Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Hammond of Runnymede and Jack Lopresti

Monday 17th March 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hammond]

There have been discussions with the trade unions and there will of course be further discussions with the trade unions as DE&S-plus develops its pay model, but we do have to face the reality that this part of the public service is very much commercial-facing. It deals with commercial bodies and it interacts and exchanges staff with commercial contractors, and we have to be able to pay competitive rates and we have to adopt competitive employment practices if we are to get the best deal for the taxpayer and the best deal for our armed forces.

[Jack Lopresti (Filton and Bradley Stoke) (Con)]

Does my right hon. Friend agree that reforming defence procurement is a key step in driving better value for money for the defence budget, and will he join me in paying tribute to the staff of DE&S in my constituency, especially those involved in the draw-down of kit and equipment from Afghanistan?

[Mr Hammond]

The staff at DE&S at Abbey Wood perform an extraordinary range of functions and play a vital part in this new whole-force concept. It is about how the armed forces work together, regulars and reserves, with civilian employees of the Ministry of Defence—whom I am happy to put on the record in the House today are not pen-pushers, as some parts of our media would have us believe, but vital components of our defence infrastructure.

Defence Procurement

Debate between Lord Hammond of Runnymede and Jack Lopresti

Tuesday 10th December 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hammond]

Yes, and if the hon. Gentleman talks to the defence industry, he will find that it is getting a clear and consistent signal. Let me be clear: this is—[Interruption.] I beg to disagree with the hon. Member for North Durham (Mr Jones): that is what the industry is saying. This is not about beating people up over their profit margins; it is about working together to try to ensure that we do projects in a way that can deliver value for money. It is about not letting contracts where the costs of any overruns are split 90% to the taxpayer and 10% to the industry. No wonder the industry is having a quiet word with the hon. Gentleman.

[Jack Lopresti (Filton and Bradley Stoke) (Con)]

Will the Secretary of State give the House an assurance that, although difficult decisions will be made, with potentially a detrimental effect on some staff at DE&S, these decisions will be made intelligently and with great sensitivity? Given what has been, to say the least, quite a long period of uncertainty, can he give an assurance about when staff at DE&S will receive some much needed clarity on how the plans will affect them individually?

[Mr Hammond]

We are 800 posts gapped in DE&S at the moment, so this is not some project to reduce the number of staff. The objective is to increase the number of staff by filling some of the gapped posts, but as the process takes place—this will not happen immediately—there will need to be a more robust approach to upskilling staff and monitoring their performance, to ensure we have the right people in the right jobs and with the right support to deliver the outcome we need. However, there is no transfer going on and no TUPE involved. I can give my hon. Friend an assurance that those concerned will remain in the public sector and remain covered by the public sector protections that they already enjoy today.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Hammond of Runnymede and Jack Lopresti

Monday 4th November 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Philip Hammond]

As we announced in our reserves basing plan, a small number of TA centres will close and consolidate. We have made a commitment that we will provide reservists with the latest equipment and training opportunities with their Regular Army counterparts. We can do that only by consolidating so that there are units of critical mass. In most cases, the consolidations are taking place within urban conurbations. We expect there to be few cases of people who are not within reasonable travelling distance of the next nearest reserve base.

[Jack Lopresti (Filton and Bradley Stoke) (Con)]

T9. Given that the MOD’s figures suggest that the present TA mobilisation rate is 40%, what research or evidence is there to justify the Secretary of State’s contention that that mobilisation will be doubled under the reserve forces plan?

[Mr Hammond]

I am not entirely sure that I understand my hon. Friend’s question. Under Future Force 2020, we would expect the reservist component of the deployed force on an enduring operation eventually to get to 40%. The construct that we are planning is designed to support that level. That level is still lower than what many of our English speaking allies routinely expect to use.

