Asked by: Jamie Stone (Liberal Democrat - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information she holds on Iranian intelligence operatives attempting assassinations in (a) mainland Europe and (b) Britain and Gibraltar in the last five years.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
We do not routinely comment on intelligence matters or specific threats.
The safety and security of our citizens is the Government’s top priority and we will continue to use all tools at our disposal to protect the UK and our interests from any Iran-linked threats.
The UK is committed to working with the international community to ensure Iran abides by international laws and norms and is held to account for its destabilising activity.
Asked by: Jamie Stone (Liberal Democrat - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, on how many occasions a call out relating to a fault in armed forces accommodation resulted in a wait of more than one month for the repair to be completed in each of the last three years.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
We are reviewing information sources. I will write to the hon. Gentleman in due course and place a copy of my response in the Library of the House.
Asked by: Jamie Stone (Liberal Democrat - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, which projects have received funds from Project Gigabit.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
To date, Project Gigabit funding has been contracted for the following projects:
Superfast Extension Programme: Scottish Government R100, Northern Ireland Project Stratum, and Connecting Cheshire Superfast Broadband Phase 3.
Gigahubs Programme: Department for Education, National Health Service (Scotland), Highlands Council, Welsh Government, Oxfordshire County Council, Dorset Council, Shropshire Clinical Commissioning Group, Full Fibre Northern Ireland.
In addition, almost 1,500 projects have received funding through the Project Gigabit voucher scheme.
Asked by: Jamie Stone (Liberal Democrat - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what proportion of the £5 billion Project Gigabit funds have been spent as of 19 May 2022.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
UK coverage of gigabit broadband has boomed from 6 per cent to more than 68 per cent in the last three years. The Department has upgraded 600,000 hard-to-reach premises to gigabit and we remain on track to hit our target of 85 per cent gigabit coverage by 2025.
To date, we have spent over £61 million to provide reliable, lightning-fast connections to hard-to-reach premises across the UK via Project Gigabit. A further £35 million is already contracted to be spent and over £500 million of funding is now out to procurement.
Asked by: Jamie Stone (Liberal Democrat - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the potential cost savings of reducing the armed forces by up to 10,000 personnel by 2025.
Answered by James Heappey
Whilst the Regular Army reorganises to its new structure of 73,000, naturally this will result in workforce cost savings. The reduction of the Army to 73,000 by 2025 has been estimated to present £3.9 billion in savings over the 10 years following the financial year 2021-22.
The Department is delivering record investment in the Army, providing £41.3 billion in support of existing platforms and new equipment.
Asked by: Jamie Stone (Liberal Democrat - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of the EU's Action Plan on Military Mobility.
Answered by James Heappey
As a non-EU country, the UK is not subject to the EU’s Action Plan on Military Mobility but works closely with European partners on military mobility issues through NATO and the Northern Group. Moving military personnel and assets across Europe quickly and efficiently remains important, and the UK supports broader efforts that are coherent with NATO’s and the Northern Group’s.
Asked by: Jamie Stone (Liberal Democrat - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of adding the Flow Country to prospective list held by the Government for consideration for inscription onto the UNESCO World Heritage Site List.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
I am pleased to confirm the Flow Country was added to the UK’s Tentative List in 2012. This is the list of prospective sites to go forward for the World Heritage Committee’s consideration for inscribing new sites on the World Heritage List.
We expect the Committee to make a decision on whether to add the Flow Country to the World Heritage List at their meeting in 2024. In the meantime, the Flow Country will remain on the UK’s Tentative List through the current review exercise to select new prospective sites.
Asked by: Jamie Stone (Liberal Democrat - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the deployable strength of the Army (a) as of 12 May 2022 and (b) in each of the last five years.
Answered by James Heappey
Not all members of the Army are employed in deployable posts – those in staff roles or in training establishments, for example, would be included in the headline strength of the Army but would not be counted as deployable. Similarly, Reservists would not be included in the headline strength of the Army but many will be deployable if mobilised.
The “deployable” strength of the Army is perhaps best captured by the strength of the Field Army, which is summarised as follows:
Date | Deployable strength within FD Army |
May 2022 | 45,178 |
May 2021 | 46,480 |
May 2020 | 42,291 |
May 2019 | 42,739 |
May 2018 | 42,391 |
Asked by: Jamie Stone (Liberal Democrat - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the (a) longest, (b) shortest and (c) average period of time taken was to make repairs to an armed forces accommodation property after a call out in the last period for which figures are available.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
The longest, shortest and average period of time taken to make repairs to a Service Family Accommodation between November 2021 and March 2022 are shown below:
Longest 234 days (in respect to repairing a damaged fence)
Shortest 21 minutes
Average 15.9 days
The Future Defence Infrastructure Services (FDIS) Accommodation contracts came into effect on 1 April 2022. In developing the new FDIS Accommodation contracts DIO collaborated closely with key stakeholders, including the Single Services and the Families Federations, to ensure that Service families’ needs are fully considered and an improved ‘lived experience’ is provided.
Asked by: Jamie Stone (Liberal Democrat - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many armoured vehicles of each type are (a) in the service with the Army and (b) fit for purpose as of 12 May 2022.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 7 March 2022 to Question 132161 to the Rt hon. Member for Wentworth and Dearne (Mr Healey).