Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many ministerial directions were issued to his Department in (a) 2015, (b) 2016 and (c) 2017.
Answered by Gavin Williamson
None.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to implement the guidance set out by the Government Commercial Function in its paper entitled Exiting Major IT Contracts: Guidance for Departments, published in November 2017, in respect of (a) using market engagement, (b) setting up disaggregation work, (c) risk assessment, (d) developing a programme plan through the transition, (e) identifying the skills and capabilities that will be needed in the future and (f) any other work related to that guidance.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) Information Systems and Services (ISS) organisation is already implementing the guidance set out by the Government Commercial Function (GCF) in its paper entitled Exiting Major IT Contracts: Guidance for Departments. The ISS strategy seeks to disaggregate requirements into smaller component parts where this is deemed to be value for money, with work on this having started in 2015.
A multi-disciplinary team has been stood up to oversee the entire portfolio of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) capabilities. This team is tasked with the management of an overarching Portfolio Plan, for the further disaggregation of the large ICT Outsource contracts in Defence. In line with the guidance in the GCF paper, the Portfolio Plan covers multiple years and takes a methodical risk based approach.
There is a renewed emphasis on early market engagement and ISS has a six-weekly programme of interactions with Industry via its relationship with techUK. The MOD has launched a new Supplier Portal on Defence Contracts Online which will make it easier for suppliers to access a wide range of defence opportunities.
ISS has a Strategic Workforce Plan that outlines future ISS skills requirements.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many data incidents his Department (a) recorded and (b) reported to the Information Commissioner's Office in (i) 2015-16 and (ii) 2016-17.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
2,519 data incidents were recorded by the Ministry of Defence (MOD) for the period 01 April 2015 - 31 March 2016. One was reported to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).
4,034 data incidents were recorded by the MOD for the period 01 April 2016 - 31 March 2017. Three were reported to the ICO.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many times his Department's Senior Information Risk Officer role has been vacant for a week or longer since 2012.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
The Ministry of Defence Senior Information Risk Officer role has not been vacant during this period.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the transparency document entitled MoD's ministerial travel, April to June 2017, which tickets relating to which journeys were (a) first, (b) business, (c) economy and (d) any other class; and what the cost was of each such ticket.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
The table below sets out the travel undertaken by Ministry of Defence Ministers during the period April to June 2017, including the class and cost of each ticket:
Minister | Date | Destination | Mode of Transport | Class | Cost |
Secretary of State for Defence Sir Michael Fallon MP | 9/4/17 | Lille | Rail (Eurostar) | Business | £276.00 |
10/4/17-14/04/17 | Mumbai (Paris to Mumbai) (New Delhi to LHRQ) | Civilian Air | Business Business | £3,200.00 £1,936.00 | |
19/4/17-20/4/17 | Talin | No 32 Sqn Fixed Wing | Nil | Nil | |
8/5/17- 9/5/17 | Copenhagen | No 32 Sqn Fixed Wing | Nil | Nil | |
12/5/17- 13/5/17 | Paris | Rail (Eurostar) | Standard return | £368.00 | |
25/5/17 | Brussels | Other military fixed wing | Nil | Nil | |
6/6/17 | Caen | No 32 Sqn Fixed Wing | Nil | Nil | |
14/6/17- 15/6/17 | Romania | CSAT | Nil | Nil | |
28/6/17- 29/6/17 | Brussels | CSAT | Nil | Nil | |
Minister of State in the House of Lords – Earl Howe | 18/4/17- 25/4/17 | Vietnam/Japan/Korea | Civilian Air | Business x2 Economy x 1 | £4294.37 |
17/5/17- 18/5/17 | Brussels | No 32 Sqn Fixed Wing | Nil | Nil | |
Minister of the State for the Armed Forces – Mike Penning MP | 26/4/17 | Malta | Civilian Air | Economy | £544.40 |
Minister for Defence Procurement – Harriett Baldwin MP | 19/6/17 | Paris | Civilian Air | Economy | £588.00 |
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many civil servants have been recruited so far to his Department to work on matters relating to the UK leaving the EU; and how many more civil servants his Department plans to recruit for such work.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
Preparing for the UK's Exit from the EU is cross Government effort. The Department for Exiting the European Union is doing detailed work with Departments to prepare for the upcoming negotiations by understanding the risks and opportunities of leaving the EU and coordinating planning.
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has a small central team who have been appointed to deal exclusively with Defence issues relating to the UK's decision to leave the EU. This team draws on a range of colleagues from across the MOD who support EU exit related work, in addition to their normal duties.
Given the interactions between EU exit work and the MOD's other priorities, it would not be possible to give an accurate estimate.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Department's publication MOD's ministerial hospitality, April to June 2017, whether (a) representatives or employees of the firm which offered that hospitality and (b) lobbyists or contractors of those firms were present at events for which that hospitality was offered.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
For the period in question, the following hospitality was recorded:
The Rt Hon Sir Michael Fallon MP, attended the Army v Navy rugby match on 29 April 2017 at the invitation of Babcock; he met the CEO of Babcock, Archie Bethel, and John Spencer, the President of the RFU.
The Rt Hon Earl Howe, had lunch with the UK Defence Attache and dinner with the UK Ambassador during his visit to Vietnam on 19 April 2017; dinner with the UK Ambassador to Japan on 21 April 2017 and dinner with the UK Defence Attache and UK Ambassador to the Republic of Korea on 23rd and 24 April respectively; these engagements were all with Government officials.
The Rt Hon Mike Penning MP, attended the Army v Navy rugby match on 29 April 2017 at the invitation of Babcock; it is known that the CEO of Babcock, Archie Bethel, was present.
Harriett Baldwin MP, had dinner with science and engineering employees of BAE Systems on 5 April 2017 and lunch at the invitation of Thales at the Paris Air Show on 19 June 2017. Employees of both firms were present on both occasions.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, which public telephone lines for his Department's services are charged at higher rates; and how much was taken by each such telephone line in the last 12 months.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
There are 34 FreePhone numbers operated for the Ministry of Defence (MOD) through the Defence Fixed Telecommunications Service (DFTS) contract with British Telecom (BT).
Some mobile phone suppliers may charge higher rates to their users for FreePhone calls, but the MOD does not generate income from this.
The MOD operates four Premium Rate Service (PRS) telephone lines through the DFTS contract with BT. While these four telephone lines do have the capacity to recover money from callers, the MOD as an organisation does not benefit from PRS calls, and no income has been detected from them for the period November 2016 to October 2017.
However, DFTS is not mandated as the single procurement mechanism for PRS telephone lines across Defence, and other Defence contracts may include the provision of publicly accessible PRS telephone numbers, e.g. for contact centres.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what proportion of his Department's spend in the last year has been with Government strategic suppliers.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
In financial year 2016-17, Ministry of Defence total expenditure with Government strategic suppliers was £7.8 billion. This amounts to 32.4% of the Department's overall spend on goods and services.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department holds a central list of the IT and digital assets of its arm's-length bodies.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
We do not hold a central list of the IT and digital assets of the Ministry of Defence's arm's-length bodies. Under the delegated model, Senior Information Risk Owners, or an equivalent post, are appointed in each of the arm's-length bodies; they are expected to hold this information for their organisations in accordance with good practice. They report centrally on their organisation's key information systems as required.
Defence Assurance and Information Security (DAIS) also maintains the Defence Assurance Risk Tool (DART), an automated central registration point for MOD IT systems (including applications and services) that require accreditation. Users, including the arm's-length bodies, are required to comply with initiating, inputting to and tracking their various Information Assurance-related requirements on the DART to ensure that they are properly managed.