Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much they have spent on defence as a share of gross domestic product in each year since 2010.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
NATO’s published figures for UK defence spending as a percentage of GDP spend since 2010 are below.
Year | Share of gdp |
2010 | 2.47 |
2011 | 2.38 |
2012 | 2.16 |
2013 | 2.24 |
2014 | 2.14 |
2015 | 2.03 |
2016 | 2.09 |
2017 | 2.08 |
2018 | 2.10 |
2019 | 2.08 |
2020 | 2.35 |
2021 | 2.29 |
2022 | 2.29 |
2023 | 2.28 |
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much the Ministry of Defence has spent in each of the past five years on surveillance operations to protect the network of undersea cables serving the British Isles from sabotage by hostile actors; and what proportion the government of the Republic of Ireland has contributed towards the cost of those operations.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Government takes the security and resilience of our critical infrastructure very seriously and we focus on the full range of threats and risks. The responsibility for maintaining subsea cables is a commercial one for the owner-operators. However, the Department for Science Innovation and Technology and Department for Energy Security and Net Zero work closely with the operators, regulators and other stakeholders to assess risks and ensure that the appropriate mitigation measures, including the provision of specialist capabilities are in place to enable an effective response to actual or potentially disruptive incidents.
The Ministry of Defence constantly monitors activity within UK waters and its Exclusive Economic Zone to counter and deter detected threats. British warships frequently patrol throughout the UK marine area. We have invested in our under-water capabilities able to monitor and assure the seabed including the Multi-Role Ocean Surveillance (MROS) programme which we do not comment on in detail. These capabilities are used for a variety of purposes and roles meaning that we cannot provide a cost for surveillance.
Questions on critical national infrastructure are for individual nations to answer, therefore any questions on Irish subsea cables should be directed to the Irish Government.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to deploy UK Armed Forces to the Indo-Pacific region to help counter the threat from China to Taiwan.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The UK has a clear interest in peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. We consider the Taiwan issue one to be settled peacefully by the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait through constructive dialogue, without the threat or use of force or coercion. We do not support any unilateral attempts to change the status quo. This includes increased Chinese assertiveness towards Taiwan.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether any operational tours of the armed services are currently being conducted in Northern Ireland; and if so, what are the names of the operations and whether operational service medals will be awarded.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
The UK's Armed Forces conduct a number of tasks in support of the Police Service of Northern Ireland including explosive ordinance disposal. This support is a standing task provided under Military Aid to the Civil Authority (MACA) principles and mirrors the support provided to the Police in Great Britain. There are no plans to award operational service medals for this task.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many British service personnel stationed in Cyprus have been murdered by terrorists in that country, and by which named terrorist group, in the past 30 years.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
In the last 30 years there have been no terrorist related murders of British Service personnel in Cyprus.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they expect to conclude their review of the number of Challenger 3 tanks which will comprise the full operating capability to be delivered by 2030.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
As announced by the Secretary of State on 16 January 2023, the number of Challenger 3 Main Battle Tanks are being reviewed as a matter of priority following lessons learned from Ukraine, and to ensure the Army's Main Battle Tank fleet remains sufficient to meet Defence's needs.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the reason for the delay in the completion of the delivery of Challenger 3 tanks for use in demonstration trials from 2024 to early 2025.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
There is no delay to the delivery of the Challenger 3 prototypes. The Challenger 3 prototypes will be delivered for use in demonstration trials from 2023, as scheduled. Additional Challenger 3 prototypes have now been purchased and are due for delivery in early 2025.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to upgrade the Royal Air Force Typhoon aircraft; and what are the numbers per annum projected to leave service in future.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
I refer the Noble Lord to the answer given to Lord Goddard of Stockport on 24 January 2022 to Question HL4609.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effect that their commitment to increase defence spending to three per cent of GDP by 2030 will have on the number UK service personnel.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
Defence is re-organising and re-equipping to face future threats, however, as the Secretary of State has stated, as the threat changes, we need to change with it.
The 2021 Integrated Review and Defence Command Paper highlighted that we must focus on capabilities rather than troop numbers.
Information regarding the Government’s spending plans are currently due to be announced in the Autumn Statement on 17 November. It would not be appropriate for the MOD to pre-empt the Chancellor’s statement.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when the Ministry of Defence intends to respond to the letter sent by Lord Rogan on 17 May.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
I replied to the noble Lord's letter on 16 June 2022. A further copy has been despatched in light of this question.