Speeches by Jopp.

“The Minister is very generous with her time, and I am grateful to her for that. She welcomed the research funded by the SUDC UK in Bristol, but I do not think we have heard any commitment to Government-funded research into this area. Will she clarify whether she will take that forward?”

“Was the hon. Member in the Chamber to hear the Prime Minister make his statement on the war in the middle east, in which he said that British sovereign bases, British troops and British people had been attacked? He said that it was therefore right that we defend ourselves, but that we cannot shoot all the drones out of…”

“Will the hon. Member give way?”

“With the points the hon. Member has just made, it seems he has forgotten that a year ago his own party suspended seven of its Back Benchers for voting with an SNP proposal to lift the two-child benefit cap. If he is going to be quite so forthright in his criticism of us, could he explain why his Government have done su…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir John. I thank the hon. Member for Rossendale and Darwen (Andy MacNae) for securing this debate. I also recognise my predecessor as the Member of Parliament for Spelthorne, Kwasi Kwarteng, who sponsored this debate back in 2023. All Members have expressed that they …”

“What is that as a percentage?”

“Thank you. In 2024, the Secretary of State said that he was imposing a new 10/30 rule, namely that any applicant would receive a provisional decision within 10 days, and that they would receive a date of starting training within 30 days. Can you tell me what percentage of applicants across Defence are hitting those mar…”

“In writing that contract, the service level agreements that you have with the contractor are going to be key. Given that the Secretary of State has set that 10/30 rule, is the SLA going to be set to say, “We want 100% of people applying to achieve that 10/30 rule”?”

“One of the critical interfaces is between the potential recruit and the NHS—the GPs’ world. The GPs are clearly not subject to your contract, but how are you going to incentivise them to prioritise more highly military applications in order to speed up that bit, because that really is the cost elbow in the arrangement,…”

“It was zero before, so it would be an increase.”

“It would be helpful to know. The recruiting reorganisation means that recruitment will all come under the same private provider, but not until 2027. Is that correct?”

“How are you doing with the transitional arrangements from other contractors and services doing their own thing into one swept-up, fully assured contract with the new provider?”

“Lieutenant General, you are a soldier, so you know. Which was incorrect: the operating parameters, or what they were asked to do in the exercise?”

“So the commanders on the exercise either were ignorant of or chose to ignore the operating parameters of the vehicle system.”

“This is what young captains think of when they sit in the back of armoured vehicles for hours on end—this always struck me. On the basis that you are right that it is the establishment figure of each of the armed forces that gets voted on annually, yet you undershoot it and have a shortfall, the armed forces are still …”

“Before we move away from recruitment, could you please write to the Public Accounts Committee with the breakdown of what percentage of that 31,000 are 10-day offers, and I think you said—”

“With that in mind, it would be helpful if you could write to the Committee. I think your phrase was “time of flight”, so where are we with rejoiners? What is their 10/30 equivalent? How long is it taking to get back in? What gets measured gets resourced, and if you knew more about it, and could tell us more about it, I…”

“Yes. If you could break that down by service, that would be very helpful. What can you tell us about retention? Is the situation improving or worsening?”

“Air Marshal, are you the right person to ask questions about recruiting and retention?”

“In retention, trying to find that relationship between inputs and outcomes is critical. There is a world of good ideas coming from the Department and the services, and that’s great, but you need to weigh it against the overall picture of what is happening outside the wire and the attractiveness of staying in the armed …”