Asked by: Lord Touhig (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether any Secretary of State for Defence received an invitation from the Intelligence and Security Committee to give evidence to that committee's inquiry into Russia; and if so, what are the reasons for that invitation not being accepted. [T]
Answered by Baroness Goldie - Shadow Minister (Defence)
No Secretary of State for Defence was asked to give evidence to the Intelligence and Security Committee's inquiry into Russia, however Defence officials did give evidence.
Asked by: Lord Touhig (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether visits to Armed Forces bases will be part of the Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy.
Answered by Baroness Goldie - Shadow Minister (Defence)
The Integrated Review will cover all aspects of international policy from defence to diplomacy and development. Visits to Government locations, including Armed Forces bases, will be included when helpful for the conduct of the review, as they are for normal Government working. These visits are arranged on a case by case basis with the relevant Departments.
Asked by: Lord Touhig (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much compensation has been paid out as a result of claims to the employment tribunal for racial discrimination and harassment brought by serving and former service personnel against the Ministry of Defence in (1) 2010, (2) 2011, (3) 2012, (4) 2013, (5) 2014, and (6) 2015.
Answered by Baroness Goldie - Shadow Minister (Defence)
Details of compensation paid (by year) as a result of employment tribunals brought against the Ministry of Defence for racial discrimination by serving and former Service personnel is provided below.
Year Claim Brought | Amount Paid £ |
2010 | 21,000 |
2011 | 16,500 |
2012 | 0 |
2013 | 0 |
2014 | 142,000 |
2015 | 0 |
Total | 179,500 |
Asked by: Lord Touhig (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many drone strikes British Armed Forces carried out against ISIL in June.
Answered by Baroness Goldie - Shadow Minister (Defence)
In June Zero (0) Weapon Release Events were recorded from Remotely Piloted Air Systems against Daesh targets. The Ministry of Defence regularly releases statistics on UK air activity under Op SHADER on the gov.uk website.
Asked by: Lord Touhig (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many discrimination cases concerning racism have been brought against the Ministry of Defence by (1) current, and (2) former, employees in each year since 2010.
Answered by Baroness Goldie - Shadow Minister (Defence)
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) recognises that unacceptable behaviour, including racism, still occurs. We are committed to eradicate this, and have a zero-tolerance approach. Defence, does not yet represent society and it is essential that we work towards this. We recognise that the pace of change needs to quicken and are renewing our ambition at the highest levels of the Department. We aim to eliminate discrimination and improve diversity throughout Defence as enshrined in our 2018-2030 Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) Strategy .
Legal advice has interpreted the terms “racial discrimination cases” and “discrimination cases involving racism” to refer to Employment Tribunals (ETs). The attached tables show the number of ETs brought against the MOD by military personnel in each year from 2010 to-date, and the breakdown of compensation paid in each year from 2016-2020 as a result of racial discrimination ETs.
All MOD personnel (civilian and military) are required to complete mandatory D&I Training courses. In addition, those trained as D&I Advisers and Practitioners provide impartial advice and support to personnel who encounter discrimination, bullying and harassment. This is supplemented by Speak Safe Volunteers, trained independent bullying, harassment & discrimination advisers who enable individuals to understand their situation and make informed decisions. An Active Bystander training course has also been designed to equip personnel with the skills to effectively challenge unacceptable behaviour.
Asked by: Lord Touhig (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much compensation they have paid out in racial discrimination cases brought against the Ministry of Defence in (1) 2016, (2) 2017, (3) 2018, (4) 2019, and (5) 2020.
Answered by Baroness Goldie - Shadow Minister (Defence)
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) recognises that unacceptable behaviour, including racism, still occurs. We are committed to eradicate this, and have a zero-tolerance approach. Defence, does not yet represent society and it is essential that we work towards this. We recognise that the pace of change needs to quicken and are renewing our ambition at the highest levels of the Department. We aim to eliminate discrimination and improve diversity throughout Defence as enshrined in our 2018-2030 Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) Strategy .
