Speeches by Roome.

“And when those clients are accessing dementia care from social services—who most probably contact you to ask whether you have a position, or a void that someone can take—do their assessment forms include a mandatory question asking whether the person has ever served?”

“I think I read somewhere that 46% of your clients have dementia.”

“To expand on what you have said, Andy, on the social care aspect, what real challenges does the armed forces community face in accessing social care, and how do you think the Covenant’s new perspective will help that situation?”

“I keep banging on about this point—thank you for the service that you do, by the way, and thank you for the last evidence you gave to the Defence Committee—but no one should be disadvantaged as a result of their service. That is what we are all here for, basically. I have a big garrison in my constituency—1,100 personn…”

“This is a really important programme, and I see that the official Opposition have not even bothered to turn up to the debate. I asked the Defence Secretary about the DIP, and he told me it would be out by the end of December. Now it is going to be March. Can the Minister guarantee that it will be March? What is the hol…”

“The new Chief of the Defence Staff told me, as a member of the Defence Committee, that the medium helicopter programme was still very much on the armed forces’ priorities list. Does my hon. Friend agree that the Government need to ensure that it is in the defence investment plan, because the service chiefs are asking f…”

“Does the Minister agree that the new medium helicopter programme is a chance not just to upgrade an important capability but to move the service branches on to a common helicopter platform?”

“Would you suggest that Atlantic Bastion is the right thing to do, or are there other ways to achieve the capability to defend our sovereignty and NATO?”

“Specifically on research and development and procurement, what are the main challenges with Atlantic Bastion?”

“After analysing Atlantic Bastion and the concepts, what do you see as the major technical challenges? Is it design and integration or operating at scale? What are the main challenges with what the MoD is saying?”

“The Home Office has said that a new licence to practice will be required by all police officers. Can the Minister explain how that will differ from what is required under police conduct regulations, the police code of ethics and current police training programmes?”

“Further to our online petition, signed by more than 3,000 people, calling for the Tarka rail line to be future-proofed, I present this petition on behalf of rail passengers in northern Devon, who have suffered overcrowding and repeated service disruption due to flooding this winter, despite a record-breaking 1 million …”

“Following on from that, given the length of time it takes to procure this new technology, is there a danger that it is out of date by the time that it gets produced?”

“Yes. Where is technology going to take us?”

“Does future warfare require a different approach to design and production of platforms, given potential attrition rates in a peer conflict?”

“Ed, do you have anything to add to that? The DIP was supposed to come out in the autumn, then we were told it would be towards the end of the year, and now we are told it will be March. What do you think is holding it up?”

“Defence reform comes into all that as well: is the MoD ready? Time is limited, so I will move on to my next question. Sir Hew, to what extent might an emphasis on the Ukraine conflict distort our understanding by overshadowing lessons drawn from other theatres of war?”

“Keith, how is the absence of the defence investment plan impacting preparations for current and future conflict?”

“Can I ask you a specific question? How are drones affecting warfare today, as they have never been conventionally used before?”

“Air Marshal, I want to talk about the lessons learned from Ukraine. The SDR says we have demonstrated that “a nation’s Armed Forces are only as strong as the industry, innovators, and investors that stand behind them. And that technological innovation is vital to stay ahead of our adversaries.” What priority lessons sh…”