Asked by: Earl Attlee (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government which Government department leads on ensuring that the government of Ukraine and its armed forces have all the armoured fighting vehicles that are required whilst not compromising the overall defence and security needs of the UK.
Answered by Baroness Goldie - Shadow Minister (Defence)
Via the Ministry of Defence, the UK has gifted over 300 armoured vehicles, both from its own inventory and from other sources internationally. Vehicles gifted from the UK have been assessed to cause tolerable risk to readiness in the short term and will not result in any longer-term capability gaps.
Asked by: Earl Attlee (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the primary purpose of the Challenger II Main Battle Tank’s hull and automotive systems is to transport the Challenger II turret, its associated systems and crew, around the battlefield with an optimised balance of protection and mobility.
Answered by Baroness Goldie - Shadow Minister (Defence)
Yes. The Challenger 2 hull primarily provides survivability, the automotive components provide mobility, and the turret provides lethality. All three are balanced and work in harmony to deliver an effective capability.
Asked by: Earl Attlee (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government, when the Challenger 3 tank is in service, whether they will be free to export, sell, loan or transfer these tanks to any government they should choose without the agreement of the government of Germany.
Answered by Baroness Goldie - Shadow Minister (Defence)
Challenger 3 will be a highly capable Main Battle Tank with world-leading performance. In line with the Land Industrial Strategy, our ambition is for it to be in service in 2027 with the capability ready for transfer, loan, or export. We are closely working with partners, including Germany where certain Challenge 3 components will be made, in order to meet these ambitions.
Any and all such sharing would be subject to the relevant law of intellectual property, national export regulations, and licence conditions that identify and control the end user, and reflect international arms controls and human rights legislation.
Asked by: Earl Attlee (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government (1) for which trades in the British Army Reserve, and (2) at what level, is the holding of a group C +E HGV licence a mandatory requirement.
Answered by Baroness Goldie - Shadow Minister (Defence)
The answers to the noble. Lord's questions are provided in the attached table.
Asked by: Earl Attlee (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government (1) for which trades in the British Army Reserve, and (2) at what level, is the holding of a group C HGV licence a mandatory requirement.
Answered by Baroness Goldie - Shadow Minister (Defence)
The answers to the noble. Lord's questions are provided in the attached table.
Asked by: Earl Attlee (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government (1) for which trades in the Regular British Army, and (2) at what level, is the holding of a group C+E HGV licence a mandatory requirement.
Answered by Baroness Goldie - Shadow Minister (Defence)
The answers to the noble. Lord's questions are provided in the attached table.
Asked by: Earl Attlee (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government (1) for which trades in the Regular British Army, and (2) at what level, is the holding of a group C HGV licence a mandatory requirement.
Answered by Baroness Goldie - Shadow Minister (Defence)
The answers to the noble. Lord's questions are provided in the attached table.
Asked by: Earl Attlee (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Goldie on 14 October (HL2815), how many (1) regular, and (2) reserve, members of the Armed Forces who hold the rank equivalent to a full corporal or below hold a group C HGV licence; and how many hold a group C + E licence.
Answered by Baroness Goldie - Shadow Minister (Defence)
Under Military Aid to Civilian Authority, Defence has made available approximately 250 military fuel tanker drivers and a similar number of support staff, to assist the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy with ensuring the continuity of fuel supplies around Great Britain. As part of ensuring that Defence has a suitably qualified workforce, we train personnel in a variety of different categories of driving licences. This is primarily to enable the safe operation of military vehicles and equipment in worldwide operations and qualified personnel are regularly deployed overseas. It would therefore be misleading to specify numbers of qualified personnel against specific driving license requirements currently held within Defence or specifically in the UK.