Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to Defence Equipment and Support's article entitled £122m contract sees UK’s fleet of Airbus H145s expanded with six procured for overseas duties, published on 18 April 2024, whether that contract includes through-life support costs.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The £122 million contract with Airbus Helicopters UK for six Airbus H145 helicopters to provide aviation support to Defence outputs in Brunei and Cyprus encompasses the procurement of the aircraft, an initial three-year support plan, and includes the expenses required to establish the capability in each overseas location.
Support beyond the first three years is subject to a separate project which will include determining the nature of the procurement strategy for the future support solution.
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the delivery of the Future Commando Force.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
Commando Forces are deployed globally today, delivering disproportionate impact for a formation of their size, in the High North, Eastern Mediterranean and India-Asia Pacific regions as well as supporting rapid operational feedback and validating lessons from Ukraine.
The Department continually assesses resourcing of all operational capabilities. The Commando Force has delivered significant capability improvements at pace which have already been deployed on operations, with spiral development of key capabilities to retain their operational advantage going forward.
The Commando Force Programme is delivering a transformational change to amphibious operations through two investment increments over the next ten-years that offer political choice at competition, crisis and conflict levels.
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much and what proportion of his Department's spending was with SMEs in each year since 2010.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The methodology used to calculate Government Departments’ spend with SMEs changed with effect from financial year (FY) 2013-14 to include sub-contracted spend. Since then the Cabinet Office has published all Departments’ direct and indirect spend with SMEs annually on the gov.uk website at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/central-government-spend-with-smes
Data from 2010-2013, which only covers direct spend that the MOD had with SMEs, is set out in the table below:
FY | Total Spend with SMEs | Proportion of MOD spending |
2010-11 | £0.69 billion | 3% |
2011-12 | £1 billion | 5% |
2012-13 | £1 billion | 5% |
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the implementation of The Defence Small and Medium-sized Enterprise Action Plan.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Defence Small and Medium-sized Enterprise (SME) Action Plan was published in 2022. It was developed in consultation with the defence SME community and reflects the priorities that they identified.
We are now beginning work on the next iteration of the MOD’s Action Plan and as part of the consultation process we are seeking feedback from SMEs on the implementation of the current plan.
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many swimming pools have been maintained by the (a) Royal Navy and (b) Royal Marines in each year since 2010.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Royal Navy maintains three swimming pools across its estate under the Future Maritime Support Programme. The remainder of the swimming pools across the Naval estate are maintained by the Defence Infrastructure Organisation.
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the average length of time is between his Department sending an Invitation To Negotiate and a procurement contract coming into effect.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The average days between 'Awarding Date' and 'Publication Date' for Invitation to Tender (ITT) /Invitation to Negotiate (ITN) on the Defence Sourcing Portal (DSP) is 149 Days.
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many sabotage incidents have taken place at UK defence industrial sites in each year since 2010.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
It has been the long-standing policy of the current and previous Governments that we do not comment on security incidents.
The Ministry of Defence takes the security of our sites and UK defence industrial sites extremely seriously. We have robust measures in place to assure the integrity of these arrangements. When any type of security incident is raised, it is reviewed by security personnel and subjected to an initial security risk assessment, with further action taken on a proportionate basis.
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much and what proportion of his Department's budget for research and development has not been allocated.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
All R&D funding is allocated to Top Level Budgets (TLBs) as part of the annual budget cycle. At the start of this financial year, 25% of R&D spending is currently committed, with the remainder uncommitted to enable flexibility and for budget holders to invest strategically in key programmes. This is consistent with the approach taken over previous three years, where all R&D funding has been committed by the end of each financial year.
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when (a) he and (b) Ministers in his Department last met (i) the Nautilus and (ii) RMT Unions.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
I can confirm that there have been no confirmed Ministerial meetings with these organisations.
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has taken delivery of the first newly UK-built NLAW missiles.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Following significant Granting in Kind of Next generation Light Anti-Tank Weapon (NLAW) missiles to Ukraine, the Ministry of Defence placed a contract for replenishment in December 2022. The initial delivery of replenishment missiles into UK stock was successfully achieved in July 2023, with the remaining contracted quantities being delivered in multiple batches between now and December 2026.