Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether senior officials from his Department have travelled to China since January 2019.
Answered by James Heappey
Senior officials from the Ministry of Defence have travelled to China to participate in discussions and international fora during the period specified.
As outlined in the Integrated Review Refresh 2023, the UK will engage directly with China, bilaterally and in international fora to preserve and create space for open, constructive, predictable and stable relations that reflect China's importance in world affairs.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department plans to include British Embassy Life Support Contractors employed by KBR/TWG estates contractors explicitly in the eligibility criteria for the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy scheme.
Answered by James Heappey
Under Categories 1-2 of the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy only current or former Locally Employed Staff that were employed by Her Majesty's Government (HMG) or who were contracted to provide linguistic services in support of UK Armed Forces would be considered eligible for relocation to the UK.
There is some discretion under Category 4 of the ARAP to consider, on a case-by-case and exceptional basis, those who worked in meaningful enabling roles alongside HMG, in extraordinary and unconventional contexts, and where a responsible HMG unit builds a credible case for consideration under the scheme.
Individuals may also be eligible for the Afghan Citizens' Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) now up and running under the auspices of the Home Office. Through the ACRS, the UK will relocate up to 20,000 at risk Afghans so they can rebuild their lives in safety.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 21 January 2022 to Question 106614 on Ministry of Defence: Stonewall, for what reason his Department did not maintain financial records of the £14,681 the Army spent on Stonewall in the 2017-18 financial year; and what his Department's requirements are for recording and retention of financial expenditure.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
In my response to Question 103509 on 18 January and to Question 106613 on 21 January, the Army spent £17,181 in FY2017-18. £2,500 of this was for Stonewall Membership. The remaining £14,681 was spent on Stonewall Conferences as well Stonewall training courses which are purchased on an ad-hoc basis by the Army LGBT+ network. As the full breakdown and specifics are held on archived IT systems it would take time to retrieve and collate the information in a more granular format.
FY2017-18 | Cost |
Training | £13,641 |
Conference Fees | £1,040 |
Government policy is that financial records should be kept for up to seven years. Government departments and agencies’ accounts have to be laid before Parliament and are therefore preserved as published Parliamentary papers. Therefore, supporting documentation may be destroyed after any limitation periods have expired.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 18 January 2022 to Question 103509 on Ministry of Defence: Stonewall, if he will publish a detailed breakdown of the £11,226 that the Ministry of Defence Centre D&I spent on Stonewall in the 2018-19 financial year.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
The requested information is set out below:
British Army:
Prior to July 2019, records on expenditure on Stonewall were not centrally held. It has not, therefore, been possible to provide a detailed breakdown of the money spent.
Financial Year 2017-18:
Costs (£) | Purpose |
2,500.00 | Organisation Membership |
14,681.00 | Information not held |
MOD Centre Diversity and Inclusion Directorate:
Financial Year 2018-19:
Stonewall Membership: £3,000.00
Stonewall speaker fee: £240.00
Stonewall Allies Training programme: £6,300.00
Stonewall Workplace Conference: £1,686.00
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 18 January 2022 to Question 103509 on Ministry of Defence: Stonewall, if he will publish a detailed breakdown of the £17,181 that the British Army spent on Stonewall in the 2017-18 financial year.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
The requested information is set out below:
British Army:
Prior to July 2019, records on expenditure on Stonewall were not centrally held. It has not, therefore, been possible to provide a detailed breakdown of the money spent.
