Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of the RAF Voyager aircraft are leased; who are the real ultimate owners; and what payments have been made to them since 2008.
Answered by Lord Coaker - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
All RAF Voyager aircraft are leased. A Private Finance Initiative arrangement allows for all 14 Voyager aircraft owned by AirTanker Limited to be leased to the Ministry of Defence (MOD), with 11 being leased to the MOD at this time.
The payments since 2008 for the AirTanker Limited concession contract total approximately £6 billion.
Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what resources they provide for defending each of the (1) Crown Dependencies, and (2) British Overseas Territories; and what is the total cost of such resources.
Answered by Baroness Goldie - Shadow Minister (Defence)
Her Majesty's Government retains an independent ability to defend the UK but also the Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies including providing high readiness maritime, land and air assets to deter and respond to threats. As such, it is not possible to distinguish the individual resources and costs in defending the Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies.
Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will publish the financial contributions made by (1) the Crown Dependencies, and (2) Overseas Territories, to the annual defence budget of the United Kingdom.
Answered by Baroness Goldie - Shadow Minister (Defence)
The annual defence budget is funded entirely from the Supply Estimates process.
Supply Estimates are the means by which the Government seeks Parliament's authority for its spending plans. The Estimates reflect the HM-Treasury budgetary control structure and where appropriate are net of certain types of income where this can be used to reduce the overall amount of resource required by the Department.
Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories do not provide a direct contribution to the annual defence budget of the United Kingdom.
Records show that there is a very small amount of income received during Financial Year 2020-21 that has been received from the Government of Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories. This is for actual services supplied to those Governments for which the Ministry of Defence has sought reimbursement on a full cost recovery basis.