Speeches by Roome.

“My constituents in North Devon were let down by the previous Government, and they will be utterly dismayed to find that the remotest hospital in England has been passed over again for essential repairs—it is now beyond 2035. Does the Department understand that if critical care and operating theatre facilities begin to …”

“Does the hon. Gentleman agree that, with our Italian and Japanese partners committing to multi-year funding plans for GCAP to give confidence to industry, the UK should show a similar commitment?”

“I am interested in the transition period between your office and your term, and the Armed Forces Commissioner. You have talked about the difficulties faced by your team when there was a gap between your and your predecessor’s terms as ombudsman; what was the impact of that?”

“Is there an opportunity to extend your term to help with that transition period? The Armed Forces Minister stated to the Public Bill Committee that it was going to be early next year that they were going to start—that is, now—but it will now be 2026. There is that transition period. Given your experiences from before, …”

“You have looked at the legislation of the Armed Forces Commissioner and what the role will undertake. It has the expanded scope of being able to talk to families. What have you learned in your term of office that the new Bill will bring in to ratify some of the complaints and recommendations much more quickly? Is that …”

“That is important. You mentioned earlier that you are only as good as the resources you have. For the Committee’s information, how big is your office at present? How many staff do you have?”

“Given the extra responsibilities of the Armed Forces Commissioner, do you see that resource having to increase?”

“Is the recruitment freeze having a direct impact on complaints being investigated?”

“Is there an average time that a case is open? In other words, how many cases do you have open today?”

“I would like to bring us back to the personnel aspect. Mr Williams, over the last three years, the MOD has spent £1.2 billion on temporary staff. To put that in context, that would deliver all the upgrades and new buildings that my hospital needs in my constituency. Just last year, 2023-24, you spent £459 million on te…”

“What is the long-term solution? What do you have planned? What can you share with us?”

“I thank the hon. Member for giving way and for bringing this debate on rail in Devon. Trains on the Tarka line from Barnstaple to Exeter are currently at overcapacity, partly because of one-way pressure of journeys. Large numbers of college students travel to Exeter in the morning and back in the evening. Those trains …”

“Coming on to that, I was at a briefing yesterday in the MOD and they were saying that even drone technology is changing on a fortnightly basis. Once you have manufactured one, it is out of date. There is always something new. We have given a significant amount of drones to Ukraine and then it is up to us to replenish t…”

“The Ukrainian Government have had many reshuffles, and obviously that impacts on supply and communications through our own MOD procurement aspects, where they are used to dealing with one Minister and then it changes to another Minister. The Chair has mentioned society here in the United Kingdom, but how is civil socie…”

“Can the UK learn lessons from Ukraine’s own use of its military aid for future military procurement and operational planning? How can we do this?”

“Could I just come back to you on those priorities? When you are saying about climate change, is that specific to Ukraine? Could you just embellish on that, please?”

“Q1. If he will list his official engagements for Wednesday 4 December. [Interruption.]”

“I would like to concur with the comments the Prime Minister has just made. North Devon district hospital is the most remote hospital in mainland England. Its intensive care unit has only six beds, it is almost 50 years old, and it serves a population of 165,000 people. Can the Prime Minister assure my constituents that…”

“Could you explain a little more about how you have used AI?”

“Do you have a process for identifying and resolving conflicts of interest? Are you comfortable with its robustness?”