Tag: Angus Robertson

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angus Robertson on 2014-06-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the Weapon Handling and Launch support contract includes an obligation on the contractor to provide waterfront support in the loading and unloading of (a) conventional and (b) nuclear weapons in (i) the UK and (ii) abroad.

Mr Philip Dunne

The Weapon Handling and Launch System (WHLS) support contract provides technical and logistic support for all WHLS equipment on Royal Navy submarines and at Royal Navy training establishments, including Weapon Embarkation Equipment (WEE). The actual use of WEE to load and unload conventional weapons in the UK and abroad is covered by separate commercial arrangements. The WHLS support contract is not used for any aspect of nuclear weapons.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angus Robertson on 2014-06-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what quantitative criteria have been used to set to remote the risk probability of a collision involving a Tornado aircraft.

Mr Philip Dunne

Military Aviation Authority Regulatory Article 1210 defines categories for quantifying the likelihood of a risk as follows:

“Likelihood is assessed with respect to the likelihood of the assessed consequence of a hazard. This is based on the likelihood of a single accident resulting in harm for a particular fleet. The appropriate category listed below must be used:
a. Frequent: Likely to occur at least several times a year.
b. Occasional: Likely to occur one or more times per year.
c. Remote: Likely to occur one or more times in 10 years.
d. Improbable: Unlikely to occur in 10 years.”

A panel of suitably qualified and experienced persons from the Tornado Force calculated the risk likelihood for the Tornado risk register based on this definition.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angus Robertson on 2014-06-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, which contracts with his Department worth over £50 million are behind schedule owing to the failure of suppliers to deliver to an agreed schedule; and in the case of each such contract, who the suppliers were.

Mr Philip Dunne

The Ministry of Defence currently has around 400 open contracts with a total value of more than £50 million. Current performance related information on each contract is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angus Robertson on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many times his Department has provided top-cover fixed-wing search and rescue assets for a search and rescue mission in each of the last two years; and what aircraft were used in each case.

Mr Mark Francois

Information on the occasions when Ministry of Defence (MOD) aircraft have provided top-cover fixed wing search and rescue (SAR) assets for a SAR mission is provided in the following table:

*To 5 June 2014
Aircraft provided by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency or overseas Governments may also be tasked by MOD to participate in rescue missions.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angus Robertson on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what progress has been made by UK forces in the search for the schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram in Nigeria.

Mark Simmonds

The UK is working with the US, France, Nigeria, its neighbours and international partners to provide advice and assistance to the Nigerian Government to help them secure the safe release of the schoolgirls and defeat Boko Haram. Our SENTINEL aircraft, as part of a number of allied surveillance assets, continues to conduct over-flights of Nigeria and a team of UK experts is working alongside US and French counterparts in Nigeria in the Intelligence Fusion Cell to assist the Nigerians in locating the abducted students. I look forward to taking further stock of this activity, and wider work to tackle Boko Haram, with Foreign Minister Wali and representatives from Nigeria’s neighbours, the US, France, Canada, UN, AU and EU at this week’s ministerial meeting on security in northern Nigeria.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angus Robertson on 2014-06-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the cost to the public purse to date is of the Recruiting and Partnering Project.

Anna Soubry

The cost of the Recruiting & Partnering Project to date (for the three years from March 2011-2014) is around £300 million. This figure includes the costs of the service provider, CAPITA and costs to the Ministry of Defence such as military and civilian manpower, Information Communication Technology provision and infrastructure.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angus Robertson on 2014-06-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the near cash projected spending on the Equipment Plan and Equipment Support Plan is for each year to 2018.

Mr Philip Dunne

Projected spending on the Equipment Plan and Equipment Support Plan is detailed in the annual Defence Equipment Plan. The most recent edition was published on 12 February 2014.

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/279440/defence_equipment_plan_2013.pdf