Alys Davies
Live reporter

We're ending our live coverage of the Liaison Committee now.

Thanks for joining us and following along.

This page was brought to you by myself, Sam Hancock, Sean Seddon, Kate Whannel, James Harness and Ali Abbas Ahmadi.

Image source, PA Media

As is the case with most Liaison Committee hearings, there was a lot to get through during that hour and a half - with lengthy questions asked by MPs and a lot said by Rishi Sunak.

Here's a look at what we think are some of the key takeaways.

Migration

• Sunak said the government would "vigorously" fight a court ruling last week, which found that the plan to send illegal migrants from the UK to Rwanda is unlawful
• The PM told the committee he's confident that the "the plan we have is legal"

Inflation

• He reiterated his commitment to bringing inflation down - although admitted it was proving harder than expected - and said he stood by the Bank of England's modelling to tackle rising prices

Mortgages and housing

• Sunak acknowledged the difficulty of rising interest rates for mortgage holders but outlined some ways people could save money - including extending a mortgage to cut down monthly payments
• He also said the government was committed to building enough houses

Resignation honours

• Following a row with Boris Johnson over his controversial resignation honours nominations, Sunak said he followed what he believed to be his constitutional duty and passed on the list without making any changes
• He also said he hadn't given any thought to whether he himself will issue one when he leaves office, and said former Prime Minister Liz Truss had not submitted one for review

International security

• Sunak reiterated that his view was that Ukraine should be admitted to Nato, but that it depended on the rest of the member states
• He also urged Israel to show restraint in its military operation in Jenin to avoid further escalation

A key takeaway of that committee hearing is Rishi Sunak's assertion that the government will "vigorously" challenge last week's court ruling, which found that his government's Rwanda plan is unlawful.

Judges at the Court of Appeal ruled the plan to send asylum seekers to the African country also breached Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The plan was first unveiled in April 2022 in an attempt to deter crossings on the English Channel on small boats.

It has been subject to several legal challenges. Tackling the small boats crossing the Channel is one of Sunak’s five pledges.

A fairly tame committee hearingpublished at 16:33 British Summer Time 4 July 2023

16:33 BST 4 July 2023

Jonathan Blake
Political correspondent

Sometimes a gathering of the Liaison Committee can provide parliamentary fireworks - but today's session was relatively sedate.

For most of the 90 minutes, the prime minister faced gently probing questions and gave detailed if largely unsurprising answers.

Rishi Sunak denied his policy to tackle small boat crossings had stalled, insisted the government was committed to building enough houses and defended his approach to reducing inflation. The PM managed to gloss over the controversial topic of Boris Johnson's resignation honours list.

An exchange with Labour's Sir Chris Bryant provided one of the more dramatic moments.

Sunak was riled by the MP's questions about his attitude to Parliament. The PM couldn't answer when any of his predecessors had missed two PMQs sessions in a row, as he is expected to this month, but asked if the MP would prefer him not to attend a Nato summit for example.

As ever with these sessions where several subjects are covered in a limited time, often just as things were getting interesting the chair said it was time for the next topic.

We've just finished bringing you coverage of the latest Liaison Committee hearing, in which a prime minister is questioned by MPs on matters of public policy.

As we reported a little earlier, the committee includes all the chairs from the House of Commons select committees, and is chaired by Sir Bernard Jenkin.

Jenkin, who's been a Conservative MP since 1992, represents the constituency of Harwich and North Essex.

He has been under scrutiny recently, following allegations by the Guido Fawkes website that he attended a drinks party for his wife's birthday in the Commons in December 2020. At the time, social mixing outside of households or support bubbles was banned in London.

The BBC has not been able to independently verify the claims.

One last thing before the committee wraps up.

Sir Chris Bryant says he earlier claimed that fellow Labour MP Wes Streeting had, on 19 June, voted on the report into Boris Johnson's misleading of Parliament over Partygate.

Bryant says he was wrong on that point and wanted to set the record straight.

And that brings the Liaison Committee hearing to an end with committee chair Sir Bernard Jenkin thanking Sunak for his time.

Brine goes on to ask Sunak about his own views on preventing illness rather than curing it, saying that some prevention policies have been "pushed down the line".

"Of course prevention is better than a cure," responds Sunak, but adds that it is important to be cognizant of the parallel challenges of inflation and the cost-of-living crisis.

He lists several areas where the focus is on prevention, highlighting efforts to discourage smoking and including calorie labels on menus.

