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Adjournment debate on Thursday, 21 June 2007, in the House of Commons, led by Adam Ingram. The answering member was Liam Fox.

Armed Forces Personnel

Debate on a motion for the adjournment on armed forces personnel.

Secondary information

Type
Parliamentary proceeding
Reference
461 c1534-610 
Session
2006-07
Department
Ministry of Defence
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Proceeding contributions
Adam Ingram | 461 c1542-3 (Link to this contribution) I will listen to, and then read with interest, what the hon. Gentleman has to say, as he has persona...
Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton | 461 c1542 (Link to this contribution) I intend to explain at length to the Minister how that will adversely impact on the TA. Will he at l...
Show all contributions (113)
Adam Ingram | 461 c1541-2 (Link to this contribution) I am about to come on to that point, but let me say for now that I agree that we have to come up wit...
Dari Taylor | 461 c1541 (Link to this contribution) Is no consideration at all being given to allowing members of the armed forces to have, like other c...
Adam Ingram | 461 c1541 (Link to this contribution) The restructuring of the Army—such as of regiments—will create a change in roles. Previous Administr...
Dari Taylor | 461 c1541 (Link to this contribution) We hear, very clearly, how money is being invested, but what the armed forces in my constituency wan...
Andrew Murrison | 461 c1544 (Link to this contribution) As the Minister knows, I have a particular interest in this issue. What would he say to Lieutenant-C...
Adam Ingram | 461 c1544 (Link to this contribution) I do not accept the allegation of complacency. That is an outrageous comment. I recognise the role p...
Adam Ingram | 461 c1543-4 (Link to this contribution) I am conscious that that might send out a negative signal. As I have said, we must carefully conside...
Adam Ingram | 461 c1545-6 (Link to this contribution) No, I wish to make some progress on the medical theme. The MOD’s defence medical rehabilitation cen...
Adam Ingram | 461 c1546-7 (Link to this contribution) No, I will not give way. I have been very generous in giving way, and I just ask hon. Members to que...
Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston | 461 c1544-5 (Link to this contribution) Selly Oak hospital trust and the medical defence unit are in my constituency. I welcome my right hon...
Adam Ingram | 461 c1545 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes a strong point. On my recent visit to Selly Oak, I was struck by the quality of...
Liam Fox | 461 c1547-8 (Link to this contribution) May I begin by adding my and my colleagues’ condolences to the sympathy that the Minister extended t...
Jim Sheridan | 461 c1548 (Link to this contribution) I do not wish to be pedantic, but the hon. Gentleman has repeatedly used the term ““undermanned””. H...
Liam Fox | 461 c1548-9 (Link to this contribution) That remark is so trivial and puerile that it is not worthy of a response. All the problems that I ...
Adam Ingram | 461 c1535 (Link to this contribution) I intend to come to that. I mentioned that I was going to talk about the reservists, so if the hon. ...
Derek Conway | 461 c1535 (Link to this contribution) In view of what the Minister has just said, will he tell us what proportion of those deployed on act...
Adam Ingram | 461 c1534 (Link to this contribution) Since we last debated defence, 14 personnel have lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know th...
Angela Watkinson | 461 c1535 (Link to this contribution) How does the Minister square the freeze on promotion for lieutenants in the Royal Navy with the driv...
Adam Ingram | 461 c1535 (Link to this contribution) I intend to come on to recruitment and retention as well. I am sure that the hon. Lady is only too w...
Julian Lewis | 461 c1535 (Link to this contribution) I knew he would, Mr. Speaker. Although the newer warships require fewer personnel when they go to se...
Adam Ingram | 461 c1535-7 (Link to this contribution) I agree with that. There are wider issues concerning personnel profiling. As to the sea swap concept...
Dari Taylor | 461 c1537 (Link to this contribution) On the point of support for people who have lives to lead as well as a duty to perform, how are the ...
Andrew Miller | 461 c1538 (Link to this contribution) A few of us were privileged this week to attend a course at Shrivenham. One of the interesting topic...
