Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi and Johnny Mercer

Thursday 22nd June 2023 Commons Chamber

[Johnny Mercer]

I can tell my hon. Friend and the House that we are nearly at the summit of that mountain. The Bill is continuing to go through the Lords. It will come back to this House and become law by the summer recess. We will have delivered on a manifesto commitment to protect those who served us in Northern Ireland, of whom we are deeply proud, from the vexatious nature of investigations and litigation, while providing a better opportunity for all victims of that conflict to find out what happened and to focus on reconciliation and the future.

[Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Slough) (Lab)]

The continuous briefing against our civil servants by Ministers and Conservative MPs is having a disastrous impact on morale in our civil service. Do the Government not realise that damaging morale in our civil service hinders us in conducting Government business and retaining that expertise in-house, and makes us ever more reliant on expensive external consultants?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi and Johnny Mercer

Monday 1st February 2021 Commons Chamber

[Johnny Mercer]

The Department is looking to issue in due course statutory guidance on how precisely these matters will be achieved. The key thing is that the legislation is very clear that it does not specify outcomes, but simply ensures that a set of principles is adhered to. That is what the armed forces covenant was always about; it was designed never for advantage, but to prevent disadvantage. That is what this Bill does. It is carefully calibrated to ensure that we raise the floor so that the experience for veterans, the serving community and their families is equal across the nation.

[Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Slough) (Lab)]

What steps he is taking to improve cost controls within the defence equipment programme.