Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
What steps she is taking to support the UK defence industry.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
On the 14 of March, we provided an update to Parliament on our ambitious Defence Prosperity Programme. This includes work to sustain an internationally competitive and productive UK Defence sector and grow exports and inward investment. In the past two years, we have published strategies for Shipbuilding and Combat Air and refreshed our Defence Industrial Policy with a new emphasis on supporting growth and competitiveness.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the operating cost per unit of Nimrod aircraft in each financial year until their withdrawal from service in 2011.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
This information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department has taken to ensure secure military communications hardware procurement maintains sovereign capability.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Whilst the Ministry of Defence's default approach is for open procurement, which eases interoperability with our international partners, there are a few cases where our objectives are served by specific sector approaches, which help either to deliver value-for-money, operational advantage or national freedom of action. One such sector is the high-grade cryptography required to protect our secure military communications; this creates a sovereign requirement to control cryptographic hardware production, deployment and support.
In addition, we continue to take a broader risk-based approach to the provision of military capability, which includes balancing the accessibility of widely used commercial technology, general military technology and bespoke sovereign technology. Consequently, the acquisition strategies for military capabilities are kept under review by the MOD's delivery agencies to ensure that they remain fit for purpose. To safeguard national security, it would not be appropriate to identify publicly further details of the aspects of capabilities we might regard as critical to be maintained in the UK and how we assure them.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the level of recruitment by the Royal Military Police.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
The Royal Military Police has achieved around 80% of its regular soldier and 100% of regular officer recruitment targets in 2017/18 and expect to achieve similar results this year.
The Army have in place a comprehensive improvement plan to increase applications to join the Army, including the Royal Military Police. The 2019 'Your Army' marketing campaign has seen over 10,000 people apply to join the Army as Regular soldiers in January alone, with applications at a five-year high.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to patrol UK territorial waters, particularly the North Sea, in advance of the deployment of P-8 aircraft.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
In advance of the P-8A Poseidon aircraft coming into frontline service with the RAF, a layered range of complementary assets comprising other surveillance aircraft, including those from Allies, as well as ships and submarines are utilised to fulfil the maritime patrol capability in the waters surrounding the UK and across the North Sea.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of (a) the annual in service cost of the P-8 patrol aircraft and (b) the number of years those aircraft can be expected to remain in service.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Initial support for the RAF P-8A fleet is covered as part of the Foreign Military Sale case for procurement of these aircraft, enabling us to utilise US experience and leverage economies of scale from the existing US Navy support arrangements as we develop our own UK-based support.
Work is currently under way to define the requirements for the UK support solution, but I am withholding details of financial estimates as disclosing this information would prejudice our commercial interests.
The UK has ordered nine P-8A maritime patrol aircraft and the current planning assumption is that they will have an expected service life of 25 years.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many civil servants in his Department are currently working on planning for the UK leaving the EU without a deal; and how many have been moved from other projects to work on those plans.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) currently has a central team of ten civil servants who deal exclusively with Defence issues relating to the UK's decision to leave the EU. Four of these have recently joined the team, having moved from elsewhere within the Department to support planning for the possibility of the UK leaving the EU without a deal. The central team draws on a wide network of subject matter experts across all relevant business areas within MOD; they provide support and input as required, in addition to their normal duties. The MOD continually reviews workforce plans and reprioritises as necessary.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many projects his Department has put on hold due to the requirements of planning for the UK leaving the EU without a deal.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
The Ministry of Defence has not put any projects on hold to date. The Department continually reviews its plans against emerging priorities, taking into account any developments in the Government's approach to the UK leaving the EU.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 13 November 2018 to Question 188095 on Emergencies: Climate Change, what steps he is taking to ensure that defence infrastructure is not compromised by incidents related to climate change.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
A Climate Resilience Delivery Plan has been developed to improve the implementation of climate resilience across the estate. The plan aims to ensure that defence infrastructure and the estate is assessed against the risks presented by our changing climate.
Initial focus has been on incorporating climate risk as part of overall risk management. The Climate Impacts Risk Assessment Methodology is the Ministry of Defence's key tool for improving climate resilience of the estate.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that it is ready to respond to potential emergency events caused by climate change.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
Civil authorities and emergency services provide the first response to crises, emergencies and/or major incidents within the UK. Other Government Departments or civil authorities request military assistance when they require additional or niche capabilities. The Ministry of Defence engages closely with other Government Departments to ensure that Defence is prepared to provide appropriate, timely and effective military support at the local, regional and national level to potential emergency events such as extreme weather.
The policy and doctrine for military aid to civil authorities can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/2015-to-2020-government-policy-military-aid-to-the-civil-authorities-for-activities-in-the-uk/2015-to-2020-government-policy-military-aid-to-the-civil-authorities-for-activities-in-the-uk
Previous support includes flood mitigation during the Thames Valley flood in 2013-14; flood relief efforts across the north of England following Storms Desmond and Eva in December 2015/January 2016 and more recently, the period of extreme cold and snow in February/March 2018.