Tag: Emily Thornberry

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-01-28.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what information his Department holds on the number of casualties that have resulted from the UK’s use of (a) Brimstone missiles, (b) Hellfire missiles and (c) Paveway IV guided bombs on the most recent occasions on which those weapons were deployed against targets in (i) Iraq and (ii) Syria.

Penny Mordaunt

The Ministry of Defence takes any allegations of civilian casualties very seriously. We do an assessment after every British strike of the damage that has been caused, and check very carefully whether there are likely to have been civilian casualties. As has always been the case, we consider all available credible evidence to support such assessments.

There is no such evidence to date that RAF airstrikes have caused any civilian casualties.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-02-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the oral statement of 6 March 2014, Official Report, column 1077, on nuclear submarines, how much his Department set aside for financial risk provision within the submarine programme budget in each of the last six years.

Penny Mordaunt

At the programme level it is approximately 10% of the budget with a further contingency fund being available centrally. Risk management is an on-going process which is forward-looking by its very nature. Financial risk provision is a dynamic element of the overall programme budget; as risks are identified, managed, mitigated and retired the associated risk provision at various levels in the Department changes.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-02-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much his Department spent on recruitment agency fees in each of the last six years.

Mark Lancaster

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has made payments to recruitment agencies in the last six years as follows:

Calendar Year	Total Payments
2010	£120,905
2011	£143,785
2012	£283,725
2013	£372,937
2014	£583,086
2015	£121,879

This expenditure relates to recruitment to the permanent Senior Civil Service across the MOD, including the Trading Funds. It represents the costs of searches, advertisements, response handling, assessment and support to selection panels. The figures do not include expenditure on Contingent Labour, the process used to engage temporary staff through recruitment agency contracts.

Generally, recruitment to the MOD for all grades below the Senior Civil Service is carried out by Defence Business Services who do not make use of external recruitment agencies when appointing MOD Crown Servants. This is not the case in Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S), which is now a bespoke trading entity. Since 2013, DE&S has made use of agency support in recruiting staff in order to ensure it has access to suitably qualified and experienced personnel to fill specialist vacancies. DE&S expenditure is as follows:

Calendar Year	Total Payments (£ million)
2013	1.75
2014	2.0
2015	0.5

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) Chinooks, (b) Sea King and (c) Lynx helicopters HMS Ocean carried on her most recent deployment.

Penny Mordaunt

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave her on 3 February 2016 to Question 24276.

http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-questions-answers/?page=1&max=20&questiontype=AllQuestions&house=commons%2clords&uin=24276

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many people in receipt of a war disablement pension are also in receipt of the (a) age-related tax allowance, (b) allowance for lowered standard of occupation and (c) unemployability supplement.

Mark Lancaster

The Ministry of Defence does not hold information on how many people in receipt of a War Pension are also in receipt of the age-related tax allowance, as this is administered by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs. However, as at 31 March 2015 (the latest date information is available) there were 41,470* disablement pensioners born before 6 April 1938 who may meet the eligibility criteria to receive age-related tax allowance.

As at 31 March 2015 (the latest date information is available) there were 116,050 disablement pensioners in receipt of an ongoing pension under the War Pension Scheme. Of these, 10,195 were in receipt of an allowance for lowered standard of occupation, and 6,250 were in receipt of unemployability supplement. All payments made under the War Pension Scheme are tax free.

These figures can be found on the Gov.uk website at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/war-pension-recipients-index

* In line with Defence Statistics’ Rounding Policy for War Pension Scheme data, all figures of five or more have been rounded to the nearest five.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-02-25.

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

Mr Philip Dunne

The recommendations include fourteen that are are technical in nature and two that are administrative. We are currently reviewing the Independent Power and Propulsion System Performance Review, to determine what redactions are necessary before a copy is placed in the Library of the House. As part of this process, we are considering what information about the sixteen recommendations can be released.

On the question of the adoption of those recommendations, I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave her to question 28036 on 1 March 2015.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-03-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what proportion of the value of the content of the new P-8 Poseidon Maritime Patrol Aircraft will be sourced from UK suppliers.

Mr Philip Dunne

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave the member for Garston and Halewood (Maria Eagle) on 3 December 2015 in response to Question 17838.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many members of the Privy Council have been briefed on special forces operations in the most recent year for which figures are available.

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 recent assessment he has made of the effect of Russian airstrikes on the number of non-extremist opposition fighters in Syria.

Penny Mordaunt

The Syrian regime, backed by Russian airstrikes, has put significant pressure on the non-extremist opposition, particularly in rural Damascus, Hama, Homs, Latakia and Aleppo. However, the Joint Intelligence Organisation has concluded that non-extremist opposition numbers have held up despite recent pressure.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 25 April 2016 to Question 34932, what the grades were of the civilian employees seconded by his Department to (a) the Joint Intelligence Organisation’s Assessments Staff and (b) the National Security Secretariat within the Cabinet Office during 2015.

Mark Lancaster

Given the nature of the work that the Joint Intelligence Organisation’s Assessments Staff and the National Security Secretariat carry out, the Ministry of Defence is unable to disclose details of staff seconded to these areas for the purpose of safeguarding national security.