This is a regular round up of Parliamentary questions and answers from ministers relevant to defence issues In addition to oral questions, MPs and Peers can ask government ministers questions for written answer. These are often used to obtain detailed information about policies and statistics on the activities of government departments. In the House of Commons ‘ordinary’ questions do not have to be answered on a specific date. An MP will date a written question for two days after they have tabled it (ie, submitted it for answer via the Table Office). The convention is that the MP can expect it to be answered within seven days of the question being tabled.

Question

David Amess (Southend West, Conservative)

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what estimate he has made of the number of (a) Commonwealth and (b) other foreign nationals who were evacuated from Libya by his Department; and if he will make a statement.

Answer

Alistair Burt (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Afghanistan/South Asia, counter terrorism/proliferation, North America, Middle East and North Africa), Foreign and Commonwealth Office; North East Bedfordshire, Conservative)

Over 800 foreign nationals from 54 countries were evacuated by the UK, on six Foreign and Commonwealth Office-organised charter flights plus Ministry of Defence ships and aircraft. These included Australian, Canadian and other Commonwealth nationals, as well as US nationals and those of several EU countries.

 

 

Question

Tom Blenkinsop (Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland, Labour)

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of one Storm Shadow missile; and what assessment he has made of the value for money of the Storm Shadow missile.

Answer

Peter Luff (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Defence Equipment, Support and Technology), Defence; Mid Worcestershire, Conservative)

holding answer 28 March 2011

Storm Shadow provides the UK with a unique capability for precision strike against high value hardened targets such, as command bunkers without exposing aircraft and crews to high threat levels. The missile was procured in co-operation with France following an international competition. Storm Shadow missiles which were contracted for in 1997 are now held on the Ministry of Defence’s balance sheet at a value of some £790,000 per missile. This figure includes the costs of producing an integrated weapon system and not just the purchase cost of the missile. In addition, a further £160 million was incurred by the UK in development costs.

The Ministry of Defence now takes a portfolio approach to procuring complex weapons. This was launched in April 2010 and will secure significant efficiencies across the breadth of the complex weapons portfolio over the next 10 years and beyond and is designed to meet the UK’s military requirements and safeguard our sovereign capability.

 

 

 

Question

Jim Murphy (East Renfrewshire, Labour)

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence

(1) what discussions his Department has had with the French Government on using the Breguet Atlantique maritime patrol aircraft;

(2) whether the French Government has offered his Department use of the Breguet Atlantique maritime patrol aircraft.

Answer

Peter Luff (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Defence Equipment, Support and Technology), Defence; Mid Worcestershire, Conservative)

Ministry of Defence officials have regular discussions with their French counterparts on a wide range of issues, including anti submarine warfare capability. We have no plans to use the Breguet Atlantique maritime patrol aircraft.

 

 

Question

Jim Cunningham (Coventry South, Labour)

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has for the deployment of helicopters to Afghanistan; and if he will make a statement.

Answer

Nick Harvey (Minister of State (Armed Forces), Defence; North Devon, Liberal Democrat)

Helicopters make an essential contribution to current operations in Afghanistan. The Government will continue to ensure that deployed helicopter numbers and flying hours meet our operational requirements.

 

 

 

Question

Jim Murphy (East Renfrewshire, Labour)

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence who sits on the Infrastructure Security and Resilience Advisory Council; how many times it has met since its inception; what the agenda items were for each such meeting; and what powers the Council has.

Answer

Nick Herbert (Minister of State, Justice; Arundel and South Downs, Conservative)

I have been asked to reply.

The Government are committed to ensuring that dialogue with industry is effective and comprehensive and so better addresses the risks of disruption to national infrastructure. Examples of work in this area include meetings of an advisory body representing industry and regulators. This has supported the work that has led to the publication for consultation on 1 March of the guide to improving resilience to natural hazards and the recent discussions with industry on the risks posed in the area of cyber security. The Infrastructure Security and Resilience Advisory Council has not yet been set up and the Government are using existing arrangements with industry to consider the establishment of a senior umbrella group with advisory functions in this area.

