Speeches by Foord.

“I am grateful to the hon. Member for giving way; I understand why he might need to take a moment to compose himself. This debate is an opportunity for those of us whose friends and family have served in the armed forces or security organisations and lost their lives to pay tribute to them. Although today is about the v…”

“There are over 10,000 education, health and care plans currently registered in Devon and the average cost is rising—it is now over £18,000 per pupil. Much of that is spent on private providers who are not subject to the rigorous oversight that we demand of SEND provision in the state sector. Given that the Leader of th…”

“The Justice Secretary talks about the need to expedite trials for the sake of victims of crime, and she is absolutely right. As she considers the proposals from Sir Brian Leveson, will she take into account those who are innocent and who stand wrongly accused, who are having to wait anxiously for years for their day in…”

“Are you at all concerned that what we have here is the defence procurement tail wagging the foreign policy dog?”

“Certainly. I have only one question, Chair, but first I must correct the record: it is the F-16 that is being used in Ukraine, not the F-22. I would like to ask about contingency planning for the US withdrawing what remains of its supplies to Ukraine. Can you tell us about discussions that you have had with the UK’s al…”

“There are members of this Committee who have served in uniform, so we do take the point that you do not want to endanger British lives. Staying with procurement, two weeks ago the Government announced that they were going to procure the F-35A and would be seeking to use the F-35A in a nuclear-certified role. How much i…”

“In a 2016 paper published by RAND, it was suggested that the legal agreement that set up the global spares pool allows participant nations to opt out and establish separate stocks of assets not subject to shared management. Is this something that the British Government have explored with allies?”

“The F-35 is not being used in Ukraine; the F-22 is being used in Ukraine.”

“Staying with arms export licensing for the moment, Foreign Secretary, I take your point about the law, but many of our constituents suspect that the British Government are not doing all that they can to influence the Israeli Government in relation to the war in Gaza, and specifically on the subject of the sale of F-35 …”

“Thank you, Tan, and thank you, Minister. Staying with the example you gave of the procurement of the F-35A, what do you make of the charge that this decision to procure nuclear-certified aircraft is on the one hand restoring sub-strategic nuclear capability to the UK, but on the other hand ironically making the UK more…”

“That is a departure from what we saw when we last had this level of tension between Russia and the west, back in the 1990s. Then, the UK had its own independent air-launched nuclear deterrent. Recently in the Lords, Admiral Lord West asked the Defence Minister, Lord Coaker, whether the UK ought to reassess its nuclear …”

“One last question: it provides additional options and additional capability, but I am suggesting that this could be an opportunity to review the UK’s nuclear posture. I am thinking about the posture of deliberate ambiguity that we have had for many years. We last considered it when NATO had conventional inferiority to …”

“This is not just about capability; it is also about intent, and about signalling the conditions under which the deterrent could be used. We have had this long-standing approach, a posture of deliberate ambiguity, but many Russia experts are telling us that this time we need to make clear how we are communicating. We do…”

“Minister, since you last appeared in front of the Committee, the UK has agreed a defence and security memorandum of understanding with the European Union, and the UK is seeking access to the SAFE programme. How can the UK shape that programme, given that we are outside the European Union?”

“And some that aren’t, perhaps.”

“We suppose that the United States will not be part of the SAFE programme. Are there implications there for the UK?”

“It is up to €600 billion. That is going to make a difference to UK-US relations, isn’t it?”

“It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Mr Western. In eastern and mid Devon, we have many ordinary medium-sized and small businesses, but they are facing extraordinary barriers, including being held back by a lack of reliable broadband in rural areas. I appreciate that that is not in the Minister’s brief, but…”

“While the hon. Lady is talking about the south-west of England, I would hate for her to forget Axminster, which still has a flourishing carpet maker, but it does not have quite the same level of employment that it did in its heyday. Does she agree that Government can help by investing in superfast broadband, given that…”

“People in East Devon have been told that they must now travel to Exeter for audiology services that they previously received at their local community hospital. What steps are the Government taking to encourage new providers to restore accessible audiology services?”