Asked by: Lord West of Spithead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the Birmingham Policy Commission's report <i>The Security Impact of Drones</i>; and whether they will make a statement on a national policy on the use of lethal drones.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
We have studied the Report, which is a useful contribution to discussion of issues around the use of armed drones.
The UK has repeatedly set out its policy position on the use of Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS), including at the UN General Assembly and the UN Human Rights Council. The UK’s fleet of armed RPAS are operated by highly trained Royal Air Force personnel in accordance with International Humanitarian Law and UK Rules of Engagement. The same strict Rules of Engagement that govern the use of conventional manned military aircraft also apply to RPAS, this includes robust criteria on establishing positive identification and requires commanders to do everything feasible to verify that the target is a military objective. The UK believes that existing international law sufficiently covers the use of RPAS, which are subject to the same legal considerations as other weapons systems.
Asked by: Lord West of Spithead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have made any representations to the government of Russia about the number of close encounters between Russian and NATO aircraft and ships.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
We have made no direct representations to the Government of Russia on this issue. The UK strongly supports comments made by North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Secretary General Stoltenberg last week, calling on Russia to obey the norms of international air traffic and understand that he has plans to follow up with Russia directly on this point. NATO Foreign Ministers, including the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), will discuss Russia’s actions at the forthcoming meeting on 2 December.
Asked by: Lord West of Spithead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Wallace of Saltaire on 6 May (WA 363), how many incursions into Gibraltarian waters by Spanish government-owned vessels have occurred since February 2014.
Answered by Baroness Warsi
The number of unlawful incursions into British Gibraltar Territorial Waters by Spanish state vessels totalled 180 between March and 22 July 2014.