Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of cuts to the defence budget on projects to upgrade armoured vehicles in the UK armed forces.
Answered by Earl Howe - Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
The Government is committed to increase the defence budget by at least 0.5% above inflation in every year of this Parliament. The MOD has a £38 billion core defence budget which will rise to almost £40 billion by 2020/21. Following the October 2018 budget announcement Defence will now benefit from an additional £1 billion for this year and next. The extra £1 billion for defence, on top of the £800 million increase announced in March 2018, represents a substantial financial boost for Defence and reaffirms our commitment to protecting national security and allows us to invest in priorities.
We will maintain the overall size of the Armed Forces, including an Army that is capable of fielding a war-fighting division. We are committed to spending over £186 billion on equipment and equipment support between 2018 and 2028. Army Command plan to spend around £30.2 billion on the Army's Equipment over the next decade in comparison to £29 billion at the end of the previous planning cycle. This includes upgrading our Armoured Vehicles.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to increase UK naval defences in Gibraltar after Brexit.
Answered by Earl Howe - Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
The Ministry of Defence continually reassesses the Royal Navy's mission in the Strait of Gibraltar, and the assets and people required to deliver it, to ensure that the UK Government's responsibilities can be carried out effectively to meet evolving threats and future needs.
Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary ships continue to visit Gibraltar, in addition to the Royal Navy's Gibraltar Squadron that is permanently stationed there. The base infrastructure and the Gibraltar Squadron will also continue to be modernised in line with the rest of the Royal Navy.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that the UK retains strong defence ties with EU member states after Brexit.
Answered by Earl Howe - Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
The UK remains steadfastly committed to European Defence and Security. Brexit will not change the UK's commitment.
We will continue to work closely with our European partners bilaterally, including through our network of Defence Attachés and regular meetings and visits, as well as multilaterally, through NATO and other groupings such as the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) and Northern Group. These forums provide the opportunity to discuss areas of co-operation and common interest. We will continue to train and exercise with European Allies and partners, not least this summer as part of BALTIC PROTECTOR in the Baltic Sea, the first deployment of the JEF. We will continue to operate together across the globe.
This engagement is underpinned in many cases by Defence agreements. Examples include Treaties with France and Poland, a Joint Vision Statement with Germany, a Statement of Intent with Italy and MOUs and similar arrangements with a number of our partners in Europe.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans, if any, they have to increase UK arms production.
Answered by Earl Howe - Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
We review our requirements to address the particular threats faced by the UK when appropriate. Our policy is to compete wherever possible, whilst ensuring that UK companies have the greatest possible opportunity to bid into our programmes.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the UK’s withdrawal from the Galileo project on security and defence co-operation with the EU after Brexit.
Answered by Earl Howe - Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
The UK has made an unconditional commitment to maintain Europe's security, which is why we are seeking a new, ambitious future security partnership with the EU to tackle the common threats we face and safeguard our citizens. The Political Declaration sets out a comprehensive future security partnership, which provides for close, flexible and scalable cooperation that will allow UK and EU efforts to be combined, when it is in our mutual interests. This includes UK participation in EU missions on a case by case basis, consideration of how best the UK and the EU might cooperate on international development, consultation on sanctions, and the voluntary and timely exchange of intelligence. The deal ensures that cooperation can be scaled up in the event of a crisis.
The UK has made clear that it could only justify continued participation in the Galileo programme on a basis that would enable us to rely on Galileo for our national security. The offer on the table from the European Commission does not meet our stated security or industrial requirements and, on this basis, the Prime Minister has confirmed the UK will not use Galileo for defence or critical national infrastructure after we leave the EU.
Non-participation in Galileo will not have any immediate impact on UK defence and security capabilities. The encrypted Galileo service is not due to be active until the mid-2020s, and the UK will retain access to US GPS services as it does at present. We are working on options for a national alternative to Galileo to guarantee our satellite positioning, navigation and timing needs are met in the future. The Government has invested £92 million of Brexit readiness money for the design and development of the UK programme.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether there are sufficient numbers of sailors, marines and airmen in the Royal Navy.
Answered by Earl Howe - Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
The Royal Navy continues to meet its commitments worldwide.
