ut 3 very positive and we support the public accounts committee report.these groups. many of us have come up with proposals and given them to the government and spoken to the select committee and the proposals are out there right now which are live but we do not see the urgency from government and considering these and bringing them to implementation and that our main concern. if the public accounts committee is saying that because of a quirk in the tax system, 3 million people have been left without the sort of support they might have expected that has been given to others? thea;r that has been given to others? they are riuht. that has been given to others? they are right- our— that has been given to others? they are right. our tax _ that has been given to others? tue: are right. our tax system that has been given to others? tte: are right. ourtax system is that has been given to others? t"t21: are right. our tax system is out that has been given to others? tt21: are right. our tax system is out of date. we have been pushing for a fundamental review of t

thank you very much indeed, it is a meeting of the public accounts committee and we are waiting to hearllier. very difficult second wave of the pandemic, everything anyone feared has been happening, is there anything you would like to say before we go into theissue would like to say before we go into the issue of vaccines? thank you, chair, and you're right, obviously we are going to spend this afternoon talking about the hope that vaccines represent. but in the meantime we are facing an incredibly serious situation. the chief medical officer, chris whitty, has again underlined that this morning. we have more than 30,000 severely ill coronavirus patients in hospitals across england. that is up by 13,000 just since christmas day. in london, one in people has the coronavirus. in parts of london, it may be twice that number. and if you look across other regions of england, the issue is that coronavirus is once again on the rise. in merseyside, for example, in just the the rise. in merseyside, for example, injust the last the rise. in merseyside, for example, in just the last week, there ha

he was giving evidence alongside other senior health officials to the commons public accounts committee the virus was currently "out of control". in merseyside, for example, in just the last week, there has been a further 50% increase in the number of covid hospitalisations. so this is a very serious moment for the country and for the national health service. and it's worth remembering that this affects all ages. a quarter of the covid admissions to hospital right now are for people aged under 55. so this is something that we all have to take extremely seriously. he said the number of vaccinations had tripled in the last week. this is a sprint to mid—february, and then it will be a sprint from mid—february through to the end of april to extend the vaccination to the rest of the higher risk groups identified by the joint committee on vaccination information. and then it will be a marathon from april through the summer into the autumn, as the secretary of state for health and social care has said, where we're offering everybody in the country who's over the age of 18, if the vaccines are

but concerns were raised at a hearing of the public accounts committee about whether continuing to providents value for money. what happened in my local authority in gloucestershire was that quite quickly they got a significant number of these rough sleepers in to hotels, very expensive hotels, and the majority of them are still there. so what is the strategy, jeremy, to encourage local authorities to find follow—on accommodation? because this hotel accommodation is very expensive and it is not doing the rough sleepers themselves any good. you are absolutely right about the importance of providing appropriate move on accommodation in the interest of the rough sleepers but also the taxpayer. he said his department was aiming to create a further 3,300 long term homes by march. we have made progress. i recognise the position of your constituency, but of the 33,000, about less than 10,000 i think are now in hotels and the rest are in longer—term settled accommodation. for example, the private rent sector, or social housing will run a rough sleeping pathway and support housing or reconnected wi

the public accounts committee says a "litany" of failures from government in delivering faster internethose in rural areas are being left behind, as our technology correspondent rory cellan—jones reports. it was a hugely ambitious election promise — give every home in the uk access to state—of—the—art gigabit speed broadband by 2025. but now that's been scaled back to reaching 85% of homes by the same date. and mps are worried that even this reduced target will be hard to meet. they warn that people in rural areas could lose out, struggling with slow broadband for years to come. this report says the government has failed to set out how the public money needed to give gigabit broadband to ha rd—to—reach places will be spent. the pandemic has shown how vital good internet connections are, for everything from home learning to keeping small businesses going. and the concern is the digital divide between town and country could widen. there is going to be difficulties in rural communities in terms of economics and economic disadvantages. and doubling that with the digital disadvantages those

