Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent progress has been made by the Coalition of the Willing on Ukraine.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
Since the Coalition of the Willing Summit in London in March 2025, the UK and France have co-led military planning efforts and brought together over 30 countries at four leader level events including one in Kyiv.
The Prime Minister and President Macron convened a Leader Level Coalition of the Willing meeting on 10 July 2025, confirming the development of mature operational plans to deploy a reassurance force once hostilities have ceased, to help secure Ukraine’s skies and seas and to regenerate Ukraine’s Armed Forces.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many volunteer reservists completed (a) up to 18, (b) 19 to 26 and (c) over 27 reserve service days in the last five financial years by service.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
It will take time to collate the information needed to answer the hon. Member’s questions. I will write to him shortly and place a copy of my letter in the Library of the House.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many reserve service days were completed by the Volunteer Reserves in the last five financial years by service.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
It will take time to collate the information needed to answer the hon. Member’s questions. I will write to him shortly and place a copy of my letter in the Library of the House.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to provide electronic warfare equipment to the army for use in training exercises.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The Army currently provides specialist Electronic Warfare equipment for use on operations and training exercises. I am unable to provide any further detail relating to this provision for reasons of operational security.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the cost to his Department was of volunteer reserve pay excluding annual bounties in the last five financial years by service.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
It will take time to collate the information needed to answer the hon. Member’s questions. I will write to him shortly and place a copy of my letter in the Library of the House.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many volunteer reservists received an annual bounty in the last five financial years by (a) service and (b) rank.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
It will take time to collate the information needed to answer the hon. Member’s questions. I will write to him shortly and place a copy of my letter in the Library of the House.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the cost to his Department was of the volunteer reserve annual bounty in the last five financial years by service.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
It will take time to collate the information needed to answer the hon. Member’s questions. I will write to him shortly and place a copy of my letter in the Library of the House.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many reserve service days were completed by the Volunteer Reserves in the last five financial years by rank.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
It will take time to collate the information needed to answer the hon. Member’s questions. I will write to him shortly and place a copy of my letter in the Library of the House.
Asked by: Sojan Joseph (Labour - Ashford)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what discussions he has had with (a) the Nepalese Government and (b) Gurkha veteran representatives on bringing pensions for Gurkha soldiers who retired before 1997 in line with the standard British Army pension.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
The UK Government greatly values the Gurkhas’ long and distinguished history of service in our Armed Forces and remains committed to supporting the welfare of Gurkha Veterans and their families in both the UK and Nepal.
In March 2025, I met with the Nepali Ambassador H.E. Chandra Ghimire for a productive discussion that reflected our shared commitment to strengthening cooperation and addressing key concerns between Nepal and the UK. Additionally, in June 2025, Ministry of Defence officials met with representatives of the Nepali Government and Gurkha Veterans as part of the Bilateral Gurkha Veteran Welfare Committee’s Working Group, which continues to serve as a platform for constructive dialogue and collaboration.
The 1948 Gurkha Pension Scheme is different to other Armed Forces Pension Schemes, but these differences are objectively and reasonably justified. The legal basis for the Scheme has been upheld by three Judicial Reviews since 2003, including the European Court of Human Rights in 2017.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Government press release entitled Major £5 billion technology investment accelerates UK defence innovation in a European first, published on 2 June 2025, what percentage of the £4 billion to be spent on drones in this parliament will be spent on (a) reconnaissance, (b) logistics, (c) FPV and (d) long-range one-way attack drones.
Answered by Maria Eagle - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Strategic Defence Review recommends that an immediate priority for force transformation should be a shift towards greater use of autonomy and Artificial Intelligence (AI) within the UK's conventional forces. Uncrewed and autonomous systems will be incorporated into the Integrated Force in high numbers over the next five years as part of a 'high-low' mix of capabilities whether undersea, at sea, on land, or over land. Exact numbers and investment apportioned to these systems will be determined as part of the Defence Investment Plan.