Asked by: Lord De Mauley (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government for what reason it is still legal to export glass eels to Russia despite sanctions against that country.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
As an endangered species, the international trade in European eel is regulated through the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). Any exports are subject to rigorous scrutiny, including through assessments of legal acquisition and non-detriment.
The UK’s approach to these exports is being reviewed by the new Government to ensure legality, sustainability, and alignment with global conservation efforts.
The export of European eel to Russia is not currently sanctioned.
Asked by: Lord De Mauley (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support Combined Cadet Force units in schools, given confirmation that the School Staff Instructor grant to Cadet Expansion Programme schools will be discontinued.
Answered by Lord Coaker - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
I refer the noble Lord to the reply given by my hon. Friend, the Minister for Veterans and People (Alistair Carns), in the House of Commons on 27 November 2024 to the hon. Member for Hinckley and Bosworth (Dr Luke Evans) in response to Question 15010.
Asked by: Lord De Mauley (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many fast jet pilots chose to apply for premature voluntary release in each of the past 10 years.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Shadow Minister (Defence)
The below table shows the number of Voluntary Outflow applications submitted by fast-jet Pilots in the Regular Royal Navy and Regular Royal Air Force in the last ten financial years:
Financial Year (FY) | Royal Navy | Royal Air Force |
FY2013-14 | ~ | 20 |
FY2014-15 | - | 20 |
FY2015-16 | - | 20 |
FY2016-17 | - | 10 |
FY2017-18 | - | 20 |
FY2018-19 | - | 20 |
FY2019-20 | ~ | 20 |
FY2020-21 | ~ | 10 |
FY2021-22 | ~ | 10 |
FY2022-23 | - | 20 |
Notes:
Asked by: Lord De Mauley (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many fully trained fast jet pilots the RAF had in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Shadow Minister (Defence)
I am withholding the information requested as its disclosure would, or would be likely to prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the Armed Forces.
Asked by: Lord De Mauley (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential for recent increases in interest rates to provide them with an opportunity to address the Ministry of Defence’s historical pension liability.
Answered by Baroness Goldie - Shadow Minister (Defence)
The Armed Forces Pension Scheme (APFS) is, like the majority of public service pension schemes, an unfunded scheme. As with all unfunded pension schemes, they are paid for only by the taxpayer and have no cash or investments to fund pensions in payment or past liabilities. As such, increases in interest rates will not reduce the Ministry of Defence (MOD)'s historical pension liability for the AFPS, which is driven by the SCAPE (Superannuation Contributions Adjusted for Past Experience) discount rate and other assumptions set by His Majesty's Treasury and MOD.
Asked by: Lord De Mauley (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many Royal Marines Reserves commissioned officers there currently are on strength who are (1) aged under 30, and (2) aged 30 to 34.
Answered by Baroness Goldie - Shadow Minister (Defence)
As of 1 October 2022, there were eleven Royal Marines Reserve Commissioned Officers in the 30-34 age group and none aged under 30.
Asked by: Lord De Mauley (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the decision to send Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine, how many weeks have been allocated to training prospective Ukrainian commanders of those tanks.
Answered by Baroness Goldie - Shadow Minister (Defence)
Five weeks have been allocated to train prospective Ukrainian commanders of Challenger 2 tanks. In addition to tank commanders, we are also delivering training packages in similar timeframes for other roles, including drivers, gunners and maintainers.
Asked by: Lord De Mauley (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government when the 2022 statutory report of the External Scrutiny Team on the state of the UK’s Volunteer Reserve Forces will be placed in the Library of the House.
Answered by Baroness Goldie - Shadow Minister (Defence)
We are very grateful to the External Scrutiny Team for their work and the Ministry of Defence (MOD) will publish their 2022 report and the MOD response early in the New Year.
Asked by: Lord De Mauley (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many reservists have died on operations in (1) Iraq, and (2) Afghanistan, since 2000, broken down by service.
Answered by Baroness Goldie - Shadow Minister (Defence)
The requested information is provided in the following table:
UK Armed Forces Reservist deaths as a result of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, numbers, 1 January 2000 to 20 November 2022
Conflict | ||
Iraq1 | Afghanistan2 | |
ALL | 8 | 24 |
Royal Navy | 0 | 0 |
Royal Marines | 0 | 1 |
Army | 7 | 22 |
RAF | 1 | 1 |
Source: Defence Statistics Health
Information on deaths as a result of operations is regularly published in the Official Statistic on UK Armed Forces operational deaths post World War Two: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/uk-armed-forces-operational-deaths-post-world-war-2-2022. The latest update was published on 31 March 2022 (as of 28 February 2022).
Asked by: Lord De Mauley (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the 'Quarterly service personnel statistics 1 April 2022', when the quarterly figures ceased showing reserve officers and other ranks separately; and why they continue to do so for regulars but not reserves.
Answered by Baroness Goldie - Shadow Minister (Defence)
The requested breakdowns by strength, intake and outflow are provided in the attached spreadsheets.
The Quarterly Service Personnel Statistics (QSPS) 1 April 2022 contain the breakdown for the Future Reserves 2020 (FR20) in Tables 6a (trained strength) and 6b (untrained strength) by Officers and Other Ranks. Combining the totals and sub-totals of these tables provides the total FR20 strength by service, broken down by Officers and Other Ranks. While the figures for FR20 intake and outflow split by Officers and Other Ranks have not been included in current or previous editions of the QSPS publication, FR20 intake and outflow by service (as a whole) are available in tables 7b and 7c.