Asked by: Peter Luff (Conservative - Mid Worcestershire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what plans he has to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the first recruitment of Gurkha soldiers into the British Army.
Answered by Anna Soubry
Gurkhas hold a special place in the hearts of the British people and we will be celebrating our close and enduring relationship over the bicentenary. The Brigade of Gurkhas will be holding many events this year, including a parade and memorial service in Whitehall in April. Gurkha units will also be conducting public duties as the Queen's Guard at Buckingham Palace and St James's Palace, and at the Tower of London during May.
Asked by: Peter Luff (Conservative - Mid Worcestershire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what forecast he has made of whether his Department's spending in 2015-16 will meet the NATO target of two per cent of GDP.
Answered by Michael Fallon
The Government is committed to maintaining Defence spending at 2% of GDP and we will meet the target in 2015-16.
Asked by: Peter Luff (Conservative - Mid Worcestershire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what progress has been made in establishing the Single Source Regulations Office; what budget has been set for the first year of operation of that office; and what estimate he has made of the number of contracts it will consider in financial year 2014-15.
Answered by Philip Dunne
Considerable progress has been made in establishing the Single Source Regulations Office (SSRO) as the regulator for the new single source procurement framework. The Chair of the new body was formally appointed in May 2014 and non-executive directors were appointed in October. The SSRO held its first Board meeting on 13 October. The new body is in the process of recruiting staff, establishing its new offices in Finlaison House, and setting up its processes and IT systems. It has also been consulting closely with key stakeholders in industry and in Government over its role as the independent regulator. The SSRO issued its first newsletter in mid-November highlighting progress already made and its plans over the next few months. This is available on the gov.uk website.
The budget for the SSRO in the financial year 2014-2015 has been set at £2.9 million.
Secondary legislation to enable the new single source procurement framework is currently being considered by Parliament, having been laid at the end of October. In order to facilitate the implementation of the new framework, when it comes into force, it will initially only cover new qualifying defence contracts with a value of £500 million or more with this threshold falling to new qualifying defence contracts with a value of £5 million or more as from the end of March 2015 onwards. We therefore estimate that this higher initial threshold will only affect a handful of new contracts (and related subcontracts) signed before the end of March 2015.
Asked by: Peter Luff (Conservative - Mid Worcestershire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 23 October 2014 to Question 209332, by what mechanisms his Department assesses the effectiveness of its communications to industry of its future requirements.
Answered by Philip Dunne
The membership and structure of the Defence Suppliers Forum (DSF) and its respective sub-committees are kept under review to ensure it is representative of the Ministry of Defence's (MOD) suppliers. Feedback from industry indicates that it continues to represent a valuable mechanism for engaging with the MOD on current and future priorities and requirements.
In addition the Industry days organised by the Department and/or domains are usually based on business cases that state the objectives and benefits of the event and which require evaluation of success. Some examples of key outcomes of an event include an increase in industry awareness of the aims and developments of the procurement strategy, an increase in MOD understanding of the key themes and issues faced by industry, and the early identification of potential risks to the strategy. The success of the event is then evaluated both in terms of the level of interest expressed by industry in the event, and the level of understanding and buy-in determined through a simple event questionnaire.
The MOD monitors the number of supplier and buyer enquires received via the Defence Contracts Online Portal. The latest available figures show that between January and July 2014, the total number of queries received was nearly 3,500. During this period, nearly 1,200 tender and contract notices were advertised on the portal.
Asked by: Peter Luff (Conservative - Mid Worcestershire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of his Department's communication to industry of its future requirements.
Answered by Philip Dunne
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) works closely with defence companies through several forums to ensure the best possible access to its future requirements. The Department engages key suppliers, defence trade associations and SMEs through regular meetings of the Defence Suppliers Forum, the SME Forum and their respective sub-committees. In addition, under the delegated model of defence transformation, each of the Commands have regular interface through their equipment capability teams with relevant industry to apprise them of broad capability issues.
We hold regular industry days focused on particular projects and programmes which allow the department and domains an opportunity to discuss future requirements directly with a wide range of suppliers, including Small and Medium Sized Enterprises. This includes regular events organised by Front Line Commands to share information with industry about future requirements such as the Air Environment Capability Strategy day held in May 2014.
