Grahame Morris MP: speeches

Speeches

• 20 May 2025 · Adoption and Kinship Placements · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Harris. I congratulate the hon. Member for South West Devon (Rebecca Smith) on securing this important debate. I am delighted to have the opportunity to raise concerns on behalf of my constituents in County Durham. Kinship carers play a crucial role in our communities. They step up to care for children when their parents are no longer able to do so, often under challenging circumstances. Their care allows children to remain within their families and support networks, which we know leads to better outcomes in adulthood. Yet, despite their vital contribution, Government support remains unequal. A two-tier system persists, where access to help is based not on a child’s needs, but on how they entered kinship care. That must change. For example, only kinship children who have previously been looked after the local authority can access pupil premium plus, priority school admissions, support from the designated teacher and the adoption and special guardianship support fund. That should not be the case—it is simply unfair. That is one reason why I support the Kinship charity’s #ValueOurLove campaign, which calls for the Government to join up the fragmented system and guarantee access to support, no matter which route is followed into kinship care. Emotional and behavioural challenges are the main reasons kinship carers fear they cannot continue to care for their loved ones. These children, often shaped by trauma and loss, need early, high-quality therapeutic support to heal—support that must be protected, not cut. I welcome the Government’s commitment to a £40 million kinship allowance trial in 10 local authorities, but we urgently need clarity. I would be grateful if the Minister could confirm when decisions will be made, and whether County Durham will be included, since I understand that 317 local authorities are vying to be a pilot authority. In east Durham alone there are 340 kinship families, some of whom are known to me, who face ongoing financial uncertainty and reduced access to support. The limited pilot risks leaving many behind. The comprehensive spending review is the ideal opportunity to accelerate plans for kinship carers. I urge the Minister and the Government to commit to a non-means-tested allowance, at least equal to the national minimum fostering rate, and to ending the current two-tier system. Carers save the state £4.3 billion annually. Every child matters and deserves the same chance to thrive, no matter their circumstances.

• 22 Apr 2025 · Coalfields Regeneration Trust · Hansard source

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  I congratulate my good and hon. Friend on securing the debate, and echo the points that he is making. In my constituency of Easington in County Durham, the CRT works with 54 grassroots organisations, tackling health inequalities, and skills and employment challenges, in some of the most left-behind coalfield communities anywhere in the country. I echo the calls that have been made by my hon. Friend and other Labour colleagues to reinstate the national Government funding. I also point out respectfully to the Minister that there is huge support on the Labour Benches for that; almost 50 Labour MPs have signed early-day motion 965 in my name backing this modest but vital investment. I urge the Minister to recognise the depth of support for this proposal among coalfield Labour MPs.

• 2 Apr 2025 · School-based Nursery Capital Grants · Hansard source

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  I warmly welcome the statement from my right hon. Friend and neighbour. I particularly welcome the fact that Yohden primary school in my constituency—one of the most deprived and disadvantaged communities not just in the county, but in the country—will benefit. That is tremendous news, but can my right hon. Friend outline the Government’s timetable and commit to expanding the scheme still further, so that parents across my constituency and others can look forward to an improvement in childcare provision?

• 1 Apr 2025 · Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund · Hansard source

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  I also congratulate the hon. Member for Twickenham (Munira Wilson) on securing the UQ and thank my hon. Friend the Minister for her response. I will ask a question on behalf of the 340 kinship families in east Durham who are living in a constant state of anxiety. They are worried each month about how they will make ends meet, worried about whether their local authority would be among the 10 included in the pilot scheme and, until the Minister’s announcement, they were worried about losing access to the adoption and special guardianship support fund, which provides vital funding for therapeutic services to many families. The Minister has ended uncertainty with the announcement, but will she ensure that all kinship families receive stable, long-term financial and emotional support that is tailored to their unique needs, regardless of their kinship arrangement?

• 1 Apr 2025 · Rail Services: East Durham Coastline · Hansard source

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  I beg to move, That this House has considered rail services on the east Durham coastline. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Jeremy. Some hon. Members might be expecting me to start with an April fool’s joke, but after hearing about the state of rail services in my constituency, they will agree that no joke or exaggeration could be more ridiculous than the reality that my constituents face every day. The service is characterised by delays, no-notice cancellations and dangerously overcrowded trains, particularly during peak periods, which all too often leave passengers stranded on the platform. In London, where the next service may arrive in a matter of minutes, that might not be an issue, but at Seaham and Horden, one cancelled service means at least an hour’s wait. Rail links should promote connectivity, providing opportunities to access education and employment. However, Northern’s failing services mean that my constituents cannot depend on transport links to maintain their employment.

