Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what financial assistance will be made available to individuals employed at No.4 School of Technical Training at RAF St. Athan to transfer to its new location; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The future location and timeframe to relocate No.4 School of Technical Training at MOD St Athan has not been finalised and is subject to further assessment. The provision of any financial assistance will be in accordance with MOD policy at the time of the move.
Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether a date for the closure of No.4 School of Technical Training at RAF St. Athan has been agreed; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
There is an ongoing requirement for the training delivered by No. 4 School of Technical Training, and there are no plans to close the School. However, the intent remains to relocate No.4 School of Technical Training from its current location in St Athan before the lease on the School's buildings expire in 2024.
Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what discussions he has had with his Zambian counterpart on declaring a national emergency in relation to the drought and famine in western and southern Zambia.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The British Government is engaging actively with the Government of Zambia on the drought affecting large parts of Zambia to ensure assistance is provided to the many Zambians facing food insecurity.
On 29th August, the Department for International Development’s (DFID) visiting Director for West and Southern Africa met with the Zambian Minister of Finance and raised the allocation of resources for the drought response. The Head of Office for DFID Zambia and the British High Commissioner also met with the Vice President last month and encouraged Zambia to request international emergency assistance to scale up the response. DFID is in close contact with Zambia’s Disaster Management Response Unit, the United Nations, and international Non-Governmental Organisations on the ground. The UK is planning to provide support to respond through Emergency Cash Transfers and treatment of acute malnutrition in the worst affected areas.
Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when the lease for buildings occupied by No.4 School of Technical Training at RAF St. Athan is due to expire; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The lease for the land currently occupied by No. 4 School of Technical Training has been extended until March 2024.
Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department have taken to ensure the UK’s obligations under the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration on Hong Kong are being fulfilled; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
We believe that meaningful political dialogue, taken forward by Hong Kong under its high degree of autonomy, is the best way to resolve the current impasse. It is important that the basic freedoms enshrined in the Sino-British Joint Declaration are maintained
The Sino-British Joint Declaration is a legally binding treaty, registered with the UN, that remains in force. The UK, as a co-signatory, has an obligation to monitor its implementation closely, and we are committed to doing so.
The Prime Minister discussed developments in Hong Kong with other leaders at the recent G7 Summit, and the Foreign Secretary has recently spoken with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam.
Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) applications his Department has received and (b) payments his Department has made for injury compensation in the last nine years where the injury was sustained more than (i) five years and (ii) 10 years previously; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Johnny Mercer - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Minister for Veterans' Affairs)
The Ministry of Defence does not hold centralised information on injury dates relating to War Pension Scheme (WPS) claims on the War Pension Computer System (WPCS). To compile this information would incur disproportionate cost as paper claim files would have to be manually reviewed by Defence Business Services Veterans UK. There is no time limit on submitting a WPS claim.
The response relating to the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS) has been compiled using data held on the Compensation and Pension System (CAPS). However, it has not been possible to separate injury and illness claims as they are not recorded separately on the CAPS and to compile this information for injury claims only would incur disproportionate cost through a review of paper files. The response therefore includes both injury and illness claims.
The incident date as recorded on the CAPS has been used to determine claims registered five or ten years after the individual's injury was sustained or the onset of illness. It should be noted that the incident date information may not always be precise and the information provided is therefore an estimate. Claims under the AFCS can be made up to seven years from the date of the original injury/diagnosis.
There were 10,767 injury/illness claims registered under the AFCS since 1 April 2010 where the injury/illness was recorded on the CAPS as having been sustained more than five years prior to the date the claim was registered. Of these, 5,193 were awarded compensation as at 31 March 2019. Those not awarded include claims pending a decision, rejected claims and claims assessed as not serious enough to attract a lump sum payment.
There were 619 injury/illness claims registered under the AFCS since 1 April 2010 where the injury/illness was recorded on the CAPS as having been sustained more than ten years prior to the date the claim was registered. Of these, 123 were awarded compensation as at 31 March 2019. As above, those not awarded include claims pending a decision, rejected claims and claims assessed as but not serious enough to attract a lump sum payment.
