Asked by: Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government from which (1) departments, (2) arms-length bodies, and (3) other organisations the number of civil servants will be reduced to help fund the commitment to spend 2.5 per cent of gross domestic product on defence by 2030.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The detail of how individual organisations will be affected by the return to pre-pandemic numbers will form a key part of the next comprehensive spending review. The longer-term reductions will build on the shorter-term headcount cap put in place through to March 2025.
Asked by: Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many meetings the Earl of Minto has had with representatives from the Defence Police Federation since November 2023.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
I have had written correspondence with the Defence Police Federation since taking up post in November 2023, but have held no meetings to date; I did, however, offer for the Defence Police Federation to meet with Senior Officials which took place in early March 2024.
Asked by: Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many meetings the Earl of Minto has had with the Chief Constable of the Ministry of Defence Police since November 2023.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Owing to a combination of diary constraints and scheduled calls being cancelled due to urgent business on both sides, I have not had the opportunity to meet face-to-face with the Chief Constable of the Ministry of Defence Police.
Asked by: Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether their commitment to spend 2.5 per cent of gross domestic product on defence by 2030 has been incorporated into the Treasury’s baseline budgets.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Prime Minister recently set out our pledge: to increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2030. That increase starts immediately, rising each year, and will see defence spending rise to £87 billion a year by 2030/31. This is the biggest strengthening of our defence since the Cold War.
The commitment will be fully funded, with no increases in borrowing or debt.
Asked by: Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the break-down of the planned cuts to be made to each government department's research and development budget to help fund the commitment to spend 2.5 per cent of gross domestic product on defence by 2030.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
We have committed to increase government R&D spending by £2 billion, from £20 billion in 2024-25 to £22 billion in the next Parliament.
Asked by: Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the average wait time for each of the eight levels of security vetting by United Kingdom Security Vetting, from 'Baseline Personnel Security Standard' to 'Enhanced Developed Vetting'.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
As Minister for State at the Cabinet Office I am able to provide a response in relation to National Security Vetting (NSV). UKSV acts as the service provider for NSV across His Majesty’s Government (HMG). NSV remains a separate and distinct process to recruitment and onboarding processes and provides an additional personnel assurance within both public and private sector for roles and projects that require access to the sensitive assets and Protectively Marked Materials (PMM).
The government does not comment on the workings of the NSV process at the strategic or tactical level for security reasons and thereby details of numbers awaiting NSV cannot be shared. However the following information may be useful.
The Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) is not a level of NSV, nor conducted by United Kingdom Security Vetting (UKSV); it is a separate pre-employment check conducted locally by recruiting departments. As this is a localised departmental element, no central record of data for BPSS is held within HMG at this time.
Following a stabilisation programme initiated in 2023, there have been sustained and stable improvements in performance against Key Performance Indicators (KPI) across all service levels of National Security Vetting clearances which includes Counter Terrorist Check (CTC), Security Check (SC) and Developed Vetting (DV). Across core services:
Accreditation Checks (AC), a level of NSV, primarily used by the aviation industry, are being completed in five days or less.
The KPIs for both CTC and SC are 25 days, on 29th February 2024 96% of cases were being processed within that time frame.
The KPI for DV is 95 days; on 29th February 2024 93.48% of initial DV cases were being processed within that time frame.The Performance Indicator for DV Renewals is also 95 days; on 29th February 2024 13.78% of these cases were being processed within that time frame. However we expect that DV renewals submitted from 1st April 2024 will be delivered within the KPI of 95 days.
The requirements for security cleared roles across HMG vary and are set by individual department and partner agencies dependent on duties and level of access to Protectively Marked Materials (PMM). It is, therefore, not possible to provide confirmation of the performance of NSV in relation to specific roles. In line with the practice followed by successive administrations, the Government does not otherwise comment on security matters, including average actual processing times.
Asked by: Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many people employed by the private sector are currently awaiting security vetting by United Kingdom Security Vetting.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
As Minister for State at the Cabinet Office I am able to provide a response in relation to National Security Vetting (NSV). UKSV acts as the service provider for NSV across His Majesty’s Government (HMG). NSV remains a separate and distinct process to recruitment and onboarding processes and provides an additional personnel assurance within both public and private sector for roles and projects that require access to the sensitive assets and Protectively Marked Materials (PMM).