• 1 Apr 2025 · Rail Services: East Durham Coastline · Hansard source

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  Will the Minister give way?

• 1 Apr 2025 · Rail Services: East Durham Coastline · Hansard source

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  I am grateful to the Minister for seriously addressing the issues that I raised, and I hope that he will address my other two principal suggestions. It is all very well talking about resilience, but people’s travel plans are formed by their experience. We are trying to grow the railway and the local economy, but when individuals go to the railway stations at Seaham or Horden with their families to go shopping in Newcastle or Middlesbrough and they cannot get on the train, that experience colours their judgment. The next time, instead of standing there in the rain for an hour, they will choose an alternative method; they will take the X10 or find some other means of getting there. We really need to up our game and provide frequent and regular services from these stations.

• 1 Apr 2025 · Rail Services: East Durham Coastline · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend’s point is well made. I completely agree: the problem affects not just my Easington constituency, but Hartlepool, Billingham and the Tees valley. Not only does it undermine local opportunities, but it damages our local economy and takes wages out of our community as people are forced to move closer to work or to areas with more dependable transport links. The community welcomed the reopening of Horden station in June 2020, after a prolonged battle to secure much-needed transport investment, but it was meant to unlock economic opportunities in Middlesbrough, Sunderland and Newcastle. Instead, its unreliability and the lack of additional services have only worsened the pre-existing problems further down the line at Seaham. As a frequent passenger myself, I experience the chaos caused by cancellations and insufficient capacity. My constituents and I simply cannot depend on Northern with its cancellations, delays and dangerous overcrowding, particularly when there are only two carriages at peak times.

