"It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Efford. Amendment 8, standing in my name and those of my right hon. and hon. Friends, is a straightforward but important amendment. Its purpose is simple: to place a clear and consistent definition of “due regard” on the face of …..." David Reed - View Speech
"I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention. He has a lot of experience in local government, so I take his view on this topic and look forward to hearing his substantive speech on it.
Amendment 8 does not introduce a new or burdensome requirement. It simply reflects existing guidelines …..." David Reed - View Speech
"I thank the hon. Member for her intervention; she is an expert in these areas.
National Governments have legal teams to help them interpret the concept of due regard and apply it evenly across their Departments. When we get down to the local council level—I think we have all experienced …..." David Reed - View Speech
"I beg to move amendment 8, in clause 2, page 3, line 19, at end insert—
“‘due regard’ means that specified bodies should think about and place an appropriate amount of weight on the principles of the Armed Forces Covenant when they consider all the key factors relevant to how …..." David Reed - View Speech
"I beg to move amendment 13, in clause 2, page 6, line 37, at end insert—
“343AZC Armed Forces Covenant Action Plans
(1) Within six months of the passage of the Armed Forces Act 2026, the Secretary of State must make regulations requiring a local authority to which the Armed …..." David Reed - View Speech
"My hon. Friend makes a very good point. Looking across the Committee, I see Members who have served in local government, some of whom may have had military experience before doing so. They would have been able to apply their experience, and that of their families, to their work as …..." David Reed - View Speech
"I thank the hon. Member for her intervention, and she makes a good point. But who defines “narrow”? From what we have seen with local authorities, most councils want to go above and beyond the covenant, because people in the council might have served in the military or had military …..." David Reed - View Speech
"I would rather have it in the legislation from the outset. We could take a position where we hope that local authorities will sit down and read through the legislation but, as we have seen over the last few years, that has not been applied in the current understanding of …..." David Reed - View Speech