Speeches by Osborne.

“Just on that, Geoffrey, in 1.21 it says, “Available data show that 143 of the 153 local authorities with a duty to provide home to school transport have increased real terms spending on home to school transport over the past eight years”. If there is a duty to provide the data, I am assuming that only 115 responded to …”

“I also accept that there will be likely higher costs for SEND students attending specialist schools because they potentially have greater need requirements. I am just interested to see whether that is a particular area where we are seeing a dramatic increase over time. If that is the case, measures may need to be speci…”

“That is really helpful data. We would love to see that more. That level of analysis shows you that state-funded special schools and independent schools are taking a significant chunk of the budget, and therefore interventions possibly need to be targeted at those particular schools. If I may, I will move on to the seco…”

“Could I ask that we perhaps have that data? That might be useful for us.”

“In some ways, you have answered some of the questions that I have, which is brilliant. You are exactly correct. The market pressures have been highlighted in 2.20 to 2.22. There is a shortage of drivers, rising costs around transport operators, licensing restrictions and so on. You might have the answer to my next ques…”

“That is perfectly fine. Thank you for clarifying that. In terms of my questions, I am going to look particularly at cost and demand drivers. Figure 4 in the report indicates the demand driver, for those in the audience. It clearly shows that SEND from 0 to 16 has doubled from 2015 to 2023, and it is similar for 16 to 1…”

“That is really encouraging to hear.”

“I just have one last question, if I may. This question is about any future risk. At present, school transport is provided from the age of five to 16. It is also provided for 19-plus as a statutory requirement. Is there a risk that at some point we might get challenged as a Department on why you are not providing transp…”

“May I join colleagues across the House in saying that our thoughts are with the family of Sarah Everard? I also thank Lady Elish for her inquiry and the part 2 report published today. The Public Accounts Committee recently conducted an inquiry that looked at the National Audit Office report on policing around the count…”

“This Budget is about aspiration and investing in the future potential of the British people, from the health service to our small businesses to our high streets. It is about supporting infrastructure and development, whether in airports, roads or power generation. While we are on the topic of astrology, black holes hav…”

“At 2.11 in the Report, it says that “staff we spoke to felt that a high number of system changes, coupled with staff shortages, has made it difficult to create the space to make meaningful improvements”. It continues, “In 2023-24, HMPPS estimated there were around 100 new national proposals to change probation processe…”

“You are absolutely correct. If things have changed and timetables have slipped, that possibly has an interaction with us as a Committee in terms of our audit. Lastly, I appreciate you visited the Chatham probation service. That is a neighbouring seat to mine. It is nominally in the name of my seat, but my colleague Lau…”

“I will put the question back to you. With the volume of change that you are expecting over 18 months, the deflection of service personnel on to change initiatives—I think that is what is being suggested in the Report—might mean that their time is being utilised on change when they are at capacity with flow, if that mak…”

“Just on those two points, figure 14 gives what looks like a programme design and delivery plan for OFPS. It was mentioned earlier that this was a draft. If we look at the first two lines of that, we have process optimisation options and policy changes. Is that draft correct? Are we still on course for the scope? Have w…”

“It was a very positive visit, as I understand it. Thank you for coming down and listening to the staff. I appreciate that they have indicated that Justice Transcribe is one of the services that they like. Looking at other digital improvements, in the Report there are concerns raised in paragraph 3.16 around digital cha…”

“I have two further points. First of all, you mentioned staff, and staff communications. Indeed, that is important. There has been positive feedback on some elements of Justice Transcribe. I have heard that myself. Overall, we have quite a high turnover. There is a lot of pressure and high workloads. What has the staff …”

“Thank you for that answer. That was very comprehensive. Lastly, this programme relies on the three elements that you mentioned earlier, James. Recruitment is one of them, which I will not touch on, but the other two are process optimisation, which I have just discussed, and policy changes. I have referenced figure 14 p…”

“Thank you, Geoffrey. My questions will focus on the OFPS programme and, first of all, on staff. We have already spoken, at this Committee, about some of the challenges around headcount. Ten out of 12 regions already exceed 100% workload for staff. Depending on the figures for recruitment, 21% of staff are below target …”

“From a capacity perspective, we currently have staff running at 118% with peaks of 126% in four regions. You have just said, “We are going to be delivering this over 18 months”. With respect, over a period of six months we have not seen recruitment at sufficient levels, although we have seen improvements. Can I ask the…”

“T5. The Public Accounts Committee has recently scrutinised the state of clinical negligence in the UK. At £60 billion, the Government liability for clinical negligence significantly increased under the last Government. The Government have commissioned David Lock to review the issue. Does the Secretary of State agree th…”