Asked by: Steven Paterson (Scottish National Party - Stirling)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to paragraph 4.62 in the Strategic Defence and Security Review, published on 23 November 2015, what projection he has made of the savings to the public purse from the sale of 30 per cent of the built estate.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
The Ministry of Defence is developing a Footprint Strategy to enable the reduction of its built estate by 30% by 2040. This Strategy is currently being developed and is due to be published in 2016. It is therefore too soon to state what scale of efficiencies might be achieved from our intended estate rationalisation.
Asked by: Steven Paterson (Scottish National Party - Stirling)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to paragraph 4.62 in the Strategic Defence and Security Review, published on 23 November 2015, what estimate he has made of the revenue that will be received from the sale of 30 per cent of the built estate.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
As stated in the Spending Review 2015 the Ministry of Defence (MOD) expects to generate £1 billion through the disposal of sites in the financial years 2016-17 to 2020-21.
The MOD does not disclose annual breakdowns due to the potential for prejudice to its commercial interests.
Asked by: Steven Paterson (Scottish National Party - Stirling)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to paragraph 4.98 in the Strategic Defence and Security Review, published on 23 November 2015; how many of the 10,000 military personnel available to assist civil authorities are (a) based in Scotland and (b) available to be used to assist civil authorities in Scotland.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
Under the deployment plan the Ministry of Defence and police have identified a range of security tasks that the military will undertake in order to release police firearms officers to respond to a major counter-terrorism (CT) incident. A proportion of these are in Scotland although we do not reveal the specific numbers of personnel involved for reasons of operational security.
The plan also allows us to generate a far more significant surge of military personnel to deploy in response to a major CT incident. These personnel deploy across the UK, including in Scotland. Military units have a responsibility for this task on a rolling basis, including the 9,810 personnel based in Scotland.
Asked by: Steven Paterson (Scottish National Party - Stirling)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to paragraph 4.62 in the Strategic Defence and Security Review, published on 23 November 2015, what areas his Department plans to sell to reduce the size of the built estate by 30 per cent; and by what process those areas were chosen.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
The Defence Footprint Strategy examines the Defence Estate across the UK, with the aim of providing a smaller more sustainable estate in support of military capabilities. Work to identify the sites which may be released to enable the reduction of the estate through the Footprint Strategy will conclude in 2016, contributing to the Government's commitment to release public sector land for house building during this Parliament.
Asked by: Steven Paterson (Scottish National Party - Stirling)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much his Department has spent on HMS Artful.
Answered by Philip Dunne
The first three Astute class submarines were ordered as a single batch. Separate construction costs for Artful are, therefore, not held by the department. As such, it is not possible to determine how much the Ministry of Defence (MOD) has spent on HMS Artful individually; nor what the MOD expected the specific cost of HMS Artful to be, when commissioned.
Asked by: Steven Paterson (Scottish National Party - Stirling)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when HMS Artful is planned to be in active service.
Answered by Philip Dunne
It is planned that Artful will be handed over to the Royal Navy in December 2015. I cannot comment on when Artful will be deployed on active service as this would, or would be likely to, prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the Armed Forces.
Asked by: Steven Paterson (Scottish National Party - Stirling)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what plans the Government has for the decommissioning of (a) HMS Torbay, (b) HMS Trenchant, (c) HMS Talent and (d) HMS Triumph.
Answered by Philip Dunne
The Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) is looking across the spectrum to assess what defence capabilities will address the threats we face. The conclusions of the SDSR are due to be published on 23 November.
Asked by: Steven Paterson (Scottish National Party - Stirling)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the seaworthiness is of (a) HMS Torbay, (b) HMS Trenchant, (c) HMS Talent and (d) HMS Triumph.
Answered by Philip Dunne
The safety of the UK submarine fleet is of paramount importance. The Ministry of Defence assesses seaworthiness for submarines through a robust sea clearance process. This assessment is kept under continuous review.
I am withholding the seaworthiness state of each submarine as its disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the Armed Forces.
Asked by: Steven Paterson (Scottish National Party - Stirling)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much his Department spent on maintenance aboard HMS (a) Torbay, (b) Trenchant, (c) Talent and (d) Triumph in each of the last five years.
Answered by Philip Dunne
The cost of maintenance onboard submarines is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Steven Paterson (Scottish National Party - Stirling)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the seaworthiness is of HMS (a) Astute and (b) Ambush.
Answered by Philip Dunne
The safety of the UK submarine fleet is of paramount importance. The Ministry of Defence assesses seaworthiness for submarines through a robust sea clearance process. This assessment is kept under continuous review.
I am withholding the seaworthiness state of each submarine as its disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the Armed Forces.