Speeches by Blake.

“Not directly to me in the last three and a half weeks, no.”

“I think those are just rumours.”

“That is the first time I have heard that rumour.”

“I would not want to do that. I want to make sure that we have a system in place ready for the deadline.”

“Yes.”

“I am sure I will not be doing it for long.”

“I am the fourth.”

“No. It is ambitious. It does address some of the structural barriers. I know the structural barriers have been discussed in previous hearings, which I have watched. Particularly in the financial education and capability sections, we are taking the necessary action to overcome some of those structural barriers. I am sur…”

“It is not one and done. We have the two-year review that you have already heard a bit about. I see that as a critical moment to review progress, particularly on the pilots and the test-and-learn interventions, and to go back and look again at the metrics in terms of progress on individual outputs and changes to particu…”

“You can just call me Minister No. 4 from now on, Dame Meg.”

“You said to City AM that you hoped I would as well.”

“I recognise the problem. We will be coming to you soon with the next steps on this. I appreciate that is not what you want to hear and perhaps may not be sufficient.”

“Yes. We have the £13 million transformation fund that is being distributed by Fair4All Finance. It is looking at a number of different things that credit unions might need in order to reach further into the market and provide more affordable credit. That is a really important part of the interventions.”

“They are still here.”

“The Treasury has done that, which is why the FOS and the FCA reforms are coming forward through the Bill, but we need to see what happens through the legal challenge because that will unearth more about the impact on these relationships and what the structure has delivered so far.”

“I have not yet had any input, but I would very much like to. I will go to officials to see how they are working directly with Department for Education colleagues on this topic. I watched the hearing about this just last night so it is very much in my mind what the Money Charity was saying. I am particularly conscious a…”

“I do not. A range of partners have been involved in the preparation of the strategy. The Financial Inclusion Committee, which next meets on 23 June, has consumer representatives on it. As I said, as Minister, I have been meeting with education partners and other partners involved on the consumer side for delivery.”

“In fairness, I do not know the circumstances under which that decision was made. I personally like calls for evidence, but this is not the end in terms of engagement. As Minister, I am certainly looking forward to the next meeting of the Financial Inclusion Committee and hearing directly from them. I hope to have full …”

“Yes, absolutely.”

“Just so the officials can breathe a bit, this is not something I have been particularly briefed on or particularly looked at in the Treasury. As you know, as a constituency Member of Parliament prior to being a Minister, I spoke out about how that insurance is brokered. I know there are interesting models for brokering…”