Speeches by Twigg.

“The Infrastructure and Projects Authority’s latest report of 2023-24 lists eight defence projects as red and 36 as amber. That is about 90% of the projects. How do you categorise that performance, Mr Williams?”

“How would you characterise the red projects, of which there are eight?”

“How many of those are at risk of failing completely at the moment?”

“I am still not sure about the trigger, but Mr Williams, could you tell us this? Currently, do you have the right calibre and skillset within the MoD to drive this reform through, or do you have shortages in that area? In other words, is there a risk in relation to then having the people in place to drive reform of acqu…”

“So it is a target without a timescale.”

“You don’t have a timescale, then.”

“Mr Williams, could you set out for the Committee how your reform programme is going to deliver more equipment projects on time and to cost?”

“I think we get the structure because we have read our briefs and we understand that. What I am trying to find out is how it will make a difference to delivery on the ground. You mentioned culture, for instance; maybe you could give us a few examples of how you are changing culture.”

“How much overspecification do you think is still in the system?”

“I congratulate my right hon. Friend on the work he has done to secure extra funding for defence and for Ukraine. It is clear that Putin does not want peace and that all he is interested in doing is gaining Ukrainian territory. We have to send a clear message to him that neither we nor our allies are taking a step backw…”

“I refer the Leader of the House to the public office standards Bill, better known as the Hillsborough law, which is how I would like to refer to it. She will know my history in what happened at Hillsborough and, subsequently, with the independent panel report, and the involvement I had in the negotiations between Minis…”

“I thank my hon. Friend for her statement; I know that she is doing all she can on the issue. We cannot have a defence industrial strategy unless we have our own primary steelmaking facilities, so clearly we cannot let these furnaces close. I was interested to hear what the Minister said about having various meetings in…”

“Just to be clear, you would like more defence assets, but you are also expecting industry to do more.”

“Does the MOD know what resources it has allocated to counter hybrid threats? Does it have any idea of what resources it has allocated, whether they are enough, and what the gaps are?”

“Going back to your terminology in terms of state threats in the last five or 10 years, how have those become more of a difficulty in terms of resources that you have to counter state threats, and defence’s contribution to that? I get that it is a Government-wide approach, but I am just trying to get some sort of handle…”

“I am not asking for the detail of what the operations were. I am asking how many operations you have been involved in.”

“You are not surfacing a submarine every day, are you? That is one thing out of the way. You may be, for all I know, but I guess you are probably not.”

“Yes, but you do not have the money.”

“One of the things that we are trying to get at is how much this area is now taking up in terms of the impact that it is having on defence’s ability to provide resources, people and equipment. That is part of the reason for this inquiry. What I think you are saying is that you do not have really a handle on it, because …”

“That is even though we do not know what the investment is currently.”