Speeches by Downie.

“Is it your view—and you mentioned this earlier—that you are losing capability that you would naturally have lost anyway, or naturally wanted to lose anyway, because it was based on older technology and, six months in the future, you will be hiring people who can do the next stages? Is that broadly what you are saying?”

“You mentioned the multi-year spending review. Why were you not successful in gaining the support you expected or would have wanted, keeping in mind that the UK Government have said that nuclear should be one of their top priorities?”

“—but you end up having people in the organisation who are not the ones you want. How exactly are you guarding against that?”

“Did you get feedback from DESNZ or the Treasury about how your spending review submission maybe was not quite there? How has that been improved upon to make sure that you can secure the funding you need in the future?”

“We have heard in previous sessions, as well as today, about the importance of nuclear skills, and about the shortages across some areas. Gareth, with that in mind, why is UKNNL seeking to cut 200 jobs? What impact is that likely to have on the Government’s ability to deliver their nuclear pathway?”

“There has been communication on that?”

“Linked to some of the questions Lizzi asked earlier, do you think you have the right skills, particularly in the Environment Agency and elsewhere, to meet the targets you are talking about for the GDAs, and particularly thinking about new technologies?”

“This is possibly a question for Simon as well. If we are losing staff from the NNL, how can that be picked up by GB Energy - Nuclear to make sure those skills are not lost from the sector? Again, we have had a discussion about how we do not have enough nuclear skills in defence and in civil. We are about to have 200 pe…”

“Yes, you touched on it there. The concern with the voluntary redundancy process is that you lose people who can, frankly, go and get other jobs elsewhere. They take a package and off they go, and good luck to them—”

“What are the measures? What can you do to make sure vendors are treating the process properly and not as a vehicle for investment decisions for FDI? That question is for whoever feels best able to answer it.”

“Can I just pick up on that approach about future fleets and technologies? Is the GDA set up correctly to deal with SMRs and AMRs? You mentioned the Rolls-Royce project, but is it currently set up properly to deal with both SMRs and AMRs? If not, what more needs to be done to make sure that is in place?”

“—but you end up having people in the organisation who are not the ones you want. How exactly are you guarding against that?”

“You mentioned that you have brought the timescale down from four years to two. What is a reasonable target? Where do you want to get it to?”

“There has been communication on that?”

“We will come back to that. I want to explore it in a bit more detail in a second.”

“You talk about this as a short-term measure. How do we make sure that these skills are not being lost at a time when we need them? I will possibly ask Simon to contribute here as well. How are we making sure there is a connection between GBE-N and the NNL on how those skills are not lost? You say it is short-term. Is i…”

“What are the measures? What can you do to make sure vendors are treating the process properly and not as a vehicle for investment decisions for FDI? That question is for whoever feels best able to answer it.”

“And why?”

“And why?”

“I want to develop some of the points that Lizzi has just been talking about around defence and energy security. Dan, I am aware that you just had to answer all of that. I will come back to something with you around cyber in a second, but to David and Ana in particular, given the threats that we see from both physical a…”