minister accept the car crash performance of his department and the environment agency at the public accounts committeeod waste management? of the four and a half thousand homes flooded last winter, there is a few that are 100 yards from my home in ludlow, some still empty with no extra protection. can i ask ministers to visit flood areas, as the one thing they don�*t get from television and the media is the smell? and it�*s that smell that would wake them up to do even more. we're pleased that the report highlights that government investment is making a difference by significantly lowering flood risks for thousands upon thousands of homes right across the country on the back of the government's {2.6 billion flood defence programme, which has since been significantly increased. and this is programme is on time, it is on budget and it has yielded results, as acknowledged by the national audit office. but i fully take on board the noble lord's comments about the misery involved in having one's life turned upside down by the horror of flooding, and this is, of course, a priority for this government. the n

appearing before the public accounts committee, dido harding was challenged over the £22 billion costnce, alongside senior health officials, came after the government's scientific advisory group for emergencies, or sage, said the testing programme had had a "marginal" impact. to what extent do you think has the test and trace programme been succeessful in reducing new infections so far? measured at its highest level by its impact on the r rate, the transmission rate. independently verified analysis suggests that, since october, test and trace was impacting r by between 0.3—6. and our plans that take us to the end of march, were implemented, will take that up to 05—8 in high—prevalence areas. she said more than 950 people were taking a covid test every minute. the first week ofjanuary, our contact tracers successfully reached a million people, both people who tested positive and their close contacts. that translates into 198 people a minute successfully contact—traced every minute of the working day, seven days a week. how does that square - with sage's assessment — albeit a few months

public accounts i agree. as the public accounts committee — agree. as the public accounts committee learned _ agree. accine programme to be successful as we wanted to be, we must ensure that people are encouraged to come forward for testing and they have every reason to be confident and happy in doing so, and actually, we are seeing is a very encouraging data showing that people are more and more enthusiastic about being vaccinated rather than the reverse. just very briefly, one—word answer, when will we know whether those vaccinated are safe to let out that they can't spread the virus, one will you know that the vaccine actually enables people to go back to their daily lives? i actually enables people to go back to their daily lives?— to their daily lives? i can't tell ou to their daily lives? i can't tell you about _ to their daily lives? i can't tell you about transmission - to their daily lives? i can't tell you about transmission yet. to their daily lives? i can't tell| you about transmission yet but to their daily lives? i can't tell - you about transmission yet but as soon as we have that data

the commons public accounts committee says the government's out—of—date systems mean too many people help as many workers as possible. earlier i spoke to our economics correspondent andy verity who explained who's not getting any help or financial support. (sot there are thought to be about 22 categories of people who have been excluded as the press groups would say from the financial support available to other people. one of the biggest groups is 1.1 million people who were excluded from the furlough scheme because the data was not available to validate their employers' claims. one has to remember that these schemes which have supported a lot ofjobs, 12 million plus in the case of furlough, and many supported by the self—employed income support scheme, were implemented at speed at the beginning of the pandemic. but what mps have been calling for since june last year is for the government to close these gaps that have arisen. some of the gaps are understandable, when you have to implement a scheme at speed, there are certain corners that have to be cut, if you like. for example, hmrc

the public accounts committee says a "litany" of failures mean people who are worse off and those in from home during lockdown. the government said: "we do not agree with this report, which contains a number of inaccuracies." questions have been asked this week about the logic of keeping nurseries open for very young children, when schools remain closed to most older children. it's left some nursery workers fearful about their safety and many are calling for extra support from the government, as our education correspondent adina campbell reports. hi, catherine. how are you today? very good, thank you. are you awaiting any covid results? no. the morning drop—off relief for parents, and business as usual for staff. have a great day. earlier this week, the government announced nurseries like this one in surrey, should stay open for all children. we feel the nursery is very well managed and we keep ourselves to ourselves, so we feel like it's very, very controlled. we took the decision at the first lockdown to keep them home. but you could see that that harmed them. and i think that's ou