Adam Ingram | 461 c1537-8 (Link to this contribution) I will be honest with my hon. Friend. If anything, we are perhaps behind the curve in terms of what ...
Tobias Ellwood | 461 c1539 (Link to this contribution) It is interesting that the Minister gave percentages rather than the actual numbers. Is it not the c...
Adam Ingram | 461 c1538-9 (Link to this contribution) That is one of the great successes of the defence academy at Shrivenham. It is truly multinational, ...
Adam Ingram | 461 c1539 (Link to this contribution) That is true. That is why I said that we had probably never achieved 100 per cent. Whatever the targ...
Tobias Ellwood | 461 c1539 (Link to this contribution) I agree with much of what the Minister has said. It is true that we are trying to recruit in very di...
Adam Ingram | 461 c1539-40 (Link to this contribution) I am coming to the issue of retention. Voluntary outflow from the armed forces has remained steady f...
Tony Baldry | 461 c1540 (Link to this contribution) Retention often involves those in middle management such as sergeant-majors and staff sergeants, who...
Adam Ingram | 461 c1540-1 (Link to this contribution) I agree, and I shall say something about the state of accommodation shortly. We need to use our peo...
Andrew Miller | 461 c1554 (Link to this contribution) While the hon. Gentleman is in a bipartisan mood—and following the intervention from the hon. Member...
Liam Fox | 461 c1554-5 (Link to this contribution) The way in which mental health issues are dealt with in our country has been one of my political int...
Nick Harvey | 461 c1560-3 (Link to this contribution) That was certainly what he appeared to me to be saying. I rather thought that the Secretary of State...
Adam Ingram | 461 c1560 (Link to this contribution) I ask the hon. Gentleman to take account of what I said about the future infantry structure, future ...
Nick Harvey | 461 c1560 (Link to this contribution) I am not glossing over it. The fact that the head of Army said that he believes that he needs a furt...
Lord Touhig | 461 c1558-9 (Link to this contribution) That is a good idea, and I believe that that is done to some degree. In my constituency work and as ...
Nick Harvey | 461 c1559-60 (Link to this contribution) I welcome this afternoon’s debate and the opportunity to pay tribute to the men and women of the arm...
Lord Touhig | 461 c1555-7 (Link to this contribution) This debate on armed forces personnel comes just after we have marked the 25th anniversary of the en...
Liam Fox | 461 c1557-8 (Link to this contribution) I want to take advantage of the right hon. Gentleman’s experience. He discussed mental health proble...
Jim Sheridan | 461 c1563-4 (Link to this contribution) I should like to take the opportunity to commend our armed forces for the invaluable service that th...
Derek Conway | 461 c1564 (Link to this contribution) Given the observation that the hon. Gentleman has just made, would he tell the House how many major ...
Jim Sheridan | 461 c1564-9 (Link to this contribution) I do not have the answer to the question that the hon. Gentleman is posing, but I am happy to take a...
Bernard Jenkin | 461 c1577-80 (Link to this contribution) It gives me great pleasure to follow my hon. Friend the Member for North-East Milton Keynes (Mr. Lan...
Eric Joyce | 461 c1580 (Link to this contribution) May I help the hon. Gentleman by pointing out one detail? He mentioned the manning requirement and t...
Bernard Jenkin | 461 c1580;461 c1580-1 (Link to this contribution) The manning requirement has been reduced to reflect what the Government can afford. Quite early on i...
Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton | 461 c1573-7 (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to be able to contribute to the debate today. I should start by reminding the House...
Adam Ingram | 461 c1577 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving way and I am sorry that I was not in my place for the...
Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton | 461 c1577 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the Minister, who has a reputation for being very fair-minded. He has demonstrated ...
Andrew Miller | 461 c1550 (Link to this contribution) Does not the hon. Gentleman recognise that the estates built in the 1960s and 1970s need continuous ...
Liam Fox | 461 c1550 (Link to this contribution) It is an interesting definition of overnight that after more than 10 years the Government are still ...