• 1 Apr 2025 · Rail Services: East Durham Coastline · Hansard source

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  The hon. Gentleman is absolutely correct. I welcome the Government’s recent decision to publish train cancellation and delay data, including monthly figures on the worst-performing stations, via the Office of Rail and Road. Holding operators to account is essential if we want things to improve, but the data does not capture the passengers who are left on the platform. Whether it occurs through cancellation or through dangerous overcrowding, the outcome is the same: passengers scramble to find last-minute alternative means of travel. In the past 12 months, 6% of trains were cancelled at Seaham and Horden, including at least one train every day on average, and only two thirds have run to time. With one train per hour, the cancellations and delays have huge impacts. Northern’s performance is erratic. In September last year, there were 38 cancellations on the route. By October, the number had skyrocketed to 186, which is almost five times as many. By the end of 2024, the situation had further deteriorated, leaving residents with no reliable means of reaching work, school, health appointments or other vital appointments by train. Northern attributed that partially to staff sickness, with driver absences at 17.6% and conductor absences at 16.9%, but questions need to be asked about what is driving such high levels of sickness. I have met the chief exec and senior officers on several occasions. Their proposed solution of relying on rest-day working is simply not sustainable, and I fear that it will increase staff sickness over the long term. This is a safety-critical industry. We need to ensure that staff are safely rested, not under pressure to work at unsustainable levels. The industry should not be running on voluntary overtime; it must employ enough staff to ensure resilience in the system. A long-standing issue on the route is the lack of rolling stock. Until 2019, believe it or not, we were still served by the old Pacer trains from the 1970s. We now have second-hand ScotRail class 158s and 156s, which have been refurbished. In the north-east, we are more than willing to accept repurposed rolling stock, but only if the service is regular and reliable and if it meets our transport needs. Another long-standing point of contention is the fact that Northern runs only two carriages, instead of four, during peak periods. The lack of carriages is not just inconvenient; it is a health and safety concern. In previous debates, I have raised the case of a young boy who fell unconscious on an overcrowded train. I cannot imagine the terror of someone watching their child going limp, with their eyes rolling back, and then collapsing, with no escape from an overcrowded carriage. Overcrowding is still a concern. I happen to be a Sunderland supporter, but when Newcastle are playing, scores of people are left on the platform at Horden and Seaham because the once-an-hour two-carriage train is already crammed with people who got on at Stockton, Billingham and Hartlepool. My constituents are left feeling angry and frustrated. The issue has been raised repeatedly since I became an MP in 2010, but very little has changed. I therefore welcome the new Government’s commitment to the creation of Great British Railways, because we cannot promote economic growth with failing public transport. We can get our broken railway system finally back on track by ending decades of waste and starting to restore public trust, but there is a lot more to be done. Northern Rail returned to public ownership in 2020, after the previous franchise had taken millions of pounds in dividends in return for substandard services. There may no longer be dividends rewarding failure, but the service remains substandard. I thank the Rail Minister for meeting me and other colleagues recently to discuss the Government’s plan, which is fantastic, to procure 450 new trains for Northern. That is a very welcome step, but will the Minister confirm how many of those trains will be allocated to the east Durham coastline? Given the isolation that my constituents feel because of unreliable transport, will he prioritise east Durham for the delivery of newly procured trains? The long-term investment in new rolling stock is essential and fantastic, but its impact will not be felt until at least 2030. Like many people, I believe that we need some interim solutions. In the time remaining, I will outline them, because I have been told time and again—not just by this Government, but by the previous one—to bring solutions as well as problems. First, Grand Central, the open access operator, has submitted two applications to the Office of Rail and Road. One application seeks to extend its track access agreement beyond 2027, but the other proposes more services, including a new stop at Seaham station, which the current Grand Central service runs through without stopping. That would not only provide additional capacity to Sunderland and Hartlepool, where services are severely overcrowded, but create the first direct link from my constituency to York and London. As the Grand Central service already passes through Seaham, adding a stop would extend the journey by only a few minutes. The benefits of that additional Seaham stop cannot be overstated. Grand Central is still awaiting a decision, so I ask the Minister kindly to provide an update from the ORR. I understand that the Government might be reluctant to expand contracts for open access operators, given the move towards public ownership and concerns about loss of revenue. To my constituents, however, Northern and Grand Central are not running in competition; they are simply providers of rail services that are desperately needed in my constituency. My second suggestion is that we increase Northern services from east Durham to Middlesbrough and Newcastle. I was pleased to receive a positive response to my written question on the matter. The ministerial response confirmed that the Rail North Partnership, on behalf of the Department for Transport and Transport for the North, is examining a business case for increasing services at Horden and Seaham by December 2025. It also said: “The analysis must balance the economic and social benefits of this enhancement with the performance of existing services and the financial impact on taxpayer subsidy.” I gently remind the Minister that the economic and social benefits of this enhancement to my constituents must not be underestimated. We have very low car ownership in east Durham. For those without access to cars, it is incredibly difficult to get to Newcastle, Sunderland or Middlesbrough without spending hours on buses. People turn down jobs and college places because they simply have no reliable way of getting to them. That is a major barrier to economic growth. A small but significant improvement would be to amend the timetable of the semi-fast Northern service between Middlesbrough and Newcastle. Since 2023, that two-hourly service, which is often a four-carriage train, has skipped Seaham and Horden despite high demand. The time saved by bypassing those two stations is between four to six minutes, but adding those stops would provide immediate relief to my constituents, with an additional train every two hours. All three of those solutions—Grand Central’s additional stop, increasing Northern services, and minor timetable adjustments—are needed while we await the arrival of new rolling stock beyond 2030. If we are serious about local growth in east Durham, people must be able to travel out of their towns and villages to work, study and access local amenities—pubs, restaurants, cafés, medical facilities and shops. I wrote to the Secretary of State in January and February outlining these issues, and I would welcome the opportunity to meet Ministers to discuss them further. The people of east Durham have waited far too long for a reliable rail service. They have endured overcrowding, cancellations and an outdated network that fails to meet their needs, and while I warmly welcome the Government’s commitment to procuring new trains and increasing services, some short-term action is also required. Reliable transport is not a luxury; it is a necessity for jobs, education and economic growth. I urge the Minister to prioritise east Durham and to work with me and other colleagues to ensure that Seaham and Horden finally get the rail service they deserve.

• 28 Mar 2025 · Water Bill · Hansard source

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  Will my hon. Friend give way?

