Asked by: Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - Arbroath and Broughty Ferry)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when he plans to respond to correspondence from the hon. Member for Arbroath and Broughty Ferry of 24 October 2025, with the transfer to his department accepted on 3 November 2025.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
I responded to the hon. Member on 8 December 2025 (our ref: MC2025/27344).
Asked by: Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - Arbroath and Broughty Ferry)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of support provided for families of serving personnel separating from their spouses.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
Defence recognises the unique challenges faced by families of Serving personnel during separations. Families of Serving personnel are provided with access to a wide range of support, which includes housing assistance and guidance, emotional support, financial and legal signposting to charities and organisations. The support provided is designed to assist families through the emotional and logistical difficulties of relationship breakdowns.
Joint Service Publication (JSP) 770 ‘Armed Forces Welfare Support Policy’ contains a chapter focussing on matters of separation and divorce and which provides a link to an online guide ‘Separation and divorce guide for military personnel spouses and partners’ which contains a wealth of support and guidance. JSP 770 also includes an annex ‘The Welfare HARDFACTS Handrail’ which is used by the chain of command and Service welfare teams to guide how they support affected personnel.
The ‘Separation and divorce guide for military personnel spouses and partners’ can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/separation-and-divorce-guide-for-military-personnel-spouses-and-partners/separation-and-divorce-guide-for-military-personnel-spouses-and-partners
Asked by: Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - Arbroath and Broughty Ferry)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to provide stable family homes for children of serving military personnel whose parents have separated.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
Defence recognises the needs of separating families and provides specific policy on accommodation to meet the needs of entitled Service personnel and their spouse in these circumstances. The Ministry of Defence remains committed to widening entitlement to family accommodation to support personnel with non-resident children. The Modernised Accommodation Offer remains under review and we expect to be able to communicate future policy changes in the near future.
Asked by: Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - Arbroath and Broughty Ferry)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing unredacted access to the war records of ancestors of members of Polish forces who fought alongside the British Army in World War Two.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has no plans to provide unredacted access to the records of service of Polish military personnel who served alongside British Forces during World War Two.
The MOD assesses the release of information on a case-by-case basis in response to requests processed in accordance with Freedom of Information and Data Protection legislation, subject to any exemptions that may apply, to protect third-party personal data and information that is either sensitive or confidential.
Asked by: Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - Arbroath and Broughty Ferry)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when the Minister for the Armed Forces plans to reply to correspondence from the hon. Member for Arbroath and Broughty Ferry of 28 January 2025.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
We are committed to ensuring Government responses to correspondence are timely, accurate, and high quality. On this occasion there was an administrative error which has caused a delay, for which I apologise. However, I can assure the hon. Member that I will be writing to him imminently on the matter he has raised.
Asked by: Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - Arbroath and Broughty Ferry)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to protect (a) undersea cables and (b) critical maritime infrastructure.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
We are committed to maintaining and enhancing the security and resilience of critical undersea infrastructure including subsea cables. We continue to co-ordinate with HMG partners, particularly DSIT and DESNZ who own critical undersea infrastructure policy, as well as security partners, industry, and international bodies to assess and understand risks to this infrastructure.
On 22 January 2025, the Secretary of State made a statement in the House about the malign activities of the Russian Spy Ship Yantar and efforts by the RAF, Royal Navy and the RFA to deter Russians loitering over UK critical underwater infrastructure.
Asked by: Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - Arbroath and Broughty Ferry)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to enhance its maritime surveillance capabilities, in the context of recent submarine activity in British waters.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Protecting the UK and responding to threats in our territorial waters is a critical component of the Defence mission to protect the nation, and we constantly monitor activity within UK waters to counter and deter threats.
The Royal Navy (RN) seeks to exploit and deploy new technologies alongside existing systems to enhance our ability to detect subsurface threats, with programmes seeking to rapidly adopt remote and autonomous anti-submarine sensors. The details of future capabilities are subject to consideration through the Strategic Defence Review.
Asked by: Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - Arbroath and Broughty Ferry)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he he has made of the cost to the public purse of maintaining the Trident Nuclear Weapons programme for (a) 2019 and (b) the lifetime of that programme.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan
No estimate has been made of the cost of the Defence Nuclear Enterprise for calendar year 2019. Information on forecast costs for financial years 2018/19 and 2019/20 can be found in figure 12 of the National Audit Office's landscape review of the Enterprise published on 22 May 2018, which is available at the following link:
https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/The-Defence-Nuclear-Enterprise-a-landscape-review.pdf
The Ministry of Defence does not, and has no plans to, routinely publish whole life costs for projects, nuclear or otherwise, beyond what is already published in reports such as the Defence Equipment Plan, Ministry of Defence Annual Report and Accounts, and the Infrastructure and Projects Authority's Annual Report on Major Projects.
Asked by: Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - Arbroath and Broughty Ferry)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) civilian staff in his Department based in the UK, (b) military personnel based in the UK, (c) civilian staff in his Department based in Saudi Arabia and (d) military personnel based in Saudi Arabia were employed by the (i) Saudi Arabian National Guard Communications Project and (ii) Ministry of Defence Saudi Armed Forces Project on 1 April 2019.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
The number of civilian and military personnel based in the UK and Saudi Arabia who were employed by the Saudi Arabian National Guard Communications Project (SANGCOM) and the Ministry of Defence Saudi Armed Forces Projects (MODSAP) on 1 April 2019 is shown below. The Saudi Arabian Government reimburses the UK Ministry of Defence for these staff costs and there is, therefore, no cost to the UK taxpayer.
Manpower number as at 1 April 2019 | SANGCOM | MODSAP |
UK-based Civilian Staff | 4 | 69 |
UK-based Military Staff | 0 | 35 |
Saudi-based Civilian Staff | 51 | 38 |
Saudi-based Military Staff | 20 | 66 |
Asked by: Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - Arbroath and Broughty Ferry)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the (a) expenditure was for the financial year 2018-19 and (b) budget is for 2019-20 for (i) the Saudi Arabian National Guard Communications Project and (ii) the Ministry of Defence Saudi Armed Forces Project.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
The expenditure of the Saudi Arabian National Guard Communications Project (SANGCOM) is recovered from the Saudi Arabian Government, but SANGCOM operates under a separate Memorandum of Understanding from Ministry of Defence Saudi Armed Forces Project (MODSAP), under which the details of such recoveries are confidential to the two Governments.
The expenditure by the MODSAP in financial year 2018-19 amounted to £66.43 million. The budget however for financial year 2019-20 is £69.08 million. The costs of MODSAP are met from a management fee received from the Saudi Arabian Government.