Andrew Miller | 461 c1549 (Link to this contribution) I acknowledge the problems about the quality of accommodation for service personnel, although I seem...
Liam Fox | 461 c1549-50 (Link to this contribution) I have indeed visited some of the newest accommodation, which is of exceptionally good standard, but...
Derek Twigg | 461 c1551 (Link to this contribution) As the hon. Gentleman knows, I have previously said in the House that we and the chiefs of staff are...
Adam Ingram | 461 c1550 (Link to this contribution) In my opening comments I indicated a substantial increase for accommodation in our budget. How much ...
Liam Fox | 461 c1550-1 (Link to this contribution) The Minister knows his parliamentary technique, but he well knows that as the Opposition have no ide...
Liam Fox | 461 c1551 (Link to this contribution) If the Minister wants to tell me that the Government’s intention is that when the new unit is establ...
Derek Twigg | 461 c1551 (Link to this contribution) Let us be clear. The chiefs of staff have not yet made a decision about the military ward; it is som...
Liam Fox | 461 c1551-2 (Link to this contribution) The Minister is introducing a red herring. I have already said that it is impossible to say what wou...
Derek Conway | 461 c1552 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend brings his professional expertise to bear in a powerful criticism of the Government. ...
Derek Conway | 461 c1552 (Link to this contribution) Those who serve in the armed forces may not find it quite so funny. Is my hon. Friend aware of the ...
Liam Fox | 461 c1552-3 (Link to this contribution) I am delighted that my hon. Friend raised that important point. Mental health facilities for the arm...
Liam Fox | 461 c1553 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is absolutely right in his specific point, but there is also a generic point that app...
Lord Touhig | 461 c1553 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman agree that those who have trained to become general practitioners are taught...
Liam Fox | 461 c1554 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman makes an excellent point. It is important in two ways. First, a relatively ...
Eric Joyce | 461 c1586 (Link to this contribution) I have been listening carefully and my imagination was caught by the hon. Gentleman’s reference to r...
Lord Harper | 461 c1581-2;461 c1582 (Link to this contribution) One factor that will not make things any easier is the cutting and replacing with an internet-based ...
Bernard Jenkin | 461 c1582-3;461 c1582-4 (Link to this contribution) I welcome that comment. I draw attention also to what my hon. Friend the Member for Newark (Patrick ...
Bernard Jenkin | 461 c1584 (Link to this contribution) The Minister shakes his head. Why did the Government contest the case? Why did the Government’s QC g...
Adam Ingram | 461 c1581 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving way. I am intrigued by his earlier argument. He seeme...
Bernard Jenkin | 461 c1581 (Link to this contribution) I put it to the Chief of the Defence Staff in the Select Committee that as a ““back of a fag packet”...
Adam Ingram | 461 c1581 (Link to this contribution) That is not what I asked the hon. Gentleman about. I asked him to say what his magic formula would b...
Bernard Jenkin | 461 c1581 (Link to this contribution) I understand the question from the Minister of State. I reiterate that with resources and will power...
Roger Williams | 461 c1586 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Gentleman for that point, because I was about to refer to it. I asked the soldiers ...
Tobias Ellwood | 461 c1591-6 (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to participate in this important debate, and an honour to follow the hon. Member fo...
Willie Rennie | 461 c1587-91 (Link to this contribution) I welcome the opportunity to take part in this debate. I express my condolences to the families and ...
Roger Williams | 461 c1586-7;461 c1587 (Link to this contribution) I thank the Minister for that response. Many hon. Members have spoken of their admiration for his ap...
Adam Ingram | 461 c1586 (Link to this contribution) Our armed forces have never been so well equipped in terms of personal equipment. Anyone who visits ...
Andrew Mackinlay | 461 c1597 (Link to this contribution) I wholeheartedly support what the hon. Gentleman, my Essex colleague, is saying. May I use this oppo...
Simon Burns | 461 c1597 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the Minister and I assure him that I shall be writing to my local authority to make...
