Asked by: Lord Lee of Trafford (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much was spent by the Ministry of Defence on consultancies in the last year for which figures are available, and in each of the preceding four years.
Answered by Lord Coaker - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The table below gives the overall expenditure on consultancies in the last five financial years by the Ministry of Defence, On Vote Agencies, Executive Non-Departmental Public Bodies and Other Bodies (such as the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Royal Hospital Chelsea, the Reserve Forces and Cadet Associations and International Military Services Ltd.).
Financial Year | Consultancy Expenditure (£million) |
2019-20 | 98.080 |
2020-21 | 109.668 |
2021-22 | 134.942 |
2022-23 | 149.105 |
2023-24 | 86.276 |
Asked by: Lord Lee of Trafford (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many civilians are currently employed by the Ministry of Defence; and how many civilians have been employed by the Ministry of Defence in each of the past five years.
Answered by Lord Coaker - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
On 1 April 2024, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) civilian personnel headcount was 63,702.
The below table show the MOD civilian personnel headcount for the past five years, as at 1 April.
Year, as at 1 April | Civilian personnel headcount |
2020 | 60,256 |
2021 | 62,039 |
2022 | 61,895 |
2023 | 62,652 |
2024 | 63,702 |
This data excludes Non-Departmental Public Bodies, Short-Term Employees and Contractors.
Statistics on the number of civilian personnel employed by the MOD by both headcount and FTE are published by the Office for National Statistics on gov.uk at the following link:
Asked by: Lord Lee of Trafford (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the life expectancy of the Thames Barrier; and whether there are any plans to alter the current pattern or frequency of use in order to manage its expected lifespan.
Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller
The Thames Barrier forms part of a complex system of assets along the Thames and its tributaries to manage the risk of flooding in London. The barrier is expected to provide the required standard of protection out to 2070 based on projected rates of sea levels rise and with significant investment to upgrade and improve the mechanical, electrical, forecasting and supporting systems.
The Thames Barrier needs to be maintained to ensure its operational reliability. Closing it too frequently could reduce its reliability, because it would make it difficult to maintain to the required standards, as well as negatively impacting on shipping. As such the Thames Estuary 2100 Plan sets out a strategy to manage the frequency of closures and its lifespan. This includes implementing measures to manage non-tidal flooding (i.e., flooding driven by high river flows coming down the Thames) in west London without relying on the Thames Barrier by 2035, as well as raising defences upstream of the barrier by 2050 to allow higher tides upriver, thereby reducing the number of times the barrier needs to close.
The Thames Estuary Plan takes an adaptation pathways approach, planning for a range of future climate scenarios with a light touch review every five years and a comprehensive review every 10 years. At present all end of century options for upgrading or replacing the Thames Barrier remain available, with a decision needed by 2040 so that an option can be in place by 2070.
Asked by: Lord Lee of Trafford (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by The Earl of Minto on 9 April (HL3588), whether they will now answer the question put, namely whether they were invited to participate in the Main Ground Combat System programme.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Shadow Minister (Defence)
Interest in the Observer Status request was recognised by both nations. The next step will involve France and Germany convening a conference for prospective 'observers' to discuss administrative procedures before any formal invitation is made to adopt this status. No decision has yet been made regarding full participation in the Main Ground Combat System programme.
Asked by: Lord Lee of Trafford (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they were invited to participate in the recently announced Franco-German Main Ground Combat System which is intended to jointly provide a successor tank to the Leopard and Leclerc.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Shadow Minister (Defence)
The Ministry of Defence has requested observer status for the Main Ground Combat System programme.
Asked by: Lord Lee of Trafford (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the comments by the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs on 14 January, and by the Secretary of State for Defence on 15 January, regarding global instability and possible conflicts, what immediate improvements they plan to make to national defence capabilities.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Shadow Minister (Defence)
The Defence Command Paper 2023 (DCP23) set out how the Armed Forces and wider Defence would modernise and adapt to the changing context. We are investing over £50 billion in Defence to ensure we can protect the nation and help it prosper. We will continue to review our holdings of all essential expendable items, and will invest in such capabilities as complex weapons, general munitions, and operational spares stocks to meet the needs of sustained operations.