the public accounts committee says a "litany" of failures from government in delivering faster internetworse off and those in rural areas are being left behind, as our technology correspondent rory cellan—jones reports. it was a hugely ambitious election promise — give every home in the uk access to state—of—the—art gigabit speed broadband by 2025. but now that's been scaled back to reaching 85% of homes by the same date. and mps are worried that even this reduced target will be hard to meet. they warn that people in rural areas could lose out, struggling with slow broadband for years to come. this report says the government has failed to set out at the public money needed to give gigabit broadband to ha rd—to—reach places will be spent. the pandemic has shown how vital good intranet connections are, for everything from home learning to keeping small businesses going. and the concern is the digital divide between town and country could widen. there is going to be difficulties in rural communities in terms of economics and economic disadvantages. and doubling that with the digital disadv

we reported last week on the public accounts committee who gave them six weeks to respond and in someashworth from the labour party at 7:10am. the archbishop of canterbury will also bring us his thoughts at 830m let's have a look at the weather now. good morning. over the next few days, it will continue to be cold in the north. at the moment in aboyne and bell merrill, the temperature is only —1.3. whereas it is still mild in the south, currently in the isles of scilly, 10 degrees. spells of rain in the forecast, as indeed is hill snow, and significant at that. this morning there is a lot of cloud around. much of this coming in from the atlantic so it is moist, a murky start with mist and hell fog. it is —— hill fog. there is also blue air across the north of scotland. a lot of cloud, some snow showers this morning across parts of the highlands. rain moving across parts of southern england and towards the south—east and parts of wales, that will clear. this next arm of rain will clear. this next arm of rain will be coming in from the south—west. through the day it will brighten in par

public account. >> several are calling from his removal from the powerful house intel committee. >> there is no waytinue to serve on the intel committee. >> i think you should be on the committee, there's no doubt about that. i can't believe he's still on it. >> so far nancy pelosi is standing by. >> i don't have any concern about him. >> you mean to tell me she cannot find. >> why has she come to this day, not explain the circumstances and at least tried to reassure the american people that are secrets have not been stolen or exposed interrelationships. we used to say in cia counterintelligence collapse. they're not like fine wine getting better with age. we should have known about this. the chinese government has been working on compromising america for decades and they seem to target democrats. why would that be? >> there are hundreds of thousands of collectors of information and intelligence for china in our country. >> we will take a look at that, next these folks don't have time to go to the post office they use stamps.com all the services of the post office only cheaper get a 4-week trial pl

state our pandemic resurgence committee to listen to the first accountability, they help us develop a plan to protect our support economy over the course of years in public during the course of this administration, i've seen government and complicated challenges but absolutely nothing compares to the last ten months. state employees in every corner of this government who have been asked to solve unimaginable problems, working punishing hours for themselves in harm's way to help us get through this pandemic. to the nurses team at the veterans homes, psychiatric center, homes of the chronically ill and hospitals throughout our state, correctional officers, probation and youth rehabilitation staff, educators and school nurses, childcare providers, unemployment offices, department of labor, delaware state police, park rangers and attorney general's office, the department of elections, restaurant inspectors and team of the state health operations center, delaware national guard, the entire team at the division of public health, thank you. thank you so very much. most delaware and will never know all you have done and sacrificed to keep them safe but i know. i

public to track how the government is using their tax dollars. adding congressional budget justifications, the usaspending.gov will provide better context to agency spending activity. thanks to another house oversight committee produced law, the 2020 good accounting in government act, it lists unimplemented inspector general audit and g.a.o. report recommendations. this means h.r. 22 will help congress and the public track open i.g. and g.a.o. oversight recommendations. again i thank my colleague from illinois, mr. quigley, and i urge my colleagues to support this legislation and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from alabama reserves. the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. mrs. maloney: i recognize representative quigley for three minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from illinois is recognized for three minutes. mr. quigley: thank you, mr. speaker. i proudly rise in support of my congressional budget transparency act, h.r. 22. a bipartisan bill that addresses the lack of transparency around the documents that explain why executive agencies are requesting funds from congress. these justifications shed light on work and priorities in the federal government, far more effectively than high lev