Brine is drilling down on some of the details in the NHS workforce plan and asks the PM about training places.

Sunak says the government is looking at ways of making medical courses more streamlined and efficient, including by making them shorter.

But he says that reforming how doctors are trained will take time because it will need to be scrutinised by medical regulators to make sure the whole health system is satisfied it can work.

Finally, we'll hear from Conservative Steve Brine about health.

He starts by congratulating Sunak on getting the NHS Long Term Workforce plan, external out, calling it a serious piece of work which takes the long view.

Walker asks Sunak how the government will strike "the right balance" between reassuring parents and letting children know they have access to RSHE (relationships, sex and health education) materials.

Sunak says he believes that RSHE teachings should be "age-appropriate and factual", saying he was concerned by reports stating that wasn't the case.

He adds that an expert independent panel's review on RSHE guidance should be out by autumn this year.

We're now onto education, with Tory MP Robin Walker asking the PM how concerned he is by school attendance levels.

He says recent figures showed that 24.2% of pupils were persistently absent in the last autumn term, which is double the rate of the year before.

Sunak says there have been falls in absence during some periods but concedes it is a real challenge which the government is tackling by trying to reach a quarter of a million children with new services to ensure they attend.

Conservative MP Philip Dunne asks Sunak about the climate change committee saying hopes in the UK of achieving its 2030 targets have markedly declined.

Sunak says he is proud of the UK's role in tackling climate change and tells MPs the country has decarbonised faster than any other G7 nation. Those are the facts, he says.

How many Albanians has the government returned?published at 15:51 British Summer Time 4 July 2023

15:51 BST 4 July 2023

Earlier at the hearing, Sunak was asked about his plan to stop migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats.

Sunak mentioned a new returns agreement, external with Albania as one of the measures to prevent arrivals.

He claimed the government has “returned almost 2,000 illegal migrants”.

The latest data, external to the end of May 2023 shows that - since the signing of the UK-Albania agreement in December 2022 - the UK has returned 1,788 Albanian nationals to Albania.

However, this figure includes Albanian criminals and people who voluntary returned to Albanian – not just migrants who arrived illegally under UK law.

Next, Bryant says a report from the privileges committee accused seven Conservative MPs of trying to "undermine and impugn" its work.

Should they apologise to the House, he asks?

Sunak says he hasn't read the report from "cover to cover", and therefore doesn't want to comment.

Bryant says Sunak didn't attend Commons votes on sanctioning former Conservative MP Owen Paterson or former Prime Minister Boris Johnson for rule-breaking, saying it raises questions about his respect for Parliament.

Sunak can't recall the first vote, he says, and couldn't attend the second because he was at an event for a Jewish charity.

Bryant says the PM could have attended the event and made it back to Westminster for the Johnson vote.

During a quite feisty exchange, Bryant adds that the PM managed to find the time to discuss the rules of cricket with the BBC's Test Match Special this week, and continues to claim Sunak misses important moments in Parliament.

Bryant now challenges the PM on the fact that he will be missing two Prime Minister's Questions sessions over the next two weeks.

Sunak says he will be attending a celebration of the NHS tomorrow and a Nato summit next week. Should I not be attending the summit, Sunak asks.

Labour's Sir Chris Bryant, who chairs the standards committee, asks why Sunak didn't announce the NHS workforce plan first to Parliament, as was expected, but to the media instead.

"I always try to announce what I can in Parliament," says Sunak, adding that he has a good track record of doing so. He says the workforce plan is not just the government's plan but is also the NHS's, which is why it happened outside of Parliament.

"Oh come off it prime minister," says Bryant, and reads a statement from Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle, who criticised Sunak for making the announcement outside Parliament.

The prime minister reiterates that he always tries to announce policies in Parliament.

The Liaison Committee hearing has just come to an end, but stick with us as we bring you the last of the MPs to question Rishi Sunak.

Wishart suggest that the UK government represents England's interests, but not those of the devolved nations.

Sunak rejects that out of hand, and says the Scottish government is the most powerful devolved assembly in the world.

He recognises that sometimes there are going to be conflicts between different centres of power on policy issues, such as Scotland's effort to pass the gender recognition bill, but says the government represents the whole UK.

Wishart hits back, referencing the UK government's decision to block the Scottish government's gender bill.

Do you think such a muscular approach is working, he asks.

Sunak says he thinks there are good examples of the UK and Scottish governments working together - but in relation to the gender bill, it was "reasonable" due to a lot of concerns around it.