Chris Evans
MP for Caerphilly · Labour (Co-op) · United Kingdom
“To provide treatment for alcohol and drug dependency, charities such as Change Grow Live need to use the NHS electronic prescription service, which has been unavailable to them until recently. The Government have agreed to allow access, but have provided no timetable. Will the Minister provide one today?”
“Absolutely. We need more funding and we need more police on the beat. It is vital that we treat these cases seriously. There is a serious underlying threat of violence if would-be shoplifters are approached.”
“My hon. Friend is absolutely right; we need a co-ordinated response, including across Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. At the end of the day, this abuse does not stop at the border.”
“At a station, a transport worker and a retail worker can be working in close proximity; nevertheless, if both are assaulted, they will be eligible for different levels of legal protection. That disparity is unacceptable.”
“What criteria will her Department use to evaluate the policy and determine whether it adequately protects retail workers? I am also keen to hear how the Minister interprets the BRC’s latest findings, which record a 20% decline in incidents of retail violence and abuse in the past year.”
“Those found guilty of the new offence can be sent to prison for up to six months, receive an unlimited fine and be barred from entering certain shops. Alongside that measure, the Government are rolling out facial recognition technology in public spaces and using tags to carefully track the movements of serial offenders.”
The complete record
Every one of 606 lines we hold for Chris Evans, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 9 of 13.
“I ask for the Minister’s advice. One of the most frustrating things about business rates is when a business asks for some flexibility and it is difficult to speak to the right person. A number of businesses in my constituency want some flexibility on their business rates. They go to the council, but the council only collects the tax. They go to the valuation office, which only does the valuation. There is no system to appeal against business rates at the moment. Will the Minister address that in his speech?”
“During the last financial crash, the Labour Government actually cut VAT to reinvigorate the high street, by ensuring that people went there and that money started to flow through the shops again. We hear from this Government yet again about raising value-added tax, as the Conservatives have always done whenever they have been in power. Does my hon. Friend believe that a VAT cut, rather than an increase, would help the high streets?”
“When I was a child, as I said at the start of my speech, going to the high street was an event. We need to make it easier for people to go there. I ask the Government to put in place measures for local councils to offer free parking and, when shops are boarded up, short-term lets and business rate holidays to ensure that there are thriving businesses in the high street. There is much to be done. The high street—that feature of British society—is on the critical list. We have to do something now.”
“What future do people have when they know that time bomb is ticking? The Government need to look again at business rates. People need help now. Right hon. and hon. Members on the Government Benches have talked about increasing VAT. There was a very good speech earlier about increasing it by 3p in the pound, but that is wrong for two reasons. First, VAT is an inherently regressive tax, because people are taxed on what they spend, which means that the poorest people in society pay it. Secondly, the packet of measures that was put in place in 2008 after the financial crash by the then Chancellor, Alistair Darling, included a reduction in VAT to ensure that people got out there and started spending in shops so that money flowed through the economy. Increasing value added tax is asking the poorest people in society to bear the burden.”
“We have campaigned to keep it in place. The next nearest Co-ops are in Oakdale, which is two miles away, and then further down in Machen in the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Caerphilly (Wayne David). People will not be able to shop for their groceries locally in Newbridge. I was pleased when a local businessman contacted me and said, “I want to take over the business.” He owns a number of businesses so it would be an excellent move, but the one thing that was holding him back was, yet again, the business rates. As many hon. Friends have said, business rates in Wales are frozen currently, and I hope, for my English counterparts, that the Government take on board that example. There will come a time, however, when business rates will be unfrozen and will have to be paid.”
“I say to the Minister, please, set up a system whereby businesses can appeal. They are crying out for help. We have already heard that there will be a review, but reviews take time. Many of these businesses are struggling and need help right now. The other shopping centre in my constituency, Newbridge, is home to Newbridge rugby football club and world champion boxer Joe Calzaghe. Anybody who wants to visit an example of an art deco theatre would do well to come to Newbridge Memo and see for themselves how a working men’s institute has been taken over and become a thriving, beating heart of the community. But Newbridge faces the same problem: many shops are boarded up, which looks terrible when people walk down the street. Next Saturday, the Co-operative store in Newbridge will close its doors for the last time, which is very sad.”