Like many employers, it faces challenges in retaining technical expertise. This is being addressed through a range of schemes including direct entry into specialist trades, flexible working and opportunities for our Maritime Reserves to serve at sea to make sure we attract and keep the skilled personnel required.
The details for current staffing levels for Service personnel in the Royal Navy on the Full Time Trained strength against the Workforce Requirement can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/quarterly-service-personnel-statistics-2018
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what action they propose to take to help to improve the health and wellbeing of military veterans.
Answered by Earl Howe - Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
This Government wants to continue to support veterans and to do more, which is why on 14 November 2018 we published the Strategy for our Veterans (Cm 9726) and supporting UK Government Consultation Paper (Cm 9727) that outlines what we aim to do and consults on how we will achieve it. The full documents can be found at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/strategy-for-our-veterans.
By 2028 we will be doing more to ensure that each veteran is valued, contributing and supported. One of our aims is that all veterans enjoy a state of positive physical and mental health and wellbeing, enabling them to contribute to wider aspects of society. In order to achieve this outcome, we will focus our efforts on enabling consistency of medical outcomes for veterans, through a smooth transition of provision from in-Service to post-Service and sharing effective practices amongst clinical and healthcare communities; providing bespoke treatment for those veterans who have bespoke needs because of their service, and targeting any identified health and wellbeing needs of veterans in comparison to the general population.
Veterans’ health is broadly aligned with that of the rest of the general population and most veterans’ health requirements are sufficiently met by existing NHS provision. However, several tailored initiatives are already in place to cater for specific veteran needs, including priority access to NHS secondary care in England, Scotland and Wales for Service related conditions, subject to the clinical need of all patients. Further work is also ongoing to increase awareness of the Armed Forces Covenant within the NHS, such as the Royal College of General Practitioners Accreditation programme (over 90 GP practices in the pilot area of the West Midlands) and Veterans Covenant Hospital Alliance, improved e-learning packages and the inclusion of the Covenant as part of the curriculum for all GPs nationally.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
Her Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to improve their cyber warfare capability and defences.
Answered by Earl Howe - Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
I refer the noble Lord to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Minister for the Armed Forces (Mark Lancaster) to Question 2033 on 4 July 2017, and to Questions 1544 and 2066 on 5 July 2017.
In addition, I have included below examples of the breadth of our approach to improve our cyber warfare capability and defences.
The National Offensive Cyber Programme is a partnership between the Ministry of Defence (MOD) and Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), harnessing the skills and talents of both organisations to deliver the tools, techniques and tradecraft required for the UK to establish a world-class offensive cyber capability. We have confirmed previously that offensive cyber capabilities have been used by the Armed Forces as part of the campaign against Daesh. We are clear that such capabilities must be used in accordance with domestic, international and humanitarian law.
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) opened in October 2016, following a commitment in the 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review. The NCSC provides the UK with a unified platform to handle incidents and serves as a single point of contact in Government. The MOD is working closely with NCSC to protect our systems.
The threats and opportunities presented through cyberspace extend across national and organisational boundaries. We continue to work closely with Allies and multinational institutions to operate effectively and increase our awareness of common threats. The UK is recognised as one of the leaders on cyber issues at NATO. Furthermore, the UK is central to international dialogue on cyber; for example, last October we hosted the second in a series of international cyber symposiums, titled ‘Cyberspace and the Transformation of 21st Century Warfare’.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what alternative measures are being discussed to assist search-and-rescue operations in the Mediterranean after the withdrawal of HMS Bulwark.
Answered by Earl Howe - Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
Having completed her deployment, HMS BULWARK was withdrawn on 3 July 2015 for planned maintenance. HMS ENTERPRISE and a Merlin helicopter have been deployed on the European Union's Common Security and Defence Policy operation, launched on 22 June 2015 to disrupt the people smugglers' networks and destroy their boats. But, like all shipping, HMS ENTERPRISE will continue to rescue migrants in distress, as directed by the Italian Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre.
In addition, we are contributing HMC PROTECTOR and HMC SEEKER, two of the Home Office's Border Force Cutter fleet, in order to support search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean.