Speeches by Roome.

“I will withdraw the amendment, but I ask that the Minister takes on board the comments made by the hon. Member for Solihull West and Shirley in his powerful speech, so that this can come out on Report. I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. Clause 12 ordered to stand part of the B…”

“The Minister mentions that there are 200 officers at one star and above. Does he have the facts on how many of those 200 one-stars do not know one another?”

“It is important that we take on board the evidence from our visits. Otherwise, what is the point of going on them? That point was brought up when we debated a previous amendment, with reference to the use of the civilian or military justice system. The hon. and gallant Member for Solihull West and Shirley made an excel…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Efford. Amendment 6 would introduce a requirement for the service police and the Defence Serious Crime Command to refer all allegations of sexual offences and domestic violence to the civilian police forces for investigation and subsequent trial in the civilian just…”

“I beg to move amendment 6, in clause 12, page 29, line 6, at end insert— “115C Duty to refer sexual offences and domestic abuse to civilian police (1) This section applies where a service police force or the tri-service serious crime unit is made aware of an allegation that a person subject to service law, or a civilia…”

“Back in February, former Royal Navy officers and other expert witnesses warned the Defence Committee that although tapping an undersea cable is very difficult, they are vulnerable to sabotage, and more than three quarters of the UK’s natural gas is imported via undersea pipelines from Norway. Given Russia’s attacks on …”

“I would like to draw the Committee’s attention to the Defence Committee report on the armed forces covenant, which is based on evidence from witnesses. It says: “As the current duty of ‘due regard’ is inconsistently interpreted, the extended duty must be accompanied by clear guidance so that the duty is clearly underst…”

“Will the Minister outline what the minimum requirement is currently?”

“It is nice to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Efford. Amendment 5 would add a new section to the armed forces covenant provisions that were introduced in the Armed Forces Act 2006 to try to make access to services more consistent. This Bill requires specified persons to have due regard to the covenant for specified m…”

“I totally agree with my hon. Friend. Published guidance can be interpreted differently from authority to authority. It is about how they put that into action. Local NHS services have a mad patchwork of transfer rules depending on where someone moves from across the country, which can make access to medical care difficu…”

“We heard in the Defence Committee that a lot of people currently serving in the armed forces have never even heard of the armed forces covenant; they do not know what it is. We are discussing how to educate the public, but a lot of people serving have never heard of the armed forces covenant. Does the Minister think th…”

“When I was a council leader, we signed up to the armed forces covenant scheme, which set some principles for councils. Can the Minister give any indication of how many councils up and down the country have actually signed up to the armed forces covenant scheme?”

“I was a local armed forces champion. I was in local government for 22 years and ended up being council leader before entering this place. I can tell the Committee that, in practice, I was going around and screaming my head off to make sure that people were listening but, as it was not mandatory, they could just refer t…”

“Are you happy with the wording “due regard”?”

“Good morning, everyone. I want to start by asking questions on the Armed Forces Covenant. Some of our evidence has noted that the existing Covenant duty is implemented unevenly. How will the Bill address the issue of inconsistent delivery?”

“David, this is probably a question for you. There is a lot of money being invested in improving these houses, so how are you determining whether you are getting value for money from your contractors? They may say, “Oh, it’s the Government; they’ve got loads of money,” so how are you determining that it is good value fo…”

“What evidence would you need to satisfy yourself that somebody has given “due regard”?”

“How can we ensure that the public bodies that are going to have this new Covenant are clear about what is actually meant by “due regard”?”

“Some of the evidence we have received has said that it is about the interpretation of “due regard”. How can we ensure that more people understand what “due regard” is going to mean?”

“You also have the contingency within that as well, don’t you? I can see that you have spent something like £3.37 billion of that contingency fund at the moment. Defence Nuclear has access to multi-year funding and to the contingency. Would the same approach benefit wider defence acquisition?”