• 28 Mar 2025 · Water Bill · Hansard source

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  I congratulate my good and hon. Friend on making an excellent speech and on advocating for public ownership of water and the opportunity to make things better. Does he agree that the mismanagement of the water companies under privatisation is a huge indictment of the whole principle? In my area, bills are way above inflation and huge dividends are being paid by borrowing money. At the very least, should our Government not be looking at stopping the payment of bonuses and share dividends while sewage pollution continues, and we have appalling mismanagement of the industry?

• 27 Mar 2025 · Prevention of Drug Deaths · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Dr Murrison. I congratulate my good and honourable friend, the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon), on securing this really important debate. Not for the first time, I find myself agreeing with what he said. Drug deaths are at a record high. They are mainly from opioids, but deaths from cocaine have risen by almost a third. As the hon. Gentleman said, synthetic opioids such as Fentanyl and the nitazenes present an increasing and alarming threat, which has not been properly quantified. We have seen the growth in the number of deaths across the Atlantic, and I suspect the problem is much bigger here than we think. There is no doubt that this is a public health crisis. Sadly, the north-east of England has the highest rate of drug deaths in England—three times higher than London. In the latest stats, released in October 2024, the north-east recorded 174 deaths per million, compared with an England average of 90. Too often, in the communities I represent, I have seen people turn to drugs because of deprivation and despair. Once addiction takes hold, it often leads to crime. It is no coincidence that drug deaths are highest in the areas of greatest deprivation. The data is clear: communities struggling with poverty and inequality are those hit hardest by addiction. This is not a new problem—certainly, it is complex—but it is being exacerbated by disinvestment in harm reduction and drug treatment programmes. If we are serious about tackling this problem, we need to do something different. To some, a tougher crackdown may seem the obvious response, but we have more than 50 years of evidence showing that punitive drug policies do not work. The war on drugs has failed, not just in the UK but globally. We cannot simply arrest our way out of this crisis. That is why today I want to offer a different perspective, which moves beyond outdated, one-size-fits-all approaches. Abstinence-based recovery is one path, but it is not the only one. If we truly want to reduce drug deaths and support recovery, we must reduce harm, reduce stigma and invest in treatment provision, with protected, ringfenced and sustained long-term funding. That funding could support solutions such as opioid substitution treatment, which saves an estimated 1,000 lives annually; medically supervised overdose prevention centres, like the Thistle safer consumption facility in Glasgow; heroin-assisted treatment; and increased availability of drug testing. Those measures are crucial in addressing the current crisis and saving lives. As chair of the drugs, alcohol and justice all-party parliamentary group—supported by treatment providers Via, Waythrough and WithYou—I recently had the honour of chairing a meeting at which Professor Sir Michael Marmot, the leading expert in health inequalities, laid out the stark reality. He told us: “Social injustice is killing on a grand scale.” He made it clear that areas of the greatest deprivation suffered the deepest cuts during austerity, exacerbating addiction and its consequences. I encourage the Minister and all Ministers to consider how we as a nation can adopt the Marmot principles—principles that foster a fairer, more equitable society in which everyone is given the best possible start in life and we work to prevent “deaths of despair”. I am conscious of the time, but I want to mention a dear friend of mine who is no longer with us—the late Ron Hogg, who was the police and crime commissioner in Durham. He was a true pioneer of drug policy reform. He was bold, compassionate and unafraid to challenge the status quo. He introduced heroin-assisted treatment and diversion schemes at a time when they were far from popular, but popularity was not his goal. He was seeking to reduce harm, save lives and ease the burden on our criminal justice system. The evidence is clear: investment in treatment works; harm reduction saves lives; and tackling stigma is essential. We must stop seeing addiction solely as a criminal justice issue and instead treat it as a public health emergency.

• 27 Mar 2025 · Prevention of Drug Deaths · Hansard source

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  That is the status quo, but should we not be challenging that and looking at the evidence from, for example, prisons? One might assume that someone who is incarcerated due to crimes resulting from drug addiction would receive treatment in prison and rehabilitated, but in practice they are actually worse when they come out, and Buvidal, a long-lasting drug that could be very effective, is not readily available. Does the shadow Minister have any views on that?