For common law negligence claims, records are not kept which allow the time between the date of injury and date of claim to be calculated. In addition, not all claims result from a single incident so dates cannot be assigned. The date of knowledge of the injury or illness caused by a potentially negligent act is often the significant factor.
Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the proposals outlined in his Department's consultation document Legal Protections for Armed Forces Personnel and Veterans serving in operations outside the United Kingdom will result in varying the legal protections offered to civilians (a) killed and (b) injured while serving outside the UK to take action through the courts for compensation; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Johnny Mercer - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Minister for Veterans' Affairs)
The consultation on Legal Protections for Armed Forces Personnel and Veterans will close on 13 October 2019. The Ministry of Defence will study carefully the responses on its proposals (on a statutory presumption against prosecutions arising from overseas incidents occurring more than 10 years previously; on a partial defence that takes account of the operational context; and on limiting the courts’ discretion to extend the three-year time limit for bringing civil claims for personal injury or death) before deciding how to take these measures forward.
The proposed civil litigation longstop will not preclude Service personnel or civilians deployed on overseas operations from bringing claims in relation to PTSD or other conditions that manifest or are diagnosed more than 10 years after the incident which caused the condition, as section 11 of the Limitation Act calculates time limits from the later of (a) the date on which the cause of action accrued or (b) the date of knowledge.
Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will place in the Library any analysis undertaken by his Department on the effect of proposals in Section 3 Civil litigation longstop of the consultation on Legal Protection for Armed Forces Personnel and Veterans in operations outside of the UK on (a) personnel who experience PTSD in excess of 10 years after their service; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Johnny Mercer - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Minister for Veterans' Affairs)
The consultation on Legal Protections for Armed Forces Personnel and Veterans will close on 13 October 2019. The Ministry of Defence will study carefully the responses on its proposals (on a statutory presumption against prosecutions arising from overseas incidents occurring more than 10 years previously; on a partial defence that takes account of the operational context; and on limiting the courts’ discretion to extend the three-year time limit for bringing civil claims for personal injury or death) before deciding how to take these measures forward.
The proposed civil litigation longstop will not preclude Service personnel or civilians deployed on overseas operations from bringing claims in relation to PTSD or other conditions that manifest or are diagnosed more than 10 years after the incident which caused the condition, as section 11 of the Limitation Act calculates time limits from the later of (a) the date on which the cause of action accrued or (b) the date of knowledge.
Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to his Department's document Legal protection for our Armed Forces Personnel and veteran serving in Operations outside of the United Kingdom, how many military personnel have benefitted from the discretion on enforcement of time limits to bring a claim as described in that document; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Johnny Mercer - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Minister for Veterans' Affairs)
All claims received are considered on their individual merits and in line with the Department's legal liability. Part of this process is to take a view as to whether a claim falls outside the limitation period. Records are not kept of the number of claims in which the Courts have heard limitation cases in which the Claimant is seeking discretion in the application of the time limit relevant to their claim against the Department.
The proposed civil litigation longstop will not preclude Service personnel or civilians deployed on overseas operations from bringing claims in relation to PTSD or other conditions that manifest or are diagnosed beyond that limit, as Section 11 of the Limitation Act calculates time limits from the later of (a) the date on which the cause of action accrued or (b) the date of knowledge.
Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to tackle third party websites from posing as Government entities.
Answered by Oliver Dowden - Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
Government organisations work collaboratively to address misleading websites. Websites that directly attempt to defraud users (for example, by copying government design and logos) are tackled directly and taken down.
Sites can be challenged through the company that sold them the web address, or through organisations that administer the web address system. Government may also pursue site owners through trading standards bodies or through direct legal challenge.
Some sites are able to operate within legal boundaries (for example, by displaying disclaimers on their sites). In these cases, government works to optimise government sites for indexing by search engines so they are easy to find. Where identified, we challenge sites that pay for prominent positioning in search returns by reporting them to the search provider.