“I then went to the valuation office. It said to me, “Oh, we just set the rates, Mr Evans. We do not do anything about appeals. We cannot change the rate. The rate is set in stone.” Then I thought, “I will write to the Minister.” The Minister at the time, as a matter of coincidence, was the now Chancellor of the Exchequer. He wrote to me saying that there was nothing he could do. Is anything more frustrating than seeing a family-grown business, which I want to thrive, crippled by business rates that sometimes cost more than its rent? There is nothing I can do and no one we can go to. That is the frustration with business rates at the moment. It is all very well for the valuation office to say that rates are set in stone, but in times of economic crisis or in a pandemic, we need flexibility.”
“To top it all off, there is a business park just below the high street where businesses pay just £50 a square foot. Those businesses taking advantage of those business rates are not the small, family-run, innovative companies, such as Tidal’s Store; they are the huge companies that can afford the business rates in town. It seems extremely unfair. I touched on this issue with the Minister earlier. I went to the council. In fairness, I will give credit where credit is due to Caerphilly County Borough Council, its chief executive Christina Harry and their leader Philippa Marsden. They know this is a real problem for their high street and have been very supportive, but there is nothing they can do. All they do is collect the tax, yet if there is a complaint, it is Caerphilly Council that is taking the blame.”
“I want to talk about a company in my constituency: Tidal’s Store, a fantastic family-run business that sells high-class, high-quality furniture. If any Member of the House wants to deck out their flats in London, or their houses—or, dare I say, for some Conservative Members, their mansions—they could not do better than going online and buying from Tidal’s Store. It is a fantastic shop in the middle of Blackwood. However, I went there three years ago, and the problem it had was business rates. At the top end of the town, it pays £330 a square foot for business rates. Go further down the town and businesses pay £300. At the bottom of the town, businesses pay £275 a square foot. They are all on the same high street. It does not make sense to me.”
“From the moment I came into this House, there have been campaigns on both sides of the House to save our high street. The former Chancellor George Osborne talked about tax simplification, yet here we are 11 years later, and still we face the problem of business rates, and they are still not being reformed. I was interested in those contributions from the Government Benches that said that the Labour party in opposition must come up with an innovative solution to sort the business rates problem. I say to those Members: they are in government, so they have to come up with the solutions. I see some Government Members nodding to say that they have come up with solutions, and I will come to the points they raised. The simple fact is that we all know business rates need to be reformed.”
“They have gone. I worry about those high streets, because I believe that the health of a constituency and a community can be judged by the high street. In the constituency I represent, there are three major high streets: Risca, Newbridge and Blackwood. If anyone wants to visit Blackwood, it has a number of unique boutique shops. It has the Maxime cinema. If anyone wants to see the new James Bond film, “No Time to Die”, they will not find a cheaper ticket in town than at the Maxime cinema in the middle of Blackwood. We are not without our problems, however, and they come down simply to business rates. We have all heard from Members on both sides of the House that there must be some sort of reform. I have been in the House for 11 years.”
“I remember, when I was older and got into music, buying my first vinyl from the local record shop. As I got older and wanted to go out, I went out and got the latest fashions from the menswear shop. I remember that high street thriving, full of people and bustling. When I went back there a couple of years ago—I took my wife there once—I could not believe the transformation of that small high street that I remember so well. The banks had closed down and the cashpoints were concreted up, as people did not use them anymore. It was full of derelict shops. I was interested to hear from my hon. Friend the Member for Pontypridd and Taff-Ely (Alex Davies-Jones). I remember venturing sometimes down to her constituency to go shopping. I remember the Woolworths being there, and I remember the Marks and Spencer at the top end of Taff Street as well.”
