Asked by: Lord Temple-Morris (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to participate in international defence exercises with allies during 2018–19; and at what scale.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
The UK Armed Forces routinely participate in international defence exercises with allies and partners across the globe. In 2018 the UK is due to take part in more than 25 major international exercises and a similar number are planned for 2019. International defence exercises vary significantly in scale, complexity and the number of contributing nations, but all are focused upon developing interoperability with our allies and partners. At the cornerstone of our exercise programme are NATO, the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) Partner Nations and the Combined Joint Expeditionary Force (CJEF) alliance between the UK and France. Discrete bilateral defence activity with nations outside of these alliances also makes up part of the international programme and supports wider Defence Engagement.
Major NATO exercise activity in 2018 and 2019 centres on development of the NATO Response Force and the ability of contributing nations to respond quickly to an international crisis. Exercises will take place in the US and across Europe in Land, Maritime and Air domains. Most notably, Exercise TRIDENT JUNCTURE in November 2018 will test the ability of NATO to respond to an Article V situation in Scandinavia, involving multinational forces totalling 35,000 personnel. The UK will contribute a maritime task group, an air component and a brigade sized land force. An annual Baltic Operations Exercise focuses on the ability of NATO forces to work collectively in the protection of nations across the Baltic region. It routinely involves over 5,000 personnel from 17 nations and includes participation by up to 40 warships and submarines and over 60 aircraft.
The JEF, for which the UK is the framework nation, also exercises throughout the year to develop the ability of partner nations to respond rapidly and work together. Exercise JOINT WARRIOR is the annual major exercise which involves more than 10,000 personnel from seven partner nations, the next of which is scheduled for April 2018. In addition, the JEF Maritime component and amphibious task group also conduct an annual major exercise, which in autumn 2018 will take place in the North and Baltic Seas.
The UK and French CJEF will conduct five major exercises during 2018-19. These will include the testing and live fire exercising of a Combined Joint Task Force involving components from the maritime, land and air environments. In addition, frequent command planning exercises are scheduled to develop and enhance working practices within Combined Operational Headquarters.
In addition to the major defence international partnerships, significant bilateral exercise activity is also planned over this period. Joint training with the US makes up a significant proportion of the exercise programme and includes aircraft carrier, fighter jet and Divisional level land forces exercises. The Ministry of Defence’s largest exercise of 2018 will be Exercise SAIF SAREEA in Oman, involving more than 6,000 UK personnel, working alongside the Omani Armed Forces, and will train the UK’s high readiness forces in the full scope of defence activities. UK forces will include an Army Brigade, an RAF Air Wing with Typhoon fighter jets and support transport aircraft and a Maritime Task Group made up of a Royal Marines unit and Royal Navy amphibious warships.
Asked by: Lord Temple-Morris (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many approaches to UK airspace by Russian military aircraft were detected during (1) 2016, and (2) 2017.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
The RAF's Air Surveillance and Control System at RAF Boulmer is fully integrated with NATO allies and the NATO Combined Air Operations Centre at Uedem in Germany, which manages NATO's response to such activity. This allows NATO to react in good time to aircraft approaching the airspace of both the UK and our NATO allies.
I am withholding details of the number of occasions Russian military aircraft were detected approaching UK airspace. The disclosure of this information would reveal details of the air defence of the UK which would be likely to prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the Armed Forces.
However, Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) aircraft from RAF Lossiemouth and RAF Coningsby launched to intercept Russian military aircraft approaching UK airspace on five days in 2016 and three days in 2017.
Asked by: Lord Temple-Morris (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many incidents of unidentified submarines close to the north west coast of the UK were recorded during (1) 2016, and (2) 2017.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
The National Maritime Information Centre provides the UK with a comprehensive picture of potential threats to UK maritime security and unified situational awareness of maritime activity in UK and international waters.
The Ministry of Defence contributes to Her Majesty's Government's efforts by providing multi-layered capability to deter incursions into territorial waters.
This is delivered through a combination of surface ships, submarines and aircraft, alongside close co-ordination and co-operation with other Government Agencies and our allies.
I am not prepared to disclose further details as this would, or would be likely to, prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the Armed Forces.
Asked by: Lord Temple-Morris (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the principal response from soldiers leaving the Royal Logistics Corps in exit interviews.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
As with any vocation, personnel leave the Armed Forces for a variety of reasons. Exit interviews are conducted at a unit level but are not routinely collated centrally. As part of the leaving process, soldiers complete a short survey. Within the Royal Logistic Corps, 2016/17 survey responses indicate that the primary reasons for leaving included seeking fresh challenges, opportunities outside of the Army, personal circumstances, and job satisfaction.
Asked by: Lord Temple-Morris (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the expenditure on the combined cadet force for each of the last 25 years for which figures are available.
Answered by Lord Astor of Hever
For the vast majority of requested years, the information required to verify expenditure on the Combined Cadet Force (CCF) is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
However, extensive work was carried out for the Defence Youth Engagement Review (published in 2011) which confirmed that spending on the CCF in Financial Year (FY) 2009-10 was £26 million. Further analysis, undertaken as part of our recent work on CCF funding, confirmed that spending in FY 2012-13 was £27.7 million.
Asked by: Lord Temple-Morris (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many courts-martial there were in HM Armed Forces in the last year for which records are available; how many of those were judged by commanding officers; and how many of those defendants did not have legal representation.
Answered by Lord Astor of Hever
480 Service personnel were tried by Court Martial during the year 2013.
None of those were judged by their Commanding Officers. 70 chose to represent themselves at trial.