Speeches by Hillier.

“My right hon. Friend is right to focus on the cost of living and de-escalation in the middle east. I am pleased to hear her confirm again that there is money for the Ministry of Defence and access to the special reserve to deploy additional capabilities to the middle east. Can she give us a figure or a range for how mu…”

“Could the Minister update us on the discussions about people who arrived in this country pursuing leave for five years, or whatever period their visa stated, to get status in the UK, and who are approaching the end of that period? I have a number of constituents who will reach that point in April, and they are concerne…”

“I have to say that the sound and fury from the shadow Chancellor is extraordinary, given that it was his Government who ran the country and its citizens into chaos, with interest rate and inflation increases under the Truss mini-Budget. I welcome today’s forecast partly because there has been so little speculation alon…”

“The Prime Minister has spoken about repatriating British citizens in the region. Will that be through the Ministry of Defence? If so, who will foot the bill: the MOD, the Treasury or those being repatriated?”

“In modern times, this issue has been discussed since 2016; we are on our 10th anniversary of discussing what has actually been an issue for 40 years. I disagree with the hon. Member for Bridlington and The Wolds (Charlie Dewhirst) about going back to the drawing board again. Does my hon. Friend have any idea of when th…”

“6. What its planned timetable is for starting major works on the Palace of Westminster.”

“My constituent Isabel Rose suffered a horrendous event in Hong Kong almost exactly two years ago. She was sexually assaulted and violently raped. She went to the authorities in trust to report this, but it was not properly investigated. Given the Government’s support for tackling violence against women and girls here i…”

“The NHS’s work on this is vital, but I also draw the Minister’s attention to Mind in Hackney, which is pioneering a new approach to make sure that people get two sessions of mental health support within two weeks. They can get more later on, but that is what they get, rather than waiting in a queue for six months for l…”

“5. What steps he is taking to improve access to mental health services.”

“It seems that there might be dead-weight here. You have a guarantee scheme where they are already being provided but—I hear what the Minister says about future scenarios—we have a situation in many of our constituencies where the properties are blocks of flats, often leasehold, and there is a reluctance to lend at high…”

“Are you concerned that there might be a reluctance to lend on new build flats at the 95% rate? If that is the case, how are you going to assess whether the mortgage guarantee scheme is working, because it would surely then increase the chance of a 95% or higher loan-to-value rate on leasehold flats?”

“That is helpful. This has made mortgages more accessible, but has it done anything about affordability? You can get more mortgage, but does that mean that you are just over-indebting to buy the same property?”

“Okay. Thank you very much.”

“But it is at a lower rate, isn’t it?”

“Okay, that is an average. I represent an inner-city London seat, and a number of us around the table represent expensive areas where you would need more than £30,000 to make a difference.”

“The other challenge here is that you have this mortgage guarantee scheme, but it does not apply to a lot of private leasehold flats. They are the new builds that are going up, in a lot of inner-city areas in particular. Why is that? Is that something you are going to consider changing?”

“If you could supply both our Committees with something written, that would be helpful. You will have written, no doubt, to the Chair of the Public Accounts Committee about this, so perhaps Ms Barber could take that back and make sure that we see the same—maybe the Chair saw it, but I did not. It would be helpful to see…”

“Sorry, is £30,000 the average across England?”

“So you think there is not a chance of that contingent liability crystallising. Contingent liabilities are normal to see, but you think the risk of crystallisation is limited. You have done an analysis of that.”

“It is unlikely to crystallise, you think.”