Mark Francois: The DIO is not fit for purpose, and the Future Defence Infrastructure Services accommodation contract has been a disaster, including completely unacceptable delays in issuing and checking gas and electricity safety certificates. No private landlord would get away with this without being sued. The Secretary of State had a good run out at the Defence Committee last week, and said he was...
Mark Francois: I welcome the Minister to his new job. Several months ago, Essex MPs met his predecessor to talk about the possibility of a combined authority for Essex. We were overwhelmingly against it. The people of Essex do not want this ridiculous white elephant; there is no demand from them. This is all being brought about by some highly ambitious Essex county councillors and some officers who think...
Mark Francois: For the record, the roads Minister is a very good one, who has had to swap lanes today at short notice. How many of the HS2 stations will have ticket offices? Last Thursday in Westminster Hall, there was a train crash of a debate in which not a single Back Bencher from any political party backed the Government’s proposals. As many people have asked the Minister to pass on messages today,...
Mark Francois: The second highest number of signatures on the petition against these proposals comes from my constituents in Rayleigh and Wickford. I have been pressing the Minister for months for figures on ticket office sales in my constituents’ stations. They arrived yesterday afternoon. At Hockley, he says they sell an average of 219 tickets a day, in Rayleigh 461 and in Wickford 480, but the email I...
Mark Francois: I have an email from a whistleblower who works for Abellio Greater Anglia. The key thing it says is that “the ticket offices are used much more than people realise. Although the figures say only 12% of tickets are issued by ticket offices, this is an average…Stations like Billericay, Wickford and Raleigh are selling over 500 per shift at weekends.” So people who work for the railway and...
Mark Francois: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he plans to resurrect the Warrior Capability Sustainment Programme.
Mark Francois: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many Warrior armoured fighting vehicles his Department plans to keep in operational service in 2026.
Mark Francois: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the additional cost of continuing the Warrior armoured fighting vehicle in service.
Mark Francois: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many AS-90 howitzers are operationally available.
Mark Francois: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what refits of Royal Navy submarines there have been by (a) name, (b) year, (c) length of refit, (d) time taken to complete the refit, (e) the contractor undertaking the refit and (f) the cost of the refit in the last ten years.
Mark Francois: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent estimate he has made of when the last of the Trafalgar class submarines will leave operational service.
Mark Francois: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the cost of the Challenger 3 upgrade programme; what the definition is of initial operating capability for Challenger 3; and what the planned date is for that initial operating capability.
Mark Francois: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent estimate he has made of when the last of the two submarines of the Astute class will enter operational service.
Mark Francois: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent estimate he has made of the cost of upgrading the Bowman tactical communications system from BCP 5.6 standard to BCP 5.7; when the upgraded system is expected to achieve initial operating capability; and which contractor has been appointed to undertake the work.
Mark Francois: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent estimate he has made of the number of Morpheus terminals that will be required when it enters service.
Mark Francois: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will list all contracts by value between his Department and (a) Babcock and (b) its subsidiaries in the last ten years.
Mark Francois: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the cost was of each of the five boats of the Astute class delivered to his Department; and what estimate he has made of the cost of each of the remaining Astute class boats .
Mark Francois: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when he plans to commence the competition for the Morpheus tactical communications system.
Mark Francois: My condolences to the Secretary of State. Babcock is one of the largest defence employers in the country, but as reported in the Sunday press, its record on refits of surface ships is woeful. It took over four years to refit the Type 23 frigate HMS Iron Duke. Its record on submarines is even worse, taking seven years to refit a Trident boat. According to the journal Navy Lookout, which said...
Mark Francois: I commend the work of Baroness Barran and county councillor Tony Ball and all his team at Essex County Council, who have worked their socks off ultimately to keep children safe, but I regret to tell the Secretary of State that, having now managed to speak to all the heads of affected schools in my constituency, there are a number of differences between what I have been told by her Department...
