Speeches by Rushworth.

“I do not know if I have to declare an interest that I was once on the payroll of an organisation that was your subcontractor, and I have worked with Palladium, which is why I have some knowledge of what you are doing.”

“Thank you for that. Your answer was very comprehensive and perfectly reflected my own experience; I have spent more of my life on your side of this relationship. You have segued perfectly into my next follow-up question, which is about inclusiveness. There is no doubt that a lot of people around the world will say that…”

“I appreciate your response, but before we move on can I ask a slightly more subversive question? In your lived experience of seeing development projects pan out on the ground, do you feel that this huge framework we have built up around the evaluation of value for money is leading to us funding projects that deliver it…”

“I saw Mark and Alex’s eyes twitch with this question. If you do not mind, Chair, I think we had better let them answer as well.”

“What are the circumstances where you think it would be more effective for the FCDO to engage private contractors rather than develop capability in-house?”

“The example you are giving is very much a third party as an on-the-ground actor, but where you have the big players taking more of the management functions of the FCDO, do you see any risk that that undermines in-house capacity?”

“I will turn to Sinead. Does the FCDO have an effective strategy for how it works in and through private contractors?”

“That was my next question: do you think it is cost-effective? I was just looking at Mannion Daniels and Palladium as two major FCDO contractors and the dividends that they pay to shareholders and so on. I am wondering about your view on cost-effectiveness.”

“Are you allowed to say how high that is?”

“That is all right. I am really just asking you whether, from the experience of Palladium, you feel that the FCDO has an effective strategy for working through private sector contractors.”

“In your experience, comparing working with DFID before the merger and FCDA since, how has it impacted the relationship between you and the UK Government?”

“I recall, a few years ago, supporting a woman in a hostel who was traumatised by her own decision to abort a child. Does my hon. Friend agree, in the context of this language about protecting people, that we also need to protect people from these decisions when they are not made with the proper safeguards and protectio…”

“I agree with my hon. Friend that these women need help, but I cannot imagine a more lonely and difficult experience than being a woman who has an abortion under the circumstances she is outlining, and I think that is a problem with new clause 1. Would it not actually make abortion much more dangerous and much more lone…”

“On that point, will my hon. Friend give way?”

“A third of children in Bishop Auckland live in poverty, so I welcome today’s spending review, which set out how they will benefit not just from the free breakfast clubs, but from the extension to free school meals, warmer homes, more access to sports and the arts, and their parents getting the pay rises that they deser…”

“Mine is a two-part question about international development stakeholders that work in the same communities as you, and the degree to which they are either a help or a hindrance. You can answer both sides, and the question is to both of you.”

“Mine is a two-part question about international development stakeholders that work in the same communities as you, and the degree to which they are either a help or a hindrance. You can answer both sides, and the question is to both of you.”

“In your experience, to what extent is a community homogeneous in agreement about these issues?”

“In your experience, to what extent is a community homogeneous in agreement about these issues?”

“Thinking about agency and ownership, what does localisation mean in the context of access to energy in the communities that you work in?”