Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what was the cost per unit of the new single living accommodation block at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst; and where were the units manufactured.
Answered by Lord Coaker - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The new Single Living Accommodation (SLA) block at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS) provides 53 en-suite single bedspaces for Senior Ranks, with utilities, drying rooms, a kitchen and furnished communal space.
While this information is not held in the format requested, the overall contract value for the new SLA block at RMAS was £10.91 million; project cost capture does not split the cost into a single bedspace. The SLA block was manufactured in the UK.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate his Department has made of the number of graduate nuclear (a) engineers and (b) scientists required for the military nuclear programme.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
As announced in the Defence Nuclear Enterprise (DNE) Command Paper: Delivering the UK’s Nuclear Deterrent as a National Endeavor, the Department is investing to increase its intake of nuclear sector graduates by an additional 2,000 personnel over the next four years.
Of these 2,000, over 1,600 are for the DNE, with up to 70% of these graduates expected to join in engineering posts with the remainder in a range of supporting professions such as science (including physics, material science, nuclear science), commercial and finance.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what lessons his Department has learned for the future provision of service accommodation from the Single Living Accommodation Modernisation project.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
Lessons learnt from the Single Living Accommodation Modernisation project include that it provided value for money through standardisation of design, and economies of scale through a managed pipeline of projects.
The Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) is continuing to realise these benefits through our Single Living Accommodation Programmatic Approach.
Standard designs have been developed in consultation with the front-line commands and industry partners.
Design layouts have been amended to provide better functional spaces in bedrooms and common areas.
The design of building fabric and services has been improved to achieve through life Net Zero Carbon requirements.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the planned out of service dates are for HMS (a) Bulwark and (b) Albion; and whether it is his Department's policy to ensure both vessels remain operational up to that date.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
It remains the case that no final decisions have been made regarding the future of HMS ALBION and HMS BULWARK. On current plans, both platforms will retire from service by the end of 2034 as originally scheduled.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the military lessons to be learned from the conflict in Ukraine.
Answered by James Heappey
The Russia Ukraine Insights Hub identified insights at the strategic and operational level for Defence drawn from the UK's response to the war in Ukraine. These insights have informed subsequent Defence decision making. In addition to strategic insights, the single Services continue to identify lessons pertinent to their domains.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment his Department made of the potential prevalence of RAAC in buildings (a) owned and (b) occupied by (i) military and (ii) other departmental staff.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
For now, the focus is on bringing together the information we hold about the Government estate into one place. This work is being coordinated by the Office for Government Property.
Surveys are currently being conducted to identify buildings which may have been constructed with RAAC on Ministry of Defence (MOD) land.
We take safety extremely seriously and, based on our current information, RAAC has not traditionally been used by the MOD in the construction of domestic structure, and it is therefore highly unlikely that any Service Family Accommodation is affected. The majority of Single Living Accommodation was not constructed during the review period.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many vehicles there are in his Department's white fleet (a) in total and (b) by individual service; and how many of the those vehicles are electric or hybrid.
Answered by Alex Chalk
The majority Ministry of Defence’s white fleet are leased through the Phoenix II Contract. There are a total of 15,422 vehicles leased under this contract. Of these, 728 are electric vehicles and 1,331 are hybrid vehicles. The table below sets out the numbers by Defence Organisation or Top Level Budget Holder (as of 15 March 2023):
Total Phoenix II Leased Vehicles | |
Air | 3,166 |
Army | 7,530 |
DE&S | 214 |
DIO | 520 |
DNO | 10 |
DSA | 20 |
HO | 1 |
MDP | 536 |
Navy | 2,213 |
UKSC | 1,212 |
Total | 15,422 |
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
What steps he is taking to tackle supply chain constraints in defence procurement.
Answered by Alex Chalk
The Ministry of Defence takes the health and resilience of our supply chains seriously. The department has invested in a department-wide supply chain mapping programme, sharing intelligence and best practice on common critical supply chains and materials across Government and internationally.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to help ensure that NLAW anti-tank missile stocks will be replenished in early 2023.
Answered by Alex Chalk
To replenish the Next Generation Light Anti-Tank Weapon (NLAW) systems granted to Ukraine, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) secured around 500 units which will be delivered to the UK in 2023. The MOD has subsequently placed a separate contract for several thousand units to be delivered to the UK between 2024-2026.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Written Statement of 16 November, HCWS369, on Shipbuilding Update, who the prime contractor for the Fleet Solid Support Ships will be; and what estimate he has made of the balance of work between the shipyards involved.
Answered by Alex Chalk
Team Resolute, a team consisting of Harland & Wolff, BMT and Navantia UK has been announced as the Preferred Bidder to build the Fleet Solid Support ships. Navantia UK, a UK registered company, will hold the contract as prime contractor.
The majority of the shipbuild will take place in the UK. The precise balance of work between each individual yard is a matter for Harland & Wolff.
No workers are currently employed in building the Fleet Solid Support ships by Harland & Wolff at any of its sites. No contract has yet been signed for the ships. Harland & Wolff has indicated that it expects the workforce employed to build the ships to grow by around 1,200.
The number of people employed by BMT in the competition for the Fleet Solid Support ships is purely a matter for the company. BMT has indicated that it expects its workforce engaged to deliver the Fleet Solid Support ships to grow to around 120.
The number of jobs sustained in Spain to deliver the Fleet Solid Support ships is a matter for the contractor concerned but it will be fewer than the number of jobs sustained and created in the UK.
The transfer of technology and skills from Navantia to the UK shipbuilding industry that the Fleet Solid Support ship programme will facilitate includes provision for a team of Spanish shipbuilding experts to be resident within Harland & Wolff in order to upskill local staff to deliver the construction in the UK and ensure build productivity and quality levels are met.