Tag: Brendan O’Hara

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Brendan O’Hara on 2016-07-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what the UK Trade and Investment Defence and Security Organisations’ priority markets are for 2016-17.

Anna Soubry

The UK Trade and Investment business forecasting process for 2016/17 has identified 35 markets with strong defence and security opportunities. They are:

Australia

Bahrain

Belgium

Brazil

Brunei

Canada

Chile

Colombia

Denmark

Finland

France

Germany

India

Indonesia

Italy

Japan

Kuwait

Lithuania

Malaysia

Mexico

Netherlands

New Zealand

Norway

Oman

Poland

Qatar

Saudi Arabia

Singapore

South Africa

South Korea

Sweden

Thailand

Turkey

United Arab Emirates

United States of America

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Brendan O’Hara on 2016-10-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to assist the government of Malawi with minimising the risk of corruption in the distribution of aid funds.

James Wharton

The UK does not provide any direct financial aid to the Government of Malawi. DFID has a zero tolerance approach to corruption and rigorous checks are in place to protect taxpayers’ money.

DFID has an active programme of work in Malawi designed to tackle the root causes of corruption and protect the poorest from its effects. Through support provided to the Malawian law enforcement agencies since 2013, the UK has helped to convict those guilty of corruption-related offences to a total of 125 years in prison. DFID is also working with the Government of Malawi to strengthen its public financial management systems and increase the accountability of public officials.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Brendan O’Hara on 2015-12-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many Reaper drones are currently deployed in (a) Iraq and (b) Syria.

Penny Mordaunt

To safeguard operational security I am withholding operational information on the number of RAF Reaper aircraft deployed.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Brendan O’Hara on 2016-02-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether each Astral exercise between February 2011 and November 2012 assumed a post-incident release of nuclear materials from the transportation packages.

Penny Mordaunt

The Ministry of Defence maintains a Defence Nuclear Emergency Organisation (NEO) to respond in the unlikely event of an emergency involving the transport of defence nuclear materials. The NEO organises regular exercises to test the effectiveness of its emergency response planning and arrangements. These include the Astral series of exercises, which are designed to be challenging, and thus simulate the extremely unlikely event of a release of radioactive material from the transport containers. No radioactive materials are used or released to the environment during the exercises. The specific exercise objectives do not require assessments or estimates of decontamination, environmental or other post-incident decontamination costs or of radiological dose uptakes. The Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) undertook the modelling for each Astral exercise between February 2011 and November 2012.

I am withholding information about the physical state, mass quantity, release fraction and total released radioactivity assumed for these exercises as disclosure would or would be likely to prejudice national security.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Brendan O’Hara on 2016-10-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will take immediate steps to reopen consular facilities in Malawi to enable Malawian nationals to obtain UK visas in that country.

Mr Robert Goodwill

UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI), an operational command of the Home Office, has responsibility for running the UK’s visa service.

In Malawi, UK visa applications can be made through the Visa Application Centre in Lilongwe, which is open five days a week. UKVI has no plans to change its current operating model.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Brendan O’Hara on 2016-01-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether there is a shortfall in the number of Ministry of Defence Police Officers; and what provision there is for tasking such officers beyond their contracted hours of work.

Mark Lancaster

The Ministry of Defence Police (MDP) currently has a number of vacancies within the Force. Where there is a shortfall in numbers at an MDP station the use of overtime working may be authorised in order to cover essential duties. Volunteers to work additional hours are sought in the first instance, but officers may be directed to work additional hours if insufficient volunteers are available.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Brendan O’Hara on 2016-02-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many flights were undertaken in fixed wing aircraft or helicopters to transport or carry Defence Nuclear Materials in the last five years.

Penny Mordaunt

In the last five years, 23 flights carrying Defence Nuclear Materials (DNM) were undertaken. All flights were between the UK and the United States on fixed wing aircraft under the control of UK Armed Forces. No such flights passed over Scotland, or involved the use of helicopters.

I am withholding details of the physical state, mass and radiological quantity of DNM transported as disclosure would or would be likely to prejudice national security.

The transport of DNM is carried out to the highest standard in accordance with stringent safety regulations. In over 50 years of transporting DNM in the UK, there has never been an incident that has posed any radiation hazard to the public or to the environment.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Brendan O’Hara on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the cost was of the operation (a) in August and September 2014 in which RAF Hercules dropped food and other humanitarian supplies to civilians trapped on Mount Sinjar, Iraq and (b) on 30 and 31 August 2014 in which two RAF Hercules dropped food and aid to the town of Amerli, near Kirkuk.

Mike Penning

The cost of the operation to deliver food and other humanitarian supplies to civilians trapped on Mt Sinjar and Amerli in Iraq was £3.50 million. £1.97 million of this was charged to Department for International Development on a marginal cost basis and £1.5 million was covered by Operation SHADER. The costs cannot be split between individual locations as both used common air assets that were deployed under Operation SHADER.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Brendan O’Hara on 2016-10-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to tackle the effects of food shortages in Malawi.

James Wharton

The humanitarian situation in Malawi is concerning. Some 6.5 million people are currently assessed to be in need of food security assistance. The UK has acted quickly, responding with a commitment of £35 million, a significant proportion of which is aimed at the food and nutrition response. This includes logistics support through the World Food Programme to enable the delivery of food to 4.75 million people, and cash transfers through an International Non-Governmental Organisations consortium to enable over 250,000 of the most vulnerable to purchase food. The UK has provided emergency nutrition support, including screening for over 1 million children, and treatment of 100,000 emergency cases. As well as this immediate support the UK is working closely with other key actors to identify and progress ways to break the cycle of food insecurity in Malawi.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Brendan O’Hara on 2016-01-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether Ministry of Defence Police Officers are subject to disciplinary or unsatisfactory performance procedures in the event that they are unable to undertake additional work in excess of contractual hours; and what plans he has to review that policy.

Mark Lancaster

In line with the rest of the police service, Ministry of Defence Police officers may be subject to disciplinary action if they fail to attend for duty when directed to do so. There are no plans to review this policy.