Speeches by Reed.

“We do speak to each other. There are environmental regulations that are applicable in those areas as well as other regulations. Stations are such an interesting opportunity for development because you do not have to fund the cost of public transport to those areas. It is already there. Very often, they are relatively u…”

“I was aware of it even in my old job.”

“It was under my predecessor, yes.”

“Yes.”

“That one I have seen. It is in a very advanced state. We can do that one before Christmas. Sarah, did you want to come in? Is there some additional work on this?”

“Yes, that one will be before Christmas.”

“Yes, I have seen an advanced draft of that one. I know it is close. For that one, I can give a timeline. I want to avoid giving you commitments at this table that I then cannot meet. I am going to be as honest and transparent as I can be.”

“That is absolutely right. The relevant Departments need to make sure they are prioritising the infrastructure investment to allow those schemes to go ahead. When I was at DEFRA, we set up a water infrastructure board, which has representation from other Departments. The intention is to make sure that the £104 billion w…”

“Yes, you are right. We still intend to publish that shortly. That will be this side of Christmas. You will have that very soon.”

“Yes, absolutely. This has been a cause of concern in local government for a very long time. While you would not expect me to and I cannot disclose the details of conversations that I have been having in the run-up to the Budget, I will happily share that the way that the local housing allowance works is an issue that w…”

“I am wary of giving you a hard date now, but my intention would be for it to be before that, yes.”

“No. We have hugely increased the resources that are available for doing this. In water, for instance, £104 billion is the single biggest investment in our water infrastructure in the country’s history. That is going to make it possible to get those developments up and running far more quickly. The £39 billion that is a…”

“I am Steve Reed, Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government and a former ward councillor with the Chair of the Committee.”

“If there is any delay, it will be absolutely minimal. I do not want to make commitments to you and then give you a report that I am not fully comfortable with. We are talking weeks, if anything. If I can meet that deadline, then I will meet that deadline.”

“Thank you for having us.”

“We are working on it currently, yes. We want to get it to you as soon as we can. I am a bit wary of giving you a date now in case the date that I give you is wrong. We can correspond afterwards, perhaps, and I can give you more certainty around that.”

“I met with Grenfell United last week. This was one of the issues that they raised with me as a priority, and I committed to them to go and talk to colleagues across Government and get back to them with a response. I am very sympathetic to the concerns that they raised with me, but, if it is okay with you, I will get ba…”

“We agreed in advance that, because I will be a decision maker, if the issue came up, I would defer to the Permanent Secretary.”

“Employees should be in the office as often as is reasonable, but, as I just said before, I believe in devolution and localism. It is for local management and leadership on the ground to take their own decisions. My own view is that I would want people in their departments and at their desks as often as they could be.”

“You might have seen the letter that I sent to South Cambridgeshire about a four-day week, which I do not think is offering good value for money. Indeed, there are concerns around performance standards.”