Speeches by Carns.

“I apologise for disappointing you.”

“Can I guarantee to you when the DIP will be published? No.”

“The DIP will be published in due course.”

“Nothing in the DIP process is preventing us from getting on with the job. We are making improvements for service families now and preparing for the launch of the Defence Housing Service. The DIP will be published in due course.”

“The reality is that, when we look across the estate, a huge amount of it is the wrong shape and size, and in the wrong place, for our current armed forces. In some cases, for more than 10 years now, we have been struggling to provide the right type of housing for our armed forces—just for the current commitment, not an…”

“I will lead and then hand over to David. We have done a lot of work on this. I know this has been on the books and off the books for a long time.”

“He knows a lot about leadership and major project development. You will know that team leadership is about surrounding yourself with the very best people.”

“If I can defend the National Armaments Director, I think he is doing an excellent job. He is a professional from industry who understands the scale of project management required to deliver major projects, whether they be across armaments or through to major infrastructure. I think he is doing a fantastic job, and doma…”

“The reason I said “in conjunction with the DIO” is because the DIO will own the broader estate. Some of those houses sit inside the broader estate, and therefore making sure that the DIO is aware of the reporting system that is coming up and through will be critical to ensuring that interdependencies are understood.”

“It will not work under the DIO. David, correct me if I am wrong.”

“It will report in conjunction with the DIO.”

“There are naturally a variety of things that we have done outside of the Bill and outside legislative requirements, such as the consumer charter, which ensures that each housing association has an officer that they can go to. It sets standards for move-in, it allows people more freedom on how they can decorate their ho…”

“We should absolutely get that; it will be really interesting to see. I would also be interested, but I think that includes asbestos and a complete rebuild in the centre. We will get back to you with the details, and then we can scrutinise it.”

“That is a prime example of how not to manage a huge estate. We are the third biggest owner of property in the UK. When I came into the seat, I asked for a breakdown of costs from some of the contractors for veterans and people in single living housing, because I have had experience in the past of electric showers costi…”

“The £9 billion has been ringfenced; it has absolutely been secured for defence housing. Nothing in the DIP process will stop us getting on with the job of making these improvements and getting the job done. We have made that commitment to not just the armed forces community but the nation. We have said it in the House,…”

“It will be huge. One of the biggest problems we have with retention, in particular, is the right to a family life. The least we can do is provide people—who sometimes have to move 10 times in 20 years—a safe, warm, dry and secure home. We have failed to do that for the last 14 to 20 years, but we are now on the road to…”

“This is a huge deal for the armed forces. I have lived in the accommodation—I am sure you and others in Parliament have—and the reality is that the deal with Annington was probably one of the worst deals of all time. We sold off our housing and had to pay for the rent and upkeep of it. It actually reduced our freedom t…”

“I will lead off and then hand over to Sam for some of the detail. When I joined the military, there was still an LGBT ban on people joining. The military has come a long way, but it has a long way to go, and we continually need to move as fast as we possibly can to ensure that Defence is the most accepting and welcomin…”

“Clause 25 will ensure that victims are properly supported as they go through that choice of preference, but I go back to the requirement for a preference. They have to have the ability to choose; I do not think it is right for us to be forcing upon them which avenue they want to take. But we have to make sure that the …”

“I think Mary’s evidence yesterday was really powerful. When she took away the inability to compare thousands of cases with 20 to 30 cases, and gave you the bare facts, it was really clear that the service justice system has an exceptionally good record of moving through to conviction rates, and indeed a lack of withdra…”