Tag: Sir Nicholas Soames

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sir Nicholas Soames on 2016-04-08.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to promote research and development in the UK.

Greg Hands

At the Spending Review 2015 we protected the current £4.7 billion science resource funding in real terms for the rest of the Parliament and re-affirmed our long term science capital commitment of £6.9 billion between 2015-2021.

The government also continues to support business research and development investment through R&D tax credits. In 2013-14, R&D tax credits provided £1.75bn of relief to over 18,000 companies, supporting around £14.3bn of innovative investment.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sir Nicholas Soames on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what progress has been made on delivering reforms agreed at the NATO Summit in Wales in 2014.

Mr Julian Brazier

Good progress is being made towards delivery of the commitments made at the Wales Summit. The UK is taking a leading role in the implementation of the Readiness Action Plan with delivery of a capable and effective UK-led Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (Land) Brigade in 2017 well on track. The Defence Investment Pledge to spend 2% of GDP on Defence, and 20% of that on equipment, has been met by the UK and some others. Enhanced partnership cooperation across many of NATO’s partnership frameworks and the Defence Capacity Building Initiative is steadily progressing. These commitments will be reviewed at the NATO summit in Warsaw in July, as part of NATO’s move to being "adaptable by design".

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sir Nicholas Soames on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what facilities are currently available to the Royal Navy in the Far East.

Penny Mordaunt

When deploying to the Far East Royal Naval vessels would normally have access to the port facility of the nation that they visit during the deployment.

In addition, the United Kingdom operates a jetty and fuel depot at Sembawang in Singapore as part of our commitment to the Five Powers Defence Arrangements.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sir Nicholas Soames on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what progress has been made in NATO Transformation.

Mr Julian Brazier

Good progress is being made since Wales on transforming NATO’s ability to respond to the range of challenges the Alliance faces. NATO’s new political guidance gives the Alliance the flexibility to plan for and adapt to the threats that it may face, including from Cyber and Hybrid attacks. The Readiness Action Plan, agreed at the Wales Summit, established the NATO enhanced Response Force, which will enable NATO to respond quickly, efficiently and effectively to the evolving and emerging threats. In support of this, the UK will lead a multinational force that includes up to 3,000 UK personnel as Framework Nation for NATO’s Very High Readiness Joint Task Force in 2017.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sir Nicholas Soames on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with which Commonwealth countries the UK has (a) defence arrangements and (b) training and co-operation agreements.

Mr Julian Brazier

Commonwealth countries with which the UK has formal defence arrangements are:

Australia

Bahamas

Botswana

Brunei

Canada

Cyprus

Guyana

India

Kenya

Malaysia

Malta

New Zealand

Nigeria

Pakistan

Seychelles

Singapore

South Africa

Tanzania

Commonwealth countries with which the Ministry of Defence has training and cooperation agreements are:

Australia

Belize

Botswana

Brunei

Canada

Cyprus

Ghana

India

Jamaica

Malaysia

Malawi

Mozambique

Namibia

New Zealand

Nigeria

Pakistan

Rwanda

Sierra Leone

Singapore

South Africa

Sri Lanka

Tanzania

Uganda

Zambia