Asked by: Sheryll Murray (Conservative - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of Ukrainian resistance to Russian aggression.
Answered by Ben Wallace
Ukrainian forces have outperformed their Russian opponents using conventional military defensive tactics, the resourceful employment of special forces, and guerrilla attacks. They have stubbornly held ground, carried out counter-attacks to keep Russian forces off-balance, and prevented repeated Russian attempts to breakthrough or encircle their forces. Russia is now using massed artillery to wear down Ukrainian defences. Ukraine has proved to be nimble and resilient against this approach, limiting Russian gains.
Asked by: Sheryll Murray (Conservative - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether a proportion of the additional £2.2 billion announced in the Spending Round 2019 for the armed forces can be allocated towards increasing the headcount of procurement-related civil servants and support services.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
This additional funding will enable our world-class Armed Forces to begin to modernise and meet the intensifying threats and risks we now face, including prioritising investment in key capabilities such as shipbuilding, offensive cyber and the nuclear deterrent. We will decide on the allocation of this funding as part of our normal financial planning and budgeting process.
Asked by: Sheryll Murray (Conservative - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate his Department has made of the number of hours of Tutor Air Experience Flights undertaken by Air Cadets in 2018.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
In 2018 the total number of Tutor flying hours undertaken by the Air Experience Flights units within 6 Flying Training School was 9,060 hours.
Asked by: Sheryll Murray (Conservative - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what progress has been made by the RAF in bringing Volunteer Gliding Squadrons back to fully operational condition.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
There are ten Volunteer Gliding Squadrons (VGS) and six Aerospace Ground Schools (AGS).
The following six VGS have returned to flight and are training cadets both in the air and with Ground School elements:
621VGS ,622VGS, 632VGS, 637VGS, 644VGS, 661VGS
In addition 645VGS had returned to flight, but is currently undertaking Instructor Conversion Training to the Viking glider, having previously undertaken cadet training with the Vigilant motor glider.
The remaining three Squadrons, 614VGS, 615VGS and 626VGS are awaiting return to flight. However, along with the six AGS they are continuing to train cadets as they operate ground school elements and Part Task Trainers.
Asked by: Sheryll Murray (Conservative - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many hours were flown by the Air Cadets gliding fleet in 2018.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
The Viking Glider fleet records the number of launches achieved. The Vigilant motorglider fleet was retired in May 2018 and records the number of hours flown.
The Viking fleet flew 14,235 launches during 2018. The Vigilant fleet flew 138 hours in 2018 prior to the fleet retirement from service in May.