Asked by: Lord West of Spithead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the level of progress being made in agreeing tri-national tasks of (1) vetting, (2) legal framework, and (3) standards, as AUKUS moves forward.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
Good progress is being made on AUKUS Pillar 2, the Advanced Capabilities Pillar, on quantum technologies, undersea capabilities, artificial intelligence and cyber, hypersonic and counter-hypersonic capabilities, and electronic warfare capabilities, supported by two enabling workstreams covering innovation, and information sharing. Substantial progress is being made in accelerating the near-term delivery of certain capabilities that will meet our militaries' requirements earlier: the first AUKUS artificial intelligence (AI) and autonomy trial, held in Wiltshire this April, achieved several world firsts, including the live retraining of models in flight and the interchange of AI models between AUKUS nations. AUKUS Principals met in London for the Advanced Capabilities Executive Group where they had productive discussions on Pillar 2 progress and endorsed a trilateral plan for engagement with industry ahead of the next meeting in November.
Whilst the Defence Secretary is the overall minister responsible for AUKUS, he is supported by the Permanent Secretary who is the most senior official on AUKUS, covering both Pillars 1 and 2. In the two years following the AUKUS announcement, the UK continues to work well on a trilateral basis, developing and implementing ambitious plans to streamline defence trade, whilst also strengthening our ability to protect sensitive technologies that underpin our security. Vetting, legal frameworks and establishing standards are an important part of wider AUKUS activity planned, with good progress being made overall.
Asked by: Lord West of Spithead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Defence, who is responsible for coordinating work on AUKUS Pillar 1, is also able to coordinate work on Pillar 2 across His Majesty's Government and industry.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
Good progress is being made on AUKUS Pillar 2, the Advanced Capabilities Pillar, on quantum technologies, undersea capabilities, artificial intelligence and cyber, hypersonic and counter-hypersonic capabilities, and electronic warfare capabilities, supported by two enabling workstreams covering innovation, and information sharing. Substantial progress is being made in accelerating the near-term delivery of certain capabilities that will meet our militaries' requirements earlier: the first AUKUS artificial intelligence (AI) and autonomy trial, held in Wiltshire this April, achieved several world firsts, including the live retraining of models in flight and the interchange of AI models between AUKUS nations. AUKUS Principals met in London for the Advanced Capabilities Executive Group where they had productive discussions on Pillar 2 progress and endorsed a trilateral plan for engagement with industry ahead of the next meeting in November.
Whilst the Defence Secretary is the overall minister responsible for AUKUS, he is supported by the Permanent Secretary who is the most senior official on AUKUS, covering both Pillars 1 and 2. In the two years following the AUKUS announcement, the UK continues to work well on a trilateral basis, developing and implementing ambitious plans to streamline defence trade, whilst also strengthening our ability to protect sensitive technologies that underpin our security. Vetting, legal frameworks and establishing standards are an important part of wider AUKUS activity planned, with good progress being made overall.
Asked by: Lord West of Spithead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government how work on AUKUS Pillar 2 is progressing.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
Good progress is being made on AUKUS Pillar 2, the Advanced Capabilities Pillar, on quantum technologies, undersea capabilities, artificial intelligence and cyber, hypersonic and counter-hypersonic capabilities, and electronic warfare capabilities, supported by two enabling workstreams covering innovation, and information sharing. Substantial progress is being made in accelerating the near-term delivery of certain capabilities that will meet our militaries' requirements earlier: the first AUKUS artificial intelligence (AI) and autonomy trial, held in Wiltshire this April, achieved several world firsts, including the live retraining of models in flight and the interchange of AI models between AUKUS nations. AUKUS Principals met in London for the Advanced Capabilities Executive Group where they had productive discussions on Pillar 2 progress and endorsed a trilateral plan for engagement with industry ahead of the next meeting in November.
Whilst the Defence Secretary is the overall minister responsible for AUKUS, he is supported by the Permanent Secretary who is the most senior official on AUKUS, covering both Pillars 1 and 2. In the two years following the AUKUS announcement, the UK continues to work well on a trilateral basis, developing and implementing ambitious plans to streamline defence trade, whilst also strengthening our ability to protect sensitive technologies that underpin our security. Vetting, legal frameworks and establishing standards are an important part of wider AUKUS activity planned, with good progress being made overall.
