Speeches by Norman.

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

“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.…”

“Hear, hear!”

“indicated assent.”

“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…”

“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…”

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

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

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

“There are no obstacles.”

“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?”

“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…”

“You want to reduce it to 70 days.”

“I am sure the whole House will want to join me in recognising and thanking the salvage and nature recovery specialists who are even now scrambling to clear up after the disastrous collision in the North sea. They say a conservative is a socialist who has been mugged by reality. If that is so, we are witnessing the extr…”

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

“Minister, am I right in thinking that this is your first evidence session in front of a Select Committee?”

“May I say what I would say to any member of this Committee, which is that we thank you for your service?”