Asked by: Ian C. Lucas (Labour - Wrexham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment his Department has made of the export potential of the E-7 Wedgetail radar aircraft.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Final assembly of the E-7 aircraft and radar combination would be undertaken in the UK and Boeing have confirmed that it intends to use the same facility to meet any future E-7 sales opportunities for other customers. Through-life, we anticipate that support and training would be undertaken within the UK, directly leading to UK jobs.
Asked by: Ian C. Lucas (Labour - Wrexham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department (a) received and (b) issued any (i) expressions of interest, (ii) preliminary market engagement questionnaires and (iii) pre-qualification questionnaires on the replacement for the E-3D Sentry.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government's default position on defence procurement remains competition wherever appropriate. However, in this case the threat has advanced, and is forecast to advance to such a degree, that decisive action is required now to protect national security interests. Whilst a final investment decision has not yet been made, our market analysis has led us to conclude that this pressing need can best be met by the operationally-proven E-7 Wedgetail. Testing the market further through any requests for information would be highly unlikely to identify any other mature system that could meet our pressing need whilst creating nugatory effort, cost and delay, during which the gap between UK capability and the evolving threat is expected to widen.
Asked by: Ian C. Lucas (Labour - Wrexham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what factors his Department considered when assessing the value for money of the replacement for the E-3D Sentry.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Any options presented to the Ministry of Defence Investment Approvals Committee balance schedule, capabilities, risk and cost to determine the best value for money proposition to meet the given need.
Asked by: Ian C. Lucas (Labour - Wrexham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, where each headquarters is of regiments from (a) Scotland, (b) Wales and (c) Northern Ireland.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
The headquarters for the regular Regiments associated with each Devolved Nation are:
Scotland:
The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards - Edinburgh
19th Regiment Royal Artillery - Tidworth
Scots Guards - London
The Royal Regiment of Scotland - Edinburgh
Wales:
The Queen's Dragoon Guards - Cardiff
Welsh Guards - London
The Royal Welsh - Cardiff
Northern Ireland:
Irish Guards - London
The Royal Irish Regiment - Holywood
Asked by: Ian C. Lucas (Labour - Wrexham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, where each (a) resettlement and (b) rehabilitation centre is for people leaving the armed forces.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
There are ten resettlement centres for people leaving the Armed Forces, run by the Careers Transition Partnership on behalf of the Ministry of Defence (MOD). The locations of the centres are shown at https://www.ctp.org.uk/contact-us.
Medical rehabilitation for all Armed Forces personnel, including those preparing to leave the Services, is provided by the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre, currently located at Headley Court in Surrey. When personnel leave the Armed Forces their healthcare becomes the responsibility of the NHS, although the MOD continues to provide a range of services in support of veterans.
Asked by: Ian C. Lucas (Labour - Wrexham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many and what proportion of recruits to the armed forces came from (a) Scotland, (b) Wales, (c) Northern Ireland and (d) England in each of the last 5 years.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
The requested information is provided in the attached tables, based on single Service estimates. In the time available, it has not been possible to provide information for the Army. I will write to the hon Member with that information in due course.
Asked by: Ian C. Lucas (Labour - Wrexham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many staff appointed after 24 June 2016 in his Department hold a post that includes work on the UK leaving the EU.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
Information on the precise number of staff appointed after 24 June 2016 who hold a post that includes work on the UK leaving the EU is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Ian C. Lucas (Labour - Wrexham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Joint Service Manual of the Law of Armed Conflict, what steps are taken to ensure that armed forces personnel are informed of their duty not to obey a manifestly unlawful order.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
UK Armed Forces receive mandatory annual training which includes the requirement not to obey a manifestly unlawful order.
Asked by: Ian C. Lucas (Labour - Wrexham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, for what reasons his Department does not record the postcode of new recruits to HM Armed Forces.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
The Ministry of Defence does not analyse the locations where recruits to the UK Armed Forces have been recruited from.
As part of the recruitment process an individual can declare more than one postcode e.g. 'home', 'work' or 'other'.
Any declared 'home' location may not reflect where that person is from.
Asked by: Ian C. Lucas (Labour - Wrexham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of merging 101 Battalion REME with 105 Battalion REME in its relations with the communities in (a) Wrexham and (b) North Wales.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
Hightown Barracks Army Reserve Centre in Wrexham is home to the headquarters of 101 Battalion Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. Delivered by 16 regular and Full Time Reservists, 31 reservists and eight civil servants (predominantly officers, warrant officers and senior non-commissioned officers and civilian equivalents), the headquarters provides command and administrative functions for the battalion.
In addition to the battalion headquarters, also occupying the Hightown Barracks Army Reserve Centre are a Platoon from 3rd Battalion The Royal Welsh (31 Reservists including one officer), a detachment from Wales University Officer Training Corps (two senior non-commissioned officers and 25 officer cadets) and a detachment of Clwyd and Gwynedd Army Cadet Force (four adults and 50 cadets). There are currently no plans to close this centre and the Department has consequently had no contact with developers about its future.
The Army remains committed to North Wales and in addition to those elements above in Hightown Barracks Army Reserve Centre, there will also be Army Reserve units in Colwyn Bay, Llandudno, Caenarfon, and Queensferry. The Army Cadet Force also has a wide geographic spread across the area.