“Having listened to the speeches from the Labour Benches, I have put Bradford, Liverpool and Hull at the top of the places that I would like to visit. I would caution Conservative Members about some of the things they have said about the constituencies that they represent. When they talk down their constituencies they are not giving a very good advertisement to visit these places. They may be beautiful and there may be fantastic people living there, but it is no good if the Member of Parliament is standing there talking about the night-time economy, antisocial behaviour and what a bad visit it would be to go to the high street. To me, the high street is the lifeblood of the British community. I have childhood memories of my mother dragging me around the shops to get shoes from the local shoe shop when we had to go back to school.”
“I implore those on the Treasury Bench to look into the actions of Welsh Water and make sure it starts delivering for its customers before we see an environmental scandal on a larger scale.”
“Meanwhile it is consistently breaching its permits by dumping untreated sewage into the rivers. How can this possibly be the action of a company acting solely for the benefit of customers? Surely it would be more beneficial to them if Welsh Water ensured that its water bills were more affordable. I am a huge advocate for co-operatives, and I sit here proudly as a Labour and Co-operative Member of Parliament, but this one is failing. Welsh Water is failing in its environmental commitments and it is failing its customers, and it must be held to account. The Public Accounts Committee held an inquiry on the water industry in 2015, and Ofwat has launched investigations.”
“According to its data, three of its treatment works were in breach of their permits. The Aberbaiden plant had illegally discharged untreated sewage on 12 consecutive days in December into the River Usk. That sewage gets into the system, and our children will drink that water. Our elderly will drink that water. This is a scandal of epic proportions and it needs to be called out. The Usk is a protected river, and a special area of conservation. For Welsh Water to be dumping untreated sewage into an environmentally protected river is absolutely abhorrent and shows flagrant disrespect for the communities it operates in. Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water says that it is run “solely for the benefit of customers”, yet it has some of the most expensive water in England and Wales, which it does not always deliver to the households it claims to serve anyway.”
“It ruins the rivers for the many dog walkers, wild swimmers and paddleboarders who wish to enjoy the beauty of the Welsh countryside. It threatens the biodiversity of the rivers, puts wildlife at risk and results in large-scale ecological damage. Above all, it risks the health of the most vulnerable customers in the country, and still nothing is being done. There is no defence for this. It is not a one-off mistake or a small-scale problem. Last year, sewage was dumped more than 100,000 times across 2,000 water treatment works and sewer overflows across the Welsh Water network. That is a shockingly high rate, and Welsh Water must be held accountable for the damage that this has caused. Welsh Water was found by the “Panorama” investigation to be one of the worst offenders across England and Wales.”
“High bills and poor service are compounded by the environmental damage that Welsh Water has contributed to in our Welsh rivers. Wales is fortunate enough to have some exceptionally stunning waterways and countryside, but they are being threatened by the irresponsible actions of Welsh Water. At a time when we are trying to attract people to come to Wales for tourism and holidays, they are being faced with polluted rivers. It is not good enough. I was horrified to watch a “Panorama” programme earlier this year that found that Welsh Water had been illegally dumping raw sewage into rivers. This is extremely damaging for the ecosystems of the rivers, it is unsanitary and it is a dangerous breach of the company’s permits.”
“One village in Denbighshire has been plagued by supply issues this year. Residents have experienced extremely poor water pressure and a complete halt in water supply on several occasions. Their water went off completely in July for the ninth time in the year. That is more than once a month. How can the company possibly justify charging some of the highest prices and then fail to even deliver the water? To add insult to injury, Welsh Water has confirmed that work to rectify the supply issues will not get under way until next May, a full six months away, and meanwhile we are facing a hard winter. That is not an isolated case. I know of many Members, from Newport to Monmouthshire, who have had problems with water supplies.”
“I am sure that Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water’s public affairs department will be on the phone to me and sending me emails and press releases telling me that it is different in that it has a higher geographical area and a coastline, but it seems amazing to me that the City of London, where some of the richest people live, benefits from the lowest prices from Thames Water. Why is that the case? How can Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water, a company that frequently touts its not-for-profit status, not be ashamed of the fact that it is forcing families with household incomes far below the average to pay some of the largest water bills in the country? This is a company that is failing its communities. For some, the extortionate prices are just laughable, given that their water supply is not even reliable.”