The MOD uses the MOD Defence Contracts Online portal and, where appropriate, the Contracts Finder portal, to advertise all its publishable tenders and contract opportunities valued in excess of £10,000. Access to the portals are free of charge.
Asked by: Peter Luff (Conservative - Mid Worcestershire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Ministerial Working Group announced in the White Paper National Security Through Technology, Cmd 8278.
Answered by Philip Dunne
Defence and procurement issues have been considered by relevant Government Departments, rather than formerly through the Ministerial Working Group. The Group remains available, if needed, to consider cross-Government aspects of the new approach.
A Defence and Security Export Ministerial Working Group has been established under the chairmanship of the Secretary of State for Defence to co-ordinate Defence Export issues across Government.
Asked by: Peter Luff (Conservative - Mid Worcestershire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the (a) effectiveness of the arrangements and (b) capacity to provide international training by the UK armed forces to support exporters of defence equipment.
Answered by Philip Dunne
The International Defence Engagement Strategy underpins the role that the Ministry of Defence (MOD) plays in supporting defence export campaigns. In line with this strategy the Department seeks to support all requests of assistance from the UK Trade & Investment Defence & Security Organisation (UKTI DSO), who are the Government lead for support to responsible defence exports. This can include the provision of training by UK Armed Forces as part of a proposed export sale. All such requests are reviewed on a case-by-case basis to ensure that they would not impact on available capacity, operational commitments or the availability of training places for UK personnel. Given that this is by definition a finite resource, with UKTI DSO, the MOD considers how this is best deployed across the span of ongoing export campaigns.
Asked by: Peter Luff (Conservative - Mid Worcestershire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the new approach towards engagement with overseas-based defence suppliers set out in the White Paper National Security Through Technology, Cmd 8278.
Answered by Philip Dunne
The Defence and Security Industrial Engagement Policy (DSIEP) has made good progress since it was launched in the National Security Through Technology White Paper in February 2012. DSIEP tracked over £400 million of inward investment by overseas companies during 2012. This rose to nearly £500 million during 2013. With eight companies now signed up to DSIEP and discussions under way with several others, we hope that this figure will continue to rise. This compares favourably with the previous policy of Industrial Participation. In addition to this quantitative assessment, the Department is in the early stages of a Qualitative assessment of DSIEP and will be engaging with the DSIEP signatories and Defence academics to ensure this is robust.
Asked by: Peter Luff (Conservative - Mid Worcestershire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Answer of 1 July 2013, Official Report, column 395W, on Afghanistan, whether recruits at the Afghan National Army Officer Academy in Afghanistan will receive specific training on UN Security Council resolution 1325.
Answered by Mark Francois - Shadow Minister (Defence)
Officer Cadets at the Afghan National Army Officer Academy (ANAOA) in Afghanistan receive specific training on UN Security Council resolution 1325. This supports one of the ANAOA's core training objectives to: “Comply with Afghan National Army gender integration/equality and diversity policy”. The course covers international law, human rights and women's rights, Islamic attitudes (including towards women) and the rights of the family, focusing on the role and equality of women in contemporary Afghan society.
Asked by: Peter Luff (Conservative - Mid Worcestershire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many of the 90 UK personnel plan to provide mentoring and related support to the Afghan national army officer academy he expects (a) to be female and (b) to be able to provide gender-sensitive training.
Answered by Mark Francois - Shadow Minister (Defence)
The UK currently provides six female mentors to the Afghan National Army Officer Academy's (ANAOA) female training platoon. One additional female mentor is involved in the wider training programme at the Academy.
Many of the mentor posts at the ANAOA are reserved for male Service personnel, owing to the cultural sensibilities of our Afghan partners. We will continue to seek opportunities to deploy females into other mentoring posts to demonstrate to the Afghan National Army (ANA) that Servicewomen are exemplars and can be employed across a wide range of roles.
In relation to gender-sensitive training, one of the ANAOA's core training objectives is: “Comply with ANA gender integration/equality and diversity policy”. The course covers international law, human rights and women's rights, Islamic attitudes (including towards women) and the rights of the family, focusing on the role and equality of women in contemporary Afghan society.