Speeches by Carns.

“It will be huge. One of the biggest problems we have with retention, in particular, is the right to a family life. The least we can do is provide people—who sometimes have to move 10 times in 20 years—a safe, warm, dry and secure home. We have failed to do that for the last 14 to 20 years, but we are now on the road to…”

“This is a huge deal for the armed forces. I have lived in the accommodation—I am sure you and others in Parliament have—and the reality is that the deal with Annington was probably one of the worst deals of all time. We sold off our housing and had to pay for the rent and upkeep of it. It actually reduced our freedom t…”

“I will lead off and then hand over to Sam for some of the detail. When I joined the military, there was still an LGBT ban on people joining. The military has come a long way, but it has a long way to go, and we continually need to move as fast as we possibly can to ensure that Defence is the most accepting and welcomin…”

“Clause 25 will ensure that victims are properly supported as they go through that choice of preference, but I go back to the requirement for a preference. They have to have the ability to choose; I do not think it is right for us to be forcing upon them which avenue they want to take. But we have to make sure that the …”

“I think Mary’s evidence yesterday was really powerful. When she took away the inability to compare thousands of cases with 20 to 30 cases, and gave you the bare facts, it was really clear that the service justice system has an exceptionally good record of moving through to conviction rates, and indeed a lack of withdra…”

“We are zeroing in on an important point here about the standardisation of information before people state a preference for the civilian or the service justice systems. That is something we need to take away, have a look at and ensure is standardised across the entire system, so that people have a clear insight and unde…”

“It is my firm belief, after speaking to a multitude of people involved in the system, that preference is required. I think we heard evidence yesterday that we need to standardise the information and education given to people before they state a preference. We have taken that away to double-check that it is standardised…”

“We heard from various panel members, specifically yesterday, that they welcome a lot of the measures in place. It is worth stepping back to look at where we have come from. In December 2022, after a couple of high-profile cases that were completely unacceptable, we took a large chunk of the military crime elements and …”

“The cost of the measures will be included in our future programme. I do not think there will be an exceptionally large cost for our Strategic Reserve plan. The costs will be around a communication plan to ensure that our reservists stay engaged in defence. That will come out in the defence investment plan.”

“I think it would be really dangerous to make an estimate. I will wait till the ruling is complete.”

“The measures in the Bill are about our ability to use reservists, not the compensation paid to reservists when they are serving. We therefore do not expect a significant impact from the Milroy case. However, we are still examining the impact of the ruling on all employment of reservists.”

“I think it will be internal within MOD.”

“Measurement of effect is going to be critical. The nine measures in the Bill go some way to delivering it. From my perspective, if you were to harmonise the maximum recall liability of all our ORs, we would start to see an increase in the Strategic Reserve numbers. That is the first and easiest way to measure effect. A…”

“Do you mind if I elaborate on that? There is a lot of good will out there in the industry with reservists. We have to make sure that having Reserves in your workforce does not become a liability or impact your productivity. That balance of good will needs to be maintained; it cannot flip either way, or it becomes very …”

“There is a very clear concern that if we were to mobilise our Reserve, it would take the heart out of the defence industry, because we have so many ex-defence personnel working in it. We need to map and track our reservist base and ensure that industry acknowledges who it has, and indeed some of the liability it has sh…”

“On top of that, remember that we are in a simplification process to make the reservists easier to navigate. We have a multitude of terms and conditions of service. What does that mean? It means things like pensions, how many hours you need to do and what you need to do to continue to serve, all the way down to what typ…”

“This reflects some of the issues we have with our veterans. When you leave, you get a veteran card and a digital ID card. Our ability to track veterans who have a Strategic Reserve liability after the Bill and our ability to keep reservists engaged in the system are continual challenges. We used to be exceptionally goo…”

“Ready to sign up, Paul?”

“The end of the Parliament. I will not comment on the exact timings or details of a Bill that is outwith this Bill. What I will comment on is the active Reserve. Although some think that the measures will not have a huge impact on the active Reserve, I believe otherwise. I know from having visited many bases, from Brize…”

“I cannot comment on the defence readiness Bill. I am hoping that it will be before the end of this Parliament.”