Speeches by Reader.

“Is that by volume, as in the number of contracts, or by value in terms of pounds?”

“The whole delivery, including construction and operations?”

“Of the contracts you have placed to date, what percentage are with British firms? You can always write to us if you do not know this.”

“One final question and I will let you off the hook, Alastair. You and I both know that your headline contract may say 70%, but what actually matters is what is in your supply chain. For your top five contracts by volume, let us say, what contractual terms are you pushing on to suppliers to make sure that they have UK c…”

“Going forward, at the moment you are procuring consultants and advisers—who we know exist in the UK at scale—but you now need factories and others. Is there enough Government support to develop that part of the supply chain in the UK? It is a supply chain that does not currently exist.”

“Vanessa, just quickly on the factory model; we have had evidence questioning why you would have the factory in the UK, not just for Rolls Royce but for others as well. Does shifting to factory-build reactors actually risk UK job losses to overseas, cheaper manufacturing?”

“We cannot do a session on nuclear without talking about Fingleton. The Nuclear Regulatory Taskforce said that the UK’s nuclear planning regulatory framework is tailored to traditional large-scale reactors, making it difficult for innovative designs to gain regulatory approval. The Government have committed to implement…”

“Sorry, Chair, I have one more very quick question. How does your commercial model look at encouraging an SME market? The suppliers we have talked about today are all large global firms; for both your firms, what is your strategy around engaging UK SMEs?”

“Are we paying for the first of a kind, in terms of the Government investment to support you? Is the Czech Republic? Is Turkey? I have just read on your website that it has an SMR programme with Rolls-Royce. Are all the Governments paying a bit of money to you to fund your R&D?”

“I am just trying to understand the global perspective here. You have talked about the Czech Republic and America; I have just done a quick search, and Rolls-Royce is working in Turkey; there is SMR in Canada, India, and the Middle East, all of which are first of a kind. Why is the industry delivering so many pilot sche…”

“I highly recommend Northampton.”

“Alastair, what about SMRs?”

“How about yourself, Leon? Are you developing the UK SME supply chain?”

“Did you say you have targets?”

“I should declare a potential or perceived conflict; I worked in the supply chain bidding for work with Rolls-Royce SMR and some of the others that have given evidence. My former firm is one of the firms named on the latest press release. Looking at your online presence, it depends on how you define British content. You…”

“When you say localisation, do you mean built in Britain rather than built by British-owned companies?”

“We had numerous evidence suggesting that when you go to speak to the Czechs you say, “We will have a Czech-built SMR”, and when you go to the Swedes you say, “We will have a Swedish-built SMR.” As you scale your fleet, you potentially only need one factory for this solution; you said earlier that you are telling your s…”

“Why would you put the manufacturing capability in the UK, given that we have really high energy prices and a relatively low manufacturing base compared even to other European countries? As a committee, we have heard that the UK is a very difficult place in which to manufacture at the moment. So why would you do it here…”

“If Government are saying that all reforms will be expected to be completed by the end of 2027, how confident are you that they will achieve that?”

“Leon, do you have confidence that this will be achieved by the end of 2027?”