Speeches by Twigg.

“That is even though we do not know what the investment is currently.”

“One of the things that we are trying to get at is how much this area is now taking up in terms of the impact that it is having on defence’s ability to provide resources, people and equipment. That is part of the reason for this inquiry. What I think you are saying is that you do not have really a handle on it, because …”

“Yes, but you do not have the money.”

“You are not surfacing a submarine every day, are you? That is one thing out of the way. You may be, for all I know, but I guess you are probably not.”

“Going back to your terminology in terms of state threats in the last five or 10 years, how have those become more of a difficulty in terms of resources that you have to counter state threats, and defence’s contribution to that? I get that it is a Government-wide approach, but I am just trying to get some sort of handle…”

“Does the MOD know what resources it has allocated to counter hybrid threats? Does it have any idea of what resources it has allocated, whether they are enough, and what the gaps are?”

“In terms of the protection of undersea cables, you could say that RFA Proteus is more suited to a hybrid type of protection. Do you need more hybrid-related assets?”

“You have described the aggressive action from a Russian ship. Are we too soft? Are we not being proactive enough in taking more action against adversaries than we do? We are always reactive rather than being more proactive. Could we be more on the front foot?”

“Just to be clear, you would like more defence assets, but you are also expecting industry to do more.”

“Give us some, apart from the one that you have just outlined.”

“We have that one, but what about others where you are being proactive?”

“I understand. Basically, if we found that an adversary had cut one of our undersea cables, would we go and do the same thing to them?”

“My question is in terms of new recruits. Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton: How many new recruits who are under 18, or how many new recruits?”

“How many complaints have been made by under-18s about sexual harassment or abuse? Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton: I am not aware of any complaints made by under-18s. There are about 140 under-18s in our system in the Royal Air Force. I am not aware of any complaints.”

“I did say complaints, not convictions.”

“Can I turn to the issue about training? I will come back to you, General Walker. We had a debate on this Committee in 2023 with Minister Murrison about the threshold at the foundation college for, basically, removing people who are involved, so the trainers, from their job. There was an issue about what the threshold w…”

“How many have been discharged?”

“Minister, coming back to your announcement today about the central violence against women and girls taskforce, which aims to drive cultural improvements, you are going to lead that. Who is leading each of the services and at what rank?”

“What rank will lead each service?”

“I get your level. I am talking about the services.”