Speeches by Lowe.

“For failure to deliver accounts on time.”

“Does that include these wretched gates and everything else that has gone in? Is that all included or is that on top?”

“How many public sector employees have been fired for failure?”

“The gates you put on the outside—who signed all that off?”

“How much are you factoring in AI, which is, in all likelihood, going to reduce the number of staff that MPs need rather than increase it? There will likely be less demand for offices and accommodation, and more opportunity to use technology. Is that being factored into the equation?”

“It must have cost tens of millions to do all the wretched gates that hold me up coming out of Parliament now. Who actually signed off on that?”

“I listen in horror. I built the stadium at Southampton, which was not as big a project as this, but we built it on budget and on time. The only way we did that was by identifying what the design was, what we wanted and what it was going to cost. The other thing we did, which you have got to do in this situation, is bol…”

“Shouldn’t it be the same?”

“I am with Anna on this: we need to know what we are deciding on, and I do not think anybody is quite clear on that. A lot needs to be done before this can be sold effectively to MPs and Members of the House of Lords—I assume they have to agree to it as well. I am a new boy; I was elected in ’24 and I have not been on t…”

“I want to understand this. Is the IAAP made up of people with construction experience? There does not seem to be much construction experience on the two guiding boards.”

“But it includes the wretched gates to keep the public out.”

“I am not going to go on. The only other question I have is about RAAC and asbestosis. If it needs to be dealt with, it has to be dealt with, particularly RAAC. How much is that likely to cost us? That I see as a necessity purchase rather than an arbitrary purchase.”

“I think, Philip, you have been at the coalface doing this yourself, so my question—we have been over this before in a previous meeting—is because in the private sector there are quite severe penalties if people do not file their accounts within a statutory period. I think we have identified that that is not the case fo…”

“Lastly, on the £1.5 million a week that you are spending on what I think you called refurb—”

“I know, Geoffrey, but if you take £1.5 million a week, by the crude maths that I employ, that is £75 million. What did it cost, Geoffrey—£46 million? There is a large slug if that is included.”

“It will be helpful if you could explain the responsibilities of accounting officers, the Treasury and the Government Finance Function in this process. I think it would be useful to know what part you all play.”

“When we look at figure 1, we see the situation is varied: pre covid, 76% of public accounts were meeting the summer deadline, but that then dropped to 42%; currently, it sits at 64%. Is that acceptable?”

“Good, because I hope we can all agree that timely and accurate accounts are the genesis of any form of stability and of people being held to account for failure.”

“Morning, James. Do you subscribe to the view that the state should be as accountable to the taxpayer as the taxpayer is to the state? Do you start from that premise?”

“I must confess that I am quite bemused about this whole thing. I want to ask a few questions—ostensibly about cost, although I think that cost is pretty irrelevant at this stage. Is the objective of this exercise to basically do necessary repairs to the UNESCO heritage building, or is it to provide better accommodation…”