Tag: Douglas Chapman

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Chapman on 2016-02-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the financial health of the Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Company and its potential effect on the MARS programme.

Mr Philip Dunne

Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME) continues to progress the build of all four ships under the Military Afloat Reach and Sustainability Tanker contract. The Ministry of Defence is aware of reports in the specialist press regarding financial losses reported in the shipbuilding industry, including DSME. We continue to closely monitor this situation with DSME, noting that this is primarily a matter for the company.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Chapman on 2016-03-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what support her Department plans to provide to communities that will be affected by closure of coal-fired power stations.

Andrea Leadsom

The Government will work with local partners to ensure support is available to help all those affected move quickly into new jobs, including through Jobcentre Plus’ Rapid Response Service. In Scotland, Jobcentre Plus will be an active partner in PACE (Partnership Action for Continued Employment), the Scottish Government’s redundancy support initiative.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Chapman on 2016-03-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what applications for arms export licences were rejected by his Department in each year since 2010.

Anna Soubry

Information on military and dual use export licences is published as Official Statistics in the quarterly and annual reports on Strategic Export Controls which are all available to view on GOV.UK. These reports contain detailed information on export licences issued, refused or revoked, by destination, including the overall value, type (e.g. Military, Other) and a summary of the items covered by these licences.

Data covers all years from 2008 up to 30 September 2015. Information covering the period 1 October to 31 December 2015 will be published on 19 April 2016.

Bespoke reports on the published data can be run via https://www.exportcontroldb.bis.gov.uk/

“

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Chapman on 2016-04-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what aircraft it is anticipated will conduct the majority carrier on-board delivery role for the Queen Elizabeth Class ships.

Mr Philip Dunne

The composition and size of the embarked air group in a deploying Queen Elizabeth Class (QEC) aircraft carrier will be tailored to meet the required task, including aviation sustainment and logistic support. The Department will continue to explore all potential solutions as the QEC builds in operational capability, with initial planning based around Merlin and Chinook helicopters.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Chapman on 2016-06-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Answer of 19 April 2016 to Question 33645, how many Puma Mk2 helicopters are fitted with the Wire Strike Protection System; and whether the Puma Mk2 that crashed in Afghanistan on 11 October 2015 was fitted with such a system.

Mr Philip Dunne

Seven Puma Mk2 helicopters have been fitted with the Wire Strike Protection System. The remainder of the fleet will have the system fitted by the end of summer 2017.

The helicopter you refer to (XW229) was not fitted with the Wire Strike Protection System. The Service Inquiry into the incident is on-going and findings are yet to be published.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Chapman on 2016-10-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to ensure future interoperability of the Boeing Poseidon P-8 platform with the General Atomics MQ9 Reaper platforms.

Harriett Baldwin

The P-8A Poseidon aircraft will form a vital part of the UK’s maritime patrol capability, and interoperability with other platforms and systems is a key user requirement. Work to enable this is under way, however, I am withholding further detail as its disclosure would, or would be likely to prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the Armed Forces.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Chapman on 2015-10-28.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many civilian staff support operations at RAF Waddington; and what their payroll costs were in each year from 2010-11 to 2014-15.

Mark Lancaster

The table below shows the number of civilian staff supporting operations at RAF Waddington and their payroll costs for the previous five financial years (FY).

The information for FY2010-11 is not held centrally, and can only be provided at disproportionate cost.

	FY2011-12	FY2012-13	FY2013-14	FY2014-15
	(£ million)
Average paid strength	200	150	130	130
Total Cost	£4.880M	£4.263M	£3.833M	£3.728M

“

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Chapman on 2015-12-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to maintain Maritime Patrol Aircraft capabilities during the period before the first Poseidon P-8 is planned to enter service in 2019-20.

Mr Philip Dunne

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 3 December 2015 to Question number 17839 from the hon. Member for Garston and Halewood (Maria Eagle).

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Chapman on 2016-01-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Written Statement of 17 December 2015, HC WS431, on UK Embedded Forces, what the (a) rank and (b) military unit is of the UK personnel embedded with (i) French and (ii) Spanish armed forces.

Michael Fallon

Embedded on operations with the French Armed Forces are two Lieutenants (Royal Navy), two Lieutenant Commanders, one Major, one Lieutenant Colonel, one Flight Lieutenant and one Squadron Leader. These come from all three Services of the UK Armed Forces and are supporting a wide range of French operations. The UK has a Royal Navy Lieutenant embedded with the Spanish armed forces on operations.

For security reasons I am unable to provide details of the units or locations of the embedded personnel.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Chapman on 2016-01-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps the Government has taken to improve accessibility and reduce costs of visas for British citizens wishing to visit Iran.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

Decisions over the cost and accessibility of Iranian visas are a decision for the Iranian Government. We continue to engage directly with the Iranians at all levels to move towards normalising and improving our respective visa services.