public accounting. a far greater risk than russia but as he has been in congress, all he's talked about is russia, trump. >> harris: as we know sits on the house intel and judiciary committee, but failed to ask him a single question about his reported links to that spy during her recent interviews. i see you shaking your head. >> you can only imagine the inverse. if that were to be done jr. or jim jordan, that would be the only question the answer until there's an outright denial but this is like the hunter biden story and that no one ever came out and said this did not happen and moreover, never address that nancy pelosi has the audacity to continue to put him front and center and include him in the recent impeachment management team. so sort of thumbing her nose because she knows he's a partisan she can count on. at the same time if we want to live seriously in this moment, we have to take china on at every single level until those questions are answered and that we could not afford to have someone who might be compromised. if he just has to answer the question and he hasn't done that, the media won't ask them so we have to continue to demand that because everything is a

committee. and just my background, in general, i've always been an advocate of open government and open accountability measures, whether it be in private practice or public practice. i think just working in a setting with other people is always important to have accountability factors in place. and that's what i have brought to each of the positions that i've worked with, and that's why i actually applied for this one, because i had, like, a personal connection. >> chairman: thank you so much for your testimony. i don't see any questions. but i do have a question for the clerk, mr. young. or this may be the deputy city attorney pearson, because we might have an embarrassment of riches for seat number eight. although i believe that the forrestly and stein -- and there are a number of applicants for seat number eight. is it within the purview of this committee, given that the qualifications of seats eight, nine, 10, and 11 are the same, do we have the latitude, even if the individual only applied to seat eight, to appoint them to one of the other seats that have the same qualifications requirements? mr. young? >> clerk: yes. you're able to appoint any of t

witnesses have agreed to make additional information available to the committee and to the public number one you agree to provide a full accounting of the shell companies owned by the sackler family. number two your agreed to made publicly available all documents and the sackler family possession. let me close with this. earlier mr. cooper called one of the most evil families in america. a lot of people agree with that. you have the ability now to mitigate some of the damage you caused. please stop hiding and off shoring assets to stop nickel and dime being negotiators and make a massive financial contribution that leaves no doubt about your commitment and finally acknowledge your wrongdoing. the families and communities whose lives have been ruined deserve at least that much. they have taken money out of the company so it would be forever beyond the legal reach of the people they are the bernie made off's of medicine adjourned. >> without objection and all members have five legislative days to submit additional materials that should be forwarded to the witnesses for their response

accountable for the misinformation's and lies that led to the violence in d.c. after removing lee stefanik from antivirus three committee. saying that the new york publichn roberts, can they do that? can they take your degree away after you put in the money in the hard work and have gotten the grades and earned it? >> john: you know, kennedy, i would think that this would be something by the legal challenge to try to do that in a petition that people say that it is a privilege to have a harvard degree, i would suggest a lot of people would say it is certainly prestigious, but not a privilege, because it is something that you pay for. i mean, it is like general motors or forward saying we don't like your politics, give back your car. when you look at the end crenshaw as well, how many people will serve five tours of duty as navy seal. crenshaw spoke out against president trump's comments at the eclipse -- the ellipse the other day and devoted to the challenges of the election. i'm not sure what they are upset about. but i don't see how an educational institution could rescind a degree you paid for. an honorary degree, maybe, but when you paid for. no. >

