Speeches by Roome.

“Thank you very much for that. We could have a whole new session just on that one question, but thank you for your answers.”

“Juliana, I know you have written extensively, including in a paper that you submitted to RUSI last year, about the space skills needed by personnel and how they should be embedded in defence, rather than looking at it as a niche area. Given that, what particular challenges exist in recruiting suitably qualified personn…”

“What is your assessment of the efforts to increase space literacy across defence more broadly?”

“Laying in an operating theatre, a patient at North Devon district hospital in my constituency can take great comfort in knowing that they are surrounded by some of the most dedicated healthcare professionals in the world. But astonishingly, the operating theatre around them is little changed since it was first built in…”

“Q8. Since the Prime Minister and I last spoke, more than 6,000 people have signed an open letter to the Health Secretary in support of North Devon district hospital, which faces a 10-year wait for urgent repairs. Why is that hospital still being denied a ministerial visit, and will the Government consider the trust’s e…”

“Could you elaborate on how likely the prospect is that the Ukrainians will have to go it alone without the US?”

“Thank you to both panellists for giving evidence today. Professor, you have noted that Ukrainians stress that they will continue to fight under all circumstances. In your view, could Ukraine continue to fight without US support?”

“Dr Alexandra, would you like to come in on that question?”

“His wife is English, by the way, not American.”

“Can I just come in on that, General? What are your leadership teams telling you about why people are not carrying on from application to conversion and then to being in the job? What are some of the reasons why females are not carrying on with the application? Is it the length of time?”

“When I joined the Air Force, I was in within six weeks of going into the recruitment office. We had medically trained personnel, doctors, who would sign and take the risks. The recruitment agencies that we are using, without mentioning any names, are most probably just following policy. We have had an incident reported…”

“The statistics are really pretty even. We got 11% intake and about 9% outflow. We are doing something right there. That is consistent with international recruitment as well compared to other forces. However, what specific plans do we have for, say, the 10-year time period? What targets do we have? You alluded to 30% or…”

“What do you see as some of the barriers to recruitment at the moment?”

“I want to talk about recruitment and retention now in the armed forces, which is a particular challenge when it comes to females. For example, in 2020, the services set themselves a recruitment target of 15%, which has now been quietly dropped. It was met only by the RAF. Up until 30 September 2024, the recruitment of …”

“I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for South Devon (Caroline Voaden) for securing the debate. My constituency covers nearly 1,100 sq km, which raises some unique challenges for rural services that will be familiar to many hon. Members. The most pressing of those challenges is equal access to local health servic…”

“Thank you, Minister, for your attendance today and your service, and all the panel for the work that you do to support our service personnel and veterans. I want to get into the inconsistency around the covenant and how it is applied. We receive submissions from local authorities. One went top to bottom, thought out th…”

“On that point as well, it is not only the service personnel. A point that we picked up on our visit was the spouses and the families, who are also disadvantaged. I know that we are talking about compensating serving personnel. Let us not forget about their families, particularly the spouses, who have no choice but to a…”

“To finish off on this section, Minister, I have heard you say, particularly towards veterans, “Ensure that you tell your GP that you are a veteran”. Could you explain to the Committee what advantages there would be to that veteran telling their GP that they have served in the forces?”

“I have been part of a local authority and leader of a local authority. For the actual meaning of what it means, it is very good to say, “We signed the armed forces covenant”, but putting it into action is a different thing. That is why I am asking whether it is inconsistent using the words “due regard” when it is sayin…”

“Following on from that, some of the evidence that we have received as a Committee criticises the language of “due regard”. For example, Air Vice Marshal David McLoughlin stated that the legal duty of due regard was weak and could easily be ignored, explaining that, at the most flippant end, he had been told that due re…”