My Lords, this Question for Short Debate covers a huge area and we are not going to be able to cover it all in one hour, so maybe we need to come back to this issue at a

future date. My work for today has been substantially assisted by the...

My Lords, this Question for Short Debate covers a huge area and we are not going to be able to cover it all in one hour, so maybe we need to come back to this issue at a

future date. My work for today has been substantially assisted by the...

My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Dean, for instigating the debate. We are obviously not the popular debate in this and the other House today. I thank in advance my noble friend the Minister who, as the noble Baroness has said, gives us such good briefings. I am...

My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Dean, for instigating the debate. We are obviously not the popular debate in this and the other House today. I thank in advance my noble friend the Minister who, as the noble Baroness has said, gives us such good briefings. I am...

I am sorry to interrupt but I cannot let that remark go unchallenged. The previous Government indeed committed themselves to buying two new carriers. We would have continued to have the aircraft to fly off them—the Harriers—and we ordered the F-35s to replace them. It was an entirely coherent, responsible...

I am sorry to interrupt but I cannot let that remark go unchallenged. The previous Government indeed committed themselves to buying two new carriers. We would have continued to have the aircraft to fly off them—the Harriers—and we ordered the F-35s to replace them. It was an entirely coherent, responsible...

I thank the noble Lord for his intervention, but the fact is that we have two carriers that are not well used at the moment, and there is also a story that one of them will be sold off or mothballed. That is the situation now, but I take the...

I thank the noble Lord for his intervention, but the fact is that we have two carriers that are not well used at the moment, and there is also a story that one of them will be sold off or mothballed. That is the situation now, but I take the...

My Lords, last July the Minister repeated a Statement in your Lordships’ House in which the Government acknowledged the MoD’s historical budgeting woes. By now, most who are familiar with defence procurement agree that the Government underbudgeted and overassigned, that the Civil Service was challenged to manage such complex programmes...

My Lords, last July the Minister repeated a Statement in your Lordships’ House in which the Government acknowledged the MoD’s historical budgeting woes. By now, most who are familiar with defence procurement agree that the Government underbudgeted and overassigned, that the Civil Service was challenged to manage such complex programmes...

My Lords, I add my thanks to my noble friend Lady Dean of Thornton-le-Fylde for securing this debate on the important issue of defence procurement, on which there are areas of concern and uncertainty, a number of which my noble friend raised. The Government claim to have a balanced budget...

My Lords, I add my thanks to my noble friend Lady Dean of Thornton-le-Fylde for securing this debate on the important issue of defence procurement, on which there are areas of concern and uncertainty, a number of which my noble friend raised. The Government claim to have a balanced budget...

My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Dean, for securing this debate to discuss the important issue of defence procurement. It is a privilege to wind up in such an informed debate, and I am very sorry that the noble Lord, Lord Davies of Stamford, was not able to...

My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Dean, for securing this debate to discuss the important issue of defence procurement. It is a privilege to wind up in such an informed debate, and I am very sorry that the noble Lord, Lord Davies of Stamford, was not able to...

The Minister is very kind. I was not intending to intervene in his speech, but I take this opportunity to apologise to the Committee for having got the timing so badly wrong and arrived late for this debate, which I thought was going to start a little later than it...

The Minister is very kind. I was not intending to intervene in his speech, but I take this opportunity to apologise to the Committee for having got the timing so badly wrong and arrived late for this debate, which I thought was going to start a little later than it...

The noble Baroness suggested that we should have another debate on this issue, and I would very much welcome that. A lot of noble Lords have mentioned the GOCO issue in particular. When the situation is clear on that, maybe we could return to it in a more detailed debate.

Today’s...

The noble Baroness suggested that we should have another debate on this issue, and I would very much welcome that. A lot of noble Lords have mentioned the GOCO issue in particular. When the situation is clear on that, maybe we could return to it in a more detailed debate.

Today’s...

Lords question for short debate on what are their policies towards and priorities for defence procurement.

Lords question for short debate on what are their policies towards and priorities for defence procurement.

I wish to inform the House of my decision on the future operation of the National Physical Laboratory.

