Asked by: David Davis (Conservative - Haltemprice and Howden)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will place a copy of his Department's (a) civilian casualty review procedure and (b) standard operating procedure in the Library.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
I am withholding publication of the UK Armed Forces' Incident Reporting Standing Operating Procedure, which contains the civilian casualty review process, as disclosure would or would be likely to prejudice the capability, effectiveness, or security of our Armed Forces.
The UK takes all allegations of civilian casualties very seriously. Robust processes are in place to review reports of civilian casualties and to launch investigations where required.
Asked by: David Davis (Conservative - Haltemprice and Howden)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment of the merits of the Protector drone and other current and projected UK capability requirements was made to underpin the recent £1.5 billion UK-France collaboration on a joint unmanned combat air vehicle.
Answered by Philip Dunne
As part of last year's Strategic Defence and Security Review, we conducted a comprehensive assessment of our future capability requirements including for combat air. Within this, we looked at what could be provided by current and planned capabilities including Protector. The next phase of our collaboration on Unmanned Combat Air Systems with France will mature advanced technologies to inform future acquisition choices.
As part of last year's Strategic Defence and Security Review, we conducted a comprehensive assessment of our future capability requirements including for combat air. Within this, we looked at what could be provided by current and planned capabilities including Protector. The next phase of our collaboration on Unmanned Combat Air Systems with France is looking at capability need beyond Protector and so will mature advanced technologies to develop operational demonstrators.
Asked by: David Davis (Conservative - Haltemprice and Howden)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Prime Minister's statement of 7 September 2015, Official Report, column 23, what rank of officer within the RAF chain of command had access to the Attorney General's advice on the legal basis for the Reyaad Khan drone strike.
Answered by Michael Fallon
The Attorney General's advice informed my decision to target Reyaad Khan. The strike was conducted by the RAF using rules of engagement informed by the Attorney General's advice.
Asked by: David Davis (Conservative - Haltemprice and Howden)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, in how many operations the UK Reaper force has transferred operational control of UK Reapers to (a) the US Air Force and (b) embedded RAF personnel in the US Air Force in Syria and Iraq since 2 December 2015.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
I refer the right hon. Member to the answer I gave on 23 November 2015 to Question 16741. It remains the case that provisions set out in the UK-US Memorandum of Understanding have not yet been enacted by either party.
Asked by: David Davis (Conservative - Haltemprice and Howden)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment his Department made of the legality of US airstrikes in Libya before authorising use of RAF Lakenheath for airstrikes in Libya on 19 February 2016.
Answered by Michael Fallon
I confirmed in a statement on 19 February 2016 that I had authorised the request. Permission was granted once I was satisfied with the legality of the operation.
Asked by: David Davis (Conservative - Haltemprice and Howden)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what procedure was followed before the authorisation of the use of RAF Lakenheath for airstrikes in Libya on 19 February 2016.
Answered by Michael Fallon
I confirmed in a statement on 19 February 2016 that I had authorised the request. Permission was granted once I was satisfied with the legality of the operation.
Asked by: David Davis (Conservative - Haltemprice and Howden)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether personnel from Reaper Squadrons 39 and 13 attended military meetings in Tobruk between 18 January and 31 January 2016.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
The Government has a long-standing policy not to comment on intelligence matters.
Asked by: David Davis (Conservative - Haltemprice and Howden)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the proposal from the Italian government (a) to deploy 1,000 British troops to Libya and (b) for Italian Reaper drones to conduct target acquisition in Libya for the purpose of joint strike operations with the US and UK.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
The UK is considering, with partner nations, how we can best support the new Libyan government, including in terms of capacity building and security sector reform. No decisions have been made about the future deployment of any British military forces to Libya as part of an international coalition force.
Asked by: David Davis (Conservative - Haltemprice and Howden)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether personnel from Reaper Squadrons 39 and 13 are currently embedded with (a) US, (b) French and (c) Italian armed forces.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
No personnel directly from 39 Squadron or 13 Squadron are currently embedded with the US armed forces. However, from the Reaper force as a whole, there are currently six Royal Air Force personnel embedded with the United States Air Force. There are no Reaper force personnel serving with the French or Italian armed forces.
Asked by: David Davis (Conservative - Haltemprice and Howden)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether personnel from Reaper Squadrons 39 and 13 have been deployed to Sicily.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
No personnel from 39 Squadron or 13 Squadron have been deployed to Sicily.