Afghanistan

Debate between Lord Hammond of Runnymede and Jack Lopresti

Wednesday 19th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hammond]

On the first part of the question, I cannot tell the hon. Gentleman off the top of my head what the total expenditure has been since the beginning of the operation in 2001, but I am happy to write to him to give him those numbers. I think they have been published, but I am very happy to write to him and place a copy in the Library.

On the hon. Gentleman’s second point about poverty, Afghanistan is still a very poor country, but its economy has been growing, and although it is of course relative, there is a strong sense in Afghanistan of growing prosperity. People are able to get their goods to market; if they farm their produce, they can actually sell it. There is investment in towns and cities, and the economy has been growing at 9% a year for the last few years. Those are positive signs for ordinary Afghan people, and the progress that has been made in moving the combat—the insurgency—out of the populated centres is crucial in restoring confidence in the local economy and allowing it to thrive and prosper.

[Jack Lopresti (Filton and Bradley Stoke) (Con)]

My right hon. Friend will be aware that Defence Equipment and Support is based in my constituency. Will he join me in paying tribute to DES for all the work it has done over the entire deployment, making sure that we have the right kit and the right people in the right place at the right time? Will he give us an assurance that DES will have all the resources it needs as the draw-down begins to take place, so that equipment and personnel can be brought back efficiently and on time?

[Mr Hammond]

I am happy to join my hon. Friend in paying tribute to Defence Equipment and Support, and in particular to draw attention to the extremely efficient way in which the UOR process has worked throughout both this conflict and the Iraq conflict before it. Resources will of course be available for the recovery of our personnel and equipment, and a huge logistic operation is beginning to get under way—reopening the reverse lines of communication both through the northern stans and Pakistan—to bring that vast amount of equipment out of theatre.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Hammond of Runnymede and Jack Lopresti

Monday 26th November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Jack Lopresti (Filton and Bradley Stoke) (Con)]

11. What assessment he has made of likely UK military commitments in Afghanistan in 2015.

[The Secretary of State for Defence (Mr Philip Hammond)]

The UK and the international community are committed to Afghanistan for the long term. As part of our enduring legacy in Afghanistan, UK troops will support the continuing development of the Afghan national security forces by mentoring trainers at the Afghan national army officer academy. In addition, it is likely that some troops will remain in a non-combat role after the end of 2014 to complete the recovery of our equipment. Beyond that, no decisions have yet been made about any longer-term UK mission in Afghanistan, but detailed planning with NATO and other allies is ongoing. We are clear, however, that we will not be involved in a combat role after 31 December 2014.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Hammond]

Speaking for the United Kingdom, it is not our intention to remain in a combat role after the end of 2014. That would include combat drone strikes.

[Jack Lopresti]

Does my right hon. Friend agree that international support for Afghanistan beyond 2014 must be sufficient to send a clear message to insurgents that they cannot wait us out?

[Mr Hammond]

There are two audiences in this matter: the Afghan national security forces, to whom we need to send a clear signal that they will have the continuing support of the international community as they take over responsibility for security in their own country, and the Taliban—the insurgents—who need to understand that they cannot simply adopt a policy of trying to wait us out, and that we will not abandon Afghanistan but will support it as it takes over responsibility for its own security and for containing the insurgency beyond the end of 2014.

Future Reserves 2020

Debate between Lord Hammond of Runnymede and Jack Lopresti

Thursday 8th November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hammond]

Yes. Best practice involves a high level of such integration being delivered on operations. I must say that that has probably not been uniformly the case, but it is certainly the model for the future.

[Jack Lopresti (Filton and Bradley Stoke) (Con)]

Can my right hon. Friend assure the House that the welcome £1.8 billion in increased funding for the reserve forces will be used exclusively for the reserve forces, and will not somehow find its way into the budgets of the regular forces, which has happened in the past?

[Mr Hammond]

From all the discussions I have been involved in, I can assure my hon. Friend—who I know has deployed as a reservist in Afghanistan—that the traffic is the other way. If anything, the Army is planning to invest rather more in the reserves than the announced budget suggests.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Hammond of Runnymede and Jack Lopresti

Monday 22nd October 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hammond]

Shortly.

