Asked by: Mark Logan (Conservative - Bolton North East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to support BBC World Service broadcasts into North Korea.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan
The FCDO strongly values the BBC World Service's role in bringing high-quality and impartial broadcasting to audiences in need, particularly where free speech is limited.
The BBC has provided assurance that it will continue to serve audiences in countries lacking media freedom and a free press, such as North Korea. Through the World2020 programme, the FCDO provides support to the BBC Korean service which is aimed at audiences across the Korean Peninsula, including inside North Korea where access to international media sources is extremely limited.
The UK is committed to media freedom, and to championing democracy and human rights around the world.
Asked by: Mark Logan (Conservative - Bolton North East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to progress commitments made under The Tallinn Pledge.
Answered by James Heappey
Following the announcement of The Tallin Pledge, the UK delivered a major package of equipment to Ukraine which met our donations commitment in full. The training commitment will be met by the end of 2023. Along with allies and partners, we continue to provide Ukraine with equipment needed to protect critical national infrastructure and expel Russian forces from Ukraine's sovereign territory.
Asked by: Mark Logan (Conservative - Bolton North East)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, what recent steps she has taken to support the prosecution of alleged war crimes in Ukraine.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
Ukrainian Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin has opened more than 100,000 files into alleged crimes which he intends to take through the Ukrainian courts.
I remain in regular contact with Prosecutor General Kostin. Alongside UK legal experts from inside and outside government, I am supporting the work of the Office of the Prosecutor General and the International Criminal Court to ensure allegations of war crimes are fully and fairly investigated, by independent, effective and robust legal mechanisms.
The UK is also a founding member of the Atrocity Crimes Advisory Group, alongside the US and the EU, which works in the region with Ukraine to coordinate and provide additional support to Ukraine’s domestic prosecutions. We have also ensured to provide training and advisory support to Ukrainian judges and prosecutors across the region.
The UK is committed to ensuring that those responsible for atrocities are held to account for their actions.
Asked by: Mark Logan (Conservative - Bolton North East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps is Department is taking to support (a) industry and (b) academia to engage in the Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by James Heappey
The UK is a strong supporter of the Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA). The European Regional Office is hosted at the Imperial College Innovation Hub at White City (twinned with a hub in Tallinn, Estonia). The pilot DIANA ‘Challenge Programmes’ were actively promoted to the UK industry and academic communities via UK Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) networks, and over 200 UK-based entities applied. The successful participants are expected to be announced later in October, and the Department will continue to support UK industry and academia to engage with the DIANA pilot programmes, when they begin in early 2024.
Asked by: Mark Logan (Conservative - Bolton North East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to increase the number of air traffic controllers.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The recruitment of air traffic controllers is a commercial matter for the private businesses that operate air traffic control services.
However, the Department is working with industry and other Government Departments, as part of the Generation Aviation programme, to support medium and long term recruitment.
This work includes the promotion of air traffic controller careers, and co-operation with industry and the Department for Education to review current apprenticeship standards so as to encourage greater uptake.
Asked by: Mark Logan (Conservative - Bolton North East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the security situation in northern Kosovo in the context of the recent violence near the village of Banjska.
Answered by James Heappey
The UK strongly condemns the violent attack on Kosovo Police in northern Kosovo on 24 September. The attack involved a large group of organised and well-resourced gunmen. The situation is calm but fragile. The facts of the incident are being established by the Kosovan authorities. At NATO’s request the UK deployed our Strategic Reserve Force to increase KFOR’s ability to support a safe and secure environment. Our forces in country continue to monitor the situation carefully. Both Serbia and Kosovo must refrain from actions that add to current tensions. Dialogue is key for finding long term mutually acceptable solutions and protecting the gains of the last decade.
Asked by: Mark Logan (Conservative - Bolton North East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the Government plans to increase its provision of long-range precision strike weapons, (b) artillery, (c) air defence equipment, (d) armoured vehicles and (e) other forms of military support to Ukraine.
Answered by James Heappey
The UK is committed to working with our allies and partners to meet Ukraine's defensive requirements, now and in the future. Priority areas for support in the coming months include air defence to protect Ukraine's critical national infrastructure during the winter, further artillery ammunition, and support to help Ukraine sustain the capabilities already provided, including to recover and repair equipment used in its counter-offensive. Since 2015, over 50,000 Ukrainian personnel have been trained by the UK.
Asked by: Mark Logan (Conservative - Bolton North East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to page 11 of the Defence Command Paper 2023, published in July 2023, what recent progress his Department has made on supporting integrated working practices between different branches of the UK Armed Forces.
Answered by James Heappey
Integration was a key theme of the Integrated Review 21 and the IR Refresh 23. In the Defence Command Paper 23 we confirmed the priority placed on Integration across Defence and the Armed Forces, and announced the establishment of the Integration Design Authority (IDA). The logic of integration is to make more of finite resources within a more competitive world in which speed of adaptation can provide decisive advantage. The pursuit of integration is led by Strategic Command and is being embedded as a whole Defence activity, working alongside the single Services. We constantly check our approach through analysing lessons learnt from conflicts, such as that in Ukraine.
Asked by: Mark Logan (Conservative - Bolton North East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he has had discussions with his (a) Lithuanian and (b) Polish counterparts on the potential merits of increasing the number of UK troops on rotational deployment to the Suwalki gap.
Answered by James Heappey
The Defence Secretary has not had any discussion with his Lithuanian or Polish counterparts as there are no UK troops on rotational deployment to the Suwalki gap.
Asked by: Mark Logan (Conservative - Bolton North East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to help prevent protestors from disrupting sporting events.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
We must protect the right to peaceful protest, but that does not give licence to a vocal minority to spoil events that millions of us enjoy.
The Home Secretary and the Culture Secretary have chaired productive discussions, with sports, police and government united against preventing further disruption of this kind. The Government has taken action to support the police in their efforts to prevent disruption at major sporting events, including giving them more powers through the Public Order Act 2023. This criminalised actions like ‘locking on’, allowing police to stop and search protesters for items like padlocks and superglue if they suspect they are setting out to cause disruption. We will continue to support sports organisations in their planning as necessary.