Asked by: Kevan Jones (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Answer of 3 October 2023 to Question 197591 on Defence: Buildings, what progress the Office for Government Property has made on collating information on the Defence Estate.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Office for Government Property (OGP) conducted a data capture exercise to bring together the information we hold about the Government estate into one place, which we have since used in conjunction with individual departments to encourage them to conclude their identification stage. This has aided in identifying a list of confirmed Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete across individual department’s estates.
Each department owns the data relating to specific locations, identification and remediation plans within their estate.
Asked by: Kevan Jones (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what his Department's planned timescale is for launching the procurement for the wideband satellite system element of the Skynet 6 programme.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The competition for the Skynet wideband satellite procurement commenced on 31 May 2023. After detailed pre-qualification activity, an invitation to negotiate was issued to three groups on 14 November 2023 with the first bids expected back for assessment on 20 March 2024.
Asked by: Kevan Jones (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Answer of 3 October 2023 to Question 197591 on Defence: Buildings, when his Department commissioned surveys on buildings that may have been constructed using Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Surveys are ongoing on all buildings which may have been constructed using RAAC.
The Defence Infrastructure Organisation determined what buildings on Ministry of Defence land might potentially contain Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) material based on the period in which they were constructed and their construction type.
Asked by: Kevan Jones (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Answer of 3 October 2023 to Question 197591 on Defence: Buildings, how many surveys have been completed.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Surveys are ongoing on all buildings which may have been constructed using RAAC.
The Defence Infrastructure Organisation determined what buildings on Ministry of Defence land might potentially contain Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) material based on the period in which they were constructed and their construction type.
Asked by: Kevan Jones (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the out-of-service date is for the Royal Navy's Type 45 destroyers.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
On current plans, the last Type 45 Destroyer will retire from service by the end of 2038.
Asked by: Kevan Jones (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 16 January 2024 to Question 9179 on HMS Prince of Wales, who is conducting investigations into the illegal salvage of the wreck of HMS Prince of Wales; and when he expects those investigations to conclude.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The Malaysian authorities have primacy regarding the investigations into the illegal salvage of the wreck of HMS Prince of Wales, as investigations are ongoing it would be inappropriate to speculate when these will conclude.
Asked by: Kevan Jones (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 18 December 2023 to Question 6769 on Ministry of Defence: Written Questions, when he plans to respond to Question 4952 on Defence: Buildings tabled by the Rt hon. Member for North Durham on 4 December 2023 for Answer on 7 December 2023.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
I responded to the right hon. Member on 19 January 2024.
Asked by: Kevan Jones (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 4 December 2023 to Question 4359 on Defence: Buildings, in how many and what proportion of the 11,602 buildings for which a survey has been completed has RAAC been identified.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
I refer the right hon. Member to the answer I gave on 3 October 2023 to Question 197591 to the hon. Member for Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport (Mr Luke Pollard)
Asked by: Kevan Jones (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to protect historic shipwrecks in South East Asia belonging to the UK from illegal salvage.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
As a matter of customary international law, all naval warships, state vessels and associated artefacts are afforded protection through the principle of Sovereign Immunity. The UK is of the view that, unless expressly relinquished or abandoned by the Flag State, the Sovereign Immunity of the wreck of any Crown vessel remains in place, regardless of where the wreck in question is located, and those who lost their lives in service of our country should be left in situ and undisturbed.
Some warships are also afforded additional protection under the Protection of Military Remains Act. We strongly condemn any desecration of any maritime military grave. Where we have evidence of desecration of our historic shipwrecks we will take appropriate action, including working with regional Governments and partners to prevent inappropriate activity at such sites.
Asked by: Kevan Jones (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent discussions he has had with defence partners on sovereign immunity of historic shipwrecks.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
As a matter of customary international law, all naval warships, state vessels and associated artefacts are afforded protection through the principle of Sovereign Immunity. The UK is of the view that, unless expressly relinquished or abandoned by the Flag State, the Sovereign Immunity of the wreck of any Crown vessel remains in place, regardless of where the wreck in question is located, and those who lost their lives in service of our country should be left in situ and undisturbed.
Discussions are ongoing with our Defence partners to ensure that current legislation provides sufficient protection for our historic wrecks.