Speeches by Foord.

“Thank you very much, Sir Olly, for appearing before us. You have explained that a lot of these decisions were made before you were appointed as permanent under-secretary. I am curious to know: why did Sir Philip Barton’s tenure as permanent under-secretary conclude eight months before it otherwise would have?”

“I want to look at a couple of pieces of evidence, one of which was released in the tranche of documents—volume 1 of the return to the Humble Address. This is a December 2024 email from the No. 10 private secretary for foreign affairs, Ms Terry. She wrote on 20 December 2024 to Lord Mandelson: “I understand you haven’t …”

“Certainly, and perhaps the Committee will take evidence from them or others. The national security adviser, Jonathan Powell, when he was reflecting on this time last September, recalled that Sir Philip Barton also had reservations about the appointment of Lord Mandelson. What did you know about Sir Philip’s reservation…”

“I entered this House months after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia, and I was struck at the time that the debates on Ukraine were solemn, dutiful and not party political. The contrast with the debate over defence spending is stark. The Leader of the Opposition has decided to use it as a foil for her party, …”

“How often does DSIT meet with major platforms such as X, YouTube, TikTok, and Meta in relation to foreign disinformation?”

“As a result, what changes have been made? What improvements have been made to protect against foreign interference?”

“The Foreign Affairs Committee published a report recently on disinformation, and in that report we called for the Government to require social media companies to make their algorithms transparent. What do you make of that?”

“Or a season?”

“What about requiring platforms to produce annual reports on the detection of state actors being engaged in interference, say through amplification? Would you like to see the platforms producing annual reports on detection of state actors?”

“The same question for you, Minister, in relation to the access by independent researchers to the algorithmic data. When might we see Government or Ofcom implement that in compliance with the Online Safety Act?”

“Do you have dates or a timeframe?”

“There was a discussion earlier about the register of non-consensual intimate images, which is set out in Lords amendment 259. I want to share with the House the experience of one of my constituents, who was subject to the creation of a non-consensual abuse image by her husband while unconscious, having been the victim …”

“We talked about the social cohesion strategy earlier, which requires Ofcom to publish summaries of platforms’ transparency. Ms Rowland, you suggested this may require platforms to publish data around foreign interference but you used the term “candidate”. Foreign interference data was a candidate for publication. When …”

“The Minister talked about Government investment to deter adversaries in the north Atlantic, the Atlantic Bastion programme, extra money for P-8 aircraft and the additional service vessels on order, but unless I missed it, he did not say anything about plans for the AUKUS submarines that are in development with the Unit…”

“The US navy began a blockade of Iran at 2 pm this afternoon. Has the US been granted permission by the British Government for the use of the deepwater port at Diego Garcia as a staging post for the imposition of that blockade?”

“The hon. Member has given an impressive exposition of the report. I am curious about the mental health benefits of exposure to the coast, and in particular whether she and her Committee would recommend a particular type of coastal defences. In Sidmouth, there is talk of either breakwaters and recharging shingle on the …”

“I agree with the hon. Member about the need for energy security, and certainly we do not want a supply chain that depends on the People’s Republic of China, which could lead to economic coercion. Does he share my view that the deduction is that we need home-grown manufacturing for renewable energy infrastructure?”

“The hon. Lady makes an excellent point. I recognise wholly the vulnerability of the line at Dawlish, which my hon. Friend the Member for Newton Abbot (Martin Wrigley) has also been campaigning on. I am sure that together, Devon and Cornwall MPs can keep up the fight. To conclude, reliable rail links are essential in ke…”

“T6. Residents in Devon want visible community policing. The new towns taskforce recommended a new settlement called Marlcombe in east Devon. When new towns are built, how are additional police officers allocated to the area?”

“I am grateful to the hon. Member for Shrewsbury (Julia Buckley) for securing the debate and for enabling me to speak in it. I would like to welcome once again the news announced at the spending review last June that funding has been allocated to reinstate the railway station at Cullompton. I was pleased to hear that re…”