Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus and Perthshire Glens)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Royal Navy Estate statement on 15th July, what the planned timetable is for the establishment of mine hunting operations at the Finnart Oil Terminal.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Ministry of Defence has purchased the Finnart Oil Terminal on Scotland’s west coast, marking a multi-million-pound investment to strengthen the United Kingdom’s national security and defence resilience. There will be a phased relocation of equipment, autonomous systems and support vessels to support mine hunting operations from 2028. This approach allows investment and capability growth to be matched to emerging operational requirements, ensuring continuity of mine countermeasures capability while supporting the longer-term transformation of the HMNB Clyde estate and MHC operating model.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus and Perthshire Glens)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Royal Navy Estate statement on 15th July, what estimate he has made of the (a) mine hunting facilities required at the site, and (b) autonomous mine countermeasures systems and support vessels to be based there.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Ministry of Defence has purchased the Finnart Oil Terminal on Scotland’s west coast, marking a multi-million-pound investment to strengthen the United Kingdom’s national security and defence resilience. There will be a phased relocation of equipment, autonomous systems and support vessels to support mine hunting operations from 2028. This approach allows investment and capability growth to be matched to emerging operational requirements, ensuring continuity of mine countermeasures capability while supporting the longer-term transformation of the HMNB Clyde estate and MHC operating model.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus and Perthshire Glens)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to his Oral Statement of 8 September 2026 on Israel and Palestine, Official Report, columns 879-884, if he will set out how he will monitor the effectiveness of his sanctions to help tackle illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The enforcement and effectiveness of sanctions is a priority for the Government, and we conducted a major cross Government review of this in 2025. Government departments and specialised agencies are mandated to lead on the enforcement and implementation of sanctions.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus and Perthshire Glens)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether a lead shipyard has been identified for the Common Combat Vessels programme; and when he expects the lead shipyard to be announced.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Work on the Type 91-94 and Common Combat Vessel continues. Further detail will be released as appropriate as these programmes develop.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus and Perthshire Glens)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to ensure that individuals impacted by the Hartley Pensions Limited case will receive access to appropriate levels of advice and support while the FCA investigates allegations of criminal activity.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government recognises the impact of delays and uncertainty for those affected by the failure of Hartley Pensions. Hartley Pensions is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), and HM Treasury continues to work with the FCA to monitor the administration. The administrators are responsible for updating customers directly and recent updates on timetables are available on their website.
The FCA’s enforcement investigation is a matter for the FCA as the independent regulator.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus and Perthshire Glens)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what is the UK’s 10 year Defence Nuclear Enterprise rolling cost.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Defence Investment Plan sets out £63.6 billion of planned investment in the Defence Nuclear Enterprise between financial years 2026-27 and 2029-30, excluding workforce costs.
The Defence Investment Plan sets out the Government’s current priorities and strategic intent for investment in Defence over the coming decade, underpinned by detailed spending plans from 2026-27 to 2029-30. Spending plans beyond that will be subject to future Spending Reviews.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus and Perthshire Glens)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking with the DVSA to reduce driving test waiting times in Forfar.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government set out a comprehensive package of measures in April 2025 to tackle long waiting times across the whole of Great Britain, aiming to deliver around 10,000 additional tests per month. A key step was reintroducing overtime incentives. The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) conducted 1.99 million tests between April 2025 and March 2026, a record and 8.6% (159,000) higher than the previous year.
DVSA has made changes to make the booking system fairer, as well as continuing to run national recruitment campaigns for driving examiners (DE) across the country.
Forfar driving test centre (DTC) is an outstation of Dundee DTC. DVSA currently sends an examiner to Forfar twice a week to conduct tests. DVSA recently completed a recruitment campaign for Dundee DTC and has made two offers of employment. Recruiting additional examiners at Dundee will enable DVSA to increase the number of tests available in Forfar.