“In 2020, median gross weekly earnings in Wales were the third lowest amongst the 12 UK countries and English regions. Water ought to be affordable for all, yet Welsh Water’s forecast average bill in 2021-22 is the third highest of all the companies in England and Wales. To put this in perspective, Severn Trent Water, which covers most of Gloucestershire, Bristol and Birmingham, has among the lowest bills in the country, so simply living across the border means enjoying lower prices.”
“Access to safe drinking water is one of the most basic human needs. Water should not be expensive, and it should not be causing environmental damage to our local areas. This feels like it should be a bare-minimum service, but I am sad to say that in Wales, the co-operative Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water is failing to meet even that standard. It is shameful that families are being let down on something as vital as their water bills. The Consumer Council for Water has found that the unemployed, call centre workers and carers are hardest hit by high water bills, simply because they do not know that help is available, and water companies have been found wanting when it comes to publicising such schemes. Wales has some of the most impoverished communities in the UK.”
“I apologise to you, Madam Deputy Speaker, for missing the opening minutes of the debate, and thank you for allowing me to speak this afternoon. It was a pleasure to hear from the new hon. Member for Hartlepool (Jill Mortimer). I expect she will know that the colourful football manager Brian Clough started off at Hartlepool United, and I am sure that those on the Government Benches are hoping that she does not turn out to be as controversial, as outspoken or as rude as he proved to be over the course of his career. As we enjoy the last of the summer, our thoughts will soon turn to winter and the challenges of fuel poverty. The rise in rail fares, council tax increases and rising household energy bills are of concern to hard-pressed families, but what is rarely mentioned is the extortionate price of water.”
“The Minister will know that companies in the defence industry have been subject to a spate of takeovers. Many familiar names, such as Cobham and GKN Aerospace, are now in foreign hands, while Meggitt has recently been subject to a takeover bid from a US-based company. Even though the companies involved have promised to protect jobs and research and development, that has not prevented them from selling assets and closing factories. Workers at GKN Driveline at Erdington in Birmingham are going on strike to protest against a proposal for 500 redundancies next May. What are the Government doing to ensure that when British companies are taken over, promises to keep jobs and research and development in this country are kept?”
“With the National Audit Office having judged the defence equipment plan to be “unaffordable” for the fourth year in a row, the continuing well-publicised disaster and rising cost of the Ajax project, and the cancellation of Warrior, can the Minister explain why this vanity project has become a spending priority for the Ministry of Defence?”
“To me, that is the whole point of the debate. It is our duty to get this right so that all students see themselves represented in education.”
“A report from Paul Campbell, a lecturer in sociology at the University of Leicester, found: “The lack of a sufficiently diverse or decolonised curriculum and faculty meant it was often difficult for black students to be able to connect content and assessments directly to their own lived realities”. He found the students were multiply disadvantaged and “have to work harder than their peers to connect with assessment and curriculum content.” The lack of diversity in our curriculum can be found throughout our education system; although the petition is focused on history, it is equally true of the likes of English literature and other subjects. The Black Curriculum, one of the leading charities in this field, says that its aim is to provide a sense of belonging and identity to young people across the UK.”
“It amazes me that somebody who did so much for the people she looked after would be questioned about whether she was a nurse. That has to stop. Mary Seacole should be celebrated as an influential figure in British history. Her story, and the racism she faced, ought to be taught widely in history curriculums. We also must make sure that she does not stand alone. The history of Britain is incredibly diverse, and the curriculum should reflect that. It is not enough to pick one figure from history. The diversity of Britain and the way that attitudes to and experiences of race, sex, sexuality, disability or class have shaped history are vital to our understanding of today. Ultimately, it all matters because of the impact it has on young people.”
