Asked by: Lord Tunnicliffe (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government on what date infantry reorganisation plans will be published.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
Detailed plans for the future structure of the Army are still being refined. There will be announcements made on our intent for both the regular and reserve force in due course.
Asked by: Lord Tunnicliffe (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government on what date HMS Vanguard is expected to rejoin the fleet of Trident submarines.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
I am withholding details of when HMS Vanguard will re-join the Fleet as disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the Armed Forces.
Asked by: Lord Tunnicliffe (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many civil claims against the Ministry of Defence have been rejected so far as a result of Part 2 of the Overseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) Act 2021, since its commencement on 30 June.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
The decision about whether a claim should be rejected because of Part 2 of the Overseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) Act 2021 is ultimately a matter for the court hearing that claim. No civil claims brought against the MOD have been rejected as a result of the operation of Part 2 of that Act since its commencement on 30 June 2021.
Asked by: Lord Tunnicliffe (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many civil claims against the Ministry of Defence have been rejected so far as a result of Part 2 of the Overseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) Act 2021.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
No civil claims against the Ministry of Defence have been affected by Part 2 of the Overseas Operations (Service Personnel & Veterans) Act 2021, as this part of the Act has not yet come into force. Commencement Regulations relating to the Act were made by the Secretary of State on 7 June 2021, and the substantive provisions of the Act, including Part 2, will come into force on 30 June 2021.
Asked by: Lord Tunnicliffe (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many (1) successful, and (2) unsuccessful, requests for legal aid have been submitted to the Armed Forces Legal Aid Scheme in each year from 2010 to 2021.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
The Armed Forces Criminal Legal Aid Authority (AFCLAA) holds detailed information dating from 2012, presented in the table below:
Year | Serving Personnel (Legal Aid paid, £) | Former Service Personnel (Legal Aid paid, £) | Total Number – Legal Aid Granted | Total Number – Legal Aid Refused |
2012 | 1,652,200 | 43,500 | 560 | 334 |
2013 | 1,336,900 | 63,200 | 435 | 260 |
2014 | 1,315,800 | 92,600 | 496 | 208 |
2015 | 1,582,300 | 188,600 | 434 | 201 |
2016 | 1,484,300 | 89,900 | 432 | 137 |
2017 | 1,462,300 | 36,600 | 390 | 149 |
2018 | 2,056,300 | 47,400 | 448 | 171 |
2019 | 1,243,300 | 132,600 | 498 | 155 |
2020 | 348,700 | 7,600 | 223 | 114 |
Notes:
Financial figures are rounded to the nearest £100. All other numbers are unrounded.
Some cases from 2019 are ongoing, meaning some bills are yet to be received/paid.
The low figures for 2020 reflect the fact that COVID-19 caused many court hearings to be delayed. Therefore, the numbers of personnel granted legal aid for 2020 cases is expected to rise as defendants decide whether to accept offers of legal aid. In addition, as 2020 cases come to a conclusion, financial figures for that year will increase significantly as bills are received/paid.
Very little information is available for 2021 at this time. Due to COVID-19, there are a number of cases awaiting a decision on prosecution by the Service Prosecuting Authority.
Figures for the number of unsuccessful applications (legal aid refused) include defendants who have refused an offer of legal aid and, therefore, do not wish AFCLAA assistance. This includes those who have refused legal aid whilst their case is awaiting a decision by the Service Prosecuting Authority, with a significant proportion of those cases discontinued before they reach court.
Figures also include a very small number who have been refused assistance by AFCLAA due to the individual exceeding the financial threshold which is currently set at an annual disposable income of £37,500.
Asked by: Lord Tunnicliffe (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much legal aid has been provided through the Armed Forces Legal Aid Scheme to (1) current, and (2) former, armed forces personnel in each year between 2010 and 2021.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
The Armed Forces Criminal Legal Aid Authority (AFCLAA) holds detailed information dating from 2012, presented in the table below:
Year | Serving Personnel (Legal Aid paid, £) | Former Service Personnel (Legal Aid paid, £) | Total Number – Legal Aid Granted | Total Number – Legal Aid Refused |
2012 | 1,652,200 | 43,500 | 560 | 334 |
2013 | 1,336,900 | 63,200 | 435 | 260 |
2014 | 1,315,800 | 92,600 | 496 | 208 |
2015 | 1,582,300 | 188,600 | 434 | 201 |
2016 | 1,484,300 | 89,900 | 432 | 137 |
2017 | 1,462,300 | 36,600 | 390 | 149 |
2018 | 2,056,300 | 47,400 | 448 | 171 |
2019 | 1,243,300 | 132,600 | 498 | 155 |
2020 | 348,700 | 7,600 | 223 | 114 |
Notes:
Financial figures are rounded to the nearest £100. All other numbers are unrounded.
Some cases from 2019 are ongoing, meaning some bills are yet to be received/paid.
The low figures for 2020 reflect the fact that COVID-19 caused many court hearings to be delayed. Therefore, the numbers of personnel granted legal aid for 2020 cases is expected to rise as defendants decide whether to accept offers of legal aid. In addition, as 2020 cases come to a conclusion, financial figures for that year will increase significantly as bills are received/paid.
Very little information is available for 2021 at this time. Due to COVID-19, there are a number of cases awaiting a decision on prosecution by the Service Prosecuting Authority.
