Asked by: David Davis (Conservative - Haltemprice and Howden)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Answer of 2 February 2015 to the hon. Member for West Bromwich East to Question 222431, if he will place in the Library a copy of the Reaper User Group terms of reference.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
Discussions with partner nations are continuing about the release of the Terms of Reference of the Reaper User Group.
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 Answer of 23 November 2015 to the hon. Member for Bolton South East to Question 16740, to what extent his Department uses US contractors for the training of UK Reaper operators and support personnel.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
The United States Air Force makes use of contractors in order to deliver Reaper training to both UK and their own Reaper crews (pilots and sensor operators). Contractors deliver the majority of Ground School and Simulator training, with a smaller proportion involved in Flying training. I can confirm that no support personnel are trained by US contractors.
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 in the Library a copy of the UK red card policy for personnel embedded in other nations' armed forces.
Answered by Michael Fallon
There is no single red card policy for UK personnel embedded in other nations' armed forces as their permissions will be specific to the operation in which they will be deployed. It is long-standing Government policy that we do not release details of our Rules of Engagement; to do so would give our enemies detail that would put our Armed Forces at greater risk.
Asked by: David Davis (Conservative - Haltemprice and Howden)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his Written Statement of 20 July 2015, HCWS 149, if he will make it his policy to publish the (a) numbers, (b) units and (c) dates of embedded service of UK personnel embedded in other nations' armed forces on a monthly basis.
Answered by Michael Fallon
I refer my right hon. Friend to my Written Ministerial Statement of 17 December 2015 (Official Report, column WS431).
For operational security reasons we will not routinely identify units, location or dates.
Asked by: David Davis (Conservative - Haltemprice and Howden)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his Statement of 20 July 2015, Official Report, columns 1233-4, on Counter-ISIL Coalition Strategy, if he will publish the location of UK personnel, other than special forces, embedded in other nations' armed forces on a monthly basis.
Answered by Michael Fallon
I refer my right hon. Friend to my Written Ministerial Statement of 17 December 2015 (Official Report, column WS431).
For operational security reasons we will not routinely identify units, location or dates.
Asked by: David Davis (Conservative - Haltemprice and Howden)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his Statement of 20 July 2015, HCWS 149, whether UK personnel embedded with the US military are subject to US military and domestic criminal law, or UK law, or both.
Answered by Michael Fallon
Under the Armed Forces Act 2006, UK personnel embedded with other nations' armed forces remain subject to Service law (including the criminal law of England and Wales) at all times. Whether UK personnel embedded with US armed forces are also subject to US law will depend on the exact nature of their deployment.
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 written statement of 20 July 2015, HCWS 149, whether his Department has completed its collation of information on UK personnel embedded on operations; and whether he plans for that collation to include information on intelligence analysts and RPAS operators working remotely.
Answered by Michael Fallon
I refer my right hon. Friend to my Written Ministerial Statement of 17 December 2015 (HCWS431) which details UK Service personnel embedded in another nations' armed forces, who are deployed on operations together with those who work on operations in deployed coalition or single nation headquarters roles. Intelligence analysts or remotely piloted air systems operators meeting this criteria would be included in the data but for personal and operational security reasons these numbers will not be separately identified.
Asked by: David Davis (Conservative - Haltemprice and Howden)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many unauthorised incursions Russian (a) naval and (b) air forces made into (i) UK and (ii) NATO Allies' territory in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Julian Brazier
I can confirm that there have been no unauthorised incursions by Russian air forces into UK sovereign airspace within the last 10 years.
For information on the number of Russian naval incursions into UK territorial waters I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 24 March 2015 by the previous Minister of State for the Armed Forces (Mark Francois) to Question number 218391.
The Ministry of Defence does not hold or have access to information on Russian incursions into NATO Allies territories.