Asked by: Lord West of Spithead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to require the design, manufacture and testing of future military satellite communications used by the Armed Forces to be done in the UK.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Future military satellite communications are being secured though a programme called SKYNET 6. The Ministry of Defence has already contracted UK companies to develop the first new satellite (Airbus Defence & Space Ltd) and to provide ground and flight control services for the entire constellation (a consortium led by Babcock).
Subsequent SKYNET satellites are being acquired through two separate competitive procurements. The first of these is for a more widely available Narrowband Satellite System, and thus it is being procured via an open competition. The second is for up to three highly technological wideband satellites. There is a clear requirement in the competition invite that the key design, manufacture and testing activities for the wideband satellites are undertaken in the UK, in accordance with the aims of the Defence and Security Industrial Strategy (publishing.service.gov.uk).
Asked by: Lord West of Spithead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the case for the UK to maintain full sovereign control of the Skynet satellite constellation into the future.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
SKYNET 6 is the UK MOD’s strategic highly assured and protected satellite communications (SATCOM) capability. The criticality of maintaining Freedom of Action and Operational Independence, and therefore ‘sovereign control’ of this national capability, has been a firm requirement and has been verified every year since programme inception. To meet all known threats and to provide assured positive Command and Control of UK Armed Forces and support to other Government departments necessitates an appropriate level of UK ‘ownership’, as defined in the Defence Space Strategy and the MOD’s Assured Capability framework. This is delivered by balancing UK-led activities with the use of allied networks and the global commercial market, where appropriate.
Asked by: Lord West of Spithead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to (1) sanction, and (2) ban, the use of Russian nuclear fuel products, including mined uranium, uranium conversion, uranium enrichment, and nuclear fuel.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
In the June 2022 Group of Seven Leaders’ Communique, the Government joined with G7 partners to state our collective intent to reduce reliance on civil nuclear and related goods from Russia, including working to assist countries seeking to diversify their nuclear fuel supply chains.
To this end, the Government has led discussions within the ‘Sapporo 5’ group of nuclear energy leaders Canada, France, Japan, and the United States to identify potential areas of collaboration on nuclear fuels, with the goal of reduced global dependence on Russian supply chains. UK regularly raises the topic of dependency on Russia for civil nuclear goods and materials with likeminded international partners and supports efforts to diversify.
Asked by: Lord West of Spithead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the yearly revenue earned by Russian state-owned entities from the sale of nuclear fuel products to (1) EU countries, (2) NATO countries, (3) Japan, and (4) the Republic of Korea.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
In the June 2022 Group of Seven Leaders’ Communique, the Government joined with G7 partners to state our collective intent to reduce reliance on civil nuclear and related goods from Russia, including working to assist countries seeking to diversify their nuclear fuel supply chains.
To this end, the Government has led discussions within the ‘Sapporo 5’ group of nuclear energy leaders Canada, France, Japan, and the United States to identify potential areas of collaboration on nuclear fuels, with the goal of reduced global dependence on Russian supply chains. UK regularly raises the topic of dependency on Russia for civil nuclear goods and materials with likeminded international partners and supports efforts to diversify.
Asked by: Lord West of Spithead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with (1) the EU, (2) NATO, (3) Japan, and (4) the Republic of Korea, about terminating contracts with Russian state-owned entities for provision of nuclear products.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
In the June 2022 Group of Seven Leaders’ Communique, the Government joined with G7 partners to state our collective intent to reduce reliance on civil nuclear and related goods from Russia, including working to assist countries seeking to diversify their nuclear fuel supply chains.
To this end, the Government has led discussions within the ‘Sapporo 5’ group of nuclear energy leaders Canada, France, Japan, and the United States to identify potential areas of collaboration on nuclear fuels, with the goal of reduced global dependence on Russian supply chains. UK regularly raises the topic of dependency on Russia for civil nuclear goods and materials with likeminded international partners and supports efforts to diversify.
Asked by: Lord West of Spithead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether there is sufficient Western uranium conversion capacity and uranium enrichment capacity to replace that provided by Russian state-owned entities.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The invasion of Ukraine by Russia has made it more important than ever to reduce international dependencies on Russian energy supplies, which is why through the Sapporo Agreement and the Atlantic Declaration, the Government has committed to the development of shared, resilient supply chains to support global divestment from Russian nuclear fuel supply.
The UK’s uranium enrichment capabilities are amongst the best in the world, and Government has announced its commitment to growing these by developing a High Assay Low Enriched Uranium capability in the UK. The Government has also committed £13m, match-funded by Westinghouse, to fund preparatory work to bring Uranium Conversion capability back to the UK’s Springfields site, with the potential to deliver 7,500 tonnes of uranium conversion capability, for both reprocessed uranium and naturally enriched uranium, by the end of the decade. This would give a vital alternative capacity to Russia.
While fuel and uranium procurement is ultimately a commercial matter for reactor operators, the government continues to work closely with international fuel suppliers and our allies to mitigate and respond to any supply chain risks.
Asked by: Lord West of Spithead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether the UK is a net exporter of enriched uranium; and what discussions they have had with the industry regarding growing external markets.
Answered by Lord Offord of Garvel - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Urenco currently supplies around 30% of the global market with uranium enrichment services, a number which could rise in the coming years. Whether the UK is a net exporter at any given moment is subject to commercial agreements however the UK has the capability to supply a significant proportion of the global market.
HMG works closely with Urenco to explore opportunities globally and maintain their existing international contracts. HMG also works with Urenco to support investment into their UK facilities.
Asked by: Lord West of Spithead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have considered operating the RFA’s Wave Ruler and Knight with the carrier strike group providing partial solid support in the absence of Fort Victoria and until the first Fleet Solid Support Ship comes into service.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.
Asked by: Lord West of Spithead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the member of Parliament for Portsmouth North regarding the plan to build three ships in that constituency to assist in disaster relief and other operations.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
There are no plans for the Ministry of Defence to build any disaster relief vessels in the constituency of Portsmouth North and there have been no Ministerial discussions on the matter.
Asked by: Lord West of Spithead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what change to the global geostrategic situation outlined in the Integrated Review Refresh 2023: Responding to a more contested and volatile world, published on 13 March, has led to the decision to have no operational Landing Platform Dock ships in the Royal Navy.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
The Royal Navy will continue to operate a credible Landing Platform Dock (LPD) capability, through its Bay class Landing Ship Dock (Auxiliary) (LSD(A)), until the operational return of the Albion class Landing Platform Dock (LPD) ships, with HMS Bulwark.
The LPD and LSD(A) platforms are interchangeable in function by degrees of scale, each complements the other and both together constitute our core amphibious delivery capability when combined for maximal amphibious effect. To enable the sustained forward presence of the Littoral Response Group’s (LRG) in the coming years, both classes of ship will be pulsed into the deployment of the LRGs around their respective refit cycles.