Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the defence procurement system.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Department uses a range of measures to assess the effectiveness of defence acquisition. We have reduced the average time taken to deliver our projects and programmes. But we must go further to drive pace. I therefore announced plans for a new Integrated Procurement Model in my oral statement of 28 February 2024 on Defence Acquisition Reform.
A guidance note setting out the key features of the new model was placed in the Library and is available at Integrated Procurement Model: driving pace in the delivery of military capability - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent steps Veterans UK has taken to support veterans and their families with the cost of living.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The Ministry of Defence delivers a range of services to Veterans and their families. This includes the administration and payment of Armed Forces pensions and compensation, the provision of tailored advice and assistance through the Veterans Welfare Service, Defence Transition Services and the Integrated Personal Commissioning for Veterans.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking with the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs to increase the number of aid shipments to the Middle East.
Answered by James Heappey
Defence works very closely with and to support the FCDO, who lead on humanitarian support, to make sure that aid shipments are delivered as rapidly, efficiently and safely as possible. We have supported the delivery of hundreds of tonnes of life-saving aid for Gaza, including by air, land and maritime routes. We are doing everything we can to get far more aid in, exploring new routes and pressing Israel to open more crossings and lift restrictions. The Secretaries of State regularly engage on this matter.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent steps he has taken to increase military support to Ukraine.
Answered by James Heappey
The UK continues to be at the forefront of international efforts to end Russia's illegal war in Ukraine. We will be providing £2.5 billion of military support to Ukraine in financial year 2024-25. This includes a £325 million package of cutting-edge drones and £245 million to procure and invigorate supply chains, to produce artillery shells to help fight Putin's illegal invasion.
We will train an additional 10,000 Ukrainians in the first half of this year as well as co-leading new maritime and drone capability coalitions alongside Norway and Latvia respectively.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to the adequacy of staffing levels in the Armed Forces.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 19 January 2024 to Question 9841 to the hon. Member for Barnsley Central (Dan Jarvis).
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to prevent the mothballing of Royal Navy ships.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Royal Navy (RN) is allocated resources and tasked at a Departmental level. The RN then generates the Fleet as necessary to meet the readiness profile it has been tasked with and use its people and resources in the most efficient manner.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he has made a recent assessment of the UK's capacity to replace the current aircraft carrier force.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
On current plans, the out of service date for the Queen Elizabeth Class (QEC) carriers is 2069.
The Royal Navy (RN) continually assesses its force structures and abilities based upon constant operational analysis and intelligence led threat assessments.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of service accommodation.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Currently, 96% of Service Family Accommodation (SFA) meets or exceeds the Government’s Decent Homes Standard. Only these properties should be allocated to families.
This Government continues to invest significant sums to improve the quality of UK SFA. The Defence Infrastructure Organisation received an investment of £400M over this Financial Year and next, as part of the Defence Command Paper Refresh 2023. This is being spent on improving the preparation of homes; treating and preventing damp and mould and improving thermal efficiency; and refurbishing empty homes in high demand areas.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of his Department's budget for its military capability requirements.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
UK defence spending is at its highest level in history and is increasing in real terms. Over the next decade we have increased the budget for our Equipment Plan to £288.6 billion and we have set out our longer-term aspiration to invest 2.5% of GDP on defence when the fiscal and economic circumstances allow.
We continue to meet all operational commitments, including participating in every single NATO mission and tackling Houthi attacks on shipping in the Red Sea.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the UK meets its obligations to NATO.
Answered by James Heappey
The UK continues to be a leading ally in NATO. We contribute to every NATO mission and offer the full spectrum of our defence capabilities to the Alliance. We meet NATO's Defence Investment Pledge to invest at least 2% of GDP on defence, and have done so in every year since 2006.