Maritime Security

Lord West of Spithead Excerpts

Thursday 5th September 2019 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Vere of Norbiton]

I assure the noble Lord that the funding is currently for one year, but the department recognises the critical work that these two organisations do, and it will be pressing very hard for a longer-term commitment in future.

[Lord West of Spithead (Lab)]

I thank the Minister for that positive response about the funding. We have been trying to do that for a long time. The Minister will know that the previous Labour Government set up the NMIC, so I am delighted it is going down the right track. However, we have a dearth of assets among all the departments, including the Navy, which is responsible for our offshore tapestry—our territorial seas and protection of the coast—so it is essential that those few assets are properly co-ordinated. Can the Minister assure me that the man now in charge of this centre has the authority to take command and control of assets belonging to different departments to respond to a specific emergency?

[Baroness Vere of Norbiton]

It is always a pleasure to receive a question from the noble Lord. Indeed, the man now in charge is in your Lordships’ House today. It was, of course, the current Government who set up JMOCC, which works very closely with the NMIC. The noble Lord is quite right that maritime assets are spread over a number of organisations: Border Force, the Royal Navy and the coastguard. Co-ordination of these assets is incredibly important. JMOCC was set up in October 2017, so it is not even two years old. It has a lot of capability to deal with live incidents and make sure that maritime assets are in the right place. One of the things this £9 million will do is provide extra capacity so that a planning team can be built to make sure we have optimum deployment of all vessels where we need them.

Operation Brock

Lord West of Spithead Excerpts

Monday 8th April 2019 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Sugg]

My Lords, of course we aim to ensure that all movement through ports will continue to be as frictionless as possible in a no-deal scenario so that the effects on businesses using the Port of Dover and the Channel Tunnel are minimised. To achieve this, our modelling for roll-on roll-off freight moves the customs processes away from the border. Furthermore, in early February HMRC announced transitional simplified procedures, which will help businesses using those facilities. But, as I say, we are working hard to mitigate any disruption caused by additional checks.

[Lord West of Spithead (Lab)]

My Lords, the Minister will be aware that the M20 provides access to the Cinque Ports, which of course gathered together in a time of crisis because our nation did not have enough ships. Does the Minister think there is a similar technique we could use to resolve the problem we have at the moment of too few ships?

[Baroness Sugg]

I am not sure I can comment on that specific solution. We are of course working very closely with the local resilience forums and all ports to ensure that we mitigate disruption wherever possible.

Maritime 2050 Strategy

Lord West of Spithead Excerpts

Wednesday 13th March 2019 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Sugg]

My Lords, we have the excellent Maritime Growth Study, which was led by the noble Lord, Lord Mountevans, with a review published last year. I agree with the noble Lord that we must do what we can to support the ports around our country. We have made great progress in ensuring that the UK has a strong maritime sector, with several billion pounds-worth of investment having been made across UK ports in recent years. The technology factor which the noble Lord has highlighted is something that we focus on in the strategy.

[Lord West of Spithead (Lab)]

My Lords, I welcome this document but it is rather light on action. I am delighted that the Minister has said that it is harnessing my enthusiasm to try to do something about it—I would like to try to show that I have some enthusiasm for it. My question relates to shipbuilding and ship repair. There is no doubt that that is a crucial part of all of this. We have heard mention of Appledore already. We are about to go for competition for what I hope will be three solid support ships for the Royal Navy. Surely those ships should be built in the United Kingdom so that we can get the full benefit of maintaining high-level, high-tech jobs. We would not have to close shipyards or make people redundant. We can use British steel and there is absolutely no reason that we cannot build such ships in this country, because there is no requirement to put them to open competition.

[Baroness Sugg]

My Lords, I believe that a global competition is running on that, but a British consortium is bidding. As I said earlier, we published the National Shipbuilding Strategy in 2017 which will help transform naval and commercial shipbuilding and the related procurement process. It details a new and competitive approach to the delivery of shipbuilding in this country.

Gatwick Airport

Lord West of Spithead Excerpts

Thursday 20th December 2018 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Sugg]

My Lords, technology is rapidly advancing in this area. That is absolutely something that we are looking at. As I said, part of the consultation we did earlier this year was on counterdrone technology and we will be announcing our next steps on that very soon.

[Lord West of Spithead (Lab)]

My Lords, our military and GCHQ have also developed techniques to identify the frequency very rapidly and either jam it or take control of the drone and land it. Is this ability being given more broadly to various airports? How is this being done? Clearly, we have not taken any action for a number of years to try to resolve this issue.

[Baroness Sugg]

My Lords, as I said, all relevant parts of the Government, including the Ministry of Defence, are working on this issue today to try to resolve it as quickly as possible. We are working on the new technology that is available to ensure that such an incident does not happen again. It is not acceptable that passengers have faced such disruption ahead of Christmas and we are doing all we can to resolve it as quickly as possible.

Railways: Timetables

Lord West of Spithead Excerpts

Tuesday 17th July 2018 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Sugg]

My Lords, I must admit that I have not read that guide but I look forward to reading it over the Summer Recess.

[Lord West of Spithead (Lab)]

My Lords, I have asked this question before but it was not answered. Because the French own it, have the Government had any discussions with the French Government about the appalling service in the Southern region?

[Baroness Sugg]

My Lords, we work carefully with all the train operating companies. I do not believe that we have discussed that detail with the French Government, but if that is not the case I will certainly write to the noble Lord.

Heathrow Airport

Lord West of Spithead Excerpts

Thursday 7th June 2018 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Sugg]

I am afraid that I cannot predict exactly what is to happen with future flights. All I can do is to reiterate our support for regional airports. Another announcement we made yesterday was on making best use of existing capacity, which will allow regional airports to grow as long as they get permission from the local authority area. As I said, regional airports are supportive of Heathrow expansion and, even with that expansion, we expect them to continue to grow.

[Lord West of Spithead (Lab)]

My Lords, notwith- standing all the complexities and costs, this thing has been studied to death. Does the Minister not agree that it is about time that we jolly well got on and did it, because it is so important for UK aviation and UK industry?

[Baroness Sugg]

I could not agree more with the noble Lord. We are in desperate need of expanded capacity in this country if we are to continue to succeed as a nation. I would very much like it if we could proceed.

Aviation

Lord West of Spithead Excerpts

Monday 26th June 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan]

The whole issue of Brexit and how liberalised air transport will go forward will be the subject of negotiation. We want to ensure seamless access to European air transport matters, and I am sure the European aviation industry will want to access UK policy, too.

[Lord West of Spithead (Lab)]

My Lords, talking of aircraft, the Minister will be aware that the aircraft carrier HMS “Queen Elizabeth” is, as we speak, negotiating out of the fitting-out basin in Rosyth. Will he pass his best wishes to the ship’s company of that great ship, which for 50 years will ensure the security of our nation?

[Lord Callanan]

Vast though my responsibilities are, they do not yet include aircraft carriers.