The government does not comment on the workings of the NSV process at the strategic or tactical level for security reasons and thereby details of numbers awaiting NSV cannot be shared. However the following information may be useful.
The Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) is not a level of NSV, nor conducted by United Kingdom Security Vetting (UKSV); it is a separate pre-employment check conducted locally by recruiting departments. As this is a localised departmental element, no central record of data for BPSS is held within HMG at this time.
Following a stabilisation programme initiated in 2023, there have been sustained and stable improvements in performance against Key Performance Indicators (KPI) across all service levels of National Security Vetting clearances which includes Counter Terrorist Check (CTC), Security Check (SC) and Developed Vetting (DV). Across core services:
Accreditation Checks (AC), a level of NSV, primarily used by the aviation industry, are being completed in five days or less.
The KPIs for both CTC and SC are 25 days, on 29th February 2024 96% of cases were being processed within that time frame.
The KPI for DV is 95 days; on 29th February 2024 93.48% of initial DV cases were being processed within that time frame.The Performance Indicator for DV Renewals is also 95 days; on 29th February 2024 13.78% of these cases were being processed within that time frame. However we expect that DV renewals submitted from 1st April 2024 will be delivered within the KPI of 95 days.
The requirements for security cleared roles across HMG vary and are set by individual department and partner agencies dependent on duties and level of access to Protectively Marked Materials (PMM). It is, therefore, not possible to provide confirmation of the performance of NSV in relation to specific roles. In line with the practice followed by successive administrations, the Government does not otherwise comment on security matters, including average actual processing times.
Asked by: Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many people are currently awaiting security vetting by United Kingdom Security Vetting.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
As Minister for State at the Cabinet Office I am able to provide a response in relation to National Security Vetting (NSV). UKSV acts as the service provider for NSV across His Majesty’s Government (HMG). NSV remains a separate and distinct process to recruitment and onboarding processes and provides an additional personnel assurance within both public and private sector for roles and projects that require access to the sensitive assets and Protectively Marked Materials (PMM).
The government does not comment on the workings of the NSV process at the strategic or tactical level for security reasons and thereby details of numbers awaiting NSV cannot be shared. However the following information may be useful.
The Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) is not a level of NSV, nor conducted by United Kingdom Security Vetting (UKSV); it is a separate pre-employment check conducted locally by recruiting departments. As this is a localised departmental element, no central record of data for BPSS is held within HMG at this time.
Following a stabilisation programme initiated in 2023, there have been sustained and stable improvements in performance against Key Performance Indicators (KPI) across all service levels of National Security Vetting clearances which includes Counter Terrorist Check (CTC), Security Check (SC) and Developed Vetting (DV). Across core services:
Accreditation Checks (AC), a level of NSV, primarily used by the aviation industry, are being completed in five days or less.
The KPIs for both CTC and SC are 25 days, on 29th February 2024 96% of cases were being processed within that time frame.
The KPI for DV is 95 days; on 29th February 2024 93.48% of initial DV cases were being processed within that time frame.The Performance Indicator for DV Renewals is also 95 days; on 29th February 2024 13.78% of these cases were being processed within that time frame. However we expect that DV renewals submitted from 1st April 2024 will be delivered within the KPI of 95 days.
The requirements for security cleared roles across HMG vary and are set by individual department and partner agencies dependent on duties and level of access to Protectively Marked Materials (PMM). It is, therefore, not possible to provide confirmation of the performance of NSV in relation to specific roles. In line with the practice followed by successive administrations, the Government does not otherwise comment on security matters, including average actual processing times.
Asked by: Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what was the gender breakdown of people leaving the Armed Forces in each year from 2010 to 2023.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The information requested by the noble Lady can be found on the attached excel spreadsheet.
Asked by: Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many sexual harassment specialists are employed in Defence Business Services.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
43 HR caseworkers are employed in Defence Business Services, who advise on HR processes including claims received for sexual harassment cases.