Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are planning to take to honour the British soldiers who fought in Musa Qala in Afghanistan in the autumn of 2006.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
Service in Afghanistan is recognised by the Operational Service Medal. All those who deployed to Afghanistan will have been eligible to receive the medal if they met the qualifying criteria. There is a long-standing rule that decisions taken with regards to medallic recognition should not be revisited once five years have passed since the conclusion of a military operation. The 'five year' rule has been looked at by the Committee on the Grants of Honours, Decorations and Medals (HD Committee) on a number of occasions, and on each occasion it has concluded that the rule is sound and should not be changed.
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what consideration they have given to putting in place immediate arrangements for members of the armed forces to be trained in train driving, operating and management.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
Defence has no current plans in place to provide training in train driving, operating or management.
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether, in conjunction with UK allies, they plan to increase the level of military activity against British jihadis fighting for ISIL in Iraq and Syria; and whether their objective is to kill such individuals on the battlefield before they return to the UK as potential terrorists.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
UK military action in Syria and Iraq is against Daesh targets, regardless of nationality, as December's Parliamentary motion made clear. As part of the global coalition, the UK is making a substantial air contribution to the campaign to defeat Daesh in both countries and providing training to Iraqi (including Kurdish) security forces taking the fight to Daesh on the ground. The Secretary of State for Defence (Michael Fallon) announced in June that we would deploy up to 250 personnel to the Al Asad Air Base in Iraq to increase our training contribution.
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assistance the MoD will give to serving and ex-service personnel to sue Public Interest Lawyers and their individual partners for the stress caused by pursuing compensation claims.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
Although we are deeply concerned about the stress which can be caused to members of the Armed Forces by false allegations, we are not aware of any legal actions of the kind referred to. We welcome the decision of the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal to call members of Public Interest Lawyers, which has now closed, to account for their conduct while pursuing allegations against members of the Armed Forces.
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they will take to protect the identity of RAF unmanned aerial vehicle operators.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
Reaper Force personnel are briefed in line with their specific situation and, as with all RAF personnel, they receive periodic training on personal security. This includes, for example, briefing on social media profiles. Mechanisms exist to ensure that specific threats, and the necessary responses to them, are communicated in a timely fashion.
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the statement made by the Secretary of State for Defence, Michael Fallon MP, on 17 December 2014 (HC Deb, cols 1407–9), whether they will investigate what other cases Public Interest Lawyers may have pursued on the basis of false allegations.
Answered by Lord Astor of Hever
Many of these cases are currently being investigated by the Iraq Historic Allegations Team, and we await their findings. If these investigations find a number of the complaints to be untrue, we will consider asking the Solicitors Regulation Authority to investigate how the firm identifies its clients.
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the statement made by the Secretary of State for Defence, Michael Fallon MP, on 17 December 2014 (HC Deb, cols 1407–9), whether they will take action against Public Interest Lawyers for pursuing "completely baseless allegations" against the Ministry of Defence.
Answered by Lord Astor of Hever
The Government is considering all available options
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Astor of Hever on 28 October (HL2119), what information they provide to members of the armed forces to enable them to make informed choices about the consumption of halal food.
Answered by Lord Astor of Hever
Ministry of Defence policy is fully consistent with current UK legislation and Government guidelines. Although there is no requirement for a menu to state whether a dish does or does not contain halal food. Service and entitled civilian personnel with special dietary requirements are fully informed as to which dishes are suitable for them to eat.
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether any members of the armed forces who contract ebola whilst serving in Africa will be immediately returned to the United Kingdom to receive medical treatment.
Answered by Lord Astor of Hever
Any member of the Armed Forces who contracts Ebola Virus Disease will have their circumstances considered on the basis of individual clinical need. Their safety and that of health practitioners, will be of paramount importance. If it is determined that the best clinical outcome would be achieved through medical evacuation, this would take place.
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether United Kingdom military ration packs contain meat from animals killed by the halal method.
Answered by Lord Astor of Hever
Ministry of Defence (MOD) personnel in the UK and permanent bases overseas are served through a number of catering, retail, leisure and other multi-activity contracts. Halal meat is purchased under these arrangements but information on the volume procured is not held by the MOD.
Armed Forces personnel serving on operations, exercises and HM ships and submarines, are catered for under a single food supply contract with Purple Foodservice Solutions Ltd (PFS). The PFS contract includes the provision of Operational Ration Packs (ORPs). Individual 24 hour ORPs are available in 60 different menus, of which 10 are halal.
All food procured for MOD personnel must comply with MOD food quality standards. These standards comply with all UK and EU production standards, Farm Assurance or equivalent. This includes the Animal Welfare Act 2006 which covers Halal slaughter.