Tag: Emily Thornberry

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 9 February 2016 to Question 25153, on which Type 45 Destroyers all 16 recommendations of the Independent Power and Propulsion System Performance Review have been implemented in full; when he expects the implementation of all 16 recommendations to be completed across the class; and if he will publish the recommendations made by the review.

Mr Philip Dunne

Fourteen of the recommendations involved a modification to the Power and Propulsion system and all fourteen have been completed across all six ships in the class.

The remaining two recommendations, involving changes to existing training procedures and documentation, have also been adopted. As these two recommendations are administrative in nature, they do not require physical modification of the ships.

With regard to the request to publish the recommendations made by the Independent Power and Propulsion System Performance Review, dated March 2011, I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Dunfermline and West Fife (Douglas Chapman) to question 25234 on 8 February 2016.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to paragraph 4.92 of the National Security Strategy and Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015, Cm 9161, what additional funding the Government intends to provide for investment in the Special Forces; and when that funding will be provided.

Michael Fallon

As the Prime Minister announced on 16 November 2015, there will be a £2 billion programme of new investment in the Special Forces over this Parliament.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-03-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, in which months since March 2012 his Department has withheld performance payments from Capita as a result of it not meeting the recruitment targets required by the Recruitment Partnership Programme contract.

Mr Julian Brazier

I am witholding the information as its disclosure would prejudice commercial interests.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-03-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many referrals were received by the Counter-Terrorism Internet Referral Unit in each of the last five years; how many of those referrals were investigated by that unit in full; how many of those investigations led to a recommendation being made for web content to be removed; and on how many occasions web content was removed following such a recommendation.

Mr John Hayes

The Counter-Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU) receive referrals from a number of sources including the public and law enforcement partners. The unit also self-generates referrals.

All referrals are assessed by CTIRU against UK terrorism legislation (Terrorism Act 2000 and 2006). Those that breach this legislation are referred to industry for removal. If industry agrees that it breaches their terms and conditions, they remove it voluntarily.

Referrals made to industry by CTIRU have led to over 150,000 pieces of terrorist-related material being removed to date from various online platforms. Overall, removals at the request of CTIRU have increased from around 60 items a month in 2010, when CTIRU was first established, to over 4000 a month in 2015.

For reasons of national security we do not publically disclose the detailed allocation of funding for counter terrorism by capability.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many service personnel there were in (a) 22 Special Air Service Regiment, (b) Special Boat Service, (c) Special Reconnaissance Regiment, (d) 18 Signal Regiment, (e) Special Forces Support Group and (f) Joint Special Forces Aviation Wing in each of the last 10 years.

Penny Mordaunt

This Government has demonstrated its commitment to our Special Forces by announcing a £2 billion programme of investment over the course of this Parliament. All military operations, including the activities of the Special Forces, are discussed and scrutinised at the highest levels of Government, including at the National Security Council. However, as it is the longstanding policy of the Government not to comment on our Special Forces, or to release information relating to them, I cannot comment on specific questions about personnel, equipment, discussions or activities in relation to these units.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-04-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what progress he has made on recruiting a permanent chair of the Single Source Regulations Office; and when he expects the new chair to be in place.

Mr Philip Dunne

Each year the Ministry of Defence (MOD) publishes an analysis of all new contracts which sets out whether they were placed competitively or non-competitively. This analysis appears in the Department’s Statistical Bulletin Trade, Industry and Contracts and the most recent period for which data is available can be found through the link below. Table six in the excel tables and page 11 of the pdf refer to the relevant information.

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/mod-industry-trade-and-contracts-2015

Figures for amendments to existing contracts are not held centrally and, due to the large number of such cases, an analysis could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

All single source procurement contracts which met the criteria set out in Part two of the Defence Reform Act 2014 (DRA) are subject to the new single source procurement framework, apart from a very small number which have been specifically exempted from the framework by the Secretary of State for Defence, using the powers granted to him under section 14(7) of the DRA. The Department does not release details of these exemptions in order to avoid influencing future decisions.

Contracts which were signed prior to the new single source procurement framework coming into force can become subject to the regulations on amendment by agreement between the MOD and the contractor. To maximise the benefits from the regulations, the MOD intends to seek such agreement where appropriate, except where there are well founded commercial or practical reasons not to. However, the Department does not hold a central record of the number of contracts which have, on amendment, not been converted to Qualifying Defence Contracts, and the data could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Contracts which fall under the Regulations are only referred to the Single Source Regulations Office (SSRO) when there is a disagreement between the supplier and the contracting authority which cannot be resolved through negotiation between these two parties. The subjects that can be referred to the SSRO are set out in the DRA, and include whether or not costs are allowable, attributable to the contract and reasonable. Should a referral be made by either the MOD or the supplier, the consent of the other party is not required. One such referral was made in 2015, by the MOD.

The MOD is currently pursuing the recruitment of a Chair for the SSRO. The SSRO has an Interim Chairman in post and the Department plans to advertise this substantive position shortly.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-04-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many members of his Department’s staff from which of his Department’s sections were seconded to (a) the Joint Intelligence Organisation’s Assessments Staff and (b) the National Security Secretariat in the Cabinet Office during 2015.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

We are not able to provide the number of Foreign and Commonwealth Office staff seconded to the Joint Intelligence Organisation’s Assessment Staff or the National Security Secretariat for operational security reasons.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-05-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many personnel from each branch of the armed forces took part in cold weather training in each of the last six years.

Penny Mordaunt

The UK Armed Forces conduct a wide range of training to operate in cold weather environments. Information on the full range of activities is not held centrally in the format requested and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-11-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average reduction in entitlement to universal credit was which resulted from a claimant taking up paid work in the most recent month for which figures are available.

Priti Patel

The information you have requested is not currently available. The Department published its strategy for releasing official statistics on Universal Credit (UC) in September 2013. As outlined in the strategy, officials are currently quality assuring data for UC therefore it is not yet possible to give a definitive list of what statistics will be provided in the future. These statistics however will be published in accordance with the relevant protocols in the Code of Practice for official statistics.

The latest official experimental statistics on UC and the Departments release strategy can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/universal-credit-statistics.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-11-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of people currently claiming legacy benefits he expects to have transferred to universal credit by the end of the current Parliament.

Priti Patel

It is not possible to predict whether or not people currently claiming benefits will claim Universal Credit in the next five years. The numbers of claimants in receipt of Universal Credit at any given point will vary according to a number of factors, such as the economic climate and developments in Government policy. Even if this data was published, such forecasts may change over time.