 

 

Question

Fiona Mactaggart (Slough, Labour)

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions she has had with Ministerial colleagues on arrangements to improve liaison between police services and other emergency responders; what assessment she has made of the preparedness for major incidents requiring close working between blue-light services and other responders; and if she will make a statement.

Answer

Nick Herbert (Minister of State, Justice; Arundel and South Downs, Conservative)

The strategic defence and security review records Ministers agreed intention to improve the ability of the emergency services to work together during emergencies. This includes implementation of procedures to enable the emergency services and other responders to make best use of communications during major incidents and the development and refinement of operational plans for dealing with a range of different types of incident. The Cabinet Office is leading work to maximise the multi-agency response to a wide range of scenarios.

Detailed resilience plans are developed locally, and in most cases the police service will coordinate the activities of the emergency services and other responding agencies at and around the scene of an emergency or major incident.

The response to any emergency or major incident needs to be managed flexibly as each incident is unique and the response needs to be co-ordinated in a manner to reflect local needs and circumstances.

 

 

Question

Jim Murphy (East Renfrewshire, Labour)

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether training for the France-UK bi-national rapid reaction force has begun; and if he will make a statement.

Answer

Gerald Howarth (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (International Security Strategy), Defence; Aldershot, Conservative)

We confirmed at last year’s bilateral Summit that we would develop a Combined Joint Expeditionary Force with France. It will foster closer links between our armed forces, and improve their ability to deploy together on operations in the future. It will not involve standing forces.

There are a number of bilateral exercises scheduled to take place with French armed forces this year, aimed at increasing the levels of interoperability between our armed forces.

 

 

Question

Paul Flynn (Newport West, Labour)

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether bullet-proof vests are available to all UK combat troops in Afghanistan.

Answer

Nick Harvey (Minister of State (Armed Forces), Defence; North Devon, Liberal Democrat)

The Ministry of Defence issues troops with personal protective equipment which provides degrees of ballistic protection against a range of threats. All UK troops deploying to Afghanistan are issued with enhanced combat body armour as a minimum. Mk 4 Osprey body armour is available to all troops whose role requires it.

 

 

Question

The Earl of Sandwich (Crossbench)

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much development assistance to Afghanistan has been provided by (a) the Department for International Development, (b) the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, (c) the Ministry of Defence and (d) the non-governmental organisations, during the past three financial years.

Answer

Baroness Verma (Whip, House of Lords; Conservative)

Details of UK government expenditure in developing countries, including Afghanistan, are published in Statistics on International Development, which is available in the Library of the House and on the DfID website (www.dfid.gov.uk). The relevant figures are reproduced below.

Aid Expenditure in Afghanistan by DfID, FCO and through the Conflict Pool, 2007-08-2009-10, £000s
	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10
Department for International Development (DfID)	108,926	147,455	133,367
Conflict Pool	10,620	42,446	62,011
Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO)	27,176	7,746	10,309

All expenditure listed in the table is classified as official development assistance (ODA) under the rules set out by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD’s) Development Assistance Committee (DAC). The Conflict Pool is jointly managed by DfID, FCO and the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to ensure a coherent UK government response to conflict prevention. The MoD does not provide funds classed as ODA.

DfID does not hold information centrally on spending by UK non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

 

 

Question

Jim Murphy (East Renfrewshire, Labour)

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many staff have applied for early release as part of the reduction of civil service numbers in his Department.

Answer

Andrew Robathan (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Defence Personnel, Welfare and Veterans), Defence; South Leicestershire, Conservative)

The Department launched a voluntary early release scheme on 28 February with a target of releasing 4,000 staff by 31 March 2012. The total number of applications received by the closing date was 13,832

 

 

Question

Christopher Pincher (Tamworth, Conservative)

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence

(1) what proportion of his Department’s contracts by (a) value and (b) number were placed (i) directly and (ii) through sub-contracts with small and medium-sized enterprises in each year since 2005;

(2) what steps he is taking to ensure that the prime defence contractors implement Government proposals that 25 per cent. of contracts should be placed with small and medium-sized enterprises.