[Jack Lopresti (Filton and Bradley Stoke) (Con)]

Given the Secretary of State’s past comments about the failure of the private sector to fulfil its obligations in regard to Olympic security, does he have similar doubts about the outsourcing of procurement at Defence Equipment and Support, which is based in my constituency?

[Mr Hammond]

I think that my hon. Friend is referring to comments about the security arrangements for the Olympic games. Let me say this: there are things that are best done in the sector, and there are things that are better done in the private sector. Our proposals for DE and S are an attempt to get the best of both worlds by bringing in private sector management expertise to work alongside highly skilled civilian and military professionals who have specialist knowledge of military procurement.

Afghanistan (Troop Levels)

Debate between Lord Hammond of Runnymede and Jack Lopresti

Thursday 26th April 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hammond]

The hon. Lady is absolutely right. One striking statistic shows the percentage of the reintegrees—horrible word—who have joined the peace and reconciliation programme whose original gripe with the Afghan Government had nothing to do with ideology, but was a land dispute or some other local dispute that led them to feel disfranchised and disillusioned with Afghan society. Sometimes it was a reaction to the corruption that is still, I am afraid, only too endemic. She is right that there is a hard core of people who are ideologically motivated, but there is also a much softer group of insurgents who are alienated from Afghan society but not ideologically motivated against it. That represents fertile territory for the reconciliation programme.

[Jack Lopresti (Filton and Bradley Stoke) (Con)]

Does the Secretary of State believe that our troops have the kit and equipment they need to continue to do the job effectively?

[Mr Hammond]

I am happy to tell my hon. Friend that when Brigadier Patrick Sanders, who commanded 20th Armoured Brigade during Herrick 15, was in the House on Tuesday evening, he said, as Members who were there will have heard, that the equipment that he had available during his tour was the best that he had known in his 26 years in the Army. The soldiers who are fighting for us have the best personal protection equipment they have ever had and their commanders have the enablers that they need. I have no doubt that, at long last, we have the kit that we need to fight this campaign.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Hammond of Runnymede and Jack Lopresti

Monday 20th February 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hammond]

The announcement made at the summit last week was to advance the assessment phase of the unmanned aerial vehicle project, which involves £44 million of expenditure split between British Aerospace and Dassault. I cannot give the hon. Lady an exact estimate of the number of jobs that that will create in BAE, but I am happy to write to her to give her the best estimate I can.

[Jack Lopresti (Filton and Bradley Stoke) (Con)]

T3. Can the Secretary of State update the House on progress made at the recent Anglo-French summit—if any?

[Mr Hammond]

The Anglo-French summit consisted of two separate parts. First, there was a defence meeting where we were able to have direct discussions with my counterpart in France and talk about all the joint procurement programmes and opportunities that we see for collaborating together in future—for example, in the combined joint expeditionary force—and for procuring together as both defence budgets come under financial pressure. The broader summit conducted between the President and the Prime Minister reasserted at the highest level the desire of the two countries to work together in areas such as nuclear collaboration and the unmanned aerial programme.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Hammond of Runnymede and Jack Lopresti

Monday 19th December 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hammond]

We have a clear plan for the completion of the mission in Afghanistan, which involves transitioning lead security responsibility to the ever more competent Afghan national security forces. That will be done over the next three years, resulting in the withdrawal of the overwhelming majority of our forces by the end of 2014 and the ending of our combat role. That is the position that most people in this country would want to see: a measured and properly controlled winding down of our involvement that protects the legacy that we have won with so much blood and treasure.

[Jack Lopresti (Filton and Bradley Stoke) (Con)]

Will my right hon. Friend assure the House that any reduction in UK force strength in Afghanistan will be based on the improving situation on the ground, not on any political expediency?