Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Robin Walker and Philip Dunne

Thursday 15th March 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Walker]

My hon. Friend makes an excellent point. I continue to hope that we will all be able to come together to ensure that the powers of each of the devolved Administrations are increased through this process and that we will all be able to work together to secure the prosperity of the UK—Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England.

[Mr Philip Dunne (Ludlow) (Con)]

14. What steps he is taking to ensure that farmers can continue to access EU markets after the UK leaves the EU.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Robin Walker and Philip Dunne

Monday 19th October 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Dunne]

As the hon. Gentleman knows, the Type 26 global combat ship programme is designed to replace the existing frigate fleet—the Type 23. We generally find when updating naval capability that ships with more power and capability can be manned with fewer men, so we do not see any particular challenge with this programme, apart from the natural challenge of recruiting to the armed forces during periods of economic growth.

[Mr Robin Walker (Worcester) (Con)]

10. What steps he is taking to increase the proportion of his Department’s procurement spending that goes to SMEs.

[The Minister for Defence Procurement (Mr Philip Dunne)]

That is me again. Small businesses provide a vital source of innovation and flexibility in meeting defence and security requirements. As I have already said, there was an announcement of a new target earlier this month to increase the proportion of MOD procurement to be spent with small and medium-sized enterprises to 25% by 2020.

[Mr Walker]

Worcestershire hosts many small businesses in the defence, aerospace and cybersecurity sectors. How can these smaller businesses, such as Aeromet in my constituency, access the £70 million investment in innovation announced by the Secretary of State last week?

[Mr Dunne]

We see small businesses and academia as playing a vital part in developing technical innovation, so it is important that they can access this and other funding to maintain the operational advantage of our armed forces. We are doing this in a number of ways. Last month at Defence and Security Equipment International I announced the winners of one of the £10 million defence growth partnership innovation challenges. There were over 100 applications and 23 winners were announced, many of which were small businesses.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Robin Walker and Philip Dunne

Monday 13th July 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Dunne]

I completely agree with my hon. Friend, who has some knowledge of this subject; I met his son flying one of the Chinook aircraft in his constituency. It is right that we invest in the best capability and provide our forces with the best equipment that is available across the world, irrespective of where it is manufactured.

[Mr Robin Walker (Worcester) (Con)]

2. What steps he is taking to increase the number of cadet units in schools.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Robin Walker and Philip Dunne

Monday 20th October 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Dunne]

Clearly, as my hon. Friend knows, given his proximity to the Warton facility, export growth is important for sustaining jobs in Lancashire. The Typhoon is competing vigorously in a number of export campaigns, including the Royal Malaysian air force’s multi-role combat aircraft requirement. The Government are actively supporting the BAE Systems bid to win the competition and the company has discussed various options to meet the needs of the Malaysian Government. I visited Malaysia earlier this year to support those efforts, and today six RAF Typhoon aircraft from 3(F) Squadron are flying in Malaysia as part of Exercise Bersama Lima.

[Mr Robin Walker (Worcester) (Con)]

9. What assessment he has made of the contribution of armed forces community covenants to the reserves and cadet forces.