Asked by: Lord Brennan of Canton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department seeks references for candidates appointed to public positions which fall under the remit of the Commissioner for Public Appointments.
Answered by Leo Docherty
The Department has a robust recruitment process in place for appointments that are regulated by the Commissioner which is in line with the process and principles set out in the 2016 Governance Code on Public Appointments. It is Departmental policy to take up references for candidates shortlisted for interview and this is set out clearly in the candidate information pack for each recruitment campaign.
Asked by: Lord Brennan of Canton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many items of written correspondence from hon. Members sent to Ministers of his Department have been (a) received and (b) replied to since 1 April 2020; and how many of those responses were responded to by (i) Ministers and (ii) officials of his Department.
Answered by Leo Docherty
The Government recognises the great importance of the effective and timely handling of correspondence.
The Cabinet Office is currently compiling data on the timeliness of responses to hon. and right hon. Members from Government Departments and Agencies. This data will be released, and made available to Members, in due course.
Asked by: Lord Brennan of Canton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many members of foreign armed forces have been embedded in the UK armed forces in each year since 2010.
Answered by Mike Penning
This information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Lord Brennan of Canton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, which of his Department's contracts in the last five years used the largest proportion of British steel.
Answered by Philip Dunne
The largest defence equipment procurement project during this period has been the construction of the two Queen Elizabeth Class Aircraft Carriers. Updated figures show that the vast majority of structural steel used, some 95,000 tonnes, was manufactured in the UK.
In the main, defence requirements for steel are sourced by our prime contractors taking into account cost, time and quality. UK suppliers have made a significant and valuable contribution to the supply of steel for our major defence programmes. New Government guidelines, which have been implemented in the Ministry of Defence, will also help them compete for future defence projects.
Asked by: Lord Brennan of Canton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much his Department spent on Israeli products in each of the last three years.
Answered by Philip Dunne
This information is not held centrally in the format requested. However, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) has made the total value of payments below against contracts where the MOD Commercial teams have identified Israel as the location of some or all of the work required for the completion of the overall contract.
Financial Year | Total Value of Payments (£ million) |
2012-13 | 18.9 |
2013-14 | 25.5 |
2014-15 | 15.8 |
These figures may not include all subcontracted components of Israeli manufacture and may include subcontracted components manufactured in countries other than Israel. The analysis is based on Location of Work codes and does not relate to the billing address of companies nor is it based on ownership of the companies involved in the production of the product.