Speeches by Campbell-Savours.

“Section 10 of the Political Parties and Elections Act 2009 amended the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 so that, in addition to already needing to be on the electoral register, a donor would need to be domiciled in the UK for tax purposes. However, section 10 required a statutory instrument to acti…”

“I appreciate the speed at which the Government are working, and understand that local authorities will have a role in how the money is distributed. However, in the absence of detail, many people are doing a back-of-a-fag-packet calculation. Can the Minister reassure them that we are committing enough money to make a re…”

“I welcome these reforms. However, on the issue of accountability, despite years of failure documented in multiple inspection reports by the coroner and the Care Quality Commission, the integrated care board has not yet removed the contract from Cockermouth’s Castlegate and Derwent partnership. What else do Ministers be…”

“Thank you.”

“Saving money.”

“Could something be done to strengthen their independence and to move them further away from political control?”

“I have one more question, Chair, and I think this is a different approach. I think that throughout this there has been consensus that people want to see a reduction in wasteful arm’s length bodies and more accountability, but there are some arm’s length bodies that perhaps have been set up for a more wholesome purpose,…”

“I just wondered whether there was any sense that perhaps that was making it difficult to bring people back in-house.”

“It is one of the issues, isn’t it, that arm’s length bodies are perhaps paying what are closer to market wages, especially when the arm’s length bodies are carrying out technical functions?”

“Thank you, Chair. I must admit that at times this inquiry has sometimes felt a bit hypothetical. We start with the landscape, but we have often not drilled down. I feel that right now we have a witness who has looked into some of that detail. The ambition in looking at this of the Government you were a Minister for was…”

“Earlier, the issue of pay did come up. I understand that one allure of creating an arm’s length body that carries out functions that may be carried out elsewhere is the ability to go outside the civil service pay structure. To what extent was that an impediment to taking functions back in-house? Have you any recollecti…”

“I will take the hon. Member’s word for it that those Humble Addresses did not contain those words, but if you take, for example, the Humble Address on Lebedev’s appointment to the House of Lords in 2022, it did not have to contain those words for the Conservative Government to use national security grounds not to provi…”

“Apologies, Madam Deputy Speaker; I am obviously out of practice on interventions. Is the hon. Lady aware of that convention?”

“I have a question for the whole panel, and I say this as a former parish councillor, town councillor, district councillor and unitary authority councillor. I am frustrated that the system does not have any sanctions. A system with teeth is what everybody seems to want. Is there not a risk that when we give it teeth, mo…”

“Do you have a similar view to Ms Wright, in terms of what that investigating body might look like as a committee of lay members? Should it be at a national level or could it be at a regional level?”

“The Ethics and Integrity Commission has said it sees a role in helping these codes develop. Is there value in a national body like that doing this? What value do you think it can add? How could it work more closely with local government to help?”

“I believe the LGA guidance is that councils should consider doing that, so to not adopt it in full is within the scope of what the LGA envisaged. These are not people making a Frankenstein’s monster; this is something that you have promoted as the LGA.”

“Just to clarify, you mentioned that in some instances councils had adopted the LGA’s model code of conduct, but not in full because they had made their own amendments. Do they all relate to this issue of scale?”

“In terms of carrying out investigations, potentially sanctioning, if there is sanctioning available?”

“If I could pick up on that last point with Ms Wright, I have read in various places that there needs to be scope for some local variation, but to be honest, I am not quite clear I have any examples in my mind of what that local variation looks like. I know this might be something that Councillor Boughton wants to pick …”