“William Howard Russell, a war correspondent for The Times , wrote in 1857 that he hoped England would not forget Seacole as “one who nursed her sick, who sought out her wounded to aid and succour them, and who performed the last offices for some of her illustrious dead.” Yet it seems that exactly that happened for many years, In 2016, a statue of Seacole was erected across the road from this place. When the lockdown measures are lifted, I urge everybody to go over and see the wonderful statute to that wonderful woman. It took 12 years to raise the funds required and should be a symbol of pride in a black British heroine. Unfortunately, even the little act of posting a photograph of me with the statue on Twitter resulted in some terrible abuse about the role of Mary Seacole. That has no place in society.”
“Students in British secondary schools often feel too far removed from the Churchills, Napoleons or Henry VIIIs. A diverse curriculum is necessary to write new entry points in history—a new standpoint from which we can understand our past and the world we currently live in. The few women featured in the curriculum are either painted as exceptions to their sex, such as Florence Nightingale, radical, such as the suffragettes, or are monarchs such as Elizabeth I and Victoria. Very few non-white women are mentioned in history textbooks for secondary school students. Mary Seacole is one of the very few. Studies of women such as Seacole must be encouraged, to recognise the diversity of Britain’s past and the importance of such diversity, but unfortunately that has taken too long.”
“Students must be taught a nuanced and honest view of British history. British and European history studied at GCSE and A-level all too often seems to be the history of white powerful men. History curriculums, especially until university, are too frequently studies of monarchs, politicians and military leaders. That creates an often Eurocentric white male, upper or middle class view of history and knowledge. That is not a full history of Britain, Europe or the world. The roles of working classes, minorities, women and all those who have been underrepresented have not been granted the historical significance they deserve. Not only is teaching such a narrow view of history a disservice to the subject; it makes it far less accessible.”
“A student might have a chance to learn about the Montgomery bus boycotts in Alabama, but often does not learn about the history of bus boycotts much closer to home. In Bristol in 1963, there was a successful bus boycott for the Bristol Omnibus Company’s refusal to hire black or Asian bus crews. Many in the UK will know the name Rosa Parks, but not enough know the name Paul Stephenson. On the same day in 1963 that Martin Luther King gave his iconic “I have a dream” speech from the steps of Washington, the British Omnibus Company announced that there would be no more discrimination in the employment of bus crews. I suspect we feel more comfortable looking at discrimination perpetuated by America than we do taking a closer look at our own history. We cannot continue to whitewash the UK’s past.”
“Students learn about American slavery and the black civil rights movement. Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, and even my great hero, Muhammed Ali, are now studied at GCSE by many pupils. However, very little black British history is taught. When students learn about the transatlantic slave trade, Britain’s role is often simplified or is just a small part of their study. Few secondary school students learn about British slave plantations or slave ships. Even fewer learn how British involvement in the global slave trade shaped domestic economics, politics, empire building and industrialisation. Black British history has largely been forgotten in the UK curriculum, even though there have been black Britons since Roman times.”
“One in four teachers told us that they lack confidence and the ability to develop their pupils’ understanding of black history and cultural diversity, with 86% calling for specialised in-school training to help address this. It is leaving students unprepared when they reach degree level, which continues a cycle of a lack of confidence within the subject. Dr Deana Heath, who teaches southern Asian and imperial colonial history at the University of Liverpool, said: “I face an uphill struggle at the start of each new academic year. Many of the undergraduates who greet me know virtually nothing about any of the subjects I teach.” Although some black and BAME history is now taught in schools, it is far too narrow in scope. Most students’ experience of racial history up until A-level is incredibly American-centric.”
“However, it is not mandatory; it is only one of many topics that can be chosen by schools and teachers. It is clear that the signatories to the petition do not feel that this is enough, and I must agree with them. The Committee found that 45% of primary school teachers and 64% of secondary school teachers who responded to our survey disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement that: “The National Curriculum ensures that students in my school experience a balanced range of ethnically and culturally diverse role models.” Our inquiry has also shown that, far too often, subjects are not being taught because teachers lack confidence and, above all, proper training.”
