Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the Government's policy is on the role of Parliament in military interventions in the Red Sea.
Answered by James Heappey
As the Prime Minister explained in his 15 January 2024 oral statement to the House, the need to maximise the security and effectiveness of the 12 January military operation against the Houthis meant it was not possible to bring this matter to the House in advance. The Prime Minister came to update the House at the earliest possible opportunity. The Government remains committed to continuing to update the House.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many wives of deceased servicemen have been denied payments from the Armed Forces Pension Scheme as they were not married at the time of demobilisation in each of the past five years.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The information requested is not collated or held electronically. The information could only be generated at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many wives of deceased servicemen have been awarded discretionary pension payments despite not qualifying under the rules of the Armed Forces Pension Scheme in each of the last five years.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The Armed Forces Pension Scheme's rules are enshrined in legislation. Therefore, no discretionary pension payments can be made to an individual unless all eligibility criteria are met.
Delegated authority from the Defence Council does allow for consideration of cases in view of making a Discretionary Widows award. However, there are five strict qualifying criteria, and the widow must meet all five in order receive such a payment.
A central record of applications for a discretionary award is not kept. However, following a recent Freedom of Information Request a physical search of 144 widows-related enquiries received since 30 June 2022 identified eight cases where an application was made. Of these cases, seven met all the qualifying criteria and were accepted for a discretionary award. The one case that was rejected for the discretionary award failed to meet the full qualifying criteria.
To identify every application during the previous five years would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many successful claims have been processed by his Department from farmers for aborted livestock caused by low-flying military aircraft in (a) Wales and (b) each Welsh county in each of the last five years.
Answered by James Heappey
No low flying claims have been settled in relation to aborted livestock in Wales in the five-year period from 1 April 2018 to 31 March 2023.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will publish the total amount of compensation paid to Welsh farmers as a result of low-flying military activity for each of the past five years, broken down by Welsh county.
Answered by James Heappey
The total amount of compensation paid in relation to low flying claims in Wales in the five-year period from 1 April 2018 to 31 March 2023 is £136, 763.95 as set out in the table below. This represents the total paid to all members of the public irrespective of occupation. Not everyone who makes a claim will state their occupation eg farmer and the MOD is not always able to verify this information.
Financial Year | Welsh County | Compensation |
FY2018-19 |
| £27,654.70 |
| Carmarthenshire | £3,146.70 |
| Ceredigion | £1,008.00 |
| Conwy | £20,000.00 |
| Powys | £3,500.00 |
FY2019-20 |
| £67,369.06 |
| Conwy | £16,770.00 |
| Monmouthshire | £44,228.00 |
| Powys | £6,371.06 |
FY2020-21 |
| £32,810.36 |
| Carmarthenshire | £28,121.38 |
| Conwy | £4,425.00 |
| Isle of Anglesey | £193.98 |
| Torfaen | £70.00 |
FY2021-22 |
| £6,721.55 |
| Carmarthenshire | £1,950.22 |
| Ceredigion | £4,771.33 |
FY2022-23 |
| £2,208.28 |
| Carmarthenshire | £2,208.28 |
Total |
| £136,763.95 |
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many operational hours were flown in the Welsh Military Tactical Training Area in each of the past five years.
Answered by James Heappey
The military low flying statistics are published annually at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/the-pattern-of-military-low-flying-across-the-uk-index. The hours of Operational Low Flying training conducted in the Welsh Military Tactical Training Area (TTA 7T) are:
Financial Year | Operational Low Flying Hours |
2016-17 | 4 |
2017-18 | 4 |
2018-19 | 7 |
2019-20 | 0 |
2020-21 | 6 |
The hours for Financial Years 2021-22 and 2022-23 are currently being collated and will be published later in 2023. Low flying training in the United Kingdom ensures our Armed Forces are fully competent in a wide range of flying skills and tactics before they deploy on operations.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he plans to issue medals for nuclear test veterans before the Remembrance Sunday in November 2023.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 19 June 2023 to Question 189445 to the hon. Member for Luton South (Ms Hopkins).
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of deploying depleted uranium shells to Ukraine on (a) the environment and (b) civilian health.
Answered by James Heappey
Depleted uranium rounds obviously have a high impact upon those in the target armoured vehicle. Beyond that the effects are limited, primarily to the remains of the targeted vehicle and some potential heavy metal contamination localised around the impact zone. Radiation from depleted uranium is not discernible from natural background radiation at impact sites.
The use of depleted uranium munitions have been investigated by the Royal Society, World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Environmental Program, the International Atomic Energy Agency, NATO, the Centres for Disease Control, the European Commission, and others. None of these inquiries has documented long-term environmental or health effects attributable to use of these munitions. The WHO's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) places depleted uranium in 'group 3' - not carcinogenic to humans.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the nuclear emergency response policy following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Answered by James Heappey
There has been no need to review Defence nuclear emergency response policy in the context of the Russian invasion of Ukraine as it is focused on emergency preparedness and response requirements in the event of a radiation emergency involving UK defence nuclear assets. Adequacy and currency of the policy and associated emergency response arrangements are ensured through regular review and testing.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, for what reason records on Channel crossings by migrants will be published on a three month basis as opposed to daily records once responsibility is assumed by the navy.
Answered by James Heappey
Detailed planning for Operation ISOTROPE is underway and no final decisions have been made in relation to the frequency of reporting of Channel migration data by the Ministry of Defence. Further information will be made available to the House in due course.