Oral Answers to Questions

Julie Hilling Excerpts

Monday 14th July 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Dunne]

My hon. Friend is right to draw attention to the importance of the F-35 programme to businesses up and down this country, including in Gloucestershire. Last year, the F-35 suffered an engine incident, which is being investigated. It is absolutely right that the safety of aircrew and aircraft are of paramount importance, rather than seeking to attend air shows around the world. Obviously, we would welcome the F-35 once it has been declared safe, and we are still hopeful that it will arrive at Farnborough before the air show finishes.

[Julie Hilling (Bolton West) (Lab)]

T7. Although today’s announcement is welcome for companies in my constituency such as MBDA, which is of course at Farnborough this week, does the Secretary of State think that announcing a re-spend on things that he cut in the first place will make up for the hundreds of millions of pounds wasted on botched decision making, bad equipment decisions, IT failure, a recruitment crisis and collapsed procurement reforms on his watch?

Oral Answers to Questions

Julie Hilling Excerpts

Monday 3rd February 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hammond]

Yes, on two levels. Clearly, we have an important and developing bilateral operational military relationship with France, which we intend to build on still further in the future. We absolutely recognise the need for collaboration between European countries in defence capability. What we do not want to see is the duplication—or duplicity—of capability that already exists in NATO in the European Union, chewing up resources that we really cannot afford to waste on additional structures.

[Julie Hilling (Bolton West) (Lab)]

While the Government are making cuts to the armed forces, how can they justify spending £66 million on consultants? Is it true that much of that £66 million was spent on the Secretary of State’s failed GoCo procurement? Will he be asking for the money back?

[Mr Dunne]

I am interested that the hon. Lady has given us an opportunity to highlight the amount of money that was spent on external consultants under the previous Administration. While this Government have undertaken transformational change in this Parliament and spent £45 million last year on external specialist advice, the previous Government did no transformation in defence and spent £120 million in 2007-08.

Oral Answers to Questions

Julie Hilling Excerpts

Monday 17th June 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Francois]

I take a close personal interest in the issue of veterans’ housing. In March I met Hugh Milroy of Veterans Aid, and I subsequently visited New Belvedere house, a hostel for homeless veterans in Limehouse, east London. Last month I visited a community self-build project for veterans in Bedminster in Bristol. The Government have asked the community to show their commitment to the services and the veterans of our country, in some cases via local authorities, and I am pleased to say that 331 councils, including all those in Scotland, have signed a community covenant. I am sure that that will help our service personnel when they become veterans and seek housing in the future.

[Julie Hilling (Bolton West) (Lab)]

Was the Minister as shocked as I was to read of the families of service people who have been made redundant and who are being evicted from their service housing when they have nowhere else to go? What is he going to do about that?

[Mr Francois]

I am not sure from the hon. Lady’s question, but she might be referring to one case that has achieved prominence in the media this morning regarding a member of the Parachute Regiment. If she is referring to that case, my private office is already looking into the issue and I hope there might be some way in which we can help.

Oral Answers to Questions

Julie Hilling Excerpts

Monday 14th January 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Francois]

I pay tribute to my hon. Friend, who, as many in the House will know, was mobilised and saw active service on behalf of his country on Operation Herrick and therefore clearly understands this issue very well. I stress to him that we considered this question carefully in the consultation, and we are mindful that, proportionally, for some smaller and medium-sized employers it is a greater challenge to let reservists go and be deployed than it is for some larger organisations. We have been talking to employers about it and intend to set out the way forward when we publish the White Paper in the spring.

[Julie Hilling (Bolton West) (Lab)]

Will the Government legislate to ensure that employers cannot discriminate against reservists in their hiring policies, promotion or in other ways in the workplace?

[Mr Francois]

I understand exactly the hon. Lady’s question, and we will lay out our proposals when we publish the White Paper in the spring. At the moment, our instinct is not to legislate and to try and persuade, but we understand the difficulty and will address the issue specifically when we publish the White Paper.

