Speeches by Roome.

“Can I ask the same question about the armed forces community and some of the challenges they face around employment that you may have come across?”

“To expand on what you have said, Andy, on the social care aspect, what real challenges does the armed forces community face in accessing social care, and how do you think the Covenant’s new perspective will help that situation?”

“As an ex-housing officer, I would have—”

“And when those clients are accessing dementia care from social services—who most probably contact you to ask whether you have a position, or a void that someone can take—do their assessment forms include a mandatory question asking whether the person has ever served?”

“I keep banging on about this point—thank you for the service that you do, by the way, and thank you for the last evidence you gave to the Defence Committee—but no one should be disadvantaged as a result of their service. That is what we are all here for, basically. I have a big garrison in my constituency—1,100 personn…”

“I think I read somewhere that 46% of your clients have dementia.”

“Coming back to the due regard element, at the moment the guidance is that local authorities should show due regard. I am interested in our keeping that term. In the Defence Committee, which I also sit on, we picked up concern about the wording of “due regard” from serving commanding officers who felt that it did not gi…”

“Does the Minister agree that the new medium helicopter programme is a chance not just to upgrade an important capability but to move the service branches on to a common helicopter platform?”

“This is a really important programme, and I see that the official Opposition have not even bothered to turn up to the debate. I asked the Defence Secretary about the DIP, and he told me it would be out by the end of December. Now it is going to be March. Can the Minister guarantee that it will be March? What is the hol…”

“The new Chief of the Defence Staff told me, as a member of the Defence Committee, that the medium helicopter programme was still very much on the armed forces’ priorities list. Does my hon. Friend agree that the Government need to ensure that it is in the defence investment plan, because the service chiefs are asking f…”

“After analysing Atlantic Bastion and the concepts, what do you see as the major technical challenges? Is it design and integration or operating at scale? What are the main challenges with what the MoD is saying?”

“Would you suggest that Atlantic Bastion is the right thing to do, or are there other ways to achieve the capability to defend our sovereignty and NATO?”

“Specifically on research and development and procurement, what are the main challenges with Atlantic Bastion?”

“The Home Office has said that a new licence to practice will be required by all police officers. Can the Minister explain how that will differ from what is required under police conduct regulations, the police code of ethics and current police training programmes?”

“Further to our online petition, signed by more than 3,000 people, calling for the Tarka rail line to be future-proofed, I present this petition on behalf of rail passengers in northern Devon, who have suffered overcrowding and repeated service disruption due to flooding this winter, despite a record-breaking 1 million …”

“Air Marshal, I want to talk about the lessons learned from Ukraine. The SDR says we have demonstrated that “a nation’s Armed Forces are only as strong as the industry, innovators, and investors that stand behind them. And that technological innovation is vital to stay ahead of our adversaries.” What priority lessons sh…”

“Following on from that, given the length of time it takes to procure this new technology, is there a danger that it is out of date by the time that it gets produced?”

“Yes. Where is technology going to take us?”

“Can I ask you a specific question? How are drones affecting warfare today, as they have never been conventionally used before?”

“Does future warfare require a different approach to design and production of platforms, given potential attrition rates in a peer conflict?”