Speeches by Payne.

“I have a question for Nico, if I may. I think I am right in saying that, if you take just the year ’23-24, revenue spend for local government across the board was £72.8 billion. How do you ensure value for money? There are still significant challenges for councils across the country: the numbers of looked-after childre…”

“Pete, I put this to you as a practitioner in local government. The reforms that Clive has just touched on include the strengthening of the standards and conduct codes, the local audit system overhaul, and local finance reform in terms of the finance system itself; now, local government reorganisation has been thrown in…”

“I am a member of Gedling borough council and, until May, of Nottinghamshire county council. I am a vice-president of the Local Government Association and a member of a number of trade unions that represent staff in local government. They are in my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests.”

“We have recently seen record investment in the NHS to try to shift away from treatment to prevention. I am interested in the panel’s views on what the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Treasury, working together, should be doing to help local government shift more to prevention, at the same …”

“We touched a little bit on prevention earlier, and Nico, you were just talking about it a bit more. From 2016-17 to 2023-24, spending on the NHS has gone up 20% in real terms. Over the same period, spending on public health—largely prevention—is down more than 10% in real terms. If you take that as an example, the ques…”

“That is very helpful, Conrad. Historically, as I think the Heseltine report pointed out, central Government tends to be focused on function rather than place. If I may, and without being critical of the Treasury, the Treasury has probably come into criticism for that historically. Do you recognise there is a need to sh…”

“Thank you, Sarah. That is very helpful. Conrad, is there recognition in the Treasury of the crucial role that local government plays in delivering Government’s missions? I declared an interest at the start of today’s session as somebody who spent 14 years as a county councillor and was a deputy leader responsible for f…”

“I think you would accept, as people who work in local government, that a good state relies on having good local government, but anybody walking around their local community sees that their leisure centres have closed in recent years and that the roads they drive on are full of potholes. They see the additional litter a…”

“But it is unlikely that we will see a complete overhaul of those indices of the funding formula by—”

“Do you think, Sarah, that the sector can expect by the time of the spending review, or at least the next provisional local government finance settlement, a complete overhaul of those indices of the funding formula that have not been reviewed since 2013-14? I will just speak from the viewpoint of my own local authority,…”

“On the revenue streams available to local councils, 2013-14 was the last time that the indices for the funding formula were properly reviewed; 1991-92 was the last time there was a revaluation in terms of council tax. Business rates reform is long overdue and has been called for by the sector for an awfully long time, …”

“Q Thank you both for sharing your experience and expertise with us this morning. It is estimated that there was about £5.4 billion-worth of fraud and error in temporary covid-19 schemes that were not run by HMRC. You will know that this is an area of significant public interest. The Public Accounts Committee said: “It …”

“Q There has been some discussion today about the use of technology and AI. As Ministers, what are you doing to ensure that humans still take the final decisions on whether the powers should lead to enforcement? Andrew Western: As it relates to the DWP—I do not know whether you want to say anything about the PFSA powers…”

“Q Throughout the previous witness sessions, there have been questions about concerns with respect to training for PSFA enforcement officers. I wondered whether you wanted to say anything more than you have already to the Committee about training for enforcement officers. Mark Cheeseman: I will come back to what I said …”

“Q Thank you for being with us, Mr Cheeseman. The National Audit Office put the amount of fraud and error outside the tax and benefits system at between £5 billion and £30 billion in 2023-24 alone. I wondered what your assessment, and the PSFA’s, is of the quantum of fraud against the public sector. Will you share a bit…”

“I would like to declare an interest as a member of both Nottinghamshire county council and Gedling borough council, which are both responsible for administering benefits.”

“Thank you.”

“Permanent secretary, you talked earlier about some of the possible key drivers around the costs of electricity and gas. My question is about the rebalancing of costs of electricity and gas. You made reference to the UK’s reliance on natural gas and also the limited gas storage capacity in the UK. Chris O’Shea, the grou…”

“If I may press on this point, Mr Mills, you anticipate seeing, in the near future, the 43% of people’s energy bills that is aligned to the wholesale energy cost that you referenced declining, and the 11% that is made up of Government social and environmental policies increasing. Am I understanding you clearly?”

“Permanent secretary, you have mentioned the clean energy mission of the Government a couple of times throughout today’s session, alongside your colleagues. As energy bills continue to rise, the constituents of Members across the House are asking what makes up the total cost of their energy bill. Ofgem published a table…”