“I must declare an interest as the chair of the all-party parliamentary group on archives and history, and I am also an honorary fellow of University of Wales Trinity Saint David. I am passionate about history and, above all, the way it is taught. It amazes me that we are so narrow in our curriculum. When I did GCSE history many years ago, we studied Adolf Hitler’s Germany, crime and punishment, which was mainly about Jack the Ripper, and the Arab-Israeli conflict. That was it. I then did my A-levels, when we did the Tudors and the civil war—Oliver Cromwell, Charles I and all that. Our curriculum is just far too narrow. It is easy for the Government to point to the option of teaching topic 3—“Ideas, political power, industry and empire: Britain, 1745 to 1901”—at key stage 3.”
“The creators of the petition, which calls to add education on diversity and racism to all school curriculums and to make the UK curriculum more inclusive of black, Asian and minority ethnic history, have also given evidence to the Committee. Holding hearings in partnership with the Women and Equalities Committee, we have heard from a wide variety of sources in this field, from the Education Minister to schoolchildren. I pay tribute to the Chair of the Petitions Committee, my hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle upon Tyne North (Catherine McKinnell), for her commitment to the review. I am so pleased that the petitions have rightfully gained support from the public, which has allowed the Committee to investigate an area that I have long been passionate about: diversifying and improving our teaching of history in this country.”
“I beg to move, That this House has considered e-petition 324092, relating to Black history and cultural diversity in the curriculum. This petition calls on the Government to teach Britain’s colonial past as part of the UK’s compulsory curriculum, and it has received over 240,000 signatures. The petition was started by Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson and arrived on the parliamentary website on 10 June 2020. Within 48 hours, it had reached the threshold of 100,000 signatures. The speed at which the petition met the threshold for debate shows the strength of feeling across our country that change is necessary and urgent. Multiple petitions cover similar subjects, and the Petitions Committee has taken on this issue as one of our key projects for the year.”
“Question put and agreed to. Resolved, That this House has considered e-petition 324092, relating to Black history and cultural diversity in the curriculum.”
“To be honest, I was quite hopeful from the end of her speech that we can come to some arrangement with the Government to bring black history to the fore in schools. She said that the Government really get that, and there is consensus around the issue, so we can really improve the teaching of history. Ultimately, as I said in my speech, I am passionate about history and about the way it is taught. For too long, it has been seen as a dry subject, when really, it can be brought to life because it is about the lives people have lived. The way history is taught is now more important than ever. So many people deny that so many things happened, and with the rise of fake news, it is very important that we stick to the facts and that everybody’s voices are heard on our experiences of growing up in the country that we call Britain.”
“Member for Bath (Wera Hobhouse) for her speech about how, in her area, they have bravely taken on Britain’s colonial past and the extremes that that history has thrown up. I also thank her for her wider campaigning in Parliament. I pay tribute to the Labour Front-Bench spokesperson, my hon. Friend the Member for Hove (Peter Kyle) for his succinct, passionate and wide-ranging speech that brought in everything that encompasses black history and the experience not just of ethnic minorities but of the working class in the last 30 years. I also thank the Minister, whom I have known since 2017, when we served together on the Public Accounts Committee, for stepping in at the last minute in place of the Minister who should have responded. She gave a very constructive and informative speech.”
“This has been a fantastic debate, and I pay tribute to all Members who have taken part. One thing that I have always felt about history is that it is the story of people’s lives and their shared experience. I pay particular tribute to my hon. Friends the Members for Streatham (Bell Ribeiro-Addy) and for Leicester East (Claudia Webbe) for their very moving speeches. I hope the Minister will listen to what my hon. Friend the Member for Manchester, Gorton (Afzal Khan) said about the pilot scheme on black and ethnic minority history being run there. I hope that that can be rolled out across the country. I pay tribute to the hon. Member for Ochil and South Perthshire (John Nicolson) for his passionate speech, and I thank the hon.”
“Publishing a plan is not the end of the story; without immediate and concrete action from the Government to lay out how progress will be made and measured, the intentions will simply remain on paper. We expect so much from our forces personnel; in return they should be able to expect only the best from us.”
