Speeches by Jopp.

“The people of Spelthorne have been holding their breath during this flood season. Obviously, prevention is better than cure. Can the Minister update us on the River Thames scheme and on when a decision about whether it will go ahead and when will be taken?”

“Yesterday I spoke to an elderly gentleman who was taking himself off to his local pharmacy to receive the RSV jab, but because he was over 80 he was going to pay more than £200 for it. Will the Minister please tell us how much the RSV jab costs the Department when it is free for 75 to 80-year-olds, and how much guidanc…”

“General, just picking up on the Pumas in Brunei and Cyprus, a couple of weeks ago the Secretary of State announced that that was ending. You have said that he is being briefed this week on options to fill that capability gap. Presumably that means that you know that all those options are cheaper than Puma because, othe…”

“Will the hon. Member give way?”

“I am grateful to the hon. Member for giving way, particularly on the subject of growth. He, like me, is an avid reader of the Labour party manifesto, so he knows that sustained economic growth is the first mission of this Government. I think we all agree on the point that sustained economic growth is a really good thin…”

“Building on that theme, we had the review team in and I thought—slightly disappointingly, from my point of view—they acknowledged that their riding instructions are 2.5% and that is it. The idea that it was Treasury-led rather than threat-based was something that we had a discussion about. To a certain extent, I though…”

“Can I just get the sequencing clear? You described that you were into the tendering process for the replacement of Capita across all three services and the Government have subsequently announced these, as some would say, eye-watering new targets in terms of the number of days before you get a place in training. Are you…”

“Members of the Committee will be aware that line 35 on page 2 defines a general welfare matter using its own terms; it says that a general welfare matter is a matter to do with welfare. Thinking back to when we all did English GCSE—or O-level, in the case of some of us—we know that using terms to define themselves is a…”

“I do not think it is, actually. This is important, because as written—without the amendment—the provision refers to a matter that “arises in connection with ongoing service of persons subject to service law”. As soon as someone is killed, therefore, they are not within the purview of the Armed Forces Commissioner and n…”

“There is something of a twilight zone. We heard from Colonel Darren Doherty on Tuesday that he had done his 38 years’ service and was now entering a period of regular reserved service, which, as the Minister knows, is a residual requirement to answer the call to arms. I have checked with the hon. Member for Epsom and E…”

“If that strategy does not work or if it is seen to be failing, will the Minister make it clear whether that is something that the Armed Forces Commissioner could look at? As the Bill is currently drafted, they would not be allowed to do that.”

“It occurs to me that, prior to taking the oath, there is a body of people who are prospective recruits. They have a material impact on morale, because if they take months and months to get through the pipeline to become recruits, the wastage rate increases and fewer people turn up in training, which means that the arme…”

“I thank the hon. Member for his intervention—it is almost as if he read my speech. I was going to stay on my German theme and say that one person who interpreted that general definition of welfare was another German: General Erwin Rommel. He said that the best form of welfare is better training, because more training m…”

“If the commissioner were to come to the Secretary of State and say that they would like members of the armed forces seconded permanently to their staff, what would the Secretary of State’s reaction be?”

“The Labour party has been in charge in Wales for 25 years. The percentage of patients in Wales waiting more than a year for treatment is 22.5%, compared with 4% in England. Why, in 25 years of being in charge, have you not reformed the NHS in Wales and brought down waiting lists?”

“5. What assessment she has made with the Welsh Government of trends in levels of NHS waiting lists in Wales in the last 12 months.”

“Without wishing to appear totally supine to the will of the President-elect, we do potentially meet a fork in the road. Some people have said that that will challenge Europe in terms of having to step up considerably. Presumably between now and 8 January, our strategic communications within the UK have to cleverly prod…”

“I am multitasking. I am interested to hear your views on the UK’s support for Ukraine, and particularly the public’s support for the UK Government’s support to Ukraine. The Secretary of State for Defence said we cannot take it for granted and we have to nurture it. What is your assessment of the UK’s strategic communic…”

“We might return to that on Thursday, but thank you.”

“Q I have another question. Two of the three witnesses identified the risk of the legislation eroding the authority of the military chain of command, but one said that he had had a good session with you and come away convinced that it would not do so. Will you enlighten us as to how you managed to convince the general, …”