. I am glad that you mentioned digital exclusion. It is a big issue facing many people across the country. The House of Lords in January 2024 published a report on digital exclusion that said that 5 million employed people cannot complete essential digital…”

“This was prompted by what Mr York-Smith said then. It is ringfenced spend. How much is it?”

“Thank you for that. There is another element to this, which is that, when they are dealing with their money and very precious personal data, people are really concerned about fraud and scams. A lot of people are falling prey to them. It is very difficult to get that money back. We hear story after story across the coun…”

“Thank you, Minister. Generally, people feel that HMRC is very quick to take away their taxes and take money from their pay packets, but, when it comes to getting that money back from HMRC, it is a very difficult and cumbersome process. Jim Harra said in 2024, in regards to the helpline service, “We are giving a service…”

“I thank my hon. Friend for his impressive and articulate outlining of the debate so far. Will he join my calls for Ofcom to strengthen the upcoming children’s code and, as the code is not yet published, to use this opportunity to include functionality, a stronger dynamic risk assessment—a live document that will be con…”

“It is every parent’s worst nightmare to lose a child—imagine losing them and not knowing why they are gone. Ellen Roome is Jools’ mum. She deserves answers but, unbelievably, she is not allowed access to the data that might provide them, which is so wrong. This petition is for Jools’ law, which would allow parents to h…”

“I was reading up on that issue in preparation for this debate and I came across some amendments to the Data (Use and Access) Bill that would require those huge providers and tech companies to have a complaints procedure, where parents could appeal to their better nature for the release of the data, but if they were ref…”

“Does the Minister agree that the reckless ideological austerity measures taken by the Conservative party in government have directly led to my constituents being significantly worse off and made it harder for them to get on in Darlington? Can he outline the impact that the new Office for Value for Money will have on th…”

“You just sparked something in me, because I was shopping in our market this week and they had fantastic new young people who had created really beautiful artisan products, and they obviously accepted card. What would your message be to new starters—new entrepreneurs getting into the trade? Is there an opportunity for t…”

“For these micro-businesses that are starting up, are there any blocks to them using cash? We have heard evidence about how it can be quite cumbersome to take the cash, deposit it and that sort of thing. Is there anything wider that we could be asking other industries to be doing to support micro-businesses to take cash…”

“Mr Wilson, it is almost like you pre-empted my question, because my constituency of Darlington is a proud market town dating back to medieval times. Our first market transactions were over 1,000 years ago, and I am particularly interested in the impact of the reduction of cash on our heritage and culture. I feel quite …”

“That is fascinating to me, because I really recognise that social value role of the market in my constituency. We talked before you came in, and there are quite a lot of us on the Committee who have markets. I am also interested in the auctioning element. In Darlington they have just recently restored a bell, which his…”

“Do all self-checkouts in all our supermarkets accept cash and card?”

“Ms Aspin, I am interested in the low-paid element and the access to cash, specifically in supermarkets, because obviously a lot of your members at USDAW work in supermarkets. There is a preference for having somebody at the checkout using the traditional checkout method if you are on a low budget, because you can alway…”

“Public procurement is a vital lever for delivering our growth mission, and growth must be felt by people in every part of our country. What steps is the Minister taking to ensure that when taxpayers’ money is spent on private contracts, the key workers delivering the contract and local communities such as mine in Darli…”

“More broadly, not necessarily on car parks, Mr Delnevo, you mentioned a lot about the social exclusion that is happening as a result of these changes. Do you think that it is an oversight by companies, and organisations in the round, because of the pandemic, where people were encouraged more to use contactless payment,…”

“Thank you very much for your evidence so far. My question is moving slightly on to older people, so it is for Mr Brooks. I personally think that the use of cash is very important culturally to the older generation. It is about a big level of control at a time when illness or increasing disability might lead to isolatio…”

“To follow up on that point, you talked about essential goods and services. Darlington, my constituency, is a proud market town, and I am really interested in the cash element to market culture. A lot of people would go down with a £10 note and be very keen to then get all of their groceries. They might know their groce…”