Legal advice has interpreted the terms “racial discrimination cases” and “discrimination cases involving racism” to refer to Employment Tribunals (ETs). The attached tables show the number of ETs brought against the MOD by military personnel in each year from 2010 to-date, and the breakdown of compensation paid in each year from 2016-2020 as a result of racial discrimination ETs.
All MOD personnel (civilian and military) are required to complete mandatory D&I Training courses. In addition, those trained as D&I Advisers and Practitioners provide impartial advice and support to personnel who encounter discrimination, bullying and harassment. This is supplemented by Speak Safe Volunteers, trained independent bullying, harassment & discrimination advisers who enable individuals to understand their situation and make informed decisions. An Active Bystander training course has also been designed to equip personnel with the skills to effectively challenge unacceptable behaviour.
Asked by: Lord Touhig (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what percentage of BAME personnel hold senior leadership or managerial roles in (1) the Royal Air Force, (2) the Army, and (3) the Royal Navy.
Answered by Baroness Goldie - Shadow Minister (Defence)
Defence has been working hard to achieve a more diverse workforce. However, progress in terms of the representative rates of our people – both military and civilian – has been too slow. It is clear there is still much further to go if we are to successfully attract and retain diverse talent both now and in the future. That is why we are renewing our levels of ambition at the highest levels in Defence as we work to fulfil the key objective in our 2018-2030 Diversity and Inclusion Strategy to eliminate discrimination and improve diversity throughout Defence.
Since 2015 the Ministry of Defence (MOD) has been working towards a target for 10% of recruits into the Armed Forces to be from a Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic (BAME) background by April 2020, rising to 20% thereafter. These are challenging targets demonstrating the importance Defence places on having Armed Forces reflecting the society they serve. I am pleased to confirm the latest statistics show we have now exceeded the initial intake target as 11.7% of recruits were Black, Asian or from an ethnic minority in the 12 months to 31 March 2020. While this is an improvement, there is further long-term progress to be made and sustained. Ongoing work to improve all aspects of diversity in MOD continues, includes better understanding and greater engagement with the communities the Armed Forces want to recruit from; reviewing recruitment processes; and better targeting marketing and communications.
As at 1 April 2020, the numbers of UK Regular full-time Service personnel who had declared their ethnicity as BAME and were serving at NATO Rank OF-6 or above (Brigadier and equivalent) were five or fewer in each Service. In addition, fewer than five Senior Civil Servants employed in each Command had declared their ethnicity as BAME. In line with standard statistical disclosure methodology, the percentages associated with these figures have been suppressed to ensure individuals are not inadvertently identified.
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) publishes biannual statistics on diversity declarations for Armed Forces personnel and MOD civilian staff. The latest editions can be found at the following links:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/uk-armed-forces-biannual-diversity-statistics-index
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/mod-diversity-dashboard-2020
Asked by: Lord Touhig (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Wigston Report on inappropriate behaviours in the Armed Forces, published on 15 July 2019, how they investigated causes of overrepresentation of minority groups in the Armed Forces complaints process.
Answered by Baroness Goldie - Shadow Minister (Defence)
Officials have identified a preferred set of researchers and are currently undertaking the necessary commercial process to conduct an independent study into why there appears to be overrepresentation of Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic (BAME) personnel in the Service complaints system.
Asked by: Lord Touhig (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much it has cost to paint and carry out works on RAF Voyager.
Answered by Baroness Goldie - Shadow Minister (Defence)
I refer the Noble Lord to the reply given by my hon. Friend, the Minister for Defence Procurement (Jeremy Quin), in the House of Commons on 22 June 2020 to the hon. Members for Cambridge (Daniel Zeichner), Newport West (Ruth Jones), Glasgow South (Stewart Malcom McDonald), Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (Jamie Stone) and Portsmouth South (Stephen Morgan) in response to Question numbers 60776, 60864, 60814, 60482, 60852 and 60853 respectively.