Tag: Madeleine Moon

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Madeleine Moon on 2015-11-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will place in the Library all documents relating to the delivery of a system of force development and adventurous training with a contingent whole force construct relating to (a) MOD Greytown-on-Spey, (b) MOD Llanwrst, (c) MOD Fairbourne and (d) MOD Crickhowell; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Lancaster

I assume the hon. Member is referring to the Force Development and Adventurous Training Review. Whilst the provision of adventurous training for the whole force concept was one of the many factors in the Review, we do not hold documents principally about the whole force concept.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Madeleine Moon on 2015-12-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answers of 2 December 2015 to Questions 17676, 17682, 17679, 17694 and 17681, what statistical data was used in the assessment process to close (a) MOD Fairbourne and (b) MOD Llanrwst; and if he will place in the Library a copy of the statistical data contained in his Department’s Future Development and Adventure Training review.

Mr Julian Brazier

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to her by the Minister for Defence Personnel and Veterans (Mark Lancaster) on 4 December 2015 to Question number 18405. Namely, the key documents will be placed in the Library of the House following the appropriate redactions and these will contain statistical data.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Madeleine Moon on 2015-12-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effect of continuing violence by paramilitaries in Colombia on the progress of peace talks in that country.

Mr Hugo Swire

The government of Colombia has made significant progress on peace process negotiations with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). I am pleased that an agreement has been reached this week between the parties on the long-standing issue of Transitional Justice and reparations for victims. Both sides have committed to sign a final agreement by the end of March 2016 and the UK remains committed to supporting this deadline.

I am concerned about the continued negative influence of organised criminal gangs and resulting violence in Colombia. I am pleased to see that the Colombian Minister of Defence has announced that tackling organised crime is a top priority for 2016. The UK, through the work of the National Crime Agency and others, continues to support the government of Colombia on this issue.

Much of the government of Colombia’s success on tackling organised crime and related violence will depend on the progress of peace negotiations in Havana, which provide an opportunity to bring about real change for all Colombians.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Madeleine Moon on 2016-02-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will hold discussions with the Defence Police Federation on the (a) level of morale and (b) terms and conditions of service within the Ministry of Defence Police; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Lancaster

I met the National Chairman of the Defence Police Federation on 17 December 2015 to review the status of the ongoing negotiations on changes to Ministry of Defence Police terms and conditions of service. I would expect any issues associated with the morale of the Force to be raised and discussed at the Ministry of Defence Police Joint Consultative Committee that is chaired by the Chief Constable.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Madeleine Moon on 2016-04-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much support work by (a) value and (b) numbers of jobs has been undertaken by UK employees on UK Government defence contracts placed with US defence contractors in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Philip Dunne

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) does not currently collate information on how much production or support work is undertaken in the UK or US on UK defence contracts, either by value or number of jobs. A comprehensive breakdown of which MOD contracts placed over the last five years are with UK or US suppliers is also not held centrally.

The MOD routinely publishes statistics on contracts it places on gov.uk at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/defence-trade-and-industry-index. This includes an overall estimate of MOD expenditure for work undertaken in the UK and lists all organisations with which we have spent £5 million or more in the financial year. These statistics include expenditure with US companies.

The MOD does not collate information centrally on the value of production work undertaken in the UK on contracts placed by the US Department of Defense.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Madeleine Moon on 2016-06-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps have been taken by his Department as a result of the recommendations of the Review by Sir Nicholas Blake QC of the circumstances surrounding the deaths of four soldiers at Princess Royal Barracks, Deepcut between 1999 and 2002, published in 2006, relating to statements detailed in the Appendix to that review by civilian staff and recruits of (a) sexual harassment, (b) sexual assault and (c) bullying at that base; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Lancaster

Appendices four and five of Sir Nicholas’ Report refer to allegations made in statements to Surrey Police. The hon. Member would need to contact the Home Secretary to establish what action was taken by Surrey Police in response to individual cases.

The Government’s response to Sir Nicholas’ Report was published in June 2006, and the Army has already implemented significant changes to the way we train our young people since 1995. We have invested considerably in the provision of welfare support for both those in training and their families. In addition, we now put great priority on training our instructors to ensure that they get the very best from their trainees; our philosophy is very much to ‘train in rather than select out’. Our instructor ratios are now greatly improved and, as a minimum, we provide one instructor per 12 trainees during their initial training. All Armed Forces training sites are now subject to independent scrutiny by Ofsted inspectors and their assessments help us to drive continuous improvement. Ofsted’s recently published report on ‘Duty of Care and Welfare in Armed Forces Initial Training’ found all the establishments they visited to be either good or excellent.

Underpinning all of these changes, the Chief of the General Staff has a very clear zero tolerance of any form of bullying, harassment or discrimination. All allegations of mistreatment are taken very seriously and we encourage any allegation of unacceptable behaviour to be raised to the attention of the Chain of Command to be investigated accordingly and action taken where appropriate. Any allegation of rape and sexual assault, or any other offence which may have a sexual element, must always be referred to the Service Police.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Madeleine Moon on 2016-10-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 12 October 2016 to Question 47504, whether the Welsh Government has agreed to take responsibility for attendance allowance.

Penny Mordaunt

The consultation “Self-sufficient local government: 100% business rates retention”, published by the Department for Communities and Local Government, sought views on a range of options for devolving new responsibilities to local government in England including more responsibility for caring for older people. This was not a consultation on the devolution of Attendance Allowance.

If changes were to be considered in respect of Attendance Allowance for England and Wales, there would be further consultation and any proposals would be discussed with the Welsh Government.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Madeleine Moon on 2015-11-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the average accommodation and travel costs relating to training at (a) MOD Grantown-on-Spey, (b) MOD Llanwrst, (c) MOD Fairbourne (d) MOD Crickhowell were in each of the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Lancaster

The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Madeleine Moon on 2015-12-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 2 December 2015 to Question 17682, what the cost per trainee is of the Eagle training scheme at (a) Force Development Training Centre (FDTC) Bavaria, (b) FDTC Grantown-on-Spey, (c) FDTC Danesford/Weston on the Green/Halton and (e) overseas Eagles; and what the location is of the overseas Eagles training.

Mr Julian Brazier

The highest priority for UK based Force Development Training Centres (FDTC) is the delivery of Phase One and Phase Two formal training. The EAGLEs training scheme makes use of any irreducible spare capacity. Therefore, costs for EAGLEs training at UK based FDTCs cannot be separated out from overall training costs at those centres.

For Financial Year 2015-16:

EAGLEs training at FDTC Bavaria has a fixed cost per person estimated at £488.00.

The current projection for the planned 600 places for overseas EAGLEs training is £587.00 per person.

Overseas Eagles training is carried out in Austria, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Sweden and Norway.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Madeleine Moon on 2016-01-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to paragraph 2.10 of JSP441 Defence Records Management Policy and Procedures, whether his Department’s practice on data retention which means it can only provide information relating to (a) numbers of training courses, attendees costs, (b) maintenance, improvement and development costs, (c) accommodation, (d) travel costs and (e) building of storage facilities for only the preceding year meets the requirements of that paragraph; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Lancaster

In areas of routine business, where there is unlikely to be need for permanent preservation of information and potential accession to The National Archives, decisions on whether to keep or destroy will be taken locally by the Senior Information Officer, Information Manager, or their staff. They will seek to balance the perceived future value of the information against the cost of retention, based on the departmental guidance in JSP 441 and elsewhere, and the training they have received