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1,082 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDArmed Forces Commissioner Bill (Fourth sitting)I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time. As we come round the final bend, hopefully the Committee will recall something that cropped up quite a lot in Tuesday’s…12 Dec 2024HANSARDArmed Forces Commissioner Bill (Fourth sitting)I understand the thrust of the hon. Gentleman’s question. What it has to do with the Bill is that this issue cropped up quite a lot in the public evidence session. I respectfully…12 Dec 2024HANSARDArmed Forces Commissioner Bill (Fourth sitting)“He”!12 Dec 2024HANSARDArmed Forces Commissioner Bill (Fourth sitting)The clue is in the name: the shadow Cabinet is there to shadow the actual Cabinet. If there is not a Veterans Minister in the actual Cabinet, it is not necessarily axiomatic that…12 Dec 2024HANSARDArmed Forces Commissioner Bill (Fourth sitting)To begin on a light-hearted note, I thank the hon. Member for Portsmouth North for pointing out that I do not sit in the shadow Cabinet. If she wants to drop my leader a note…12 Dec 2024HANSARDArmed Forces Commissioner Bill (Fourth sitting)I take the point. We have made the case, and I hope the Minister will reply promptly—let us say January, please, not March or June. Perhaps the Minister could write to me and the…12 Dec 2024HANSARDArmed Forces Commissioner Bill (Fourth sitting)If I may, Mr Betts, that was clearly the voice of experience. Question proposed, That the Chair do report the Bill to the House. Question put and agreed to. Bill accordingly to be…12 Dec 2024HANSARDArmed Forces Commissioner Bill (Third sitting)I commend the hon. Gentleman for his accurate reading of the legislation. On Second Reading, the Minister made the point that the legislation is drafted to be facilitative. For…12 Dec 2024HANSARDArmed Forces Commissioner Bill (Third sitting)The hon. Lady is right. The amendment says that the commissioner should make the appointment; I hope we have given the rationale for why we believe that is important. What sort of…12 Dec 2024HANSARDArmed Forces Commissioner Bill (Third sitting)I understand the hon. Lady’s question, and I do not want to get into an “angels on a pinhead” argument, but that member of staff could be part-time. It could be that on the staff…12 Dec 2024HANSARDArmed Forces Commissioner Bill (Third sitting)I do, but I have a contrary concern. People are leaving the armed forces in greater numbers than are joining. The other day, the Minister said— he will correct me if I have this…12 Dec 2024HANSARDArmed Forces Commissioner Bill (Third sitting)The Minister is nodding. We have a problem: our armed forces are shrinking. That is not necessarily purely for budgetary reasons; we are not going to get into the 2.5% of GDP…12 Dec 2024HANSARDArmed Forces Commissioner Bill (Third sitting)If you were one of the service personnel who was put through hell by Phil Shiner, that would be a welfare matter for you and your family. I could read into the record stories of…12 Dec 2024HANSARDArmed Forces Commissioner Bill (Third sitting)I will respond in kind to what the Minister says. As he will recall, his calculation was that even if the KC that we have been debating conceptually were full-time—we can argue…12 Dec 2024HANSARDArmed Forces Commissioner Bill (Third sitting)That is correct, and under the Tories in the mid-1990s it was well over 3%. The problem is that a lot happened in the 14 years, including a war in Ukraine. That is why we probably…12 Dec 2024HANSARDArmed Forces Commissioner Bill (Third sitting)I beg to move amendment 11, in clause 2, page 2, line 15, at end insert— “(2) Once the functions of the Service Complaints Ombudsman become functions of the Commissioner, the…12 Dec 2024HANSARDArmed Forces Commissioner Bill (Third sitting)The Committee will be pleased to know that I think we can deal with this fairly briefly. The amendment was tabled prior to the public evidence session on Tuesday, when I sought…12 Dec 2024HANSARDArmed Forces Commissioner Bill (Third sitting)I did assure the Committee that we would deal with this briefly. There has been a purpose to this brief debate, not least in placing on the record our praise and admiration for…12 Dec 2024HANSARDArmed Forces Commissioner Bill (Third sitting)I have one question. We understand the reason for the clause and, as the Minister has made plain, the Bill amends the Armed Forces Act 2006, so the amendment is to that…12 Dec 2024HANSARDArmed Forces Commissioner Bill (Fourth sitting)Is this another brief intervention?12 Dec 2024