Asked by: Kevin Bonavia (Labour - Stevenage)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of military hospital provision.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
Armed Forces personnel in the UK routinely receive secondary care, including specialist hospital treatment, through the NHS, working with the Defence Medical Services (DMS) to ensure that specific defence requirements are met.
The Royal Centre for Defence Medicine is the UK's primary military medical facility. Based at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, military medical personnel are integrated with NHS staff to provide specialist treatment for injured military personnel, including those evacuated from overseas. It further serves as a centre for training and research.
Additionally, there are over 1000 military Doctors, Nurses and Allied Health Professionals permanently based in 56 NHS trusts across the UK, ensuring military medics maintain the skills they require to support military operations across the globe and providing essential support to our NHS. Through this partnership, Defence is supporting the government’s mission to build an NHS fit for the future with military healthcare professionals routinely treating members of the general public, however, for security reasons they are not always identifiable as being serving members of the Armed Forces.
DMS is working closely with NHS England and health services in the Devolved Administrations to ensure non-deployable personnel awaiting NHS treatment are returned to fighting fitness. Further, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) is working with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) to meet the Strategic Defence Review (SDR) recommendations including rebuilding capacity and capability, in partnership with the NHS, to meet the demands of warfighting.
Asked by: Kevin Bonavia (Labour - Stevenage)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent discussions he has had with NATO allies on strengthening European security.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
We regularly engage with NATO and our Allies on strengthening Euro-Atlantic security. The Prime Minister met the NATO Secretary General on 3 February, underlining our unshakeable commitment to the Alliance. European Allies must take greater responsibility for our own security, spending more and producing more. That is the message the Prime Minister and Defence Secretary continue to deliver to our Allies.
Asked by: Kevin Bonavia (Labour - Stevenage)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department plans to take to help support the defence sector in the (a) East of England and (b) UK.
Answered by Maria Eagle
This Government recognises the vital role Defence plays not only in our national security but also to the economic prosperity and growth of the United Kingdom.
The Government is committed to delivering a new Defence Industrial Strategy, working in partnership with our domestic defence industry across the UK, to support UK innovation and resilience.