Speeches by Roome.

“Much of the new hardware pledged today will not be delivered for some years and will not be effective without the personnel to operate it. What more will the Government do right now, not in 2034, to ensure that our armed forces recruit the service personnel who these long-term plans will rely on?”

“I am sure the Sunday papers would like to thank the Government for advance sight of their upcoming statement. I am a member of the Defence Committee and I ask the Leader of the House to acknowledge that this urgent question is actually wasting all our time. Mr Speaker is quite right in granting it, but if procedure had…”

“Last week, I visited many retail businesses in North Devon that are suffering from prolific shoplifting. This is a big problem across the country. Will the Home Secretary explain what she is doing to help police forces resource the tackling of shoplifting and dealing with antisocial behaviour?”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Dowd. I thank the hon. Member for Mid Derbyshire (Jonathan Davies) for securing this important debate, and all hon. Members for their passionate contributions. The Liberal Democrats believe in keeping libraries well funded and accessible, recognising their role in p…”

“What would your top tip be to the MoD in its procurement?”

“Thank you for coming today. Our SMEs play a vital role in defence. The CDS has said that there are around 8,000 to 9,000 SMEs in defence, although the MoD, in its published material, said that there are around 12,000 SMEs, with 40 primes, on average. The intention of the previous Government was that we should spend at …”

“At the beginning of March, MoD procurement announced the start of the SME hub. What would you particularly like to see around the defence industrial strategy regarding support for SMEs? How do you want that to develop?”

“One word that comes up in all these evidence sessions when we are talking about capabilities is “interoperability”. I want to ask about NATO integration and interoperability. It could be said that, since the 1980s, that has dwindled within NATO. What are the main challenges that NATO faces in achieving interoperability…”

“One thing about being on this Committee that I have found really exciting, as we have gone round on visits and gone to various conferences and exhibitions, is how much innovation there is in our SMEs. My question alludes to what you were saying earlier, Alastair. How much of that innovation gets stifled by the primes? …”

“Could you say something about the defence industrial strategy and how you want to see that develop?”

“One area that is important to this country and worth billions of pounds is defence. What changes will the deal bring to the proposed defence industrial strategy for the big primes and for small and medium-sized enterprises, which this Government, and all of us, want to support?”

“Juliana, I know you have written extensively, including in a paper that you submitted to RUSI last year, about the space skills needed by personnel and how they should be embedded in defence, rather than looking at it as a niche area. Given that, what particular challenges exist in recruiting suitably qualified personn…”

“Thank you very much for that. We could have a whole new session just on that one question, but thank you for your answers.”

“What is your assessment of the efforts to increase space literacy across defence more broadly?”

“Laying in an operating theatre, a patient at North Devon district hospital in my constituency can take great comfort in knowing that they are surrounded by some of the most dedicated healthcare professionals in the world. But astonishingly, the operating theatre around them is little changed since it was first built in…”

“Q8. Since the Prime Minister and I last spoke, more than 6,000 people have signed an open letter to the Health Secretary in support of North Devon district hospital, which faces a 10-year wait for urgent repairs. Why is that hospital still being denied a ministerial visit, and will the Government consider the trust’s e…”

“His wife is English, by the way, not American.”

“Dr Alexandra, would you like to come in on that question?”

“Could you elaborate on how likely the prospect is that the Ukrainians will have to go it alone without the US?”

“Thank you to both panellists for giving evidence today. Professor, you have noted that Ukrainians stress that they will continue to fight under all circumstances. In your view, could Ukraine continue to fight without US support?”