Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking with the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs to increase the number of aid shipments to the Middle East.
Answered by James Heappey
Defence works very closely with and to support the FCDO, who lead on humanitarian support, to make sure that aid shipments are delivered as rapidly, efficiently and safely as possible. We have supported the delivery of hundreds of tonnes of life-saving aid for Gaza, including by air, land and maritime routes. We are doing everything we can to get far more aid in, exploring new routes and pressing Israel to open more crossings and lift restrictions. The Secretaries of State regularly engage on this matter.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent steps he has taken to increase military support to Ukraine.
Answered by James Heappey
The UK continues to be at the forefront of international efforts to end Russia's illegal war in Ukraine. We will be providing £2.5 billion of military support to Ukraine in financial year 2024-25. This includes a £325 million package of cutting-edge drones and £245 million to procure and invigorate supply chains, to produce artillery shells to help fight Putin's illegal invasion.
We will train an additional 10,000 Ukrainians in the first half of this year as well as co-leading new maritime and drone capability coalitions alongside Norway and Latvia respectively.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to the adequacy of staffing levels in the Armed Forces.
Answered by Andrew Murrison
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 19 January 2024 to Question 9841 to the hon. Member for Barnsley Central (Dan Jarvis).
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to prevent the mothballing of Royal Navy ships.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
The Royal Navy (RN) is allocated resources and tasked at a Departmental level. The RN then generates the Fleet as necessary to meet the readiness profile it has been tasked with and use its people and resources in the most efficient manner.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he has made a recent assessment of the UK's capacity to replace the current aircraft carrier force.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
On current plans, the out of service date for the Queen Elizabeth Class (QEC) carriers is 2069.
The Royal Navy (RN) continually assesses its force structures and abilities based upon constant operational analysis and intelligence led threat assessments.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of service accommodation.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
Currently, 96% of Service Family Accommodation (SFA) meets or exceeds the Government’s Decent Homes Standard. Only these properties should be allocated to families.
This Government continues to invest significant sums to improve the quality of UK SFA. The Defence Infrastructure Organisation received an investment of £400M over this Financial Year and next, as part of the Defence Command Paper Refresh 2023. This is being spent on improving the preparation of homes; treating and preventing damp and mould and improving thermal efficiency; and refurbishing empty homes in high demand areas.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of his Department's budget for its military capability requirements.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
UK defence spending is at its highest level in history and is increasing in real terms. Over the next decade we have increased the budget for our Equipment Plan to £288.6 billion and we have set out our longer-term aspiration to invest 2.5% of GDP on defence when the fiscal and economic circumstances allow.
We continue to meet all operational commitments, including participating in every single NATO mission and tackling Houthi attacks on shipping in the Red Sea.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the UK meets its obligations to NATO.
Answered by James Heappey
The UK continues to be a leading ally in NATO. We contribute to every NATO mission and offer the full spectrum of our defence capabilities to the Alliance. We meet NATO's Defence Investment Pledge to invest at least 2% of GDP on defence, and have done so in every year since 2006.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to future proof the Armed Forces against new security threats.
Answered by James Heappey
The Defence Command Paper 2023 (DCP23) set out how the Armed Forces and wider Defence would modernise and adapt to the changing context.
Our Armed Forces are operating in an increasingly contested world and we are committed to ensuing our Armed Forces have the equipment to defend our nation and maintain strategic advantage. To deliver this, we have increased the budget for the Equipment Plan to £288.6 billion over the next decade. As outlined in the Defence Command Paper 23, we are focusing even more on Artificial Intelligence, digital capabilities, and assuring our supply chains, to make sure we adapt to changing technology and emerging threats.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent assessment he has made of the financial viability of his Department’s equipment programme.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
On 4 December 2023, The Permanent Secretary provided an update on the affordability of the Equipment Plan for 2023-33 to the Chair of the Public Accounts Committee. This can be found on gov.uk at:
We are working hard to deliver the equipment our service people need to keep the UK safe. We have therefore increased the budget for the Equipment Plan to £288.6 billion over the next decade, noting the Government's aspiration to increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP when economic and fiscal conditions allow.