Oral Answers to Questions

Sally Jameson Excerpts

Monday 3rd November 2025 Commons Chamber

[Laurence Turner (Birmingham Northfield) (Lab)]

8. What steps he is taking to help ensure that the defence sector supports economic growth.

[Sally Jameson (Doncaster Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

10. What steps he is taking to help ensure that the defence sector supports economic growth.

[The Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry (Luke Pollard)]

Defence is an engine for growth. The defence industrial strategy, which we published in September, sets out how we will reform procurement, cut contracting times, spend more of our rising defence budget with British companies, invest in frontier technologies and skills, crowd in private capital and support regional development.

[Luke Pollard]

I join my hon. Friend in thanking his constituent for his creativity and work.

Defence is one of the largest apprenticeship employers in the country, with over 24,000 apprentices. The Navy is No. 2 and the RAF is No. 4, and I am proud that the Army has been named the No. 1 apprenticeship employer. We are doing even more than that with £182 million going into skills, and we are working with our trade union colleagues—from both the GMB, of which I am proud to be a member, and Unite—alongside industries big and small, as part of the Defence Industrial Joint Council, so we can motor our economic development and create more jobs in defence.

[Sally Jameson]

How can the defence sector make better use of underutilised MOD land and assets to contribute to innovative models of business such as the community energy projects that, alongside initiatives such as the South Yorkshire growth deal, can contribute to local SMEs and energy security?

[Luke Pollard]

As a very proud Labour and Co-operative MP, I know just how important it is to use community energy to create good renewable energy and cut energy bills. I would be very happy to speak to my hon. Friend about that. We are looking at the 1% of Britain that we own as a Department to see how we can not only deliver defence outputs and build more houses—with 100,000 houses identified in the defence housing strategy—but support environmental output and greater industrial opportunities for the private sector. I am very happy to meet her to discuss that further.

Oral Answers to Questions

Sally Jameson Excerpts

Monday 18th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Mrs Sarah Russell (Congleton) (Lab)]

11. What progress he has made on establishing an independent armed forces commissioner.

[Sally Jameson (Doncaster Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

14. What progress he has made on establishing an independent armed forces commissioner.

[Liz Twist (Blaydon and Consett) (Lab)]

21. What progress he has made on establishing an independent armed forces commissioner.

--- Later in debate ---

[Luke Pollard]

I thank my hon. Friend for her interest in this area and for championing the work of that organisation in her constituency. As we get to the point of implementing the Armed Forces Commissioner, I expect that they will have new relationships with service charities and organisations for serving members of our forces and the wider armed forces family. I would be very happy to meet my hon. Friend to discuss that, and I look forward to visiting her constituency to meet that organisation in person if I can.

[Sally Jameson]

Will the Minister consider that it is right that the Armed Forces Commissioner be able to challenge Ministers, and increase parliamentary oversight of the issues that face our forces and their families?

[Luke Pollard]

That was a commitment we made in opposition, but it is also a commitment to increased scrutiny that we are proud to make from the Government Dispatch Box. We want to make the case that, to improve morale and to improve the relationship and the contract between the nation and those who serve, having an independent and impartial figure to champion our armed forces and their families will improve not only the lived experience of those people, but the operational capability of our forces, encouraging more people to recognise that someone is genuinely listening to their concerns and that Ministers are prepared to act on them as well. There is a lot of work to be done to renew the contract, but the Armed Forces Commissioner is a key first step.

--- Later in debate ---

[John Healey]

Absolutely nothing, nor will we. It is a matter of course to confirm running costs for bases. What we are talking about here is an agreement leading to a treaty that will be put before this House. I have said to the House and to the shadow Secretary of State that we will set out the costs and the details of that treaty in due course when the House comes to consider it.

[Sally Jameson (Doncaster Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

T2. In Doncaster, we are proud to have an armed forces covenant co-ordinator, the fantastic Teresa Hodgson, and a Doncaster armed forces covenant board, which is a coalition of groups and organisations committed to supporting the armed forces community in Doncaster. Will the Minister visit my constituency to speak to the board and discuss the action that the Government are taking to support veterans facing homelessness?

[The Minister for Veterans and People (Al Carns)]

I would love to come and visit my hon. Friend’s constituency to talk through that and reaffirm that the covenant will go into law in the next two to three years. That work is progressing as I speak.