Speeches by Caliskan.

“Reflecting on the point made by the hon. Member for Broxbourne (Lewis Cocking) about industry using excuses to push back on delivering homes, can the Minister give assurances that in their efforts the Government will push ahead with renewable energy, particularly solar, and do everything they can to ensure that industr…”

“Is that not exactly the point—we need to do both, because that creates a subsidy for more opportunities to have rooftop solar panels?”

“My constituents in Barking were delighted to hear the news that the train operator c2c would be brought into public ownership later this year, a decision that will see a more reliable train service. It is currently refurbishing Barking station in my constituency, but the works have suffered delay after delay. Will the …”

“Does the Chancellor agree that developing our economic and trading relationships with other nations is one of many important levers; and that, alongside that approach, public investment, planning reforms and an industrial strategy—whose absence under the Conservative Government was problematic—will be returned under th…”

“Post covid, but the covid period included the pre-covid period too. Is it fair to say that there was also an increase in the backlog of cases pre-covid?”

“A slightly different question: is it still value for money? Did the Department do everything possible to make sure of that, as money was spent to deliver those courts? This is critical, because money is not always the solution, as we have heard, but everyone has to live within their means. Every official has to ensure …”

“So overall—I am not making a value judgment here; I am just asking the question—the £78 million spent on the Nightingale courts was value for money?”

“This is the point I am making. There will always be things that arise because of the estate. I used to be a council leader in London. We had a vast estate across the borough, and we would put in capacity in our planning that assumed that some things would go wrong, and what you have described to me are things that go w…”

“They are very expensive, aren’t they? For example, in Croydon over the past year, almost £3 million has been spent on the Leonardo hotel. I just want to understand because, putting covid aside, there are some longer-term challenges about the existing estate. Is it really the case that the Nightingale courts are tempora…”

“So you view the Nightingale courts as temporary measures.”

“But weren’t Nightingale courts set up to deal with the covid situation? Why have they continued to exist for three years?”

“I welcome the commitment around the everyday improvements. These are just things that should happen well. A well-run organisation—any organisation—does the business-as-usual stuff well. It lays the foundations for trust and confidence that there can be any fundamental change in future for what will be ongoing demand, s…”

“Is the £78 million spend on the Nightingale courts part of the £100 million-odd that you referred to, or is it a different amount as part of the £477 million? Is it in addition to the one-hundred-and-something million that you are referring to now, Nick?”

“Both things can be true. You can plan well, but a Government just does not give you enough resources. Those two things can be true, and if that is the case, it is helpful for you to say that to us. Or, actually, perhaps it did not matter how much we planned, because at that moment in time we did have enough resources, …”

“I understand what you are saying, but there seems to be a contradiction. If there wasn’t capacity—”

“Dame Antonia, forgive me, but the two things that were temporary—the strikes and covid—are over, and the numbers are continuing to increase.”

“If a policy decision is made around policing that would lead to more arrests, that would inevitably mean that more people would be charged and there would be pressure on the courts. Was that not planned for?”

“Given what you have said, do you accept that there is a lack of joined-up thinking between the three levels of justice—policing, courts and prisons—and that one of the impacts has been this huge backlog?”

“They are not temporary measures; they are fundamental policy changes that dictate the number of cases coming in. That is different from a covid period where there would be a temporary demand.”

“The reason I am probing this is that there is such a significant backlog figure and Department officials are being asked to come up with a new way of dealing with it. If it is a temporary issue caused by covid, rather than a longer-term issue caused by a greater flow of cases coming in, that might dictate what structur…”