“I say to the Minister that it is not a case of political point scoring; it is instead about the most important people in this, the men and women of our armed forces—the very people we gathered together this week to pay tribute to. Without the equipment they need and the ability to plan for what future warfare will look like, they will be unable to do what they do best: protect our great nation. We must not let them down. We must get this right; it is what we owe them for all they do for us. I welcome the more nuanced and collaborative and less adversarial approach to future contracting set out in the DSIS, but these documents include big promises and grand words and there is no detail on how they will be delivered.”
“Major capabilities are all overrunning on time and cost. Without a significant overhaul, there is no evidence that that will change. For this to work, thousands of civil servants and large numbers in industry will have to be retrained to adjust effectively to new career paths. If the integrated review is to succeed, the Government will need to demonstrate through actions, not just words, that they are able to co-ordinate inter-Department projects, support key programmes and encourage collaboration and transparency between the MOD and industry. The easiest thing in the world for the Minister would be to dismiss all the points that have been raised today, but it is crucial that the Government get the implementation right. There is no time to wait for the plans to mystically fall in place; the work needs to start now.”
“How can defence companies, their suppliers and small and medium-sized enterprises invest in research or apprenticeships when such uncertainty looms over them? If the MOD and the Government are going to change their mind suddenly on key equipment areas, that leaves our defence industry and our armed forces extremely vulnerable. I am not going to stand here and denigrate the DSIS. Many of the ideas are very good for an encouragement of British industry, for collaboration and for investment in research. However, judging by the MOD’s track record in the past 10 years, one cannot help thinking that those ideas are built on sand. Some of the major components of the integrated review will take over a decade to realise, so we will require consistent and competent project management oversight. Unfortunately, there is no evidence of that now.”
“As it stands, the current armoured vehicle capability of the UK is perfectly summed up by the title of the Defence Committee report: “Obsolescent and outgunned”. The cancellation of Warrior not only resulted in £430 million being spent on a vehicle that will never come to service, but has wider economic effects. We talk all the time about such figures as £430 million. They are not inconsequential sums; they will have an effect on the local economy. For example, in April this year, Lockheed Martin announced that because of that cancellation 158 jobs would be lost at the Ampthill site. The suppliers to the programme will also be hit, and the effects would have been felt in the local economy.”
“The Ajax vehicle has been repeatedly delayed and beset by problems. Nearly four years after the vehicle was first expected, only 14 have been delivered, at a cost of nearly £3.5 billion. Worryingly, personnel have needed medical attention after being inside them. As we heard yesterday in the Defence Committee, they cannot fire accurately on the move. The delay on the vehicles’ delivery has left our armed forces inadequately equipped and unable to properly plan for the future. That is worsened by the cancellation of the Warrior project earlier in the year, which resulted in a larger reliance on the Ajax delivery to ensure that the Army was equipped with some modern vehicles. Our armed forces had to adapt in the light of the Warrior cancellation, and now they have been left without any new vehicles that work safely or are reliable.”
“These things take time and work from proper financial professionals. Yet the NAO report on the defence equipment plan says that only 41% of MOD finance staff hold a professional financial qualification. That work needs to start immediately. Ahead of the debate, I had a look at a live job advert for a commercial officer in the MOD. Strangely, even though the MOD has been told by the National Audit Office that it needs to improve the number of people with a professional financial qualification, there is still no requirement for the candidate to currently hold any financial qualifications. On the ground, there are real concerns about delivering capability. I am sure that all Members of this House will have heard and worried about the problems with Ajax recently, which cannot be ignored. It is a long-standing issue.”
“Damningly, for the fourth year in a row, the National Audit Office deemed the defence equipment plan “unaffordable”. The Secretary of State claimed that he had personally improved affordability, but the NAO said that that assertion was based on the MOD revising its approach to assessing affordability “rather than the result of actions to address the 10-year funding shortfall.” Even this morning, the NAO published a report that highlights that the MOD is incapable of managing contracts to time, with delays for key defence projects of up to 254 months, and eight out of 19 major projects rated as at serious risk of failed delivery. Simply put, for the party of business, that would not be good enough in the private sector. We cannot simply cross our fingers and hope for financial stability.”