Financial Year 2017-18:
Costs (£) | Purpose |
2,500.00 | Organisation Membership |
14,681.00 | Information not held |
MOD Centre Diversity and Inclusion Directorate:
Financial Year 2018-19:
Stonewall Membership: £3,000.00
Stonewall speaker fee: £240.00
Stonewall Allies Training programme: £6,300.00
Stonewall Workplace Conference: £1,686.00
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 18 January 2022 to Question 103509 on Ministry of Defence: Stonewall, and with reference to his Department's responses to Freedom of Information requests reference FOI2021/02580 and FOI2021/02402 in April 2021, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure (a) accuracy of and (b) consistency between (i) answers to Parliamentary questions and (ii) responses to Freedom of Information requests.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
Ministry of Defence (MOD) staff do the best they can within the given time available to supply necessary information for Freedom of Information (FOI) requests and Parliamentary Questions (PQs). Staff strive to ensure the information supplied is as accurate as possible and, where inaccuracies or inconsistencies are later found, the Department will set the record straight at the earliest opportunity. It must be recognised that requests for large data sets, over many years, present a significant challenge to locate, retrieve, and extract information, especially where such data is not collated or held centrally and is dispersed among different branches of Defence. In cases where FOI/PQs are made for historic information before the advent of widespread electronic filing, this task is made yet harder where paper records need to be manually interrogated. This can be further complicated by the time constraints imposed by the nature of such requests. Where time is limited, in the case of Named Day PQs staff typically have around one working day or less, it is not always possible for staff to ensure all records are thoroughly reviewed and the total accuracy of the data supplied. In such cases, estimates may be given. In the case of Question 61052, a Named Day Question, MOD staff produced the best estimate possible within the time constraint the question imposed. Having had the time to conduct a more thorough search and analysis in the time since, MOD staff were able to supply revised and more detailed information in response to Question 103509.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answers of 18 January 2022 and 1 November 2021 to Questions 103509 and 61052 on Ministry of Defence: Stonewall, what steps he is taking to help ensure that figures provided in response to Parliamentary questions are (a) up to date and (b) accurate.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
Ministry of Defence (MOD) staff do the best they can within the given time available to supply necessary information for Freedom of Information (FOI) requests and Parliamentary Questions (PQs). Staff strive to ensure the information supplied is as accurate as possible and, where inaccuracies or inconsistencies are later found, the Department will set the record straight at the earliest opportunity. It must be recognised that requests for large data sets, over many years, present a significant challenge to locate, retrieve, and extract information, especially where such data is not collated or held centrally and is dispersed among different branches of Defence. In cases where FOI/PQs are made for historic information before the advent of widespread electronic filing, this task is made yet harder where paper records need to be manually interrogated. This can be further complicated by the time constraints imposed by the nature of such requests. Where time is limited, in the case of Named Day PQs staff typically have around one working day or less, it is not always possible for staff to ensure all records are thoroughly reviewed and the total accuracy of the data supplied. In such cases, estimates may be given. In the case of Question 61052, a Named Day Question, MOD staff produced the best estimate possible within the time constraint the question imposed. Having had the time to conduct a more thorough search and analysis in the time since, MOD staff were able to supply revised and more detailed information in response to Question 103509.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Answer of 22 November to Question 76548, he plans to respond to Question 76548 on Ministry of Defence: Stonewall, tabled by the hon. Member for East Worthing and Shoreham.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
You will recall that I responded to your Question 76548 of 17 November 2021 on 22 November 2021 to advise that it would take time to collate the information required for a detailed breakdown and, in response to your further Question 84298 of 30 November, I reiterated that position. I am now able to respond substantively to your Question.
As you will know from my answer of 1 November 2021 to Question 61052, no donations are made to Stonewall. However, the Ministry of Defence (MOD), the three Services, and the MOD Police, are all members of Stonewall's 'Diversity Champions programme' for which membership costs an annual fee. In addition, a number of courses and professional development sessions are purchased on an ad-hoc basis, primarily by the LGBT+ networks.
I can confirm that all MOD Memberships are reviewed regularly, to ensure that they deliver value for money and continue to meet our Diversity and Inclusion ambitions and strategic direction, as set out in the Defence Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, A Force for Inclusion.
Information held by the MOD is provided in the table below. You will wish to note that further investigation of expenditure means that in many cases the estimated figures provided in answer to Question 61052 have now been revised upwards.
Financial Year | Royal Navy | British Army | Royal Air Force | MOD Centre D&I | MOD Police |
2016-17 | - | £1,050 | £3,000 | - | £3,696 |
2017-18 | £9,045 | £17,181 | £3,000 | £3,000 | £3,000 |
2018-19 | £8,084 | £9,150 | £3,000 | £11,226 | £3,000 |
2019-20 | £6,155 | £5,104 | £6,708 | £4,854 | £9,326 |
2020-21 | £2,500 | £6,000 | £3,000 | £3,000 | £3,209 |
Notes:
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what funds have been paid by his Department to Global Butterflies in each of the last five years; and to what projects those funds were allocated.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
The Ministry of Defence has not paid any funds to Global Butterflies.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when he plans to respond to Question 76548, on Ministry of Defence: Stonewall, tabled by the hon. Member for East Worthing and Shoreham.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
As the hon. Member was advised in my answer to Question 76548, it will take time to collate the information needed to produce the breakdown requested and I will write to you with an answer in due course. I hope to be able to do so later this month.