Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he plans to deploy service personnel to the Middle East in a peacekeeping capacity.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
We will not be drawn into the details of any future UK Armed Forces deployment for reasons of operational security.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he plans to deploy RFA Lyme Bay to the Middle East.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
RFA Lyme Bay has departed Gibraltar in order to assist in maritime tasks in the Eastern Mediterranean if necessary.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 4 March to Question 116531 on Defence: Finance, whether the 0.47% of GDP spent not included in the table will be outlined in a formal Government document.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The UK's performance against the NATO spending targets will continue to be reported directly to NATO in the usual way. There are no plans to change this long-standing process.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 4 March to Question 115508 on Strategic Defence Review, how many workshops have taken place involving MOD, DHSC and UK health services as of 10 March 2026.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
Between February 2025 and 10 March 2026, there have been four multi-day workshops involving the Ministry of Defence, the Department of Health and Social Care and UK health services to explore the UK’s ability to deal with casualties across a range of scenarios up to and including warfighting.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he had discussions with the Chief of the Defence Staff on deploying a Type 45 Destroyer to Cyprus prior to 3 March 2026.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
We constantly review deployments of Royal Navy assets in line with securing the interests of the UK and our allies. As the Chief of the Defence Staff said on the BBC on Saturday 7 March, he looked at the proposals for HMS Dragon being deployed to the Middle East on Tuesday 3 March, and the Defence Secretary signed them off immediately the same day.
Since January we have moved significant military assets into the region, ahead of the first US-Israeli strikes, including radar systems, air defence, and F-35 jets. Those preparations made a real difference and mean that we have conducted defensive military operations from day one.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he has authorised any changes to the deployment of British service personnel in the High North since 28 February 2026.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
We do not comment on specific deployments for reasons of safeguarding operational security.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the cost envelope for the Defence Investment Plan will be based on his Department's (a) Resource Departmental Expenditure Limit, (b) Capital Departmental Expenditure Limit and (c) Total Departmental Expenditure Limit settlement.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Defence Investment Plan will be a comprehensive plan to deliver the vision set out in the Strategic Defence Review. It will cover the full scope of the defence against the Department's respective CDEL and RDEL settlements.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when was the Chief of the Defence Staff first notified on the availability of a Type 45 Destroyer to deploy to Cyprus.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
We constantly review deployments of Royal Navy assets in line with securing the interests of the UK and our allies. As the Chief of the Defence Staff said on the BBC on Saturday 7 March, he looked at the proposals for HMS Dragon being deployed to the Middle East on Tuesday 3 March, and the Defence Secretary signed them off immediately the same day.
Since January we have moved significant military assets into the region, ahead of the first US-Israeli strikes, including radar systems, air defence, and F-35 jets. Those preparations made a real difference and mean that we have conducted defensive military operations from day one.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what his proposed timetable is for publishing the Defence Investment Plan.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
As the Defence Secretary has outlined to the hon. Gentleman a number of times, we will publish it as soon as we can, but our aim is to ensure decisions in the Defence Investment Plan (DIP) are robust and support the development of both current and future capabilities, helping to drive the transformation of our Armed Forces described in the Strategic Defence Review.
The DIP will end the hollowing out and underfunding of our Armed Forces that we inherited.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what measures are in place to avoid the geo-location of British facilities in Ukraine by adversaries.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
The Ministry of Defence takes the security of its personnel, facilities, and operations in Ukraine extremely seriously. Specific details of those measures cannot be disclosed, as doing so could compromise operational security and the safety of our personnel.