Asked by: Alan Brown (Scottish National Party - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what funding her Department has allocated to mitigating the effect of aviation radar on the development of future offshore wind sites.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The level of funding the Ministry of Defence (MOD) has allocated for mitigating the detrimental effect of offshore wind sites on our air defence radars cannot be separately identified from wider funding that is used to operate and undertake trials with these radars.
We will continue our work to reduce the effect of offshore wind sites on our radars through safeguarding activity and our existing radar support contracts. We will also continue to conduct flight trials to assess the effectiveness of current and proposed mitigations.
The MOD remains committed to working closely with industry on mitigating against the effects of the expanding offshore windfarm developments on our air defence and air surveillance capabilities and requirements.
Asked by: Alan Brown (Scottish National Party - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to his oral contribution of 11 June 2018, Official Report, column 581, what the evidential basis is for 70 per cent of service personnel based in Scotland paying higher taxes.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
The Ministry of Defence has examined payroll data held by the Department and, on two occasions 12 months apart, identified all those Regular personnel issued with a Scottish tax code and their taxable earnings in the previous year. In both cases approximately 70% of these were found to have earned above the £26,000 threshold beyond which they would be liable in Tax Year 2018-19 to pay more income tax in Scotland compared to other Service personnel with the same taxable earnings paying income tax in the rest of the UK.
Asked by: Alan Brown (Scottish National Party - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the report Submarine Delivery Agency Corporate Plan 2018-2019, published in April 2018, what assessment his Department has made of the implications for the Dreadnought programme of the lessons learned process.
Answered by Guto Bebb
The Submarine Delivery Agency's performance will be monitored and assessed to check that it is embedding a culture that achieves continuous improvement in safety and security through a robust and consistent application of processes and development of lessons learned. This will be applied throughout the organisation, including the Dreadnought programme.
Asked by: Alan Brown (Scottish National Party - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the compatibility with the Government's policy on nuclear non-proliferation of the development of new types of nuclear weapon for use in UK defence.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
Any decisions on UK nuclear deterrence policy or capability will be in line with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which remains the cornerstone of the global non-proliferation regime. Given the current threat to international security, and the reality that this will continue for the foreseeable future, our independent nuclear deterrent remains as vital today as ever.
Asked by: Alan Brown (Scottish National Party - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 17 January 2018 to Question 122320 on USA: Nuclear Weapons what views were sought by the US administration; and what response the UK Government provided.
Answered by Gavin Williamson
The UK provided input to the US Nuclear Posture Review as part of our close and regular dialogue with the US Administration. I am not prepared to discuss the details of the UK Government input for the purpose of safeguarding national security.
Asked by: Alan Brown (Scottish National Party - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 15 January 2018 to Question 121389, what the latest date was on which he was briefed on the development of North Korean Ballistic Missile capability and the conduct of significant tests.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to his Question 121389 on 15 January 2018.
The Secretary of State for Defence is briefed on a regular and frequent basis about the development of North Korean Ballistic Missile capability, as he is on a range of defence issues.
Asked by: Alan Brown (Scottish National Party - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what discussions he has had with his US counterpart on the US administration's latest Nuclear Posture Review; and whether that review has any implications for UK nuclear defence policy.
Answered by Gavin Williamson
The Government has close and regular dialogue with the US Administration on all aspects of nuclear and arms control policy. In early 2017, President Trump announced that the US would conduct a Nuclear Posture Review. The US has sought views from the UK and other Allies as part of the process. The Review has not yet been concluded.
Asked by: Alan Brown (Scottish National Party - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent assessment his Department has made of the strategic relevance of the deployment of low-yield nuclear warheads.
Answered by Gavin Williamson
This Government remains fully committed to maintaining the UK's minimum, credible, independent nuclear deterrent. We continue to assess developments in the international security environment and remain confident we have the right balance of nuclear capability to deter the most extreme threats to the UK and our allies.
Asked by: Alan Brown (Scottish National Party - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he has had discussions with his US counterpart on the development of a modified version of the Trident D5 submarine-launched missiles; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Gavin Williamson
The Government has close and regular dialogue with the US Administration on all aspects of nuclear and arms control policy. On 20 December 2017, we published the report 'The United Kingdom's Future Nuclear Deterrent: The Dreadnought Programme, 2017 Update to Parliament', which includes aspects of our work with the US on maintaining the Trident D5 II missile and associated UK warhead.
Asked by: Alan Brown (Scottish National Party - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the Government’s policy is on the use of nuclear weapons in retaliation to non-nuclear strategic attacks.
Answered by Gavin Williamson
As set out in the 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review, we continue to keep our nuclear posture under constant review in the light of the international security environment and the actions of potential adversaries. We remain deliberately ambiguous about precisely when, how and at what scale we would contemplate use of our nuclear weapons, in order not to simplify the calculations of any potential aggressor and in order to protect our national security.