Speeches by Green.

“What are the four or five that they are delivering on?”

“I am not sure that is basic—but let’s go with basic.”

“I would like to follow up on Rachel’s question with the permanent secretary. We know that £9.9 million has so far been withheld in scheduled payments. Are you anticipating withholding further scheduled payments? You have just put on the record that out of 21 KPIs, you anticipate 16 being failed this month.”

“Are there milestones that they will or can meet that will result in them receiving any of those payments?”

“Understood.”

“I have a very brief “when” question, following on from Luke’s question and an earlier exchange, about the surge team services. The Minister, in his responses to us earlier, made it very clear that he is determined to recover the cost of those services. When will that take place? We have already had an exchange about wh…”

“I think the Committee would welcome that.”

“Is the contract still in place?”

“You are clearly confident to put that on the record.”

“I would not expect you to.”

“I would like to focus in on the governance of that service. The covid counter-fraud commissioner’s report shows that only 17 convictions have taken place so far. I will quote from the independent investigation into governance concerns surrounding the operations of NATIS. It says that “it appears likely that the vast ma…”

“Mr Cheeseman, I would like to ask what your perspective is on the decision by the Department for Business and Trade, or BEIS as it was at the time, to pursue recoveries on the bounce back loan scheme through NATIS, the National Investigation Service. It is a contract that has cost the taxpayer over £38 million, and it …”

“I would like to address Mr Greenwood around the decision by the Department for Business and Trade—or BEIS—to use the National Investigation Service to pursue recoveries. Why did your Department do that? What was the driver behind that decision?”

“That is fair. Would you be willing to write to the Committee with some of that additional detail?”

“Does the hon. Gentleman agree that the closure order powers that we have in this country are not fit for purpose? Until local authorities have the power to act swiftly and decisively, organised criminals will continue to exploit our high streets with impunity.”

“Martin, do you have a perspective you want to share?”

“How do you define energy debt? Is that just anyone who uses—”

“Anne, this question is specifically about rising consumer debt in the energy sector. I am sure that your advisers are inundated with helping—do you call them clients?”

“Yes—the general public. What more do you think that Ofgem could or should be doing to help address that rising consumer debt?”

“How are you assessing whether the new tariffs are protecting UK steelmakers without imposing undue costs elsewhere in the supply chain? I am sure you have had feedback that that has caused a great deal of concern.”