Speeches by Kirkham.

“As I understand it, it is almost like social housing. You have your main contractor and then subcontractors underneath. The subcontractors do one little job, and the main contractor does not really check or do much about it—they have a contract until 2029—so on the ground we are trying to get the housing officers to ma…”

“So your strategy will set what will be for sale as private homes and what will be for military use.”

“My question now is about housing. Considering you were involved in the Kerslake Commission on armed forces housing, do you support the Bill’s establishment of a Defence Housing Service, and do you think it could and should lead to improvements in armed forces housing, which has not always been of the best standard?”

“Thinking about the difficulty that we now know we have of getting in touch with people who were in the forces, do you think that something like a national database would help, with people’s names, addresses and skills? Do we need something that large, or is it more down to people having a duty to get in touch, and for …”

“As a layperson who is not on the Defence Committee, I am astonished by what you say about how the MOD does not keep in touch with people and may not even know where they are once they have left, whereas in the 1980s it sounds as if you had a system of contacting people and updating. Who is responsible for that now? How…”

“My main question is to Steve. How should we use the increase in the Reserves that we are hoping to get? Is it better to backfill Regular roles, or should there be separate formed units?”

“You’ll be working until you are 80, won’t you?”

“I welcome the changes to the Green Book to support investment in coastal and rural areas. Can the Chancellor confirm that they will lead to investment in transport infrastructure in places like Cornwall, to support the investment being made in our industries, particularly the £50 million going into our critical mineral…”

“To follow up on that, the age limit is going to be set at 65. Do you think that is about right, or should it follow the state retirement age?”

“The ONS is considering taking out the veteran question in 2031, thinking that it might be able to rely on the MOD service leavers database. Do you think it should keep the question or take it out? Would it help to leave it?”

“That is interesting to know, because it will affect the Covenant and how it is enforced if you know how many veterans there are.”

“A number of my constituents have been struggling with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, including several type 1 diabetic HGV drivers who have to renew their class 1 licences on a yearly basis. Every year the DVLA takes three to four months to process those applications. Licences expire, and they are relying on …”

“I am so pleased that schools furthest from Westminster are going to be prioritised and given time to apply for parliamentary trips. It takes at least six hours to get here from Cornish schools, which means they have to take a number of days in London. That is why their visits are rare and often in the summer term, when…”

“9. What assessment the Commission has made of the potential merits of prioritising schools that are furthest from Westminster for education visits to Parliament.”

“Thank you, Chair. People have issues when they go and speak to people in health—whether it is primary, secondary or social care—as they have to retell their story a number of times. How can you make it so that people have to tell it only once? I know new digital records are coming up in the NHS, and I am hoping that pr…”

“I am thinking about partners, specifically ones who are separated, because that happens quite a lot in the military, and making sure that you hoover up all those people.”

“No, sorry. I realise that I interrupted and I apologise.”

“What about families?”

“You have covered most of the things I wanted to ask, because my question was going to be about the practical differences this will make. For example, if you are a woman getting divorced from someone in the services and you apply for universal credit, how would that be different with the extended duty? You talked about …”

“I am thinking particularly about families and support at school, and about things such as being encouraged to apply for the pupil premium or SEND support, so that you are looking across not only local authorities but multi-academy trusts. Have you found that to be an area where there is a large discrepancy in the way i…”