Oral Answers to Questions

Julie Hilling Excerpts

Monday 26th November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Dunne]

My hon. Friend is well aware that the arrangements entered into whereby the UK became a tier-1 partner in the JSF programme mean that 15% of the aircraft’s components are manufactured in this country, securing more than 25,000 jobs.

[Julie Hilling (Bolton West) (Lab)]

5. What recent progress he has made on enabling businesses to employ members of the reserves.

[The Minister of State, Ministry of Defence (Mr Mark Francois)]

The Government are fully committed to delivering reserve forces that are integral to and integrated with the regular forces, and we are investing an additional £1.8 billion over the next 10 years to meet that aim. Our aspirations, as set out in the “Future Reserves 2020” Green Paper, will require a closer relationship with employers, based on partnering and on giving greater predictability and certainty to the employer, the reservist and the Ministry of Defence.

[Julie Hilling]

What specific support have the Government put in place for small and medium-sized enterprises to employ reservists, given that SMEs will face the greatest struggle to achieve this?

[Mr Francois]

When we mobilise a reservist we already provide financial assistance to employers, to help both with recruiting an additional employee and to pay some marginal additional costs for their employment in certain circumstances. We are examining this area extremely closely in the context of the Green Paper and if we have further proposals to announce to strengthen things even further, we will make them plain in the White Paper in the spring of next year.

Oral Answers to Questions

Julie Hilling Excerpts

Monday 22nd October 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hammond]

As my hon. Friend would expect, the Ministry of Defence has a close working relationship with BAE Systems as our largest supplier. The company has a substantial order book, a profitable business and strong cash flow, and it will continue to operate as an independent British business. Clearly, it will face challenges as its principal customers shrink their budgets, and it will need to adapt its business model for the future.

[Julie Hilling (Bolton West) (Lab)]

4. What recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on steps to ensure that seriously wounded war veterans will receive a minimum of £130 per week towards the cost of care and living.

[The Minister of State, Ministry of Defence (Mr Mark Francois)]

The Defence Secretary has regular discussions with his Cabinet colleagues regarding the support provided to those who have been seriously wounded while serving in the armed forces. The matter has also been discussed by the Cabinet Sub-Committee on the Armed Forces Covenant. Work on minimum payments is at an early stage, but Ministry of Defence officials continue to work closely with the Department for Work and Pensions to develop the support that we provide to service personnel and veterans.

[Julie Hilling]

There seems to be a little hope in the Minister’s answer. Will he say what is being done now about veterans who have already lost their disability living allowance? My constituent Aaron Moon lost his leg in Afghanistan and had more than six months without disability living allowance. Surely that is not the right way to treat our wounded heroes.

Oral Answers to Questions

Julie Hilling Excerpts

Monday 14th March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Nick Harvey]

We keep under constant review the progress made in different parts of the world, and apply that against the criteria. I assure the right hon. Gentleman that the Government recognise the significance of defence exports and the rigorous controls that are in place. Exports bring great value to the economy, industry and defence. They contribute not only to our defence diplomacy, but to the interoperability of our systems with those of our allies around the world.

[Julie Hilling (Bolton West) (Lab)]

5. How much of the sum allocated by his Department to the Trident replacement concept phase has been transferred from its budget for the assessment phase.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence (Peter Luff)]

The concept phase for the programme to replace the Vanguard submarine was extended to allow potential designs to be developed more fully, and to allow the value for money of the programme to be reviewed. The previous Government approved a sum of about £255 million for that extension, and this January the coalition Government authorised an additional sum of about £25 million.

[Julie Hilling]

On 19 October last year, the Prime Minister said that

“a proper full replacement of Trident is the right option for the future.”—[Official Report, 19 October 2010; Vol. 516, c. 805.]

However, on 10 March, the Liberal Democrat chairman, the hon. Member for Westmorland and Lonsdale (Tim Farron), said:

“I’m pretty confident there will not be a full replacement.”

Will the Minister please tell us what the formal, agreed coalition Government policy is on Trident replacement?

[Peter Luff]

The coalition Government are committed to the replacement of the Trident submarine, but our Liberal Democrat colleagues have the right to argue another position.