Asked by: Lord Moonie (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to improve the availability of Royal Air Force combat aircraft.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
The RAF has continued to invest in the capability and availability of our Next Generation Lightning and Typhoon Combat Aircraft to meet operational tasking.
The UK has invested in the support of the Lightning fleet with a National Support Solution contract and additionally has invested approximately £142 million in the development of state of the art infrastructure to support the Lightning Force throughout its service life. This is in addition to the upgrade of other operating facilities to accommodate the new Lightning Force. These new facilities and the National Support Solution are now fully operational and supporting the growth of the UK Lightning Force.
The Typhoon Total Availability eNterprise (TyTAN), a ten-year £2.1 billion support agreement for Typhoon between the MOD and BAE Systems established in 2016, is driving real efficiency improvements by focusing all parties on flying hour output. To date the TyTAN agreement has already allowed for over £500 million of Typhoon Support savings to be re-invested into capability upgrades for the aircraft and help to sustain high value jobs across the industry.
Asked by: Lord Moonie (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to send an aircraft carrier on detachment to Australia and New Zealand.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
The Ministry of Defence does not comment on operational deployments.
Asked by: Lord Moonie (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to increase the number of full crews available to operate P-8 Poseidon aircraft when they are introduced.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
There are several measures in place to increase the number of crews for the P-8A Poseidon which include:
As part of the Poseidon programme RAF personnel are undertaking training in the USA with the US Navy. Initial Poseidon training will transfer to RAF Lossiemouth and be instructed by RAF personnel in mid 2021.
A programme of recruiting and training across all RAF flying specialisations is already underway; in addition, ex-RAF aircrew with suitable experience and qualifications are being encouraged to re-join the Service.
A small number of specialists from the Royal Navy will undergo P-8A training and serve on exchange to bolster the RAF's maritime experience.
The RAF is expanding its Exchange Officer Programme, to include reciprocal agreements with a number of allied nations for personnel to be placed in flying posts associated with the P-8A.
Asked by: Lord Moonie (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to improve the availability of armoured vehicles for the army.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
There are a range of programmes in place that will improve availability, reduce obsolescence and improve safety and reliability across the armoured fleet.
The Heavy Armour Automotive Improvement Programme (HAAIP) will provide improvements for the heavy armour fleet including Challenger 2, Challenger Armoured Recovery Vehicle, Titan and Trojan. The HAAIP will deliver a common engine and suspension across all variants which will substantially enhance reliability. In addition, Warrior is being upgraded through the Warrior Capability Sustainment Programme which will significantly enhance reliability.
The Ministry of Defence is also working closely with Babcock to better anticipate maintenance requirements in order to take preventative action and improve reliability. The new Boxer and AJAX platforms will both have a fully integrated 'Health and Usage Monitoring System' which will greatly enhance the Army's ability to conduct preventative maintenance and so remedy faults early.
Asked by: Lord Moonie (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to improve the availability of Royal Navy warships.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
Progress is already being made to improve performance, availability and resilience of the Type 45 Destroyers with the Power Improvement Project and the Equipment Improvement Plan. The arrival of the Type 26 and Type 31 Frigates in to service will also provide a step change in levels of availability.
Asked by: Lord Moonie (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what has been the budget for ensuring the availability of Royal Navy warships in each of the last three years.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
The Royal Navy's ships are continually being updated and upgraded to meet new threats or to replace obsolete technology.
Information regarding all of the costs associated with the availability of Royal Navy ships is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Lord Moonie (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to improve the energy efficiency of residential accommodation for the Armed Forces over the next three years.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
The Ministry of Defence is committed to improving energy efficiency through targeted investment in accommodation. In financial year 2019-20 £48.5 million has been invested in Service Family Accommodation (SFA) to improve thermal efficiency. Projects include fitting external wall insulation; installing new windows and doors; replacement loft insulation and the installation of efficient boilers and central heating systems.
A further investment of £50 million is planned for similar projects in financial year 2020-21.
In addition, pilot schemes are in development to deliver both near zero energy SFA and retrofitting to significantly enhance energy efficiency.
Improvements to Single Living Accommodation will be delivered through efficiency targets on all new build and major refurbishments.
Asked by: Lord Moonie (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what has been the budget for ensuring the availability of armoured vehicles for the army in each of the last three years.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
The Army has spent over £485million supporting its armoured vehicle fleet over the past three years. This has delivered a modernised fleet that is fit for purpose, safe and provides the competitive advantage our soldiers require on operations.
Asked by: Lord Moonie (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the figures for the delivery of F-35 aircraft to the Ministry of Defence in the National Audit Office's report Delivering Carrier Strike, published on 16 March 2017, remain the planned delivery rates; and if not, why those rates have changed.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
The planned F-35 delivery rates remain the same as those published in the NAO's report.
Asked by: Lord Moonie (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much the Ministry of Defence spent on advertising in the last year; and what the principal categories were, broken down by (1) medium, and (2) purpose.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
The amount spent by the Department on advertising for financial year 2018-19 was £40.7 million. The majority of expenditure is accounted for by advertising by the Royal Navy, Army and Royal Air Force to aid recruitment into our Armed Forces. The breakdown of medium is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.