Oral Answers to Questions

Richard Fuller Excerpts

Monday 1st February 2021 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Let us head up the stairs to Bedfordshire, with Richard Fuller.

[Richard Fuller (North East Bedfordshire) (Con) [V]]

Thank you, Mr Speaker. As my right hon. Friend considers his review priorities, will he commend the Warrior capability sustainment programme for providing greater certainty in delivering on its budget and greater confidence that that will be delivered on time, and for its commitment to developing skills and the UK supply chain?

[The Minister for Defence Procurement (Jeremy Quin)]

The Warrior CSP is now at an advanced stage in its demonstration phase. It has been ongoing for a period—it is now 75% through—but all projects are subject to the integrated review. I know that my hon. Friend would not expect me to comment on any particular project at this stage, but I will say that it is one of a huge number of contributions that Bedfordshire makes to defence, including across Ajax, Wildcat and Tempest. It is a county that has got a great investment in and support for our services.

Oral Answers to Questions

Richard Fuller Excerpts

Monday 18th January 2016 Commons Chamber

[Michael Fallon]

First, let me make it clear that Japan does not have nuclear-powered submarines and does not have nuclear weapons, so talk of some Japanese option is entirely farcical. So far as the hon. Gentleman’s question is concerned, we have no intention of decommissioning.

[Richard Fuller (Bedford) (Con)]

11. What plans he has to increase training support to the Nigerian armed forces to help to tackle Boko Haram.

[The Minister for the Armed Forces (Penny Mordaunt)]

We are fully committed to supporting Nigeria in its efforts to defeat Boko Haram. During his visit in December, the Secretary of State committed to a major increase in UK support to the Nigerian armed forces with the intent of more than doubling the number of British personnel deploying on training tasks in the coming year.

[Richard Fuller]

The strategic ties between the United Kingdom and Nigeria are of the first importance to our country. Will the Minister provide more details of the UK troop deployments she envisages over the next 12 months to assist Nigeria in combating terrorism?

[Penny Mordaunt]

We expect up to 300 military personnel to provide assistance over the forthcoming year, including 30 RAF personnel who have been deployed this month to deliver force protection and training to the Nigerian air force, and more than 35 personnel from the 2nd Battalion the Royal Anglian Regiment who will deploy later this month to train Nigerian personnel specifically to combat Boko Haram.

Oral Answers to Questions

Richard Fuller Excerpts

Monday 12th January 2015 Commons Chamber

[Michael Fallon]

That has not specifically been discussed, but, obviously, we continue to see what further help we can give to countries in the region which are under pressure from ISIL. The right hon. Gentleman is right to remind the House that this is not simply a challenge to Iraq.

[Richard Fuller (Bedford) (Con)]

T6. Boko Haram slaughter the innocent, sell girls into slavery and impose mediaeval government and fear in wide areas of Nigeria. The local military are seen in many cases as being corrupt and perhaps to have involved themselves in human rights abuses. What role is the MOD carrying out to support Nigeria in tackling Boko Haram?

[Mr Francois]

We unequivocally condemn the awful atrocities committed by Boko Haram in Nigeria. In June 2014, at the London ministerial meeting, the former Foreign Secretary announced that the UK will significantly increase the training and capacity-building assistance we offer to the Nigerian armed forces. We have since expanded our resident training and advisory team, and deployed increased numbers of short-term training teams to help prepare Nigerian troops for deployment against Boko Haram.

Better Defence Acquisition

Richard Fuller Excerpts

Monday 10th June 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hammond]

It is certainly our assessment that the frictional costs of inefficiencies within defence procurement are the biggest single challenge that we face and our biggest single opportunity. I was at Portsmouth the week before last and talked to the commander of the dockyard. He told me that once the Queen Elizabeth carriers are berthed there, he will be making provision for some 200,000 tonnes of fighting ships to be tied up in the harbour. That will be largest tonnage that he or his predecessors have had to make provision for since the 1960s.

[Richard Fuller (Bedford) (Con)]

I understood from my right hon. Friend’s thoughtful statement that the organisational merits underpinning the GoCo would be cultural change and skills enhancements to deliver efficiencies. Will he tell the House in more detail what missing skills he hopes to attract? Will he also reassure us by saying what steps he will take in the incentives scheme for the management company of the GoCo to avoid the perverse incentives that led to so many financial messes in public-private contracting under the last Government?

[Mr Hammond]

My hon. Friend is right in setting out the changes that are required. One he did not mention, but which is important, is creating a hard boundary between the customer and the provider organisation. At the moment, responsibilities across that boundary are not as clear cut as they should be, and that allows specification scope to drift on occasions. Let me give him a couple of examples. We currently spend in DE&S £400 million a year on external technical support because we cannot hire the people we need. Being unable to hire somebody at £50,000 a year means that we are paying a contractor £1,000 a day to do the work. We expect the GoCo contractor, if we go down that route, to make substantial early savings by hiring key technical capabilities into the organisation, rather than by bringing them in as technical contractors. He is absolutely right about perverse incentives. Our big challenge now in the assessment phase is to negotiate a set of key performance indicators and incentive payment structures that align a GoCo contractor with the priorities of the Ministry of Defence.

Oral Answers to Questions

Richard Fuller Excerpts

Monday 4th July 2011 Commons Chamber

[Peter Luff]

First, I am happy to say that the shelf is stacked high with British products, and that makes us extremely successful in the international market. Britain is the second greatest exporter of defence equipment—and long may that be the case. On the other comments of the hon. Gentleman, whom I hold in high regard—we have had discussions on British industry before—I would point out that our life would be so much easier had we not inherited a total mess of a defence budget, including a £38 billion black hole. The things he is complaining about were the fault of the previous Government.

[Richard Fuller (Bedford) (Con)]

The previous Labour Government sold the defence contractor QinetiQ to a City firm that, a couple of years later, sold it for eight times the value and closed its plant in Bedfordshire with a consequential loss of employment. Will my hon. Friend ensure that he does a better job of defending our defence industrial base than the previous Labour Government?

[Peter Luff]

Speaking as someone from Worcestershire, where QinetiQ also has a very large presence, I absolutely understand what my hon. Friend is saying. It certainly would not be difficult to do a better job than the last lot did.