Answer

Peter Luff (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Defence Equipment, Support and Technology), Defence; Mid Worcestershire, Conservative)

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play an essential role to Defence as prime-contractors, subcontractors and lower-tier suppliers and we fully recognise and value the contribution that SMEs make at all levels.

Approximately 95% of Ministry of Defence (MOD) contracts are managed through our central contract processes. These define a SME as a company with fewer than 250 employees. The following table shows the number of contracts let directly by MOD to SMEs in each year since financial year 2005-06.

Year ending 31 March	Proportion of procurement contracts awarded to SMEs (%)	Proportion by value of procurement contracts awarded to SMEs (%)
2005-06	47	10
2006-07	46	3
2007-08	46	4
2008-09	48	5
2009-10	45	10

The smaller proportion of contracts by value in the three years from 2006-07 reflects the award of a few very large contracts to non-SMEs. However, these large contracts will themselves have generated significant business for SMEs as subcontractors. Indeed, the figures shown above are all under-representative of the total number of contracts placed with SMEs throughout the supply chain.

The December 2010 Green Paper entitled “Equipment, Support and Technology for UK Defence and Security” includes a section which discusses ways in which the MOD might make procurement easier and improve access to Defence contract opportunities for SMEs at both prime and subcontract level. The three-month consultation completed on 31 March 2011 and we are taking account of views received in formulating a White Paper, which will be published later this year and set out the changes we intend to introduce.

But we are not waiting for this to deepen engagement with SMEs. We are already taking effective steps to bring innovative ideas from SMEs into Defence through the Centre for Defence Enterprise. The first meeting of a new forum for SMEs under the auspices of the Defence Suppliers Forum is also being held this week.

 

 

Question

Lord Chidgey (Liberal Democrat)

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what budgetary arrangements and resources, both human and materiel, have been allocated for humanitarian and stabilisation activities in Libya.

Answer

Baroness Verma (Whip, House of Lords; Conservative)

The UN is co-ordinating humanitarian aid and leading the planning for building longer-term stability in Libya. Britain recognises that early preparation for the future is vital, and will continue to play its part. The situation is still unfolding. We stand ready to work with the UN and others to make an assessment of longer term stabilisation support needs in Libya, as conditions allow.

Currently the Department for International Development (DfID) has a rolling team of approximately 15 people working on the response to the Libyan crisis, including on humanitarian, international engagement and stabilisation issues. In addition DfID has six humanitarian advisers deployed to the field (two at the Tunisian border, two at the Egyptian border, one in Cairo and one in Ankara).

The tri-departmental Stabilisation Unit (consisting of staff from DfID, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Ministry of Defence) has a rolling team of approximately 10 people in London working on Libya issues. It has deployed five advisers to the region at different points over the past two months to support government efforts on Libya.

Details of DfID’s material contributions in response to the Libya unrest (as of 4 April 2011) are detailed in the table below.

DfID Bilateral Contributions in Response to Libya Unrest
Activity	Purpose	Recipient	Amount
To assist people within Libya
Support to ICRC	Medical supplies to assist people within Libya	ICRC	£2m
Shelter Supplies	Tents and blankets for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Libya	To be distributed by the Libyan Red Crescent	£0.765m
To assist people seeking to leave Libya
Shelter Supplies	Shelter supplies for people at the Libyan borders	IOM/UNHCR	£0.84m
Repatriations	Repatriation flights for people at the Libyan borders (35 flights to move 6,195 Egyptians and 521 Bangladeshis) and support to IOM operations	IOM (including in kind contribution of flights)	£3.1m
Support to IOM (repatriations)	Funding for additional repatriation flights for approximately 6,000 people	IOM/UNHCR	£4m
Air Operation Advisers (including extension agreed April 2011)	Advisers seconded to UNHCR	UNHCR	£0.175m
Total			£10.88m

DFID Indirect Contributions
Activity		Recipient	Amount
EC	15% of €30m EC Funds Committed	Various	£3.87m
Total			£3.87m
Grand Total			£14.75m

In addition, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has contributed £500,000 to the United Nations Department for Political Affairs for activity to encourage a positive political and stabilisation process in Libya.