• 27 Mar 2025 · Prevention of Drug Deaths · Hansard source

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  I am very pleased with the Minister’s response. I appreciate that she has an awful lot on her plate, with cancer services and piloting a Bill through the House of Commons yesterday, but, given that we are looking at evaluating the evidence on what works best, will she agree to meet me and a small group of representatives from the treatment providers, so that they can explain in person what they think is the most effective way to tackle this issue?

• 19 Mar 2025 · Council Tax Reform · Hansard source

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  Reforming council tax is an enormous problem and I do not underestimate the scale of the task, but does the Minister recognise that council tax is even more regressive than the poll tax it replaced? The system particularly affects my constituency, Hartlepool and the north-east, and other regions as well, where people are paying a premium for living in the poorest communities with the fewest services and facilities. Does he accept that council tax is widening inequalities in our country?

• 19 Mar 2025 · Council Tax Reform · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend and neighbour makes some excellent points about the unfairness of the council tax system. My view is that it cannot be tinkered with and it is fundamentally flawed. For my constituents and my hon. Friend’s, it is nothing less than a regressive property tax. In Blackhall in my constituency, someone living in a modest band A home worth £35,000 pays almost the same in council tax as a band H property in Belgravia worth many millions of pounds. That is indefensible. Does my hon. Friend agree that if we are serious about tackling growth and improving living standards in constituencies such as mine and his, we need radical reform?

• 13 Feb 2025 · Open Access Railway Services · Hansard source

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  Open access operator Grand Central already runs five services daily from Sunderland to London King’s Cross through my constituency, but unfortunately they currently do not stop. My constituents have endured years of poor rail services from Northern Rail, with just one overcrowded two-carriage train an hour, which is often cancelled or delayed. While I welcome this Government’s investment in 450 new trains for Northern Rail, we need some immediate solutions. Will the Minister urge the ORR to approve the application from Grand Central to allow these trains to stop at stations in my Easington constituency?

• 6 Feb 2025 · Coalfield Communities · Hansard source

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  Will the Minister give way?

• 6 Feb 2025 · Coalfield Communities · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is kind and generous, and I thank him for that, but this is not about me; it is about the communities we represent. We have to give credit that, at the recent Budget, the Chancellor righted the wrong on miners’ pensions and the MPS and delivered on Labour’s manifesto commitment on the mineworkers pension scheme surplus. The decision to transfer the MPS investment reserve fund was a moral obligation, and it resulted in an economic boost. In my constituency, the decision is injecting £5.6 million into the local economy every year through increased pension payments to the 3,755 MPS members—retired miners and widows—in east Durham. That money is now being spent in our high streets, local shops, cafés and pubs, boosting the economy, creating jobs and supporting growth. However, this pension justice issue is only partially settled. There is a similar issue with the British Coal staff superannuation scheme, which has 40,000 beneficiaries who are former British Coal staff and their widows. Since 1994, the Government have taken out £3.1 billion from that scheme, without contributing a penny. I say with all respect to the Minister, and specifically to the Treasury, that it is time to release the £2.3 billion BCSSS investment reserve, so that all former mining staff can receive a pension uplift. Time is of the essence. Thousands of retired miners have already died, with 2,000 in the BCSSS passing away each year, including many women who were among the lowest-paid workers in the coal industry, having worked in pit canteens like my mother, or in administration and auxiliary roles. When we say numbers, they are meaningless, perhaps, to civil servants and ministerial advisers, but I know these men and women. They are men like Eamon Kavanagh, now in his 80s, who was an absolute stalwart, not just of Murton colliery, but the Seaham collieries; Bill Waites, who was a good friend of my late father; and my dear mother, who is 88. Time is of the essence to settle this issue. It is about fairness, pension justice and putting money back into communities that powered an industrial revolution that made Britain great, fuelled economic growth, and were the foundations on which our nation’s wealth was built. On a positive note, we are moving from coal to clean energy. We can lead the green industrial revolution. The closure of the coalmines marked the end of an era, but just as we powered the last industrial revolution, it is now time for our communities to lead the next one, as we transition to a clean and green economy. Indeed, in east Durham, we have already been laying the foundations for this future. Mine water heat, an innovative low- carbon energy solution, is being developed in Seaham and Horden. If properly supported, it could provide sufficient heat for all properties in the UK’s coalfield areas, offering a sustainable and affordable alternative to traditional energy. Then there is Power Roll, a start-up based on the Jade enterprise park in Murton that is pioneering lightweight, flexible solar technology that does not rely on rare earth metals. This is British innovation at its finest, ready for reinvestment to scale up production in a gigafactory. With the right support, we can create new green-collar jobs. We have heard about white collar and blue collar; let us have green-collar jobs and position the UK as a global leader in renewable technology.

