Speeches by Twigg.

“Of the improvements that you outlined a few minutes ago, what is it that Capita is not doing now that will change when the new contract comes in? What is the difference? What will be the major difference? What is it not doing now, in failing miserably at recruitment? What is missing, currently, apart from chasing up th…”

“Sorry to interrupt, but what I am having trouble getting my head around is that, five years ago, recruitment was a lot better than it is now. What is it that has changed? I do not quite understand.”

“Can I just ask what we are currently spending in terms of GDP on defence?”

“If you strip out the money we have put in for Ukraine, what is left to directly fund the UK military?”

“At the moment, as things stand, there are serious shortcomings in terms of medical support.”

“General, I do not want to go through the exchanges we have had previously on capability in terms of resilience and force generation, but can I ask you something specifically about the medical support for our frontline armed forces? You referred to it briefly in earlier comments. Are you concerned about the level and de…”

“Lord Robertson told us, regarding the SDR, “We can only say to the Government what 2.5% of GDP can produce.” This, to us, implies 2.5% of expenditure being focused directly on delivering capability for our armed forces. The conflict in Ukraine is ongoing. Will that funding be in addition to the 2.5%?”

“You suspect that that will be a significant part of your recommendations at the end of the report.”

“You are then looking at whether, for instance, we have too many commitments, given the envelope of working, and whether we should focus more narrowly on where our Armed Forces should be involved.”

“I understand that you are conscious but I am being specific. My question is about whether you have been asked specifically to examine whether we are too thinly spread and whether we should be more focused.”

“That is something that you actually are looking at and that will be part of your recommendations to the Secretary of State and the MOD.”

“How far are you down the road with that at the moment?”

“Can I ask how far you are examining policy in terms of global commitments and operations that we are involved with at the moment? The Secretary of State last week said that there are around 10,000 personnel deployed in 50 geographical locations. What is your remit in terms of policy and the global commitments we alread…”

“With that in mind, are you also considering the implications for logistics, sustainment and personnel? If so, how are you testing the resilience of those options?”

“Let us just take one of those—say, logistics. You are part of this process. You will be testing the resilience of being able to basically deliver the logistics of whatever Armed Forces we should want in the future. That is what you are saying.”

“That will definitely be a part of your whole process.”

“How long do you think it will be before we get to a position where you are more comfortable—I am not going to suggest that you will be satisfied completely—with the situation?”

“The question that was referred to you by the Secretary of State was my question about how long it will take.”

“Would you agree, then, that we are still some way off being able to replenish our current stockpiles?”

“What would you say are the three main issues out of your control that have had an impact on industrial capacity? What discussions have you had with industry to improve that?”