Asked by: Baroness Helic (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the total expenditure of the contribution of the United Kingdom to the Joint Expeditionary Force in each year since 2021.
Answered by Lord Coaker - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The expenditure of the United Kingdom's Standing Joint Forces Headquarters (SJFHQ), acting as the operational headquarters of the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF), inclusive of their contribution to JEF operations and exercises since 2021 is:
Financial Year 2021-22 Not Known
Financial Year 2022-23 Not Known
Financial Year 2023-24 £521,000
Financial Year 2024-25 £500,00
Financial Year 2025-26 £172,700
The listed expenditure comprises the operational and exercise expenditure of SJFHQ, which leads on the planning and execution of JEF activity. It does not include the operational costs borne by single services in support of JEF activity, the figures for which are not held centrally. Total expenditure is not inclusive of the costs of staff employment, which cannot be accurately quantified within an HQ that is tasked by multiple services.
Asked by: Baroness Helic (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many Ministry of Defence Form 680 applications for the release of information or equipment to Serbian entities have been (1) made, (2) granted, and (3) refused, in the last three years for which records are available.
Answered by Baroness Goldie - Shadow Minister (Defence)
Ministry of Defence F680s are a security clearance process, the approval of which does not constitute an export licence approval. Exporters are required to separately, but in addition, apply for export licences to supply information or material to a foreign entity.
Within the last three years, 21 F680 applications were made by exporters to Serbian entities, of which ten were granted and eight were refused. Three applications were withdrawn.
Asked by: Baroness Helic (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what (1) personnel, and (2) financial, contribution they made to NATO HQ in Bosnia and Herzegovina in (a) 2020/21, (b) 2021/22, and (c) the current financial year.
Answered by Baroness Goldie - Shadow Minister (Defence)
The UK’s direct personnel and financial contribution to NATO HQ in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2020-21; 2021-22 and the current financial year (FY) is shown in the table below:
FY | Personnel in theatre | Financial Contribution |
2020-21 | 2 | No finance data available* |
2021-22 | 2 | £37,013.44 |
2022-23 | 3 | £25,000.00 ** |
* Costs for the UK’s contribution to NATO HQ Sarajevo Staff Officer postings are unavailable due to these financial contributions being reported as one sum for Op ELGIN (KFOR, Op REHEARSAL, NATO HQ Sa). In FY2020-21 these costs totalled £2,733,351.11 and were not disaggregated by Operation.
** Forecast at AP12 FY2022/23
NATO HQ Sarajevo is funded through NATO’s Military Budget, to which the UK contributes a national cost share (currently 11.3%). Per calendar year, this share amounts to €415,000 in 2020, €493,000 in 2021, €533,000 in 2022 and €572,000 for 2023.
Asked by: Baroness Helic (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what (1) personnel, and (2) financial, contribution they made to NATO’s (Kosovo Force) KFOR in (a) 2020/21, (b) 2021/22, and (c) the current financial year.
Answered by Baroness Goldie - Shadow Minister (Defence)
The UK directly contributes both persistently deployed troops and the UK based Over the Horizon Strategic Reserve Force to the NATO mission in Kosovo KFOR
The UK’s direct personnel and financial contribution to KFOR in 2020-21; 2021-22 and the current financial year (FY) is shown in the table below:
FY | Personnel in theatre | Financial Contribution |
2020-21 | 37 | Disaggregated figure unavailable |
2021-22 | 41 | £1,359,456.89 |
2022-23 | 41 | £1,441,218.47* |
*Forecast
In addition, NATO HQ Kosovo is funded through NATO’s Military Budget, to which the UK contributes a national cost share (currently 11.3%). Per calendar year, this share amounts to €1.9 million in 2020, €2.2 million in 2021, €2.4 million in 2022, and €2.5 million in 2023.
Asked by: Baroness Helic (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many Ukrainian soldiers have been trained by His Majesty's Armed Forces (1) since 2014, and (2) since 24 February 2022; and how many of these soldiers have received human security training, in particular on (a) Women, Peace and Security, and (b) conflict related sexual violence.
Answered by Baroness Goldie - Shadow Minister (Defence)
Over 22,000 members of the Armed Forced of Ukraine (AFU) were trained under Operation ORBITAL between 2015 and its suspension in February 2022. More than 9,500 Ukrainian personnel have been trained under Operation INTERFLEX since June 2022, with an ambition for up to 19,000 in 2023.
With reference to Operation INTERFLEX, over 9,300 Ukrainian personnel have received human security training. The UK provides trainees from the AFU with reading material to help them understand issues relating to human security, including aspects of WPS and CRSV and how to respond.
The UK's wider training package focusses on the Law of Armed Conflict, including legal obligations for protection of civilians.
Asked by: Baroness Helic (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what was the annual cost of the UK's participation in the EU-led military mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina; and how that participation was funded.
Answered by Baroness Goldie - Shadow Minister (Defence)
The UK's participation in the EU-led military mission, Operation Althea in Bosnia and Herzegovina ended on 31 December 2020. The UK's participation in that mission had been funded by the Cross-government Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF).
In financial year 2019-20 the cost of UK participation in Operation Althea was £1,439,092.98.
Asked by: Baroness Helic (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will list the countries where the United Kingdom is providing training to foreign armed forces; and of those training missions, whether they will list those which include training in preventing and responding to sexual violence.
Answered by Earl Howe - Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
I refer the noble Lady to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Minister for the Armed Forces (Penny Mordaunt) in the House of Commons on 2 July 2015 to Question number 4649 to the hon. Member for Cardiff South and Penarth (Stephen Doughty).
Further to this, I attach two tables which detail the countries receiving training in preventing and responding to sexual violence.
Asked by: Baroness Helic (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to integrate training on sexual violence and gender issues into all training given by British forces to the Peshmerga in Iraq.
Answered by Earl Howe - Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
Protection of Civilian (PoC) training is now integrated into all of the training courses delivered to Peshmerga troops by UK training teams. This includes training on sexual violence and gender issues.
UK trainers have also delivered training to coalition partners' training teams within the Building Partner Capacity site at Erbil. This includes German, Norwegian, and Italian trainers. All UK trainers deployed to Iraq are now trained to deliver PoC training prior to leaving the UK.
Asked by: Baroness Helic (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Earl Howe on 30 June (HL698), when the steering board on Women, Peace and Security was established; and on how many occasions it has met.
Answered by Earl Howe - Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
The senior-level steering board on Women, Peace and Security was established in April 2015. The Board will meet every six months; its first meeting was in April 2015 and the second will be held in September 2015.
Asked by: Baroness Helic (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they have taken to increase the availability and use of gender advisers and cultural advisers within deployable United Kingdom armed forces; and whether they will list those instances where such advisers have been deployed.
Answered by Earl Howe - Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is currently examining the number, training and requirement of military gender advisors.
Over the past 12 months, the MOD has deployed gender advisors to the Democratic Republic of Congo and Iraq (in order to train the Kurdish Security Forces (KSF); approximately 700 KSF have been trained so far). The MOD will also be deploying one gender advisor to the United Nations Headquarters to support the United Nations' military advisor to the Secretary-General on gender issues.
The MOD's cultural advisors have undertaken over 60 deployments over the past 12 months, to locations such as Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Nigeria, Ghana, Angola, Mozambique and Bosnia.