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400 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDRed Sea Telecommunication CablesThe noble Lord makes a good point. On the whole, the cables themselves are not fixed but replaced. It is too dangerous and time-consuming to replace them because of the depth they…14 Mar 2024HANSARDRed Sea Telecommunication CablesMy Lords, the speed of that acquisition is a fantastic example of how when procurement goes right, the agility and ability to acquire, equip and train crews to man these sorts of…14 Mar 2024HANSARDRed Sea Telecommunication CablesMy Lords, nobody would be surprised to know that, yes, I think Grant Shapps is absolutely right.14 Mar 2024HANSARDRed Sea Telecommunication CablesMy Lords, that is not strictly within my brief. However, I am fully aware that my noble friend the Foreign Secretary and my noble friend Lord Ahmad have recently met the relevant…14 Mar 2024HANSARDRed Sea Telecommunication CablesThe noble and gallant Lord is right. The Government’s approach to addressing the issue of the Houthis has not really changed. It is all about increasing diplomatic engagement,…14 Mar 2024HANSARDRed Sea Telecommunication CablesMy Lords, the question of resilience is one of ongoing technological change. However, through maritime domain awareness, which is a critical part of our maritime defence and is…14 Mar 2024HANSARDRed Sea Telecommunication CablesMy Lords, I will cut to the chase. We take all this extremely seriously, but it is important to contextualise the risk. The most likely cause by far of damage to subsea cables…14 Mar 2024HANSARDRed Sea Telecommunication CablesMy Lords, the Government take the security of the UK’s critical national infrastructure extremely seriously. We are working closely with private commercial interests to better…14 Mar 2024HANSARDUK Armed ForcesMy Lords, one can look at the recapitalisation—and I understand it is a very strong word—and the environment we find ourselves in at the moment. Let us think about the orders we…12 Mar 2024HANSARDUK Armed ForcesMy Lords, I will say something about the Armed Forces to start off with. Our Armed Forces are, at all times, ready to protect and defend the UK. We continue to meet all…12 Mar 2024HANSARDUK Armed ForcesMy Lords, as I have said before, and I can do no more than say again, we are faced with a lot of conflicting needs and requirements from all the different departments of…12 Mar 2024HANSARDUK Armed ForcesMy Lords, there were a lot of questions there. On the question of the contracts, the DE&S is actually overseeing 2,600 different contracts across 550 different programmes,…12 Mar 2024HANSARDUK Armed ForcesMy Lords, I can do no more than take that message back, and take the tone of the House back, to the Secretary of State. He will not be surprised, but I will certainly undertake to…12 Mar 2024HANSARDUK Armed ForcesMy Lords, as I have said before, modern war fighting is as much about capability as numbers. Having said that, much is currently being undertaken to improve and retain force…12 Mar 2024HANSARD809 Naval Air SquadronMy Lords, 809 Naval Air Squadron has been stood up as a joint Royal Navy and RAF front-line F35B Lightning squadron. The squadron’s force growth, strength and capabilities will…11 Mar 2024HANSARD809 Naval Air SquadronMy Lords, the noble Lord makes a very good point about additional funds for defence; I think we are all in the same area on this. The problem is that resources are finite. There…11 Mar 2024HANSARD809 Naval Air SquadronMy Lords, the training programme is in line with the build-up of aircraft. While it is not an easy thing to get right, the aircraft will certainly be capable of being manned.11 Mar 2024HANSARD809 Naval Air SquadronMy Lords, on the number of pilots going through training, as I have said, the Lightning Force continues to grow its pilot numbers and graduate additional pilots in the operational…11 Mar 2024HANSARD809 Naval Air SquadronMy Lords, I understand that this is the case. Sometimes I think we forget just how incredibly amenable and spread our forces are. We have 22 ships and submarines on order or under…11 Mar 2024HANSARD809 Naval Air SquadronThe noble Lord is quite right; I did say up to 12. The whole point of this is that the forces we have need to be flexible and interchangeable. By the end of 2025, we will have two…11 Mar 2024