As DCP23 set out, strengthening our resilience is critical. That is why we will continue to work with our partners across Government to identify vulnerabilities and test how we would better secure and defend the homeland in times of war.
Asked by: Lord Lee of Trafford (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they believe that the Ministry of Defence still needs to employ 60,000 civilian personnel, in the light of the declining number of regular forces.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Shadow Minister (Defence)
The size of the Regular Armed Forces and that of the Civilian workforce are not directly linked.
The breadth of tasks performed by Civilians in the MOD is significant; they perform over 200 different, vital roles and are key to the delivery of Defence outputs. Defence is unique in that it comprises a variety of workforce types including Civilians and both Regular and Reserve Service Personnel, which together, as the ‘Whole force’ is essential for providing the critical services which Defence delivers on behalf of the nation.
Following the Chancellor’s announcement on 2 October regarding the immediate cap on Civil Servant headcount over this spending review and further reductions longer term, Defence is engaging in broader strategic workforce planning activity to ensure it plays its part in delivering increased productivity and efficiency.
Defence, in line with other Government departments, segments its Civilian workforce by profession. The breadth of tasks performed by Civilians in the MOD is illustrated in ‘Defence in Numbers’ which shows some of the main professions that make up the Defence workforce. For security purposes we have not provided information about the number of Civil Servants who work in sensitive roles.
(Source: Defence in Numbers 2022 https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1137992/UK_Defence_in_Numbers_2022.pdf
Asked by: Lord Lee of Trafford (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what broad categories of employment the 60,000 civilian personnel employed by the Ministry of Defence fall into.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Shadow Minister (Defence)
The size of the Regular Armed Forces and that of the Civilian workforce are not directly linked.
The breadth of tasks performed by Civilians in the MOD is significant; they perform over 200 different, vital roles and are key to the delivery of Defence outputs. Defence is unique in that it comprises a variety of workforce types including Civilians and both Regular and Reserve Service Personnel, which together, as the ‘Whole force’ is essential for providing the critical services which Defence delivers on behalf of the nation.
Following the Chancellor’s announcement on 2 October regarding the immediate cap on Civil Servant headcount over this spending review and further reductions longer term, Defence is engaging in broader strategic workforce planning activity to ensure it plays its part in delivering increased productivity and efficiency.
Defence, in line with other Government departments, segments its Civilian workforce by profession. The breadth of tasks performed by Civilians in the MOD is illustrated in ‘Defence in Numbers’ which shows some of the main professions that make up the Defence workforce. For security purposes we have not provided information about the number of Civil Servants who work in sensitive roles.
(Source: Defence in Numbers 2022 https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1137992/UK_Defence_in_Numbers_2022.pdf
Asked by: Lord Lee of Trafford (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Neville-Rolfe on 25 September (HL10042), whether the Ministry of Justice or HM Prison and Probation Service keep a record of how many times a Prime Minister has visited one of His Majesty's prisons since 2010, and in which years.
Answered by Lord Bellamy
It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.
Asked by: Lord Lee of Trafford (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what information they have on which different species of fish inhabit the tidal reaches of the River Thames, particularly in the Richmond and Teddington sections.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Lord Chamberlain (HM Household)
The Environment Agency (EA) is responsible for managing freshwater fisheries in England and carries out biannual fish surveys at eight locations on the tidal Thames, between Gravesend and Richmond.
From 2010-2022, the EA recorded 19 fish species at Richmond. These were: bleak; brown trout; bullhead; chub; common bream; common carp; dace; European eel; flounder; common goby; gudgeon; minnow; perch; roach; rudd; sand smelt; sea bass; smelt; and three-spined stickleback.
Teddington has not been surveyed recently but between 1989 and 1993 11 species were caught at Teddington. These were: bleak; common bream; common goby; dace; European eel; flounder; gudgeon; perch; roach; sea bass; and three-spined stickleback.