Debates between Sharon Hodgson and John Glen during the 2019-2024 Parliament

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Sharon Hodgson and John Glen
Tuesday 21st March 2023

(1 year, 9 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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John Glen Portrait John Glen
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I hesitate, because my hon. Friend is so effective in campaigning for his constituency. I am glad that we were able to confirm that extra £20 million in the Budget. We will continue to look with a constructive mindset at all the many bids that he brings forward to the Treasury.

Sharon Hodgson Portrait Mrs Sharon Hodgson  (Washington and Sunderland West) (Lab)
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T4.   At the same time as the Chancellor has been dishing out tax cuts for the pensions of the richest earners, the Tories are considering making millions of people work even longer than they had planned before they can get their state pension. Will the Chancellor today rule out changing the state pension timetable?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Sharon Hodgson and John Glen
Tuesday 20th December 2022

(2 years ago)

Commons Chamber
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John Glen Portrait John Glen
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We keep these matters under review, but I am sure my colleague the Financial Secretary, who takes a close interest in these matters, will follow up in the appropriate way.

Sharon Hodgson Portrait Mrs Sharon Hodgson (Washington and Sunderland West) (Lab)
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7. What steps his Department is taking to help ensure value for money in public spending.

--- Later in debate ---
John Glen Portrait The Chief Secretary to the Treasury (John Glen)
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Value for money is a central priority for the Government and at the heart of every decision we take. The Government take our responsibility for managing the public purse seriously. The Government recently launched the efficiency and savings review, and that will help to keep spending focused on the Government’s priorities and manage pressures from higher inflation. It will include renewing our efforts to drive efficiency, tackle waste and re-prioritise spending away from lower value and lower priority programmes.

Sharon Hodgson Portrait Mrs Hodgson
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I hear what the Minister has just said, but he will be as aware as I am that, in the 2020-21 annual report from the Department of Health and Social Care, the Government wrote off a total of £8.7 billion-worth of the personal protective equipment they had acquired in the first year of the pandemic. When families are facing a choice between heating and eating this Christmas, does the Minister understand the real public anger that people are facing these difficulties at this time, when the Government are having such rampant waste of public money?

John Glen Portrait John Glen
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I acknowledge that figure in that report, but it refers to the write-down that was necessary following a situation where we acquired a lot of PPE at a time of acute demand and shortage of supply. It was an adjustment for that. Of course, 97% of all PPE was suitable for use in healthcare and non-healthcare settings. While I take the general point that the hon. Lady is making about concern for the most vulnerable in communities, which has been addressed by the £37 billion of support we have put in this year, those are the facts around the figure that she raises.