Asked by: Graham Allen (Labour - Nottingham North)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 25 May 2016 to Question 37663, if he will provide the hon. Member for Nottingham North with (a) details and (b) copies of the assessment which was used to assess the threats from emerging capabilities to nuclear submarines.
Answered by Philip Dunne
The Government takes its responsibilities for maintaining a credible independent nuclear deterrent extremely seriously and continually conducts assessments to ensure that the credibility and standards for operational effectiveness will continue to be met. I am withholding further details as publication would or would be likely to prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the Armed Forces.
Asked by: Graham Allen (Labour - Nottingham North)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has made an assessment of the effect of the speed of development of unmanned underwater vehicles on the capability of Trident submarines to evade detection.
Answered by Philip Dunne
The submarines that carry our trident missiles will not be rendered obsolete by new technologies, including developments in unmanned underwater vehicle technology. We dedicate considerable resource to horizon scanning to assess the threats from emerging capabilities and will apply any necessary mitigations throughout the lifetime of both the Vanguard Class and the future Successor Class of nuclear deterrent submarines, to combat these future challenges. We assess that the ocean will remain a complex and challenging environment in which through the conduct of large scale anti-submarine warfare our adversaries may seek to threaten our submarines, despite advancements in technologies.
Asked by: Graham Allen (Labour - Nottingham North)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has (a) invested in and (b) made an assessment of the potential merits of acquiring unmanned underwater vehicles.
Answered by Philip Dunne
The Royal Navy (RN) currently deploys unmanned systems to enhance maritime surveillance and improve situational awareness in a number of operational theatres.
Specifically for Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUV), the Hunt Class Mine Countermeasure Vessels employ a UUV for remote mine-disposal, known as the Seafox mine-disposal system. In addition, the Fleet Diving Squadron employs a small UUV for seabed searches.
It is widely recognised that autonomous systems offer a unique opportunity to maintain our operational advantage and the RN will therefore continue to explore how such systems can further augment its capabilities into the future.
Asked by: Graham Allen (Labour - Nottingham North)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 27 January 2016 to Question 23581, who the best official is to contact with credible reports from an external organisation of civilian casualties.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
Any credible concerns or evidence relating to the possibility of civilian casualties caused by air strikes may be submitted to the Ministry of Defence Ministerial Correspondence Unit, Main Building, Whitehall, London, SW1A 2HB, or by email to ParliBranch-Treat-Official@mod.uk
Asked by: Graham Allen (Labour - Nottingham North)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the comments made by a spokesperson of his Department made in an article published in the Herald newspaper on 10 January 2016, and pursuant to his oral contribution of 18 January 2016, Official Report, column 1118, if his Department will retrospectively re-examine reports of civilian casualties received from September 2014 to January 2016 to see whether any credible reports of potential civilian casualties from UK strikes were overlooked.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
There has been no change in Ministry of Defence (MOD) policy with regard to considering external reports when making an assessment of possible civilian casualties resulting from air strikes.
The MOD takes allegations of civilian casualties very seriously and we do an assessment after every British strike of the damage that has been caused, and check very carefully whether there are likely to have been civilian casualties. As has always been the case, we continue to consider all available credible evidence to support such assessments.
Asked by: Graham Allen (Labour - Nottingham North)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to his letter of 16 January 2016 to Chris Woods, leader of Airwars, whether British aircraft participated in any of the eight incidents cited by Mr Woods in his letter of 8 January 2016.
Answered by Michael Fallon
RAF aircraft were not involved in strikes in seven of the incidents cited by Mr Woods. The eighth incident was impossible to locate from the detail given in the letter: all information from the RAF air strike conducted on that particular day has been reviewed and there was no indication of any civilian casualties resulting from the strike.
Asked by: Graham Allen (Labour - Nottingham North)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the comments made by a spokesperson of his Department in an article published in The Herald newspaper on 10 January 2016, and pursuant to his oral contribution of 18 January 2016, Official Report, column 1118, if he will issue guidance to independent monitoring groups on how to contact his Department on, and how to submit evidence relating to, possible civilian casualties from air strikes in Syria and Iraq; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
Independent monitoring groups are free to contact the Ministry of Defence through the normal means of correspondence and any credible reports of civilian casualties will be investigated.