Covid Counter-Fraud Commissioner
Debate between Lord Livermore and Lord Mackinlay of Richborough(2 weeks, 5 days ago)
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Lord Mackinlay of Richborough (Con)
My Lords, I wish the Government well in their counter-fraud investigations into Covid, because public money is of course of the utmost importance, but there is a clear and present daily problem with government procurement. Some years ago, I did a piece of work with the TaxPayers’ Alliance, looking at the price of photocopy paper across public institutions. It was vastly different: from £1.99 to £5.33 for a ream, within a health trust on the south coast. Can the Minister assure me that work is being done to maximise procurement gains throughout the system?
Lord Livermore (Lab)
Yes, I can, and I agree with the noble Lord. At the Budget, the Chancellor launched the Office for Value for Money, which will assess where and how to root out waste and inefficiency and to unlock value-for-money studies in specific high-risk areas of cross-departmental spending, and scrutinise investment proposals to ensure that they offer value for money.
UK–China Economic and Financial Strategy Dialogue
Debate between Lord Livermore and Lord Mackinlay of Richborough(2 weeks, 6 days ago)
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Lord Mackinlay of Richborough (Con)
My Lords, does the Minister have any discomfiture at all about his Government going to China and begging for investment and trade while many parliamentarians in this Palace remain sanctioned by the Chinese regime?
Lord Livermore (Lab)
I completely disagree with the noble Lord’s characterisation of the Chancellor’s visit to China. As I said, we must and will continue to engage with our international partners in trade and investment, and that includes engaging with China. We cannot ignore the fact that China is the second-largest economy worldwide and our fourth-largest trading partner, with exports supporting close to half a million jobs in the UK. We need to help British businesses export around the world, and that includes to China. On human rights and the parliamentary sanctions that the noble Lord talks about, the Chancellor did raise those—absolutely—but she believes that, unless we open that dialogue, we will be unable to raise the concerns that we have.