Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Michael Fallon and Daniel Kawczynski

Monday 10th July 2017 Commons Chamber

[Daniel Kawczynski (Shrewsbury and Atcham) (Con)]

6. What contribution the Government are making to NATO’s reassurance measures in Estonia and Poland.

[The Secretary of State for Defence (Sir Michael Fallon)]

The United Kingdom is supporting NATO’s enhanced Forward Presence, which is designed to defend our allies and deter our adversaries. About 800 UK personnel based on armoured infantry form the core of our battlegroup in Estonia. In Poland, a British reconnaissance squadron is part of the US-led battlegroup. Both deployments are defensive but combat-capable.

[Sir Michael Fallon]

It is good that both Congress and, now, the President have committed themselves to article 5, the most important principle of NATO. In Washington on Friday, Secretary Mattis and I agreed to continue our work together to modernise NATO and give it more focus on counter-terrorism and hybrid warfare. As my hon. Friend has said, one of the reasons that our contribution to the enhanced Forward Presence is based in Estonia is indeed our good experience of working with Estonian forces in Helmand, Afghanistan.

[Daniel Kawczynski]

Joint military exercises in the Suwalki gap are obviously very welcome, as are rotational deployments of troops in Poland, but when will the United Kingdom use its senior position in NATO to press that organisation for a permanent NATO base in eastern Poland?

[Sir Michael Fallon]

Our defence relationship with Poland is close. Since the beginning of 2016 I have met Minister Macierewicz at least five times, and we aim to sign a defence treaty with Poland later this year. NATO, of course, already has a small permanent base in Poland, the Multinational Corps Northeast headquarters in Szczecin, to which the United Kingdom contributes personnel.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Michael Fallon and Daniel Kawczynski

Monday 18th January 2016 Commons Chamber

[Michael Fallon]

I can give the hon. Lady the assurance that she seeks. It takes more than 10 years to build one of those nuclear ballistic submarines and we need to get on and replace the existing Vanguard boats, which will become obsolescent towards the end of the 2020s. In the strategic defence review at the end of November we set out our commitment to replace all four boats, and I hope it will not be too long before Parliament is asked to endorse that commitment.

[Daniel Kawczynski (Shrewsbury and Atcham) (Con)]

Despite his obvious differences with Russia over Crimea and Ukraine, will the Secretary of State give me an assurance that he will redouble efforts to engage with his Russian counterpart on fighting collaboratively against Daesh in Syria?

[Michael Fallon]

I am not currently engaged in any discussions with my Russian counterpart. The illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014 and Russia’s continuing support to separatists in eastern Ukraine do not allow a return to normal engagement. However, in the interests of air and maritime safety, I have authorised MOD officials to undertake limited military-to-military engagement with the Russians to ensure that our own airspace is properly protected.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Michael Fallon and Daniel Kawczynski

Thursday 10th April 2014 Commons Chamber

[Daniel Kawczynski (Shrewsbury and Atcham) (Con)]

4. What recent assessment he has made of the performance of UK Trade & Investment in supporting exports.

[The Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (Michael Fallon)]

The most up-to-date independently audited figures show that in the 12 months to September 2013, UKTI supported nearly 35,000 businesses. The value of additional sales attributed to UKTI support over that period was more than £50 billion. UKTI is on track to meet its target to assist 40,000 businesses in 2013-14.

[Daniel Kawczynski]

In export week, I welcome that news, but what concrete steps are being taken by UKTI to reform its structure, personnel and strategy in order to ensure that we meet the Government’s £1 trillion target for exports?

[Michael Fallon]

My hon. Friend will be aware, because I know he takes a strong interest in this area, of the reforms to UKTI, which is now working closely with British businesses. This week, I attended the world’s leading trade and industrial technology fair in Hanover and saw UKTI working with the Birmingham chamber of commerce to provide support for 40 UK companies. It is estimated that from that fair alone some £5 million-worth of orders are in the pipeline.

Staff

Debate between Michael Fallon and Daniel Kawczynski

Wednesday 5th December 2012 Ministerial Corrections

[Daniel Kawczynski]

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many staff UK Trade and Investment employs in (a) Mauritania, (b) Morocco, (c) Algeria, (d) Tunisia, (e) Libya, (f) Egypt, (g) Israel, (h) Lebanon, (i) Jordan, (j) Iraq, (k) Saudi Arabia, (l) United Arab Emirates, (m) Bahrain, (n) Qatar and (o) Oman.

[Official Report, 26 November 2012, Vol. 554, c. 115-16W.]

Letter of correction from Michael Fallon:

An error has been identified in the written answer given to the hon. Member for Shrewsbury and Atcham (Daniel Kawczynski) on 26 November 2012. Due to an administrative error, the figure for full-time equivalent (FTE) UKTI staff working in Israel excluded those working within the investment complement.

The full answer given was as follows:

[Michael Fallon]

UKTI is not an employer in its own right; for the majority of its human resource requirements it draws on civil service staff employed by one or other of its two parent Departments—the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO)—and staff from its private sector contractors.

The following figures are the full-time equivalent of people working to UKTI objectives in each market, bearing in mind that some staff on the network work across multiple objectives and record the appropriate percentage of their time to each. These figures were compiled after the end of Q2 of this financial year, and are the most up to date currently available. Inevitably there may have been some changes to these figures since they were compiled.