Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what his Department's average response time was to an enquiry from a hon. Member to the MP (a) hotline and (b) account management team in (a) 2019, (b) 2020 and (c) 2021.
Answered by Leo Docherty
The Government attaches great importance to the effective and timely handling of correspondence from MPs, either directly or on behalf of their constituents.
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) does not have an MP hotline.
The MOD does not have an account management team, and the MOD correspondence team does not hold information on the average response time to enquiries from MPs, as correspondence performance is monitored by the percentage of correspondence responded to within the target response time set by the Department.
Data on the timeliness of responses to correspondence from MPs and Peers for 2019 and 2020 is published on Gov.uk here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/data-on-responses-to-correspondence-from-mps-and-peers. Data for 2021 will be published by the Cabinet Office in due course.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will extend the support available to UK locally employed staff in Afghanistan to those employed by private firms involved in security operations supporting UK government staff, buildings and agencies in Afghanistan.
Answered by James Heappey
The Afghanistan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) was designed with a recognition that many of those who worked with Her Majesty's Government may not have been directly employed by us. Through the ARAP a significant number of these people will be eligible for relocation to the UK, including contracted Afghan interpreters working for MOD who will be invited to apply.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what progress has been made on the extension of the Veterans Recognition Scheme.
Answered by Johnny Mercer
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Minister for the Armed Forces (James Heappey) on 3 September 2020 to Question 81645 to the hon. Member for Denton and Reddish (Andrew Gwynne).
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will publish the number of extant service complaints as of 28 August 2020 in (a) the Army, (b) Royal Air Force, (c) Royal Navy which have been ongoing for (i) 0-6 months, (ii) 6-12 months, (iii) one-two years, (iv) two-three years, (v) three-four years, (vi) four-five years, (vii) six-seven years, (viii) seven-eight years, (ix) eight-nine years, (x) nine-10 years (xi) over 10 years.
Answered by Johnny Mercer
The requested information is provided in the following table and was current as at 31 August 2020:
Time Period | 0-6 months | 6-12 months | 1-2 years | 2-3 years | 3-4 years | 4-5 years | 6-7 years | 7-8 years | 8-9 years | 9-10 years | Over 10 years |
Army | 180 | 120 | 95 | 35 | 10 | ~ | - | ~ | ~ | - | - |
Royal Air Force | 75 | 20 | 25 | ~ | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Royal Navy | 55 | 40 | 20 | 5 | 5 | ~ | - | - | - | - | - |
Notes:
Figures are single Service estimates and have not been verified by Defence Statistics.
Figures are rounded to the nearest 5 to prevent the inadvertent release of personal data and figures fewer than 5 are represented by ‘~’. Zero is ‘-‘.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many reported incidents of (a) sexual harassment, (b) sexual assault and (c) rape there were by (i) gender and (ii) service in each year from 2015 to 2018; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Johnny Mercer
The Ministry of Defence is absolutely clear there is no place for sexual offending in the Armed Forces. The Armed Forces are committed to addressing the issues of sexual harassment and sexual assault through a range of actions, including awareness campaigns and training presentations around sexual consent.
We recognise the great courage it takes to come forward and report a sexual offence. Personnel who come forward can have full confidence that all allegations are thoroughly investigated; Commanding Officers must always refer any allegation of rape and sexual assault, or any other offence which may have a sexual element, to the Service Police. Anyone found to fall short of the Services’ high standards or to have committed an offence is dealt with appropriately, up to and including imprisonment and dismissal from service.
Detailed statistics about sexual offending in the Service Justice System are published annually as part of our commitment to openness and transparency: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/sexual-offences-in-the-service-justice-system
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will provide details of the (a) training and (b) other steps taken to increase reporting of (i) sexual harassment, (ii) sexual assault and (iii) rape by (A) gender and (B) service in the armed forces each year from 2015 to 2018; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Johnny Mercer
The Ministry of Defence is absolutely clear there is no place for sexual offending in the Armed Forces. The Armed Forces are committed to addressing the issues of sexual harassment and sexual assault through a range of actions, including awareness campaigns and training presentations around sexual consent.
We recognise the great courage it takes to come forward and report a sexual offence. Personnel who come forward can have full confidence that all allegations are thoroughly investigated; Commanding Officers must always refer any allegation of rape and sexual assault, or any other offence which may have a sexual element, to the Service Police. Anyone found to fall short of the Services’ high standards or to have committed an offence is dealt with appropriately, up to and including imprisonment and dismissal from service.
Detailed statistics about sexual offending in the Service Justice System are published annually as part of our commitment to openness and transparency: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/sexual-offences-in-the-service-justice-system
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what training his Department provided to (a) junior NCO’s and (b) junior officers to increase awareness of (a) sexual harassment, (b) sexual assault and c) rape by (A) gender and (B) service in each year since 2015; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Johnny Mercer
The Ministry of Defence is absolutely clear there is no place for sexual offending in the Armed Forces. The Armed Forces are committed to addressing the issues of sexual harassment and sexual assault through a range of actions, including awareness campaigns and training presentations around sexual consent.
We recognise the great courage it takes to come forward and report a sexual offence. Personnel who come forward can have full confidence that all allegations are thoroughly investigated; Commanding Officers must always refer any allegation of rape and sexual assault, or any other offence which may have a sexual element, to the Service Police. Anyone found to fall short of the Services’ high standards or to have committed an offence is dealt with appropriately, up to and including imprisonment and dismissal from service.
Detailed statistics about sexual offending in the Service Justice System are published annually as part of our commitment to openness and transparency: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/sexual-offences-in-the-service-justice-system
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) perfluorooctane sulfate and (b) perfluooctane acid firefighting foams there are on military bases in the UK; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
There are no firefighting foams in use on the Defence estate that use either perfluorooctane sulfate and perfluooctane acid as constituents. Foams with these constituents were withdrawn from use in 2015.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to ensure military access to GPS satellites resilient to jamming of signals for (a) communications, (b) direct energy weapons, (c) route planning and (d) local confirmation; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
UK Armed Forces rely upon accurate Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT) information for a variety of critical applications. GPS, owned and run by the US Armed Forces, is our main system; as a tier 1 nation, we have privileged access to the most secure GPS signals. The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has a dedicated Research & Development programme looking at diminishing traditional PNT vulnerabilities. This includes key work with industry on research into anti-jam techniques (jamming is the most common form of PNT interference) and the £70 million Robust Global Navigation System contract to deliver Multi Constellation Open Signal receivers, further decreasing our vulnerabilities. The MOD is committed to a systems-of-systems approach to managing PNT vulnerabilities, including with cross-Government partners.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many civilian posts in his Department have been vacant in each month of each year from January 2018 to December 2019; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Johnny Mercer
I will write to the hon. Member shortly.