Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what information his Department holds on the number of Greek troops that are stationed in southern Cyprus; and whether any personnel from the Greek (a) military and (b) intelligence community are hosted in the sovereign base areas of (i) Akrotiri and (ii) Dhekelia.
Answered by James Heappey
Further to the written answers to Questions 8179, 80904, and 80905, we do not propose to release details of any non-UK personnel participating in current or future operational activities in the Sovereign Base Areas. We do not hold information regarding the size of any Greek deployment in the Republic of Cyprus, this would be a matter for the Hellenic Armed Forces. We do not comment on intelligence matters.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of Policy Exchange's report entitled Closing the Back Door: Rediscovering Northern Ireland’s Role in British National Security, published on 5 February 2024.
Answered by James Heappey
Defence is aware of the Policy Exchange report. Defence continues to work with our partners across Government to identify vulnerabilities and test how we would better secure and defend the UK in times of war.
As our nearest neighbour, we work closely with Ireland to counter security challenges which affect both our nations’ security.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 23 January 2023 to Question 10468 on Armed Forces: Uniforms, if his Department will end the sourcing of bearskin from Canada.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
In the absence of an effective replacement, the Department will continue to purchase bearskin ceremonial caps made from pelts sourced from Canada, providing they are by-products of legal and licensed hunts and can continue to be imported into the UK.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what progress he has made in his discussions with the Home Secretary on enabling admittance to the UK for Afghan citizens who served as interpreters for the UK armed forces.
Answered by James Heappey
Her Majesty's Government has so far relocated 445 locally employed civilians who formerly served with UK Armed Forces in Afghanistan, plus 872 of their family members.
The Secretary of State for Defence and the Home Secretary recognise the importance of this issue and are committed to ensuring a fair system for the resettlement of Afghan interpreters. They met recently on 27 July 2020 to resolve outstanding issues and, on that basis, the Defence Secretary has tasked Ministry of Defence officials to consult with other Departments on potential changes to the criteria for relocation to the UK of former locally employed civilians in Afghanistan.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether GPS guided parachutes have been used to facilitate arms drops to rebel forces in Syria in the last 12 months.
Answered by Mike Penning
UK has not provided lethal supplies to opposition groups in Syria by any means.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has received requests from other government departments for the use of GPS guided parachutes to drop aid to besieged Syrian civilians in the last 12 months.
Answered by Mike Penning
The UK Armed Forces do not have a GPS-guided parachute capability suitable to drop aid to besieged Syrian civilians. We continue to work with allies and partners on potential options for delivering aid, but the most effective means remains road deliveries of large quantities, organised by Humanitarian agencies and coordinated with authorities on the ground.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, for what reason his Department has not proposed a reserve experience event for a location in Northern Ireland in 2015.
Answered by Julian Brazier
The Reserves Experience events are aimed specifically at “home” civil servants representing the direct employees of HM Government, rather than the general public. The events are staged in support of the Civil Service 1% Challenge which was launched in 2014 with the aim of recruiting 1% of civil servants to the Reserve Forces by the end of financial year 2018-19. To this end, a small number of Reserves Experience events have been designed to build awareness and understanding of the Reserves, and ultimately to drive recruitment opportunities, amongst civil servants at all levels.
Although a specific Reserves Experience event was not planned for Northern Ireland, Northern Ireland based “home” civil servants will already be aware of the Reserve opportunity through an extant programme of engagement, as well as more general recruiting activity conducted throughout Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland is already better recruited in terms of reservists per thousand population than the rest of the UK.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many people resident in Northern Ireland have been recruited into the reserve forces in each of the last five years.
Answered by Julian Brazier
The information is not held in the format requested. However the table below shows, where available, the estimated number of people recruited into the Reserve Forces in Northern Ireland in the last three financial years.
SERVICE | FINANCIAL YEAR | ||
2012-13 | 2013-14 | 2014-15 | |
Maritime Reserve | see note | 20 | 20 |
Army Reserve | 250 | 150 | 240 |
Royal Air Force Reserve | see note | 20 | 60 |
Note – information not available.
The Future Reserves 20 Volunteer Reserve population includes mobilised Volunteer Reserves, High Readiness Reserves and those volunteer reserves serving on Full Time Reserve Service and Additional Duties Commitment.
The figures are based on Service personnel’s stationed location and not their location of residence, where personnel work is not necessarily where they live.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many people resident in Northern Ireland have been members of the reserve forces in each of the last five years.
Answered by Julian Brazier
The information is not held in the format requested. However the table below shows, where available, the estimated number of people who have been members of the Reserve Forces in Northern Ireland as of 1 April in each of the last four years.
SERVICE | YEAR | |||
2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | |
Maritime Reserve | see note | 100 | 100 | 100 |
Army Reserve | 1,740 | 1,680 | 1,650 | 1,760 |
Royal Air Force Reserve | see note | - | 20 | 80 |
Note – information not available.
- = zero or rounded to zero
The Future Reserves 20 Volunteer Reserve population includes mobilised Volunteer Reserves, High Readiness Reserves and those volunteer reserves serving on Full Time Reserve Service and Additional Duties Commitment.
The figures are based on Service personnel’s stationed location and not their location of residence, where personnel work is not necessarily where they live.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of how much his Department has spent on specific steps to tackle the Ebola outbreak in West Africa to date.
Answered by Mark Francois
The cost of the operation has not yet been calculated in detail. However, under an existing arrangement with Department for International Development (DFID) governing military support to humanitarian assistance operations, the majority of costs incurred by the Ministry of Defence will be met by DFID.