Asked by: Margaret Ferrier (Independent - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of licensing of trail hunting on his Department's owned and managed land.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Third party activities on the Ministry of Defence (MOD) Estate including trail hunting take place under licences which contain provisions to comply with all legal requirements, including those related to the protection and welfare of flora and fauna.
Any fixtures booked under the licence will also take into account any additional site-specific matters.
There are no plans to make a specific assessment of the potential impacts of licensing trail hunting on MOD land.
Asked by: Margaret Ferrier (Independent - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, in the context of the recent report of the International Committee of the Red Cross outlining the risks to civilians of urban airstrikes, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of taking steps to restrict the use of wide area effect explosive weapons in urban areas.
Answered by James Heappey
Restricting the use of explosive weapons in urban areas beyond the clear and robust framework that International Humanitarian Law already sets would reduce the UK's ability to operate legitimately and responsibly, potentially putting our operations or personnel at risk. We will continue to be actively involved in the political declaration process and assess the merits of the text once its final form is known.
Asked by: Margaret Ferrier (Independent - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the Government's position is on the upcoming UN-backed political declaration on restricting the use of wide area effect explosive weapons in populated areas.
Answered by James Heappey
Restricting the use of explosive weapons in urban areas beyond the clear and robust framework that International Humanitarian Law already sets would reduce the UK's ability to operate legitimately and responsibly, potentially putting our operations or personnel at risk. We will continue to be actively involved in the political declaration process and assess the merits of the text once its final form is known.
Asked by: Margaret Ferrier (Independent - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
What recent progress he has made on the implementation of the Armed Forces Covenant commitment on housing for military personnel; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Johnny Mercer - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Minister for Veterans' Affairs)
The provision of high-quality subsidised accommodation remains a fundamental part of the overall offer to Service personnel and their families.
In July, the Government committed an additional £200 million to further improve both Service Family and Single Living Accommodation. As part of this, 3,500 homes will be fully modernised. In addition, through the Future Accommodation Model, the Department will provide Service personnel with more choice over where, how and with whom they live.
Asked by: Margaret Ferrier (Independent - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many staff in his Department have formal arrangements to work from home during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by James Heappey
Defence's policy is that all employees should work from home during COVID-19 unless their work is business critical which requires them to be in the workplace. The Department believes that it is vital to support staff to enable them to meet their work and family commitments, particularly if they are caring for children following school closures, or other relative or friend. Advice and guidance on working remotely/flexibly is available in a toolkit; guidance in a "Coronavirus pandemic - working from home guidance" as well as; in a series of FAQs which are regularly updated. Employees working from home can request the use of a laptop, or, if they have a reasonable adjustment, specialist equipment which their line manager will make best endeavours that it is delivered. The key issue for Defence is to ensure that critical business continues as usual, and that its employees can meet their objectives.
I am unable to give you figures on staff with formal arrangements: when scoping the relevant information for your request, it was established that in order to locate, retrieve and extract information in scope of the question would exceed the disproportionate cost threshold (DCT). The request exceeds the DCT as the department does not hold this information centrally and it would require reviewing the data for each directorate within the Department, its agencies and Frontline Commands individually.
Asked by: Margaret Ferrier (Independent - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, on how many days in 2016 Special Escort Group's armoured protected patrol vehicles were unavailable for service.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
It is Ministry of Defence policy that we do not comment on the operational details of convoys transporting Defence Nuclear Material, for the purpose of safeguarding national security.
Asked by: Margaret Ferrier (Independent - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) accidents, (b) incidents and (c) near misses have been reported to the (i) Nuclear Weapons Safety Committee and (ii) Warhead Safety Co-ordinating Committee in each year since 2005; and if he will provide details of any such incidents.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
The Nuclear Weapons Safety Committee no longer exists. The Warhead Safety Co-ordinating Committee ceased to exist in 1993.
Asked by: Margaret Ferrier (Independent - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, (a) what the terms of reference are, (b) how many members there are, (c) who the current chair is, (d) what the date of the last meeting was and (e) what the date of the next meeting is of the Nuclear Weapons Safety Committee.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
The Nuclear Weapons Safety Committee no longer exists. The Warhead Safety Co-ordinating Committee ceased to exist in 1993.
Asked by: Margaret Ferrier (Independent - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many allegations of humanitarian law violations by the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen his Department is tracking; and if he will place in the Library the reports relating to each such allegation.
Answered by Michael Fallon
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is tracking 257 allegations of breaches of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) by the Saudi-led Coalition in Yemen. Details of the MOD's analysis of these allegations are necessarily confidential.
Asked by: Margaret Ferrier (Independent - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 5 July 2016 to Question 41410, when his Department last carried out an assessment of (a) whether the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen were targeting civilians and (b) that coalition's level of respect for and compliance with international humanitarian law; and if he will place in the Library copies of documentation used in such assessments.
Answered by Michael Fallon
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) analyses allegations of International Humanitarian Law violations arising from air strikes in Yemen conducted by the Saudi-led Coalition. The MOD has not assessed that the Coalition is deliberately targeting civilians.