Speeches by Norman.

“That is the point that I am making to you, rather than the point that you are making to me. They do run more widely. We recently heard that the final draft of the SDR has now been given to Government. Is that right?”

“So what it does mean within the context of this inquiry is that a more tightly focused SDR is going to be less engaged with and competent to consider the defence aspects of hybrid warfare, because those aspects affect much wider bodies of interest and potential security threats across the whole of Government and societ…”

“Except that the thing was going for eight or nine months before the events that upended it. How long is it going to be further prolonged for before we get the re-posturing that would inevitably be required by the changes that we have seen to US co-operation, potentially, in a whole range of areas that I do not need to …”

“indicated assent.”

“Hear, hear!”

“Thank you very much indeed, Madam Deputy Speaker. I hope that you and the House will excuse me if I start on a very personal note. Almost exactly 24 hours ago, my father, Torquil Norman, died at the age of 91. He was an extraordinary man. He flew Seafires and Sea Furies during his national service in the Fleet Air Arm.…”

“Will the Leader of the House give us the business for next week?”

“I have one final question. General, I am going to start with you, but it would be good to go to all three chiefs. What are the specific obstacles that stop women progressing into your roles?”

“There are no obstacles.”

“You are trying to lean in on those caring responsibilities.”

“What are the obstacles to getting to your job?”

“What about non-policy reasons? What about other obstacles that might prevent a woman from taking your role over time?”

“Than the equivalent male for the same position. Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton: Yes. In the Air Force, historically the Chief of the Air Staff has always been a pilot. The representation of women in aircrew is low; it is below 10%. Immediately, the pool is somewhat smaller. I am certain that in the future we wi…”

“That is great. There is a rather unfortunate iteration where particular subcultures are discovered, often through the media. It could be Harrogate, subs or the Red Arrows. It feels like a surprise to the service in question. It is suddenly backpedalling and then change occurs. How do you get ahead of that? I am not exp…”

“The culture of an armed force is about martial valour and success in combat. We are in a pre-war situation. How you give the prestige and support to female role models in that context becomes additionally important.”

“We are terribly short on time. I am so sorry. Minister, we have heard some very interesting feedback. It is a very mixed picture, but the service chiefs are cautiously positive about the decisions and steps they are taking. What measures do you take and will you take to hold them to account to make sure that these agen…”

“There were an awful lot of words there. I hope what you are saying is, “We take the question of benchmarking young people when they come in, both male and female, very seriously. We can track whether they are coming in with better or less good forms of behaviour, and work out what steps we might need to take to integra…”

“That is great. Sam, one of the things that the armed forces do is to provide incredible amounts of structure and opportunity to young people who might come from very difficult backgrounds. That is something we often forget. Do you benchmark the experience of young people as they come into the armed forces in order to a…”

“You want to reduce it to 70 days.”

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