accountability, that this was the most egregious heinous attack on the american public that we have seen. but i also know that the senate can do two things at once. we still organize. we get our committees going. we begin to approve people like congresswoman fudge to be hud secretary and chairman of the economic down cell and janet yellen as treasury secretary and it means we move immediately on the next coronavirus package so we don't see mass evictions, people's apartments in the middle of the winter in the middle of the pandemic. we need to do all of those things. mitch mcconnell now has a senate that works about two and a half days a week. we're going to work harder. we're going to do more things. we're going to deliver for the country. we can do impeachment while we're doing these other things that deal with this, to combat the coronavirus and rebuild the economy starting now, starting january 20th at noon. >> senator brown, i appreciate your time. thank you. >> breaking news from the white house. i want to go to jim acosta for that. you have information about the relationship between the president and vice president. >> reporter: yeah. we do know they had a meeting today. they had

committee. and just my background, in general, i've always been an advocate of open government and open accountability measures, whether it be in private practice or public practice. i think just working in a setting with other people is always important to have accountability factors in place. and that's what i have brought to each of the positions that i've worked with, and that's why i actually applied for this one, because i had, like, a personal connection. >> chairman: thank you so much for your testimony. i don't see any questions. but i do have a question for the clerk, mr. young. or this may be the deputy city attorney pearson, because we might have an embarrassment of riches for seat number eight. although i believe that the forrestly and stein -- and there are a number of applicants for seat number eight. is it within the purview of this committee, given that the qualifications of seats eight, nine, 10, and 11 are the same, do we have the latitude, even if the individual only applied to seat eight, to appoint them to one of the other seats that have the same qualifications requirements? mr. young? >> clerk: yes. you're able to appoint any of t

committee. and just my background, in general, i've always been an advocate of open government and open accountability measures, whether it be in private practice or public practice. i think just working in a setting with other people is always important to have accountability factors in place. and that's what i have brought to each of the positions that i've worked with, and that's why i actually applied for this one, because i had, like, a personal connection. >> chairman: thank you so much for your testimony. i don't see any questions. but i do have a question for the clerk, mr. young. or this may be the deputy city attorney pearson, because we might have an embarrassment of riches for seat number eight. although i believe that the forrestly and stein -- and there are a number of applicants for seat number eight. is it within the purview of this committee, given that the qualifications of seats eight, nine, 10, and 11 are the same, do we have the latitude, even if the individual only applied to seat eight, to appoint them to one of the other seats that have the same qualifications requirements? mr. young? >> clerk: yes. you're able to appoint any of t

committee is about good government, transparency, and accountability. and i think that looking back over the last year certainly the corruption revelations have really done damage to the public'sdence in city hall and is not just about the abuse of power and kree t yays distrust in government. and that fuels privatization and a privatization agenda that serves profits rather than public benefits. and i think when we allow a culture of corruption to continue in san francisco, we are able to lose support for the desperately needed government-based solutions. i believe this committee can, has, and must play a key role in advancing reforms and oversight that is necessary to insure confidence with the effective functioning of government. looking forward very much to working with you, colleague, on these and the many matters that come before the committee and also want to specifically thank the clerk's office and in particular the clerk john carroll here on the gao committee. the city attorney's office, specifically deputy city attorney ann pearson and supervisor mar and his legislative aide edward wright for their work, all of them, in ensuring a smooth transition helping us get up

committee. and just my background, in general, i've always been an advocate of open government and open accountability measures, whether it be in private practice or public think just working in a setting with other people is always important to have accountability factors in place. and that's what i have brought to each of the positions that i've worked with, and that's why i actually applied for this one, because i had, like, a personal connection. >> chairman: thank you so much for your testimony. i don't see any questions. but i do have a question for the clerk, mr. young. or this may be the deputy city attorney pearson, because we might have an embarrassment of riches for seat number eight. although i believe that the forrestly and stein -- and there are a number of applicants for seat number eight. is it within the purview of this committee, given that the qualifications of seats eight, nine, 10, and 11 are the same, do we have the latitude, even if the individual only applied to seat eight, to appoint them to one of the other seats that have the same qualifications requirements? mr. young? >> clerk: yes. you're able to appoint any of the members o