Speeches by Norman.

“Brilliant; that’s great. Obviously, the Government have put a bit of a gag on senior members of the armed forces speaking. Has that been a constraint on you or some of your colleagues?”

“Obviously, one of our concerns—we published a report on it—is current readiness, in the next two or three years. Can you confirm that over the next few years all the services will see an increase in disposable cash flow that they can spend on improving readiness as a matter of resource funding? You hinted that resource…”

“So there are big capital programmes, as well as small in-year and multi-year revenue programmes.”

“But we can’t build structures based on individuals.”

“The Committee will know that I have a personal interest, if not a Committee interest, in this area. Can you tell me how the quad is supposed to work? How it is supposed to work is actually very opaque. For example, you have said that you are responsible for platforms, exquisite technologies and long-term development; b…”

“Why is that, and why does it make sense for nuclear but not for other platforms?”

“Do you draw a distinction between what you might call platform investment over a long period and consumables investment?”

“Obviously, we have seen examples around the world where consumables investment is now such that in a war context it can be a matter of a few days between the order and the supply. Is that the kind of framework you intend to move towards for this country?”

“What is your resting assumption about defence readiness that is guiding your priorities?”

“We will come to Kindred later, but I have a limited amount of time so want to focus on a couple of things now. Do you think it is a strategic weakness for the UK that we are not taking drones investment as seriously as the Germans are, with Stark, Quantum and Helsing?”

“Thank you for coming. There is a lot of concern across the defence world and the wider country about the lack of readiness in our defence forces—the MoD and the armed services. On the other side, there is concern about the lack of a demand signal that would prime investment. Is that your view?”

“You don’t share the concern about readiness?”

“If you don’t have a sense of defence readiness, how can you guide priorities?”

“In terms of domestic production, backing our own champions, capability and long-term resilience.”

“Right, but you are trying to make rapid acceleration part of the normal tempo of activity, so it will inevitably bring you into some conflict with the existing mechanisms, whether they are at the platform level, the user level or the MoD level. How do you get the right level of challenge, engagement and focus on struct…”

“How do you interpret that? Is it a source of frustration that you will not have the same level of control?”

“Okay. I was thinking about domestic capability rather than working with foreign players who are testing and developing capability here. Obviously, in a war context, you cannot predict what will happen to your ability to control a domestic supply chain. You have emphasised the importance of domestic supply chains. Some …”

“Will the Leader of the House give us the forthcoming business?”

“A key theme of business questions has been the need for the Government and, indeed, the whole country to be resolute in the face of Russian aggression in Ukraine. In that context, I know the whole House will want to join me again in expressing our profound sorrow for the death of Lance Corporal George Hooley of the Par…”

“Will the Leader of the House give us the forthcoming business?”