Oral Answers to Questions

Jeremy Quin Excerpts

Monday 6th July 2020 Commons Chamber

[Mr Richard Holden (North West Durham) (Con)]

What assessment his Department has made of trends in the level of demand for tracked vehicles in the armed forces.

[The Minister for Defence Procurement (Jeremy Quin)]

Armoured tracked vehicles remain at the core of Defence’s high-intensity war-fighting capability, and ongoing demand is evidenced in the Army’s investment in new fully digitised tracked Ajax vehicles.

[Mr Holden]

Cook Defence Systems in Stanhope in my constituency makes the tracks for all the Army’s fighting vehicles and increasingly for fighting vehicles overseas. Will the Minister join me on a visit to Cook Defence Systems to see what export opportunities could be achieved in addition to its work with the British Army?

[Jeremy Quin]

I am grateful for that invitation. I am speaking to north-east defence companies on a call next week. Our ability to make physical visits to companies has clearly been restrained by covid, but as soon as my diary allows, I would be delighted to visit Cook Defence Systems in person.

[Wendy Chamberlain (North East Fife) (LD)]

What recent estimate his Department has made of the level of departmental official development assistance spend.

--- Later in debate ---

[Dr Ben Spencer (Runnymede and Weybridge) (Con)]

What steps Defence Science and Technology is taking to help tackle the covid-19 outbreak.

[The Minister for Defence Procurement (Jeremy Quin)]

Defence Science and Technology is drawing on its unique range of specialist skills to support the covid response, including assistance on testing laboratories, statistical analysis, modelling support, decontamination trials, and experiments to understand how the virus survives in the atmosphere and on different surfaces.

[Dr Spencer]

Covid is certainly just one of many emerging threats that we have faced and will yet face as a nation, including other possible pandemics and unconventional warfare such as cyber-attacks. Can the Minister assure me that, in order ensure that we can continue to rise to whatever challenges the future may yet hold, Defence Science and Technology will have the investment and support that it needs to remain the envy of the world?

[Jeremy Quin]

The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory—through covid, through its response to the outrageous attack in Salisbury and in countless other ways—has shown its value to the country, and that is also recognised by our international partners. I assure my hon. Friend that we will continue to invest to meet the threats of the future.

[Ruth Jones (Newport West) (Lab)]

What plans his Department has made in the event that the UK does not reach an agreement on its future relationship with the EU by the end of the transition period.

--- Later in debate ---

[Simon Fell (Barrow and Furness) (Con)]

In the worst weather, Walney Island in my constituency of Barrow and Furness splits in two, which risks homes, jobs and our fantastic nature reserve. I know the MOD perhaps does not put nature reserves at the top of its pile of things to care about, but there is another threat—it risks sifting the channel that BAE uses to push subs out into the sea. I am raising this issue across Government: can I ask the MOD’s view on it?

[The Minister for Defence Procurement (Jeremy Quin)]

Just to reassure my hon. Friend, we have 169 sites of special scientific interest in the defence estate, and we care very deeply about that and our role as a good champion of conservation. My hon. Friend is assiduous on behalf of the jobs in his constituency, and defence jobs in particular. I fully appreciate his concerns on coastal erosion, but I am happy to reassure him that it is not currently considered a risk to submarine movements, although I am grateful for his ongoing interest.

[Mr Speaker]

In order to allow the safe exit of hon. Members participating in this item of business and the safe arrival of those participating in the next, I am suspending the House for three minutes.