Figures for the number of unsuccessful applications (legal aid refused) include defendants who have refused an offer of legal aid and, therefore, do not wish AFCLAA assistance. This includes those who have refused legal aid whilst their case is awaiting a decision by the Service Prosecuting Authority, with a significant proportion of those cases discontinued before they reach court.
Figures also include a very small number who have been refused assistance by AFCLAA due to the individual exceeding the financial threshold which is currently set at an annual disposable income of £37,500.
Asked by: Lord Tunnicliffe (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what countries the British Armed Forces provided training to on UK territory in (1) 2020, and (2) 2021.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
Personnel from the countries listed in the table below have attended defence education or training in the UK in 2019-20 and 2020-21.
Year | Countries |
2019/20 | AFGHANISTAN ALBANIA ALGERIA ANGOLA ANTIGUA & BARBUDA ARGENTINA ARMENIA AUSTRALIA AUSTRIA AZERBAIJAN BAHAMAS BAHRAIN BANGLADESH BARBADOS BELARUS BELGIUM BELIZE BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA BRAZIL BRUNEI CAMEROON CANADA CHILE CHINA COLOMBIA CROATIA CYPRUS CZECH REPUBLIC DENMARK EGYPT ESTONIA ETHIOPIA FIJI FINLAND FRANCE GAMBIA GEORGIA GERMANY GHANA GREECE GRENADA GUYANA HUNGARY INDIA INDONESIA IRAQ IRELAND ISRAEL ITALY JAMAICA JAPAN JORDAN KAZAKHSTAN KENYA KOSOVO KUWAIT KYRGYZSTAN LATVIA LEBANON LESOTHO LITHUANIA LUXEMBOURG MALAWI MALAYSIA MALDIVES MALI MALTA MAURITIUS MEXICO MOLDOVA MONGOLIA MONTENEGRO MOROCCO MOZAMBIQUE NEPAL NETHERLANDS NEW ZEALAND NIGER NIGERIA NORTH MACEDONIA NORWAY OMAN PAKISTAN OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES PAPUA NEW GUINEA PARAGUAY PHILIPPINES POLAND PORTUGAL QATAR ROMANIA RWANDA SAUDI ARABIA SENEGAL SERBIA SIERRA LEONE SINGAPORE SLOVENIA SOUTH AFRICA SOUTH KOREA SPAIN SRI LANKA SWEDEN SWITZERLAND THAILAND TONGA TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO TURKEY UGANDA UKRAINE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES URUGUAY USA UZBEKISTAN VIETNAM |
2020/21 | AFGHANISTAN ALBANIA ARMENIA AUSTRALIA AUSTRIA AZERBAIJAN BAHAMAS BAHRAIN BANGLADESH BELGIUM BELIZE BHUTAN BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA BOTSWANA BRAZIL BRUNEI CAMEROON CANADA CHILE COLOMBIA CYPRUS CZECH REPUBLIC DENMARK EGYPT ESTONIA ETHIOPIA FIJI FINLAND FRANCE GEORGIA GERMANY GHANA GREECE HUNGARY INDIA INDONESIA IRAQ IRELAND ISRAEL ITALY JAMAICA JAPAN JORDAN KENYA KOSOVO KUWAIT LEBANON LITHUANIA MALAWI MALAYSIA MALDIVES MALI MALTA MOLDOVA MONGOLIA MONTENEGRO MOROCCO NEPAL NETHERLANDS NEW ZEALAND NIGER NIGERIA NORTH MACEDONIA NORWAY OMAN PAKISTAN OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES PARAGUAY POLAND PORTUGAL QATAR ROMANIA SAUDI ARABIA SIERRA LEONE SINGAPORE SLOVAKIA SOUTH KOREA SPAIN SRI LANKA SWITZERLAND THAILAND TONGA TUNISIA UGANDA UKRAINE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES URUGUAY USA |
Note: MOD records information on International Defence Training (IDT) by financial year, rather than by calendar year. Information is taken from a central IDT database. Some activity may not be captured on that database.
Asked by: Lord Tunnicliffe (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many investigations into (1) current, or (2) former personnel, have been launched following the pursuit of civil claims against the Ministry of Defence by (a) current, or (b) former, personnel in each year since 2015.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
The Ministry of Defence has a duty to ensure that common law compensations claims are paid at the correct level where there is a legal liability to do so. In exceptional circumstances, surveillance investigations are undertaken to observe the true extent of a claimant’s alleged injuries in cases where there is a reasonable suspicion about the veracity of a claim or where medical evidence suggests that the claimant’s disability is wholly inconsistent with the type of injury. There is no distinction made between serving or former personnel.
The table below shows the number of surveillance cases undertaken for the last five complete financial years.
Financial Year | Number of cases |
2019-2020 | 37 |
2018-2019 | 21 |
2017-2018 | 22 |
2016-2017 | 17 |
2015-2016 | 11 |
Asked by: Lord Tunnicliffe (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they plan to publish the new UK Armed Forces Families Strategy.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
I refer the noble Lord to the reply I gave to the right hon Lord Touhig on 26 November 2020, in response to Question HL10461.
Asked by: Lord Tunnicliffe (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government (1) how many, and (2) what, items of second-hand Chinese equipment have been purchased by the Ministry of Defence in each year since 2015.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
The Ministry of Defence has not purchased any second-hand Chinese manufactured equipment since 2015.
I refer the noble Lord to the previous replies given by my hon. Friend, Jeremy Quin MP (Minister of State, Ministry of Defence) to Questions 141933, answered on 27 January 2021, and 134370, answered on 13 January 2021.