Asked by: Gareth Davies (Conservative - Grantham and Stamford)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the The Mull of Kintyre Review, HC 1348, published July 2011, what assessment he has made of the implications of that review on similar cases that occurred between 1983 and 2011.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The Mull of Kintyre review was instrumental in the replacement of Boards of Inquiry with Service Inquiries. As the hon. Member will be aware, a Service Inquiry is an inquiry held under statute and is not permitted to apportion blame or find negligence, but rather seeks to identify where there are lessons to help prevent recurrence.
It is not possible to overturn aspects of Boards of Inquiry held in the past without full reinvestigation of the original incident, and it would not be benificial to re-open any such inquiries, where it is deemed there are no lessons to be identified for the Service, such as where aircraft are no longer in service for example.
Asked by: Gareth Davies (Conservative - Grantham and Stamford)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many aircrew were deemed negligent by reviewing officers despite contrary findings by the RAF Board of Inquiry between 1983 and 2011.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The information requested is not held in the format requested and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. Although an incomplete collection of 550 Boards of Inquiry (from 2008 redesignated Service Inquiries) into RAF flying accidents from the period in question is held, there is no central document recording the outcomes.
Asked by: Gareth Davies (Conservative - Grantham and Stamford)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to upgrade British cyber security capabilities in response to misinformation and wide-scale hacking by malign state sponsored entities.
Answered by James Heappey
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) takes cyber security and resilience very seriously and conducts a range of activities to ensure its systems are protected against attack from malign state and non-state actors. As a result of the Integrated Review settlement, the MOD is increasing its already substantial investment in defensive cyber capabilities. These are delivered through three dedicated programmes: Defensive Cyber Operations, Cyber Resilience Programme and the Joint Crypt Key Programme. The MOD continues to work closely with industry and partners across Government, especially the National Cyber Security Centre. To guard against disinformation, Defence provides support to the cross-departmental Counter Disinformation Unit's campaigns. This work is led by the Cabinet Office and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.