Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of providing surplus ration packs to homeless people.
Answered by Guto Bebb
The Ministry of Defence is reviewing its storage and disposal policy for ration packs.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has a carer's policy for its employees; and what other steps his Department has taken to support employees with caring responsibilities.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
Ministry of Defence policy is to provide support to its civilian employees who have caring responsibilities for a partner or dependant, including through special leave and flexible working arrangements. We also provide an Employee Wellbeing Service, designed to help civilian staff identify other sources of support, both inside and outside the Department.
As part of the Defence People with a Significant Illness project, work is being undertaken to develop policy and guidance to support the needs of the carer and the cared for, including both Service personnel and civilian staff, from point of diagnosis through to, if necessary, end of life care.
The Department is also developing a Flexible Engagements System (FES) for Service personnel who wish to vary their deployability, or to work part-time, to better fit their Service career around family life. FES will enable regular Service personnel to temporarily change the nature of their service, enabling flexible working or protection from deployment in order to support an individual's personal circumstances where operational demands allow. The opportunity to request flexible working arrangements will apply to all Service personnel and will be introduced from spring 2019. The primary legislation to enable FES is currently before Parliament.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment his Department has made of the effects of acacia clearances in the UK Sovereign Base Area in Cyprus on the illegal trapping of songbirds on the base.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
Since November 2014, 61 acres of invasive acacia have been removed from the Special Area of Conservation and land managed by the Ministry of Defence at Cape Pyla, an open area of countryside affected by illegal bird trapping. Birdlife Cyprus has undertaken assessments of bird trapping across the whole of Cyprus, including the Sovereign Base Areas (SBA); but they have not yet published any specific data associated with the removal of this acacia at Cape Pyla. Their next set of estimates will be issued early in 2018 after the present migration season has ended.
The SBA Police have separately assessed that up to 40 trappers planted and exploited this acacia at Cape Pyla and, using the Birdlife Cyprus methodology, together with a combination of other measures to counter bird trapping, is resulting in significant numbers of birds being saved. Preliminary assessments from the SBA Police, and noted by various Non-Government Organisations, indicate that bird trapping activity so far during the 2017 autumn migration is lower than in previous years.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what his Department's estimate is of the amount of EU legislation and regulation that can be incorporated into UK law without amendment.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
The European Union (Withdrawal) Bill will convert European Union law into UK law as it applies in the UK at the moment of exit. This will ensure that, wherever possible, the same rules and laws will apply the day after exit as they did before.
The Government is still making a detailed assessment of what corrections will be required to make that law function appropriately on exit day. The Department for Exiting the European Union are working closely with Departments across Government to ensure we make the changes required to deliver a functioning statute book on exit in the most efficient manner possible.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of diverting surplus Operational Ration Packs to people who are homeless.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
Work is being undertaken to consider the merits of providing surplus Operational Ration Packs to homeless people while still complying with the Ministry of Defence's gifting policy and current Food Safety legislation.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) operational ration packs and (b) tonnes of food that represents have been withdrawn from use and disposed of in each of the last five years for which figures are available.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
Out-of-date Operational Ration Packs (ORPs) are withdrawn from use and disposed of in line with current food safety legislation.
Based on information recorded on Ministry of Defence Inventory Management systems, the number of ORPs that have been disposed of is given below. The weight of these disposals is not recorded.
Financial Year | Number of ORPs |
2012-13 | 63,090 |
2013-14 | 110 |
2014-15 | 5,004 |
2015-16 | 10,798 |
April 2016/December 2016 | 12,275 |
Notes:
(1) Information prior to 1 April 2012 is not held.
(2) Both individual 24-hour ORPs and 10-man ORPs are included in the above figures.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many people working for his Department or its executive agencies on a (a) directly employed, (b) agency or (c) outsourced basis are paid less than the living wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation; and how many of those people are employed on zero-hours contracts.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) pays over and above the New National Living Wage across all of our business areas (£7.20 per hour).
In 2015 the Secretary of State for Defence agreed that London-based staff should be paid the London Living Wage rate (£9.40 per hour). This is in line with the rate defined by the Living Wage Foundation. This rate includes basic pay and any applicable allowances. It is regularly reviewed and where an individual’s rate falls under this they are paid specific enhancements.
The MOD has not formally signed up to the National Living Wage rate as defined by the Living Wage Foundation (£8.25 per hour). The table below details those directly employed by the Ministry of Defence (MOD) and its agencies who are paid less than this rate.
National Living Wage | |
MOD (outside London) | 1,017 |
Defence Equipment & Support (outside London) | 93 |
Defence Science & Technology Laboratory | 107 |
United Kingdom Hydrographic Office | 55 |
Defence Electronics and Components Agency | 0 |
Contracted workers' rates of pay, where paid by their parent company or recruitment agency, are not visible to the MOD.
The MOD does not employ individuals on zero-hours contracts.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) direct employees, (b) agency staff and (c) outsourced staff working for his Department and its subsidiary agencies are paid less than the living wage.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
The information requested is shown below. Contracted workers' rates of pay, where paid by their parent company or recruitment agency, are not visible to the Ministry of Defence (MOD).
London Living Wage (£9.15 per hour) | |
MOD (London) | 39 |
National Living Wage (£7.85 per hour) | |
MOD (outside London) | 1,159 |
Defence Science & Technology Laboratory | 8 |
United Kingdom Hydrographic Office | 12 |
Defence Electronics and Components Agency | 0 |
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) direct employees, (b) outsourced workers and (c) workers in agencies which report to his Department are paid less than the Living Wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation.
Answered by Anna Soubry
The table shows the number of civilian staff employed by the Ministry of Defence and its Agencies who are paid less than the rate defined by the Living Wage Foundation (LWF) as a living wage.
Department/Agency | Numbers working in London paid less than LWF London Rate of £8.80 per hour | Numbers paid less than LWF National Rate of £7.65 per hour |
Ministry of Defence | 10 | 900 |
United Kingdom Hydrographic Office | 0 | 30 |
Defence Support Group | 0 | 40 |
Defence Science & Technology Laboratory | 0 | 60 |
Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10.
Figures are as at 3 October 2014.
Contracted workers’ rates of pay, where paid by their parent company or recruitment agency, are not visible to the Department.