Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the answer of 2 January 2025, to Question 98109, on Ministry of Defence: public appointments, whether any of those appointments made a declaration of political activity.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
All Direct Ministerial Appointees are required to complete a declaration, and any positive answers to the political question are considered, risk assessed and necessary mitigations put in place if required.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, further to the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for government’s most important contracts, Data for July to September 2025, published on 25 December 2025, and the Defence Digital contracts with KPMG LLP, for what reason is Tackling Eco Inequality, Fighting Climate Change, Health & Wellbeing deemed to be key performance indicators for the defence contract.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
In relation to the defence contract, the social values chosen align to the requirements of the contract and the rationale of social value. Furthermore, it is also a mandatory requirement for Social Value to form Key Performance Indicators within public sector contracts, in accordance with guidance with the Procurement Policy Notice (PPN) 2.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the answer of 18 November 2025, to Question 88284, on Military Aircraft, what is the aggregate volume of CO2 emissions that have been reported for domestic and overseas Ministerial flights on the Envoy and Voyager since July 2024; and what was the aggregate cost of carbon credits for those flights.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The total volume of CO2 emissions in Tonnes (TCO2) and the cost of carbon credits of the flights for the duration of 1 July 2024 - 31 December 2024 is listed below.
UK Emissions Trading Scheme
240.285 TCO2
£12,975.38 Carbon credits including VAT
EU Emissions Trading Scheme
237.787 TCO2
£17,120.66 Carbon credits including VAT
TOTAL UK and EU Emissions Trading Scheme
478.072 TCO2
£30,096.04 Carbon credits including VAT
The same data is not available for 1 January 2025 - 31 December 2025 as it has not yet been released by EuroControl. The Ministry of Defence will not purchase carbon credits prior to establishing the total TCO2 figure for this duration. The total cost will not be available until 31 March 2026.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the answer of 15 December 2025, to Question 98492, on F-35 Aircraft: Nuclear Weapons, whether a decision to (a) launch a US sovereign nuclear weapon from the UK's F-35A planes whilst on a particular NATO mission, or to (b) participate more generally in a NATO nuclear mission, would require the authorisation of the Prime Minister.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
As with the answer given to the hon. Member on 15 December 2025 to Question 98492, I refer him to the answers I gave on 8 September and 11 November 2025 to Questions 70471 and 87345 respectively.
https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2025-08-29/70471
https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2025-11-03/87345
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 12 February 2025 to Question 28585 on Admiralty House, whether the Secretary of State for Defence occupied the residence as a (a) primary or (b) secondary residence from September to November 2024; and whether he occupied the same flat as subsequently occupied by the then Deputy Prime Minister.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
As has been the case under successive administrations, the allocation of official Ministerial residences, including Admiralty House, is determined by the Prime Minister on the grounds of security or to enable Ministers to better perform their official duties. During the period from September to November 2024, the Secretary of State for Defence occupied Admiralty House on a time-limited basis. The property was used on a second residence basis.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether launching a US sovereign nuclear weapon from the UK's F-35A planes would require the authorisation of the Prime Minister.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
I refer the hon. Member to the answers I gave him on 8 September and 11 November 2025 to Questions 70471 and 87345 respectively.
https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2025-08-29/70471
https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2025-11-03/87345
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 18 July 2025 to Question 66652 on Military Aircraft: Ministers, what the total cost to the public purse was for those tasks.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The total cost for Government Minsters travel on the RAF Command Support Air Transport between 3 July 2024 and 4 July 2025 is £858,724.23. This was approximately 51.3% lower than the previous year.
Some elements included in the total cost are air passenger duty, catering, insurance, fuel, civilian airfield usage, landing & handling fees.
Since my response to Question 66652, I can confirm that an additional task has been identified which is in scope and the total costs cover 44 tasks, that were completed between 4 July 2024 and 18 July 2025.
It has been the practice of successive administrations not to publish granular information relating to the official movements of Ministers and those accompanying them within the United Kingdom. Information about official overseas travel is published as part of the Cabinet Office transparency returns and made available on the GOV.UK website.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many applications for the restoration of honours or medals have been received since February 2021; and how many have been granted in each year since.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
Since 2021, the Ministry of Defence has received 24 applications for the restoration of medals from, or on behalf of, LGBT Veterans who had forfeited medals. Nine of these cases were found to be eligible for restoration, usually qualifying under the Government’s disregard process for convictions for decriminalised sexual offences (consensual gay sex).
The annual breakdown of applications received, and of those approved, is:
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many applications for the restoration of honours or medals have been received since February 2021; and how many have been granted in each year since then.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
Since 2021, the Ministry of Defence has received 24 applications for the restoration of medals from, or on behalf of, LGBT Veterans who had forfeited medals. Nine of these cases were found to be eligible for restoration, usually qualifying under the Government’s disregard process for convictions for decriminalised sexual offences (consensual gay sex).
The annual breakdown of applications received, and of those approved, is:
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Cabinet Office Freedom of Information Act response with reference FOI2025/12575, published on 5 September 2025. whether Ministerial flights on the (a) Envoy IV, (b) Voyager are carbon-offset.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Royal Air Force (RAF) report emissions for all domestic and overseas Ministerial flights under the UK, EU and CH Emissions Trading Scheme for the Envoy and Voyager aircraft that are above the 1000T CO2 threshold, to purchase and surrender carbon credits for those flights. The RAF are exempt under the Carbon Offsetting Reduction Scheme (CORSIA) for additional carbon offsetting as they are below the annual 10,000T CO2 emissions threshold.
All Ministerial flights comply with the Department for Transport (DfT) Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) Mandate which requires fuel suppliers to provide ready blended fuel at 2% SAF to 98% Jet A-1 fuel. The RAF is committed to reducing its carbon footprint through the Air Mobility Fuel Efficiencies and Emissions Reduction Programme, the Defence Aviation Net Zero Strategy and compliance with the UK DfT SAF Mandate.