Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will make it his Department’s policy to extend the service of the Type 45 Destroyer beyond 2038.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Type 45 Destroyer Class is currently due to be Out of Service in 2038 and no decision has been taken on an extension beyond this date.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent assessment he has made of the land-attack missile capabilities of the Royal Navy; and what steps he has taken to strengthen those capabilities.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Capability assessment is routine activity for Defence, ensuring that the UK Armed Forces keeps pace with the emerging threat and adopts the latest technology.
The Royal Navy (RN) is capable of delivering land attack from all domains: Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles launched from Astute Class Submarines; Paveway IV precision guided bombs from F-35B; and most recently, the Naval Strike Missile, which is in the process of being fitted to surface ships.
Several future options, which include a land attack capability, are also under consideration as part of the Future Cruise and Anti-Ship Weapon programme which will equip future RN ships. We continually keep all such capabilities under review, including as part of our wider munitions strategy.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he has taken to ensure that the Dragonfire laser directed-energy weapon achieves operational capability.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has committed to accelerating DragonFire Laser Directed Energy Weapons (DEW) into operational capability to meet real world threats. Thus far, the DragonFire system has been tested against a range of targets, proving to be highly effective. This has been further evidenced through Dstl's Operational Analysis, confirming the technology's benefits against the threats faced by the Royal Navy in the Red Sea. The MOD has also invested in understanding the risks of integrating systems onto Royal Navy vessels and therefore has experience in the matter. To deliver at greater pace, we will be using the principles of Minimum Deployable Capability and spiral development, as set out in our new Integrated Procurement Model.
Asked by: Kenny MacAskill (Alba Party - East Lothian)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, which army unit is alleged to be the subject of the research entitled Are British soldiers adequately prepared to make safe sexual health decisions when deployed to areas with high HIV prevalence?, published in the British Medical Journal Military Health on 21 March 2024 on initiation ceremonies in Kenya.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The article was originally published in the British Medical Journal Military Health in July 2022. The purpose of the research was to consider the effectiveness of the sexual health brief Service personnel receive when they arrive in Kenya to determine whether the brief had any influence on soldiers’ approach to sexual health. Information about which units’ participants served with was not captured as part of the research.
Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he plans to sail RFA Fort Victoria again.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
RFA FORT VICTORIA is in a scheduled refit package to prepare her for future service.
All Royal Navy (RN) ships rotate through planned operating cycles and this results in individual ships being at various levels of readiness at any one time in accordance with long-term operating schedules and operational needs; they remain in service during these periods but may not be deployable.
It is our policy not to disclose the fine details of forward availability forecasts of individual ships as this would, or would be likely to prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the Armed Forces. The RN does publish annual figures for readiness days, the first of which was released in November 2023.
Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many Royal Fleet Auxiliary ships have been placed at (a) extended readiness, (b) mothballed and (c) tied up alongside without a date to return to sea as of 12 April 2024.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
As of 12 April 2024, RFA Wave Knight and Wave Ruler are currently in extended readiness. All other RFA platforms were either at sea or are planned to return to sea in future.
Asked by: Deidre Brock (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh North and Leith)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many nuclear site events there were at (a) Coulport and (b) Faslane in the last 12 months.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The table below provides the number of Nuclear Site Event Reports (NSERs) at Coulport and Faslane recorded between January 2023 to April 2024. These are shown according to their categorisation using criteria agreed locally in 2015.
Nuclear Site Events- 2023 | Category A | Category B | Category C | Category D | Below Scale |
Coulport | 0 | 0 | 4 | 17 | 6 |
Faslane | 1 | 4 | 12 | 37 | 77 |
Nuclear Site Events- 2024 | Category A | Category B | Category C | Category D | Below Scale |
Coulport | 0 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 0 |
Faslane | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 2 |
In line with Industry Good Practice and in common with other defence and civil nuclear sites, His Majesty’s Naval Base Clyde has a well-established system for raising NSERs.
NSERs are raised to foster a robust safety culture that learns from experience, whether that is equipment failures, human error, procedural failings, documentation shortcoming or near-misses.
The safety significance of all reported events remains low and are below Level 1, the lowest of the seven-point Internal Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES).
None of the events caused harm to the health of any member of staff on the Naval Base or to any member of the public or have resulted in any radiological impact to the environment.
Asked by: Nia Griffith (Labour - Llanelli)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the policy paper entitled Transforming for a digital future: 2022 to 2025 roadmap for digital and data, updated on 29 February 2024, what steps his Department has taken to mitigate the risks of red-rated legacy IT systems.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Central Digital and Data Office (CDDO), in the Cabinet Office, has established a programme to support Departments managing legacy IT. CDDO has agreed a framework to identify ‘red-rated’ systems, indicating high levels of risk surrounding certain assets within the IT estate. Departments have committed to have remediation plans in place for these systems by next year (2025).
It is not appropriate to release sensitive information held about specific red-rated systems or more detailed plans for remediation within the Ministry of Defence’s IT estate, as this information could indicate which systems are at risk, and may highlight potential security vulnerabilities.
Asked by: Ranil Jayawardena (Conservative - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will make an assessment of the (a) implications for his policies of the report by the Legatum Institute entitled From AUKUS to CAUKUS: The Case for Canadian Integration, published on 8 February 2024 and (b) potential merits of including Canada in Pillar II of the AUKUS agreement.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The 8 April 2024 AUKUS Defence Ministers' statement stated that AUKUS countries are now considering collaborating with additional countries on Pillar Two projects. AUKUS Governments will undertake consultations in 2024 with Japan and other prospective partners. Bilaterally, we deeply value our enduring partnership with Canada, including as a Five Eyes member, and recognise Canada's interest in AUKUS Pillar Two.
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate his Department has made of the number of graduate nuclear (a) engineers and (b) scientists required for the military nuclear programme.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
As announced in the Defence Nuclear Enterprise (DNE) Command Paper: Delivering the UK’s Nuclear Deterrent as a National Endeavor, the Department is investing to increase its intake of nuclear sector graduates by an additional 2,000 personnel over the next four years.
Of these 2,000, over 1,600 are for the DNE, with up to 70% of these graduates expected to join in engineering posts with the remainder in a range of supporting professions such as science (including physics, material science, nuclear science), commercial and finance.