Asked by: Lord Hylton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have plans to reinforce the Royal Navy's operations in the Aegean Sea in order to save more lives and to arrest more traffickers.
Answered by Earl Howe - Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
I refer the noble Lord to the statement I made to this House on Monday 7 March (Official Report, column 1079). The Royal Navy has deployed Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) Mounts Bay and a Wildcat helicopter to support NATO activity in the Aegean Sea. These will work alongside three Home Office vessels: VOS Grace, which has been deployed since November; the cutter Protector, which is en route to the region; and a further cutter that is expected to start operations later this month.
In addition to RFA Mounts Bay, there are five NATO ships on station at the moment. Canada, Germany, Greece, Italy, and Turkey have each deployed a ship.
NATO ships will provide information to enable Greek and Turkish civilian authorities to intercept migrant vessels and arrest traffickers. It is not an interdiction or search and rescue operation, but RFA Mounts Bay would give assistance to any vessel it found in distress, in accordance with international obligations.
With regards to sufficiency, we note the substantial contribution being made by the UK and other members of NATO, but we always look to see what further contributions members of the Alliance can make.
Asked by: Lord Hylton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many persons for whom the British armed forces had a duty of care have been admitted to the UK for settlement in each year since 2001; and what sums of compensation have been paid for resettlement in other countries in that same period.
Answered by Earl Howe - Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
I am responding with figures relating to Iraqi and Afghan civilian personnel employed by HM Armed Forces and admitted for settlement to the UK. Admissions date from 2008 and have taken place under ex gratia arrangements rather than on the basis of a duty of care.
A total of 1,323 Iraqi civilians have been relocated to the UK since the locally engaged staff (LES) assistance scheme was announced in 2007. This total comprises 367 former locally engaged staff and 956 dependants.
| Total |
2008 | 171 |
2009 | 627 |
2010 | 130 |
2011 | 7 |
2012 | 125 |
2013 | 139 |
2014 | 69 |
2015 | 37 |
2016 | 18 |
TOTAL | 1,323 |
Nearly 500 Afghan former LES are eligible to apply for relocation to the UK with their immediate families under the Afghan LES Ex Gratia Redundancy scheme, which was announced on 4 June 2013. 573 people, comprising 249 locally engaged staff and 324 dependants, have relocated to the UK up to the end of January 2016.
| Total |
2014 | 55 |
2015 | 482 |
2016 | 36* |
Total | 573 |
*as at 31 January 2016
A number of Iraqi and Afghan former LES will have claimed asylum after entering the UK outside of the ex gratia arrangements; however, the relevant data is not held centrally.
We are not aware that any payments have been made for the resettlement of Iraqi or Afghan civilians to other countries.
Asked by: Lord Hylton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have paid compensation to the next of kin of the Afghan interpreters killed, or to those who were disabled, while working for the United Kingdom armed forces in Afghanistan.
Answered by Earl Howe - Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
We are grateful to all locally-employed staff working for the United Kingdom Armed Forces who have contributed to the success of our operations in Afghanistan. There are arrangements in place to compensate all those who have suffered significant injury during the course of their employment and the families of those who have made the ultimate sacrifice and whilst working with us in Afghanistan.
Asked by: Lord Hylton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will accelerate the conclusion of requests for resettlement by Afghan interpreters and other personnel employed by the United Kingdom, either by offering refugee status in the United Kingdom or by assisted resettlement in other countries.
Answered by Lord Astor of Hever
The ex-gratia redundancy scheme includes an offer of relocation to the UK for locally employed Afghan staff who meet the relevant eligibility criteria. Staff are relocated through a bespoke immigration arrangement, not connected to the UK refugee system. This system ensures that identity, health and security concerns are addressed without unreasonable delays. There are no plans to offer Afghan staff refugee status, which would not be appropriate to their circumstances.
Asked by: Lord Hylton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many staffed and equipped field hospitals they have.
Answered by Lord Astor of Hever
The Armed Forces operate 14 Field Hospitals: three Regular Army, ten Regionally Recruited Reserve Field Hospitals and one Nationally Recruited Reserve Field Hospital. These are shown below:
22 Field Hospital (Regular) - presently deployed in Sierra Leone
33 Field Hospital (Regular)
34 Field Hospital (Regular)
201 (Northern) Field Hospital (Reserve)
202 (Midlands) Field Hospital (Reserve)
203 (Welsh) Field Hospital (Reserve)
204 (North Irish) Field Hospital (Reserve)
205 (Scottish) Field Hospital (Reserve)
207 (Manchester) Field Hospital (Reserve)
208 (Merseyside) Field Hospital (Reserve)
212 (Yorkshire) Field Hospital (Reserve)
243 (Wessex) Field Hospital (Reserve)
256 (London) Field Hospital (Reserve)
306 Hospital Support Regiment (Reserve)
Regular Field Hospitals have a permanent cadre of staff who maintain the hospital and its equipment in barracks. During deployments and exercises they are augmented with Regular clinical staff from the Joint Medical Command. At the highest level of readiness, one of these units is able to deploy its lead elements at five days notice.
The Reserve Field Hospitals' role is to be ready to deploy for enduring operations with a minimum of 18 months notice. This allows sufficient time to prepare both the manpower and equipment for the deployment. Reserves can and do also volunteer as individuals to deploy on operations with Regular units at shorter notice.
Asked by: Lord Hylton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to expand the instructions given to RFA Argus so as to enable its medical facilities to assist all urgent cases from Sierra Leone or nearby states.
Answered by Lord Astor of Hever
RFA ARGUS is deployed to support the Government's efforts in Sierra Leone. Her primary role is to act as a logistics lift capability and aviation platform, with three embarked Merlin helicopters. RFA ARGUS does, however, have a limited medical capability on board to treat disease and non-battle injury. Treatment of those suffering from Ebola is carried out at separate facilities ashore, the first of which opened in Kerry Town on 5 November and will have the capacity to treat 80 local patients. Also at Kerry Town the UK military is currently manning a 12 bed treatment unit for national and international healthcare workers.
Asked by: Lord Hylton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what Royal Navy vessels are currently taking part in NATO's Operation Active Endeavour.
Answered by Lord Astor of Hever
As at 29 October 2014, HMS KENT (a Type 23 Frigate) and HMS GRIMSBY (a Mine Counter Measures Vessel) are supporting Operation ACTIVE ENDEAVOUR.