Asked by: Martin Docherty-Hughes (Scottish National Party - West Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) electric, (b) hybrid or (c) internal combustion, non-combat motor vehicles his Department purchased for the use of personnel in each of the last three years; and what the cost to the public purse was of each type of vehicle.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
The Ministry of Defence no longer purchases commercial, non-combat motor vehicles but leases them through a Fleet Management Service contract known as Phoenix II. In each of the last three years, the number of new vehicles leased in each of the three categories is as detailed in the table below. These leases are competitively tendered to ensure that Defence receives value for money.
| Year | ||
Vehicle Type | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 |
| Nil | Nil | 232 |
| 2 | Nil | 96 |
| 3754 | 2353 | 911 |
Asked by: Martin Docherty-Hughes (Scottish National Party - West Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what risk assessment his Department has made of the effect on (a) industrial relations and (b) matters of operational safety of the revised procurement process for facilities management at HMNB Clyde under the Future Maritime Support programme.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
The transition of support services at HM Naval Base Clyde from the existing Maritime Support Delivery Framework will be carefully managed in order to avoid any adverse effect on operations.
As the Future Maritime Support Programme (FMSP) is currently under commercial tender and negotiation, the number of future providers is yet to be finalised. Although support at HM Naval Base Clyde is currently provided through a Prime Contract with Babcock, it is delivered through a number of sub-contractors. FMSP will require industry partners to meet applicable legal obligations under the terms of the Transfer of Undertakings, Protection of Employment legislation.
Asked by: Martin Docherty-Hughes (Scottish National Party - West Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of requiring all successful bidders across HMNB Clyde for facilities management contracts under the Future Maritime Support Programme to maintain a single collective bargaining unit for purposes of industrial relations.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
The transition of support services at HM Naval Base Clyde from the existing Maritime Support Delivery Framework will be carefully managed in order to avoid any adverse effect on operations.
As the Future Maritime Support Programme (FMSP) is currently under commercial tender and negotiation, the number of future providers is yet to be finalised. Although support at HM Naval Base Clyde is currently provided through a Prime Contract with Babcock, it is delivered through a number of sub-contractors. FMSP will require industry partners to meet applicable legal obligations under the terms of the Transfer of Undertakings, Protection of Employment legislation.
Asked by: Martin Docherty-Hughes (Scottish National Party - West Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the (a) duration (b) cost to the public purse was of the deployment of 16th Regiment Royal Artillery to Saudi Arabia from February 2020.
Answered by James Heappey
The deployment in question began in February 2020 and is ongoing. To date, it has cost £840,360.
Asked by: Martin Docherty-Hughes (Scottish National Party - West Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) Royal Air Force personnel and 9b) Qatari Emiri Air Force personnel have been assigned to 12 Squadron RAF.
Answered by James Heappey
There are currently 163 RAF personnel assigned to 12 Squadron. I am withholding information on the number of Qatari Emiri Air Force personnel assigned to 12 Squadron as its disclosure would or would be likely to prejudice relations between the United Kingdom and another State. An initial cadre of Qatari Emiri Air Force personnel is currently on the Squadron; this will gradually increase as further personnel graduate from training.
Asked by: Martin Docherty-Hughes (Scottish National Party - West Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much 12 Squadron RAF has cost the public purse in each year since 2018; and how much of those costs have been borne by the (a) Qatar Emiri Air Force and (b) Government of Qatar.
Answered by James Heappey
12 Squadron has formed in three stages: Stand Up of the Squadron (July 2018), commencement of RAF flying operations (2019) and commencement of flying operations with Qatar Emiri Air Force (2020).
To date 12 Squadron costs from the RAF Operating budget have been £1.951 million in Financial Year (FY) 2018-2019, £9.959 million in FY 2019-2020 and £5.423 million in FY 2020-21 to end August 2020. I am withholding detailed information on the costs the Qatari Emiri Air Force have borne for 12 Squadron operations as its disclosure would or would be likely to prejudice relations between the United Kingdom and another State. However, I can confirm as part of the wider £6 billion Export Sale of Typhoon to Qatar, the Government of Qatar has funded 50% of the Squadron operating costs since the point at which QEAF pilots started flying on the Joint Squadron.
Asked by: Martin Docherty-Hughes (Scottish National Party - West Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what policy changes his Department has made as a result of the declaration of a climate emergency.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Ministry of Defence is developing its response to the Government's Net Zero Greenhouse Gas emissions announcement of June 2019. A revised policy framework and implementation plan is being developed that covers Defence's impact on the climate (reducing emissions) and the impact of climate change on Defence (building operational resilience).
Asked by: Martin Docherty-Hughes (Scottish National Party - West Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether lessons learned from recent urban operations in Raqqa and Mosul where the UK provided non-combat training and advice to partner forces have informed his Department’s plans to allocate funding for new urban capability to dismounted infantry.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
Following any major conflict, lessons are identified and reviewed; changes are then made if required. The recent operations in Raqqa and Mosul are no different and have contributed to initiatives improving the equipment of the dismounted soldier in the urban environment.
Asked by: Martin Docherty-Hughes (Scottish National Party - West Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of maintaining the Trident Nuclear Weapons programme in (a) 2019 and (b) the lifetime of that programme.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 9 September 2019 to Question 286283 to the hon. Member for North East Fife (Stephen Gethins).
Asked by: Martin Docherty-Hughes (Scottish National Party - West Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) civilian staff in his Department based in the UK, (b) military personnel based in the UK, (c) civilian staff in his Department based in Saudi Arabia and (d) military personnel based in Saudi Arabia were employed on the (i) Saudi Arabian National Guard Communications Project and (ii) Ministry of Defence Saudi Armed Forces Project on 1 April 2019.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave the hon. Member for North East Fife (Stephen Gethins) to Question 286284 on 9 September 2019.