Speeches by Yang.

“Is it possible for Palantir to link the data that it has access to across different UK Government Departments?”

“Could you give examples of what that includes? What information do you use to identify financial crime?”

“What have been the main changes? You mentioned that the number of sanctioned individuals has gone up since your last review. What changes have you seen in terms of the patterns coming out from the industry and how it is handling sanctions compliance?”

“You have previously published the number of assessments that you have made each year on sanctions compliance. Do you expect that number to continue rising this year?”

“Last year, OFSI’s threat assessment said that around a quarter of the suspected breach reports that it received from UK financial services firms made reference to intermediary jurisdictions, such as the British Virgin Islands. Is your sense that this level of reporting of intermediary jurisdictions is too low—that firm…”

“Finally, what independent oversight mechanisms do you have, if any, to audit Palantir’s use of FCA data?”

“Is it audited in-house within the FCA?”

“For those listening at home who have not yet read your book.”

“Professor Clift, you have written a book about the OBR. In particular, you talk about the organisational structure of the OBR and the fact that many macroeconomic forecasting judgments are made by one person on the Budget Responsibility Committee. I can see that Ms Curtice agrees on this point. Would you speak to the p…”

“Is there a way that other comparable agencies in other countries have dealt with the political issue of scenario selection that the OBR could learn from? It seems that the assumptions of taking Government policy as stated and so on do not produce accurate forecasts, as you pointed out, Mr Jessop, in the four to five-ye…”

“I have a more zoomed-out question for the panel: you have all criticised the current fiscal settlement that we have in various ways. You may have different views whether that is an issue with the OBR and its functioning, an issue with the fiscal rules themselves, or not an issue of either of those two but an issue of p…”

“Many of you have mentioned scenario planning and scenario-based forecasts or bespoke forecasts in your opening remarks. I want to single out a particular paper that was published by Dr Sousa at the University of Strathclyde. He has written about the fact that the long-term public finance forecasts that the OBR uses ass…”

“Dr Prieg is going with the second option.”

“Is five your optimal number, Ms Curtice?”

“Thank you, Chair. The OBR was set up 15 years ago with the purpose of providing accurate, independent and politically unbiased forecasts. I will ask each member of the panel how well they feel the OBR has achieved this aim, and if there is anything they think could be done to improve the accuracy of the forecast. I wil…”

“Sorry Professor Clift, could you just reverse a bit and set out the problem itself for those who have not yet read your book?”

“Professor Clift, even though we have three members on the committee, they do not make decisions collectively; different parts of the forecast are delegated. Is that the right interpretation?”

“Mr Jessop is going with the second option.”

“T10. Reading is home to a large diaspora of Gurkha veterans; we are proud of their service and grateful for their sacrifices. Following the recent elections in Nepal, will the Minister work with the new Nepalese leadership to address collaboratively the issues these Gurkha veterans still face in the UK, and will she vi…”

“Last month, satellite imagery of the Gaza war cemetery showed that Israeli forces had destroyed more than 100 allied graves using heavy machinery. This is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission site, and these are graves of British and allied personnel who served in the first and second world wars and made the ultimate s…”