Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment his Department has made of the extent of the use of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) on buildings in the Defence Estate.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
For now, the focus is on bringing together the information we hold about the Government estate into one place. This work is being coordinated by the Office for Government Property.
Surveys are currently being conducted on all buildings which may have been constructed using Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC).
We take safety extremely seriously and, based on our current information, RAAC has not traditionally been used by the MOD in the construction of domestic structure, and it is therefore highly unlikely that any Service Family Accommodation is affected. The majority of Single Living Accommodation was not constructed during the review period.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment his Department has made of the condition of defence estate buildings at (a) HM Naval Base Clyde and (b) Royal Naval Armaments Depot Coulport constructed (i) in part and (ii) wholly by reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
For now, the focus is on bringing together the information we hold about the Government estate into one place. This work is being coordinated by the Office for Government Property.
Surveys are currently being conducted to identify buildings which may have been constructed with RAAC on Ministry of Defence (MOD) land.
The Defence Infrastructure Organisation Infrastructure Management System has been used to determine what Ministry of Defence (MOD) buildings might potentially contain Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) material, based on the period in which they were constructed and their construction type. HMNB Clyde including Coulport has been included within the assessments to ascertain if they have been constructed with RAAC.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will make an assessment of the number of buildings on the Defence Estate that have been constructed (a) partly and (b) wholly of Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
For now, the focus is on bringing together the information we hold about the Government estate into one place. This work is being coordinated by the Office for Government Property.
Surveys are currently being conducted on all buildings which may have been constructed using Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC).
We take safety extremely seriously and, based on our current information, RAAC has not traditionally been used by the MOD in the construction of domestic structure, and it is therefore highly unlikely that any Service Family Accommodation is affected. The majority of Single Living Accommodation was not constructed during the review period.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he plans to take to respond to the potential presence of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete on the defence estate.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
For now, the focus is on bringing together the information we hold about the Government estate into one place. This work is being coordinated by the Office for Government Property.
Surveys are currently being conducted on all buildings which may have been constructed using Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC).
We take safety extremely seriously and, based on our current information, RAAC has not traditionally been used by the MOD in the construction of domestic structure, and it is therefore highly unlikely that any Service Family Accommodation is affected. The majority of Single Living Accommodation was not constructed during the review period.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of F-35B Block 4 upgrades on the (a) cooling and (b) power demands of F135-PW-600 engines installed in the UK fleet.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to Question 199396 on 18 September 2023 and my predecessor gave to Question 45734 on 2 September 2022.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when was the last occasion on which information from the Eskdalemuir Array was used to inform policy.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Eskdalemuir Array is a commitment made by the United Kingdom to the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. Its monitoring for nuclear tests continually contributes to Government policy.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, on how many days 607 Squadron operated from HMS Queen Elizabeth between (a) 1 July 2021 to 30 June 2022 and (b) 1 July 2022 to 30 June 2023; when it so operated; and for what exercises it operated.
Answered by James Heappey
Before the period in question, 617 Squadron embarked on HMS Queen Elizabeth in early May 2021 as part of the Operation FORTIS deployment to the Pacific between May and December 2021.
The number of days which 617 Squadron were embarked on HMS Queen Elizabeth between 1 July 2021 to 30 June 2022 was 160 days. During this Operational deployment a wide range of Defence Engagement and regional exercises were undertaken by 617 Squadron, including participation in exercises with the USS Ronald Reagan carrier strike group and the USS Iwo Jima amphibious ready group; Exercise Pacific Crown; Exercise Konkan Shasti; the UAE Advanced Tactics Leadership Course; Farallon de Medinilla range exercises; exercises with the USS Carl Vinson carrier strike group and cross-deck exercises with the Italian Lightning fleet.
For the period 1 July 2022 to 30 June 2023 617 Squadron embarked on HMS Queen Elizabeth for 20 days conducting the Operation Achillean carrier strike group deployment.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the victims of sexual offences aged under 18 recorded in the Sexual Offences in the Service Justice System statistics published on 30 March 2023, how many perpetrators in those cases were based at the (a) Army Foundation College Harrogate, (b) Infantry Training Centre Catterick and (c) Army Training Centre Pirbright.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
In the interests of protecting the anonymity of both alleged perpetrators and the victims of sexual offences, and to ensure that victims of sexual offences are not deterred from coming forward, I will not be providing the requested information. This is consistent with my answer to Question 182068.
The published figures for victims of sexual offences under the age of 18 are based on investigations opened, and the most serious offence initially reported, not convictions. Not all investigations result in an arrest or a charge and anyone accused is innocent until proved guilty.
Information on the number of defendants found guilty of sexual offences is provided within the published data. It is categorised by the year of the Court Martial, not the year in which the investigation started.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the LGBT Veterans Independent Review Final Report, published in May 2023, how many of that report's recommendations he plans to implement.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The Government has accepted in principle the vast majority of the report's recommendations and, whilst we agree with the intent behind them, there are a number we will deliver in a slightly different way to that described in the report. We will set out these differences when we publish, in due course, the Government's full response to the review.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the F-35B fleet has experienced cooling considerations requiring engines to regularly provide higher than the expected 15 kW of bleed air extraction to support system cooling.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
I can confirm the UK F-35B Lightning fleet has not been experiencing system cooling problems.