Speeches by Pollard.

“But certainly the SDR makes clear our commitment to GCAP. However, on the details of that point, I will have to write to the Committee, or ask Maria to do so.”

“An entirely fair question. The defence investment plan later this year will set out what we are buying and what our long-term signal to the sector is. However, we have been very clear that we want to invest more into integrated air missile defence. That is why the SDR not only sets that as a priority but allocates £1 b…”

“The defence investment plan will set out the spending priorities, and we certainly need to be on a journey towards having an integrated air and missile defence at a level that we can have more confidence in, based on the experience of what we can see Russia using. As part of that, we need to square a circle of how we u…”

“I can answer that one—the answer is yes. There is the Trinity House agreement with Germany, the refresh with Lancaster House is ongoing, and we are looking to strike agreements with Norway and Poland. There are opportunities for joint development. Certainly, one of the pieces we need to be very mindful of is that, in t…”

“Yes, but we are also having an approach where we are saying, “We need to have greater interoperability with our kits.” We need to have a built-in assumption of exports for the stuff that we are buying. That means not over-speccing UK kit to be Gucci for ourselves, but to have it exportable. That was, I do not think, a …”

“Sorry to reply to your comment, but one of the bits that NATO is very good at, which does not often get attention and we are putting more effort into, is the co-ordination of the national armaments directors. There is more of a role there, which could play into some of those European initiatives that we have now opened…”

“Absolutely.”

“That is one of many initiatives in a space that we are quite excited about. There is a real opportunity, when it comes to multilateral financing for some of these opportunities, to look at what the right model is. Both the Treasury and the MOD are working to look at those. A number of the models have been backed not on…”

“The benefits of the progress that we have been making with the EU reset are most acutely felt in defence. That is why it had such a large part of the security and defence partnership work that benefits us. The agreement that we have made with the European Union does not put us into SAFE at this point—as an example—but …”

“I think, actually, there is strong support for us to be involved. There is a question about which programmes we feel there is a benefit for us to be involved with and how much we want to contribute and commit. Those are usual discussions. I do not think there is anything different from the discussions that we would nor…”

“As a leading NATO nation, we need to co-operate with both our European friends and our transatlantic ones. That would be pretty established as we develop capabilities and export kit and equipment across the NATO alliance and further afield.”

“I think that the Americans are very keen for Europe to step up. I have heard that message clearly; I think that many of our European allies have as well. Stepping up means doing more. Doing more has an industrial focus and a military focus, but that is entirely where the US wants Europe to be. We have heard that. We ar…”

“We are implementing the SDR at the moment. On the procurement side, I think the biggest change the Committee will be able to see is when the defence industrial strategy is published, and then when it is put into practice, in terms of the kit and equipment and the infrastructure that we are seeking to spend that increas…”

“The target on direct spend with SMEs is really important. I know that a number of members of the Committee are really championing the involvement of SMEs in the defence space. We are really keen to pursue that. Certainly, the objectives set out in the SDR, the sense that the Government have, and what will be in the def…”

“I will ask Maria Eagle to write in detail on that point, but certainly the implementation of the financial services strategy that we seek to make will seek to recognise the difficulties that some firms have in raising investment and dealing with some of the valleys of death in terms of investment, bringing a product to…”

“That is an area that Maria Eagle is working in. I do not want steal her sandwiches by pre-announcing anything on that, but certainly the intention, which the Secretary of State has laid out quite clearly, is to have more investment reaching our regions. Sixty-eight per cent of defence spending is outside London and sou…”

“The critique you mention is probably valid when it looks at the big procurements, but we can show that fast-fail works incredibly well in our support for Ukraine. It is not that this cannot be done; it is that it has not been done. The cultural incentives, the bureaucratic incentives, were not pointing in the right dir…”

“I am seeing the process, yes. The process of cultural change is happening in the defence reform work—having shaken up the organisation, in separating and being clear about the new responsibilities between the Department of State, MSHQ, NAD group and the Defence Nuclear Enterprise. That is creating culture change within…”

“I hope they are already saying that in relation to Ukraine procurement, because we work enormously with SMEs in that space. I think they should be able to see that, although that is a story that is, for very obvious reasons, harder to tell. When the SME support hub is at full operating capacity, when it comes out of th…”

“The first thing I will say is that the work that you have done with Luke Charters has been outstanding. It is a really good example of how really constructive challenge can create change. It is something that has certainly gripped the MOD and Treasury. One of the objectives that the Secretary of State and the team had …”