• 6 Feb 2025 · Coalfield Communities · Hansard source

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  I congratulate my good and hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle-under-Lyme (Adam Jogee) on securing this important debate on coalfield communities. It is very oversubscribed, and I wish we had more time. I thank the Backbench Business Committee, the Industrial Communities Alliance, Coalfields Regeneration Trust, and the House of Commons Library for the useful briefing paper it produced. I also thank my fellow coalfield MPs for their sterling work on behalf of their constituents. Our mining communities not only have a proud past, but with the right leadership and investment we have an exciting future. After 14 years of Conservative Government, coalfield communities have been left grappling with relentless austerity and a rigged levelling-up agenda, which in practice meant that resources never reached the places in my community that needed them most. Today, I want to talk not only about the challenges that our communities face, but the potential within them to drive economic growth, attract investment and create jobs that can transform lives and revitalise local economies. Some 30 years after the pit closures, the talent, resilience and ambition of our coalfield communities remains undiminished. It is not just about righting the wrongs of the past, but harnessing the energy in the community to build a stronger, greener and more prosperous economy. I must say something about the British Coal staff superannuation scheme. To their credit, my Government—this Labour Government—have already demonstrated their commitment to coalfield communities. For too long, successive Governments have denied pension justice to retired miners and their widows. Money that should have been providing security in retirement was instead filling the Treasury’s coffers.

• 6 Feb 2025 · Coalfield Communities · Hansard source

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  I must take issue with that. I served a number of years on Easington district council, and we were twinned with a similar mining area in North Rhine- Westphalia in Germany. When the Carl Alexander mine near Baesweiler closed, the local authority and the miners were given two years’ notice, grants were made available through the federal, local and national Government to retain the miners, and new industrial estates were built. It is interesting to compare that with what happened when our pits closed in Easington, Murton, South Hetton, Horden and Blackhall—we found out on the Friday that the pit was closing on the Monday, and thousands of men lost their jobs.

• 6 Feb 2025 · Coalfield Communities · Hansard source

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  I am grateful for the Minister’s reassurance on the BCSSS. Before he moves off the issue of funding for growth, a number of hon. Members, including my hon. Friends the Members for Alloa and Grangemouth (Brian Leishman) and for Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock (Elaine Stewart), raised the issues of fair funding and the Coalfields Regeneration Trust’s model for community wealth building. It is seeking a relatively modest £500 million in capital investment spread over five years, which it believes could create half a million square feet of new industrial space. Is the Minister minded to look at that proposal favourably?

• 6 Feb 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  I am sure you are aware, Madam Deputy Speaker, and I hope the Leader of the House is, that we are currently undergoing a digital refresh of computer equipment and laptops here in the House of Commons. I was rather disturbed to learn that the equipment that is handed in is crushed and sent to landfill. Digital poverty is a multifaceted issue that impacts all aspects of life: for younger children, educational platforms cannot be accessed; job opportunities are harder to access, because 90% of jobs are only advertised online; and for older people, healthcare services and supporting information are all severely restricted without digital access. Therefore, may we have a debate on what we can do—not just as a Government, but this House, too—to increase access to the internet and the digital services that are essential to lifting people out of poverty?

• 5 Feb 2025 · Gambling Harms · Hansard source

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  I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing this important debate. One death is one too many. However, 22.5 million people in this country gamble and enjoy betting safely without any problems, and there are 42,000 employed in betting shops on our hard-pressed high streets. Is it not important that we have regulation that is proportionate in the impact it has on this industry, which is so important to the United Kingdom?

• 29 Jan 2025 · Outsourcing: Government Departments · Hansard source

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  I am interested in the hon. Member’s contention about value for money. Does he actually believe that the prison maintenance contract delivers value for money for the taxpayer?