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 was undertaken of the technical, mechanical and operational strength of the Type 45 destroyers prior to the current Carrier Strike Group deployment to the South China Sea.
Answered by James Heappey
Prior to embarking on any operational deployment, all units undertake a rigorous Force Generation and assurance process to ensure they are ready for operations.
Both HMS DEFENDER and HMS DIAMOND completed the final stages of this process with the Carrier Strike Group (CSG) during Exercise STRIKE WARRIOR in May 2021, before proceeding on the maiden CSG deployment.
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 upgrades were made to the Type 45 destroyers by his Department's engineers after technical problems were uncovered in recent years.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave on 6 July 2020 to Question 66798 from the Rt Hon. Member for New Forest East (Dr Lewis).
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 a separated parent may prevent their child's enlistment in the armed forces when the other separated parent has granted consent.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
Parental consent to join the Armed Forces must be obtained for those aged under 18. All persons who have parental responsibility must give their consent in writing before the application can proceed. If an agreement cannot be reached, a parent can apply for a Specific Issue Order or Prohibited Steps Order. A judge will then make a decision based on the applicant's best interests.
The Ministry of Defence takes its duty of care to all recruits extremely seriously, and those aged under 18 are treated with special consideration.
All Phase 1 and Phase 2 training organisations are subject to Ofsted inspection and the Army Foundation College (AFC) Harrogate was graded 'Outstanding' earlier this year. Ofsted were particularly impressed by the strong ethos of emotional and psychological safety at AFC Harrogate, where dedicated safeguarding, mental health and wellbeing leads support students at the college.
Service personnel aged under 18 are not deployed on hostile operations outside the UK or on any operations where they could be exposed to hostilities. All new recruits, regardless of age, can discharge within their first three to six months of service.
Asked by: Martin Docherty-Hughes (Scottish National Party - West Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
What recent discussions he has had with truck hauliers on the challenges facing that sector.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
Transport Minister Baroness Vere and Employment Minister Mims Davies, Member for Mid Sussex, hosted a haulage industry roundtable on the driver shortage on 16 June.
This event follows a series of meetings between Government and industry regarding driver shortages, its impact on supply chains, and the work each can do to address this issue.
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 Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the Gypsy and Traveller community can access (a) PrEP, (b) HIV testing and (c) HIV care.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Public Health Grant in 2021/22 includes £23.4 million to cover local authority costs of the routine commissioning of HIV prevention drug pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). The Department and Public Health England (PHE) will continue to work closely with local authorities across England to support the routine commissioning of PrEP in 2021/22.
PHE is currently developing a monitoring and evaluation framework for the routine commissioning of PrEP, which will use established surveillance systems and include measures of PrEP need and use among key population groups to inform equitable delivery and access. We will consider issues relating to equitable access to sexual and reproductive health services including HIV services and PrEP as part of the development of the Sexual and Reproductive Health Strategy and the HIV Action Plan, which we plan to publish in 2021. The needs of the Gypsy and Traveller communities will be considered as part of this work.
Asked by: Martin Docherty-Hughes (Scottish National Party - West Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to answer the letter of 3 December 2020 from the hon. Member for West Dunbartonshire relating to Mrs Gurpreet Singh Johal of Dumbarton.
Answered by Kevin Foster
A response was sent on 10 March 2021.
Asked by: Martin Docherty-Hughes (Scottish National Party - West Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, when she plans to announce the launch of a consultation on the 232 rebalancing tariffs applied to US products.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department is planning to launch a consultation on the rebalancing measures the UK is taking in response to the US unjustified tariffs on steel, aluminium and derivatives later this year.
Asked by: Martin Docherty-Hughes (Scottish National Party - West Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure that the protections afforded to Gypsies and Travellers under the Public Sector Equality Duty are encompassed in her response to the 2019 consultation, Strengthening police powers to tackle unauthorised encampments with regard to (a) criminalising trespass and (b) seizing homes.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Government is committed to ensuring all communities are treated fairly. We are equally clear that we will not tolerate law breaking.
That is why we set out in the Queen’s Speech in December 2019 our firm aim to bring forward legislation which will help police tackle unauthorised encampments where they cause harm and disruption.
All responses to the consultation have been considered and the Government response will be published soon.
Asked by: Martin Docherty-Hughes (Scottish National Party - West Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the Friends, Families and Travellers 2020 report, Police renew calls for more Gypsy and Traveller sites in opposition to the criminalisation of unauthorised encampments, published 9 September 2020, that concluded (a) 21.7 per cent of police respondents agreed with the Home Office proposals to criminalise unauthorised encampments and (b) 93.7 per cent of police bodies called for site provision as the solution to unauthorised encampments.
Answered by Kit Malthouse