Speeches by Twigg.

“Was that met by November?”

“Following on from a previous question, clearly, the previous Government did delay investing in and starting up more nuclear power opportunities and options. What progress has been made since this Government came into power on plans to take forward nuclear power as part of our supply?”

“I congratulate my hon. Friend on an excellent report, and on the leadership that she has shown throughout—in dealing with witnesses, considering the evidence that came forward, and compiling the report. As she said, she worked closely with, and was given great help, by our excellent staff on the Defence Committee. I se…”

“As my right hon. Friend will know, a large number of elderly people are admitted to hospital, through A&E, with respiratory conditions. What plans does he have to strengthen the community respiratory teams, who do a great deal of good work but could do more work, if they had the resources, to prevent admission, and…”

“Those of us who have spoken to the American military know the importance of this base. Will the Minister confirm that he said that, since the agreement was announced, the American military and security services have raised no concerns with this Government?”

“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…”

“It is just a quick one. What will the target be for recruitment under the new system in terms of weeks?”

“Just remind the Committee of that.”

“You do not know what the—”

“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?”

“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…”

“That is what your understanding is from the current Government: that it will still be 2.5% including Ukraine and not 2.5% spent directly on the British military?”

“No; it is in our national interest to support Ukraine. The previous Government said that it was going to reach 2.5%. I assume, while the Ukraine war was ongoing, that would have been included in the 2.5%. It would not have been 2.5% spent directly on the British military.”

“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%?”

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

“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.”

“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…”