Speeches by Roome.

“Is there an opportunity to extend your term to help with that transition period? The Armed Forces Minister stated to the Public Bill Committee that it was going to be early next year that they were going to start—that is, now—but it will now be 2026. There is that transition period. Given your experiences from before, …”

“You have looked at the legislation of the Armed Forces Commissioner and what the role will undertake. It has the expanded scope of being able to talk to families. What have you learned in your term of office that the new Bill will bring in to ratify some of the complaints and recommendations much more quickly? Is that …”

“Given the extra responsibilities of the Armed Forces Commissioner, do you see that resource having to increase?”

“Is the recruitment freeze having a direct impact on complaints being investigated?”

“Is there an average time that a case is open? In other words, how many cases do you have open today?”

“What is the long-term solution? What do you have planned? What can you share with us?”

“I would like to bring us back to the personnel aspect. Mr Williams, over the last three years, the MOD has spent £1.2 billion on temporary staff. To put that in context, that would deliver all the upgrades and new buildings that my hospital needs in my constituency. Just last year, 2023-24, you spent £459 million on te…”

“I thank the hon. Member for giving way and for bringing this debate on rail in Devon. Trains on the Tarka line from Barnstaple to Exeter are currently at overcapacity, partly because of one-way pressure of journeys. Large numbers of college students travel to Exeter in the morning and back in the evening. Those trains …”

“Can the UK learn lessons from Ukraine’s own use of its military aid for future military procurement and operational planning? How can we do this?”

“Could I just come back to you on those priorities? When you are saying about climate change, is that specific to Ukraine? Could you just embellish on that, please?”

“Coming on to that, I was at a briefing yesterday in the MOD and they were saying that even drone technology is changing on a fortnightly basis. Once you have manufactured one, it is out of date. There is always something new. We have given a significant amount of drones to Ukraine and then it is up to us to replenish t…”

“The Ukrainian Government have had many reshuffles, and obviously that impacts on supply and communications through our own MOD procurement aspects, where they are used to dealing with one Minister and then it changes to another Minister. The Chair has mentioned society here in the United Kingdom, but how is civil socie…”

“Q1. If he will list his official engagements for Wednesday 4 December. [Interruption.]”

“I would like to concur with the comments the Prime Minister has just made. North Devon district hospital is the most remote hospital in mainland England. Its intensive care unit has only six beds, it is almost 50 years old, and it serves a population of 165,000 people. Can the Prime Minister assure my constituents that…”

“Will the make-up of the review and challenge panels be made public?”

“Could you explain a little more about how you have used AI?”

“Do you have a process for identifying and resolving conflicts of interest? Are you comfortable with its robustness?”

“My questions are around the governance and transparency of your work. You have involved a number of experts in your review and challenge panels, as well as reportedly using AI to form the submissions to the SDR. How are you ensuring transparency and building public trust in relation to your approach?”

“It is a great pleasure to serve under your chairmanship for the first time in a Westminster Hall debate, Mr Dowd. I thank the hon. Member for North Durham (Luke Akehurst) for securing this important debate on the UK’s air defence systems, and Members from across the House for their enlightening and insightful contribut…”

“Sorry—my hon. Friend. The introduction of flexibility in defence capital spending would mean we can focus on meeting critical in-service dates rather than simply hitting financial deadlines. Fixing defence procurement will ensure that our armed forces remain modern, capable and ready to protect us in an ever-changing w…”