Asked by: Lady Hermon (Independent - North Down)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his Answer to the contribution of the hon. Member for North Down during his statement on defence estates of 7 November 2016, Official Report, column 1290, whether there will be any job losses associated with the proposed consolidation of Kinnegar Logistics Base into Palace Barracks.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
The only representations received are the questions from the hon. Member.
A 'Better Defence Estate' is principally aimed at improving the infrastructure to enable modern military capability and is based on military advice.
The consolidation of Kinnegar Logistics Base into Palace Barracks is a short distance move and contributes to the intent to co-locate people and capabilities in sustainable locations around centres of mass, optimising the Army's contribution to Joint Forces 2025.
There will be no job losses in relation to this announcement. The 12 military personnel based at Kinnegar Logistics Base will be relocated with their unit or re-assigned in accordance with existing career management procedures. There are no civilians on site.
Detailed assessment work will now take place over the next 12 to 18 months to determine relocation costs. As the relocation is scheduled for 2022, the Department will ensure appropriate levels of engagement will now take place with the relevant local authorities.
Asked by: Lady Hermon (Independent - North Down)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the contribution of the hon. Member for North Down during his statement on defence estates of 7 November 2016, Official Report, column 1290, what representations he has received on the proposed consolidation of Kinnegar Logistics Base into Palace Barracks.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
The only representations received are the questions from the hon. Member.
A 'Better Defence Estate' is principally aimed at improving the infrastructure to enable modern military capability and is based on military advice.
The consolidation of Kinnegar Logistics Base into Palace Barracks is a short distance move and contributes to the intent to co-locate people and capabilities in sustainable locations around centres of mass, optimising the Army's contribution to Joint Forces 2025.
There will be no job losses in relation to this announcement. The 12 military personnel based at Kinnegar Logistics Base will be relocated with their unit or re-assigned in accordance with existing career management procedures. There are no civilians on site.
Detailed assessment work will now take place over the next 12 to 18 months to determine relocation costs. As the relocation is scheduled for 2022, the Department will ensure appropriate levels of engagement will now take place with the relevant local authorities.
Asked by: Lady Hermon (Independent - North Down)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 25 October 2016 to Question 49363, what the technical issue which triggered the revise or confirm offer procedure was; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
As the procurement process is ongoing and the contract is yet to be awarded, further information relating to the revise or confirm offer process is considered to be commercially sensitive and we are unable to provide any information regarding the technical issue at this time.
Asked by: Lady Hermon (Independent - North Down)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 17 October 2016 to Question 48415, for what reasons the revise or confirm offer procedure was invoked by his Department's procurement function in relation to construction works at Faslane in 2016; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
The Revise Or Confirm Offer (ROCO) procedure was used because there was a technical issue with all the tenders received which had to be resolved before the Department could accept them.
The ROCO procedure was successful and a Contract may now be awarded in due course.
Asked by: Lady Hermon (Independent - North Down)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, (a) how many times and (b) in relation to which projects the Revise or Confirm Offer procedure has been invoked in Scotland by his Department's procurement function in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
The information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Lady Hermon (Independent - North Down)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many times the Revise or Confirm Offer procedure has been invoked by his Department's procurement function in the last 12 months against firms based (a) outside and (b) within the UK; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
The information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Lady Hermon (Independent - North Down)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the operation of the Revise or Confirm Offer procedure in defence procurement; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
The Ministry of Defence has made no assessment of the effectiveness of the operation of the revise or confirm offer procedure in defence procurement. Procurement staff may use the revise or confirm offer procedure, on a case-by-case basis to allow a supplier to clarify or improve its bid during a competitive negotiated or single source procurement.
Asked by: Lady Hermon (Independent - North Down)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, for what reasons there has been no increase in the war disablement pension for 2016-17; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Julian Brazier
War Pensions are uprated to ensure that they reflect any increases in the cost of living. The approach taken by successive governments is that by increasing awards with reference to the Consumer Price Index (CPI), we ensure consistency with the measure of inflation used by the Bank of England.
The level of any annual increase is set against the September CPI figure. In September 2015 CPI was negative. Consequently, for financial year 2016/17 War Pensions have been maintained at previous levels. War Pensions will increase when the annual CPI figure next increases.
Asked by: Lady Hermon (Independent - North Down)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many veterans are in receipt of war disablement pension; and what steps his Department takes to notify recipients of changes in the level of that pension.
Answered by Julian Brazier
As at 31 March 2015, there were 116,049 disablement pensioners in receipt of a War Pension administered by Veterans UK. Whenever there is a change in an individual's rate of war pension, Veterans UK will write to inform them. For 2016, Veterans UK elected not to issue an annual uprating letter to individuals as there was no change to payment levels. Instead, an alternative communication plan was put in place utilising automated messages on the Veterans UK helpline, letters to Third sector organisations for publication, and articles in Veterans World magazine, the Armed Forces pension newsletter, social media and on the gov.uk website.
Asked by: Lady Hermon (Independent - North Down)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what contingency planning has been undertaken by his Department for any potential UK military involvement to tackle Islamic State in (a) Iraq and (b) Syria; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Mark Francois
The UK is part of the US led collation to counter ISIL taking military action in Iraq and is supportive of action against ISIL in Syria. We continue to scope further options for activity in Iraq in support of regional and other coalition partners. As promised in the written ministerial statement released to the House on 13 October 2014 (Official Report, column 10WS), the House will be kept informed of defence activities.