Asked by: Lord West of Spithead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Service Inquiry into the loss of the F-35B Lightning ZM152 (BK-18) of 617 Squadron, embarked on HMS Queen Elizabeth on 17 November 2021, what steps they are taking to address the findings that 617 Squadron "was under strength, morale was low, there were insufficient Quality Assurance checks being conducted at Marham and general readiness for FORTIS was lower than COMUKCSG had been led to believe".
Answered by Baroness Goldie
As a direct result of the lessons identified during and post Operation FORTIS, embarked engineering workforce levels were significantly increased, in recognition of the additional workload and fatigue associated with embarked operations. Since 2021, RAF Marham has been subject to two external third-party audits, with the most recent concluding that previously identified shortfalls had been resolved, or that appropriate corrective action plans were in place. The unit maintains a full internal quality audit programme with regular continuous-improvement events and independent engineering standard evaluations. Readiness for embarked operations is constantly scrutinised, and optimised where required, during regular Carrier Strike multi-disciplinary meetings.
Asked by: Lord West of Spithead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether maintaining a fleet of a minimum of 19 operational Destroyers and Frigates is still realistic and sufficient; and, if not, what the new minimum will be.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
The government is committed to modernising the Royal Navy's escort fleet through the transition of the existing Type 23 frigate force to the Type 26 and Type 31 classes. This will bring the number of destroyers and frigates to 19.
This is a realistic programme which will enable the Royal Navy to maintain its operational commitments.
Asked by: Lord West of Spithead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to speed up delivery of the Type 26 frigates so as to avoid any decrease in the number of Royal Navy frigates.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
The delivery rate for the Type 26 ships is the optimum that can be achieved considering all relevant factors. Four of the Type 26 ships are now in construction on the Clyde. On current plans, HMS GLASGOW is forecast to achieve Initial Operating Capability in 2028 and construction of all eight frigates is expected to be completed by the mid-2030s.
The Type 26 Batch 2 deal introduces further investment in BAE Systems’ facilities on the Clyde, most obviously demonstrated by the start of work on a new shipbuilding hall at Govan. The new hall will allow two frigates to be built under cover simultaneously and allow the ships to be built faster, improving efficiency in the programme, and expanding the facilities for future work at the yard.
Asked by: Lord West of Spithead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the reason that none of the Royal Navy’s six commissioned SSNs was at sea at the end of August, as shown by open source reporting, relates to inadequate material state, support infrastructure issues, crew shortages, or a combination of those; and whether Project Resolution will resolve such long-standing issues.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
We can confirm that we are meeting all our operational commitments, and will continue to ensure we have the workforce, support arrangements and facilities required to maintain availability in the future. For operational security reasons we do not comment on the availability of Royal Navy submarines.
Asked by: Lord West of Spithead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the new environmental, social and governance rules on (1) defence companies' costs and ability to access financial services, and (2) Ministry of Defence procurement costs.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
Trade associations and individual companies have raised the issue of ESG in discussions with Ministers and officials from across government.
While we have so far seen no evidence that ESG criteria are leading to increased procurement costs, we are aware of instances where companies, particularly SMEs, have found obstacles to accessing financial services.
Officials across Government are working closely with trade associations and the financial sector to understand the nature and extent of the issue, and agree mitigating actions where appropriate. The Government is unequivocal that there is nothing unethical about investing in and providing financial services to the UK defence sector and the financial services sector should not be disadvantaging companies based on their association with defence. On the contrary, a strong national defence is a pre-requisite for the freedoms and rule of law that we often take for granted.
Industry and Government are also showing leadership on all aspects of the ESG agenda as illustrated by the recent launch of the Defence Aviation Net Zero Strategy. We will continue this work with our industrial partners to explore and champion the wider environmental and social benefit of the defence sector.
Asked by: Lord West of Spithead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government when HMS Prince of Wales will start sea trials after defect rectification work.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
I refer the noble Lord to the answer that I gave to him on 3 April 2023 to Question HL6891.
Asked by: Lord West of Spithead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many incursions into the UK's Exclusive Economic Zone have been made by ships of the Russian Main Directorate of Deep-Sea Research during the past two years.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
Defence does not routinely record and archive the number of entries by foreign vessels into the UK's Exclusive Economic Zone. The number of instances that the Royal Navy is employed to escort a foreign vessel is, however, recorded. In 2021 the Royal Navy escorted 66 Russian warships through UK waters; 41 such warships were escorted in 2022. During the same period the Royal Navy also located and tracked several Russian submarines in the UK's marine area to guard against intrusion into UK sensitive waters.