Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many warships are available to the Royal Navy, and how many officers of the rank of rear admiral and above.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
As at 16 February 2024, the Royal Navy has 29 warships of which there are 20 available. The warship numbers included are: Offshore Patrol Vessels, Frigates, Destroyers, Aircraft Carriers and Landing Platform (Docks).
There are currently 14 officers of the rank of Rear Admiral and above serving in Navy Command. There are an additional 27 serving across the MOD, as well as other Government Departments and NATO, at the time of the most recently published figures (October 2023). The figures for the number of officers at the rank of Rear Admiral and above are taken from the Quarterly Service Personnel Statistics available at the following website: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/quarterly-service-personnel-statistics-2023
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the purpose of HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales; and what assessment they have made of the extent to which that purpose has been achieved.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The purpose of HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales is to provide the UK a Carrier Strike Group (CSG) capability. A CSG is a secure, versatile, agile and survivable, well-found sovereign operating base that exerts global influence through power projection, which, enabled by sea control and with minimal risk, delivers strike warfare against targets ashore.
The UK CSG has made steady progress towards becoming a fully operational force, with Initial Operating Capability (IOC) of Carrier Strike (CS) declared in 2021, and the milestones for Full Operating Capability (FOC) are being reviewed. With the IOC CS declaration, CS deployments continue to take place annually with preparations for an FOC scale deployment.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government on how many occasions in the past year Royal Naval and Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessels have visited Tunisian (1) ports, and (2) territorial waters.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
No Royal Navy or Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessels have visited Tunisian ports or territorial waters during the past year.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the non-nuclear ammunition available to UK armed forces.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
Defence continually manages and analyses its stocks of non-nuclear ammunition through the Key Munitions Planning process, whilst also reviewing industrial capacity and supply chains, both domestically and internationally. The Department remains fully engaged with industry, allies and partners to ensure that equipment and munitions levels remain under continual review and are subject to adjustment in support of evolving Defence requirements.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government when, during the past 10 years, Royal Navy vessels have visited Tunisian waters and ports.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
Royal Navy Surface vessels have visited Tunisian waters and ports eight times since 2012. May 2014, December 2017, August 2018; October 2018; September 2020, October 2020 April 2021 and November 2022.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether there is a national memorial to the 395 National Servicemen who were killed in action between 1945 and 1963; and, if not, whether there are plans to establish one.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
There is a National Service Memorial at the National Memorial Arboretum, which recognises the contribution of those who did National Service from 1945 to 1963. In addition, the names of those personnel who were killed in action on National Service between 1948 and 1963 are listed on the Armed Forces Memorial, also at the Arboretum. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission commemorate war dead prior to 1948.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact on their relations with the government of Qatar of the presence of a Turkish military base in Qatar; and whether UK armed forces undertake any activity with the Turkish military stationed in Qatar.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
The UK and Qatar share an enduring defence partnership, most notably through a joint Typhoon squadron. The UK and Turkey also have a longstanding and strong bilateral defence relationship. We look forward to continued collaboration with all our friends in the Gulf to strengthen our shared security interests. UK Armed Forces do not undertake activity with the Turkish military stationed in Qatar.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 28 March (HL14668), which weapons exported to Turkey from the UK are capable of interoperability with current and proposed defence systems, such as the S-400 missiles.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
None of the weapons systems which the United Kingdom has thus far exported to the Republic of Turkey are considered interoperable with current and proposed Russian defence systems, such as S-400.