Speeches by Pollard.

“I do not want to see the MOD delay any payments. We are consistent across Government that we should be paying uncontested invoices within 30 days. We aim to pay uncontained invoices within five days and that is the movement in the system we are trying to get at. There is a distinction here between where we agree and wh…”

“I hope that the approach that we are setting out is one offering partnership and co-operation and collaboration. Defence is a reserved matter, but the opportunities that come from defence are absolutely in the remit of the Scottish Government as well. I think there is an industrial and economic advantage. On the very m…”

“I am aware that many of my colleagues in the Commons are very keen on defence bonds. If I am honest I have not seen the detail from the party yet provided to enable me to look at that fully. I entirely understand the logic that says, “We need more defence spending.” I agree. I want to see more defence spending. How you…”

“I am hoping that now the elections are out of the way in Scotland we can have those conversations in person soon. I know that the officials already correspond regular around both the Scottish growth deal and the other aspects of the Industrial Strategy that apply to Scotland. We have good, official level conversations;…”

“The answer is kind of yes and no on that one. Yes, there might be an efficiency in placing larger orders but one of the things that we deliberately try to do is sometimes separate large orders into smaller parcels so you can enable more SMEs to compete for them. I guess the answer is: on a case-by-case basis. The argum…”

“I will bring Calum in to answer the details on the skills passport in particular. I want to see more focus on mid-career reskilling. The prioritisation of our skills work is of course on early careers—FE skills, HE skills, recent graduates, and FE apprenticeships—and that will produce the biggest early impact. But we k…”

“Yes, a variety of those types of autonomous, uncrewed vessels. There are more locations around the UK, including in Scotland, that could be building smaller craft for a hybrid Navy. One of the things about a hybrid Navy in a period of greater threat is about how attritable some of those platforms are. You can presume t…”

“I know. I thought we were friends. For all our five growth deals we are in the process at the moment of working with the Government structure that have been set up there to set out what that will be delivered against. I am hoping that all growth deals—South Yorkshire, Plymouth, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland—wil…”

“We are undertaking a number of multi-decade projects as a Department, GCAP being a good example, AUKUS being another. They are platform based but when it comes to the infrastructure, if you look at the Defence nuclear enterprise more broadly and the activities within the nuclear ringfence, which would include some of t…”

“If I take the example that was on show in Parliament yesterday, the Kraken K3 Scout. It is made by Kraken, admittedly in Fareham on the south coast. We have bought a number of those platforms as part of Project Beehive of 47 Commando Royal Marines, and we are also looking at that type of platform and its utility of an …”

“So £50 million for Plymouth rather than for Portsmouth.”

“I, along with the former Defence Secretary, and the Chancellor have been pretty clear that we want to see more shipbuilding in UK yards. When it comes to the Serco tugs contract, it began under the previous Government, was well progressed by the time we got there. It included the decision-making on who to procure tugs …”

“We broadly agree with you that we want to see two in Scotland: one in the east, one in the west. Where we have announced them in England, so if you take Blackpool and The Fylde College as an example, which is one of the DTECs that we have announced in England, although the hub is in Blackpool they are working with coll…”

“I recognise that the Scottish Government have taken a different approach than the United Kingdom Government have, in terms of their language and their policy positions around a number of different issues. I think at a high level there is common agreement, especially when we see what has happened in Gaza. I want to see …”

“There is a risk that if we do not have skills investment across the entire supply chain what you will see is primes being able to support their skills base, a hollowing out of adjacent industries and a hollowing out of supply chain. Ultimately that is not good for economic growth, it is not good for our economy, and it…”

“There is regular skills engagement with officials. Calum and his team have a lot of engagement with Scottish Government officials, indeed, as we do with the Welsh Government and the Northern Ireland Executive. There is not a formal political moment at the political level at the moment. I hope we can achieve that becaus…”

“Yes, and we need to continue that. We have had correspondence with the new economic lead, Stephen Flynn, now. He is in Scotland, rather than Westminster, for these affairs but I am keen that we do because I think there is a shared opportunity here of increased growth and employment in defence, especially addressing ear…”

“We are still seeing investment by those large firms in defence. I want to set out a clear demand signal in the DIP for a variety of platforms, which will give people more confidence to invest, but we are still seeing defence companies invest in these areas and we are still seeing a new contract signed that creates more…”

“Let me start with a really simple one: that a career in defence is a good career. I think there has been a culture within the MOD for too long where we have not told our story. I don’t want defence companies giving away the secret squirrel aspects of what they work on. I want them talking about how a career in defence …”

“Thank you, Chair. It is good to see you all today and the interest that you are taking in defence in Scotland. The threat that we are facing is real and it is growing. The strategic defence review that Lord Robertson helped co-author with the other SDR leads sets that out very clearly. We responded to that by adopting …”