Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to ensure that the Tempest Future Combat Air System Aircraft is adequately (a) supported and (b) funded to be (i) completed and (ii) delivered on time.
Answered by Ben Wallace
The Integrated Review confirmed our intent to develop Future Combat Air System (FCAS) as a replacement for our Typhoon fast-jets and deliver the military capability we need to operate in highly contested environments, boost our industrial capacity and maximise our international influence.
The Defence Command Paper reaffirmed that we will invest more than £2 billuion in FCAS out to 2025. This is part of a budget of over £10 billion over the next ten years, although the ultimate amount we invest will depend on key programme choices and the role that our international partners take in the programme.
We are targeting an in-service date in the mid-2030s. This means significantly faster delivery than seen in previous programmes, enabled by a digital-first approach, embracing new technologies and early investment in R&D.
We are currently in the Concept and Assessment phase of the programme, which is due to complete by 2025. During this phase, key work is being undertaken to define and begin design of the capability we require, invest in the skills and infrastructure needed to deliver and support it, and agree our international partnering arrangements. Team Tempest partners now have circa 2,500 people working on FCAS, with many more in the supply chain, and this number is growing.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to support defence jobs in (a) Merseyside and (b) Lancashire.
Answered by Alec Shelbrooke
The most recent estimate shows MOD investment supports 219,000 jobs in industries across the UK. This includes 17,700 direct jobs in the North West of England.
Earlier this year, we marked the first anniversary of the Defence and Security Industrial Strategy (DSIS), which received positive feedback from industry.
Continued high, and focussed investment in defence, along with the changes we are making as part of DSIS, will contribute to further economic growth and prosperity, across the Union.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to replenish UK stocks of (a) weapons and (b) equipment donated to Ukraine.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
I can confirm that this department is fully engaged with industry, allies and partners to ensure that equipment granted in kind to the armed forces of Ukraine is replaced as appropriately and expeditiously as possible.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to maintain aid and supplies to Ukraine.
Answered by James Heappey
The UK remains committed to working with our Allies and Partners to provide military and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine.
We continue to liaise closely with the Armed Forces of Ukraine to understand their prioritised requirements, to date having sent over 6,900 anti-tank missiles, 120 armoured vehicles, 1,360 anti-structure munitions, Air Defence systems including Starstreak missiles and 4.5 tonnes of plastic explosives. This is in addition to more than 200,000 pieces of non-lethal aid and medical equipment.
We are working to encourage and further enable the delivery of even more systems and capabilities from across the international community to support Ukraine. And continue to make a major contribution to the leadership and operation of the International Donor Coordination Centre in Stuttgart.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to relocate civil servants in his Department from London to other parts of the UK.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
The Ministry of Defence is working with the cross-Government Places for Growth programme to determine relocation plans, and announcements will be made in due course.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many of his Department's jobs are located in (a) Sefton and (b) Southport.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
The Department provides no Ministry of Defence Civil Service jobs that are located in the towns of Sefton or Southport.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the number of veterans living in the (a) North West of England and (b) Southport constituency.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
An estimated distribution of the UK Armed Forces veteran population residing in Great Britain can be found in the 'Annual Population Survey: UK Armed Forces Veterans Residing in Great Britain', the latest edition of which (2016) is published at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/annual-population-survey-uk-armed-forces-veterans-residing-in-great-britain.
As at 2016, there were an estimated 2.5 million UK Armed Forces veterans residing in households across Great Britain and 279,000 veterans living in households in the North-West region of England.
The total number of veterans in Southport constituency is not held. However, information held by the Department indicates that, as at 31 March 2018, there were 517 veterans residing in the Southport Constituency in receipt of an Armed Forces occupational pension, a disablement pension under the War Pensions Scheme or compensation under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to assist armed forces personnel onto the housing ladder.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
The Forces Help To Buy (FHTB) scheme aims to encourage and support home ownership amongst Service personnel, which has historically been lower than the general population.
Through FHTB Regular Service personnel can borrow up to 50% of their gross annual salary (to a maximum of £25,000) to buy their first home, move to another, or in exceptional circumstances extend an existing property. Since its introduction in 2014 FHTB has helped over 14,300 Service personnel purchase their own property.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what proportion of early service leavers were in employment six months after discharge from the armed forces in the most recent period for which information is available.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
The information requested can be found in Table 3 at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/career-transition-partnership-ex-service-personnel-employment-outcomes-financial-year-201617.
The table presents employment rates, six months after leaving the Services, for UK Regular and Gurkha Early Service Leavers (ESL), who left during Financial Year (FY) 2016-17 and accessed billable employment support provided by the Career Transition Partnership. Statistics for FY 2017-18 will be published in 2019.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment the Government has been made of the potential effect of proposed changes to the selection processes of the SAS and SBS to increase the number of women recruits on morale, discipline and martial capability within those units.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
The Government does not comment on UK Special Forces.