Asked by: Lord Temple-Morris (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to participate in international defence exercises with allies during 2018–19; and at what scale.
Answered by Earl Howe
The UK Armed Forces routinely participate in international defence exercises with allies and partners across the globe. In 2018 the UK is due to take part in more than 25 major international exercises and a similar number are planned for 2019. International defence exercises vary significantly in scale, complexity and the number of contributing nations, but all are focused upon developing interoperability with our allies and partners. At the cornerstone of our exercise programme are NATO, the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) Partner Nations and the Combined Joint Expeditionary Force (CJEF) alliance between the UK and France. Discrete bilateral defence activity with nations outside of these alliances also makes up part of the international programme and supports wider Defence Engagement.
Major NATO exercise activity in 2018 and 2019 centres on development of the NATO Response Force and the ability of contributing nations to respond quickly to an international crisis. Exercises will take place in the US and across Europe in Land, Maritime and Air domains. Most notably, Exercise TRIDENT JUNCTURE in November 2018 will test the ability of NATO to respond to an Article V situation in Scandinavia, involving multinational forces totalling 35,000 personnel. The UK will contribute a maritime task group, an air component and a brigade sized land force. An annual Baltic Operations Exercise focuses on the ability of NATO forces to work collectively in the protection of nations across the Baltic region. It routinely involves over 5,000 personnel from 17 nations and includes participation by up to 40 warships and submarines and over 60 aircraft.
The JEF, for which the UK is the framework nation, also exercises throughout the year to develop the ability of partner nations to respond rapidly and work together. Exercise JOINT WARRIOR is the annual major exercise which involves more than 10,000 personnel from seven partner nations, the next of which is scheduled for April 2018. In addition, the JEF Maritime component and amphibious task group also conduct an annual major exercise, which in autumn 2018 will take place in the North and Baltic Seas.
The UK and French CJEF will conduct five major exercises during 2018-19. These will include the testing and live fire exercising of a Combined Joint Task Force involving components from the maritime, land and air environments. In addition, frequent command planning exercises are scheduled to develop and enhance working practices within Combined Operational Headquarters.
In addition to the major defence international partnerships, significant bilateral exercise activity is also planned over this period. Joint training with the US makes up a significant proportion of the exercise programme and includes aircraft carrier, fighter jet and Divisional level land forces exercises. The Ministry of Defence’s largest exercise of 2018 will be Exercise SAIF SAREEA in Oman, involving more than 6,000 UK personnel, working alongside the Omani Armed Forces, and will train the UK’s high readiness forces in the full scope of defence activities. UK forces will include an Army Brigade, an RAF Air Wing with Typhoon fighter jets and support transport aircraft and a Maritime Task Group made up of a Royal Marines unit and Royal Navy amphibious warships.
Asked by: Lord Temple-Morris (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many approaches to UK airspace by Russian military aircraft were detected during (1) 2016, and (2) 2017.
Answered by Earl Howe
The RAF's Air Surveillance and Control System at RAF Boulmer is fully integrated with NATO allies and the NATO Combined Air Operations Centre at Uedem in Germany, which manages NATO's response to such activity. This allows NATO to react in good time to aircraft approaching the airspace of both the UK and our NATO allies.
I am withholding details of the number of occasions Russian military aircraft were detected approaching UK airspace. The disclosure of this information would reveal details of the air defence of the UK which would be likely to prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the Armed Forces.
However, Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) aircraft from RAF Lossiemouth and RAF Coningsby launched to intercept Russian military aircraft approaching UK airspace on five days in 2016 and three days in 2017.
Asked by: Lord Temple-Morris (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many incidents of unidentified submarines close to the north west coast of the UK were recorded during (1) 2016, and (2) 2017.
Answered by Earl Howe
The National Maritime Information Centre provides the UK with a comprehensive picture of potential threats to UK maritime security and unified situational awareness of maritime activity in UK and international waters.
The Ministry of Defence contributes to Her Majesty's Government's efforts by providing multi-layered capability to deter incursions into territorial waters.
This is delivered through a combination of surface ships, submarines and aircraft, alongside close co-ordination and co-operation with other Government Agencies and our allies.
I am not prepared to disclose further details as this would, or would be likely to, prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the Armed Forces.
Asked by: Lord Temple-Morris (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the principal response from soldiers leaving the Royal Logistics Corps in exit interviews.
Answered by Earl Howe
As with any vocation, personnel leave the Armed Forces for a variety of reasons. Exit interviews are conducted at a unit level but are not routinely collated centrally. As part of the leaving process, soldiers complete a short survey. Within the Royal Logistic Corps, 2016/17 survey responses indicate that the primary reasons for leaving included seeking fresh challenges, opportunities outside of the Army, personal circumstances, and job satisfaction.
Asked by: Lord Temple-Morris (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they are considering further devolution of powers to the Welsh Assembly; and if so, what.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
The Wales Act 2017 devolves further powers to the National Assembly for Wales and the Welsh Government in areas such the environment, transport and elections. Most of these new powers will come into force on 1 April.
