Speeches by Twigg.

“I remind hon. Members that they may make a speech only with the prior permission of the Member in charge and the Minister. As is the convention for 30-minute debates, there will not be an opportunity for the Member in charge to wind up.”

“It is going to be some years before it will be delivered, is it?”

“But if you delve deeper into it, the SDR is very big on digital communications. A lot of this is problematic with the programmes—”

“Can I ask you how you think the major project programme is going at the moment?”

“Will you remind us: what was the original timescale for it being delivered?”

“What is the current situation? What is the timescale? Is it still going to be done? Is there still going to be an end product, or is it all caught up in the defence investment plan?”

“There is also the cost, of course, which we will come on to in a minute and which I am not going to delve into. It is a serious issue. I will revert to the programme. Given what is going on in Iran and the strait of Hormuz, I note that one of the projects that is marked in red is the minehunting capability. That is a b…”

“I do not think it means you.”

“I am conscious of the time.”

“You are saying that, from now, these problems will not exist any more.”

“So you say Wedgetail is a technology issue?”

“So why are we still struggling on communications and software systems—”

“Sorry, I just want to cut this down, because you spoke before about how you are driving simplicity. Coming back to that mantra of yours, there are serious issues with Defence Nuclear at the moment.”

“To follow on from Mike Martin’s question, we talk about reviews and everything that has been reviewed, but last year the MoD announced that it was going to accelerate the acquisition processes. It mentioned a number of things, and I will not go into the major platforms, but it said: “upgrades to communications and weap…”

“As of today, are we failing to meet some of the capabilities that we should be meeting, or are being tasked to provide to NATO?”

“Okay. Because of the time, my colleague will go on to the issue about the cost of the nuclear programme, and so on, but NISTA data shows that Dreadnought and the Spearfish torpedo programme are going from amber to being greyed out, and a co-production capability and the submarine waterfront infrastructure projects are …”

“Clearly, there will be a timescale in which those targets should be met, so how many targets are we failing to meet within the timescales that have been set? Are we not meeting some of them?”

“One of the suspicions is that that is a reason for the delays, because there are real issues about affordability and the ability to deliver.”

“That is not the question that I am asking.”

“The other thing that is troubling the Committee is that it says some cannot be reported for national security reasons. This has increased to five. How do we hold you to account when you are basically increasing the numbers and taking these out because of national security implications?”