Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many members of the armed forces are currently working in South Sudan; and what role those people are performing.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
The UK currently has nearly 400 Armed Forces personnel deployed in South Sudan. As requested by the United Nations (UN), UK troops have deployed to support the UN Mission in South Sudan by carrying out engineering and medical roles at the UN camps in Malakal and Bentiu. They will work to improve the delivery of the UN mission, and are a demonstration of the UK's commitment to UN operations.
Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the oral statement of the Minister of State for Defence of 23 January 2017, HL Official Report, column 463, how many (a) hon. Members and (b) Members of the House of Lords were (i) invited to be and (ii) onboard the survey vessels observing the trident missile test firing in July 2016.
Answered by Michael Fallon
One Member of the House of Lords attended the Demonstration and Shakedown Operation in June 2016. No hon. Members of the House of Commons were present.
Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, on how many occasions footage of test firings of Trident missiles has (a) been made available to the media and (b) not released to the media following each such test firing in each year for which records are available.
Answered by Michael Fallon
This is decided on a case by case basis dependent on security considerations at the time. Footage of the 2005 and 2012 Demonstration and Shakedown Operations firings was released.
Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether any video footage for potential media release was taken of the Trident missile test firing of June 2016.
Answered by Michael Fallon
This is decided on a case by case basis dependent on security considerations at the time. Footage of the 2005 and 2012 Demonstration and Shakedown Operations firings was released.
Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether journalists or media representatives were (a) informed in advance or (b) present for the Trident missile test firing of June 2016.
Answered by Michael Fallon
No journalists or media representatives were given advance information or were invited to the Trident D5 Missile Demonstration and Shakedown Operation in June 2016.
Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what capacity exists in the UK armed forces to (a) use and (b) deploy Joint Precision Airdrop Systems.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
The United Kingdom Armed Forces does not currently have a Joint Precision Airdrop Systems (JPADS) capability which could be used or deployed. However, we recognise the benefits of the system and are currently investigating options to bring JPADS into service.
Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Written Statement of 4 March 2016, HCWS581, whether the gift of 40 Land Rovers to Bulgaria counts towards (a) the target two per cent of GDP on defence spending and (b) 0.7 per cent of GNI on Overseas Development Assistance.
Answered by Michael Fallon
No and no.
Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the (a) total cost and (b) cost per sortie mission flown has been of UK military action in Syria since 2 December 2015.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
It is not possible to separate out the costs of UK military action in Syria from that of wider Counter-Daesh operations due to the inter-related nature of the UK's military activity. However, information on the net additional costs of Counter-Daesh operations during the financial year 2015-16 will be published in the Ministry of Defence's Annual Report and Accounts, with £75 million approved by Parliament at Main Estimates in July 2015 to meet the initial net additional costs of such operations in 2015-16. We will update this estimate in our 2015-16 Supplementary Estimates which Her Majesty's Treasury plan to lay before the House in February.
Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether any spending counted towards the two per cent of GNI target for defence spending will also be counted towards the 0.7 per cent target for ODA spending.
Answered by Michael Fallon
Some spending is counted for both the NATO 2% target and the 0.7% Official Development Assistance (ODA) target, in line with NATO and Organisation for Economic Co-operation & Development guidelines.