In addition, the UK Government is in discussions with the Welsh Government on where powers should best sit following EU exit and where common frameworks will need to be maintained. The Government expects the outcome of this work will lead to a significant increase in the decision making powers of the National Assembly for Wales.
Asked by: Lord Temple-Morris (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 11 October (HL1831), how many arrests of illegal immigrants, and how many arrests for immigration offences, there were in each of the last five years; and how many of those arrested in each year (1) were deported from the UK, (2) remained in custody, and (3) were released within the UK.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford
It is not possible to provide information specific to the number of arrests for illegal immigrants because immigration offences cover a wide range of activities and the data specific to arrests for illegal immigration cannot be separated from arrests for other immigration offences. Additionally, an individual may be arrested for committing more than one offence, but as only one offence per arrest is recorded in a format that can be reported on centrally it is not possible to provide complete figures on arrests by individual offences type.
Information on arrests – either by an Immigration Enforcement or Police Officer – for committing an immigration offence is available. For the period 2011/12 to 2015/16, our records indicate that there were 119,730 arrests.
Data on the custody or detention status of those arrested cannot be provided without incurring disproportionate cost because checks of individual records would be required.
Asked by: Lord Temple-Morris (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many arrests of illegal immigrants there were in each of the last five years; and how many of those arrested in each year were (1) deported from the UK, (2) remained in custody, and (3) released within the UK.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford
It is not possible to provide information in the format requested, because data on arrests for illegal immigration cannot be separated from arrests for other immigration offences.
Asked by: Lord Temple-Morris (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to allow publicly owned museums and art galleries to impose charges for entry.
Answered by Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen
The Government is committed to maintaining free admission to the permanent collections of major museums and galleries, as set out in the 2015 manifesto, and government funding to national museums is provided with this condition. DCMS-sponsored museums can and do charge for temporary exhibitions and special events. Charging at other publicly owned museums is the responsibility of the organisations that operate them, for example local councils.
Asked by: Lord Temple-Morris (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many citizens of South Sudan have arrived in the UK in the last five years; and of those, how many (1) have applied for asylum, (2) have been given leave to remain, and (3) have been returned to South Sudan.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
Passenger arrival data by nationality are published annually by the Home Office in the Immigration Statistics release. However, it is not possible to separately identify those passengers that have applied for asylum from the total number of arrivals.
An outcome analysis of annual cohorts of asylum applicants is also published annually by the Home Office. Figures on the numbers of grants, refusals, enforced removal and voluntary departure for those applying for asylum between 2010 and 2014 are provided in Table B.
A copy of the latest release, Immigration Statistics October to December 2015, is available from: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-october-to-december-2015
Table A shows the number of South Sudan nationals given leave to enter the United Kingdom, from 2011 to 2015.
Table A: South Sudan nationals given leave to enter the United Kingdom | ||
Year | Total arrivals | |
2011 | 0 | |
2012 | 150 | |
2013 | 245 | |
2014 | 555 | |
2015 | : | |
Data rounded to the nearest 5 | ||
: = 2015 data are due to be published on 25 August 2016 | ||
Source: | ||
Table B: Outcome analysis of asylum applications for South Sudan, as at August 2015 | ||||||
Year of application | Total main applicants |
| Refused asylum, HP or DL | Total | Total | |
2010 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
2011 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
2012 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
2013 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
2014 | 8 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
Source: Table as_06 Outcome analysis of asylum applications, as at August 2015Those applying for asylum in the UK in one period may have arrived in the UK in a preceding period.
HP Humanitarian Protection
DL Discretionary Leave
The analysis of the outcomes of asylum applications are the recorded outcomes of the group (or cohort) of applicants in any one year, as at a particular time. A proportion of applications made in each of the years provided will be awaiting the outcome of an initial decision or an appeal. Applications from earlier years will inherently have had longer for the case to be processed than those from more recent years. This dataset is updated, in full, annually.
There are a large variety of routes that an asylum application can take to a final asylum outcome. As a consequence, analysis of the outcomes of asylum applications in any one year requires interpretation for a small percentage of cases. This interpretation is undertaken consistently by established computer code. The proportions and underlying figures for final outcomes of the analysis of applications for the group (or cohort) of applicants in any one year, are therefore estimated.
A copy of the latest release, Immigration Statistics October to December 2015, is available from: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-october-to-december-2015
Asked by: Lord Temple-Morris (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what powers they intend to give local authorities to alter the status of routes which have in the past been legally recorded on definitive maps of public rights of way as restricted byways with provision for access by horse-drawn and other non-mechanically propelled vehicles.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Government does not plan to introduce any new powers in primary legislation to specifically give local authorities the ability to alter the status of restricted byways or any other type of public right of way.
The legal framework governing public rights of way has been reviewed by a stakeholder working group, which recommended a package of reforms which are now being implemented through provisions included in the Deregulation Act 2015.