Derek Twigg | 461 c1597 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Gentleman for his comments. Given today’s announcement and my previous statements, ...
Simon Burns | 461 c1596-7 (Link to this contribution) May I begin by offering an apology to the House? A long-standing commitment meant that unfortunately...
Simon Burns | 461 c1598-9 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Member for Thurrock, my colleague from Essex. I hope it is not unparliamen...
Speaker | 461 c1598 (Link to this contribution) Order. I do not think that ““mumbling and rumbling”” is unparliamentary, but I am sure that the hon....
Simon Burns | 461 c1599 (Link to this contribution) Indeed, and medals. I thank the Minister for taking part. It is an extremely good scheme, because i...
Derek Twigg | 461 c1604-5 (Link to this contribution) I welcome today’s wide-ranging debate. I was struck by the number of comments on the job done by my ...
Derek Twigg | 461 c1605-7 (Link to this contribution) I understand that the hon. Gentleman’s operational bonus has now been paid. He made an interesting p...
Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton | 461 c1605 (Link to this contribution) This is almost a continuation of a conversation in a previous debate, but does the Minister know how...
Derek Twigg | 461 c1607 (Link to this contribution) I take my hon. Friend’s point entirely. I cannot offer him any change to that situation in the near ...
Andrew Mackinlay | 461 c1607 (Link to this contribution) I welcome my hon. Friend’s announcement on extending combined cadet force schemes in schools. Howeve...
Derek Twigg | 461 c1608-10 (Link to this contribution) If the hon. Gentleman will forgive me, I want to make progress. We have considered Selly Oak severa...
Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton | 461 c1608 (Link to this contribution) For the record, I have already stated that I will donate my bonus to the Royal British Legion.
Derek Twigg | 461 c1608 (Link to this contribution) I understand the hon. Gentleman’s point and I will examine the matter. Of course, we call on our coa...
Tobias Ellwood | 461 c1608 (Link to this contribution) In my contribution, I asked why we are repeating medical services in our NATO structure in Afghanist...
Derek Twigg | 461 c1608 (Link to this contribution) I assure the hon. Gentleman that, if he needs such a document, he will get it. There is no reason no...
Lord Harper | 461 c1608 (Link to this contribution) I have a copy of the full article to which the Under-Secretary referred, and the reporting of it acc...
Lord Watts | 461 c1610 (Link to this contribution) beg to ask leave to withdraw the motion. Motion, by leave, withdrawn.
Derek Twigg | 461 c1610 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman makes an important and valid point. Tracking someone who may have mental health p...
Liam Fox | 461 c1610 (Link to this contribution) Will the Minister take this opportunity to tell us how the profiling would be done to identify those...
Adam Ingram | 461 c1535 (Link to this contribution) I am not giving way in the middle of answering a question—and I may not even give way to the hon. Ge...
Derek Conway | 461 c1569-73 (Link to this contribution) It is a genuine pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Paisley and Renfrewshire, North (Jim Sheridan...
Lord Harper | 461 c1599-604 (Link to this contribution) We have had a good debate, with five contributions from the Conservatives, two from the Liberal Demo...
Liam Fox | 461 c1543 (Link to this contribution) Leaving aside the practical implications of the cut to the TA budget that the Minister is announcing...
Liam Fox | 461 c1551 (Link to this contribution) In a real emergency, it would obviously be up to the managers of the hospital to consider the situat...
Tobias Ellwood | 461 c1553 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend began his remarks by talking about the events that took place 25 years ago in the Fal...
Roger Williams | 461 c1584-6 (Link to this contribution) I am very pleased to be able to take part in this debate and pay my tribute to our servicemen and wo...
Subjects
Charities Armed forces Deployment Career development Defence equipment Cadets Women Housing Finance Iraq Internet Ethnic groups NHS Ownership Pay Recruitment Staff Minority groups Navy Mental health services Military aircraft Standards Schools Training Suicide Telephones Afghanistan Territorial Army Veterans
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
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