The National Physical Laboratory is the UK’s principal National Measurement Institute and is an international leader. It plays an important role in the provision and dissemination of measurement standards to UK trade and...

I wish to inform the House of my decision on the future operation of the National Physical Laboratory.

The National Physical Laboratory is the UK’s principal National Measurement Institute and is an international leader. It plays an important role in the provision and dissemination of measurement standards to UK trade and...

My right honourable friend the Minister of State for Universities and Science (David Willetts) has today made the following Statement.

I wish to inform the House of my decision on the future operation of the National Physical Laboratory.

The National Physical Laboratory is the UK’s principal National Measurement Institute and is...

My right honourable friend the Minister of State for Universities and Science (David Willetts) has today made the following Statement.

I wish to inform the House of my decision on the future operation of the National Physical Laboratory.

The National Physical Laboratory is the UK’s principal National Measurement Institute and is...

My Lords, I thank the Minister for repeating as a Statement the response to the Urgent Question that was accepted and answered in the other place earlier today.

The Secretary of State also issued a Written Ministerial Statement today, the last day before the House of Commons breaks for the Summer...

My Lords, I thank the Minister for repeating as a Statement the response to the Urgent Question that was accepted and answered in the other place earlier today.

The Secretary of State also issued a Written Ministerial Statement today, the last day before the House of Commons breaks for the Summer...

My Lords, the noble Lord is quite right; I am not a walking encyclopaedia. I will do my very best to answer as many questions as I can, but I will write to the noble Lord with the answers to the others. I will also put a copy in the...

My Lords, the noble Lord is quite right; I am not a walking encyclopaedia. I will do my very best to answer as many questions as I can, but I will write to the noble Lord with the answers to the others. I will also put a copy in the...

My Lords, this is a very short Statement for a huge issue. I remember taking two Bills through the other place nearly 30 years ago to privatise the Royal Ordnance factories and contractorise the dockyards, which I understand is probably the best example of a GOCO. I want to query...

My Lords, this is a very short Statement for a huge issue. I remember taking two Bills through the other place nearly 30 years ago to privatise the Royal Ordnance factories and contractorise the dockyards, which I understand is probably the best example of a GOCO. I want to query...

My Lords, I agree with my noble friend that this is a really big issue. I had only a short time in which to prepare for this Statement and that made me realise what a big subject this is. It may be an area on which we could have a...

My Lords, I agree with my noble friend that this is a really big issue. I had only a short time in which to prepare for this Statement and that made me realise what a big subject this is. It may be an area on which we could have a...

My Lords, one of the criteria that Mr Bernard Gray identified in his major study of DE and S was that a budget provision for a 10-year period should be made for the equipment programme. Many instances of overloading the programme in the past have probably been attributable to changes...

My Lords, one of the criteria that Mr Bernard Gray identified in his major study of DE and S was that a budget provision for a 10-year period should be made for the equipment programme. Many instances of overloading the programme in the past have probably been attributable to changes...

I can assure the noble and gallant Lord, Lord Craig of Radley, that Bernard Gray, who wrote the report, is now working for the MoD—poacher turned gamekeeper. I am confident that he has extracted a lot of the assurances that he was after.

I can assure the noble and gallant Lord, Lord Craig of Radley, that Bernard Gray, who wrote the report, is now working for the MoD—poacher turned gamekeeper. I am confident that he has extracted a lot of the assurances that he was after.

My Lords, can my noble friend confirm that the input of the chiefs of staff into the initiation of the defence procurement process—namely the preparation of staff targets and staff requirements—will remain untouched after the changes that he proposes?

My Lords, can my noble friend confirm that the input of the chiefs of staff into the initiation of the defence procurement process—namely the preparation of staff targets and staff requirements—will remain untouched after the changes that he proposes?

My Lords, I cannot give my noble friend that assurance, but I am pretty certain that the Chiefs of Staff will have had strong reassurances on that issue.

My Lords, I cannot give my noble friend that assurance, but I am pretty certain that the Chiefs of Staff will have had strong reassurances on that issue.