Asked by: Baroness Helic (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will list the countries where the United Kingdom is providing training to foreign armed forces; and of those training missions, whether they will list those which include training in preventing and responding to sexual violence.
Answered by Earl Howe - Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
I refer the noble Lady to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Minister for the Armed Forces (Penny Mordaunt) in the House of Commons on 2 July 2015 to Question number 4649 to the hon. Member for Cardiff South and Penarth (Stephen Doughty).
Further to this, I attach two tables which detail the countries receiving training in preventing and responding to sexual violence.
Asked by: Baroness Helic (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to integrate training on sexual violence and gender issues into all training given by British forces to the Peshmerga in Iraq.
Answered by Earl Howe - Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
Protection of Civilian (PoC) training is now integrated into all of the training courses delivered to Peshmerga troops by UK training teams. This includes training on sexual violence and gender issues.
UK trainers have also delivered training to coalition partners' training teams within the Building Partner Capacity site at Erbil. This includes German, Norwegian, and Italian trainers. All UK trainers deployed to Iraq are now trained to deliver PoC training prior to leaving the UK.
Asked by: Baroness Helic (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Earl Howe on 30 June (HL698), when the steering board on Women, Peace and Security was established; and on how many occasions it has met.
Answered by Earl Howe - Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
The senior-level steering board on Women, Peace and Security was established in April 2015. The Board will meet every six months; its first meeting was in April 2015 and the second will be held in September 2015.
Asked by: Baroness Helic (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they have taken to increase the availability and use of gender advisers and cultural advisers within deployable United Kingdom armed forces; and whether they will list those instances where such advisers have been deployed.
Answered by Earl Howe - Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is currently examining the number, training and requirement of military gender advisors.
Over the past 12 months, the MOD has deployed gender advisors to the Democratic Republic of Congo and Iraq (in order to train the Kurdish Security Forces (KSF); approximately 700 KSF have been trained so far). The MOD will also be deploying one gender advisor to the United Nations Headquarters to support the United Nations' military advisor to the Secretary-General on gender issues.
The MOD's cultural advisors have undertaken over 60 deployments over the past 12 months, to locations such as Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Nigeria, Ghana, Angola, Mozambique and Bosnia.
Asked by: Baroness Helic (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what progress they have made toward establishing a senior defence working group on gender, as set out in the United Kingdom National Action Plan on Women, Peace, and Security.
Answered by Earl Howe - Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
A senior-level steering board on Women, Peace, and Security (and related issues) has been established within the Ministry of Defence.
Asked by: Baroness Helic (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what procedures they have put in place since 2014 to increase the situational awareness of gender within the armed forces at home and on deployment.
Answered by Earl Howe - Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
The Ministry of Defence is undertaking a number of actions aimed at increasing the situational awareness of gender within the Armed Forces. This includes incorporating gender issues into relevant Armed Forces doctrine and pre-deployment training and a wider review of gender issues in all Armed Forces training.
In domestic terms, the Armed Forces undertake mandatory diversity and inclusion training on entry into service and every two years. Equality and diversity advisors are also embedded within each unit. Each service has a senior gender advocate and a servicewomen's network to improve access and opportunities for women.