Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many watchkeeper drones the UK has.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 18 March 2024 to Question 18362 to the right hon. Member for Wentworth and Dearne (John Healey).
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much humanitarian aid his Department has delivered into Gaza by (a) land crossings, (b) maritime deliveries and (c) airdrops in each month since October 2023.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
With the exception of airdrops, the Ministry of Defence has not delivered humanitarian aid directly into Gaza.
In October one RAF flight delivered 21 tonnes of aid and in November three RAF flights delivered 53 tonnes to Egypt for land crossings. In December RFA Lyme Bay delivered 87 tonnes UK and Cypriot aid into Port Said, Egypt also for land crossings.
In March the RAF airdropped 28 tonnes of aid over Gaza, with a further 36 tonnes between 1-17 April, as part of the Jordanian led mission.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to support the AUKUS Advanced Capabilities Industry Forum.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Since its announcement at the AUKUS Defence Ministers meeting in December 2023, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) have consulted on the AUKUS Advanced Capabilities Industry Forum TORs, developing them in partnership with trade associations from all three nations. The MOD hosted the first forum trilaterally in Washington DC on 9 April 2024. Two further forums are planned for 2024, in the UK and Australia respectively.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what civil service grade are the officials supporting the AUKUS Advanced Capabilities Industry Forum.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
A variety of officials at varying grades are engaged in supporting the AUKUS Advanced Capabilities Industry Forum. We have an SCS 2 official as a co-chair to the Forum. It is not practical to further quantify a specific number of people supporting it at any given moment.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when he plans to publish the operating model for Defence Equipment and Support.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) have completed the first detailed design of the new Operating Model, which is now undergoing scenario testing and refinement. Implementation of the DE&S Gateway is currently in progress. Iterative improvement will continue between initial implementation and stabilisation of the new Operating Model. DE&S are working towards a full operating capability by March 2025.
119 individuals (96.44 FTE) are currently working on the DE&S Operating Model.
Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 3 April 2024 to Question 20104 on Armed Forces: Housing, if he will provide a breakdown of those figures for Scotland.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Please find below the figures broken down for Scotland.
Issue | Damp and Mould (provided from February 2023) | Loss of heating and hot water | Loss of water Supply | Electrical faults | Pest Infestation |
| 104 | 96 | 0 | 646 | 68 |
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the letter sent to the Rt hon. Member for Garston and Halewood on 22 March 2024, reference UIN No 7162/7163, how many RAF aircraft were serviceable in each month since January 2023.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The RAF does not track this metric on a monthly basis. The Forward fleet comprises aircraft which are fully serviceable and those which are short-term unserviceable. Short-term issues causing individual aircraft systems to be unserviceable can last from minutes to days.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) domestic and (b) overseas trade shows have Ministers in his Department attended in each year since 2019.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Information on domestic trade shows is not held centrally and could be provided only at a disproportionate cost, whilst information on any attendance of overseas trade shows would have been published online within the Transparency Returns.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the annual budget is for the Weapons Support Team at Defence Equipment and Support in the (a) 2023-24, (b) 2024-25 and (c) 2025-26 financial year.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The figures below represent the projected annual operating expenditure budget and forecast costs for the Weapons Support Team at Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S).
The Weapons Support Team budget and forecast costs on equipment costs by financial year is as follows:
Financial Year | Contract Spend £million |
FY2023-24 | 2.96 |
FY2024-25 | 2.58 |
FY2025-26 | 2.63 |
The Weapons Support Team budget and forecast costs on operating costs by financial year is as follows:
Financial year | Total spend £million |
FY2023-24 | 37.73 |
Notes:
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 20 March 2024 to Question 18053 on Iron and Steel: Procurement, what his planned timetable is for introducing a new condition which will require suppliers delivering larger value contracts to provide detailed supply chain maps.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
DEFCON 565, which mandates suppliers for all new contracts £5 million and above to provide supply chain information, was published on 1 July 2023.