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  • Stephen Doughty – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Stephen Doughty – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Doughty on 2016-02-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what value and proportion of spending by his Department that was counted as Official Development Assistance was subject to the provisions of the International Development Act 2002 in each of the last three years.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    In the last three calendar years, my Department has spent £1,429,000 on Official Development Assistance (ODA). On an annual basis this can be broken down as £700,000 in 2013, zero in 2014 and £729,000 in 2015. For the years with expenditure this represents 0.01% and 0.05% of resource expenditure respectively.

    It should be noted that ODA is calculated on a calendar year basis, and my Department’s expenditure figures are on a Financial Year basis (Apr-Mar). As such, these percentages are indicative.

  • Grahame Morris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Grahame Morris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Grahame Morris on 2016-02-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to provide new swimming facilities in Easington constituency.

    David Evennett

    Sport England is currently supporting Durham County Council to conduct a review of its sports facilities strategy to ensure the provision of facilities for grassroots sports in the area, including swimming, can meet the needs of the local community.

  • Stephen Doughty – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Stephen Doughty – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Doughty on 2016-02-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many and what proportion of new recruits to the reserve forces in each of the last 24 months were from BME communities.

    Mr Julian Brazier

    Information on the intake of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) recruits to the Volunteer Reserves in the 24 months to 31 September 2015 is provided in the attached table.

  • Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-02-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 19 February 2016 to Question 27234, how many of the 135 women referred to in that Answer became widows after 31 March 1973.

    Mark Lancaster

    A war widow(er) is the spouse of an ex-Service person whose death in Service, or subsequently, was attributable to injury or illness caused by Service in the Armed Forces before 6 April 2005.

    Of the 135 women who remarried between 6 April 2005 and 1 April 2015, 110 registered as a war widow from 1 April 1996 onwards and 20 women registered as a war widow prior to 1 April 1996. The Ministry of Defence is unable to determine the registered date for war widows prior to 1996, and therefore cannot confirm whether they were registered before, or after, 31 March 1973.

  • Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-02-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what proportion of senior civil servants in his Department are women.

    Mark Lancaster

    As at 1 January 2016, 25.1% of senior civil servants in the Ministry of Defence were women.

  • Mark Pritchard – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Mark Pritchard – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Pritchard on 2016-02-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the UK’s submarine fleet is not detected by unmanned underwater vehicles deployed for anti-submarine warfare purposes.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The Ministry of Defence places a high priority on assuring the effectiveness of our submarine fleet and countering threats to our submarine operations. We continue to monitor and evaluate capabilities and technologies that could threaten submarines, including cyber and unmanned vehicles. It would not be appropriate to go into specific detail of the steps taken to mitigate against these threats. We assess, however, that the ocean will remain a complex and challenging environment in which to conduct large scale anti-submarine warfare, despite advancements in technologies. We are therefore confident that our submarine fleet remains safe and secure.

  • Amanda Solloway – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Amanda Solloway – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Amanda Solloway on 2016-02-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the level of risk of developing mental health conditions among remote combat pilots; and what safeguards his Department has in place to protect such pilots from any such risk.

    Mark Lancaster

    The Government is committed to improving the mental health of our Armed Forces and has long recognised that Service life can cause stress. Support to personnel has improved in a number of ways, including providing pre and post-operational stress management training, a wide range of psychiatric and psychological treatments and initiatives such as Decompression, Trauma Risk Management (TRiM) and Post Operational Stress Management.

    Trained TRiM providers are embedded in both – 13 Squadron and 39 Squadron, the Royal Air Forces’s (RAF) frontline Reaper units based at RAF Waddington and Creech AFB.

    For Financial Year 2014-15, out of a total of approximately 180 personnel, there were fewer than five RAF personnel from 13 Squadron or 39 Squadron who were seen for an initial assessment at Ministry of Defence Specialist Mental Health Services. This is a lower rate than the military population as a whole.

  • Kevan Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Kevan Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevan Jones on 2016-02-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many armed forces personnel are expected to be deployed in support of the UN and African Union missions to South Sudan.

    Penny Mordaunt

    The UK is preparing to deploy approximately 300 troops to the UN mission in South Sudan, focussed on providing vital engineering support. Up to 70 troops will also deploy to Somalia, as part of UN support for the African Union force building stability in the country and countering the threat posed by the terrorist group al-Shabaab.

  • Kevan Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Kevan Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevan Jones on 2016-02-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many armed forces personnel are expected to be deployed in support of the UN and African Union missions to Somalia.

    Penny Mordaunt

    The UK is preparing to deploy approximately 300 troops to the UN mission in South Sudan, focussed on providing vital engineering support. Up to 70 troops will also deploy to Somalia, as part of UN support for the African Union force building stability in the country and countering the threat posed by the terrorist group al-Shabaab.

  • Brendan O’Hara – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Brendan O’Hara – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Brendan O’Hara on 2016-02-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment his Department has made of the potential for permission to be given to use the Vertical Launching System at Benbecula as a commercial launch pad.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The current facilities at the Ministry of Defence Hebrides Range near Benbecula do not have vertical launch capability. The Department has not investigated whether the site could be used as a commercial launch pad.